THE IMPACT OF PROTESTANTISM ON THE ECONOMY OF THE COHO CHIL PEOPLE IN LAM DONG PROVINCE

This study examines the relationship between Protestantism and the Coho Chil economy using qualitative methods to analyze data from fieldwork in the Coho Chil Protestant communities of Lam Dong Province. The research shows that Protestantism has a positive impact on the economy of the Coho Chil community. This impact is manifested in casting out superstitious and magical practices and in applying economic rationalization. The Protestant doctrine and sermons by clergy have influenced the thinking of the people and their economic performance. Protestantism creates a social network and social capital that not only influences their economic life, but also provides timely material support for Christians in need. This paper serves as an additional resource for research related to the relationship between religion and the economy – an intriguing topic that is not found in much previous research in Vietnam.This study examines the relationship between Protestantism and the Coho Chil economy using qualitative methods to analyze data from fieldwork in the Coho Chil Protestant communities of Lam Dong Province. The research shows that Protestantism has a positive impact on the economy of the Coho Chil community. This impact is manifested in casting out superstitious and magical practices and in applying economic rationalization. The Protestant doctrine and sermons by clergy have influenced the thinking of the people and their economic performance. Protestantism creates a social network and social capital that not only influences their economic life, but also provides timely material support for Christians in need. This paper serves as an additional resource for research related to the relationship between religion and the economy – an intriguing topic that is not found in much previous research in Vietnam

New H∞ control design for polytopic systems with mixed time-varying delays in state and input

This paper concerns with the problem of state-feedback H∞ control design for a class of linear systems with polytopic uncertainties and mixed time-varying delays in state and input. Our approach can be described as follows. We first construct a state-feedback controller based on the idea of parameter-dependent controller design. By constructing a new parameter-dependent Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (LKF), we then derive new delay-dependent conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities ensuring the exponential stability of the corresponding closed-loop system with a H∞ disturbance attenuation level. The effectiveness and applicability of the obtained results are demonstrated by practical examples

Evaluation of COVID-19 protease and HIV inhibitors interactions

The epidemic of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that started in 2019 has evoked an urgent demand for finding new potential therapeutic agents. In this study, we performed a molecular docking of anti-HIV drugs to refine HIV protease inhibitors and nucleotide analogues to target COVID-19. The evaluation was based on docking scores calculated by AutoDock Vina and top binding poses were analyzed. Our results suggested that lopinavir, darunavir, atazanavir, remdesivir, and tipranavir have the best binding affinity for the 3-chymotrypsin-like protease of COVID-19. The comparison of the binding sites of three drugs, namely, darunavir, atazanavir and remdesivir, showed an overlap region of the protein pocket. Our study showed a strong affinity between lopinavir, darunavir, atazanavir, tipranavir and COVID-19 protease. However, their efficacy should be confirmed by in vitro studies since there are concerns related to interference with their active sites

Kinetics of Viremia and NS1 Antigenemia Are Shaped by Immune Status and Virus Serotype in Adults with Dengue

Dengue is an acute viral disease that affects tens of millions of people annually in tropical and sub-tropical countries. In some cases, this infection happens to be severe and even life threatening. Severe cases have been associated with higher levels of virus in the blood. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the occurrence of these cases notably by involving the patient's history of previous DEN virus infection(s). Little is known about the relationships between the evolution over time of virus levels in the blood, the clinical outcome and the previous infection(s) history—a better understanding of these features could help in anti-viral drug development. To analyze these relationships, we studied well characterized patients who participated in a clinical trial. The majority of these patients were infected by DENV-1 serotype and had higher levels of virus than those infected by DENV-2 and sometimes DENV-3 serotypes. We also found that patients with more severe symptoms had higher levels of virus in the first days of their illness. We found as well that the virus was cleared faster and earlier from the blood of patients previously infected. These findings are of major importance for further anti-viral drug testing

Perceptual Learning Style Preference for Medical Terminology: A Case Study of 20 ESP Students

Due to the globalization, there has been a great demand for learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in different fields. How to teach medical terminology effectively to pre-service medical professionals is one of the main challenges that ESP instructors encounter in their English in Medicine classrooms. A variety of factors, including but are not limited to student learning style preference, prior knowledge, classroom facilities should be considered. In this study, we conducted a case study of 20 students in an ESP class to explore their learning style preference. This study employed two data collection instruments: questionnaire and interview. Data analysis interestingly revealed that the location of students’ secondary education has an influence on their perceptual learning style preference of medical terminology at tertiary level. Drawing on the results, this study argues for a balance between student learning preference and teaching mythology. Keywords: ESP, perceptual learning style preference, medical terminology DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/66-06 Publication date:March 31st 202

A Phenomenological Study of Writing Error Correction: Perspectives of an English Language Learner in Two Different Contexts

In second language writing, student errors in grammatical structure, word choice, or idea expression are a common phenomenon. How these errors should be treated poses a challenging question. In this qualitative study I attempt to explore the impacts of some current methods of error correction in second language writing through a phenomenological study of an English language learners who studied in Vietnam and the United States. The study participant was invited to reflect his learning experiences in an interview with the researcher. Theme-based analysis of the interview revealed that the manner in which teachers correct errors can have a considerable impact on student motivation to improve second language writing. The study participant indicated that over-correction of language errors inhibited his motivation to write in second language and that language teachers may consider providing an adequate amount of correction and feedback. Pedagogical recommendations are made to help teachers make appropriate corrections for their students’ writing papers. Keywords: second language writing, error correction, theme analysis DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/94-02 Publication date: December 31st 202

HIV prevalence and factors associated with HIV infection among male injection drug users under 30: a cross-sectional study in Long An, Vietnam

BACKGROUND: Sufficient targeted HIV prevention activities aiming at reducing HIV transmission within and from an extremely marginalized population of injection drug users (IDUs) must urgently and efficiently be implemented in Vietnam. This study was conducted to facilitate the development of such activities by describing transmission risks of young IDUs and evaluating factors in association with HIV infection. METHODS: Thirty clusters were selected from 29 hotspot communes in Long An province by probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling method. The snowball technique was used for enrolling participants in each cluster. The cross-sectional association of factors obtained during direct structured interviews to 248 male IDUs aged 14 to 29 years old and with their HIV test results were examined. RESULTS: The HIV prevalence among the studied IDUs was 32%. Age range of 18–20 years old, low educational level, sharing injection equipment or injection drug use in the other cities were independently associated with HIV serostatus in the multivariate analysis. Sexual behaviors did not differ between HIV-positive and -negative IDUs. Among HIV seropositive IDUs who had sexual contact with primary (n = 37), casual (n = 6), and commercial (n = 15) partners, only 5.4% (n = 2), 33.3% (n = 2), and 46.7% (n = 7), respectively, responded that they had used condoms every time. CONCLUSION: About one-third of young IDUs aged less than 30 identified in the hotspot communes in Long An, Vietnam was found to be infected with HIV, and socio-demographic and injection-related factors might account for the infection risk. Prevailing risky sexual behavior of this extremely marginalized population highlights the need to reduce their high transmission risks as a public health priority

Temporal fluctuation of multidrug resistant salmonella typhi haplotypes in the mekong river delta region of Vietnam.

BACKGROUND: typhoid fever remains a public health problem in Vietnam, with a significant burden in the Mekong River delta region. Typhoid fever is caused by the bacterial pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi), which is frequently multidrug resistant with reduced susceptibility to fluoroquinolone-based drugs, the first choice for the treatment of typhoid fever. We used a GoldenGate (Illumina) assay to type 1,500 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and analyse the genetic variation of S. Typhi isolated from 267 typhoid fever patients in the Mekong delta region participating in a randomized trial conducted between 2004 and 2005. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: the population of S. Typhi circulating during the study was highly clonal, with 91% of isolates belonging to a single clonal complex of the S. Typhi H58 haplogroup. The patterns of disease were consistent with the presence of an endemic haplotype H58-C and a localised outbreak of S. Typhi haplotype H58-E2 in 2004. H58-E2-associated typhoid fever cases exhibited evidence of significant geo-spatial clustering along the Sông H u branch of the Mekong River. Multidrug resistance was common in the established clone H58-C but not in the outbreak clone H58-E2, however all H58 S. Typhi were nalidixic acid resistant and carried a Ser83Phe amino acid substitution in the gyrA gene. SIGNIFICANCE: the H58 haplogroup dominates S. Typhi populations in other endemic areas, but the population described here was more homogeneous than previously examined populations, and the dominant clonal complex (H58-C, -E1, -E2) observed in this study has not been detected outside Vietnam. IncHI1 plasmid-bearing S. Typhi H58-C was endemic during the study period whilst H58-E2, which rarely carried the plasmid, was only transient, suggesting a selective advantage for the plasmid. These data add insight into the outbreak dynamics and local molecular epidemiology of S. Typhi in southern Vietnam

Optimization of culture conditions of Streptomyces antibioticus strain 1083 to improve the antimicrobial activity against Aeromonas hydrophila

Fish is a healthy, high protein and low fat food that encourages the health and growth of people, especially children. However, in fact fish is very sensitive to many diseases which affects the productivity and quality of fish. Therefore, identifying the cause of the diseases and finding preventive measures become an urgent task today. In the previous study, we isolated Streptomyces antibioticus strain 1083 that has the ability to antagonize Aeromonas hydrophila - a pathogenic bacterium in fish. Based on the obtained results, we continue to perform this study to determine optimal conditions for the culture of S. antibioticus strain 1083 in order to produce antimicrobial compounds against A. hydrophila. The production of antagonists by the strain 1083 was optimized by controlling the condition of different inoculations such as media, pH, temperature and incubation period. The results indicated that International Streptomyces Project 2 (ISP2) was the best medium for S. antibioticus strain 1083 to produce the highest antimicrobial activity against A. hydrophila with 32 mm in diameter of inhibited zone. The actinomycete strain 1083 could express the maximum antimicrobial activity when they were incubated in shaker incubator (200rpm) at 40oC with pH8 in 8 days. The ability of the actinomycete strain in antagonism against A. hydrophila was evaluated by adding different culture medium volume of S. antibioticus strain 1083. With adding 10% cultured solution volume of S. antibioticus strain 1083 into the culture medium of A. hydrophila, after 1 day of inoculation the number of pathogenic bacteria cells were completely eliminated