DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING ESSAYS OF ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORES AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Writing skill is an important part of communication, which helps people express ideas, experiences, and feeling exactly. Good writing skill allows them to communicate their message with clarity and ease to a far larger audience than through face-to-face or telephone conversations. However, students often face some difficulties when writing. This survey research presents the process of the study of “Difficulties in writing essays of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University”. It was conducted to find out some difficulties in learning writing of 53 sophomores from 12A and 12B classes at Tay Do University. The questionnaire, interview questions, and essay samples were instruments of this research. The results showed that sophomores had many difficulties in writing essays such as vocabulary, grammar structures, idea arrangement, background knowledge, and others. Basing on the research results, students could recognize their difficulties and find ways to overcome them. Article visualizations

GENETIC DIVERSITY IN THE NATURAL POPULARIONS OF Pinus dalatensis Ferre’ (PINACEAE) ASSESSED BY SSSR MARKERS

Pinus dalatensis Ferre’(Family: Pinaceae) is an endemic plant with restricted habitats at higher altitudes in Vietnam highland. The species are now near threatened by over-exploitation and habitat destruction. The genetic variation within and among populations of P. dalatensis was investigated by 41 microsatellite (single sequence repeat, SSR) primers, but only 11 SSR primers showed polymorphism bands. In all, 70 sampled trees from six populations in Vietnam highland were analyzed in this study, samples were collected from populations located in different altitude. A total of 40 allelic variants have been detected. The mean number of alleles per locus was 2.197. The SSR data showed a genetic diversity parameters within populations with an average of I = 0.524, Ho = 0.222, He = 0.317, Fis =0.333 and Ap = 0.106. The number private alleles (Ap) was only found in four populations, the Hoa Son population showed the highest (0.273), followed by Da Chay (0.182), and value of 0.091 for all Ngoc Linh and A Yun. Analysis of molecular variance analysis showed that most genetic variation was within populations of 57.504 % and among population of 42.496 %. The population pairwise differentiations indicated that most of the populations were significantly differentiated p 0.001 with Fst values ranged from 0.195 to 0.418. This study highlights the importance of conserving the genetic resources of P. dalatensis specie

Adjunctive dexamethasone for the treatment of HIV-uninfected adults with tuberculous meningitis stratified by Leukotriene A4 hydrolase genotype (LAST ACT): Study protocol for a randomised double blind placebo controlled non-inferiority trial [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Background: Tuberculosis kills more people than any other bacterial infection worldwide. In tuberculous meningitis (TBM), a common functional promoter variant (C/T transition) in the gene encoding leukotriene A4 hydrolase (LTA4H), predicts pre-treatment inflammatory phenotype and response to dexamethasone in HIV-uninfected individuals. The primary aim of this study is to determine whether LTA4H genotype determines benefit or harm from adjunctive dexamethasone in HIV-uninfected Vietnamese adults with TBM. The secondary aim is to investigate alternative management strategies in individuals who develop drug induced liver injury (DILI) that will enable the safe continuation of rifampicin and isoniazid therapy.  Methods: We will perform a parallel group, randomised (1:1), double blind, placebo-controlled,  multi-centre Phase III non-inferiority trial, comparing dexamethasone versus placebo for 6-8 weeks in addition to standard anti-tuberculosis treatment in HIV-uninfected patients with TBM stratified by LTA4H genotype. The primary endpoint will be death or new neurological event. The trial will enrol approximately 720 HIV-uninfected adults with a clinical diagnosis of TBM, from two hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 640 participants with CC or CT- LTA4H genotype will be randomised to either dexamethasone or placebo, and the remaining TT- genotype participants will be treated with standard-of-care dexamethasone. We will also perform a randomised comparison of three management strategies for anti-tuberculosis DILI. An identical ancillary study will also be perfomed in the linked randomised controlled trial of dexamethasone in HIV-infected adults with TBM (ACT HIV).  Discussion: Previous data have shown that LTA4H genotype may be a critical determinant of inflammation and consequently of adjunctive anti-inflammatory treatment response in TBM. We will stratify dexamethasone therapy according to LTA4H genotype in HIV-uninfected adults, which may indicate a role for targeted anti-inflammatory therapy according to variation in LTA4H C/T transition. A comparison of DILI management strategies may allow the safe continuation of rifampicin and isoniazid

Developing Uplink Power Optimization and ARS Selection Algorithm for Multi-ARS Small Cell Communication System

oai:ojs.rev-jec.org:article/342Small Cell (SC) models and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) acting as aerial relay stations (ARSs) are both promising advancements in the development of upcoming wireless networks that contribute significantly to improving the overall service quality. In this work, we rely on the Multi-ARS Cell-Free (CF) model, where a large number of ARS coordinated by the ground base station (GBS) and cooperate to serve a large number of users within the same frequency and time resources, to develop the uplink of a multi-ARS SC system, in which each user is served by only one ARS. The time division duplex (TDD) mechanism is used for communication protocol, and the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) method is implemented to estimate the uplink channel. We derive an closed-form expression for uplink user throughput. In addition, we introduce the ARS selection method based on channel conditions and propose the Bisection algorithm to optimize uplink power. The system performance is evaluated by the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of user throughput according to different parameters, such as changing the number of ARS, the number of users, the number of antennas, and the length of pilot sequences with/without power optimization. The results reveal that the ARS selection method is effectively resolved to reduce complexity and improve the practicality of the proposed system, and the power optimization problem for better throughput is non-optimization

Gelatin-stabilized composites of silver nanoparticles and curcumin: characterization, antibacterial and antioxidant study

This is a preliminary study of a material comprising gelatin (Gel), silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and curcumin (Cur) aimed for wound-healing treatment. Gelatin was used to stabilize AgNPs and encapsulate curcumin to form a therapeutic composite (GelCurAg) for their strong bactericidal and antioxidant properties. GelCurAg formulations with different gelatin concentrations were characterized to attain information about their physiochemical properties and the loading efficiency of therapeutic agents. In vitro assessment of GelCurAg focused on antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxic aspects. The results suggested that Gel1CurAg (synthesized from 1% gelatin solution) could be utilized as potential therapeutic agents in treating infectious wound owing to its bactericidal and antioxidant effects and low toxicity for clinical uses

Predicting of Flooding in the Mekong Delta Using Satellite Images

International audienc

Poor Air Quality and Its Association with Mortality in Ho Chi Minh City: Case Study

Along with its rapid urban development, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in recent years has suffered a high concentration of air pollutants, especially fine particulate matters or PM2.5. A comprehensive study is required to evaluate the air quality conditions and their health impact in this city. Given the lack of adequate air quality monitoring data over a large area of the size of HCMC, an air quality modeling methodology is adopted to address the requirement. Here, by utilizing a corresponding emission inventory in combination with The Air Pollution Model-Chemical Transport Model (TAPM-CTM), the predicted concentration of air pollutants is first obtained for PM2.5, NOx, and SO2. Then by associating the pollutants exposed with the mortality rate from three causes, namely Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD), cardiopulmonary, and lung cancer, the impact of air pollution on human health is obtained for this purpose. Spatial distribution has shown a high amount of pollutants concentrated in the central city with a high density of combustion vehicles (motorcycles and automobiles). In addition, a significant amount of emissions can be observed from stevedoring and harbor activities, including ferries and cargo handling equipment located along the river. Other sources such as household activities also contribute to an even distribution of emission across the city. The results of air quality modeling showed that the annual average concentrations of NO2 were higher than the standard of Vietnam National Technical Regulation on Ambient Air Quality (QCVN 05: 2013 40 µg/m3) and World Health Organization (WHO) (40 µg/m3). The annual average concentrations of PM2.5 were 23 µg/m3 and were also much higher than the WHO (10 µg/m3) standard by about 2.3 times. In terms of public health impacts, PM2.5 was found to be responsible for about 1136 deaths, while the number of mortalities from exposure to NO2 and SO2 was 172 and 89 deaths, respectively. These figures demand some stringent measures from the authorities to potentially remedy the alarming situation of air pollution in HCM City

A simple strategy to enhance the in vivo wound-healing activity of curcumin in the form of self-assembled nanoparticle complex of curcumin and oligochitosan

While the wound healing activity of curcumin (CUR) has been well-established, its clinical effectiveness remains limited due to the inherently low aqueous CUR solubility, resulting in suboptimal CUR exposure in the wound sites. Previously, we developed high-payload amorphous nanoparticle complex (or nanoplex) of CUR and chitosan (CHI) capable of CUR solubility enhancement by drug-polyelectrolyte complexation. The CUR-CHI nanoplex, however, exhibited poor colloidal stability due to its strong agglomeration tendency. Herein we hypothesized that the colloidal stability could be improved by replacing CHI with its oligomers (OCHI) owed to the better charge distribution in OCHI. The effects of key parameters in drug-polyelectrolyte complexation (i.e. pH, salt inclusion, CUR concentration, and OCHI/CUR charge ratio) on the physical characteristics and preparation efficiency of the CUR-OCHI nanoplex produced were investigated. The in vivo wound healing efficacy of the CUR-OCHI nanoplex and its cytotoxicity towards human keratinocytes cells were examined. The results showed that CUR-OCHI nanoplex exhibited prolonged colloidal stability (72 h versus 90% after 7 days versus 9 days for the native CUR resulting in smaller scars, attributed to its generation of high CUR concentration in the wound sites.Nanyang Technological UniversityAccepted versionThe authors would like to acknowledge the research funds from Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute and Nuclear Research Institute (Grant number: 07/17/VNCHN) and from Nanyang Technological University's Undergraduate Research Experience on Campus (URECA) for Suen Ern Lee