Search

Cashew nut testa, a by-product of cashew nut processing, is abundant in phenolic compounds and exhibits strong antioxidant properties, making it a potential additive for enhancing the antioxidant properties of biodegradable films used in food packaging. This study explores the fabrication of biodegradable chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol films incorporating varying concentrations of cashew nut testa extract (CNTE; 0, 1, 2 and 3% v/v) and evaluates their physical, structural, mechanical, optical and antioxidant properties. The results demonstrate that increasing extract concentration generally increased the thickness, tensile strength, Young's modulus, thermal stability and antioxidant capacity of the films, while reducing the moisture content, swelling degree, elongation at break, and light transmittance. Specifically, the film with 3% extract showed approximately 11% lower moisture content and 31% lower swelling degree compared with the plain film. It also displayed the highest tensile strength and Young's modulus at 28.63 and 147.35 MPa, respectively. Microstructural analysis revealed that the incorporation of CNTE resulted in a smoother and slightly denser film structure. Antioxidant activity, determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay, was not detected in the plain film but increased with increasing extract concentration. The film with 3% CNTE exhibited the highest antioxidant activity of 58.93 µmol Trolox equivalents (TE) g -1 film. This study highlights the potential of CNTE as an effective edible additive for developing antioxidant and ultraviolet barrier films with improved mechanical strength and water resistance for food packaging applications., Competing Interests: We declare we have no competing interests., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major health problem, causing thousands of deaths each year worldwide. Although current medications can often inhibit viral replication and reduce the risk of liver carcinoma, several obstacles still hinder their effectiveness. These include viral resistance, prolonged treatment duration, and low efficacy in clearing viral antigens. To address these challenges in current HBV treatment, numerous approaches have been developed with remarkable success. Among these strategies, small-interfering RNA (siRNA) stands out as one of the most promising therapies for hepatitis B. However, naked siRNAs are vulnerable to enzymatic digestion, easily eliminated by renal filtration, and unable to cross the cell membrane due to their large, anionic structure. Therefore, effective delivery systems are required to protect siRNAs and maintain their functionality. In this review, we have discussed the promises of siRNA therapy in treating HBV, milestones in their delivery systems, and products that have entered clinical trials. Finally, we have outlined the future perspectives of siRNA-based therapy for HBV treatment., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This review article does not require any ethical approval or allied consents for publication. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Many countries, including Taiwan, have tightened regulations on prescribing sedatives-hypnotics over the concern of their associated adverse health effects. However, it remains seldom investigated whether different age-sex strata have differential trends in national surveys over time for either the use or nonmedical use (NMU) of sedatives-hypnotics. Comparing Taiwan's two national surveys in 2014 and 2018, we aimed to examine (1) the population's trends for the prevalence of past-year use and NMU of sedatives-hypnotics overall and in age-sex strata; (2) trends for sociodemographic subgroups for those age-sex strata with significant changes in past-year use and NMU of sedatives-hypnotics over time; and (3) trends for sources of and motives for NMU of sedatives-hypnotics., Methods: The national survey enrolled 17,837 participants in 2014 (response rate = 62.2%) and 18,626 participants in 2018 (response rate = 64.6%) of citizens aged 12-64 years. Each participant anonymously completed a computer-assisted self-interview. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic variables and the use of various psychoactive substances and sedative-hypnotics, among others. NMU of sedative-hypnotics was defined as using the drug without a prescription, or more frequently, or in larger doses than prescribed. To compare the prevalence between the two waves, we conducted multivariable logistic regression analysis and the difference-in-differences in prevalence was examined with an interaction term between survey year and sex., Results: We found decreasing trends in young adult (18-39 years old) males for both past-year use (3.07-2.29%) and NMU (0.84-0.18%), but increasing trends in adolescents (0.42-0.80%) and young adult females (2.91-3.81%) for past-year use and in adolescents (0.16-0.39%) and middle-aged adult (40-64 years old) females (0.73-1.14%) for past-year NMU of sedatives-hypnotics. Among the young and middle-aged adult females, the increasing trends for past-year use and NMU, respectively, were found to occur mainly in certain sociodemographic subgroups, with alcohol users being the overlapping subgroup., Conclusions: The differential trends over time of past-year use or NMU of sedatives-hypnotics in different age-sex strata in the population have policy implications to curtail the increasing trend over time., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The two surveys were approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the National Taiwan University Hospital (approval numbers: 201309034RINB in 2014 and 201802031RINB in 2018). Written informed consent was received from all participants in accordance with national legislation and institutional requirements. The present study was carried out in accordance with the guidance listed in the latest version of the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the visual outcomes and foveal restoration in eyes with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) and macular hole (MH) following surgery using the inverted internal limiting membrane (ILM) flap technique. We collected data on eyes with coexisting RRD and MH that underwent surgery using the inverted ILM flap technique between January 2016 and December 2018. The primary outcome measures were visual acuity (VA) and optical coherence tomography findings. Of 308 eyes with MH originating from various causes, 8 (2.6%) eyes diagnosed with coexisting RRD and MH treated using the inverted ILM flap technique were included. The average patient age and axial length were 65.00 ± 12.01 years and 23.66 ± 0.77 mm, respectively. The mean preoperative best-corrected VA (BCVA) was 1.84 (spherical equivalent [SE], counting finger) ± 0.32 logMAR and the mean final BCVA had improved significantly to 1.05 (SE, 20/223) ± 0.67 logMAR (P = .017). The primary retinal reattachment, MH closure, and secondary retinal attachment rates were 75% (6/8), 87.5% (7/8), and 100% (7/7), respectively. The inverted ILM flap technique led to significant improvements in anatomical and visual outcomes in patients with coexisting RRD and MH., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Breast cancer remains a prevalent global health challenge, with tumor-removal surgeries being among the most common treatments but often leading to aesthetic defects. Adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC)-enriched fat grafting in breast reconstruction offers promising therapeutic benefits. However, concerns about its oncological safety persist, particularly regarding the potential risks of promoting cancer recurrence. This study investigated the effects of ADSCs on breast cancer progression by coculturing ADSCs with the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line for a short cell cultivation period of 3 days. We performed an RNA-seq analysis to identify significant transcriptomic changes in cocultured MCF-7 cells and carried out functional enrichment analyses to uncover key biological pathways influenced by ADSCs. Our findings revealed that transcriptomic alterations in MCF-7 cells are linked to aggressive cancer traits, including the upregulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the HIF-1 signaling pathway, which indicate a shift toward aerobic glycolysis. Some of the observed gene expression changes also correlated with relapse risk and mortality. These findings underscore the need for further research to explore the implications of these genes and pathways in driving aggressive cancer phenotypes and assess the safety of ADSCs in clinical settings.

Typhoid fever, caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, results in over 1.2 million cases and 29 thousand deaths annually from sub-Saharan Africa. Combating this disease requires various intervention approaches, such as typhoid conjugate vaccines and improving water, sanitation, and hygiene. Enhancing the effectiveness of these strategies necessitates a deeper understanding of the variation of the typhoid fever across the target region. Although the magnitude and variation of typhoid fever at the country level have been studied globally, sub-national variation remains underexplored. To address this gap, we collected data from 229 published reports on typhoid fever occurrences in sub-Saharan Africa between January 2000 and December 2020. The dataset includes information on the year and geographical location of observation, diagnostic tests used, and the type of studies in which typhoid fever was reported. By analyzing this dataset, we can gain insights into the sub-national heterogeneity of typhoid fever's burden in the region. This knowledge will be instrumental in designing more effective intervention strategies to combat the disease., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: To compare the surgical outcomes of the inverted internal limiting membrane (ILM) flap technique and ILM insertion for macular hole (MH) without retinal detachment in eyes with extremely high myopia., Methods: In this retrospective study, we analyzed 22 eyes with an axial length ≥ 30.0 mm that had underwent MH surgery between April 2015 and August 2021. The surgical procedures involved either an inverted ILM flap or ILM insertion. The outcomes were compared between the two techniques. Closure of the MH was confirmed by optical coherence tomography (OCT). The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was measured before and after surgery. Associated complications were documented., Results: The median of axial length was 30.64 mm (range, 30.0-34.42). The MH closed in 100% (22/22) eyes and did not recur with a median follow-up of 12.5 months. For the inverted ILM flap technique, the median BCVA improved significantly from 0.80 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) (range, 0.40-2.00) before surgery to 0.70 logMAR (range, 0.09-1.52) after surgery (p = 0.002). In addition, the median of final BCVA was better for the inverted ILM flap than ILM insertion (0.7 logMAR V.S. 1.00 logMAR; p = 0.016)., Conclusions: In eyes with extremely high myopia, despite comparable effects on MH closure for both ILM insertion and the inverted ILM flap, the later technique achieved significantly better visual outcomes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Vietnam continues to have measles and rubella outbreaks following supplementary immunization activities (SIA) and routine immunization despite both having high reported coverage. To evaluate immunization activities, age-specific immunity against measles and rubella, and the number of averted Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) cases, must be estimated., Methods: Dried blood spots were collected from 2091 randomly selected individuals aged 1-39 years. Measles and rubella virus-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) were measured by enzyme immunoassay. Results were considered positive at ≥120 mIU/mL for measles and ≥10 IU/mL for rubella. The number of CRS cases averted by immunization since 2014 were estimated using mathematical modelling., Results: Overall IgG seroprevalence was 99.7% (95%CI: 99.2-99.9) for measles and 83.6% (95%CI: 79.3-87.1) for rubella. Rubella IgG seroprevalence was higher among age groups targeted in the SIA than in non-targeted young adults (95.4% [95%CI: 92.9-97.0] vs 72.4% [95%CI: 63.1-80.1]; P < 0.001). The estimated number of CRS cases averted in 2019 by immunization activities since 2014 ranged from 126 (95%CI: 0-460) to 883 (95%CI: 0-2271) depending on the assumed postvaccination reduction in the force of infection., Conclusions: The results suggest the SIA was effective, while young adults born before 1998 who remain unprotected for rubella require further vaccination., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This study applied an electro-Fenton process using chemically modified activated carbon derived from rubber seed shells loaded with α-FeOOH (RSCF) as catalyst to remove tetracycline residues from aquatic environment. Catalyst characteristics were evaluated using SEM, EDS, XRD, and XPS, showing successful insertion of iron onto the activated carbon. The effects of the parameters were investigated, and the highest treatment efficiency was achieved at pH of 3, Fe: H 2 O 2 ratio (w/w) of 500:1, catalyst dose of 1 g/L, initial TCH concentration of 100 mg/L, and electric current of 150 mA, with more than 90% of TCH being eliminated within 30 min. Furthermore, even after five cycles of use, the treatment efficiency remains above 90%. The rate constant is calculated to be 0.218 min -1 , with high regression coefficients ( R 2  = 0.93). The activation energy (E a ) was found to be 32.2 kJ/mol, indicating that the degradation of TCH was a simple reaction with a low activation energy. These findings showed that the RSCF is a highly efficient and cost-effective catalyst for TCH degradation. Moreover, the use of e-Fenton process has the advantage of high efficiency, low cost thanks to the recyclability of the catalyst, and environmental friendliness thanks to less use of H 2 O 2 ., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Background: Androgen resistance syndrome or androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS - Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, OMIM 300068) is an X-linked recessive genetic syndrome causing disorders of sexual development in males. This disease is caused by mutations in the AR gene located on the X chromosome, which encodes the protein that structures the androgen receptor, with the role of receiving androgens. Mutation of the AR gene causes complete or partial loss of androgen receptor function, thereby androgen not being obtained and exerting its effect on target organs, resulting in abnormalities of the male reproductive system due to this organ system, differentiating towards feminization under the influence of estrogen. Disease prevention can be achieved by using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, which enables couples carrying the mutation to have healthy offspring., Aim: To carry out preimplantation genetic diagnosis of androgen resistance syndrome., Methods: Sanger sequencing was used to detect the mutation in the blood samples of the couple, their son, and 01 embryo that were biopsied on the fifth day based on the findings of next-generation sequencing (NGS) of the affected son. We combined Sanger sequencing and linkage analysis using short tandem repeats (STR) to provide diagnostic results., Results: We performed preimplantation genetic diagnosis for AIS on an embryo from a couple who had previously had an affected son. Consequently, one healthy embryo was diagnosed without the variant NM&#95;000044: c.796del (p.Asp266IlefsTer30)., Conclusion: We report on a novel variant (NM&#95;000044: c.796del (p.Asp266IlefsTer30)) in the AR gene discovered in Vietnam. The developed protocol was helpful for the preimplantation genetic diagnosis process to help families with the monogenic disease of AIS but wish to have healthy children., Competing Interests: Regarding this paper’s research, writing, and publishing, the authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest., (© 2024 Tung et al.)

Background: Administering premixed drugs in commodity packets was first reported in Asia in 2015, but there continues to be a dearth of related population-based data. This study aimed at examining (1) the prevalence of drug-packet use in the population and (2) the sociodemographic profiles, particularly gender distribution, of drug-packet users., Methods: Data were derived from a survey of 18,626 Taiwanese civilians, aged 12-64 years, using stratified, multi-stage, random sampling in 2018. Participants anonymously completed a computer-assisted self-interview on tablet computers which covered the use and problematic use of illicit drugs/inhalants, prescription drugs, and other psychoactive substances., Results: Approximately 1.46% of respondents had a lifetime use of illicit drugs, with drugs in commodity packets (0.18%) being ranked the fifth-most commonly used illicit drugs, higher than nitrous oxide (0.14%) and heroin (0.09%). Ten formats of drug packets were endorsed by users. Approximately 81.6% of persons with drug packet use had lifetime use of other illicit drugs. The correlates of the use of drugs in commodity packets were different from those of the exclusive use of other drugs, particularly concerning the lack of gender differences in the former category in the whole sample and the subgroups of various sociodemographic characteristics and other substance use., Conclusion: Drugs in commodity packets have become a common way of administering illicit drugs in the population in Taiwan, and there were no gender differences among users. Our findings have implications for more efficient drug testing and culturally appropriate intervention for drug-packet use.

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) is a significant cause of vision loss and requires appropriate surgical intervention. There are several approaches available, including observation, laser demarcation, pneumatic retinopexy, scleral buckling, and pars plana vitrectomy, which are chosen based on patient condition, surgeon experience, and national health insurance policies. Despite the various options, there is still no consensus on the optimal intervention. To address this, the Taiwan Retina Society assembled an expert committee with 11 experienced retina specialists to review the current evidence and develop a guideline with seven recommendations for managing RRD patients. Additionally, a survey was conducted with six questions to assess treatment patterns in Taiwan, which included input from the expert committee and an open poll at the 2023 Congress of the Taiwan Retina Society. This report provides a comprehensive summary of the current knowledge and expert consensus on the treatment of RRD, discussing the characteristics of current approaches and providing an overview of current treatment patterns in Taiwan. These findings aim to provide ophthalmologists with the best possible treatment for RRD., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to the subject matter or materials discussed in this article., (Copyright © 2023, the Chinese Medical Association.)

Introduction: Circulating cell-free RNA (cfRNA) is a potential hallmark for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) as it construes the genetic expression level, giving insights into the pathological progress from the outset. Profiles of cfRNA in Caucasian AD patients have been investigated thoroughly, yet there was no report exploring cfRNAs in the ASEAN groups. This study examined the gap, expecting to support the development of point-of-care AD diagnosis., Methods: cfRNA profiles were characterized from 20 Vietnamese plasma samples (10 probable AD and 10 age-matched controls). RNA reads were subjected to differential expression (DE) analysis. Weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify gene modules that were significantly co-expressed. These modules' expression profiles were then correlated with AD status to identify relevant modules. Genes with the highest intramodular connectivity (module membership) were selected as hub genes. Transcript counts of differentially expressed genes were correlated with key AD measures-MMSE and MTA scores-to identify potential biomarkers., Results: 136 genes were identified as significant AD hallmarks ( p < 0.05), with 52 downregulated and 84 upregulated in the AD cohort. 45.6% of these genes are highly expressed in the hippocampus, cerebellum, and cerebral cortex. Notably, all markers related to chronic inflammation were upregulated, and there was a significant shift in all apoptotic markers. Three co-expressed modules were found to be significantly correlated with Alzheimer's status ( p < 0.05; R 2 > 0.5). Functional enrichment analysis on these modules reveals an association with focal adhesion, nucleocytoplasmic transport, and metal ion response leading to apoptosis, suggesting the potential participation of these pathways in AD pathology. 47 significant hub genes were found to be differentially expressed genes with the highest connectivity. Six significant hub genes ( CREB1, YTHDC1, IL1RL1, PHACTR2, ANKRD36B, RNF213 ) were found to be significantly correlated with MTA and MMSE scores. Other significant transcripts ( XRN1, UBB, CHP1, THBS1, S100A9 ) were found to be involved in inflammation and neuronal death. Overall, we have identified candidate transcripts in plasma cf-RNA that are differentially expressed and are implicated in inflammation and apoptosis, which can jumpstart further investigations into applying cf-RNA as an AD biomarker in Vietnam and ASEAN countries., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Cao, Le, Tran, Huynh, Pham, Le, Nguyen, Tran, Tong, Than, Nguyen and Ha.)

In chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, quantification of HBV pgRNA in plasma has the potential to provide information on disease prognosis and liver injury or histopathology. However, current methods for detecting HBV pgRNA present technical difficulties due to the co-existence of HBV DNA in plasma samples. We have successfully established a novel one-step RT-PCR assay that allows selective quantification of HBV pgRNA. Two cohorts of participants were recruited for assay validation, including treatment-naïve patients with CHB and HBeAg-positive CHB patients who were treated with Tenofovir and monitored for 6 months to assess the predictive value of baseline HBV RNA for HBeAg seroclearance. Statistical analysis was performed using MedCalc version 20.019 software. The novel selective one-step RT-PCR assay for detecting HBV pgRNA was validated with a limit of detection of 100 copies/mL. The assay was able to selectively measure HBV pgRNA even in the presence of excess HBV rcDNA. In treatment-naïve CHB patients, HBV pgRNA levels were significantly lower than HBV DNA concentration. Serum HBV DNA levels and HBeAg status were positively associated with HBV pgRNA. Baseline serum HBV pgRNA levels were found to be strong predictors of HBeAg seroclearance after 6 months of Tenofovir treatment. The study presents a novel RT-PCR assay that allows accurate measurement of plasma HBV pgRNA in chronic hepatitis B patients, even in the presence of excess HBV DNA. The assay is highly selective and represents a significant advancement with potential for further breakthroughs in understanding the clinical significance of HBV pgRNA., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

We evaluated the results of fluid-gas exchange (FGE) for long-term flap closure of idiopathic macular holes (MH) using the inverted internal limiting (ILM) flap technique. We retrospectively included eyes showing flap closure without complete MH closure and connection of separate macular tissue 1 month postoperatively after the inverted ILM flap technique was detected by ocular coherence tomography at follow-up. Eyes remained flap closure at 2 months after surgery further underwent in-office FGE with 16% C3F8. Of the 153 eyes using the inverted ILM flap technique for idiopathic MH between June 2015 and November 2018, 10 eyes (6.99%) remained flap closure at 1 month postoperatively. Among 10 eyes, 5 eyes (50%) showed flap closure at 2 months postoperatively further underwent FGE for complete MH closure, while the remaining 5 eyes (50%) progressed directly to normal macular structures at 2 months postoperatively. Improvement in vision of all flap closure from baseline was significant (P = .015), with a mean baseline vision of 1.19 [Snellen equivalent (SE), 20/307] ± 0.52 logMAR and the mean final vision of 0.63 (SE, 20/85) ± 0.38 logMAR. The group that underwent FGE showed better final vision of 0.45 (SE, 20/75) ± 0.23 logMAR than the group that did not undergo FGE (0.81 [SE, 20/128] ± 0.44 logMAR). All eyes achieved complete MH closure, including the eyes that underwent FGE in a mean period of 5.60 months (range 3-10 months) after the inverted ILM flap technique. Eyes that underwent FGE achieved a higher rate of foveal restoration [complete external limiting membrane 80%; complete ellipsoid zone (EZ) 60%] than those that did not receive FGE (complete external limiting membrane: 40%; complete EZ: 10%). Eyes with persistent flap closure for more than 2 months postoperatively that underwent FGE showed accelerated complete MH closure, better final vision, and foveal restoration., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Hydroxyapatite (HAp), a well-known biomaterial, has witnessed a remarkable evolution over the years, transforming from a simple biocompatible substance to an advanced functional material with a wide range of applications. This abstract provides an overview of the significant advancements in the field of HAp and its journey towards becoming a multifunctional material. Initially recognized for its exceptional biocompatibility and bioactivity, HAp gained prominence in the field of bone tissue engineering and dental applications. Its ability to integrate with surrounding tissues, promote cellular adhesion, and facilitate osseointegration made it an ideal candidate for various biomedical implants and coatings. As the understanding of HAp grew, researchers explored its potential beyond traditional biomaterial applications. With advances in material synthesis and engineering, HAp began to exhibit unique properties that extended its utility to other disciplines. Researchers successfully tailored the composition, morphology, and surface characteristics of HAp, leading to enhanced mechanical strength, controlled drug release capabilities, and improved biodegradability. These modifications enabled the utilization of HAp in drug delivery systems, biosensors, tissue engineering scaffolds, and regenerative medicine applications. Moreover, the exceptional biomineralization properties of HAp allowed for the incorporation of functional ions and molecules during synthesis, leading to the development of bioactive coatings and composites with specific therapeutic functionalities. These functionalized HAp materials have demonstrated promising results in antimicrobial coatings, controlled release systems for growth factors and therapeutic agents, and even as catalysts in chemical reactions. In recent years, HAp nanoparticles and nanostructured materials have emerged as a focal point of research due to their unique physicochemical properties and potential for targeted drug delivery, imaging, and theranostic applications. The ability to manipulate the size, shape, and surface chemistry of HAp at the nanoscale has paved the way for innovative approaches in personalized medicine and regenerative therapies. This abstract highlights the exceptional evolution of HAp, from a traditional biomaterial to an advanced functional material. The exploration of novel synthesis methods, surface modifications, and nanoengineering techniques has expanded the horizon of HAp applications, enabling its integration into diverse fields ranging from biomedicine to catalysis. Additionally, this manuscript discusses the emerging prospects of HAp-based materials in photocatalysis, sensing, and energy storage, showcasing its potential as an advanced functional material beyond the realm of biomedical applications. As research in this field progresses, the future holds tremendous potential for HAp-based materials to revolutionize medical treatments and contribute to the advancement of science and technology., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: Stem cell therapy in periodontal tissue regeneration has reported optimistic regenerative results; evidence supporting its superiority over conventional methods is still ambiguous. Therefore, this meta-analysis aims to evaluate the therapeutic effects of stem cells in human periodontal regeneration., Design: A literature search was conducted to retrieve relevant articles on periodontal regeneration in stem cell therapy. A meta-analysis of the studies was conducted using the Stata software., Results: Fifteen studies that examined the effect of stem cell therapies on periodontal tissue regeneration in 369 patients were selected from databases. Regardless of the various types of cells, both odontogenic (periodontal ligament, dental pulp, gingiva stem cell) and non-odontogenic (bone marrow, periosteum-derived, and umbilical cord stem cells), the cell therapies witnessed significant improvements in terms of clinical attachment level (SMD, -0.67; 95CI, -0.90 to -0.43), probing depth (SMD, -0.76; 95% CI, -1.21 to - 0.31), radiographic intrabony defect depth (SMD, -0.87; 95% CI, -1.52 to -0.23), and histomorphometric analysis of mineralized bone (SMD, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.42 to 1.19) when compared to traditional without-cell treatment in patients. However, evidence on gingival recession, alveolar thickness gain, bone mineral density of bone core, and bone volume fraction of bone core outcomes did not reach statistical significance., Conclusions: Evidence suggests that the implementation of stem cell therapies in reconstructing compromised gingiva and alveolar bone tissue produces positive outcomes compared with conventional approaches. However, further well-designed investigations are needed to comprehensively identify the most effective source of cells and biomaterials for each case., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Quaternary climatic cycles strongly affected the genetic diversification and ranges of organisms, shaping current genetic structures and distribution patterns. Urodeles provide ideal examples for exploring these dynamics over time and across space. In this study, we integrated a phylogeographic approach and ensemble species distribution modeling (eSDM) to infer the historical demography and distribution patterns of the Vietnam warty newt, Paramesotriton deloustali. Mitochondrial data revealed two groups, West and East, which diverged approximately 1.92 million years ago (Mya). Diversification was likely driven by change in the climate during early stages of the Pleistocene, with increasing monsoon and drought intensities. Biogeographic analysis indicated that the newt's current distribution formed as a result of vicariance events. In addition, the two groups occupy distinct ecological niches. Demographic reconstruction showed signs of expansion in the effective population sizes of the two major groups beginning around 0.11 and 0.15 Mya, respectively. However, eSDM showed fluctuating predicted distributions during the last interglacial, last glacial maximum, mid-Holocene, and present. Mountain systems in northern Vietnam are likely to have served as climatic refuges and to have played a crucial role in safeguarding species from the effects of climate change., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Tran et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The synthesis of cationic polyacrylamides (CPAMs) with the desired cationic degree and molecular weight is essential for various industries, including wastewater treatment, mining, paper, cosmetic chemistry, and others. Previous studies have already demonstrated methods to optimize synthesis conditions to obtain high-molecular-weight CPAM emulsions and the effects of cationic degrees on flocculation processes. However, the optimization of input parameters to obtain CPAMs with the desired cationic degrees has not been discussed. Traditional optimization methods are time-consuming and costly when it comes to on-site CPAM production because the input parameters of CPAM synthesis are optimized using single-factor experiments. In this study, we utilized the response surface methodology to optimize the synthesis conditions, specifically the monomer concentration, the content of the cationic monomer, and the content of the initiator, to obtain CPAMs with the desired cationic degrees. This approach overcomes the drawbacks of traditional optimization methods. We successfully synthesized three CPAM emulsions with a wide range of cationic degrees: low (21.85%), medium (40.25%), and high (71.17%) levels of cationic degree. The optimized conditions for these CPAMs were as follows: monomer concentration of 25%, content of monomer cation of 22.5%, 44.41%, and 77.61%, respectively, and initiator content of 0.475%, 0.48%, and 0.59%, respectively. The developed models can be utilized to quickly optimize conditions for synthesizing CPAM emulsions with different cationic degrees to meet the demands of wastewater treatment applications. The synthesized CPAM products performed effectively in wastewater treatment, with the treated wastewater meeting the technical regulation parameters. 1 H-NMR, FTIR, SEM, BET, dynamic light scattering, and gel permeation chromatography were employed to confirm the structure and surface of the polymers.

Quantification of heritability is a fundamental desideratum in genetics, which allows an assessment of the contribution of additive genetic variation to the variability of a trait of interest. The traditional computational approaches for assessing the heritability of a trait have been developed in the field of quantitative genetics. However, the rise of modern population genomics with large sample sizes has led to the development of several new machine learning-based approaches to inferring heritability. In this article, we systematically summarize recent advances in machine learning which can be used to infer heritability. We focus on an application of these methods to bacterial genomes, where heritability plays a key role in understanding phenotypes such as antibiotic resistance and virulence, which are particularly important due to the rising frequency of antimicrobial resistance. By designing a heritability model incorporating realistic patterns of genome-wide linkage disequilibrium for a frequently recombining bacterial pathogen, we test the performance of a wide spectrum of different inference methods, including also GCTA. In addition to the synthetic data benchmark, we present a comparison of the methods for antibiotic resistance traits for multiple bacterial pathogens. Insights from the benchmarking and real data analyses indicate a highly variable performance of the different methods and suggest that heritability inference would likely benefit from tailoring of the methods to the specific genetic architecture of the target organism., Availability and Implementation: The R codes and data used in the numerical experiments are available at: https://github.com/tienmt/her&#95;MLs., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Background: Congenital thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is caused by defects in the ADAMTS13 gene. ADAMTS13 is normally preactivated by conformational changes of the Metalloprotease (M) domain. Studying a novel congenital thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura p.R102S mutation in the M domain, which results in undetectable ADAMTS13 activity in the patient, could help to explain the patients' phenotype and to elucidate the currently unclear mechanism of allosteric preactivation., Objectives: To investigate the in vitro effect of p.R102S mutation on ADAMTS13 secretion, activity, and allosteric preactivation., Methods: Molecular modeling was used to study the effect of the mutation on the stability of ADAMTS13. Recombinant mutant ADAMTS13 was generated by transient and stable transfection of, respectively, CHO K1 and HEK293-T cells. ADAMTS13 antigen was measured in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. ADAMTS13 activity was measured in a FRETS-VWF73 assay. Allosteric preactivation was assessed in FRETS-VWF73 assay, using monoclonal antibody (mAb) 17G2 that normally induces a ∼2-fold increase in activity, and in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using mAb 6A6 recognizing a cryptic epitope in the M domain that becomes exposed after binding of 17G2., Results: p.R102S mutation destabilizes the interactions between the M and Disintegrin-like (D) domain. p.R102S mutant secretion was impaired (35% of wild type) and activity was severely reduced (12% of wild type). p.R102S mutant could still be activated and the cryptic epitope of 6A6 was still fully exposed by 17G2 addition., Conclusion: p.R102S mutation destabilizes the M-D domain interactions, causing impaired ADAMTS13 secretion and activity, which explains the patients' phenotype. Allosteric preactivation of ADAMTS13 remains conserved in the presence of the p.R102S mutation., (Copyright © 2022 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, we study the problem of bilinear regression, a type of statistical modeling that deals with multiple variables and multiple responses. One of the main difficulties that arise in this problem is the presence of missing data in the response matrix, a problem known as inductive matrix completion. To address these issues, we propose a novel approach that combines elements of Bayesian statistics with a quasi-likelihood method. Our proposed method starts by addressing the problem of bilinear regression using a quasi-Bayesian approach. The quasi-likelihood method that we employ in this step allows us to handle the complex relationships between the variables in a more robust way. Next, we adapt our approach to the context of inductive matrix completion. We make use of a low-rankness assumption and leverage the powerful PAC-Bayes bound technique to provide statistical properties for our proposed estimators and for the quasi-posteriors. To compute the estimators, we propose a Langevin Monte Carlo method to obtain approximate solutions to the problem of inductive matrix completion in a computationally efficient manner. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods, we conduct a series of numerical studies. These studies allow us to evaluate the performance of our estimators under different conditions and provide a clear illustration of the strengths and limitations of our approach.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is prevalent and has a rapidly increasing antibiotic resistance rate in Vietnam. Reinfection is quite common, and gastric carcinoma remains one of the most common malignancies, which is not uncommon to develop after successful eradication. The purpose of this consensus is to provide updated recommendations on the management of H. pylori infection in the country. The consensus panel consisted of 32 experts from 14 major universities and institutions in Vietnam who were invited to review the evidence and develop the statements using the Delphi method. The process followed the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. The consensus level was defined as ≥80% for agreement on the proposed statements. Due to the limited availability of high-quality local evidence, this consensus was also based on high-quality evidence from international studies, especially those conducted in other populations in the Asia-Pacific region. The panel finally reached a consensus on 27 statements after two voting rounds, which consisted of four sections (1) indications for testing and selection of diagnostic tests (2), treatment regimens, (3) post-treatment confirmation of H. pylori status, and (4) reinfection prevention methods and follow-up after eradication. Important issues that require further evidence include studies on third-line regimens, strategies to prevent H. pylori reinfection, and post-eradication follow-up for precancerous gastric lesions. We hope this consensus will help guide the current clinical practice in Vietnam and promote multicenter studies in the country and international collaborations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Quach, Mai, Tran, Dao, Tran, Vu, Vu, Pham, Bui, Ho, Trinh, Nguyen, Duong, Tran, Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen, Dao, Thai, Phan, Le, Vo, Ho, Nguyen, Le, Le, Phan, Nguyen, Tran, Tran and Ta.)

Purpose: In this study, we describe our experience of sympathetic ophthalmia (SO) at a tertiary referral center in Taiwan., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed records of patients diagnosed with SO from January 2011 to December 2020., Results: We collected data of 15 patients diagnosed with SO (eight males, seven females). Six patients developed SO after ocular penetrating trauma, and nine developed SO after ocular surgery, including seven with vitrectomy, one with penetrating keratoplasty, and one with cataract surgery. Penetrating ocular trauma was the primary cause of SO in the first 5 years (four of six cases), but the proportion was much lower in the last 5 years (two of nine cases). The interval between trigger events and SO ranged from 0.2 to 120 months. Nine patients received oral steroids alone, five patients received methylprednisolone pulse therapy followed by oral steroids, and immunosuppressants were added in four cases. Visual acuity of sympathetic eyes and exciting eyes improved after treatment. The initial visual acuity of sympathetic eyes in trauma related and ocular surgery related revealed no significant difference, but the final visual acuity of sympathetic eyes was better in ocular surgery-related cases than in the trauma-related cases (mean ± standard deviation, 1.01 ± 1.33 versus 0.49 ± 0.68 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution, P = 0.021)., Conclusions: With the increased number of eye surgeries performed in recent years, eye surgery has emerged as the dominant etiology of SO in our 10-year study. Early detection and proper treatment help to maintain vision in most of the SO patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interests of this paper., (Copyright: © 2023 Taiwan J Ophthalmol.)

Background: Vietnam introduced a 3-dose hepatitis B (HBV) immunization program comprising 1 dose immediately after birth and 2 or 3 in infancy in the past 20 years, but the impact of the vaccine has not been systematically evaluated. Thus, we conducted this survey aiming to estimate the age-specific chronic HBV prevalence in the general population and to evaluate HBV immunization effectiveness., Methods: Population-based, four-stage cluster sampling was used in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam. The point-of-care Determine rapid test was used to assess hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity., Results: A total of 2,075 samples were included in the study. HBsAg prevalence was significantly higher among adults aged 20-39 years than in the population aged 1-19 years (8.0% [95% confidence interval 5.0-12.0] vs. 2.0% [95% confidence interval 1.0-6.0], p<0.01). HBsAg prevalence decreased after implementation of the 3-dose vaccination schedule during infancy from 1997 to 2002, whereas the change in prevalence after implementation of the birth dosing was not significant. A slight increase in HBsAg prevalence was observed for the cohort born in 2011, 2012, and 2013, when there was a vaccine shortage and media reports of immunization resistance., Conclusions: This is the first population-based assessment of the introduction of the HBV vaccine in Vietnam performed by estimating the HBsAg prevalence across a wide range of ages. The results showed that the HBV immunization policy effectively reduces HBsAg prevalence in general, although birth dosing of the vaccine and low immunization coverage should be carefully monitored., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of expectations for marital relationships and premarital sexual permissiveness on intent to marry of Vietnamese emerging adults., Patients and Methods: Our cross-sectional study was focused on emerging adults including 344 participants, undergraduate students from universities in Viet Nam. This study was assessed by using the PLS-SEM approach., Results: The main findings demonstrated that (i) sexual orientation have a significant effect on marital intention; (ii) individuals' expectations for marital relationship have a direct effect on marital intention; and (iii) premarital sexuality permissiveness mediates the relationship between expectations for marital relationship and marital intention., Conclusion: Our results contribute important documents and clearer understanding of emerging adults' expectations and requirements in a relationship for the marriage decision-making process., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2022 Ngo-Thi et al.)

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the agreement between a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and a dried blood spot (DBS)-based electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) of hepatitis B surface antigen and to compare the costs of conducting serosurveys using RDTs and DBS in a field setting., Methods: A serosurvey was conducted in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam in May 2019. Participants aged 1-39 years were recruited using a four-stage random sampling method and tested for hepatitis B surface antigen using an RDT kit (Alere Determine) and a DBS-based ECLIA. The agreement between the RDT and the DBS-based ECLIA was assessed using cross-tabulation and Cohen kappa. Cost data were categorized by input (personnel, transportation, field consumables, laboratory consumables, and capital item/overhead) and survey phase (survey preparation, data/biospecimen collection, laboratory testing, and coordination)., Results: A total of 2072 participants were analyzed. There was a 99% agreement between the RDT and the DBS-based ECLIA results, with a Cohen kappa of 0.9. The estimated cost of conducting a serosurvey by DBS was UD $75,291, whereas RDT was $53,182., Conclusion: RDTs and DBS-based ECLIA provide test results with high agreements. RDTs are a better option in terms of cost, whereas the DBS-based ECLIA may be useful when evaluating multiple infectious diseases., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Triage is one of the most important tasks for nurses in a modern emergency department (ED) and it plays a critical role in pediatric trauma. An appropriate triage system can improve patient outcomes and decrease resource wasting. However, triage systems for pediatric trauma have not been validated worldwide. To ensure clinical reliability, nurses are allowed to override the acuity level at the end of the routine triage process. This study aimed to validate the Taiwan Triage and Acuity Scale (TTAS) for pediatric trauma and evaluate the effectiveness of triage nurse modification., Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective cohort study analyzing triage data of all pediatric trauma patients who visited six EDs across Taiwan from 2015 to 2019. Each patient was triaged by a well-trained nurse and assigned an acuity level. Triage nurses can modify their acuity based on their professional judgment. The primary outcome was the predictive performance of TTAS for pediatric trauma, including hospitalization, ED length of stay, emergency surgery, and costs. The secondary outcome was the accuracy of nurse modification and the contributing factors. Multivariate regression was used for data analysis. The Akaike information criterion and C-statistics were utilized to measure the prediction performance of TTAS., Results: In total, 45,364 pediatric patients were included in this study. Overall mortality, hospitalization, and emergency surgery rates were 0.17, 5.4, and 0.76%, respectively. In almost all cases (97.48%), the triage nurses agreed upon the original scale. All major outcomes showed a significant positive correlation with the upgrade of acuity levels in TTAS in pediatric trauma patients. After nurse modification, the Akaike information criterion decreased and C-statistics increased, indicating better prediction performance. The factors contributing to this modification were being under 6 years of age, heart rate, respiratory rate, and primary location of injuries., Conclusion: The TTAS is a reliable triage tool for pediatric trauma patients. Modification by well-experienced triage nurses can enhance its prediction performance. Younger age, heart rate, respiratory rate, and primary location of injuries contributed to modifications of the triage nurse. Further external validation is required to determine its role in pediatric trauma worldwide., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Liu, Cheng, Hsu, Chaou, Ng, Jeng and Chang.)

Untreated chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can lead to chronic liver disease and may progress to cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV infection has been prevalent in Vietnam, but there is little information available on the genotypes, sub-genotypes, and mutations of HBV in patients with HBV-related HCC confirmed by histopathological diagnosis. We studied the molecular characteristics of HBV and its genetic variants in Vietnamese HCC patients after liver tumor resection. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study on 107 HBV-related HCC hospitalized patients from October 2018 to April 2019. The specimens collected included EDTA anticoagulant blood and liver tissues. Extracted HBV DNA was subjected to whole genome sequencing by the Sanger method. We discovered 62 individuals (57.9%) with genotype B and 45 patients (42.1%) with genotype C, with only sub-genotypes B4 and C1. Among the mutations, the double mutation, A1762T-G1764A, had the most significant frequency (73/107 samples; 68.2%) and was higher in genotype C than in genotype B (p < 0.001). The most common genotypes found in HCC patients in this investigation were B and C, with sub-genotypes B4 and C1 for each. The prevalence of genotype B4 was greater in HBV-infected Vietnamese HCC patients.

Female customers are an important market for fitness centers. This study aims to examine successful fitness training health models used by female fitness clubs. A case study approach and the interview method were used to collect data (i.e., face-to-face interviews) regarding the marketing strategies of female fitness clubs. Purposive sampling was employed to select executives working at the headquarters of a female-only gym, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to provide a context for fitness behaviors and to discuss the business' marketing mix. Six managers at Curves (four female and two male) across six different positions were interviewed. This study found that Curves' most significant difference compared to other private fitness clubs is that it makes women feel comfortable. Through charitable activities combined with promotions, women feel as if the gym empathizes with them. This study is unique in that it is one of the first studies to explore the business model of the female fitness club. In particular, this research suggests that sports organizations should focus their services strategies on female exercise demands. The findings of this study will support the development of marketing strategies to promote the growth of women's health as a priority within the fitness industry., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships. The authors have no conflicts of interests to declare., (Copyright © 2022 Wang, Hsiao and Hsiung.)

Immunomodulation is an essential consideration for cell replacement procedures. Unfortunately, lifelong exposure to nonspecific systemic immunosuppression results in immunodeficiency and has toxic effects on nonimmune cells. Here, we engineered hybrid spheroids of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with rapamycin-releasing poly(lactic- co -glycolic acid) microparticles (RAP-MPs) to prevent immune rejection of islet xenografts in diabetic C57BL/6 mice. Hybrid spheroids were rapidly formed by incubating cell-particle mixture in methylcellulose solution while maintaining high cell viability. RAP-MPs were uniformly distributed in hybrid spheroids and sustainably released RAP for ~3 weeks. Locoregional transplantation of hybrid spheroids containing low doses of RAP-MPs (200- to 4000-ng RAP per recipient) significantly prolonged islet survival times and promoted the generation of regional regulatory T cells. Enhanced programmed death-ligand 1 expression by MSCs was found to be responsible for the immunomodulatory performance of hybrid spheroids. Our results suggest that these hybrid spheroids offer a promising platform for the efficient use of MSCs in the transplantation field.

Cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) emulsifier is widely applied in the wastewater treatment industry, mining industry, paper industry, cosmetic chemistry, etc. However, optimization of input parameters in the synthesis of CPAM by using the traditional approach (i.e., changing one factor while leaving the others fixed at a particular set of conditions) would require a long time and a high cost of input materials. Onsite mass production of CPAM requires fast optimization of input parameters (i.e., stirring speed, reaction temperature and time, the amount of initiator, etc.) to minimize the production cost of specific-molecular-weight CPAM. Therefore, in this study, we synthesized CPAM using reverse emulsion copolymerization, and proposed response surface models for predicting the average molecular weight and reaction yield based on those input parameters. This study offers a time-saving tool for onsite mass production of specific-molecular-weight CPAM. Based on our response surface models, we obtained the optimal conditions for the synthesis of CPAM emulsions, which yielded medium-molecular-weight polymers and high conversion, with a reaction temperature of 60-62 °C, stirring speed of 2500-2600 rpm, and reaction time of 7 h. Quadratic models showed a good fit for predicting molecular weight (Adj.R 2 = 0.9888, coefficient of variation = 2.08%) and reaction yield (Adj.R 2 = 0.9982, coefficient of variation = 0.50%). The models suggested by our study would benefit the cost-minimization of CPAM mass production, where one could find optimal conditions for synthesizing different molecular weights of CPAM more quickly than via the traditional approach.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cavitation is a likely physical mechanism for producing traumatic brain injury (TBI) under mechanical loading. In this study, we investigated CSF cavitation under blasts and helmeted impacts which represented loadings in battlefield and road traffic/sports collisions. We first predicted the human head response under the blasts and impacts using computational modelling and found that the blasts can produce much lower negative pressure at the contrecoup CSF region than the impacts. Further analysis showed that the pressure waves transmitting through the skull and soft tissue are responsible for producing the negative pressure at the contrecoup region. Based on this mechanism, we hypothesised that blast, and not impact, can produce CSF cavitation. To test this hypothesis, we developed a one-dimensional simplified surrogate model of the head and exposed it to both blasts and impacts. The test results confirmed the hypothesis and computational modelling of the tests validated the proposed mechanism. These findings have important implications for prevention and diagnosis of blast TBI., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Yu, Nguyen, Wu and Ghajari.)

Chronic hyperglycemia triggers an abnormal rise in reactive oxygen species (ROS) that leads to blindness in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and cataracts. In this study, the effects of dapagliflozin, metformin and resveratrol on ROS production were investigated in lens epithelial cells (LECs) of animals with fructose-induced DM. LECs were isolated from patients without DM, or with DM devoid of diabetic retinopathy. Animals were treated with 10% fructose for 8 weeks to induce DM, which was verified by monitoring blood pressure and serum parameters. For drug treatments, 1.2 mg/day of dapagliflozin was given for 2 weeks, 500 mg/kg/day of metformin was given, and 10 mg/kg/day of resveratrol was given. Dihydroethidium was used to stain endogenous O 2 ˙ - production in vivo of the LECs. Superoxide production was expressed in the cataract of DM, or patients without DM. Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1), GLUT5, the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase subunit p47/p67-phox, NOX4 and RAGE were significantly increased in LECs with DM. In addition, the dapagliflozin treatment reduced GLUT5, p47/p67-phox, NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) and receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) expressions. On the contrary, metformin or resveratrol inhibited p47-phox, GLUT5, and SGLT2 expressions, but not nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2). In summary, dapagliflozin, metformin or resveratrol down-regulated p47-phox expression through SGLT2 inactivation and ROS reduction. These important findings imply that SGLT2 can be blocked to ameliorate oxidative stress in the cataracts of DM patients.

Background: Serum pepsinogen has been approved and used widely as an effective biomarker in diagnosis of atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer; however, its validity and appropriate cut-off values vary among different populations. This study aimed to initially assess the diagnostic value of the serum pepsinogen in diagnosis of moderate and severe atrophic gastritis for Vietnamese population., Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study enrolled 273 participants from June 2008 to November 2019. All participants underwent a gastroscopy procedure and three tests including serum PG test, pathology test, and Hp-Igg Elisa test. The Kimura-Takemoto classification and OLGA system were used to classify the mild versus moderate-severe atrophic gastritis. Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was used to assess the value of PGI, PGII and PGR., Results: Based on Kimura-Takemoto classification, the AUC of PGI and PGR was 0.635 (p = 0.008, 95% CI 0.554-0.716) and 0.766 (p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.676-0.857) respectively. The best cut-off values were PGI ≤69.0 and PGR ≤4.6 (sensitivity: 73%, specificity: 83.9%, positive predictive value: 41.5%, negative predictive value: 95.2%, accuracy: 82.4%). According to the OLGA system, the AUC of PGI and PGR was 0.612 (p = 0.004, 95% CI 0.540-0.684) and 0.689 (p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.621-0.758) respectively. The best cut-off values were PGI ≤63.5 and PGR ≤5.2 (sensitivity: 49.4%, specificity: 82.1%, positive predictive value: 52.1%, negative predictive value: 80.5%, accuracy: 72.9%)., Conclusions: The serum pepsinogen II and pepsinogen I/II ratio had reliable diagnostic value for screening of moderate and severe atrophic gastritis among Vietnamese population. Further research was recommended to focus on larger scale to improve the diagnostic yield and to continue finding the cut-off values for diagnosis of gastric cancer among Vietnamese population., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Identifying cliffs that are prone to fall and providing a sufficient lead time for rockfall warning are crucial steps in disaster risk reduction and preventive maintenance work, especially that led by local governments. However, existing rockfall warning systems provide uncertain rockfall location forecasting and short warning times because the deformation and cracking of unstable slopes are not sufficiently detected by sensors before the rock collapses. Here, we introduce ground microtremor signals for early rockfall forecasting and demonstrate that microtremor characteristics can be used to detect unstable rock wedges on slopes, quantitatively describe the stability of slopes and lengthen the lead time for rockfall warning. We show that the change in the energy of ground microtremors can be an early precursor of rockfall and that the signal frequency decreases with slope instability. This finding indicates that ground microtremor signals are remarkably sensitive to slope stability. We conclude that microtremor characteristics can be used as an appropriate slope stability index for early rockfall warning systems and predicting the spatiotemporal characteristics of rockfall hazards. This early warning method has the advantages of providing a long lead time and on-demand monitoring, while increasing slope stability accessibility and prefailure location detectability., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 remains public health burdens and many unresolved issues worldwide. Molecular assays based on real-time RT-PCR are critical for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical specimens from patients suspected of COVID-19., Objective: We aimed to establish and validate an in-house real-time RT-PCR for the detection of SARS-CoV-2., Methodology: Primers and probes sets in our in-house real-time RT-PCR assay were designed in conserved regions of the N and E target genes. Optimized multiplex real-time RT-PCR assay was validated using the first WHO International Standard (NIBSC code: 20/146) and evaluated clinical performance., Results: The limit of detection validated using the first WHO International Standard was 159 IU/ml for both E and N target genes. The evaluation of clinical performance on 170 clinical samples showed a positive percent agreement of 100% and the negative percent agreement of 99.08% for both target genes. The Kappa value of 0.99 was an excellent agreement, the strong correlation of C t values observed between two tests with r 2  = 0.84 for the E gene and 0.87 for the N gene. Notably, we assessed on 60 paired saliva and nasopharyngeal samples. The overall agreement was 91.66%, and Kappa value of 0.74 showed a high agreement between two types of samples. When using nasopharyngeal swabs as the reference standard, positive percent agreement, and negative percent agreement were 91.83% and 90.90%, respectively., Conclusion: In the present study, we established and validated an in-house real-time RT-PCR for molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a resource-limited country., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Biorobotic fishes have a huge impact on the development of underwater devices due to both fast swimming speed and great maneuverability. In this paper, an enhanced CPG model is investigated for locomotion control of an elongated undulating fin robot inspired by black knife fish. The proposed CPG network includes sixteen coupled Hopf oscillators for gait generation to mimic fishlike swimming. Furthermore, an enhanced particle swarm optimization (PSO), called differential particle swarm optimization (D-PSO), is introduced to find a set of optimal parameters of the modified CPG network. The proposed D-PSO-based CPG network is not only able to increase the thrust force in order to make the faster swimming speed but also avoid the local maxima for the enhanced propulsive performance of the undulating fin robot. Additionally, a comparison of D-PSO with the traditional PSO and genetic algorithm (GA) has been performed in tuning the parametric values of the CPG model to prove the superiority of the introduced method. The D-PSO-based optimization technique has been tested on the actual undulating fin robot with sixteen fin-rays. The obtained results show that the average propulsive force of the untested material is risen 5.92%, as compared to the straight CPG model., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Van Dong Nguyen et al.)

Purpose: Children with constipation and suspected Hirschsprung's disease are referred for rectal biopsy. Since this is an invasive procedure, appropriate indications should be applied to minimize the number of "unnecessary" biopsies., Methods: We reviewed all constipated children who underwent a rectal biopsy to diagnose a possible Hirschsprung's disease at a tertiary referral hospital over a 6-year period (2013-2018). We registered clinical and demographic factors in these children and conducted correlation and multivariate regression analysis to evaluate the relation between these factors and a diagnosis of Hirschsprung's disease., Results: We identified 225 children, aged 0-17 years. In total, Hirschsprung's disease was diagnosed in only 49/225 (22%). Among the 49 children with Hirschsprung's disease, 29 (59%) were diagnosed in the neonatal period. Among girls, HD was confirmed in only 10/101 (10%) children, and only 1 of these 10 girls was older than 6 months at the time of the biopsy. The following factors correlated significantly with Hirschsprung's disease diagnosis in children older than 1 month: "male sex", "failure to thrive", "gross abdominal distention plus vomiting" and "fulfils the Rome 4 criteria for functional constipation"., Conclusion: In children referred for rectal biopsy, the factors most indicative of Hirschsprung's disease were "male sex", "failure to thrive", "gross abdominal distention plus vomiting" and "fulfils the Rome 4 criteria for functional constipation". Notably, the prevalence of Hirschsprung's disease decreased with the increasing age of the children. Girls referred for a biopsy rarely had Hirschsprung's disease, especially those older than 1 month., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) has been shown to promote tumorigenesis by facilitating the Warburg effect and enhancing the activities of oncoproteins. However, this paradigm has recently been challenged by studies in which the absence of PKM2 failed to inhibit and instead accelerated tumorigenesis in mouse models. These results seem inconsistent with the fact that most human tumors overexpress PKM2. To further elucidate the role of PKM2 in tumorigenesis, we investigated the effect of PKM2 knockout in oncogenic HRAS-driven urothelial carcinoma. While PKM2 ablation in mouse urothelial cells did not affect tumor initiation, it impaired the growth and maintenance of HRAS-driven tumors. Chemical inhibition of PKM2 recapitulated these effects. Both conditions substantially reduced complex formation of PKM2 with STAT3, their nuclear translocation, and HIF1α- and VEGF-related angiogenesis. The reduction in nuclear STAT3 in the absence of PKM2 also correlated with decreased autophagy and increased apoptosis. Time-controlled, inducible PKM2 overexpression in simple urothelial hyperplasia did not trigger tumorigenesis, while overexpression of PKM2, but not PKM1, in nodular urothelial hyperplasia with angiogenesis strongly accelerated tumorigenesis. Finally, in human patients, PKM2 was overexpressed in low-grade nonmuscle-invasive and high-grade muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Based on these data, PKM2 is not required for tumor initiation but is essential for tumor growth and maintenance by enhancing angiogenesis and metabolic addiction. The PKM2-STAT3-HIF1α/VEGF signaling axis may play a critical role in bladder cancer and may serve as an actionable therapeutic target., Significance: Genetic manipulation and pharmacologic inhibition of PKM2 in mouse urothelial lesions highlight its essential role in promoting angiogenesis and metabolic addiction, events indispensable for tumor growth and maintenance., (©2021 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has spread globally with catastrophic damages to the public health, social and economy since the beginning of the outbreak. In 2020, Southeast Asia proved that it could prevent the worst effects of a pandemic through the closure of activities and borders and movement restriction, as well as social distancing. Nevertheless, with the occurrence of the common variants of concern (VOCs), especially Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2), Southeast Asia is facing a significant increase in the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. Now, the area also has the threats of the spreading out of the dangerous variant - Omicron (B.1.1.529) from other close countries or regions. COVID-19 countermeasures such as closures and social distancing seem to be insufficient. Moreover, Southeast Asia is being held back by a shortage of vaccines and other medical resources. This work focuses on describing the COVID-19 situation, the virus variants, and the coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in the area. We also provide perspectives on the COVID-19 vaccine distribution, protecting the economic capitals, developing the green zone, and the importance of finding more vaccine supplies in Southeast Asia.

This article proposes a locomotion controller inspired by black Knifefish for undulating elongated fin robot. The proposed controller is built by a modified CPG network using sixteen coupled Hopf oscillators with the feedback of the angle of each fin-ray. The convergence rate of the modified CPG network is optimized by a reinforcement learning algorithm. By employing the proposed controller, the undulating elongated fin robot can realize swimming pattern transformations naturally. Additionally, the proposed controller enables the configuration of the swimming pattern parameters known as the amplitude envelope, the oscillatory frequency to perform various swimming patterns. The implementation processing of the reinforcement learning-based optimization is discussed. The simulation and experimental results show the capability and effectiveness of the proposed controller through the performance of several swimming patterns in the varying oscillatory frequency and the amplitude envelope of each fin-ray.

The study of gene expression variability, especially for cancer and cell differentiation studies, has become important. Here, we investigate transcriptome-wide scatter of 23 cell types and conditions across different levels of biological complexity. We focused on genes that act like toggle switches between pairwise replicates of the same cell type, i.e. genes expressed in one replicate and not expressed in the other, sometimes also referred as ON/OFF genes. The proportion of these toggle genes dramatically increases from unicellular to multicellular organization, especially for development and cancer cells. A relevant portion of toggle switches are non-coding genes: in unicellular systems the most represented classes are tRNA and rRNA, while multicellular systems more frequently show lncRNA, sncRNA and pseudogenes. Notably, disease associated microRNAs (miRNAs), pseudogenes and numerous uncharacterized transcripts are present in both development and cancer cells. On top of the known intrinsic and extrinsic factors, our work indicates toggle genes as a novel collective component creating transcriptome-wide variability. This requires further investigation for elucidating both evolutionary and disease processes., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Patient-level surveillance of antimicrobial use (AMU) in Canadian hospitals empowers the reduction of inappropriate AMU and was piloted in 2017 among 14 hospitals in Canada. We aimed to describe AMU on the basis of patient-level data in Canadian hospitals in 2018 in terms of antimicrobial prescribing prevalence and proportions, antimicrobial indications, and agent selection in medical, surgical and intensive care wards., Methods: Canadian adult, pediatric and neonatal hospitals were invited to participate in the standardized web-based cross-sectional Global Point Prevalence Survey of Antimicrobial Consumption and Resistance (Global-PPS) conducted in 2018. An identified site administrator assigned all wards admitting inpatients to specific surveyors. A physician, pharmacist or nurse with infectious disease training performed the survey. The primary outcomes were point prevalence rates for AMU over the study period regarding prescriptions, indications and agent selection in medical, surgical and intensive care wards. The secondary outcomes were AMU for resistant organisms and practice appropriateness evaluated on the basis of quality indicators. Antimicrobial consumption is presented in terms of prevalence and proportions., Results: Forty-seven of 118 (39.8%) hospitals participated in the survey; 9 hospitals were primary care centres, 15 were secondary care centres and 23 were tertiary or specialized care centres. Of 13 272 patients included, 33.5% ( n = 4447) received a total of 6525 antimicrobials. Overall, 74.1% (4832/6525) of antimicrobials were for therapeutic use, 12.6% ( n = 825) were for medical prophylaxis, 8.9% ( n = 578) were for surgical prophylaxis, 2.2% ( n = 143) were for other use and 2.3% ( n = 147) were for unidentified reasons. A diagnosis or indication was documented in the patient's file at the initiation for 87.3% ( n = 5699) of antimicrobials; 62.9% ( n = 4106) of antimicrobials had a stop or review date; and 72.0% ( n = 4697) of prescriptions were guided by local guidelines., Interpretation: Overall, three-quarters of AMU was for therapeutic use across participating hospitals. Canadian hospitals should be further incentivized to create and adapt local guidelines on the basis of recent antimicrobial resistance data., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Daniel Thirion has shares in Lumed. No other competing interests were declared., (© 2021 CMA Joule Inc. or its licensors.)

Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is a leading cause of irreversible vision loss. The present consensus provides suggestions on diagnosis, evaluation, treatment, and follow-up strategies for nAMD from a panel of 11 practicing ophthalmologists. The experts suggest that the baseline visit for nAMD management should include a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination via a multimodal approach consisting of visual and anatomical evaluation. Patients diagnosed with nAMD should be subjected to treatment with the goal of maintaining visual function while diminishing anatomical disease activity and minimizing treatment burden. Currently, anti-VEGF therapy is the main treatment strategy for nAMD, and evaluation involving comprehensive ophthalmologic examination within 1 month of completion of the loading phase comprising three monthly injections is recommended to guide subsequent management. Either a treat-and-extend or pro re nata regimen can be considered for the maintenance phase of anti-VEGF therapy, and the regimen should be chosen and adjusted according to disease activity, reimbursement criteria, financial burden, and patient preferences. In the event of inactive nAMD or poor treatment outcomes, after thorough evaluation and patient education, anti-VEGF therapy may be stopped. The consensus provides practical nAMD management guidelines for ophthalmologists and fellow healthcare professionals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None of the authors have any affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as educational grants; participation in speakers' bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript., (Copyright © 2021 Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

COVID-19 is one of the most severe global health crises that humanity has ever faced. Researchers have restlessly focused on developing solutions for monitoring and tracing the viral culprit, SARS-CoV-2, as vital steps to break the chain of infection. Even though biomedical engineering (BME) is considered a rising field of medical sciences, it has demonstrated its pivotal role in nurturing the maturation of COVID-19 diagnostic technologies. Within a very short period of time, BME research applied to COVID-19 diagnosis has advanced with ever-increasing knowledge and inventions, especially in adapting available virus detection technologies into clinical practice and exploiting the power of interdisciplinary research to design novel diagnostic tools or improve the detection efficiency. To assist the development of BME in COVID-19 diagnosis, this review highlights the most recent diagnostic approaches and evaluates the potential of each research direction in the context of the pandemic.