Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been increasing rapidly in Vietnam as well as world-wide. One of the major causes of the condition is low fiber intake. It is difficult to eat large amounts of ...vegetables every day to reach a sufficient amount of fiber but Textured Soybean Protein is rich in fiber. The study aimed to examine the effectiveness of Textured Soybean Protein consumption on T2DM patients. In this randomized controlled trial, 47 T2DM patients were divided into an intervention group (n=24) and a control group (n=23). The intervention group were asked to consume 40 g Textured Soybean Protein in 2 dishes for 4 wk. The control group continued their usual diet. Fasting blood samples were drawn before and after intervention to measure fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fructosamine, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), total cholesterol (T-C), and triglycerides (TG). A 3-day food record was conducted at 1 wk before (baseline) and at the last week (final) of the intervention period. In the Textured Soybean Protein consumption group, there was a significant decrease in fructosamine (363±86 μmol/L to 347±82 μmol/L, p=0.03), T-C (5.2±0.9 mmol/L to 4.8±0.8 mmol/L, p=0.02) and TG (3.5±2.2 mmol/L to 2.8±2.0 mmol/L, p=0.02). Total energy intake in the two groups did not change significantly. There was a shift in the dietary pattern of the Textured Soybean Protein consumption group; lipid intake showed a significant decrease (p=0.001) and fiber intake increased by 6 g (p<0.001). The consumption of Textured Soybean Protein in the diet could have favorable effects in improving glycemic and lipid concentrations in T2DM patients.
Thermophilic fungi can represent a rich source of industrially relevant enzymes. Here, 105 fungal strains capable of growing at 50 °C and pH 2.0 were isolated from compost and decaying plant matter. ...Maximum growth temperatures of the strains were in the range 50 °C to 60 °C. Sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions indicated that 78 fungi belonged to 12 species of Ascomycota and 3 species of Zygomycota, while no fungus of Basidiomycota was detected. The remaining 27 strains could not be reliably assigned to any known species. Phylogenetically, they belonged to the genus Thielavia, but they represented 23 highly divergent genetic groups different from each other and from the closest known species by 12 to 152 nucleotides in the ITS region. Fungal secretomes of all 105 strains produced during growth on untreated rice straw were studied for lignocellulolytic activity at different pH and temperatures. The endoglucanase and xylanase activities differed substantially between the different species and strains, but in general, the enzymes produced by the novel Thielavia spp. strains exhibited both higher thermal stability and tolerance to acidic conditions. The study highlights the vast potential of an untapped diversity of thermophilic fungi in the tropics.
Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are increasingly used in sandwich construction to improve mechanical performance of structures. The effective material properties used in modelling FGM ...structures, however, are dependent on a chosen homogenization scheme. For the first time, the influence of different homogenization schemes on large deflections of dual-phase FGM sandwich beams is studied in this paper by using a nonlinear finite element procedure. The material properties of the sandwich beams are considered to vary in the thickness direction by a power function. Four homogenization schemes, namely the schemes due to Voigt, Mori–Tanaka, Hashin–Shtrikman and Tamura–Tomota–Ozawa, are employed to estimate the effective elastic moduli of the beams. Based on the total Lagrange formulation, a first-order shear deformable nonlinear beam element is formulated and employed in the study. Newton–Raphson iterative method is used in combination with the arc-length technique to obtain the large deflection curves and stress distribution of the beams. Numerical results reveal that the material distribution indicated by the material grading index and the homogenization scheme have play an important role on the behaviour of the beams, and the influence of the material grading index on the large deflection response is dependent on the homogenization scheme. Among the four homogenization schemes studied, it is shown that the large deflection response obtained by the Voigt model is more conservative than that using the other schemes.
In the study, we successfully decorated MnFe2O4 on BiVO4 to highly improve its photocatalytic activity for degradation of tetracycline as well as its magnetically recovery. The decoration of MnFe2O4 ...on BiVO4 led to formation of MnFe2O4/BiVO4 Z scheme heterojunction to effectively prevent the charge recombination in each material. Upon visible light, the MnFe2O4/BiVO4 heterojunction produced significant available amounts of e− and h+ existing in the conduction band of the MnFe2O4 and the valence band of the BiVO4, respectively. These produced e− on the conduction band of the MnFe2O4, which reduction potential was approximately −0.41 eV, exhibited strong reduction potential reducing oxygen to produce •O2− radicals while h+ on the valence band of the BiVO4, which oxidation potential was 2.77 eV, showed strong oxidation potential oxidizing water and hydroxyl groups to produce •OH radicals. These generated active oxygen radicals effectively degraded TC in water (~92%). The used photocatalysts were easily recovered from photocatalytic suspension using an external magnet due to high magnetically activity of the MnFe2O4, which tightly bonded with BiVO4 in the MnFe2O4/BiVO4 heterojunction. Finally, the recovered MnFe2O4/BiVO4 heterojunction was very active and stable for tetracycline degradation in long-term process.
Abiotic stresses, including drought, detrimentally affect the growth and productivity of many economically important crop plants, leading to significant yield losses, which can result in food ...shortages and threaten the sustainability of agriculture. Balancing plant growth and stress responses is one of the most important functions of agricultural application to optimize plant production. In this study, we initially report that copper nanoparticle priming positively regulates drought stress responses in maize. The copper nanoparticle priming plants displayed enhanced drought tolerance indicated by their higher leaf water content and plant biomass under drought as compared with water-treated plants. Moreover, our data showed that the treatment of copper nanoparticle on plants increased anthocyanin, chlorophyll and carotenoid contents compared to water-treated plants under drought stress conditions. Additionally, histochemical analyses with nitro blue tetrazolium and 3,3′-diaminobenzidine revealed that reactive oxygen species accumulation of priming plants was decreased as a result of enhancement of reactive oxygen species scavenging enzyme activities under drought. Furthermore, our comparative yield analysis data indicated applying copper nanoparticles to the plant increased total seed number and grain yield under drought stress conditions. Our data suggest that copper nanoparticle regulates plant protective mechanisms associated with drought tolerance, which is a promising approach for the production of drought-tolerant crop plants.
Abstract
Background
An endotracheal tube cuff pressure between 20 and 30 cmH2O is recommended to prevent ventilator-associated respiratory infection (VARI). We aimed to evaluate whether continuous ...cuff pressure control (CPC) was associated with reduced VARI incidence compared with intermittent CPC.
Methods
We conducted a multicenter open-label randomized controlled trial in intensive care unit (ICU) patients within 24 hours of intubation in Vietnam. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive either continuous CPC using an automated electronic device or intermittent CPC using a manually hand-held manometer. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of VARI, evaluated by an independent reviewer blinded to the CPC allocation.
Results
We randomized 600 patients; 597 received the intervention or control and were included in the intention to treat analysis. Compared with intermittent CPC, continuous CPC did not reduce the proportion of patients with at least one episode of VARI (74/296 25% vs 69/301 23%; odds ratio OR 1.13; 95% confidence interval CI .77–1.67. There were no significant differences between continuous and intermittent CPC concerning the proportion of microbiologically confirmed VARI (OR 1.40; 95% CI .94–2.10), the proportion of intubated days without antimicrobials (relative proportion RP 0.99; 95% CI .87–1.12), rate of ICU discharge (cause-specific hazard ratio HR 0.95; 95% CI .78–1.16), cost of ICU stay (difference in transformed mean DTM 0.02; 95% CI −.05 to .08, cost of ICU antimicrobials (DTM 0.02; 95% CI −.25 to .28), cost of hospital stay (DTM 0.02; 95% CI −.04 to .08), and ICU mortality risk (OR 0.96; 95% CI .67–1.38).
Conclusions
Maintaining CPC through an automated electronic device did not reduce VARI incidence.
Clinical Trial Registration
NCT02966392.
The results of this randomised controlled trial demonstrate that continuous endotracheal cuff pressure control using an electronic automated device does not reduce the occurrence of ventilator-associated respiratory infection (VARI) in intubated patients compared with intermittent control.
Although medicinal herbs contain many biologically active ingredients that can act as antibiotic agents, most of them are difficult to dissolve in lipids and absorb through biofilms in the ...gastrointestinal tract. Besides, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been widely used as a potential antibacterial agent, however, to achieve a bactericidal effect, high concentrations are required. In this work, AgNPs were combined into plant-based antibiotic nanoemulsions using biocompatible alginate/carboxyl methylcellulose scaffolds. The silver nanoparticles were prepared by a green method with an aqueous extract of Allium sativum or Phyllanthus urinaria extract. The botanical antibiotic components in the alcoholic extract of these plants were encapsulated with emulsifier poloxamer 407 to reduce the particle size, and make the active ingredients both water-soluble and lipid-soluble. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed that the prepared nanosystems were spherical with a size of about 20 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the interaction of the extracts and the alginate/carboxyl methylcellulose carrier. In vitro drug release kinetics of allicin and phyllanthin from the nanosystems exhibited a retarded release under different biological pH conditions. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized nanoformulations were tested against Escherichia coli. The results showed that the nanosystem based on Allium sativum possesses a significantly higher antimicrobial activity against the tested organisms. Therefore, the combination of AgNPs with active compounds from Allium sativum extract is a good candidate for in vivo infection treatment application.
A series of substituted 4
H
-pyrano2,3-
d
pyrimidines were synthesized from corresponding substituted 4
H
-pyrans by ring-closing reaction with acetic anhydride or acetic acid in the presence of ...trifluoroacetic acid as catalyst. The successive alkylation reaction of lactam N–H bond on pyrimidine-4-one ring was carried out using propargylic bromide in dry acetonitrile in the presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate. Three procedures applied for this purpose, including MW-assisted heating conditions at power of 100 W, under conventional heating conditions in water bath at 50 °C, and under ultrasound-assisted heating conditions at 50 °C. Dry acetonitrile was used as reaction solvent. Excellent yields of
N
-propargyl-4
H
-pyrano2,3-
d
pyrimidine derivatives were obtained. The single-crystal X-ray structure of compound
6a
has been recorded, and the study helps to confirm the structure of synthesized
N
-propargyl derivative of 4
H
-pyrano2,3-
d
pyrimidines
6a
–
6p
.
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.
Late detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) results in an overall 5-year survival rate of less than 16%. Liquid biopsy (LB) assays based on detecting circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) might provide ...an opportunity to detect HCC early noninvasively. Increasing evidence indicates that ctDNA detection using mutation-based assays is significantly challenged by the abundance of white blood cell-derived mutations, non-tumor tissue-derived somatic mutations in plasma, and the mutational tumor heterogeneity.
Here, we employed concurrent analysis of cancer-related mutations, and their fragment length profiles to differentiate mutations from different sources. To distinguish persons with HCC (PwHCC) from healthy participants, we built a classification model using three fragmentomic features of ctDNA through deep sequencing of thirteen genes associated with HCC.
Our model achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.88, a sensitivity of 89%, and a specificity of 82% in the discovery cohort consisting of 55 PwHCC and 55 healthy participants. In an independent validation cohort of 54 PwHCC and 53 healthy participants, the established model achieved comparable classification performance with an AUC of 0.86 and yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 81%.
Our study provides a rationale for subsequent clinical evaluation of our assay performance in a large-scale prospective study.
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