Prevalence and risks of fascioliasis among adult cohorts in Binh Dinh and Quang Ngai provinces-central Viet Nam

Fascioliasis (liver fluke disease) has raised significant public health concerns in the 15 regional provinces of Central Vietnam, accounting for 93% of the national incidence of the disease. No control measures to date have proven effective. Annual reports show increasing incidence of fascioliasis but they are incomplete. This cross-sectional study was conducted to identify the prevalence of fascioliasis and to describe its associated risks in three communes in Central Vietnam. 500 human blood samples were examined (ELISA); and a survey of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) was conducted for 600 randomly selected adults per commune. The findings suggest that overall seroprevalence was 7.75% (95% CI 6.54-9.16%). Among the infected cases, people aged from 18-59 years (85.6%) and farmers (68.0%) accounted for majority of infection. Less than half of participants in all three communes (24.6% - 46.0%) knew the causes of fascioliasis; and considerable proportions ate improperly boiled vegetables (28.2-33.8%), drank unboiled water (23.5-42.5%), and did not own a household toilet (14.2-20.5%). Relatively high prevalence and risks of fascioliasis were found in Central Vietnam, supporting the need for comprehensive intervention measures including selective treatment, health education, and multisectoral approaches to reduce the morbidity associated with fascioliasis and thus improve the health status of the people

The role of rainfalls for erosion and sedimentation in the degraded mangroves, Can Gio district, Vietnam

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

The Engineering and geological substantiation of the resource potential of the bed of the South China

The program for the development of the national economy based on own mineral raw materials as adopted in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam requires an increase the volumes of minerals. This includes both liquid hydrocarbons, and non-traditional solid minerals. This paper examines the resource base of mineral deposits in the South China Sea. The objective was to determine and scientifically establish classification criteria for zoning (regionalization), as well as to identify prospective areas with deposits of ferromanganese formations and other solid minerals. An analysis was undertaken of placers on the shelf and deposits of ferromanganese formations in the deep areas of the Vietnam Sea. A multiparameter analysis of the hydrological, geophysical, engineering and geological, environmental conditions of the deposit positions was conducted. In addition, criteria for the prospects of the formation and development of deposits of ferromanganese formations were established. These criteria enabled areas with different prospectivity ratings to be identified. Within the South China Sea, zones (areas) with a high, medium, and low potential for the presence of nodules were identified. Similar zoning for the crusts was also identified. The areas of these zones were determined. The results of the research established that the total potential area of ferromanganese nodules is 91,480 km2. The area with the potential of ferromanganese crusts is 2,421.6 km2, while the area of coexistence of nodules and crusts is 18,777 km2. Furthermore, priority regions for future exploration are those with high nodule potential covering an area of 18,110 km2 and the regions of high crust potential with an area of 882.6 km2. Based on the materials obtained, the bed of the Vietnamese Exclusive Zone of the South China Sea was zoned. Maps of the resource and predictive prospects of the seabed were drawn, and the prospecting and exploration operations can be established within this framework

Targeting the Mevalonate Pathway Suppresses VHL-Deficient CC-RCC through an HIF-Dependent Mechanism.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CC-RCC) is a devastating disease with limited therapeutic options available for advanced stages. The objective of this study was to investigate HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, also known as statins, as potential therapeutics for CC-RCC. Importantly, treatment with statins was found to be synthetically lethal with the loss of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene, which occurs in 90% of CC-RCC driving the disease. This effect has been confirmed in three different CC-RCC cell lines with three different lipophilic statins. Inhibition of mevalonate synthesis by statins causes a profound cytostatic effect at nanomolar concentrations and becomes cytotoxic at low micromolar concentrations in VHL-deficient CC-RCC. The synthetic lethal effect can be fully rescued by both mevalonate and geranylgeranylpyrophosphate, but not by squalene, indicating that the effect is due to disruption of small GTPase isoprenylation and not the inhibition of cholesterol synthesis. Inhibition of Rho and Rho kinase (ROCK) signaling contributes to the synthetic lethality effect, and overactivation of hypoxia-inducible factor signaling resulting from VHL loss is required. Finally, statin treatment is able to inhibit both tumor initiation and progression of subcutaneous 786-OT1-based CC-RCC tumors in mice. Thus, statins represent potential therapeutics for the treatment of VHL-deficient CC-RCC. Mol Cancer Ther; 17(8); 1781-92. ©2018 AACR

Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis in the Private Sector, Vietnam

To the Editor: In many countries, the private sector (practitioners not employed by government and nongovernment institutions, e.g., hospitals, pharmacies) is a major source of care, even for poor persons, and the area where services for the public are widely available (1,2). However, little information is available from high-incidence countries about the role of the private sector in tuberculosis (TB) detection and treatment (3). In Vietnam, ≤40% of all TB cases in Ho Chi Minh City (the largest city in Vietnam and with the highest rate of economic growth in the country) were estimated to be treated in the private sector (4), and half of all patients with a diagnosis of TB in the public sector (National Tuberculosis Program [NTP]) in Ho Chi Minh City initially sought help in the private sector (5). However, this estimate does not reflect private care in the entire countr

"Author! Author!" : Shakespeare and biography

Original article can be found at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t714579626~db=all Copyright Informa / Taylor & Francis Group. DOI: 10.1080/17450910902764454Since 1996, not a year has passed without the publication of at least one Shakespeare biography. Yet for many years the place of the author in the practice of understanding literary works has been problematized, and even on occasions eliminated. Criticism reads the “works”, and may or may not refer to an author whose “life” contributed to their meaning. Biography seeks the author in the works, the personality that precedes the works and gives them their characteristic shape and meaning. But the form of literary biography addresses the unusual kind of “life” that puts itself into “works”, and this is particularly challenging where the “works” predominate massively over the salient facts of the “life”. This essay surveys the current terrain of Shakespeare biography, and considers the key questions raised by the medium: can we know anything of Shakespeare's “personality” from the facts of his life and the survival of his works? What is the status of the kind of speculation that inevitably plays a part in biographical reconstruction? Are biographers in the end telling us as much about themselves as they tell us about Shakespeare?Peer reviewe

The Hampshire-Berkshire focus of L120Q anticoagulant resistance in the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) and field trials of bromadiolone, difenacoum and brodifacoum

Anticoagulant resistance has been present in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) in Hampshire and Berkshire for forty years. All first-generation anticoagulants and two of the second generation, bromadiolone and difenacoum, are resisted by rats carrying the L120Q single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). A regulatory restriction on the use of resistance-breakers brodifacoum, difethialone and flocoumafen in the UK effectively prevented their use against Norway rats for more than 30 years. During this time, L120Q spread from original localised foci eventually to cover most of central-southern England; with other more dispersed foci elsewhere in the UK. We summarise research on L120Q Norway rats and the field performance of anticoagulant baits against them. Bromadiolone (50 ppm), difenacoum (50 ppm) and brodifacoum (23 ppm) baits were each applied on two farmsteads where it had been established that Norway rats carried the L120Q SNP. Preliminary DNA resistance tests conducted at the farms found only one of 107 rats to be susceptible and 86.9% to be homozygous resistant. The bromadiolone and difenacoum applications were either partially or wholly ineffective; brodifacoum treatments were fully effective. Quantities of active substances used varied between farms and substances; but more bromadiolone and difenacoum baits were applied than brodifacoum baits during the treatments. Results confirm the high incidence of resistance and support advice that bromadiolone and difenacoum should not be used against the L120Q SNP. Prolonged use of resisted anticoagulants has resulted in a high prevalence of homozygosity and resistance spread. Failed treatments result in prolonged feeding on anticoagulant bait and leave Norway rats alive carrying, presumably, high residues. It remains to be seen whether the use of now-permitted effective substances, and the introduction of a rodenticide stewardship regime, will curtail the spread of resistance and reduce anticoagulant residues in wildlife

Impact of Education and Network for Avian Influenza H5N1 in Human: Knowledge, Clinical Practice, and Motivation on Medical Providers in Vietnam

BACKGROUND: Knowledge, clinical practice, and professional motivation of medical providers relating to H5N1 infection have an important influence on care for H5N1 patients who require early diagnosis and early medical intervention. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Novel educational programs including training and workshops for medical providers relating to H5N1 infection in Vietnam were originally created and implemented in 18 provincial hospitals in northern Vietnam between 2008 and 2010. A self-administered, structured questionnaire survey was conducted in 8 provincial hospitals where both educational training and workshops were previously provided. A total of 326 medical providers, including physicians, nurses, and laboratory technicians who attended or did not attend original programs were enrolled in the survey. Knowledge, clinical attitudes and practice (KAP), including motivation surrounding caring for H5N1 patients, were evaluated. The study indicated a high level of knowledge and motivation in all professional groups, with especially high levels in laboratory technicians. Conferences and educational programs were evaluated to be the main scientific information resources for physicians, along with information from colleagues. The chest radiographs and the initiation of antiviral treatment in the absence of RT-PCR result were identified as gaps in education. Factors possibly influencing professional motivation for caring for H5N1 patients included healthcare profession, the hospital where the respondents worked, age group, attendance at original educational programs and at educational programs which were conducted by international health-related organizations. CONCLUSIONS: Educational programs provide high knowledge and motivation for medical providers in Vietnam caring for H5N1 patients. Additional educational programs related to chest radiographs and an initiation of treatment in the absence of RT-PCR are needed. Networking is also necessary for sharing updated scientific information and practical experiences. These enhanced KAPs by educational programs and integrated systems among hospitals should result in appropriate care for H5N1 patients and may reduce morbidity and mortality

A blind detection of a large, complex, Sunyaev--Zel'dovich structure

We present an interesting Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) detection in the first of the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) 'blind', degree-square fields to have been observed down to our target sensitivity of 100{\mu}Jy/beam. In follow-up deep pointed observations the SZ effect is detected with a maximum peak decrement greater than 8 \times the thermal noise. No corresponding emission is visible in the ROSAT all-sky X-ray survey and no cluster is evident in the Palomar all-sky optical survey. Compared with existing SZ images of distant clusters, the extent is large (\approx 10') and complex; our analysis favours a model containing two clusters rather than a single cluster. Our Bayesian analysis is currently limited to modelling each cluster with an ellipsoidal or spherical beta-model, which do not do justice to this decrement. Fitting an ellipsoid to the deeper candidate we find the following. (a) Assuming that the Evrard et al. (2002) approximation to Press & Schechter (1974) correctly gives the number density of clusters as a function of mass and redshift, then, in the search area, the formal Bayesian probability ratio of the AMI detection of this cluster is 7.9 \times 10^4:1; alternatively assuming Jenkins et al. (2001) as the true prior, the formal Bayesian probability ratio of detection is 2.1 \times 10^5:1. (b) The cluster mass is MT,200 = 5.5+1.2\times 10^14h-1M\odot. (c) Abandoning a physical model with num- -1.3 70 ber density prior and instead simply modelling the SZ decrement using a phenomenological {\beta}-model of temperature decrement as a function of angular distance, we find a central SZ temperature decrement of -295+36 {\mu}K - this allows for CMB primary anisotropies, receiver -15 noise and radio sources. We are unsure if the cluster system we observe is a merging system or two separate clusters.Comment: accepted MNRAS. 12 pages, 9 figure