Rapid decrease of malaria morbidity following the introduction of community-based monitoring in a rural area of central Vietnam

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite a successful control programme, malaria has not completely disappeared in Vietnam; it remains endemic in remote areas of central Vietnam, where standard control activities seem to be less effective. The evolution of malaria prevalence and incidence over two and half years in a rural area of central Vietnam, after the introduction of community-based monitoring of malaria cases, is presented.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>After a complete census, six cross-sectional surveys and passive detection of malaria cases (by village and commune health workers using rapid diagnostic tests) were carried out between March 2004 and December 2006 in Ninh-Thuan province, in a population of about 10,000 individuals. The prevalence of malaria infection and the incidence of clinical cases were estimated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Malaria prevalence significantly decreased from 13.6% (281/2,068) in December 2004 to 4.0% (80/2,019) in December 2006. <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>and <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>were the most common infections with few <it>Plasmodium malariae </it>mono-infections and some mixed infections. During the study period, malaria incidence decreased by more than 50%, from 25.7/1,000 population at risk in the second half of 2004 to 12.3/1,000 in the second half of 2006. The incidence showed seasonal variations, with a yearly peak between June and December, except in 2006 when the peak observed in the previous years did not occur.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Over a 2.5-year follow-up period, malaria prevalence and incidence decreased by more than 70% and 50%, respectively. Possibly, this could be attributed to the setting up of a passive case detection system based on village health workers, indicating that a major impact on the malaria burden can be obtained whenever prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment are available.</p

Tumour microbiomes and Fusobacterium genomics in Vietnamese colorectal cancer patients.

Perturbations in the gut microbiome have been associated with colorectal cancer (CRC), with the colonic overabundance of Fusobacterium nucleatum shown as the most consistent marker. Despite its significance in the promotion of CRC, genomic studies of Fusobacterium is limited. We enrolled 43 Vietnamese CRC patients and 25 participants with non-cancerous colorectal polyps to study the colonic microbiomes and genomic diversity of Fusobacterium in this population, using a combination of 16S rRNA gene profiling, anaerobic microbiology, and whole genome analysis. Oral bacteria, including F. nucleatum and Leptotrichia, were significantly more abundant in the tumour microbiomes. We obtained 53 Fusobacterium genomes, representing 26 strains, from the saliva, tumour and non-tumour tissues of six CRC patients. Isolates from the gut belonged to diverse F. nucleatum subspecies (nucleatum, animalis, vincentii, polymorphum) and a potential new subspecies of Fusobacterium periodonticum. The Fusobacterium population within each individual was distinct and in some cases diverse, with minimal intra-clonal variation. Phylogenetic analyses showed that within four individuals, tumour-associated Fusobacterium were clonal to those isolated from non-tumour tissues. Genes encoding major virulence factors (Fap2 and RadD) showed evidence of horizontal gene transfer. Our work provides a framework to understand the genomic diversity of Fusobacterium within the CRC patients, which can be exploited for the development of CRC diagnostic and therapeutic options targeting this oncobacterium

Relationship Between Metacognitive Awareness of Undergraduate Students and Students&rsquo; Academic Performance at Vietnam Military Medical University

Kien Xuan Nguyen,1,&ast; Tien Viet Tran,2 Thuan Duc Nghiem,3 Tuan Ngoc Tran,1 Thang Ba Ta,4 Ba Van Nguyen,5 Tuan Dinh Le,6,&ast; Son Tien Nguyen,6 Kien Trung Nguyen,7 Hoa Trung Dinh,8 Dinh Cong Pho,9 Toan Nguyen Duy,10,&ast; Pham Quoc Toan11 1Department of Military Medical Command and Organization, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 2Department of Infectious Diseases, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 3Department of Otolaryngology, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 4Respiratory Center, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 5Department of Oncology, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 6Department of Rheumatology and Endocrinology, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 7Center of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 8Department of Requested Treatment, National Hospital of Endocrinology, Hanoi, Vietnam; 9Department of Military Science, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 10Cardiovascular Center, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Medical Military University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam; 11Department of Nephrology, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Pham Quoc Toan, Department of Nephrology, Military Hospital 103, Vietnam Military Medical University, 160 Phung Hung Street, Phuc La Ward, Ha Dong District, Hanoi, Vietnam, Email [email protected]: Metacognition plays an essential role in competency-based medical education. Metacognitive skills consist of knowledge and regulation metacognition. This study was conducted to investigate the metacognition of undergraduate students and its correlation with students’ academic performance.Methods: The metacognitive skills inventory comprised 52 binary-scale items administered to 202 Vietnam Military Medical University medical students. The entire semester and clinical results were used to measure their academic performance.Results: Medical students’ total metacognitive awareness score was high (median 0.8). The median metacognitive knowledge score was significantly lower than the metacognitive regulation score (0.7 vs 0.8, respectively). The participants with a total metacognition score ≥ 0.8 had significantly higher academic results (full semester exam results of 7.4 and clinical exam of 7.5). The group of participants in the military, having sports habits and usually searching academic documents in English, had a higher proportion of total metacognitive awareness score ≥ 0.8 than the group without these above characteristics (with the percentages of 53.3%, 59%, and 64.3%, respectively; p < 0.05). The number of books read by participants with a total metacognitive awareness score ≥ 0.8 was significantly higher than those with a total metacognitive awareness score < 0.8 (3.5 compared to 2.4 books).Conclusion: Metacognitive awareness of Vietnam Military Medical University medical students was likely to be high. A high score of metacognitive awareness could predict high academic performance. Being a military student, playing sports, reading books, and searching English documents were predictors of better metacognitive awareness.Keywords: metacognition, medical student, metacognitive awareness, academic performanc

An influence of bottom electrode material on electrical conduction and resistance switching of TiO

We investigated the electrical conduction and resistance switching mechanisms of TiOx thin films grown on three kinds of bottom electrode at room temperature (an inert Pt, an active Ti and fluorine tin oxide FTO electrodes). The bottom electrode materials strongly affect the I-V characteristics and switching parameters. The I-V characteristic is explained through the presence of interface states in the metal electrode devices (Pt and Ti) and the work function in the metal oxide device (FTO). The Pt device has the smallest VSET and largest switching ratio, while the Ti device shows the largest VSET and smallest switching ratio. XPS data shows non-lattice oxygen in TiOx films. Therefore, the proposed bipolar resistance switching arises from formation and rupture of filament paths, generated by the movement of oxygen vacancies. All devices depict the same electrical conductions, trap-controlled space-charge-limited, FN tunneling and Ohmic conductions for a high resistance state and a low resistance state, respectively. In this study, the rarely reported FN tunneling conduction in published TiOx-based ReRAM device was found, which can be attributed to an influence of the bottom electrode on the electronic distribution in devices