Characterization of O-glycan binding lectin from the red alga Hydropuntia eucheumatoides

The red alga, Hydropuntia eucheumatoides is one of the algal genera from which agar is commercially extracted, and is the main source of agar in the world. The lectin HEL from the red alga H. eucheumatoides was isolated by a combination of aqueous ethanol extraction, ethanol precipitation, ion exchange and filtration chromatography. Lectin gave a single band with molecular mass of 17,000 Da in both non-reducing and reducing SDS-PAGE conditions, therefore lectin exists in monomeric form. The hemagglutination activities of HEL were stable over a wide range of pH from 3 to 10, temperature up 60 oC and not affected by either the presence of EDTA or addition of divalent cations, indicating that lectin requires no metal for biological activity. The hemagglutination activities of HEL were not inhibited by monosaccharides and glycoproteins, D-glucose, D-mannose, D-galactose, D-xylose, N-acety-D-mannosamine, transferin, fetuin and yeast mannan, but strongly inhibited by monosaccharides containing  acetamido groups at equatorial C2 position, such as N-acetyl-galactosamine, N-acetyl-glucosamine, N-acetyl-neuraminic acid and glycoprotein porcine stomach mucin bearing O-glycans. Thus, lectin is specific for O-glycans and  may recognize the sequences GalNAcαSer/Thr, GalNAc(α1-3)[Fuc(α1-2)]Gal(β1-4)GlcNAc(β1-3)GalNAc- and GluNAc(α1-4)Gal- under interacting with the acetamido groups at equatorial C2 position of the terminal sugar residues in oligosaccharide structures of O-glycans. The red alga H. eucheumatoides could promise to be a source of valuable lectins for application in biochemistry and biomedicine

Analyzing Effects of Institutional Quality on Banking Stability: Evidence from Asean Countries

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the effect of institutional quality on bank stability using bank-level data from 2010 to 2020.   Theoretical framework: The study considers institutions from the perspective of governance institutions. Accordingly, the concept of government institutions is related to the country's organizational foundation in terms of governance, implying institutional quality.   Design/methodology/approach: The study uses GMM method and also choose the Zscore as the primary variable for bank stability.   Findings: The results show that institutional quality increases the stability of banks. Moreover, with the threshold model, the results show that countries with institutional quality above the threshold will increase the stability of banks. In addition, macroeconomic and banking characteristics variables such as total assets, income diversification, quality of control, inflation, and GDP growth rate have a high significance in the model.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The study shows The study's empirical results have specific policy implications for the Government in implementing policies related to institutional quality to improve bank stability.   Originality/value:   there are not many researches done to investigate institutional quality to improve bank stability. Moreover, from economic crisis, the matter of banking stability is among main concerns of many researches. Second, previous researches just focus on the aspect of corruption and ignore other aspects or other factors. That’s why authors conduct this research

From Negative Aspects and Black Aspects of Vietnam Education to Lessons for Social Sciences Students

In our research, we level strong criticism at the State Professor Council in Vietnam, using the case of Tran Van Tho and other members as a representative illustration of their efforts to impede or restrict the growth of the nation's scientific community. We also do not place enough importance on the publication of bogus news online by various Vietnam publications (Thanhnien.vn and Tuoitre.vn), despite the fact that it may lead to confusion, as well as problems and concern in the community. In addition, we oppose the excessive tuition fees and other expenses that have been imposed by Banking University HCM city Vietnam and other institutions in HCM city in recent years, which have caused difficulties for families, parents, students, and society as a whole. In addition, we use these problematic aspects of the education system in Vietnam as a case study to instruct students majoring in social sciences. After that, the authors apply a strategy based on the laws of Malaysia in order to solve the problem of fake news published in the newspapers tuoi tre and thanh nien in Vietnam throughout the period 2015-2022. After the case discussion that was offered earlier, the authors assess the opinions of President Ho Chi Minh on publishing activities for the purpose of better teaching pupils. This is not the least of the authors' contributions

Barrier Smoothing for Nonsmooth Convex Minimization

This paper proposes a smoothing technique for nonsmooth convex minimization using self-concordant barriers. To illustrate the main ideas, we compare our technique and the proximity smoothing approach (Nesterov2005) via the classical gradient method on both the theoretical and numerical aspects. While the barrier smoothing approach maintains the sublinear-convergence rate, it affords a new analytic step size, which significantly enhances the practical convergence of the gradient method as compared to proximity smoothing

IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A PURPLE NONSULFUR BACTERIUM ISOLATED FROM COASTAL AREA OF HAI PHONG FOR USING IN PRODUCTION OF UNSATURATED FATTY ACID (OMEGA 6, 7, 9)

Purple nonsulfur bacteria are a group that has so much biotechnological applications, particularly in producing of functional food rich with unsaturated fatty acids. A purple nonsulfur bacterium (named HPB.6) was chosen based on its strong growth, high lipid and synthesis of unsaturated fatty acid (omega 6,7,9). Studying on basic biological characteristics showed that the cells of HPB.6 were observed as ovoid-rod shape, none motility, Gram negative staining. The diameter of single bacterium was about 0.8-1.0 µm. The cells divide by binary fission and had bacteriochlorophyll a (Bchl a). This bacterium grew well on medium with carbon and nitrogen sources such as acetate, succinate, pyruvate, butyrate, glutamate, arginine, leucine, tyrosine, alanine, methionine, threonine, glutamine, yeast extract and NH4Cl. This selected strain grew well on medium with salt concentrations from 1.5 - 6.0% (optimum 3%), pH from 5.0 to 8.0 (optimum at pH 6.5) and could withstand Na2S at 4.0 - 5.2 mM. Based on morphological, physiological properties and 16S rRNA analysis received demonstrated that HPB.6 strain belongs to the species Rhodovulum sulfidophilum

IMPROVEMENT OF CO2 PURIFYING SYSTEM BY PHOTOCATALYST FOR APPLICATION IN MICROALGAE CULTURE TECHNOLOGY

By reactive grinding method Vanadium-doped rutile TiO2 nanoparticle material was obtained with an average particle size of 20‐40nm, the Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) specific surface area about 20 m2g−1 and it absorbed strongly in the UV region and increased at the visible wavelength of 430 – 570 nm. This study focused on the improvement of exhaust gas treatment from coal-fired flue gas of the traditional adsorption-catalysis system (Modular System for Treating Flue Gas - MSTFG) by using the V2O5/TiO2 Rutile as photocatalyst. The results showed that integrating both catalytic systems mentioned above increased the gas treatment efficiency: CO from 77 % to over 98 %, NOx from 50 % to 93 %, SO2 was absent as opposed to the input gas component. Also it showed that V2O5/TiO2 Rutile integrated with MSTFG has got high efficiency of CO treatment, also secured the high obtained CO2 concentration as a valuable carbon source for microagal mass culture as well as saving energy and simplifying devices

HAEMAGGLUTINATION ACTIVITY OF THE EXTRACTS FROM SOME VIETNAM MARINE INVERTEBRATES

Aqueous extracts from 21 species of Vietnam marine invertebrates, including 11 bivalve and 10 gastropod species, were examined for haemagglutination activity using native and enzyme-treated different animal and human erythrocytes. The 8 bivalve and 10 gastropod species were found to have haemagglutinination activities toward at least one type of erythrocyte tested. A total of 86% of marine invertebrate species surveyed were active. Strong activity was detected in extracts from two bivalve species (Tridacna squamosa and Geloina coaxans) and three gastropod species (Tutufa rubeta, Pleuroploca trapezium and Tectus conus) with enzyme-treated rabbit, horse and human A, B, O erythrocytes. In a haemagglutination–inhibition test with various monosaccharides and glycoproteins, haemagglutination activities of two extracts from T. rubeta and P. trapezium had no affinity for any of the monosaccharides and glycoproteins tested, while activities of the extracts from T. squamosa and T. conus were strongly inhibited by porcine stomach mucin tested, suggesting the presence of lectins specific for O-glycans of these species. The activities of four marine invertebrate extracts were stable over a wide range ofpH and temperature. The haemagglutination activities of T. rubeta and P. trapezium extracts were independent of the presence of divalent cations, whereas the haemagglutination activity of extracts from T. squamosa and T. conus were slightly dependent on the presence of divalent cations. The results suggest that Vietnam marine invertebrates may be good sources of useful lectins for biochemical and biomedical applications

The Epidemiology of Interpandemic and Pandemic Influenza in Vietnam, 2007–2010: The Ha Nam Household Cohort Study I

Prospective community-based studies have provided fundamental insights into the epidemiology of influenza in temperate regions, but few comparable studies have been undertaken in the tropics. The authors conducted prospective influenza surveillance and intermittent seroprevalence surveys in a household-based cohort in Vietnam between December 2007 and April 2010, resulting in 1,793 person-seasons of influenza surveillance. Age- and sex-standardized estimates of the risk of acquiring any influenza infection per season in persons 5 years of age or older were 21.1% (95% confidence interval: 17.4, 24.7) in season 1, 26.4% (95% confidence interval: 22.6, 30.2) in season 2, and 17.0% (95% confidence interval: 13.6, 20.4) in season 3. Some individuals experienced multiple episodes of infection with different influenza types/subtypes in the same season (n = 27) or reinfection with the same subtype in different seasons (n = 22). The highest risk of influenza infection was in persons 5–9 years old, in whom the risk of influenza infection per season was 41.8%. Although the highest infection risk was in school-aged children, there were important heterogeneities in the age of infection by subtype and season. These heterogeneities could influence the impact of school closure and childhood vaccination on influenza transmission in tropical areas, such as Vietnam

Factors affecting consumer’s bargaining behavior: The case of fashionable clothing

Shopping is one of the current trends of the Vietnamese. According to Nielsen’s research results about consumer confidence in the fourth quarter of 2017, more than half of Vietnamese people (51%) use their spare money to buy new clothes at modern business models such as supermarkets, shopping centers, or at very traditional models like street vendors and wet markets where haggling (also known as bargaining) is considered as a common habit for Vietnamese. This is due to business characteristics from a very long time ago in Viet Nam. The bargaining behavior is not so hard to recognize in shopping. Even now, a large part of foreign tourists is familiar with the bargaining culture. This study aimed to discover bargaining behavior, the factors affecting such a behavior in buying fashionable clothing of the consumers in Ho Chi Minh City, and to consider whether the differences in bargaining behavior exist among different groups of gender, age, and income. The research was conducted using mixed methods concluding qualitative research (in-depth interview and focus group) and quantitative one (survey). The results showed that Attitude towards bargaining, Perceived behavioral control, Interest in bargaining affect Consumer’s bargaining behavior when buying fashionable clothes. Results were validated in Ho Chi Minh City context, and some conclusions were also presented