Having geographical proximity and a high volume of trade with China, the first country to record an outbreak of the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Vietnam was expected to have a high risk of ...transmission. However, as of 4 April 2020, in comparison to attempts to containing the disease around the world, responses from Vietnam are seen as prompt and effective in protecting the interests of its citizens, with 239 confirmed cases and no fatalities. This study analyzes the situation in terms of Vietnam’s policy response, social media and science journalism. A self-made web crawl engine was used to scan and collect official media news related to COVID-19 between the beginning of January and April 4, yielding a comprehensive dataset of 14,952 news items. The findings shed light on how Vietnam—despite being under-resourced—has demonstrated political readiness to combat the emerging pandemic since the earliest days. Timely communication on any developments of the outbreak from the government and the media, combined with up-to-date research on the new virus by the Vietnamese science community, have altogether provided reliable sources of information. By emphasizing the need for immediate and genuine cooperation between government, civil society and private individuals, the case study offers valuable lessons for other nations concerning not only the concurrent fight against the COVID-19 pandemic but also the overall responses to a public health crisis.
As a generation of ‘digital natives,’ secondary students who were born from 2002 to 2010 have various approaches to acquiring digital knowledge. Digital literacy and resilience are crucial for them ...to navigate the digital world as much as the real world; however, these remain under-researched subjects, especially in developing countries. In Vietnam, the education system has put considerable effort into teaching students these skills to promote quality education as part of the United Nations-defined Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). This issue has proven especially salient amid the COVID−19 pandemic lockdowns, which had obliged most schools to switch to online forms of teaching. This study, which utilizes a dataset of 1061 Vietnamese students taken from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s “Digital Kids Asia Pacific (DKAP)” project, employs Bayesian statistics to explore the relationship between the students’ background and their digital abilities. Results show that economic status and parents’ level of education are positively correlated with digital literacy. Students from urban schools have only a slightly higher level of digital literacy than their rural counterparts, suggesting that school location may not be a defining explanatory element in the variation of digital literacy and resilience among Vietnamese students. Students’ digital literacy and, especially resilience, also have associations with their gender. Moreover, as students are digitally literate, they are more likely to be digitally resilient. Following SDG4, i.e., Quality Education, it is advisable for schools, and especially parents, to seriously invest in creating a safe, educational environment to enhance digital literacy among students.
Objective
This study evaluated the prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety symptomatology, barriers to mental health access, and correlates of functional impairment among cancer inpatients.
...Methods
This cross‐sectional study recruited adult cancer patients (N = 300) in June and July 2022 at the largest oncological hospital in Vietnam. Multivariable linear regression analyses examined the association between demographics, clinical characteristics, and patients' functional impairment.
Results
Approximately 46.3% and 27.0% showed some depression and anxiety symptomatology, while 8.0% and 3.0% experienced major depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Patients reported the most impairment in mobility and capacity for life activities. More functional impairment was identified in patients with gastrointestinal cancers, those receiving radiation therapy alone, and those scoring higher on depression and anxiety than in those with cancers originating in the head, neck, or lung or those receiving chemotherapy alone. Reports of better overall health status were negatively associated with functional impairment. Patients reported extensive perceived barriers to seeking psychiatric care, including not knowing where to get mental health support (86.7%), wanting to manage mental health independently (73.7%), and thinking mental health will resolve on its own (73.7%), and denying mental health concerns (61.0%).
Conclusion
High frequency and severity of depression and anxiety symptomatology underscore the importance of integrating mental health services into existing oncological treatment protocols. Increasing mental health literacy and provision of psychoeducation is critical to addressing barriers to mental health service access. Integration of functional impairment evaluations into hospital admission and discharge planning is also needed.
Accurate prognosis is important either after acute infection or during long-term follow-up of patients infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. This study aims to predict ...coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity based on clinical and biological indicators, and to identify biomarkers for prognostic assessment.
We included 261 Vietnamese COVID-19 patients, who were classified into moderate and severe groups. Disease severity prediction based on biomarkers and clinical parameters was performed by applying machine learning and statistical methods using the combination of clinical and biological data.
The random forest model could predict with 97% accuracy the likelihood of COVID-19 patients who subsequently worsened to the severe condition. The most important indicators were interleukin (IL)-6, ferritin and D-dimer. The model could still predict with 92% accuracy after removing IL-6 from the analysis to generalise the applicability of the model to hospitals with limited capacity for IL-6 testing. The five most effective indicators were C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, IL-6, ferritin and dyspnoea. Two different sets of biomarkers (D-dimer, IL-6 and ferritin, and CRP, D-dimer and IL-6) are applicable for the assessment of disease severity and prognosis. The two biomarker sets were further tested through machine learning algorithms and relatively validated on two Danish COVID-19 patient groups (n=32 and n=100). The results indicated that various biomarker sets combined with clinical data can be used for detection of the potential to develop the severe condition.
This study provided a simple and reliable model using two different sets of biomarkers to assess disease severity and predict clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients in Vietnam.
This study assessed the overall satisfaction with oncological care, including barriers to care, and identified its associated predictors among adult cancer patients in Vietnam.
In this ...cross-sectional study, we enrolled 300 adult cancer patients receiving inpatient care at a large urban oncological hospital between June and July 2022. Multivariable linear regression analyses examined associations between patient experiences and overall satisfaction ratings with cancer care.
The mean overall satisfaction with oncological care was 8.82 out of 10, with 98.0% recommending this facility to their friends and family. In an adjusted model, being female (β = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.04, 0.53), endorsing satisfaction with patient-nurse communication (β = 0.33, 95%CI: 0.13, 0.53), patient-doctor communication (β = 0.40, 95%CI: 0.11, 0.70), and psychoeducation about oncological medication management (β = 0.30, 95%CI: 0.14, 0.45) were positively associated with overall ratings. In contrast, individuals with delays in treatment scheduling reported lower overall satisfaction with oncological care (β = -0.38, 95%CI: -0.64, -0.13). Patients perceived health system, social/environmental, and individual barriers to care: worries about income loss due to attending treatment (43.3%); fear, depression, anxiety, and distress (36.8%); concerns about affordability of treatment (36.7%) and transportation problems (36.7%); and excessive waiting times for appointments (28.8%).
This study showed high overall patient satisfaction with cancer care quality. Patient-centered communication strategies and psychoeducation about oncological medication management may be targeted to further enhance the cancer inpatient experience. Raising awareness about treatment options and services, and integrating mental health awareness into oncological care may ameliorate patient distress and facilitate greater satisfaction with oncological treatment processes.
The outbreak of a new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2) has caused a global COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, resulting in millions of infections ...and thousands of deaths around the world. There is currently no drug or vaccine for COVID-19, but it has been revealed that some commercially available drugs are promising, at least for treating symptoms. Among them, remdesivir, which can block the activity of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) in old SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV viruses, has been prescribed to COVID-19 patients in many countries. A recent experiment showed that remdesivir binds to SARS-CoV-2 with an inhibition constant of μM, but the exact target has not been reported. In this work, combining molecular docking, steered molecular dynamics, and umbrella sampling, we examined its binding affinity to two targets including the main protease (Mpro), also known as 3C-like protease, and RdRp. We showed that remdesivir binds to Mpro slightly weaker than to RdRp, and the corresponding inhibition constants, consistent with the experiment, fall to the μM range. The binding mechanisms of remdesivir to two targets differ in that the electrostatic interaction is the main force in stabilizing the RdRp–remdesivir complex, while the van der Waals interaction dominates in the Mpro–remdesivir case. Our result indicates that remdesivir can target not only RdRp but also Mpro, which can be invoked to explain why this drug is effective in treating COVID-19. We have identified residues of the target protein that make the most important contribution to binding affinity, and this information is useful for drug development for this disease.
Radiotherapy side-effects present serious problems in cancer treatment. Melanin, a natural polymer with low toxicity, is considered as a potential radio-protector; however, its application as an ...agent against irradiation during cancer treatment has still received little attention. In this study, nanomelanin particles were prepared, characterized and applied in protecting the spleens of tumor-bearing mice irradiated with X-rays. These nanoparticles had sizes varying in the range of 80-200 nm and contained several important functional groups such as carboxyl (-COO), carbonyl (-C=O) and hydroxyl (-OH) groups on the surfaces. Tumor-bearing mice were treated with nanomelanin at a concentration of 40 mg/kg before irradiating with a single dose of 6.0 Gray of X-ray at a high dose rate (1.0 Gray/min). Impressively, X-ray caused mild splenic fibrosis in 40% of nanomelanin-protected mice, whereas severe fibrosis was observed in 100% of mice treated with X-ray alone. Treatment with nanomelanin also partly rescued the volume and weight of mouse spleens from irradiation through promoting the transcription levels of splenic Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α). More interestingly, splenic T cell and dendritic cell populations were 1.91 and 1.64-fold higher in nanomelanin-treated mice than those in mice which received X-ray alone. Consistently, the percentage of lymphocytes was also significantly greater in blood from nanomelanin-treated mice. In addition, nanomelanin might indirectly induce apoptosis in tumor tissues via activation of TNF-α, Bax, and Caspase-3 genes. In summary, our results demonstrate that nanomelanin protects spleens from X-ray irradiation and consequently enhances immunoactivity in tumor-bearing mice; therefore, we present nanomelanin as a potential protector against damage from radiotherapy in cancer treatment.
Aims/Introduction
Adipose tissue‐derived hormones are associated with metabolic disorders including type 2 diabetes mellitus. The present study investigated the levels of adiponectin and ...pro‐inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interleukin‐1 beta (IL‐1β) and IL‐10 in Vietnamese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and their correlations with clinical parameters of overweight and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Materials and Methods
Based on body mass index, 73 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were categorized either as overweight or non‐overweight. As healthy controls, 57 overweight and non‐overweight individuals without type 2 diabetes mellitus were included. The adiponectin, TNF‐α, IL‐1β and IL‐10 levels were measured in the sera samples in all study participants by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and were correlated with clinical parameters.
Results
The adiponectin levels were lower in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (2.5 ± 1.5 μg/mL) compared with controls (16 ± 18.6 μg/mL; P < 0.0001), and were decreased in overweight individuals compared with those who were not overweight. The TNF‐α and IL‐1β levels were increased, whereas the IL‐10 levels were decreased in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and in overweight controls compared with non‐overweight controls (P < 0.0001). The adiponectin levels were correlated with the TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐10 levels, and the clinical parameters of overweight and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The quantitative insulin sensitivity check index and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance indexes were correlated with the relative ratios of adiponectin/TNF‐α, adiponectin/IL‐1β, adiponectin/IL‐10, TNF‐α/IL‐10 and IL‐1β/IL‐10.
Conclusions
Adiponectin and pro‐inflammatory cytokines are associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and might serve as a prognostic marker and a therapeutic intervention for overweight‐related type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), Interleukin‐1 beta (IL‐1β). and Interleulin 10 (IL‐10).
Incorporating the fluorescent organic compound on the platform toward the capture of metal ions has become an attractive strategy for chemical sensor. Curcumin-based sensory platforms are fabricated ...chemo-sensors for the detection of cations and anions. Herein, the homogenous nanoparticle porous zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, ZIF-8 and ZIF-11 with a smaller than 100 nm particle size were used as platform for curcumin loading. The ZIF compounds were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, N2 sorption isotherms, and thermal gravimetric analysis to assess their potential for liquid adsorption. According to investigation of liquid adsorption, the curcumin concentration, time, and temperature of adsorption process have been carried out to provide the adsorption properties and adsorption capacity of two materials. The maximum adsorption capacity on both ZIFs was up to 4.5 mg mg−1, with faster adsorption rates than other adsorbents reported. Compared to ZIF-11, ZIF-8 surprisingly demonstrates higher encapsulation, intraparticle diffusion, and lower kinetic parameters of k2. This phenomenon is explained via the crystallographic aperture size, surface area, and affinity of the 2-methylimidazolate linker in ZIF-8 relative to the benzimidazole linker in ZIF-11. The release of curcumin in both pH 5.5 and 7.4 environments below 2% for 24h showed the consistent stability of curcumin in the nanocarrier. In addition, the curcumin-based sensory ZIF-8 and ZIF-11 exhibited efficient fluoride ion sensing performance with a detection limit as low as 100 ppm. The colorimetric fluorescence sensing at ON/OFF mode highlighted the promising potential of Cur-based ZIF materials for the high dose of fluoride ion in water at pH 5.5 and 7.4.
Display omitted
•The ZIF-8 and ZIF-11 nanomaterials (<100 nm) were successfully synthesized.•The materials display highly efficient and fast curcumin adsorption.•Kinetics, thermodynamics, and adsorption mechanism were comprehensively examined.•The stronger stability of curcumin in ZIFs at PBS is lower 8% over 10 days.•The curcumin-loaded in ZIFs exhibited efficient fluoride ion sensing performance.
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