Choosing ERP system for a Vietnamese Small‐sized retailing company : Case ThaiLai LTD

Information sharing is very important in any organization. However, having reliable information and continuous flow of it between departments is not an easy goal to achieve, especially without help of technology. A small-sized retailing company in Vietnam was the object of researching. The traditional way which they work and the results it delivers were studied and analyzed. After having a big picture of the company’s operation, ERP systems from chosen vendors were analyzed to find out which system can fulfill the needs of the organization. In order to do that, the following questions had to be answered, “What features of an ERP system does ThaiLai Ltd. expect?”, ”Who will become the potential ERP vendors for ThaiLai Ltd. in Vietnam?” and “What Logistics-oriented advantages an ERP implementation will give ThaiLai Ltd.?”. Case study approach was used. Necessary data for analysis was collected by Qualitative research method. At the beginning, theoretical basis was created to elaborate the subject with clarity. Later, it served as foundation for analyzing and grading of the chosen ERP systems. Several interviews were conducted to draw perspectives of important people from the host company, to identify their needs and expectations. As a result, three research questions were answered, including finding a suitable ERP system for ThaiLai Ltd., regarding their greatest concern about inventory validity and information sharing

In-vivo optical detection of cancer using chlorin e6 – polyvinylpyrrolidone induced fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Photosensitizer based fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy is fast becoming a promising approach for cancer detection. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of the photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6) formulated in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a potential exogenous fluorophore for fluorescence imaging and spectroscopic detection of human cancer tissue xenografted in preclinical models as well as in a patient.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fluorescence imaging was performed on MGH human bladder tumor xenografted on both the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and the murine model using a fluorescence endoscopy imaging system. In addition, fiber optic based fluorescence spectroscopy was performed on tumors and various normal organs in the same mice to validate the macroscopic images. In one patient, fluorescence imaging was performed on angiosarcoma lesions and normal skin in conjunction with fluorescence spectroscopy to validate Ce6-PVP induced fluorescence visual assessment of the lesions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Margins of tumor xenografts in the CAM model were clearly outlined under fluorescence imaging. Ce6-PVP-induced fluorescence imaging yielded a specificity of 83% on the CAM model. In mice, fluorescence intensity of Ce6-PVP was higher in bladder tumor compared to adjacent muscle and normal bladder. Clinical results confirmed that fluorescence imaging clearly captured the fluorescence of Ce6-PVP in angiosarcoma lesions and good correlation was found between fluorescence imaging and spectral measurement in the patient.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Combination of Ce6-PVP induced fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy could allow for optical detection and discrimination between cancer and the surrounding normal tissues. Ce6-PVP seems to be a promising fluorophore for fluorescence diagnosis of cancer.</p

Impact of PLA/PEG ratios on Curcumin solubility and encapsulation efficiency, size and release behavior of Curcumin loaded poly(lactide)-poly(ethylenglycol) polymeric micelles

Curcumin, a natural compound isolated from rhizomes of the herb Curcuma longa, is suggested as a potential therapeutic agent thanks to its multiple biological and pharmaceutical activities including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, wound healing, anti-microbial and anti-cancer activities. Particularly, Curcumin has demonstrated efficacy as an anticancer agent for various kinds of cancer. However, its low aqueous solubility and bioavailability hamper its clinical application. Therefore, many drug delivery systems have been developed to overcome these limitations. In this study, by using polymeric micelles composed by poly (lactide)-poly (ethylenglycol) (PLA-PEG) copolymers, the aqueous solubility of Curcumin was increased to 0.73 mg.mL-1 compared to 0.11×10-4 mg.mL-1 of pure Curcumin. In addition, we found that the ratio of PLA/PEG has large impact on Curcumin solubility, Curcumin encapsulation efficiency, size and Curcumin release behavior of polymeric micelles. The increase in Curcumin solubility, Curcumin encapsulation efficacy and particle size but decrease in Curcumin release rate were observed when increasing the PLA/PEG ratio

Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever in the South of Vietnam during 1975-1992 and Its Control Strategy

The incidence of dengue (DEN) virus infection in Vietnam has increased dramatically in the past 30 years. From 1960 up to now, the number of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) cases has been continuing to increase and recorded as the greatest one in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific Regions. DHF was endemic in South Vietnam and 30-380 cases/100,000 population were reported annually. Major epidemics have occurred in a 3-4 years frequency, as in 1975, 1978-1979, 1983 and 1987. The 1987 outbreak was the largest one with 83,905 cases and 904 deaths. DHF epidemics usually took place from June to November every year. The peak transmission was recorded in July-August and September, coinciding with the rainy season and the breeding period of Aedes aegypti. The majority of confirmed cases was children of 5-6 year-old-group, in which there was no sex difference. In the virological surveillance in Ho Chi Minh City and in some surrounding provinces, several DEN virus strains were isolated from patients\u27 blood as well as from the mosquitoes. In the 1987 DHF outbreak, DEN-2 was the dominant sero-type (90.5%). But from 1990 the epidemic sero-type has changed, DEN-1 was introduced and was continuing to grow-up (58%). Then in 1992 outbreak, the DEN-2 was reintroduced, from 26.3% in 1991 has increased to 41.4%. Serological investigation of healthy persons in 12/17 southern provinces had demonstrated that there were relatively wide circulations of DEN, Japanese encephalitis (JE) and chikungunya (Chik) viruses and the endemic strains of DEN were found different in some studied areas. There had been augmentation of primary infection rate and decrease of the susceptibility rate in children prior to the DHF epidemic. Seven JE virus strains were isolated from dengue fever (DF) patients\u27 blood. This fact has introduced as a new concept in the isolation of JE virus. In the final pant of the report, the authors stressed on the "Active surveillance" as a new strategy for controlling the DHF epidemic in South Vietnam. The goal of this active surveillance is to have early warning and predictive capability for epidemic dengue, based on serological and clinical surveillance. Because dengue cases were detected in January-February of every year, so the base line is: when first cases of DF/DHF were detected, it needs to be promptly implemented the larval control and insecticide must be sprayed around the patient\u27s houses. But now almost Provincial Centers of Hygiene and Epidemiology often waited and when big DHF epidemic had already occurred, they started to implement its control measures, so it is too late to control the DHF outbreak

Current Situation of Japanese Encephalitis in the South of Vietnam, 1976-1992

Cases of "Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)" and deaths were reported annually in all 17 provinces in the South of Vietnam. The highest morbidity of 936 patients was recorded in 1980, while highest mortality of 339 deaths in 1977. The lowest figures of morbidity was 197 cases in 1990 and lowest mortality was 34 deaths in 1985. Sporadic cases were reported throughout the year but small outbreaks with low peaks were seen in February and July annually. Twenty five strains of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus were isolated during 1978-1992: 8 from patients\u27 blood, 5 from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), 9 from Culex quinquefasciatus, 3 from Aedes aegypti. Serologically confirmed JE cases were not many, because most of the human sera sent to us for testing were used for differential diagnosis of pernicious malaria. The anti-JE antibody prevalence among healthy human in 11/17 provinces was found to be extremely high, especially in adults. The antibody positive rate among swine to JE was found to be high: 82% with GMT 65.2 in 189 sera taken at My Tho-Tien Giang province in March 1978 and 77.4% with GMT 49.7 in 261 sera taken in the vicinity of Ho Chi Minh City in September 1992. From the above data, the Southern part of Vietnam is an endemo-epidemic area of JE virus infection

Pragmatic economic valuation of adaptation risk and responses across scales Case study in Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the countries particularly vulnerable to climate change. Increased temperatures, increased salinity intrusion due to sea-level rise and altering precipitation patterns significantly affect livelihood options of smallholder farmers, resulting in losses in agricultural production. These impacts are projected to become increasingly severe, hence, adaptation to climate change and sensitivity needs to be assessed and adaptation measures taken. This study provides a vulnerability assessment based on the results for exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. This includes present and projected future climatic conditions and hazards, crop suitability analyses and socioeconomic assessments on a district scale. In addition, a case study is presented focusing on the two provinces of Tra Vinh and Ben Tre, identified as highly vulnerable in the Mekong Delta area. The case study shows opportunities, economic trade-offs and barriers of adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices to adapt to progressive climate change

Multifunctional nanocarriers of Fe3O4@PLA-PEG/curcumin for MRI, magnetic hyperthermia and drug delivery

Background: Despite medicinal advances, cancer is still a big problem requiring better diagnostic and treatment tools. Magnetic nanoparticle (MNP)-based nanosystems for multiple-purpose applications were developed for these unmet needs. Methods: This study fabricated novel trifunctional MNPs of Fe3O4@PLA-PEG for drug release, MRI and magnetic fluid hyperthermia. Result: The MNPs provided a significant loading of curcumin (∼11%) with controllable release ability, a high specific absorption rate of 82.2 W/g and significantly increased transverse relaxivity (r2 = 364.75 mM-1 s-1). The in vivo study confirmed that the MNPs enhanced MRI contrast in tumor observation and low-field magnetic fluid hyperthermia could effectively reduce the tumor size in mice bearing sarcoma 180. Conclusion: The nanocarrier has potential for drug release, cancer treatment monitoring and therapy.The authors are grateful for the financial support by AOARD under award FA2386-17-1-4042. The Spanish government is acknowledged for the “Nanotechnology in translational hyperthermia (HIPERNANO)” research network (RED2018102626-T) and for funding under the project number MAT2017-83631-C3. NTK Thanh thanks EPSRC (EP/M015157/1). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed

A comparison between Hydrochloric acid and Trifluoroacetic acid in hydrolysis method of exopolysaccharide from Ophiocordyceps sinensis in Monosaccharide composition analysis by GC-FID

The monosaccharide composition is one of the crucial factors affecting the bioactivity of exopolysaccharide (EPS) in Cordyceps species. Therefore, many scientists have studied, analyzed monosaccharide composition and structure of EPS from Cordyceps species, especially Ophiocordyceps sinensis (O. sinensis). This study aimed to compare hydrochloric acid (HCl) with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the EPS hydrolysis process in monosaccharide composition analysis by Gas Chromatography with Flame-Ionization Detection (GC-FID). The hydrolysis is a crucial step in forming the acetyl derivative, which helps the GC-FID technique to have good results in monosaccharide composition analysis. The results showed that hydrolysis with HCl gave a higher hydrolysis efficiency and was more suitable than hydrolysis by TFA in pretreatment to EPS for GC-FID. Hydrolysis results were analyzed through thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), then Acetyl derivatives were produced and finally analyzed by GC-FID to determine the monosaccharide composition of EPS. For EPS hydrolyzed by HCl, the analytical results presented that this sample had 6 kinds of monosaccharides, including rhamnose, arabinose, xylose, mannose, glucose, and galactose; the most monosaccharide was glucose. The EPS hydrolyzed by TFA only detected three kinds of monosaccharides, including mannose, arabinose, and galactose, mainly mannose. The study has set a foundation for further analysis of monosaccharide composition and structure of EPS from O. sinensis

Risk factors for the development of severe typhoid fever in Vietnam

Background Typhoid fever is a systemic infection caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. Age, sex, prolonged duration of illness, and infection with an antimicrobial resistant organism have been proposed risk factors for the development of severe disease or fatality in typhoid fever. Methods We analysed clinical data from 581 patients consecutively admitted with culture confirmed typhoid fever to two hospitals in Vietnam during two periods in 1993–1995 and 1997–1999. These periods spanned a change in the antimicrobial resistance phenotypes of the infecting organisms i.e. fully susceptible to standard antimicrobials, resistance to chloramphenicol, ampicillin and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (multidrug resistant, MDR), and intermediate susceptibility to ciprofloxacin (nalidixic acid resistant). Age, sex, duration of illness prior to admission, hospital location and the presence of MDR or intermediate ciprofloxacin susceptibility in the infecting organism were examined by logistic regression analysis to identify factors independently associated with severe typhoid at the time of hospital admission. Results The prevalence of severe typhoid was 15.5% (90/581) and included: gastrointestinal bleeding (43; 7.4%); hepatitis (29; 5.0%); encephalopathy (16; 2.8%); myocarditis (12; 2.1%); intestinal perforation (6; 1.0%); haemodynamic shock (5; 0.9%), and death (3; 0.5%). Severe disease was more common with increasing age, in those with a longer duration of illness and in patients infected with an organism exhibiting intermediate susceptibility to ciprofloxacin. Notably an MDR phenotype was not associated with severe disease. Severe disease was independently associated with infection with an organism with an intermediate susceptibility to ciprofloxacin (AOR 1.90; 95% CI 1.18-3.07; p = 0.009) and male sex (AOR 1.61 (1.00-2.57; p = 0.035). Conclusions In this group of patients hospitalised with typhoid fever infection with an organism with intermediate susceptibility to ciprofloxacin was independently associated with disease severity. During this period many patients were being treated with fluoroquinolones prior to hospital admission. Ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin should be used with caution in patients infected with S. Typhi that have intermediate susceptibility to ciprofloxacin