Perceptions of teachers regarding the significance and level of implementation of sexual education content for ethnic minority students in Vietnam

Comprehensive sex education is one of the most critical tools for providing young people with the knowledge they require to make wise decisions. Sex education has a reputation for being delicate due to the intimate and personal nature of the topic. A survey involved 45 administrators (including principals, vice principals and heads of expertise), 15 teachers of social science disciplines and 15 classroom teachers. The results indicated that the importance of sex education for ethnic minority students was not appreciated by teachers and that the implementation level of sex education content and its form were low and ineffective. The study highlights topics that educators must consider when establishing strategic plans for successful and acceptable sex education in a societal context or with ethnic minority students

Tuning Electronic Transport Properties of Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons with Stone-Wales Defect

Influences of the symmetric Stone-Wales (SW) defect on the electronic transport properties of the zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) has been studied using $\it{ab}$ $\it{ initio}$ simulation based on density functional theory (DFT) combined with non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) technique. The calculated transmission spectra T(E) at various bias windows, device densities of states (DDOS), current characteristics as well as local density of states (LDOS) of the defective asymmetric and symmetric ZGNRs are presented in comparison of those for the pristine ZGNRs. It has been established the metallic character of the electronic transport in asymmetric ZGNRs, and in symmetric ones, the current has a semiconductor behavior, with negative differential resistance (NDR) effect. Symmetric SW defect, as a most unfavorable SW defect type for electric conductance, remarkably decreases the current values, but does not change the character of conductivity in both the asymmetric and symmetric ZGNRs. NDR has been explained by the altering by SW defect the number of frontier molecular orbitals entering bias windows

Improvement of traditional shrimp culture in the Mekong Delta

Improvements to traditional brackishwater shrimp culture in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam are discussed. A technical support program has been implemented based on a so-called improved extensive shrimp culture method, as previously developed and tested by the Artermia and Shrimp Research and Development Center (ASRDC). The program focuses on: 1) the use of hatchery-produced postlarvae (of Penaeus monodon and P. merguinensis) nursed for three to four weeks, and 2) the application of low-cost pond management practices including predator control, supplementary feeding and frequent water renewal. A credit program, managed as a revolving fund was made available. A dialogue among participating farmers was encouraged through the organization of group meetings before and after each production cycle.Shrimp culture, Aquaculture development, Brackishwater aquaculture, Mekong Delta, Viet Nam,

ベトナム国における豆類遺伝資源の共同調査収集

An exploration for grain legumes in Vietnam was conducted collaboratively with a Vietnamese Agriculture Science Institute from Oct. 23 to Nov. 21, 2000. We visited northwestern mountainous area near the borders of Laos or China to gather indigenous knowledge and collect local varieties. There lives a lot of ethnic tribe people in this area, for example, Thai, H\u27Mong, Tay, Si La tribes. They have local legume varieties associated with their own food customs. We could get a lot of cultural information about them and collect some seeds. We collected a total of 80 samples, but none of wild species was collected. The numbers of each species are as follows, 30 soybean (Glycine max) samples, 12 mung beans (Vigna radiata), 16 cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata), 5 rice beans (Vigna umbellata), 2 azuki beans (Vigna angularis), 2 common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), 3 groundnuts (Arachis hypogea), 1 broad bean (Vicia faba), 3 sesames (Sesamum indicum), and 6 beans which we cannot identify whether cowpeas or common beans. Improved soybean varieties have been already spread along main roads. Local soybean varieties are cultivated only by ethnic tribe people at the mountainous areas far from towns. Thus we had to give up getting some of them. As local varieties are associated with traditional food customs, they would not be disappeared so soon. We have to spend enough time for collecting them

Variation in 12 porcine genes involved in the carbohydrate moiety assembly of glycosphingolipids does not account for differential binding of F4 Escherichia coli and their fimbriae

Background: Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are important membrane components composed of a carbohydrate structure attached to a hydrophobic ceramide. They can serve as specific membrane receptors for microbes and microbial products, such as F4 Escherichia coli (F4 ETEC) and isolated F4 fimbriae. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that variation in genes involved in the assembly of the F4 binding carbohydrate moiety of GSLs (i.e. ARSA, B4GALT6, GAL3ST1, GALC, GBA, GLA, GLB1, GLB1L, NEU1, NEU2, UGCG, UGT8) could account for differential binding of F4 ETEC and their fimbriae. Results: RT-PCR could not reveal any differential expression of the 12 genes in the jejunum of F4 receptor-positive (F4R(+)) and F4 receptor-negative (F4R(-)) pigs. Sequencing the complete open reading frame of the 11 expressed genes (NEU2 was not expressed) identified 72 mutations. Although some of them might have a structural effect, none of them could be associated with a F4R phenotype. Conclusion: We conclude that no regulatory or structural variation in any of the investigated genes is responsible for the genetic susceptibility of pigs towards F4 ETEC

Mass spectrometry imaging identifies palmitoylcarnitine as an immunological mediator during Salmonella Typhimurium infection

Salmonella Typhimurium causes a self-limiting gastroenteritis that may lead to systemic disease. Bacteria invade the small intestine, crossing the intestinal epithelium from where they are transported to the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) within migrating immune cells. MLNs are an important site at which the innate and adaptive immune responses converge but their architecture and function is severely disrupted during S. Typhimurium infection. To further understand host-pathogen interactions at this site, we used mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to analyse MLN tissue from a murine model of S. Typhimurium infection. A molecule, identified as palmitoylcarnitine (PalC), was of particular interest due to its high abundance at loci of S. Typhimurium infection and MLN disruption. High levels of PalC localised to sites within the MLNs where B and T cells were absent and where the perimeter of CD169+ sub capsular sinus macrophages was disrupted. MLN cells cultured ex vivo and treated with PalC had reduced CD4+CD25+ T cells and an increased number of B220+CD19+ B cells. The reduction in CD4+CD25+ T cells was likely due to apoptosis driven by increased caspase-3/7 activity. These data indicate that PalC significantly alters the host response in the MLNs, acting as a decisive factor in infection outcome