BACKGROUND: Achieving access to clean water and basic sanitation remains as major challenges in Vietnam, especially for vulnerable groups such as minority people, despite all the progress made by the ...Millennium Development Goal number 7.C. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to describe the access to improved water sources and sanitation of the ethnic minority people in Vietnam based on a national survey and to identify associated factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 with a sample size of 1385 ethnic minority households in 12 provinces in Vietnam. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was performed to examine the probability of having access to improved water sources and sanitation and sociodemographic status at a significance level of P < .05. RESULTS: The access to improved water sources and sanitation was unequal among the ethnic minority people in Vietnam, with the lowest access rate in the northern midland and mountainous and Central Highland areas and the highest access rate in the Mekong Delta region. Some sociodemographic variables that were likely to increase the ethnic minority people’s access to improved water sources and/or sanitation included older age, female household heads, household heads with high educational levels, religious households, and households in not poor status. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The study suggested more emphasis on religion for improving the ethnic minority’s access to improved water sources and sanitation. Besides, persons of poor and near-poor status and with low educational levels should be of focus in future water and sanitation intervention programs.
While conducting sentinel surveillance of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in Vietnam, we found a sudden increase in the prevalence of coxsackievirus A10 (CV-A10) in 2016 and CV-A2 and CV-A4 in ...2017, the emergence of which has been reported recently to be associated with various clinical manifestations in other countries. However, there have been only a limited number of molecular studies on those serotypes, with none being conducted in Vietnam. Therefore, we sequenced the entire VP1 genes of CV-A10, CV-A4, and CV-A2 strains associated with HFMD in Vietnam between 2012 and 2017. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a trend of endemic circulation of Vietnamese CV-A10, CV-A4, and CV-A2 strains and the emergence of thus-far undescribed HFMD-causing lineages of CV-A4 and CV-A2. The Vietnamese CV-A10 strains belonged to a genotype comprising isolates from patients with HFMD from several other countries; however, most of the Vietnamese strains were grouped into a local lineage. Recently, emerging CV-A4 strains in Vietnam were grouped into a unique lineage within a genotype comprising strains isolated from patients with acute flaccid paralysis from various countries. New substitutions were detected in the putative BC and HI loops in the Vietnamese CV-A4 strains. Except for one strain, Vietnamese CV-A2 isolates were grouped into a unique lineage of a genotype that includes strains from various countries that are associated with other clinical manifestations. Enhanced surveillance is required to monitor their spread and to specify their roles as etiological agents of HFMD or “HFMD-like” diseases, especially for CV-A4 and CV-A2. Further studies including whole-genome sequencing should be conducted to fully understand the evolutionary changes occurring in these newly emerging strains.
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is classified into 5 genotypes (GI, GII, GIII, GIV, and GV), and the GI and GIII strains are the most widely distributed in JE endemic areas. In recent years, GV JEV ...has been detected in China and Korea, suggesting that GV JEV may invade other JE endemic areas, including Vietnam, and that more attention should be paid to the JEV strains circulating in these areas. In this study, we investigated the neutralization ability of the sera collected from 22 Vietnamese patients with JE who lived in northern Vietnam against the GI and GV JEV strains. In most cases, the ratios of the titer against GV to that against GI (GV:GI) were equal to or less than 1:4. However, the titer against GV JEV was equivalent (1:1) to that against GI JEV in only a few cases, and no serum had a ratio higher than 1:1. Thus, our results did not show convincing evidence that GV JEV was emerging in northern Vietnam in 2014.
It is vital to have high sensitivity in gas sensors to allow the exact detection of dangerous gases in the air and at room temperature. In this study, we used 2D MXenes and MoS2 materials to create a ...Ti3C2–MoS2 composite with high metallic conductivity and a wholly functionalized surface for a significant signal. At room temperature, the Ti3C2–MoS2 composite demonstrated clear signals, cyclic response curves to NO2 gas, and gas concentration-dependent. The sensitivities of the standard Ti3C2–MoS2 (TM_2) composite (20 wt% MoS2) rose dramatically to 35.8%, 63.4%, and 72.5% when increasing NO2 concentrations to 10 ppm, 50 ppm, and 100 ppm, respectively. In addition, the composite showed reaction signals to additional hazardous gases, such as ammonia and methane. Our findings suggest that highly functionalized metallic sensing channels could be used to construct multigas-detecting sensors that are very sensitive in air and at room temperature.
The hypothesized NO2-sensing mechanism of the Ti3C2–MoS2 composite. Display omitted
•Formation of Ti3C2–MoS2 composite from MXenes and MoS2.•Clear signal and concentration-dependent to NO2 gas.•Used to construct multigas-detection sensors in the air.
BACKGROUND: Heavy metal contamination and related risks for the environment and human health are matters of increasing concern. METHODS: The levels of 4 heavy metals (Cr, Cd, Pb, and As) were ...evaluated in 2 water types (surface and well), 4 types of seafood (tiger shrimp, stuffed snail, snake-head fish, and catfish), and 27 types of vegetables (12 leafy vegetables, 4 pea plants, 4 tuber vegetables, and 7 herbs) that are commonly consumed in northern coastal communes located in Vietnam. Atomic absorption spectrometry was employed for quantification. RESULTS: The mean concentrations of heavy metals detected in water, seafood, and vegetable samples exceeded the national permitted standards and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation values by at least 2-fold, 2.5-fold, and 5-fold for surface water, vegetables, and well water, respectively. The concentrations of all 4 heavy metals detected in seafood samples were higher than the standards. The levels of heavy metals decreased with increasing distance between the sample collection point and the pollution source. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of heavy metal contamination of common sources of food and water in the northern coastal area of Vietnam. Significantly, the concentrations of heavy metals detected in study samples exceeded the regulatory limits. These results underscore the importance of continued monitoring and the development of intervention measures to ensure that the quality of food and water meets established standards and protects the health of the local population.
In this study, chitosan and alginate were selected to prepare alginate/chitosan nanoparticles to load the drug lovastatin by the ionic gelation method. The synthesized nanoparticles loaded with drug ...were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser scattering and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) methods. The FTIR spectrum of the alginate/chitosan/lovastatin nanoparticles showed that chitosan and alginate interacted with lovastatin through hydrogen bonding and dipolar-dipolar interactions between the C-O, C=O, and OH groups in lovastatin, the C-O, NH, and OH groups in chitosan and the C-O, C=O, and OH groups in alginate. The laser scattering results and SEM images indicated that the alginate/chitosan/lovastatin nanoparticles have a spherical shape with a particle size in the range of 50-80 nm. The DSC diagrams displayed that the melting temperature of the alginate/chitosan/lovastatin nanoparticles was higher than that of chitosan and lower than that of alginate. This result means that the alginate and chitosan interact together, so that the nanoparticles have a larger crystal degree when compared with alginate and chitosan individually. Investigations of the in vitro lovastatin release from the alginate/chitosan/lovastatin nanoparticles under different conditions, including different alginate/chitosan ratios, different solution pH values and different lovastatin contents, were carried out by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The rate of drug release from the nanoparticles is proportional to the increase in the solution pH and inversely proportional to the content of the loaded lovastatin. The drug release process is divided into two stages: a rapid stage over the first 10 hr, then the release becomes gradual and stable. The Korsmeyer-Peppas model is most suitable for the lovastatin release process from the alginate/chitosan/lovastatin nanoparticles in the first stage, and then the drug release complies with other models depending on solution pH in the slow release stage. In addition, the toxicity of alginate/chitosan/lovastatin (abbreviated ACL) nanoparticles was sufficiently low in mice in the acute toxicity test. The LD
of the drug was higher than 5000 mg/kg, while in the subchronic toxicity test with treatments of 100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg ACL nanoparticles, there were no abnormal signs, mortality, or toxicity in general to the function or structure of the crucial organs. The results show that the ACL nanoparticles are safe in mice and that these composite nanoparticles might be useful as a new drug carrier.
Evaluation of liver fibrosis is necessary to make the therapeutic decision and assess the prognosis of CHB patients. The current study aimed to describe the progression and identify some influencing ...factors in patients with chronic hepatitis B at a General Hospital in Northern Vietnam. The longitudinal study included 55 eligible subjects diagnosed Hepatitis-B-virus. Dependent variable was the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index and we collected some demographic variables and disease related and behaviour variables. Bayesian Model Averaging was used to select variables into model. Mixed-effect linear models were used to evaluate the change of the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index over time and identify related factors. the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index differences between examinations, age of participants, working status were statistically significant. This pattern indicated that the average the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index of the population decreased by 0.005 (95% CI=-0.009; -0.001) after each patient's visit, and increased by 0.013 if the patient's age increased by 1 year (95% CI=0.005; 0.0219). For non-working patients, the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index was lower, coefficient was -0.054 (95% CI=-0.108; 0.001). Other variables such as gender, education level, time for disease detection, drinking tea, alcohol consumption, forgetting to take medicine and the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index were not significantly different. The study showed that the majority of study subjects had average the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index, and were relatively well controlled and treated during the study. Age and working status are factors that influence the the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index.
•Controllable and easy to scale up design of innovative composites (from inexpensive coconut shell-derived activated carbon and treated MWCNTs) with improved physico-chemical properties.•The ...composites exhibit superior capacitance value (90.2 F/g), salt adsorption capacity (SAC) of 14.1 mg/g at 1.0 V and stability (95.7% after 100 cycles at 1.0/0 V).•The composite can be a promising candidate for large scale CDI electrode applications.
Aiming at more efficient use of coconut resources to achieve multi-purpose goals, this work proposes an innovative composite for capacitive deionization (CDI) electrode in desalination applications when using coconut shell-derived activated Carbon (AC) as a matrix into which a certain amount of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is incorporated. The electrochemical studies show that the optimized 9mAC:1CNTs electrode with a surface area of 630 m2/g has a specific capacitance of 90.2 F/g (at scan rate of 20 mV/s), salt adsorption capacity (SAC) of 14.1 mg/g at 1.0 V. SAC value is retained as high as 95.7% after 100 adsorption–desorption cycles at 1.0/0 V, showing a good cyclic stability of the electrode composites. Moreover, a calculated specific energy consumption (SEC) value of 0.312 kW h/m3 was quite low compared with other CDI electrodes reported in literature. Briefly, the present study indicates that AC-CNTs composite can serve as promising CDI electrode materials for desalination application.
Graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO) have become the most exciting material in the applications for photocatalysts. However, the GO composite film-based high-activity photocatalyst is usually not ...durable in aqueous solution. Therefore, in this paper, the non-woven polyester fabric (NWPF)-supported cuprous oxide nanoparticles (Cu
2
O) decorated on rGO (Cu
2
O/rGO@NWPF) membrane were suggested to synthesize via chemical reduction method. The Cu
2
O/rGO@NWPF nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis. The combination of rGO and Cu
2
O particles supported on NWPF exhibited enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under solar light and achieved 96% of MB removal efficiency in 120 min. The photocatalytic mechanism and the synergistic effects between Cu
2
O nanoparticles and rGO sheets were comprehensively investigated. The Cu
2
O/rGO@NWPF catalyst showed excellent stability with retained catalytic activity in four consecutive recycles. The obtained results indicated that the Cu
2
O/rGO@NWPF composite has a good application potential to large-scale water treatment at lakes or rivers.
Graphical abstract
In the knowledge economy, intangible assets and intellectual property rights are increasingly recognized as a substance of competencies. As an emerging market of the world, Asian developing countries ...experience various issues related to intellectual property rights protection. Meanwhile, the current literature on intellectual property rights with an emphasis placed on Asia is quite scarce. Therefore, this study explores the determinants of the strength of intellectual property rights in 25 Asian developing countries during the 11-year period from 2006 to 2016. Using the fixed effects model (FEM) and random effects model (REM) with the Hausman test, the paper discovers the positive impacts of economic growth, trade openness, and WTO participation on the protection level of intellectual property rights. Unexpectedly, education is a negative determinant of intellectual property rights protection. This study aims to demonstrate the overall status quos of intellectual property rights regimes across Asian developing countries, so provide an important theoretical background for innovators, governments, and policymakers to design optimal intellectual property rights strategies.
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