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Soft tissue coverage of the leg was challenging due to some defect and usually required a free flap. Usage of a free flap came with donor site morbidity, not only consuming considerable time but also requiring a facility for microsurgery. This study reports findings regarding the pedicled perforator flap for the management of small- and medium-sized defects of the leg. From March 2011 to December 2019, 55 patients were treated with the pedicled perforator flaps for leg defects. Defect size ranged from 2 × 3 cm to 6 × 14 cm. The flap was based on a single perforator of the anterior tibial, posterior tibial, and peroneal arteries and was rotated 180°. The hand-held Doppler ultrasound and 320-slice computed tomography scanner were used preoperatively to determine the perforators in 37 and 18 cases, respectively. Forty-two patients (76.4%) had flaps that completely survived, and 11 patients (20%) developed partial flap necrosis, yet the flaps were still successful in covering the defects. One patient (1.8%) developed partial flap necrosis but the flap did not succeed in covering the lesion, and 1 patient (1.8%) developed total flap necrosis. Donor sites were closed primarily in 19 patients (34.5%) and were closed with small skin grafting in 36 patients (65.5%). The flap was based on a single perforator of the anterior tibial, posterior tibial, and peroneal arteries and was rotated up to 180°. The operating time was from 90 to 150 min. The remaining flaps survived well with good aesthetic results. The pedicled perforator flap is safe and reliable when used for the reconstruction of small to medium-sized leg defects. The technique is convenient and less time-consuming while also minimizing donor site morbidity and providing good aesthetic results. Level of evidence: Level IV, therapeutic study

The impact of La2O3 promoter loading on alumina-supported cobalt catalysts was investigated in terms of physicochemical properties and catalytic performance for CO2 reforming of methane (CRM) at stoichiometric CH4/CO2 ratio and 1023 K. Both Co3O4 (with crystal size: 5.2–8.4 nm) and La2O3 nanoparticles were finely dispersed on support surface. The promotional La2O3 effect could noticeably increase CH4 and CO2 conversions to 29.3% and 17.3%, correspondingly due to improved basic site concentration and decreasing crystallite size of active metal in association with promoter addition. 5%La loading was an optimal promoter content for reactant conversions as well as yield of H2 and CO. 5%La-10%Co/Al2O3 also exhibited the highest resistance to carbon deposition owing to the basic nature, redox feature and oxygen vacancy of La2O3 dopant. Notably, the H2/CO ratio obtained within 0.84–0.98 is preferable for Fischer-Tropsch reaction in downstream to yield liquid hydrocarbon fuels.

Commercial small-scale chicken farms using all-in-all-out production but operating with low standards of hygiene/biosecurity are increasingly common in Vietnam. These conditions facilitate transmission of gastrointestinal helminths. However there are no published data on these parasites in these systems. The aims were: (1) to determine the prevalence/burden of gastrointestinal helminths in small-scale commercial flocks in commercial small-scale flocks in the Mekong Delta region; and (2) to investigate the association between worm burdens and birds’ weight and disease status. Randomly selected chickens (n=120) (‘normal’ flocks) were investigated at the end of their production cycle (∼18 weeks), as well as 90 chickens with signs of respiratory and/or severe disease. The gastrointestinal tract of chickens was dissected and all visible helminths were identified. 54.2% and 54.4% healthy and diseased chickens contained helminths. Diseased, colonized chickens harboured a higher mass of helminth worms (3.8 ±SD 8.6g) than colonized, healthy chickens (1.9 ±6.3g). Eight species were identified, three nematodes (Ascaridia galli, Cheilospirura hamulosa and Heterakis gallinarum), four cestodes (Hymenolepis, Raillietina cesticillus, Raillietina echinobothrida, Raillietina tetragona,) and one trematode (Echinostomatidae). Heterakis gallinarum was the most prevalent helminth (43.3% and 42.2% in healthy and sick chickens, respectively), followed by A. galli (26.7% and 41.1%). Colonized chickens weighed 101.5g less than non-colonized birds. Colonisation was significantly higher during the rainy months (May-November) for both H. gallinarum and A. galli. Anthelminthic usage was not associated with reduced helminth burdens. We recommend upgrading cleaning and disinfection and limiting access to ranging areas to control helminth infections in small-scale commercial chicken flocks.

In this work, a multi-functional hybrid system consisting of graphene oxide and silver nanoparticles (GO-Ag NPs) was successfully synthesized by using a two-step chemical process. We firstly demonstrated noticeable bactericidal ability of the GO-Ag hybrid system. We provide more chemo-physical evidence explaining the antibacterial behavior of GO-Ag nanohybrid against Gram-negative Escherichia Coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus in light of ultrastructural damage analyses and Ag1+ ions release rate onto the cells/medium. A further understanding of the mode of antimicrobial action is very important for designing and developing advanced antimicrobial systems. Secondly, we have also demonstrated that the GO-Ag nanohybrid material could be used as a potential surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate to detect and quantify organic dyes, e.g., methylene blue (MB), in aqueous media. Our findings revealed that the GO-Ag hybrid system showed better SERS performance of MB detection than that of pure Ag-NPs. MB could be detected at a concentration as low as 1 ppm. The GO-Ag-based SERS platform can be effectively used to detect trace concentrations of various types of organic dyes in aqueous media. With the aforementioned properties, the GO-Ag hybrid system is found to be very promising as a multi-functional material for advanced biomedicine and environmental monitoring applications.

C/Ce-codoped ZnO nanomaterial has been synthesized by a hydrothermal method and its physical properties and characterization investigated using thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic activity of the nanomaterial was examined using methylene blue as organic dye under visible-light source. The results show that the C/Ce-codoped ZnO nanomaterial exhibited higher photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation compared with undoped ZnO, Ce-doped ZnO or C-doped ZnO nanomaterials. Such enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of C/Ce-codoped ZnO under visible-light irradiation suggests that these nanoparticles might have good applications in optoelectronics and wastewater treatment.

The Vietnam Initiative for Zoonotic Infections (VIZIONS) includes community-based ‘high-risk sentinel cohort’ (HRSC) studies investigating individuals at risk of zoonotic infection due to occupational or residential exposure to animals. A total of 852 HRSC members were recruited between March 2013 and August 2014 from three provinces (Ha Noi, Dak Lak and Dong Thap). The most numerous group (72.8%) corresponded to individuals living on farms, followed by slaughterers (16.3%) and animal health workers (8.5%). Nasal/pharyngeal and rectal swabs were collected from HRSC members at recruitment and after notifying illness. Exposure to exotic animals (including wild pigs, porcupine, monkey, civet, bamboo rat and bat) was highest for the Dak Lak cohort (53.7%), followed by Ha Noi (13.7%) and Dong Thap (4.0%). A total of 26.8% of individuals reported consumption of raw blood over the previous year; 33.6% slaughterers reported no use of protective equipment at work. Over 686 person-years of observation, 213 episodes of suspect infectious disease were notified, equivalent of 0.35 reports per person-year. Responsive samples were collected from animals in the farm cohort. There was noticeable time and space clustering of disease episodes suggesting that the VIZIONS set up is also suitable for the formal epidemiological investigation of disease outbreaks.