Musculoskeletal Pain and Work-related Risk Factors among Waste Collectors in Hanoi, Vietnam: A Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are prevalent among waste collectors (WCs) in developing countries. AIM: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of MSDs and the factors associated with the risk of persistent musculoskeletal pain among WCs in Hanoi, Vietnam. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was utilized to study 468 WCs in 2017. The Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire and a questionnaire on demographic and work conditions were used to collect data. Descriptive and multivariate logistics regression analyzes were applied at a significance level of 0.05 to examine the factors related to the risk of persistent pain. FINDINGS: About 74.4% of the participants of this study experienced MSDs in at least one body region and 9.4% reported MSDs in all 10 body sites. The lower back was reported to be the most affected followed by the neck and shoulders. The risk of persistent musculoskeletal pain was significantly associated with age (odds ratio (OR) = 2.31, confidence interval (CI) = 1.05–5.09), gender (OR = 3.29, CI = 1.28–8.44), work hours (OR = 2.35, CI = 1.12–4.92), work shift (OR = 0.48, CI = 0.26–0.92), duration of poor postures of the neck (OR = 0.31, CI = 0.13–0.76), bent back (OR = 0.4 CI = 0.18–0.92) and for medial rotation (OR = 3.01, CI = 1.42–6.36), carrying heavy objects (OR = 2.94, CI = 1.15–7.48), and experience of work dissatisfaction (OR = 3.31, CI = 1.46-7.52), stress (OR = 7.14, CI = 3.14–16.24), or anxiety (OR = 6.37, CI = 3.07–13.21). CONCLUSIONS: High prevalence of MSDs among WCs and its association with self-assessed unfavorable work postures and work-related stress implies the need of mechanical and social support at work for WC to prevent the development of MSDs and persistent pain

DIFFICULTIES WITH WORD CHOICE IN ACADEMIC WRITING AND SOLUTIONS: A RESEARCH ON ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Writing, especially academic writing, is highly valued in foreign language acquisition, particularly for English majors. Nevertheless, using academic terminology might be difficult for students still developing their academic language abilities. The purpose of this research is to understand students' difficulties in selecting appropriate words in academic writing and offer solutions to overcome such difficulties. The participants were 78 English majors (high-quality program, course 45) and three lecturers at the Department of English Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University. Questionnaires were used to measure their difficulties in word choice in academic writing and semi-structured interviews were utilized to find solutions. The results show that most participants had a basic knowledge of academic vocabulary, which was demonstrated through their ability to select the appropriate word choice. However, students found it difficult to choose the right words in their academic writing. The reasons are that academic words are not easy to remember and not successfully used in the context of the meaning of the word and do not have an effective method of learning academic vocabulary. Based on the results, several specific approaches have been proposed to help students find the most suitable strategies for learning and using academic vocabulary for their writing.  Article visualizations

Vietnam’s National Energy Development Strategy to 2030 and outlook to 2045

Purpose: The article evaluates Vietnam's Energy Development Strategy to 2030 and vision to 2045, according to Vietnam Credit, 2019 and Base on Ref. 55-NQ/TW Resolution of the politburo On Orientations of the Viet Nam’s National Energy Development Strategy to 2030 and outlook to 2045. Viet Nam ‘s Energy company need to reset up the strategy and review long term plan to adapt resolution No 55-NQ/TW. Approach/Methodology/Design: This study conducted a systematic review of various documents and secondary data from various sources. Findings: the paper shows that it is vital to balance the energy supply-demand in terms of oil and gas, coal, renewable energy, and other energy sources. The gap between the supply and demand is the framework to setup strategy. Practical Implications: The result of the paper is towards an overview formulate and implement the Vietnam power sector development strategy for the new period. Enable the rapid and sustainable development of power sources, with well-designed structure and allocation, to ensure safety, reliability, stability towards diversification, an increased active power factor, and proper power reserve; and to meet the requirements for the protection of the ecological environment.peer-reviewe

COMMON CHALLENGES IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH-MAJORED JUNIORS AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

It is undoubted that translation plays an indispensable role in exchanging information, news, culture, literature and sciences among people globally. In other words, translation facilitates communication and understanding between people who come from various cultures and speak different languages. Owing to the significance of translation, it is employed as a fundamental subject to English majored students. Nevertheless, it is not an easy subject for students to master. Thus, this study aimed at investigating the obstacles that students often encountered when translating texts from Vietnamese to English. This was a quantitative and qualitative research. The questionnaire and test paper were used as two major instruments to gain the most reliable findings. To achieve the goal, 74 English majored juniors from both English 10A and 10B at Tay Do University were selected as the sample for this research. The results showed that English majored juniors faced many challenges in Vietnamese-English translation, consisting of vocabulary, grammatical structures and cultural aspects. Article visualizations

The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic among healthcare workers at the grassroots level in Vietnam

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs). Therefore, an immediate priority is to monitor rates of mental health issues to understand related factors and inform interventions. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychological and mental health impact of COVID-19 and some related factors among HCWs at the grassroots level in Vietnam. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 675 HCWs working at health facilities through questionnaires. The finding showed the rate of HCWs who were psychologically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic was 37.2%, of which 64.1% of HCWs were afraid to tell their families about the risk of exposure to COVID-19 at work. The 31.0% of HCWs had difficulty sleeping deeply/insomnia due to the COVID-19 epidemic. No statistically significant differences were found in the psychological impact of COVID-19 between HCW groups by age, gender, seniority, and professional qualifications. Some groups of HCWs were found to have poor psychological health. Our research suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, HCWs working in healthcare facilities experienced an increased psychological burden; psychological interventions for those at high risk and with common mental disorders should be included to reduce this burden and protect HCWs' mental health

Knowledge of tuberculosis among physicians working at community health stations in Vietnam

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant health problem worldwide, including in Vietnam, where around 174,000 newly diagnosed cases and 13,200 patients died in 2018. There are challenges in the diagnostic process, treatment, and follow-up. The physicians with knowledge of TB working at commune health stations play an essential role in this struggle. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate knowledge of TB and related factors among physicians working at community health stations in the Northern provinces of Vietnam. A cross-sectional survey was implemented on 335 physicians working at community health stations in 5 Northern provinces in Vietnam from September 2019 to October 2020. The result showed that the TB knowledge of physicians was not good. There were some severe knowledge gaps concerning at-risk groups, the main symptoms of TB, sputum tests for both diagnosis and follow-up and management of attack therapy. The TB training participants had better TB knowledge than others (aOR=1.68; 95%CI: 1.047-2.712). This study underlines the importance of clinical experience and TB training to TB knowledge. We suggest that a TB training plan is required for physicians. Our survey results could inform the process of defining the physicians who work at community health stations' role in TB management in the future

Lactic Acid Fermentation of Radish and Cucumber in Rice Bran Bed

The Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) strain XK1.4 isolated from pickled vegetables was applied for cucumber and radish fermentation using rice bran. Fermented radish and cucumber pickles are the lactic acid fermentation products formed through the influence of microorganisms present in the environment. The main objective of the study is to select the appropriate rice bran type (white/yellow rice bran) and treatment methods (roasting time), and also choose suitable fermentation conditions (initial microbial population and added salt content) for traditional pickled cucumber and white radish with appropriate lactic acid content and high acceptability by consumers. The results showed that the quality of white bran was better than yellow bran and less oxidized, the total free fatty acid was also much lower than that of yellow bran. It was found that the lactic acid content analyses provided significant different results for the samples, compared to the control (without inoculant addition). The pickled samples for which L. plantarum strain XK 1.4 was used displayed a better fermentation process. The lower concentration of bacteria added in the initial stage, the lower the acid content of the rice bran medium and the fermented products where L. plantarum strains were added. L. plantarum grew rapidly in rice bran fermenting bed of 10 CFU g at 25-26 °C and 3% NaCl. With the appropriate selection of fermentation parameters, it only takes about 4 days for the fermentation process (2 days of preparing rice bran medium and 2 days of fermenting white radish and cucumber) with high lactic acid content and consumer’s acceptability

Reproductive Biology of Moonlight Gourami (Trichopodus microlepis) in U Minh Thuong and U Minh Ha National Parks

This study aimed to provide information about the reproductive biology of moonlight gourami (Trichopodus microlepsis) distributed in U Minh National Parks. Fish samples were collected monthly from January to October 2019 at two locations: U Minh Ha (UMH, Ca Mau, n=462) and U Minh Thuong (UMT, Kien Giang, n=635). Results showed that the maturation-stage ratios of females were similar between the two fish populations. Mature females (with stage IV-ovaries) and the increase in their gonadal somatic index (GIS) were found from June to October, indicating that this period is their spawning season. GSI reached the highest values in August with 8.04% in UMH and 6.44% in UMT. Female fish of the UMH population showed higher average fecundity (7,483±3,008 eggs/female) and larger egg diameter (762±55 µm) than those of UMT (6,898±2,952 eggs/female and 754±43 µm, respectively), but these differences were not significant (p>0.05)