Performance of export-oriented small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in Viet Nam

The study recommends the formulation of policies that support the development of business linkages and networking, and which promote subcontracting arrangements between small and large enterprises or between domestic firms and foreign investment enterprises. It is also necessary to support and facilitate the direct involvement of SMMEs in exporting or indirectly through large manufacturing enterprises.Export-oriented, SME,SMME, Viet Nam

Half-duplex energy harvesting relay network over different fading environment: System performance with effect of hardware impairment

In this paper, we introduce a half-duplex (HD) energy harvesting (EH) relay network over the different fading environment with the effect of hardware impairment (HI). The model system was investigated with the amplify-and-forward (AF) and the power splitting (PS) protocols. The system performance analysis in term of the outage probability (OP), achievable throughput (AT), and bit error rate (BER) were demonstrated with the closed-form expressions. In addition, the power splitting (PS) factor was investigated. We verified the analytical analysis by Monte Carlo simulation with all primary parameters. From the results, we can state that the analytical and simulation results match well with each other.Web of Science911art. no. Unsp 228

Studies on antimicrobial activities of endophytic bacteria isolated from Neem tree (Azadirachta indica)

The objective of this study is to isolate endophytic bacteria from Azadirachta indica (neem). We isolated 7 strains of endogenous bacteria from the neem tree. By investing the anti-fungal and antibacterial activities of endophytic bacteria in A. indica by well diffusion agar method, we noticed there was KT2 strain which resisted to Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus (10.67 ± 0.33 mm and 9.67 ± 0.33 mm), KT3 strain showed the inhibitory activity to three human pathogenic fungal (Candida albicans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum), two strains (KT1, KT2) which resisted to C. albicans and T. rubrum. According to Cowan and Steel's manual, the result of biochemical identification showed that the KT2 strain was the Bacillus subtilis species

Clinical Characteristics and Histopathology of Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane in Vietnam

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM) is an avascular proliferation of different types of cells between the posterior vitreous cortex and the internal limiting membrane. That causes visual impairment including blurry, distortion, scotoma. Many studies of iERM were done to describe the clinical characteristics and investigate the histopathology of this disease. Nonetheless, there has not been a study of iERM histopathology in Vietnam. AIMS: To describe clinical characteristics and histopathological results of idiopathic retinal membrane and the association between them. METHODS: A cross sectional decriptive study of 35 iERMs (33 patients) in Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO). RESULTS: High morbidity incidence was in group age >50 years (32/35), female gender (26/35), limited movement works (27/35), and high educational levels (28/35). Distortion was the highest (77.14%), scotoma and floater was less frequent (28.5%, 45.7%). Macular edema in all cases and PVD and exudate were high frequent (65.7%, 62.8%). Symptom duration was 8.2 ± 4.7 months, (1-21 months). Mean of central macular thickness was 468.51 ± 97.24 µm (656-274 µm). Six types of cell were detected, including glial cell (35/35), fibroblast (23/35), myofibroblast (23/35), macrophage (13/35), lymphocyte (5/35) and neutrophil (2/35). The number of cell types in one sample ranged from 1-5 types (2.85 ± 1.28 cell types). Number of cell types were correlated to symptom duration (r = 0.47, p = 0.004, Pearson's test) and central macular thickness (r = 0.72, p < 0.001, Pearson's test). CONCLUSION: There were 6 types of cells in iERM. Glial cell was the most frequent cell, inflammatory cells (macrophage, lymphocyte, neutrophil) was also detected. The number of cell types was stastitically correlated to symptom duration and CMT

EVALUATION OF EFFICACY OF NIBRG-14 VACCINE AGAINST HIGHLY PATHOGENIC H5N1 VIRUSES ISOLATED DURING 2011 INFLUENZA OUTBREAKS IN VIETNAM

Highly pathogenic avian  influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses continue to be endemic  in many Asian countries causing  lethal  infections  in human. The vaccine virus  (NIBRG-14) developed from a H5N1 virus strain (A/Vietnam/1194/2004) has been approved by WHO for use in human as  well  as  poultry  vaccine.  It  is  well-known  that  the  A/H5N1  viruses  have  diversified  both genetically  and  antigenically  allowing  them  to  escape  from  the  host  immune  surveillance system.  Therefore,  evaluation  of  the  vaccine  immunogenicity  and  its  relationship  to  newly emerging  viruses  is  crucially  important. NIBRG-14 virus particles propagated  in  embryonated chicken eggs were inactivated with formalin and adjuvanted with mineral oil to form a water-in-oil emulsion. The  resulting vaccine was  injected  subcutaneously  into chickens and ducks. The vaccinated birds were challenged with  the HPAI virus strains circulating  in Vietnam  including clade  1,  clade  2.3.2.1a  and  2.3.2.1b  at  day  21  post-vaccination  (p.  v.).  We  observed  that vaccinated birds were protected from manifestation of disease signs upon challenge with HPAI clade 1 and clade 2.3.2.1a viruses; however,  it did not confer protection against clade 2.3.2.1b challenge  andstressing  the  need  for  development  of  new  effective  vaccines  against  the  newly emerging viruses

Simultaneously induced mutations in eIF4E genes by CRISPR/Cas9 enhance PVY resistance in tobacco

Tobacco is an important commercial crop and a rich source of alkaloids for pharmaceutical and agricultural applications. However, its yield can be reduced by up to 70% due to virus infections, especially by a potyvirus Potato virus Y (PVY). The replication of PVY relies on host factors, and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4Es (eIF4Es) have already been identified as recessive resistance genes against potyviruses in many plant species. To investigate the molecular basis of PVY resistance in the widely cultivated allotetraploid tobacco variety K326, we developed a dual guide RNA CRISPR/Cas9 system for combinatorial gene editing of two clades, eIF4E1 (eIF4E1-S and eIF4E1-T) and eIF4E2 (eIF4E2-S and eIF4E2-T) in the eIF4E gene family comprising six members in tobacco. We screened for CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations by heteroduplex analysis and Sanger sequencing, and monitored PVY(O) accumulation in virus challenged regenerated plants by DAS-ELISA both in T0 and T1 generations. We found that all T0 lines carrying targeted mutations in the eIF4E1-S gene displayed enhanced resistance to PVY(O) confirming previous reports. More importantly, our combinatorial approach revealed that eIF4E1-S is necessary but not sufficient for complete PVY resistance. Only the quadruple mutants harboring loss-of-function mutations in eIF4E1-S, eIF4E1-T, eIF4E2-S and eIF4E2-T showed heritable high-level resistance to PVY(O) in tobacco. Our work highlights the importance of understanding host factor redundancy in virus replication and provides a roadmap to generate virus resistance by combinatorial CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing in non-model crop plants with complex genomes

Long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks for short-term water level prediction in Mekong river estuaries

This study firstly adopts a state-of-the-art deep learning approach based on a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network for predicting the hourly water level of Mekong estuaries in Vietnam. The LSTM models were developed from around 8,760 hourly data points within 2018 and were evaluated using the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and root mean square error (RMSE). The results showed that the NSE values for the training and testing steps were both above 0.98, which can be regarded as very good performance. Furthermore, the RMSE were between 0.09 and 0.11 m for the training and between 0.10 and 0.12 m for the testing, while MAE for the training ranged from 0.07 to 0.08 m and varied from 0.08 to 0.10 m for the testing. The LSTM networks appear to enable high precision and robustness in water level time series prediction. The outcomes of this research have crucial implications in river water level predictions, especially from the viewpoint of employing deep learning algorithms

H2_{2}O2_{2} production in Lactobacillus strains isolated from the intestinal microbiome of healthy people

Lactobacillus sp. in the digestive tract are capable of producing H2O2 to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria and balance the gut microflora. In this study, we have isolated 115 strains of Lactobacillus spp. from stool samples of healthy people in Ha Noi. Of the 50 tested Lactobacillus strains, 9 strains were capable of producing H2O2, of which the Lac.VFE-14 strain produced highly H2O2 with a concentration of 2.183 mM, followed by Lac.VFE-08 strains (2.081 mM) and Lac.VFE-04 (2.067 mM). All three strains grew well in MRS medium supplemented with bile salts or adjusted to low pH value. With 0.3% of bile salt, the survival rates of these 3 strains were 99%, 95% and 97%, respectively. At pH 3.0, after 3 hours of cultivation, the survival rates of the three strains were 98.54%, 94.15% and 95.27%, respectively. In addition, each of the cell-free culture supernatants of these three strains that inhibit the growth of S. aureus ATCC-23235. The inhibition zone diameters of the three strains were 19.0±1.0 mm, 14.0±1.0 mm and 11.7±1.3 mm, respectively. The results of 16S rRNA gene analyses showed that Lac.VFE-14, Lac.VFE-08 and Lac.VFE-04 had high similarity scores with L. plantarum ZZU 23 (100%), L. rhamnosus JCM 1136 (99%) and L. plantarum S7 (98.65%), respectively. This study indicates that all three strains have the potential to be used as probiotics in the future. 

Awareness and preparedness of healthcare workers against the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey across 57 countries.

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave. METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training. RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0-14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6-32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with previous outbreak experience, or HCWs who were trained for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, had significantly higher levels of preparedness and awareness (p<0.001). Association rule mining suggests that nurses and doctors who had a 'great-extent-of-confidence' in handling suspected COVID-19 patients had participated in COVID-19 training courses. Male participants (mean difference = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.46; p<0.001) and nurses (mean difference = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.81; p<0.001) had higher preparedness scores compared to women participants and doctors. INTERPRETATION: There was an unsurprising high level of awareness and preparedness among HCWs who participated in COVID-19 training courses. However, disparity existed along the lines of gender and type of HCW. It is unknown whether the difference in COVID-19 preparedness that we detected early in the pandemic may have translated into disproportionate SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease by gender or HCW type