Summary In efforts to treat diabetics, foods containing anti‐digestible ingredients are a promising approach. Resistant starch (RS) is one of the prebiotic ingredients that has the ability to resist ...digestion and pass through the colon, reducing fat accumulation. The production of RS from natural ingredients is of interest. The results of producing RS from jackfruit seeds show that the RS content increased from 25.97% to 52.26% by heat‐moisture treatment. After the modification process, the starch granules remained undeformed but exhibited agglomeration and the crystalline structure changed from type A to type C. The thermal properties of the starch were improved (85.16–90.42 °C), and higher gelatinisation temperature, around 2–7 °C. However, its swelling and solubility decreased by 35.32–72.59% and 15.83–79.10%, corresponding.
Antibiotic residues and antimicrobial resistance in surface water are issues of global concern, especially in developing countries. In this study, the occurrence of seven antibiotics and one ...antiparasitic agent was determined in surface water samples collected from four rivers running through Hanoi urban area in the Red River Delta, northern Vietnam. The pharmaceuticals in water samples were analyzed by solid-phase extraction combined with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method. The concentrations of pharmaceuticals in our samples ranged from 3050 to 16,700 (median 7800) ng/L, which were generally higher than levels found in river water from many other locations in the world. Amoxicillin, oxfendazole, and lincomycin were the most dominant and frequently detected compounds (detection rate 100%), which together accounted for 76 ± 14% of total concentrations. Sulfacetamide and sulfamethoxazole were detected at moderate concentrations in more than two-thirds of the analyzed samples. The remaining antibiotics (i.e., azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, and ofloxacin) were found at lower detection frequency and concentrations. Antibiotic concentrations in the water samples were not significantly different between the investigated rivers. Meanwhile, levels of pharmaceuticals in the samples collected in February 2020 were higher than those found in the remaining samples, largely due to the sharp decrease in sulfamethoxazole and azithromycin concentrations of the samples collected in March and April. Considerable ecological risks of antibiotics in surface water were estimated for some compounds such as amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, and ofloxacin.
Colorectal cancer is a leading cancer worldwide and in Vietnam. Adenomas (adenomatous polyps) is an important precursor of colorectal cancer. There is currently no study to determine the modifiable ...risk factors for colorectal adenomas, including body mass index (BMI) in Vietnam. We conducted an individually matched case‐control study of 1149 colorectal adenomas and 1145 controls in a large‐scale colorectal screening program involving 103 542 individuals aged 40‐75 years old in Hanoi, Vietnam. Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between BMI and colorectal adenomas prevalence, after controlling for potential confounders. Overall, comparing to normal weight (ie, 18.5‐22.9 kg/m2), underweight (ie, BMI < 18.5) was associated with a non‐statistically significant increased prevalence of colorectal adenomas (odd ratio OR = 1.29 and 95% confident interval CI: 0.88‐1.87). This association became significant among male (OR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.20‐3.27), male who were ever smokers (OR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.33‐5.03), nonregular exercise (OR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.26‐4.73) and individuals with cardiometabolic disorders (OR = 3.46, 95% CI: 1.19‐10.00). The association between underweight and colorectal adenomas did not vary by smoking status, drinking status, family history of cancer, adenomas types or cardiometabolic disorders. No association was observed among obese individuals (BMI ≥ 25). In the population with low prevalence of obesity, we found that the association between BMI and colorectal adenomas followed a reversed J‐shape that underweight was associated with increased prevalence. Further studies are, therefore, warranted to replicate our results and to investigate the biologic mechanism the effect of underweight on colorectal adenomas prevalence.
What's new?
High body mass index (BMI) has been associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenomas in studies including Asian populations. To date, no study has identified modifiable risk factors for colorectal adenomas in Vietnam, a country with a rising colorectal cancer incidence and low obesity prevalence. This case‐control study based on a large‐scale colorectal cancer screening program in Vietnam reports a potential association between underweight and colorectal adenomas prevalence with an inverse J‐shape. The modification of specific factors such as maintaining a normal BMI range, quitting smoking and exercising regularly showed great potential for colorectal cancer prevention and control programs.
Comprehensive profiling of actionable mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is vital to guide targeted therapy, thereby improving the survival rate of patients. Despite the high incidence ...and mortality rate of NSCLC in Vietnam, the actionable mutation profiles of Vietnamese patients have not been thoroughly examined. Here, we employed massively parallel sequencing to identify alterations in major driver genes (EGFR, KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, ALK and ROS1) in 350 Vietnamese NSCLC patients. We showed that the Vietnamese NSCLC patients exhibited mutations most frequently in EGFR (35.4%) and KRAS (22.6%), followed by ALK (6.6%), ROS1 (3.1%), BRAF (2.3%) and NRAS (0.6%). Interestingly, the cohort of Vietnamese patients with advanced adenocarcinoma had higher prevalence of EGFR mutations than the Caucasian MSK-IMPACT cohort. Compared to the East Asian cohort, it had lower EGFR but higher KRAS mutation prevalence. We found that KRAS mutations were more commonly detected in male patients while EGFR mutations was more frequently found in female. Moreover, younger patients (<61 years) had higher genetic rearrangements in ALK or ROS1. In conclusions, our study revealed mutation profiles of 6 driver genes in the largest cohort of NSCLC patients in Vietnam to date, highlighting significant differences in mutation prevalence to other cohorts.
•Induction of lipid biosynthesis in microalgae is reviewed.•Comprehensive strategies of strain improvement for lipid production are summarized.•Targets for enhancing lipid productivity in microalgae ...are suggested.•Challenges and perspectives of strain development for lipid production are discussed.
Over the past decade, the number of original articles and reviews presenting microalgae as a promising feedstock for biodiesel has increased tremendously. Many improvements of microalgae have been achieved through selection and strain development for industrial applications. However, the large-scale production of lipids for commercialization is not yet realistic because the production is still much more expensive than that of agricultural products. This review summarizes recent research on the induction of lipid biosynthesis in microalgae and the various strategies of genetic and metabolic engineering for enhancing lipid production. Strain engineering targets are proposed based on these strategies. To address current limitations of strain engineering for lipid production, this review provides insights on recent engineering strategies based on molecular tools and methods, and also discusses further perspectives.
It is essential to develop new nanomaterials able to improve sensing performance of electrochemical sensors for determination of heavy metal pollutants. In this work, a novel nanoscale ...metal–organic-framework material (Yb-MOF) with Ytterbium (Yb) rare-earth metal core and benzenetricarboxylic (BTC) ligands was prepared in aqueous conditions using hydrothermal approach. The results have revealed highly porous structure of the as-synthesized material with specific active area up to 1166 m
2
g
−1
. A sensing platform was then constructed by drop-casting Yb-MOF onto glassy carbon electrode for detection of two most commonly found heavy metal ion pollutants (Cd
2+
and Pb
2+
) in water sources. The nanoporous structure of Yb-MOF is very profitable to the selective preconcentration of targeted metal ions. The detection limits were estimated to be 3.0 ppb, 1.6 ppb for Cd
2+
and Pb
2+
species, respectively. This work provides a new electrochemical sensing platform for fast and sensitive in-situ detection of water contaminants.
Graphical abstract
Unsubstituted and methylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (22 PAHs and 17 Me-PAHs) were examined in surface sediments collected from the Red River and four inner-city rivers of Hanoi City, ...Vietnam. Concentrations of total PAHs and Me-PAHs ranged from 52 to 920 (median 710) and from 70 to 2600 (median 1000) ng/g dry weight in samples of dry and wet seasons, respectively. Significant correlation was observed between total PAHs and organic carbon contents (Spearman's
ρ
= 0.782;
p
< 0.05). PAHs were more abundant than Me-PAHs in all samples and dominated by 4–6 ring compounds. The most predominant PAHs were benzo
ghi
perylene, benzo
b/j
fluoranthene, chrysene, pyrene, fluoranthene, and phenanthrene. Methylated derivatives of naphthalene, phenanthrene, anthracene, and benz
a
anthracene were frequently detected. The patterns of PAHs indicated principal pyrogenic sources (notably gasoline exhaust) in this highly urbanized area. The occurrence of several PAHs were occasionally associated with adverse effects on benthic organisms of the inner-city rivers.
Although it is unclear how Zn
2+
cooperates with Cu
2+
in synergistic antibacterial activity, a 1:10 ratio of Cu
2+
/Zn
2+
atoms and ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid and urea ligands can be used to ...form a chelation complex containing Cu
2+
and Zn
2+
. This study investigated the effects of the combination of Cu
2+
and Zn
2+
in chelation with EDTA and urea. The results were compared with the outcomes of either copper or zinc alone against gram-negative
Escherichia coli (E. coli
) and gram-positive
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus
) bacteria. The antibacterial activity was determined through MICs, disc diffusion method, and bacterial cell growth curves. In addition, bacterial destruction by this chelation complex has been observed through SEM images. The presence of copper ion and zinc ion inside the bacterial cells has been proved through EDS measurements. The obtained results allowed us to draw conclusions that the use of both Cu
2+
and Zn
2+
in a chelation complex with EDTA and urea enhances the antimicrobial activity against these bacteria. The bacterial inhibition of this complex was stronger than that of Cu
2+
alone chelated with EDTA or CuSO
4
solution by approximately 100-fold for
S. aureus
and 20-fold for
E. coli
.
Silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) synthesized by the Stober method were used as drug delivery vehicles. Doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX·HCl) is a chemo-drug absorbed onto the SiO2 NPs surfaces. The ...DOX·HCl loading onto and release from the SiO2 NPs was monitored via UV-VIS and fluorescence spectra. Alternatively, the zeta potential was also used to monitor and evaluate the DOX·HCl loading process. The results showed that nearly 98% of DOX·HCl was effectively loaded onto the SiO2 NPs’ surfaces by electrostatic interaction. The pH-dependence of the process wherein DOX·HCl release out of DOX·HCl-SiO2 NPs was investigated as well. For comparison, both the free DOX·HCl molecules and DOX·HCl-SiO2 NPs were used as the labels for cultured cancer cells. Confocal laser scanning microscopy images showed that the DOX·HCl-SiO2 NPs were better delivered to cancer cells which are more acidic than healthy cells. We propose that engineered DOX·HCl-SiO2 systems are good candidates for drug delivery and clinical applications.
The quest for finding an effective photocatalyst for environmental remediation and treatment strategies is attracting considerable attentions from scientists. In this study, a new hybrid material, ...Cu0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4–TiO2, was designed and fabricated using coprecipitation and sol-gel approaches for degrading organic dyes in wastewater. The prepared hybrid materials were fully characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results revealed that the Cu0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4–TiO2 hybrid material was successfully synthesized with average particle sizes of 40.09 nm for TiO2 and 27.9 nm for Cu0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4. As the calculated bandgap energy of the hybrid material was approximately 2.86 eV, it could harvest photon energy in the visible region. Results indicate that the Cu0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4–TiO2 also had reasonable magnetic properties with a saturation magnetization value of 11.2 emu/g, which is a level of making easy separation from the solution by an external magnet. The resultant Cu0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4–TiO2 hybrid material revealed better photocatalytic performance for rhodamine B dye (consistent removal rate in the 13.96 × 10−3 min−1) compared with free-standing Cu0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 and TiO2 materials. The recyclability and photocatalytic mechanism of Cu0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4–TiO2 are also well discussed.
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•A new hybrid Cu0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4–TiO2 material was designed and fabricated.•A 2.86-eV-bandgap-energy semiconductor harvests photon energy in the visible region.•High photocatalytic performance with a good degrading rate constant was obtained.•High photocatalytic performance with stability was achieved.•Separation/recovery from the treated solution was achieved using an external magnet.
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