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Localized cutaneous neurofibromas (cNFs) are benign tumors that arise in the dermis of patients affected by neurofibromatosis type 1 syndrome. cNFs are benign lesions: they do not undergo malignant transformation or metastasize. Nevertheless, they can cover a significant proportion of the body, with some individuals developing hundreds to thousands of lesions. cNFs can cause pain, itching, and disfigurement resulting in substantial socio-emotional repercussions. Currently, surgery and laser desiccation are the sole treatment options but may result in scarring and potential regrowth from incomplete removal. To identify effective systemic therapies, we introduce an approach to establish and screen cNF organoids. We optimized conditions to support the ex vivo growth of genomically diverse cNFs. Patient-derived cNF organoids closely recapitulate cellular and molecular features of parental tumors as measured by immunohistopathology, methylation, RNA sequencing, and flow cytometry. Our cNF organoid platform enables rapid screening of hundreds of compounds in a patient- and tumor-specific manner.

Intercultural sensitivity, which is seen as an affective component of intercultural competence, is crucial to cultivating one's favorable emotions about cultural differences experienced in intercultural communication. This qualitative study was conducted to find out how undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) students in Vietnam perceived intercultural sensitivity. The results showed that although the majority of students had not previously heard the phrase "intercultural sensitivity" before taking part in the survey, their intuitive understanding of the term was rather close to that of the literature. The participants were well aware of the evaluation of their intercultural sensitivity level. EFL students had different strategies for improvement of intercultural sensitivity depending on their study level and intercultural awareness. All participants, especially those who were learning a second language, believed that intercultural awareness is crucial. The study findings point to the recommendation that educators strive to further integrate intercultural sensitivity instruction and learning to improve EFL students' capacity for intercultural communication.

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has aroused interest of researchers as well as practitioners in education worldwide since the 1980s. In Vietnam, TBLT has recently been promoted in EFL/ESL education at all levels to develop learners' communicative competence; as a result, EFL teachers need to take major shifts in learning objectives, learning activities, teaching techniques, materials, assessment methods, etc. into consideration. This study aimed to explore the secondary school EFL teachers' challenges they have faced during the task-based teaching process. Ninety-six teachers working as full-time teachers of English at sixteen secondary schools in Vung Tau City, Vietnam answered a closed-ended questionnaire and participated in semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the participants faced two types of challenges, namely objective and subjective when TBLT was implemented in their language classrooms. The objective challenges, in particular, consisted of class size, incompatibility between the curriculum and the focus of TBLT, preparation time, uncertainty about teacher's role, and deteriorating English grammatical competence, whereas lack of assessment skills for task-based learning performance was considered the most problematic subjective cause to them. Noticeably, the participants showed the willingness to apply TBLT because of their adequate knowledge of TBLT and sufficient English proficiency.

High throughput drug screening is an established approach to investigate tumor biology and identify therapeutic leads. Traditional platforms use two-dimensional cultures which do not accurately reflect the biology of human tumors. More clinically relevant model systems such as three-dimensional tumor organoids can be difficult to scale and screen. Manually seeded organoids coupled to destructive endpoint assays allow for the characterization of treatment response, but do not capture transitory changes and intra-sample heterogeneity underlying clinically observed resistance to therapy. We present a pipeline to generate bioprinted tumor organoids linked to label-free, time-resolved imaging via high-speed live cell interferometry (HSLCI) and machine learning-based quantitation of individual organoids. Bioprinting cells gives rise to 3D structures with unaltered tumor histology and gene expression profiles. HSLCI imaging in tandem with machine learning-based segmentation and classification tools enables accurate, label-free parallel mass measurements for thousands of organoids. We demonstrate that this strategy identifies organoids transiently or persistently sensitive or resistant to specific therapies, information that could be used to guide rapid therapy selection.

This study aims to determine the governance factors that influence the scientific research output of lecturers through the application of PLS-SEM, in conjunction with ANOVA and "t"-test. Based on a survey of 398 lecturers in twelve higher education institutions (HEIs) in Vietnam, the psychometric properties of the scales measuring the considered dimensions of scientific research outputs were initially examined through the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) procedure, prior to being input into the PLS-SEM model. The SEM model comprised six constructs for the scientific research outputs: scientific research objectives of HEIs, leadership, decentralization, policies for lecturers, support for scientific research activities, and resources for scientific research. The results reveal that resources for scientific research have the most impact on lecturers' scientific research output, followed by policies for lecturers, support for scientific research activities, scientific research objectives of HEIs, and finally, leadership.

Chordomas are rare tumors of notochordal origin, most commonly arising in the sacrum or skull base. Chordomas are considered insensitive to conventional chemotherapy, and their rarity complicates running timely and adequately powered trials to identify effective treatments. Therefore, there is a need for discovery of novel therapeutic approaches. Patient-derived organoids can accelerate drug discovery and development studies and predict patient responses to therapy. In this proof-of-concept study, we successfully established organoids from seven chordoma tumor samples obtained from five patients presenting with tumors in different sites and stages of disease. The organoids recapitulated features of the original parent tumors and inter- as well as intrapatient heterogeneity. High-throughput screenings performed on the organoids highlighted targeted agents such as PI3K/mTOR, EGFR, and JAK2/STAT3 inhibitors among the most effective molecules. Pathway analysis underscored how the NF-κB and IGF-1R pathways are sensitive to perturbations and potential targets to pursue for combination therapy of chordoma.

On December 4, 2021, a 20-year-old female hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) at a zoo in Hanoi, Vietnam, was treated for lethargy, depression, and reduced appetite. Veterinary staff initiated antimicrobial drug treatment [...]

Even though the combined use of ultrasound (US) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is recommended for the surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the utilization of AFP has its challenges, including accuracy dependent on its cut-off levels, degree of liver necroinflammation, and etiology of liver disease. Though various studies have demonstrated the utility of protein induced by vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II) in surveillance, treatment monitoring, and predicting recurrence, it is still not recommended as a routine biomarker test. A panel of 17 experts from Asia-Pacific, gathered to discuss and reach a consensus on the clinical usefulness and value of PIVKA-II for the surveillance and treatment monitoring of HCC, based on six predetermined statements. The experts agreed that PIVKA-II was valuable in the detection of HCC in AFP-negative patients, and could potentially benefit detection of early HCC in combination with AFP. PIVKA-II is clinically useful for monitoring curative and intra-arterial locoregional treatments, outcomes, and recurrence, and could potentially predict microvascular invasion risk and facilitate patient selection for liver transplant. However, combining PIVKA-II with US and AFP for HCC surveillance, including small HCC, still requires more evidence, whilst its role in detecting AFP-negative HCC will potentially increase as more patients are treated for hepatitis-related HCC. PIVKA-II in combination with AFP and US has a clinical role in the Asia-Pacific region for surveillance. However, implementation of PIVKA-II in the region will have some challenges, such as requiring standardization of cut-off values, its cost-effectiveness and improving awareness among healthcare providers.

Chordomas are rare tumors of notochordal origin, most commonly arising in the sacrum or skull base. Primary treatment of chordoma is surgery, however complete resection is not always feasible due to their anatomic location, and recurrence rates remain high. Chordomas are considered insensitive to conventional chemotherapy, and their rarity complicates running timely and adequately powered trials to identify effective regimens. Therefore, there is a need for discovery of novel therapeutic approaches. Drug discovery efforts in chordoma have been mostly limited to cell line models. Patient-derived organoids can accelerate drug discovery studies and predict patient responses to therapy. In this proof-of-concept study, we successfully established organoids from seven chordoma tumor samples obtained from five patients presenting with tumors in different sites and stages of disease. The organoids recapitulated features of the original parent tumors and inter-as well as intra-patient heterogeneity. High-throughput screenings performed on the organoids highlighted targeted agents such as PI3K/mTOR, EGFR, and JAK2/STAT3 inhibitors among the most effective molecules. Pathway analysis underscored how the NF-kB and IGF-1R pathways are sensitive to perturbations and potential targets to pursue for combination therapy of chordoma.

Tumor organoids are promising tools for cancer biology investigations and preclinical drug screenings because they are often representative of the histology and drug responses of patients. Here, we introduce a facile protocol to overcome technical limitations by generating patient-derived tumor organoids using a simplified ring-like geometry. This facilitates media exchange and drug treatment for histopathology characterization and automated high-throughput drug screenings. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Phan et al. (2019).

This paper contributes to the literature on the effect of financial openness by investigating the factors and determinants which drive the income share to self-employed labor during financial liberalization. The question of the precise impact of liberalization on the share of the self-employed has received less attention in the literature. The authors use a de jure or a rule-based indicator as a measure of capital account openness. The empirical work is applied for a panel dataset of 30 countries during the period of 1970 - 2015. The results from all specifications support the hypothesis that financial integration leads to an increase in the unemployment rate as well as in the income share of self-employed. Nevertheless, the positive relation between financial openness and self-employed income is not evident when we focus solely on developed countries.

Teaching and learning according to competency development focus on differentiated instruction and organizing activities for students to discover new information, practice skills and then apply knowledge to reality. Using active teaching method, in which enhancing experiences in learning is the significant trend of modern education. The article mentioned to the use of learning station method in elementary education in Vietnam. Based on the literature reviews of learning station method and competencies of elementary students, evaluation of the reality, and results of experiments, the author stated some proposals so that teachers and administrators can use learning station method in elementary schools in Vietnam effectively.

Aims Methods Results Conclusions Advancements in type 1 diabetes (T1D) management, such as continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), have helped people achieve narrower glucose ranges, but associations between CGM and diabetes distress are unclear. Although higher HbA1c is associated with higher distress, associations with other glucose metrics are unknown. To better understand this relationship, we characterized diabetes distress in a sample of CGM users and compared differences in glucose metrics (measured via CGM) between those with higher versus lower distress.CGM users with T1D from the T1D Exchange Registry completed an online survey including diabetes distress (DDS‐2) and shared CGM data (N = 199). CGM metrics were computed from all available data within 3 months prior to survey completion. Participants were grouped by distress level: lower (DDS‐2 < 3, n = 120) or higher (DDS‐2 ≥ 3, n = 79). Welch's t‐tests were used to compare mean differences in CGM metrics between groups and MANCOVA was used to further probe mean differences.Approximately 39.7% participants reported higher diabetes distress. Welch's t‐tests revealed participants with higher distress spent significantly more time in higher glucose ranges (above 180 mg/dL and above 250 mg/dL), less time in target glucose ranges (between 70 and 180 mg/dL and between 70 and 140 mg/dL) and had higher glucose management index values compared to those with lower distress (p < 0.01). MANCOVA models showed similar results.CGM users continue to experience diabetes distress. Moreover, higher distress appears to be associated with hyperglycaemia. These findings provide support for broader screening efforts for diabetes distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and severe hemorrhagic transboundary swine viral disease with up to a 100% mortality rate, which leads to a tremendous socio-economic loss worldwide. The lack of safe and efficacious ASF vaccines is the greatest challenge in the prevention and control of ASF. In this study, we generated a safe and effective live-attenuated virus (LAV) vaccine candidate VNUA-ASFV-LAVL3 by serially passaging a virulent genotype II strain (VNUA-ASFV-L2) in an immortalized porcine alveolar macrophage cell line (3D4/21, 50 passages). VNUA-ASFV-LAVL3 lost its hemadsorption ability but maintained comparable growth kinetics in 3D4/21 cells to that of the parental strain. Notably, it exhibited significant attenuation of virulence in pigs across different doses (103, 104, and 105 TCID50). All vaccinated pigs remained healthy with no clinical signs of African swine fever virus (ASFV) infection throughout the 28-day observation period of immunization. VNUA-ASFV-LAVL3 was efficiently cleared from the blood at 14–17 days post-infection, even at the highest dose (105 TCID50). Importantly, the attenuation observed in vivo did not compromise the ability of VNUA-ASFV-LAVL3 to induce protective immunity. Vaccination with VNUA-ASFV-LAVL3 elicited robust humoral and cellular immune responses in pigs, achieving 100% protection against a lethal wild-type ASFV (genotype II) challenge at all tested doses (103, 104, and 105 TCID50). Furthermore, a single vaccination (104 TCID50) provided protection for up to 2 months. These findings suggest that VNUA-ASFV-LAVL3 can be utilized as a promising safe and efficacious LAV candidate against the contemporary pandemic genotype II ASFV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate seismic ground response analysis is crucial for the design and safety of civil infrastructure and establishing effective mitigation measures against seismic risks and hazards. This is a complex process due to the nonlinear soil properties and complicated underground geometries. As a simplified approach, the one-dimensional wave propagation model, which assumes that seismic waves travel vertically through a horizontally layered medium, is widely adopted for its reasonable performance in many practical applications. This study explores the potential of sequence deep learning models, specifically 1D convolutional neural networks (1D-CNNs), long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, and transformers, as an alternative for seismic ground response modeling. Utilizing ground motion data from the Kiban Kyoshin Network (KiK-net), we train these models to predict ground surface acceleration response spectra based on bedrock motions. The performance of the data-driven models is compared with the conventional equivalent-linear analysis model, SHAKE2000. The results demonstrate that the deep learning models outperform the physics-based model across various sites, with the transformer model exhibiting the smallest average prediction error due to its ability to capture long-range dependencies. The 1D-CNN model also shows a promising performance, albeit with occasional higher errors than the other models. All the data-driven models exhibit efficient computation times of less than 0.4 s for estimation. These findings highlight the potential of sequence deep learning approaches for seismic ground response modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sewer concrete structures are vulnerable to acidic corrosion due to the biological oxidation of sulfide in the wastewater to sulfuric acid. The use of photosynthetic bacteria in the coating layer on the sewer concrete is proposed to be an effective approach to prevent such corrosion. Here we report two strains, PN6 and PN7, isolated from a drainage system in Hanoi that were identified as Rhodopseudomonas palustris PN6 and Rhodobacter capsulatus PN7 based on a comparative analysis of the 16S rDNA and pufM gene sequences. Both strains performed versatile metabolic paths, including anoxygenic and microaerophilic phototrophy and aerobic chemotrophy, allowing them to adapt to the fluctuating sewer conditions. Furthermore, they exhibited notable capability of oxidizing sulfide and producing glycocalyx, and therefore were able to prevent concrete corrosion by scavenging sulfide and reducing the production of sulfuric acid, at the same time sealing the tiny cracks on the concrete surface and preventing further attack of the corrosive agents. Two strains grew well at an alkali pH of 9 and formed biofilm extensively, and therefore can be incorporated into porous material vermiculite, allowing them to survive in the coating mortar. The protective effect of coating mortar containing strains PN6 or PN7 singly or in a combination of both incorporated in vermiculite was demonstrated in a laboratory model simulating the sewer environment with an acidic vapor atmosphere. Without bacteria in the coating mortar, the concrete surface suffered severe corrosion with spots of 0.01–0.2 mm in width and up to 4.5 mm in length clustering in rafts of 10–70 mm2 , whereas the concrete surface coated by bacteria-containing mortar was intact to corrosion. The study proposed the possibility of applying purple nonsulfur bacteria (PNSB) to protect sewer concrete, and also prolong the service life of these important structures. Practical Applications: Sewer concrete systems are daily attacked by acidic corrosion established via the biological oxidation of sulfide to sulfuric acid. The repair is generally costly and has difficulties in implementation. The use of PNSB with the capabilities of scavenging H2S and producing exopolysaccharide (EPS) for the development of a coating layer would be a feasible approach to constrain the corrosion process. Suitable strains of PNSB such as the two strains Rhodopseudomonas palustris PN6 and Rhodobacter capsulatus PN7 reported in this study are supposed to be incorporated in a porous material like vermiculite before being added to the coating mortar to better stabilize and adapt to the harsh conditions of the coating layer. These types of PNSB can survive in the coating layer and multiply by utilizing organic carbon and sulfide from wastewater with the production of sulfur (instead of sulfuric acid) and glycocalyx that can instantly seal the tiny corrosion spots and prevent further corrosion attacks. This approach is supposed to be a prevention solution to increase the service durability of sewer concrete systems and reduce the need for repair implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Vietnam and the Philippines, viral hepatitis is the leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. This study aims to understand the barriers and enablers of people receiving care for hepatitis B and C to support both countries' efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. Retrospective, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with a purposive, quota‐based sample of 63 people living with hepatitis B or C in one province of Vietnam and one region of the Philippines. A rapid deductive approach to thematic analysis produced key findings among the three phases of care: (1) pre‐awareness and testing, (2) linkage and treatment initiation and (3) ongoing treatment and recovery. The research found that participants followed five typical journeys, from a variety of entry points. Barriers during the pre‐awareness and testing phase included limited awareness about hepatitis and its management, stigma and psychological impacts. Enablers included being familiar with the health system and/or patients benefiting from social connections within the health systems. During the linkage and treatment initiation phase, barriers included difficult physical access, complex navigation and inadequate counselling. In this phase, family support emerged as a critical enabler. During the ongoing treatment and recovery phase, the cost of care and socially and culturally informed perceptions of the disease and medication use were both barriers and enablers. Exploring peoples' journeys with hepatitis B and C in Vietnam and the Philippines revealed many similarities despite the different cultural and health system contexts. Insights from this study may help generate a contextualized, people‐centred evidence base to inform the design and improvement of primary care services for hepatitis in both research sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The open-access (OA) publishing model can help improve researchers’ outreach, thanks to its accessibility and visibility to the public. Therefore, the presentation of female researchers can benefit from the OA publishing model. Despite that, little is known about how gender affects OA practices. Thus, the current study explores the effects of female involvement and risk aversion on OA publishing patterns among Vietnamese social sciences and humanities.