Tuberculosis transmission continues to be a major public health challenge. In this cluster-randomized, controlled trial conducted in Vietnam, active community-wide screening for tuberculosis over 4 ...years is shown to decrease the prevalence of tuberculosis.
The spread of infectious diseases from person to person is determined by the frequency and nature of contacts between infected and susceptible members of the population. Although there is a long ...history of using mathematical models to understand these transmission dynamics, there are still remarkably little empirical data on contact behaviors with which to parameterize these models. Even starker is the almost complete absence of data from developing countries. We sought to address this knowledge gap by conducting a household based social contact diary in rural Vietnam.
A diary based survey of social contact patterns was conducted in a household-structured community cohort in North Vietnam in 2007. We used generalized estimating equations to model the number of contacts while taking into account the household sampling design, and used weighting to balance the household size and age distribution towards the Vietnamese population. We recorded 6675 contacts from 865 participants in 264 different households and found that mixing patterns were assortative by age but were more homogenous than observed in a recent European study. We also observed that physical contacts were more concentrated in the home setting in Vietnam than in Europe but the overall level of physical contact was lower. A model of individual versus household vaccination strategies revealed no difference between strategies in the impact on R(0).
This work is the first to estimate contact patterns relevant to the spread of infections transmitted from person to person by non-sexual routes in a developing country setting. The results show interesting similarities and differences from European data and demonstrate the importance of context specific data.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Localization is a key-enabling technology for many applications in underwater wireless sensor networks. Traditional approaches for received signal strength (RSS)-based localization often require ...uniform distribution for anchor nodes and suffer from poor estimates according to unpredictable and uncontrollable noise conditions. In this paper, we establish an RSS-based localization scheme to determine the location of an unknown normal sensor from a certain measurement set of potential anchor nodes. First, we present a practical path loss model for wireless communication in underwater acoustic environments, where anchor nodes are deployed in a random circumstance. For a given area of interest, the RSS data collection is performed dynamically, where the measurement noises and the correlation among them are taken into account. For a pair of transmitter and receiver, we approximate the geometry distance between them according to a linear regression model. Thus, we can obtain a quick access for the range information, while keeping the error, the communication head and the response time low. We also present a method to correct noises in the distance estimate. Simulation results demonstrate that our localization scheme achieves a better performance for certain scenario settings. The successful localization probability can be up to 90%, where the anchor rate is fixed at 10%.
This study assessed the knowledge and attitude toward palliative care for the elderly among health professionals in a tertiary geriatric hospital in Vietnam and explored their determinants. ...Cross-sectional data were obtained on 161 geriatric health professionals at the National Geriatric Hospital. Modified-Palliative Care Knowledge Test and Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying instruments were used to measure knowledge and attitude toward geriatric palliative care. As a result, 40.5% physicians and 74.2% nurses showed insufficient knowledge about geriatric palliative care (
< 0.05). The lowest score was for dyspnea, following by gastrointestinal and pain problems. No significant difference was found regarding the attitude between physicians and nurses (
> 0.05). Health professional category, age, and years of experience were found to be associated with knowledge about palliative care. Meanwhile, only knowledge score had correlations with total attitude score (Coef. = 0.2; 95%CI = 0.1-0.3), attitude toward patients (Coef. = 0.1; 95%CI = 0.0-0.1) and toward patients' family (Coef. = 0.1; 95%CI = 0.0-0.1). This study highlights a significant knowledge gap and preferable attitude toward palliative care for the elderly among physicians and nurses in the geriatric hospital. Intensive training about geriatric palliative care, focusing on pain, dyspnea and gastrointestinal issue management, should be performed to ensure the quality of palliative care services, especially in nurses.
Purpose
Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are potential diagnostic biomarkers for breast cancer (BC). The application of miRNA panels could improve the performance of screening tests. Here, we ...integrated bioinformatic tools and meta-analyses to select circulating miRNAs with high diagnostic accuracy and combined these markers to develop diagnostic panels for BC.
Methods
Analyses across databases were performed to identify potential BC-related circulating miRNAs. Next, a comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted for each miRNA following the PRISMA guidelines. An electronic and manual search for relevant literature was carried out by two reviewers through PubMed, ScienceDirect, Biomed Central, and Google Scholar. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the QUADAS-2, and the statistical analyses were performed using R software 4.1.1. Finally, the accurate biomarkers confirmed through meta-analyses were combined into diagnostic models for BC.
Results
Twenty-seven circulating miRNAs were identified as BC-related by bioinformatic tools. After screening, only 10 miRNAs presented in 45 studies were eligible for meta-analyses. By assessing pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio, 8 miRNAs (miR-21, miR-30b, miR-125b, miR-145, miR221 miR-222, and miR-335) were revealed as promising BC diagnostic biomarkers. Two panels constructed from these miRNAs showed excellent diagnostic accuracy for BC, with areas under the SROC curve of 0.917 and 0.944.
Conclusion
We identified 8 potential circulating miRNAs and 2 diagnostic models that are useful for diagnosing BC. However, the established miRNA panels have not been tested in any experimental studies and thus should be validated in large case–control studies for clinical use.
Multi-drug resistance to antibiotics represents a growing challenge in treating infectious diseases. Outside the hospital, bacteria with the multi-drug resistance (MDR) phenotype have an increased ...prevalence in anthropized environments, thus implying that chemical stresses, such as metals, hydrocarbons, organic compounds, etc., are the source of such resistance. There is a developing hypothesis regarding the role of metal contamination in terrestrial and aquatic environments as a selective agent in the proliferation of antibiotic resistance caused by the co-selection of antibiotic and metal resistance genes carried by transmissible plasmids and/or associated with transposons. Efflux pumps are also known to be involved in either antibiotic or metal resistance. In order to deal with these situations, microorganisms use an effective strategy that includes a range of expressions based on biochemical and genetic mechanisms. The data from numerous studies suggest that heavy metal contamination could affect the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant genes. Environmental pollution caused by anthropogenic activities could lead to mutagenesis based on the synergy between antibiotic efficacy and the acquired resistance mechanism under stressors. Moreover, the acquired resistance includes plasmid-encoded specific efflux pumps. Soil microbiomes have been reported as reservoirs of resistance genes that are available for exchange with pathogenic bacteria. Importantly, metal-contaminated soil is a selective agent that proliferates antibiotic resistance through efflux pumps. Thus, the use of multi-drug efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) originating from natural plants or synthetic compounds is a promising approach for restoring the efficacy of existing antibiotics, even though they face a lot of challenges.
An enormous volume of electronic waste (e-waste) is currently being generated in Vietnam, threatening to render this country as an e-waste dumping region. Although the residents play an indispensable ...role in the e-waste management system, there is presently no or very limited studies available which involve public perceptions on the e-waste recycling in Vietnam. In this study, based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the key factors influencing e-waste recycling behavioral intention of residents in Danang city, Vietnam. Data analyzed from 520 questionnaires revealed that environmental awareness and attitude toward recycling, social pressure, laws and regulations, cost of recycling, and inconvenience of recycling significantly directly affected residents’ behavioral intention, with laws and regulations being the strongest construct significantly to predict individuals’ intention. Of the five above-listed constructs, only inconvenience of recycling had a negative impact on residents’ recycling behavioral intention. Moreover, past experience showed the statistically significant negative effect on the inconvenience of recycling while it had no significant impact on behavioral intention. The influences of demographic variables on recycling behavioral intention were also discussed in this paper. The findings from this research may help policy-makers have a better understanding of residents’ e-waste recycling intention. That is very useful in paving the way for a successful e-waste recycling and management system not only in Vietnam, but also in other countries which are suffering from the same problems of e-waste.
PM
0.1
has been believed to have adverse short- and long-term effects on human health. However, the information of PM
0.1
that is needed to fully evaluate its influence on human health and ...environment is still scarce in many developing countries. This is a comprehensive study on the levels, chemical compositions, and source apportionment of PM
0.1
conducted in Hanoi, Vietnam. Twenty-four-hour samples of PM
0.1
were collected during the dry season (November to December 2015) at a mixed site to get the information on mass concentrations and chemical compositions. Multiple linear regression analysis was utilized to investigate the simultaneous influence of meteorological factors on fluctuations in the daily levels of PM
0.1
. Multiple linear regression models could explain about 50% of the variations of PM
0.1
concentrations, in which wind speed is the most important variable. The average concentrations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), water-soluble ions (Ca
2+
, K
+
, Mg
2+
, Na
+
, NH
4
+
, Cl
−
, NO
3
−
, SO
4
2−
, C
2
O
4
2−
), and elements (Be, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Sb, Ba, Tl, Pb, Na, Fe, Mg, K, and Ca) were 2.77 ± 0.90 μg m
−3
, 0.63 ± 0.28 μg m
−3
, 0.88 ± 0.39 μg m
−3
, and 0.05 ± 0.02 μg m
−3
, accounting for 51.23 ± 9.32%, 11.22 ± 2.10%, 16.28 ± 2.67%, and 1.11 ± 0.94%, respectively. A positive matrix factorization model revealed the contributions of five major sources to the PM
0.1
mass including traffic (gasoline and diesel emissions, 46.28%), secondary emissions (31.18%), resident/commerce (12.23%), industry (6.05%), and road/construction (2.92%).
By analytically solving the nonlinear gap and Schwinger-Dyson equations, the non-condensate fraction of a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) confined between two parallel plates at ...zero temperature is investigated within the improved Hartree-Fock approximation. It is proved that the finite-size effect increases the non-condensate fraction compared with the one of the same homogeneous BEC. Our result also shows that the non-condensate fraction can be expressed as a sum of two terms: the first term corresponds to the non-condensate fraction of the homogeneous dilute BEC and the other appears because of the confinement. Both terms are universal. A comparison with the experimental data is made.
•Equation for condensate fraction of a dilute Bose gas is established in the improved Hartree-Fock approximation.•The effect caused by the confinement along z-direction on the condensate fraction is investigated at zero temperature.•The contribution of finite-size is proportional to ratio of scattering length to distance between two parallel plates.•Taking into account the influence of finite-size effect, the condensate fraction is still universal.•A comparison with experimental data is made.
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, frequently experiences heavy air pollution episodes in the winter, causing health concerns for the 7.5 million people living there. Spatial-temporal variations in PM2.5 ...levels can provide useful information about the sources and transportation of PM2.5. However, the published spatial-temporal data in the area are limited. In this research, PM2.5 concentrations at two sites in Hanoi and a site in Thai Nguyen (60 km north of Hanoi) were observed from October 2017 to April 2018, using newly available low-cost sensors. Hourly concentrations of PM2.5 at the three sites were similar on average (57.5, 54.9, and 53.6 μg m−3) and clearly co-varied, suggesting remarkable large-scale effects. The contribution of long-range transport and meteorological factors on PM2.5 levels were investigated with a machine learning technique based on a random forest (RF) algorithm and concentration weight trajectory (CWT). The results showed that the contribution of long-range transport from the north and northeast to local PM2.5 levels was significant. Moreover, weather normalized PM2.5 concentrations and partial plots of meteorological factors on the levels of PM2.5 showed that meteorological conditions play a significant role in the formation of winter haze events.
Display omitted
•Observation of PM2.5 levels at three sites using sensors.•Moderate to good correlation factors among PM2.5 at sites showed regional effects.•Partial effects of meteorological and temporal factors on PM2.5 were determined by a machine learning approach.•Contribution of meteorological factors on haze revealed by weather normalized PM2.5•PM2.5 long-range transport investigated by CWT and partial trajectory correlation.
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