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Background: Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inborn error of immunity (IEI) disorder that results from defects in the respiratory burst activity in phagocytes, leading to the inability to kill bacterial and fungal microorganisms. CGD patients usually have a high incidence of morbidity such as infections and autoinflammatory diseases and a high mortality rate. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is the only definitive cure for patients who suffer from CGD. Case presentation: We report the first transplant case of chronic granulomatous disease in Vietnam. A 25-month-old boy with X-linked CGD underwent bone marrow transplantation from his 5-year-old, full-matched human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-carrier sibling after myeloablative conditioning regimen with busulfan 5.1 mg/kg/day for 4 days, fludarabine 30 mg/m2/day for 5 days, and rATG (Grafalon-Fresenius) 10 mg/kg/day for 4 days. Neutrophil was engrafted on day 13 posttransplant, donor chimerism was 100% on day 30 with the dihydrorhodamine-1,2,3 (DHR 123) flow cytometric assay test that reached 38% of the normal 45 days posttransplant. Five months after transplant, the patient was free of infection with stable DHR 123 assay at 37%, and donor chimerism remained 100%. No sign of a graft-versus-host disease had been observed posttransplant. Conclusion: We suggest that bone marrow transplantation is a safe and effectual cure for CGD patients, especially for patients with HLA-identical siblings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural production accounts for 64.2% of the Vietnam's Mekong Delta. However, this sector has to face damage risks, especially from the natural disasters, such as flood, drought, severe soil salinity, pests, and erosion, which might factor into the farmers' risk attitude and their decision-making relative to investment in production activities. This study analyzes the factors influencing the risk attitudes of the rice farmers, based on evidence from the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews and experimental games with 145 rice farmers. An ordered probit regression model was applied to estimate how the factors affected the rice farmers' risk attitudes. The risk-neutral farmers comprised 53.72% of farmers in the survey, while 31.72% and 15.15% were risk-preferred and risk-averse farmers. The study results indicated that age, number of rice crops per year, household assets, income from rice production, and credit accessibility were the main factors affecting the farmers' risk attitudes. The results suggest that the financial incentives' policies to compensate for losses in uncertain conditions and increase the household income, diversification of income sources, and improving the accessibility of formal credit might be useful to increase farmers' willingness to accept the risks of investing in better profitability projects and gaining a higher income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil salinity has a major impact on agricultural production. In a changing climate with rising sea-levels, low-lying coastal areas are increasingly inundated whereby saltwater gradually contaminates the soil. Drought prone areas may suffer from salinity due to high evapotranspiration rates in combination with the use of saline irrigation water. Salinity is difficult to monitor because soil moisture affects the soil's spectral signature. We conducted Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy on alluvial and sandy soil samples in the coastal estuary of the Red River Delta. The soils are contaminated with NaCl, Na2CO3 and Na2SO4 salts. In an experiment of salt contamination, we established that three ranges of the spectrum were strongly influenced by both salt and moisture content in the soil, at wavenumbers 3200–3400 cm−1 (2.9–3.1 µm); 1600–1700 cm−1 (5.9–6.3 µm); 900–1100 cm−1 (9.1–11.1 µm). The Na2CO3 contaminated soil and the spectral value had a linear relationship between wavelengths 6.9 and 7.4 µm. At wavelength 6.99 µm, there was no relationship between absorbance and soil moisture, but the absorbance was proportional to the salt content (R2 = 0.85; RMSE = 0.68 g) and electrical conductivity (R2 = 0.50; RMSE = 3.8 dS/m). The relationship between soil moisture and spectral absorbance value was high at wavelengths below 6.7 µm, resulting in a quadratic relation between soil moisture and absorbance at wavelength 6.13 µm (R2 = 0.80; RMSE = 5.2%). The spectral signatures and equations might be useful for mapping salt-affected soils, particularly in difficult to access locations. Technological advances in thermal satellite sensors may offer possibilities for monitoring soil salinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The floodplains play an important role in agricultural development and rural livelihoods in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. As an intensive rice production area of Vietnam, the floodplain has experienced significant changes in water management regime during the recent decades. Depending on specific locations and irrigation infrastructure investments, four main water management practices have been innovated, particularly a planting season of two crops per year (2C1Y), three crops per year (3C1Y), three years eight crops (3Y8C) and two years five crops (2Y5C). The 4R framework (Reform, Result, Resilience, and Return) was developed based on grounded theory approach for resilience assessment of various innovative water management practices. In terms of resilience, we found that each crop pattern involves pros and cons, and the intensive crop practices are less resilient systems, especially in social, environmental, and ecological aspects. The findings provide good lessons learned not only for Vietnam but also for the other rice-producing deltas implementing ecosystem resilience to adapt to global challenges such as flood, drought, and salinity intrusion. [Display omitted] • The systems with more intensive crop patterns are less resilient. • The 4 R framework consisting of Reform, Result, Resilience and Return is developed. • Future policies should improve the livelihoods and enhance ecological resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare primary immunodeficiency disorder (PID) due to genetic defects in the NADPH oxidase of phagocytes. Affected patients become susceptible to infections such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and skin ulcer types. The patients require life-long treatment with prophylactic antibiotics, antifungals, or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) therapy. Early, accurate diagnosis will contribute to the life-prolonging of patients with CGD. This study's aim is to identify the mutation related to the disease., Case Presentation: Six patients from different Vietnamese families were collected for genetic analysis at Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology Department, Vietnam National Hospital Pediatrics. They were diagnosed with CGD by flow cytometry test with the conversion of dihydrorhodamine (DHR) 123 to rhodamine 123., Methods: We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) as a tool for detecting novel mutations. The mutations were confirmed by the Sanger sequencing method in patients and their families. The influence of the mutations was predicted with the in silico analysis tools: PROVEAN, SIFT, PolyPhen 2, Mutation Taster, and MaxEntScan., Results: In this study, five mutations were found in six unrelated patients with CGD from different Vietnamese families. Three novel pathogenic mutations were detected including one mutation (c.45+2 T>G) in the CYBB gene and two mutations (c.187_188insA and c.289G>C) in the NCF2 gene., Conclusions: Our results of CGD-related mutations contribute to the general understanding of the etiology of the disease and emphasize that WES sequencing can be used as a tool to help to diagnose carriers as well as assist in genetic counseling and prenatal screening., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Development of a robust technical assistance system is an essential component of a sustainable HIV response. Vietnam's National HIV Program is transitioning from a largely donor-funded programme to one primarily supported by domestic resources. Telehealth interventions are increasingly being used for training, mentoring and expert consultation in high-resource settings and hold significant potential for use as a tool to build HIV health worker capacity in low and middle-income countries. We designed, implemented and scaled up a novel HIV telehealth programme for Vietnam, with the goal of building a sustainable training model to support the country's HIV workforce needs. Over a 4-year period, HIV telehealth programmes were initiated in 17 public institutions with participation of nearly 700 clinical sites across 62 of the 63 provinces in the country. The telehealth programme was used to deliver certificate training courses, provide clinical mentoring and case-based learning, support programme implementation, provide coaching in quality improvement and disseminate new guidelines and policies. Programme evaluation demonstrated improved health worker self-reported competence in HIV care and treatment and high satisfaction among the programme participants. Lessons learnt from Vietnam's experience with telehealth can inform country programmes looking to develop a sustainable approach to HIV technical assistance and health worker capacity building., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)