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Milk is the most important source of riboflavin (Vitamin B2) in many nations. Riboflavin absorbs light in the ultraviolet region and generates singlet oxygen in milk leading to the oxidation of nutrient components and affects the sensory quality of dairy products. The purpose of this work was to elucidate the effect of heat-treatment on the light-induced riboflavin degradation in the model solution of milk bases and milk samples. Although the photo-degradation of riboflavin in all samples was decreased with the increasing of illumination time, the reductions of riboflavin light oxidation were found in all milk model samples and heated milks in according to the formation of Maillard reaction products during heating. The amount of riboflavin remained in control sample (1.5 mg/l riboflavin) was 1.67 % after 2.5 hour illumination. But, it was 34 % and 60 % in the heated lactose and casein solution and milk at 120oC, 45 min, respectively. The increasing of heating time leaded to the increasing of protective ability of milk and model samples against riboflavin photo-degradation. The study clarified that heat treatment of whey proteins, casein and milk might induce the formation of Maillard reaction products that enhanced the protective ability against photo-degradation of riboflavin.

E-cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been using social media as an informative platform to promote e-cigarettes for their users. The most popular social media in Vietnam were YouTube and Facebook. The information and knowledge could affect e-cigarette user’s belief and the way they make a decision. Despite this, there is a gap in our knowledge of policy maker’s in user’s perceptions about how they feel with promotion on social media platform in Vietnam. This study aimed to describe the promotion of e-cigarettes by providers on some social networks and to describe electronic cigarette users’ feedback about videos/posts of providers on some social networks in Vietnam in 2019. Searches in major electronic databases, including Facebook and YouTube, were conducted using the following search terms: “electronic cigarette,” “electronic vaporizer,” “electronic pod,”. The video/post was selected if they’re from providers and include advertising content on the social media platform during 2019. Of the 104 e-cigarette related videos/posts retrieved, there were 27% on Facebook and 28% on YouTube. The three most common advertising contents were beneft of using e-cigarette, negative health consequences and entertainment effects.

This article aims to describe the Vietnamese Government’s policy response to support disadvantaged groups affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through the relief package. The Vietnamese policy response is characterized by rapid response, priority for disadvantaged groups in communities, social work core values in the policy, openness, and transparency. We hope the experiences from Vietnam could be helpful for similar settings in the world.

Background: Covid - 19 is a global pandemic, affecting all areas of social life in every country. In the current conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic, individual health behaviors are of primary importance. Each citizen consciously implements their health behaviors not only to prevent them from being infected but also to help the country's prevention of Covid-19 effective. The study of factors predicting people’s health behaviors in the community will help managers come up with appropriate measures to improve public health and to quickly repel the pandemic. Objectives: The research analyzes factors predicting personal health behaviors during the Covid-19 pandemic in Vietnam, including: pandemic awareness, self-assessment of the possibility of becoming infected, fear of disease, quality of life, and mental health (anxiety). Methods: This was a cross-sectional quantitative study. Data were collected from a convenient sample of 572 people in Vietnam (118 males, 451 females; M age =27.0 (sd = 10.0) ) by a means of an online questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was constructed based on the YouGov Behavior Change questionnaire; the Fear of Coronavirus-19 Scale (FCV-19), WHOQOL-BREF, the Moral Foundation Questionnaire, and Knowledge of Covid-19. This study performed multivariate regression analysis to explore effects of moral, quality of life, knowledge and fear of Coronavirus-19 on health behaviors of participants. Result: The result showed that fear and sex factors explain 4% (R2-adj = 4%) of health behavior change in the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, there is a signìicant relationship between health behaviors and fear, age, gender, and occupation. Conclusion: People's health behaviors are particularly concerned during the Covid-19 pandemic. Community healthcare activities for the people should be tailored to suit different population groups such as gender, age or emotional experiences. More in-depth studies are needed to find out the causes of these differences, thereby proposing practical solutions to help people practice more effective health behaviors, contributing to preventing and combating the outbreak.

Research on coping strategies and social support among Vietnamese cancer caregivers remains limited. In this study, we aim to examine the relationships between types of coping strategies utilized and social support among cancer caregivers. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in three main cancer hospitals in the Northern, Central and Southern regions of Vietnam. The 28-item Brief COPE Inventory (BCI) Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were utilized. Descriptive statistics and multivariate linear regression were performed. Active coping, acceptance and positive reframing were the most used coping strategies among participants, while substance use was the least commonly used. Level of social support was positively correlated with the utilization of coping mechanisms. Receiving high social support and utilizing positive coping strategies enables caregivers to mitigate their caregiving burden, control the situation and enhance their own quality of life.

AimTo determine the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of methadone maintenance treatment patients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.Subject and MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in 967 patients treating at two methadone clinics in Ho Chi Minh City, in 2018. Patient’s health-related quality of life was estimated using the EQ-5D-5L and Visual analogue scale (VAS). Tobit regressions were used to identify factors related to patient’s health-related quality of life.ResultsOverall, the mean EQ-5D-5L utility and EQ-VAS indexes were 0.96 (SD = 0.12) and 75.8 (SD=15.5), respectively. Factors related with a higher EQ-5D-5L score included peoples who are single, and have a higher monthly income (more than 4 million VND per month), while patients aged under 30 years old, have full-time employment, and have higher education were associated with a higher EQ-VAS score. HIV was associated with lower scores of both EQ-5D-5L and EQ- VAS (β = -0.07 (95%CI: -0.13; -0.01), and β = -7.10 (95%CI: -9.23; -4.98), respectively).ConclusionHRQoL measurement provides valuable information for the policymaker to adopt suitable decisions on opioid dependence treatment. The finding shows that patients with education, job situation, and socioeconomic status are the related elements with higher HRQoL, which suggested that the policymakers and physicians should pay more attention to these aspects while working on treatment plan for drug users.

Background Health education through music video plays a vital role in raising a person's knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors positively connected to health during COVID-19 pandemic. Objective This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19-related music-video-watching and examine associated factors among the Vietnamese population. Methods A cross-sectional study in Vietnam was conducted in February 2021 via the Internet. Results Among 658 participants, the prevalence of COVID-19-related music-video-watching was 89.1% among people. In the multivariable regression models, significant factors for COVID-19-related music-video-watching were living area, types of housemate, age groups, and current occupation. Conclusions Lessons on health education to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam could be useful for similar settings in the world.

The effects of person-job fit and leader-member exchange on job satisfaction have been repeatedly found in literature, yet no study has compared these effects between public and private corporations. The purpose of this research is to study the influence of person-job fit and leader-member exchange to job satisfaction of employees in Vietnam and examine if these effects are moderated by sector type. 547 employees in public and private sector in Vietnam reported to 3 measures: person-job fit scale (Chuang, Shen Judge, 2015), leader-member exchange scale (Lyden Maslyn, 1998), and job satisfaction scale (Seashore et al, 1982). Results showed that there were positive correlations between person-job fit and job satisfaction, and between leader-member exchange and job satisfaction. There were also significant moderation effects of sector type. Person-job fit has a weaker effect on job satisfaction in the public sector than in the private sector; while leader-member exchange has a stronger effect on job satisfaction in the public sector than in the private sector. Implications of the findings were discussed; in particular, leaders in the public sector need to focus on creating a smooth supervisor-subordinate relationship; while those in the private sector should select people that fit the job.

The essential oil (EO) obtained from the leaves of the thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) grown in Vietnam was found to contain thymol (39.79%), cymene (17.33%), and γ-terpinene (13.45%) as the main volatile components. The antimicrobial activities of this oil were screened against several food-borne bacteria and fungi species. Significant growth inhibition effects against food-borne bacteria Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Salmonella Typhimurium were observed using the standard disc diffusion method. Thyme EO showed the antibacterial effect against all the test pathogenic strains with the inhibition zones were 23.3 ± 0.4 mm, 24.7 ± 0.4 mm, 29.0 ± 0.7 mm, 32 ± 0.7 mm in diameter against B. subtilis, E. coli, S. Typhimurium and S. aureus, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determined by micro-dilution method in MHB liquid medium was 1.56 µl/ml. The bactericidal concentrations (MBC) was 3.13 µl/ml for three isolates from B. subtilis, E. coli, and S. aureus, while the MBC tested for S. typhi was 1.56 µl/ml. The antifungal properties of the thyme EO were also determined in this study against three important pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans, Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium oxysporum with the inhibition zones ranging approximately from 23.20 ± 0.06 to 44.10 ± 0.03 mm. On the other hands, the results also showed the antioxidant activity of Vietnamese thyme EO and suggested that thyme EO can be applied in food industries as natural flavoring preservatives/additives to control food spoilage and food born bacteria and fungi.

Whey proteins were present in appropriate proportion in milk, during heat-treatment at pasteurization temperatures; whey proteins and casein have the ability to form firm gel of uniform porosity through heat-induced protein-protein interactions. In this study, the addition of whey proteins in fresh milk were carry out to investigate whether whey protein would accelerate yoghurt fermentation time and facilitate the yoghurt structure. The results indicated that the addition of whey concentrate 80 increased the water retention capacity of the final product. Whey protein concentrate 80 supplement at the content of 0.8% shortened fermentation time for the product 12.5%. The addition of whey protein also improved the properties of water retention until 26%, viscosity and structure of yoghurt products.

Antimicrobial activities of aminoreductone (AR), a product formed in the initial stages of the Maillard reaction, were investigated using eight clinical isolates of antibiotic-susceptible/resistant pathogenic bacteria: four Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one multi-drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDRP), one Escherichia coli, one methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, and one methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). AR showed advanced growth inhibition effects compared to antibiotics (amikacin, ciprofloxacin, imipenem and levofloxacin) frequently used for the treatment of infectious diseases, and worked synergistically with these antibiotics. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of AR ranged from 13 to 20 mM. The bactericidal activity of AR was dose and time dependent. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MSC) was lower for Gram-negative bacteria (32 to 40 mM). These findings suggest that AR, a naturally formed antimicrobial agent present in thermally processed foods, has promising potential for health promotion and for use in medical practices. (Resume d'auteur)

In this study, antimicrobial activity of aminoreductone (AR), a product formed during the initial stage of the Maillard reaction, against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was evaluated. The significant growth inhibition of all 51 MRSA isolates irrespective of drug susceptibility by AR was observed. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AR ranged from 13 to 26 mM. The bactericidal activity of AR was evaluated by a killing assay with multiples of MIC, and it was recognized to depend on its dose. The combined effects of AR and antibiotics frequently used for the treatment of infections caused by Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, such as amikacin (AN), ciprofloxacin, imipenem and levofloxacin, were examined. As a result, AR did not interfere with these antibiotic activities against 12 MRSA isolates selected and showed the advanced effect of growth inhibition in combination with antibiotics. Moreover, the inhibitory effects of AR were similar to those of AN, an antibiotic with known adverse effects, some serious. These findings show that AR is a naturally formed antimicrobial agent present in thermally processed foods with potential health benefits in medical practice.

The aim of this study was to elucidate the formation mechanism of aminoreductone, an important indicator for estimating the extent of Maillard reaction of lactose and amino compounds. Using the model system of lactose and butylamine, the model solution of lactose and milk proteins, and milks, it was concluded that D -galactose was liberated at the same time as the generation of aminoreductone. It was shown that the extent of the Maillard reaction and the lactose degradation during heating depended closely on the concentration ratio of amino group/lactose in the sample solution.

To create a basis for the production of aminoreductone (AR) followed by the use of it as a functional ingredient in food supplements, the effects of heating temperature, heating time, buffer concentration and reducing sugar/amino compound ratio on the formation of aminoreductone (AR), a product formed during the initial stage of the Maillard reaction,were investigated. In the model solution of lactose (262 mM) and butylamine (1.16 M) in 1.28 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), AR formation increased during the prolongation of the heating time at heating temperature less than 100oC. In the heated model solution at 100 oC, the maximum amount of AR was obtained as soon after 10 min of heating time. After that, the decreases of the AR formation was observed by the progress of the advanced reactions of AR. The rates of AR formation increased with the increasing phosphate buffer concentration. Moreover, the increasing in AR formation incorporated in the increase of the butylamine/lactose ratio from 0.1 to 5. Our results might give more insight in the discovery of Maillard reactions in food because it suggested tendency of the AR formation and to control the formation of AR during food processing and model system base on the control of initial constituents and reaction conditions.

Anti-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) effects of aminoreductone (AR), a Maillard reaction product, were evaluated in this study. AR effectively inhibited the growth of all 24 strains (19 clinical isolates and 5 isogenic mutants) irrespective of susceptibility to antibiotics and clinical manifestation. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AR ranged from 0.5 to 5 mM. A killing assay with multiples of MIC was performed, demonstrating that the killing activity of AR was significantly higher than that of its derived melanoidin, an inhibitor of H. pylori urease-gastric mucin adherence, formed in the final stage of the Maillard reaction. These significant effects of AR on H. pylori were observed even in acidic conditions (pH 3). At most, 25 mM AR effectively exhibited bactericidal activity in all strains. These results rise up the possibility that foods containing AR, such as milk and dairy products, are valuable sources for preventing colonization of H. pylori in the stomach and its associated tissue damages.

The effects of aminoreductone (AR) on photo-degradation of riboflavin were studied for a riboflavin solution (1.5 mg L −1 ) and UHT-treated milk during exposure to irradiation at 7000 lux light intensity for 2.5 h. In riboflavin solution, AR protected riboflavin against degradation under exposure to light, and this ability depended on concentration of AR. In addition, the protective ability of AR was higher than that of ascorbic acid, which has the ability to reduce photo-degradation of riboflavin. The study in milk clarified that heat-treatment of milk enhanced the protective ability against photo-degradation of riboflavin because of generation of AR during the Maillard reaction. In parallel with the decrease of AR concentration in UHT-treated milk by the addition of Cu 2+ , the protective ability correspondingly decreased. Thus, it may be concluded that AR was a principal compound which was responsible for the photo-stability of riboflavin in UHT-treated milk.

The bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) colonizes in over half of the world’s population. H. pylori that establishes life-long infection in the stomach is definitely associated with gastro-duodenal diseases and a wide variety of non-gastrointestinal tract conditions such as immune thrombocytopenia. Triple therapy which consists of a proton pump inhibitor and combinations of two antibiotics (amoxicillin, clarithromycin or amoxicillin, metronidazol) is commonly used for H. pylori eradication. Recently, the occurrence of drug-resistant H. pylori and the adverse effect of antibiotics have severely weakened eradication therapy. Generally antibiotics induce the disturbance of human gastrointestinal microflora. Furthermore, there are inappropriate cases of triple therapy such as allergy to antibiotics, severe complications (liver and/or kidney dysfunction), the aged and people who reject the triple therapy. These prompt us to seek alterative agents instead of antibiotics and to develop more effective and safe therapy with these agents. The combination of these agents actually may result in lower a dose of antibiotics. There are many reports world-wide that non-antibiotic substances from natural products potentially have an anti-H. pylori agent. We briefly review the constituents derived from nature that fight against H. pylori in the literature with our studies.