Viral Metagenomic Analysis of Cerebrospinal Fluid from Patients with Acute Central Nervous System Infections of Unknown Origin, Vietnam.

Central nervous system (CNS) infection is a serious neurologic condition, although the etiology remains unknown in >50% of patients. We used metagenomic next-generation sequencing to detect viruses in 204 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with acute CNS infection who were enrolled from Vietnam hospitals during 2012-2016. We detected 8 viral species in 107/204 (52.4%) of CSF samples. After virus-specific PCR confirmation, the detection rate was lowered to 30/204 (14.7%). Enteroviruses were the most common viruses detected (n = 23), followed by hepatitis B virus (3), HIV (2), molluscum contagiosum virus (1), and gemycircularvirus (1). Analysis of enterovirus sequences revealed the predominance of echovirus 30 (9). Phylogenetically, the echovirus 30 strains belonged to genogroup V and VIIb. Our results expanded knowledge about the clinical burden of enterovirus in Vietnam and underscore the challenges of identifying a plausible viral pathogen in CSF of patients with CNS infections

TextANIMAR: Text-based 3D Animal Fine-Grained Retrieval

3D object retrieval is an important yet challenging task, which has drawn more and more attention in recent years. While existing approaches have made strides in addressing this issue, they are often limited to restricted settings such as image and sketch queries, which are often unfriendly interactions for common users. In order to overcome these limitations, this paper presents a novel SHREC challenge track focusing on text-based fine-grained retrieval of 3D animal models. Unlike previous SHREC challenge tracks, the proposed task is considerably more challenging, requiring participants to develop innovative approaches to tackle the problem of text-based retrieval. Despite the increased difficulty, we believe that this task has the potential to drive useful applications in practice and facilitate more intuitive interactions with 3D objects. Five groups participated in our competition, submitting a total of 114 runs. While the results obtained in our competition are satisfactory, we note that the challenges presented by this task are far from being fully solved. As such, we provide insights into potential areas for future research and improvements. We believe that we can help push the boundaries of 3D object retrieval and facilitate more user-friendly interactions via vision-language technologies.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2304.0573

Spatiotemporal evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta variants during large nationwide outbreak of COVID-19, Vietnam, 2021

We analyzed 1,303 SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequences from Vietnam, and found the Alpha and Delta variants were responsible for a large nationwide outbreak of COVID-19 in 2021. The Delta variant was confined to the AY.57 lineage and caused >1.7 million infections and >32,000 deaths. Viral transmission was strongly affected by nonpharmaceutical interventions

Early Pandemic Influenza (2009 H1N1) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: A Clinical Virological and Epidemiological Analysis

Rogier van Doorn and colleagues analyze the initial outbreak, attempts at containment, and establishment of community transmission of pandemic H1N1 influenza in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

Adaptive changes of influenza virus A/H5N1 neuraminidase in vitro and in vivo

H5N1 adaptation process is thought to primarily involve in changes of the 2 main glycoproteins of influenza virus: hemagglutinin HA, responsible for viral entry via binding with host cell receptors, and neuraminidase NA, a receptor destroying enzyme, promoting release of newly formed virions and preventing their self-aggregation. With their opposing roles in viral replication cycle, one rational assumption is that influenza virus needs to maintain a balance between these 2 proteins activities to ensure productive infection. Because of their impacts on both viral evolution and drug susceptibility, it is necessary to gain insight into the interplay between HA and NA proteins as this will further our understanding of the cross-species A/H5N1 adaptation process, with or without selective pressure. One of the most suitable systems to study influenza adaptation is cultures of differentiated human epithelial cells; which have been used for more than 30 years in various types of research. This project aimed to set-up that system in our laboratory in Vietnam to passage H5N1 viruses in order to use in later studies monitoring the adaptive changes of those viruses, especially in the two major glycoproteins HA and NA. In parallel, H5N1 isolates with different oseltamivir susceptibility profile were investigated to gain clear insight on NA enzymatic properties as well as the underlying mechanism of resistance. Those H5N1 isolates were human clade 1 viruses from the period of 2004 - 2005 in south of Vietnam with different oseltamivir sensitivity. Recombinant variants, with NA derived from H5N1 viruses and other segments from laboratory adapted human seasonal strain WSN33, were generated by reverse genetic techniques and then characterized on NA enzymatic properties. We identified 2 NA mutations which were suspected to affect NA activity and/or expression. Further investigations are required to conclude whether these 2 substitutions might support or allow the virus(es) to overcome the deficiency caused by oseltamivir resistance mutation, resulting in adaptive evolution of influenza viruses.</p

Feasibility of wearable monitors to detect heart rate variability in children with hand, foot and mouth disease

Abstract Hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is caused by a variety of enteroviruses, and occurs in large outbreaks in which a small proportion of children deteriorate rapidly with cardiopulmonary failure. Determining which children are likely to deteriorate is difficult and health systems may become overloaded during outbreaks as many children require hospitalization for monitoring. Heart rate variability (HRV) may help distinguish those with more severe diseases but requires simple scalable methods to collect ECG data. We carried out a prospective observational study to examine the feasibility of using wearable devices to measure HRV in 142 children admitted with HFMD at a children’s hospital in Vietnam. ECG data were collected in all children. HRV indices calculated were lower in those with enterovirus A71 associated HFMD compared to those with other viral pathogens. HRV analysis collected from wearable devices is feasible in a low and middle income country (LMIC) and may help classify disease severity in HFMD

Detection and Characterization of Human Pegivirus 2, Vietnam

We report human pegivirus 2 (HPgV-2) infection in Vietnam. We detected HPgV-2 in some patients with hepatitis C virus/HIV co-infection but not in patients with HIV or hepatitis A, B, or C virus infection, nor in healthy controls. HPgV-2 strains in Vietnam are phylogenetically related to global strains