Evaluating Relationship between Surface Water Quality and Zooplankton Diversity in Coastal Areas of Tien Giang Province, Vietnam

The zooplankton diversity is the most important ecological parameter for water quality assessment, as these small creatures are sensitive to any changes in water quality, hence the objective of this study as to evaluate the relationship between surface water quality and zooplankton diversity in the coastal areas of Tien Giang province, Vietnam using appropriate standard methods. The results showed that the coastal water quality had high concentrations of suspended solids, ammonium and coliforms. A total of 71 zooplankton species with a total density ranging from 3,219,383 to 24,993,634 individuals/m3 were identified. Among the zooplankton species, Copepoda nauplius appeared at all monitoring stations, predominating with a density ranging from 740,800 to 7,555,250 individuals/m3. The values of the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H') ranged from 1.54 to 2.37, reflecting the coastal water quality in the study area from polluted to mildly polluted. The coastal water variables of pH, salinity, DO, NH4+-N and coliform were closely correlated with the density of zooplankton species. The relationship between surface water quality and zooplankton diversity could be a basis for selecting biological indicators to monitor coastal water quality

Vietnamese chickens: a gate towards Asian genetic diversity

BACKGROUND: Chickens represent an important animal genetic resource and the conservation of local breeds is an issue for the preservation of this resource. The genetic diversity of a breed is mainly evaluated through its nuclear diversity. However, nuclear genetic diversity does not provide the same information as mitochondrial genetic diversity. For the species Gallus gallus, at least 8 maternal lineages have been identified. While breeds distributed westward from the Indian subcontinent usually share haplotypes from 1 to 2 haplogroups, Southeast Asian breeds exhibit all the haplogroups. The Vietnamese Ha Giang (HG) chicken has been shown to exhibit a very high nuclear diversity but also important rates of admixture with wild relatives. Its geographical position, within one of the chicken domestication centres ranging from Thailand to the Chinese Yunnan province, increases the probability of observing a very high genetic diversity for maternal lineages, and in a way, improving our understanding of the chicken domestication process. RESULTS: A total of 106 sequences from Vietnamese HG chickens were first compared to the sequences of published Chinese breeds. The 25 haplotypes observed in the Vietnamese HG population belonged to six previously published haplogroups which are: A, B, C, D, F and G. On average, breeds from the Chinese Yunnan province carried haplotypes from 4.3 haplogroups. For the HG population, haplogroup diversity is found at both the province and the village level (0.69).The AMOVA results show that genetic diversity occurred within the breeds rather than between breeds or provinces. Regarding the global structure of the mtDNA diversity per population, a characteristic of the HG population was the occurrence of similar pattern distribution as compared to G. gallus spadiceus. However, there was no geographical evidence of gene flow between wild and domestic populations as observed when microsatellites were used. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to other chicken populations, the HG chicken population showed very high genetic diversity at both the nuclear and mitochondrial levels. Due to its past and recent history, this population accumulates a specific and rich gene pool highlighting its interest and the need for conservation

Mapping for engagement: setting up a community based participatory research project to reach underserved communities at risk for Hepatitis C in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Background: Approximately 1. 07 million people in Vietnam are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). To address this epidemic, the South East Asian Research Collaborative in Hepatitis (SEARCH) launched a 600-patient cohort study and two clinical trials, both investigating shortened treatment strategies for chronic HCV infection with direct-acting antiviral drugs. We conducted ethnographic research with a subset of trial participants and found that the majority were aware of HCV infection and its implications and were motivated to seek treatment. However, people who inject drugs (PWID), and other groups at risk for HCV were under-represented, although injecting drug use is associated with high rates of HCV. Material and Methods: We designed a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study to engage in dialogues surrounding HCV and other community-prioritized health issues with underserved groups at risk for HCV in Ho Chi Minh City. The project consists of three phases: situation analysis, CBPR implementation, and dissemination. In this paper, we describe the results of the first phase (i.e., the situation analysis) in which we conducted desk research and organized stakeholder mapping meetings with representatives from local non-government and community-based organizations where we used participatory research methods to identify and analyze key stakeholders working with underserved populations. Results: Twenty six institutions or groups working with the key underserved populations were identified. Insights about the challenges and dynamics of underserved communities were also gathered. Two working groups made up of representatives from the NGO and CBO level were formed. Discussion: Using the information provided by local key stakeholders to shape the project has helped us to build solid relationships, give the groups a sense of ownership from the early stages, and made the project more context specific. These steps are not only important preliminary steps for participatory studies but also for other research that takes place within the communities

Effectiveness of cervical pessary compared to cervical cerclage with or without vaginal progesterone for the prevention of preterm birth in women with twin pregnancies and a short cervix : Study protocol for a two-by-two factorial randomised clinical trial

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

High Energy Scattering in the Quasi-Potential Approach

Asymptotic behavior of the scattering amplitude for two scalar particles by scalar, vector and tensor exchanges at high energy and fixed momentum transfers is reconsidered in quantum field theory. In the framework of the quasi-potential approach and the modified perturbation theory a systematic scheme of finding the leading eikonal scattering amplitudes and its corrections are developed and constructed.The connection between the solutions obtained by quasi-potential and functional approaches is also discussed.The first correction to leading eikonal amplitude is found. Keywords: Eikonal scattering theory, Quantum gravity.Comment: 18 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0804.343