Wind, Water, Wall-Woman

Excerpts from I-Blue, a book in progres

Changes in surface chemical composition relating to rehydration properties of spray-dried camel milk powder during accelerated storage

Alterations in surface chemical composition relating to rehydration properties of spray-dried camel milk powders during accelerated storage (11–33% RH, 37 °C) over 18 weeks were investigated. The results showed that the surface of the fresh spray-dried camel milk powder (t = 0) was dominated by lipids (78%), followed by proteins (16%) and lactose (6%). During storage, the surface protein and lactose content decreased while the surface lipid content increased, resulting in an increase in surface hydrophobicity and slight agglomeration of the powder, especially for powder kept at 33% RH. Although fresh camel milk powder had very poor wettability, it displayed very high dispersibility and solubility (99%). During storage, dispersibility and solubility declined with increasing storage time and increasing RH levels, which correlated with an increase in surface lipid content. However, at the end of the storage period, camel milk powder still retained very high solubility (>93%).Peer reviewe

Carbonization and H3PO4 activation of fern Dicranopteris linearis and electrochemical properties for electric double layer capacitor electrode

Today, the world’s climate change is a growing problem, plant carbon sequestration is one of the effective ways to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gases, mostly carbon gases. Dicranopteris linearis (D. linearis), a common fern species in the tropic or subtropic ecoregions, has been recently recognized as a potential feedstock to produce highly porous biochar. This study aims to enhance the specific surface area (SSA) and pore volumes of biochars derived from the D. linearis by H3PO4 activation and examine electrical properties of the activated biochars and their possible usage for the electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) electrode. The treated raw fern was activated with H3PO4 85% by the three different mixing ratios 1:0, 1:1, and 1:3 (w/w) and then pyrolysis under N2 flow maintained at 500 °C for 1 h. The performance as the electrode for an EDLC was evaluated in 1 mol L−1 H2SO4 solution for the H3PO4-activated samples. The SSA and pore volumes were drastically increased after activation. The maximum SSA and pore volume were 1212 m2 g−1 and 1.43 cm3 g−1, respectively for the biochar activated at 400 °C with a weight mixing ratio 1:3 (w/w) between the fern and H3PO4 acid while these values of the biochar at 400 °C were 12 m2 g−1 and 0.02 cm3 g−1, respectively. The biochar activated at 600 °C with the mixing ratio 1:1 (w/w) showed the maximum capacitance value, ca. 108 F g−1 at 1 mV s−1. The activation using H3PO4 showed a positive tendency to enhance electrochemical properties and it could be a premise toward a higher performance of EDLC from the D. linearis derived activated biochar

Environmental allergen reduction in asthma management: an overview

Asthma is a prevalent non-communicable disease that affects both children and adults. Many patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma could not achieve total control despite using anti-asthmatic drugs. There is increasing evidence that allergy to environmental allergens, including both indoor and outdoor allergens, is associated with asthma symptoms and severe asthma. Frequently reported sensitized allergens were dust mites, cockroaches, grass pollens, molds, pets, and rodents in allergic asthma patients, although the patterns of widespread allergens differed from each country. Allergen avoidance is the cornerstone of asthma management, especially in sensitized subjects. This review summarizes environmental allergen avoidance and clarifies their effects on asthma control. Despite contrasting results about the impact of allergen exposure reduction on asthma control, several studies supported the beneficial effects of reducing asthma-related symptoms or risk of exacerbations as a nondrug therapy. Identifying environmental allergens is helpful for asthma patients, and further studies on clinically effective avoidance methods are required

Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia

Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders that are found in high prevalences in the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. These diseases provide varying levels of resistance to malaria and are proposed to have emerged as an adaptive response to malaria in these regions. The transition to agriculture in the Holocene has been suggested to have influenced the selection for thalassemia in the Mediterranean as land clearance for farming encouraged interaction between Anopheles mosquitos, the vectors for malaria, and human groups. Here we document macroscopic and microscopic skeletal evidence for the presence of thalassemia in both hunter-gatherer (Con Co Ngua) and early agricultural (Man Bac) populations in northern Vietnam. Firstly, our findings demonstrate that thalassemia emerged prior to the transition to agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia, from at least the early seventh millennium BP, contradicting a long-held assumption that agriculture was the main driver for an increase in malaria in Southeast Asia. Secondly, we describe evidence for significant malarial burden in the region during early agriculture. We argue that the introduction of farming into the region was not the initial driver of the selection for thalassemia, as it may have been in other regions of the world

The tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 controls TGFβ-induced STAT3 signaling to regulate fibroblast activation and fibrosis

Uncontrolled activation of TGFβ signaling is a common denominator of fibrotic tissue remodeling. Here we characterize the tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 as a molecular checkpoint for TGFβ-induced JAK2/STAT3 signaling and as a potential target for the treatment of fibrosis. TGFβ stimulates the phosphatase activity of SHP2, although this effect is in part counterbalanced by inhibitory effects on SHP2 expression. Stimulation with TGFβ promotes recruitment of SHP2 to JAK2 in fibroblasts with subsequent dephosphorylation of JAK2 at Y570 and activation of STAT3. The effects of SHP2 on STAT3 activation translate into major regulatory effects of SHP2 on fibroblast activation and tissue fibrosis. Genetic or pharmacologic inactivation of SHP2 promotes accumulation of JAK2 phosphorylated at Y570, reduces JAK2/STAT3 signaling, inhibits TGFβ-induced fibroblast activation and ameliorates dermal and pulmonary fibrosis. Given the availability of potent SHP2 inhibitors, SHP2 might thus be a potential target for the treatment of fibrosis

Establishing and validating noninvasive prenatal testing procedure for fetal aneuploidies in Vietnam

Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for fetal aneuploidies has been widely adopted in developed countries. Despite the sharp decrease in the cost of massively parallel sequencing, the technical know-how and skilled personnel are still one of the major limiting factors for applying this technology to NIPT in low-income settings. Here, we present the establishment and validation of our NIPT procedure called triSure for detection of fetal aneuploidies.We established the triSure algorithm based on the difference in proportion of fetal and maternal fragments from the target chromosome to all chromosomes. Our algorithm was validated using a published data set and an in-house data set obtained from high-risk pregnant women in Vietnam who have undergone amniotic testing. Several other aneuploidy calling methods were also applied to the same data set to benchmark triSure performance.The triSure algorithm showed similar accuracy to size-based method when comparing them using published data set. Using our in-house data set from 130 consecutive samples, we showed that triSure correctly identified the most samples (overall sensitivity and specificity of 0.983 and 0.986, respectively) compared to other methods tested including count-based, sized-based, RAPIDR and NIPTeR.We have demonstrated that our triSure NIPT procedure can be applied to pregnant women in low-income settings such as Vietnam, providing low-risk screening option to reduce the need for invasive diagnostic tests

Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia.

Funder: Royal Society of New Zealand Skinner FundFunder: University of Otago Doctoral ScholarshipThalassemias are inherited blood disorders that are found in high prevalences in the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. These diseases provide varying levels of resistance to malaria and are proposed to have emerged as an adaptive response to malaria in these regions. The transition to agriculture in the Holocene has been suggested to have influenced the selection for thalassemia in the Mediterranean as land clearance for farming encouraged interaction between Anopheles mosquitos, the vectors for malaria, and human groups. Here we document macroscopic and microscopic skeletal evidence for the presence of thalassemia in both hunter-gatherer (Con Co Ngua) and early agricultural (Man Bac) populations in northern Vietnam. Firstly, our findings demonstrate that thalassemia emerged prior to the transition to agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia, from at least the early seventh millennium BP, contradicting a long-held assumption that agriculture was the main driver for an increase in malaria in Southeast Asia. Secondly, we describe evidence for significant malarial burden in the region during early agriculture. We argue that the introduction of farming into the region was not the initial driver of the selection for thalassemia, as it may have been in other regions of the world

The 80-year development of Vietnam mathematical research: Preliminary insights from the SciMath database on mathematicians, their works and their networks

Starting with the first international publication of Le Van Thiem (Lê Văn Thiêm) in 1947, modern mathematics in Vietnam is a longstanding research field. However, what is known about its development usually comes from discrete essays such as anecdotes or interviews of renowned mathematicians. We introduce SciMath—a database on publications of Vietnamese mathematicians. To ensure this database covers as many publications as possible, data entries are manually collected from scientists’ publication records, journals’ websites, universities, and research institutions. Collected data went through various verification steps to ensure data quality and minimize errors. At the time of this report, the database covered 8372 publications, profiles of 1566 Vietnamese, and 1492 foreign authors since 1947. We found a growing capability in mathematics research in Vietnam in various aspects: scientific output, publications on influential journals, or collaboration. The database and preliminary results were presented to the Scientific Council of Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM) on November 13th, 2020

New technologies to improve healthcare in low- and middle-income countries: Global Grand Challenges satellite event, Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Ho Chi Minh City, 17th-18th September 2019

We report the outputs of a satellite event in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, organized as part of the "2 nd Global Grand Challenges of Engineering Summit". The event considered challenges and potential solutions for improving low- and middle-income country (LMIC) healthcare systems, with particular reference to critical care. Participants from key regional and local stakeholders in healthcare and engineering discussed how new advances in technology, especially in the field of Artificial Intelligence, could be of potential benefit. This article summarizes the perspectives and conclusions of a group of key stakeholders from LMICs across South and South East Asia