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Background (R , S)-ketamine, an N -methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, is frequently used as an anesthetic and as a rapid-acting antidepressant. We and others have reported that (R , S)-ketamine is prophylactic against stress in adult mice but have yet to test its efficacy in adolescent or aged populations. Methods Here, we administered saline or (R , S)-ketamine as a prophylactic at varying doses to adolescent (5-week-old) and aged (24-month-old) 129S6/SvEv mice of both sexes 1 week before a 3-shock contextual fear-conditioning (CFC) stressor. Following CFC, we assessed behavioral despair, avoidance, perseverative behavior, locomotion, and contextual fear discrimination. To assess whether the prophylactic effect could persist into adulthood, adolescent mice were injected with saline or varying doses of (R,S)-ketamine and administered a 3-shock CFC as a stressor 1 month later. Mice were then re-exposed to the aversive context 5 days later and administered behavioral tests as aforementioned. Brains were also processed to quantify Cyclooxygenase 2 expression as a proxy for inflammation to determine whether the prophylactic effects of (R , S)-ketamine were partially due to changes in brain inflammation. Results Our data indicate that (R,S)-ketamine is prophylactic at sex-specific doses in adolescent but not aged mice. (R, S)-ketamine attenuated learned fear and perseverative behavior in females, reduced behavioral despair in males, and facilitated contextual fear discrimination in both sexes. (R,S)-ketamine reduced Cyclooxygenase 2 expression specifically in ventral Cornu Ammonis region 3 of male mice. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that prophylactic (R,S)-ketamine efficacy is sex, dose, and age dependent and will inform future studies investigating (R,S)-ketamine efficacy across the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In considering the problem of saving spaces during the transportation of items from one station to another, for example, in warehouses, factories, hospitals, etc., an automatic transportation system (ATS) that could take advantage of the above ceiling spaces for the transportation of products is considered. Such a system guarantees that the activities occurring in the floor area will be maintained as usual. To achieve this requirement, the ceiling spaces of a building are used to construct an automatic multi-station multi-container (MSMC) transportation system. This system can transport items from one place to another in the whole system. This system is designed to utilize the spaces above the ceiling, and it has the advantage of saving floor space for transportation operations. This will increase the operational capability of the industries and also improve the productivity of the industry in which this system is implemented. The entire transportation system includes (1) the essential conveying system (which is a functional conveyor module with a specified number of containers); (2) the control block that can monitor and operate the system; and (3) the sensor block for detecting and identifying the containers. The content of this article focuses on the introduction of the mechanical system (1); the control system (2); and the operating principle of the whole system (3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) is a degenerative neuromuscular disease associated with at least nine genes, including EMD, LMNA, FHL1, TMEM43, SUN1, SUN2, TTN, SYNE1, and SYNE2. Herein, we identified a heterozygous missense LMNA mutation (NM_170707.4: c.1357C>T,p.R453W) in three members of a Vietnamese family using whole-exome sequencing (WES), in which the proband was an 11-year-old girl presenting humeroperoneal muscle weaknesses and generalized contracture. Her father and one other relative also exhibited multiple signs of muscular atrophy and contracture. Sanger sequencing in the extended family verified the causative nature of this mutation, establishing a confirmed diagnosis of autosomal dominant Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD2). The clinical presentations of each patient in this study are different from each other, demonstrating the intrafamilial phenotypic variability of this mutation. Early identification of the underlying genetic course of the disease by sequencing, combined with clinical findings provides solid evidence to diagnosis process, genetic counseling and management strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Biological fish can create high forward swimming speed due to change of thrust/drag area of pectoral fins between power stroke and recovery stroke in rowing mode. In this paper, we proposed a novel type of folding pectoral fins for the fish robot, which provides a simple approach in generating effective thrust only through one degree of freedom of fin actuator. Its structure consists of two elemental fin panels for each pectoral fin that connects to a hinge base through the flexible joints. The Morison force model is adopted to discover the relationship of the dynamic interaction between fin panels and surrounding fluid. An experimental platform for the robot motion using the pectoral fin with different flexible joints was built to validate the proposed design. The results express that the performance of swimming velocity and turning radius of the robot are enhanced effectively. The forward swimming velocity can reach 0.231 m/s (0.58 BL/s) at the frequency near 0.75 Hz. By comparison, we found an accord between the proposed dynamic model and the experimental behavior of the robot. The attained results can be used to design controllers and optimize performances of the robot propelled by the folding pectoral fins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since there is currently a lack of data on the natural history of Odorrana chapaensis, an amphibian species listed in the IUCN Red List (2019), we herein provided the feeding ecology of this amphibian species is virtually lacking. We herein provide data about the diet of O. chapaensis based on the results of our field work in Ngoc Chien Commune, Muong La District and Xim Vang Commune, Bac Yen District, Son La Province, Vietnam. We used the stomach-flushing method to obtain the stomach contents of 85 individuals at two survey sites. A total of 20 prey categories with 334 items, comprising 299 items of invertebrates and 35 unidentified items, were found in the stomachs of O. chapaensis. The dominant prey items of O. chapaensis were Araneae, Polydesmida, insect larvae, Blattodea, Coleoptera, Dermaptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and Orthoptera. The importance index for these categories ranged from 3.5% to 32.5%. Coleoptera was the category with the highest frequency of prey items and its representatives were found in 45 stomaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinical presentation of distal duplications of the long arm of chromosome (chr) 16 is currently not well described. Only one case of microduplication of chr16q22.1 and another involving the chr16q22.1q23.1 region have been reported so far. Here, using array comparative genomic hybridization, we identified a second case of chr16q22.1q23.1 duplication in a Vietnamese boy, who shares significant clinical phenotype with the previously described case. Aside from developmental delay, intellectual disability and midface hypoplasia, our patient also displays a forked tongue, visual impairment and external ptosis. Our report further expands the clinical spectrum associated with duplication of this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leigh syndrome is a rare inherited, heterogeneous and progressive neurometabolic disorder that is mainly caused by specific mutations in nuclear DNA (nDNA) or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The present study reported a case of childhood Leigh syndrome with a point mutation at bp 8,993 in the mitochondrial ATPase6 gene. A 21‑month‑old male child had developed epilepsy, muscular weakness and vomiting, which was accompanied by high fever. Magnetic resonance imaging indicated typical characteristics of Leigh syndrome, including a symmetric abnormal signal in the dorsal medulla oblongata and Sylvian fissure enlargement in association with an abnormal signal in the periventricular white matter and in the putamina and caudate heads. The diagnosis was further supported with genetic tests including polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), sequencing, and quantitative PCR. The patient was found to carry a mitochondrial T8993C (m.T8993C) mutation in peripheral blood with 94.00±1.34% heteroplasmy. Eight of his relatives were also subjected to quantification of the m.T8993C mutation. The percentages of heteroplasmy in samples taken from the grandmother, mother, aunt, cousin 1, and cousin 2 were 16.33±1.67, 66.81±0.85, 71.66±3.22, 87.00±1.79, and 91.24±2.50%, respectively. The mutation was not found in samples taken from the father, the husband of the aunt, or the grandfather of the patient. The obtained data showed that the mutation was maternally inherited and accumulated through generations. Even though the heteroplasmy levels of his mother, aunt, cousin 1, and cousin 2 were relatively high (66.81‑91.24%), they remained asymptomatic, indicating that the threshold at which this mutation shows effects is high. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a case of Leigh syndrome in a Vietnamese individual harboring a mtDNA mutation at the 8,993 bp site, and showing a correlation between the heteroplasmy and clinical phenotype. These findings may be useful in helping to improve the clinical diagnosis and treatment of Leigh syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vietnamese patients (106) tentatively diagnosed with encephalomyopathy were screened for the presence of 15 common point mutations in mitochondria using PCR-RFLP. The screened mutations include A3243G, T3271C and T3291C for Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis and Stroke-like episodes (MELAS); A8344G and T8356C for Myoclonus Epilepsy and Rag-Red Fibers (MERRF); G11778A, G3460A and T14484C for Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON); T8993G/C and T9176G for Leigh syndrome; A1555G for deafness syndrome; G4298A, T10010C, T14728C and T14709C for neuromuscular syndrome. As a result, 6 cases of A3243G (5.7%) and 2 cases of T14727C (3.9%) were found. The 6 cases of A3243G mutation were heteroplasmic at different levels (4.23–80.85%). The T14727C change was discovered for the first time in the MTTE gene encoding for tRNAGluand showed homoplasmy. The T14727C change was probably a mutation because it was further confirmed as vertically inherited from the mother and not the result of isolated polymorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The A3243G mitochondrial mutation is the major cause of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS). The severity of the disease is correlated with the heteroplasmy level of the mutation. Here we describe for the first time the validation of a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay with Taqman locked nucleic acid (LNA) fluorescent (FAM for mutant, HEX for wild type) probes for quantification of heteroplasmy levels in a total of 18 family members from 5 Vietnamese MELAS patients carrying A3243G. Almost no background of FAM signals was detected in normal samples, indicating that the probes were allele-specific. Standard curves indicate sensitive detection at 0.1% mutants and high reliability with R > 0.985. The correlation line between measured % mutant and expected % mutant was highly reliable, with a slope of 0.993 and R of 0.998. All positive A3243G mutant samples pre-screened by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) were confirmed, and their heteroplasmy levels quantified to be from 3.68 to 80.85%. The heteroplasmy levels in patients were higher than in their family members and generally correlated well with the severity of their clinical symptoms. Overall, this work is the first demonstration of the application of LNA probes for sensitive and highly reliable quantification of heteroplasmy levels in human mitochondria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong primary health care (PHC) systems require a robust PHC workforce. Traditionally, medical education takes place in academic medical centres that favour subspecialty care rather than PHC settings. This may undervalue primary care as a career and contribute to a shortage of PHC workers. However, designing undergraduate medical education curricula that incorporate early experiences in clinical care delivery at PHC sites remains a challenge, including in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper describes how a collaboration between Harvard Medical School and five medical schools in Vietnam, and in-country collaborations among the Vietnamese medical schools, facilitated curricular innovation and co-creation of coursework relevant to PHC through the development of a Practice of Medicine (POM) course. The collaboration implemented a technical assistance strategy consisting of in-person workshops, focused virtual consultations, on-site 'office hours', site visits and observations to each of the five medical universities, and immersion trips to support the creation and implementation of the POM course. A pilot program was started at a single site and then scaled nationally using local customisation, experience, and expertise utilising a train-the-trainers approach. As a result, five new POM courses have been developed by five Vietnamese institutions. Fifty Vietnamese faculty received training to lead the POM course development, and 228 community-based preceptors have been trained to teach students at PHC sites. A total of 52 new PHC and community-based clinical training sites have been added, and 3,615 students have completed or are currently going through a POM course. This experience can serve as a model for future academic collaborations to support the development of a robust PHC workforce for the 21st century., Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s).)

Introduction: Hospitals are a key source of information for the early identification of emerging disease outbreaks and acute public health events for risk assessment, decision-making and public health response. The objective of this study was to identify potential facilitators and barriers for event reporting from the curative sector to the preventive medicine sector in Viet Nam., Methods: In 2016, we conducted 18 semi-structured, in-depth interviews, as well as nine focus group discussions, with representatives from the curative and preventive medicine sectors in four provinces. We transcribed the interviews and focus group discussions and used thematic analysis to identify the factors that appeared to affect public health event reporting., Results: We identified five major themes. First, the lack of a legal framework to guide reporting meant hospital staff relied on internal procedures that varied from hospital to hospital, which sometimes delayed reporting. Second, participants stated the importance of an enabling environment, such as leadership support and having focal points for reporting, to facilitate reporting. Third, participants described the potential benefits of reporting, such as support provided during outbreaks and information received about local outbreaks. Fourth, some challenges prohibited timely reporting such as not perceiving reporting to be the task of the curative sector and hesitancy to report without laboratory confirmation. Finally, limited resources and specialist capacities in remote areas hindered timely detection and reporting of unusual events., Discussion: This study identified potential opportunities to promote the detection and reporting of unusual events from health-care workers to the public health sector, and thus to improve the overall health security system in Viet Nam.The influenza virus is a respiratory pathogen that is transmitted through respiratory droplets. 1 During seasonal influenza epidemics, high attack rates cause a significant public health burden. 2 The infection is usually self-limited in young adults but can lead to severe infections in people in high-risk groups, including elderly people (> 65 years old), pregnant women, children aged 6-59 months and adults with chronic illnesses. 3 ., ((c) 2020 The authors; licensee World Health Organization.)

Background.  Although it is the best method to detect early therapeutic failure, viral load (VL) monitoring is still not widely available in many resource-limited settings because of difficulties in specimen transfer, personnel shortage, and insufficient laboratory infrastructures. Dried blood spot (DBS) use, which was introduced in the latest World Health Organization recommendations, can overcome these difficulties. This evaluation aimed at validating VL measurement in DBS, in a laboratory without previous DBS experience and in routine testing conditions. Methods.  Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected adults were observed in a HIV care site in Hanoi, and each patient provided 2 DBS cards with whole blood spots and 2 plasma samples. Viral load was measured in DBS and in plasma using the COBAS Ampliprep/TaqMan and the Abbott RealTime assays. To correctly identify those with VL ≥ 1000 copies/mL, sensitivity and specificity were estimated. Results.  A total of 198 patients were enrolled. With the Roche technique, 51 plasma VL were ≥1000 copies/mL; among these, 28 presented a VL in DBS that was also ≥1000 copies/mL (sensitivity, 54.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 40.3-68.9). On the other hand, all plasma VL < 1000 copies/mL were also <1000 copies/mL in DBS (specificity, 100; 95% CI, 97.5-100). With the Abbott technique, 45 plasma VL were ≥1000 copies/mL; among these, 42 VL in DBS were also ≥1000 copies/mL (sensitivity, 93.3%; 95% CI, 81.7-98.6); specificity was 94.8 (95% CI, 90.0-97.7). Conclusions.  The Abbott RealTime polymerase chain reaction assay provided adequate VL results in DBS, thus allowing DBS use for VL monitoring.

Vietnamese patients (106) tentatively diagnosed with encephalomyopathy were screened for the presence of 15 common point mutations in mitochondria using PCR-RFLP. The screened mutations include A3243G, T3271C and T3291C for Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis and Stroke-like episodes (MELAS); A8344G and T8356C for Myoclonus Epilepsy and Rag-Red Fibers (MERRF); G11778A, G3460A and T14484C for Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON); T8993G/C and T9176G for Leigh syndrome; A1555G for deafness syndrome; G4298A, T10010C, T14728C and T14709C for neuromuscular syndrome. As a result, 6 cases of A3243G (5.7%) and 2 cases of T14727C (3.9%) were found. The 6 cases of A3243G mutation were heteroplasmic at different levels (4.23-80.85%). The T14727C change was discovered for the first time in the MTTE gene encoding for tRNA(Glu) and showed homoplasmy. The T14727C change was probably a mutation because it was further confirmed as vertically inherited from the mother and not the result of isolated polymorphism.