Search

Background Systematic reviews (SRs) are being published at an accelerated rate. Decision-makers may struggle with comparing and choosing between multiple SRs on the same topic. We aimed to understand how healthcare decision-makers (eg, practitioners, policymakers, researchers) use SRs to inform decision-making and to explore the potential role of a proposed artificial intelligence (AI) tool to assist in critical appraisal and choosing among SRs.Methods We developed a survey with 21 open and closed questions. We followed a knowledge translation plan to disseminate the survey through social media and professional networks.Results Our survey response rate was lower than expected (7.9% of distributed emails). Of the 684 respondents, 58.2% identified as researchers, 37.1% as practitioners, 19.2% as students and 13.5% as policymakers. Respondents frequently sought out SRs (97.1%) as a source of evidence to inform decision-making. They frequently (97.9%) found more than one SR on a given topic of interest to them. Just over half (50.8%) struggled to choose the most trustworthy SR among multiple. These difficulties related to lack of time (55.2%), or difficulties comparing due to varying methodological quality of SRs (54.2%), differences in results and conclusions (49.7%) or variation in the included studies (44.6%). Respondents compared SRs based on the relevance to their question of interest, methodological quality, and recency of the SR search. Most respondents (87.0%) were interested in an AI tool to help appraise and compare SRs.Conclusions Given the identified barriers of using SR evidence, an AI tool to facilitate comparison of the relevance of SRs, the search and methodological quality, could help users efficiently choose among SRs and make healthcare decisions.

Abstract Background Vietnam and Saudi Arabia have high disease burden of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Early detection in asymptomatic patients at risk for HCC is a strategy to improve survival outcomes in HCC management. GALAD score, a serum-based panel, has demonstrated promising clinical utility in HCC management. However, in order to ascertain its potential role in the surveillance of the early detection of HCC, GALAD needs to be validated prospectively for clinical surveillance of HCC (i.e., phase IV biomarker validation study). Thus, we propose to conduct a phase IV biomarker validation study to prospectively survey a cohort of patients with advanced fibrosis or compensated cirrhosis, irrespective of etiologies, using semi-annual abdominal ultrasound and GALAD score for five years. Methods We plan to recruit a cohort of 1,600 patients, male or female, with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis (i.e., F3 or F4) and MELD ≤ 15, in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia (n = 800 each). Individuals with a liver mass ≥ 1 cm in diameter, elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (≥ 9 ng/mL), and/or elevated GALAD score (≥ -0.63) will be scanned with dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and a diagnosis of HCC will be made by Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LiRADS) assessment (LiRADS-5). Additionally, those who do not exhibit abnormal imaging findings, elevated AFP titer, and/or elevated GALAD score will obtain a dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI annually for five years to assess for HCC. Only MRI nearest to the time of GALAD score measurement, ultrasound and/or AFP evaluation will be included in the diagnostic validation analysis. MRI will be replaced with an abdominal computed tomography scan when MRI results are poor due to patient conditions such as movement etc. Gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid-enhanced MRI will not be carried out in study sites in both countries. Bootstrap resampling technique will be used to account for repeated measures to estimate standard errors and confidence intervals. Additionally, we will use the Cox proportional hazards regression model with covariates tailored to the hypothesis under investigation for time-to-HCC data as predicted by time-varying biomarker data. Discussion The present work will evaluate the performance of GALAD score in early detection of liver cancer. Furthermore, by leveraging the prospective cohort, we will establish a biorepository of longitudinally collected biospecimens from patients with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis to be used as a reference set for future research in early detection of HCC in the two countries. Trial registration Name of the registry: ClinicalTrials.gov Registration date: 22 April 2022 Trial registration number: NCT05342350 URL of trial registry record

Abstract The sliding mode control is well-known as a useful control technique that can be applied in several real-world applications. However, a straightforward and efficient process of selecting the sliding mode control gains remains a challenging but interesting topic. This paper investigates a novel gain tuning method for the sliding mode control of second-order mechanical systems. Firstly, we obtain relations between the gains and the natural and damping ratio of the closed-loop system. Secondly, the time constant of the system’s actuators and the system response performance criteria, including settling time and delay time, are taken into consideration to determine appropriate ranges of the gains. These gain ranges allow control designers to select the controller gains in a time-saving manner and ensure that the desired system performance is met and the actuators work properly. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the gain tuning process of a sliding mode altitude controller for an actual quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of this method.

Attaching the Classroom Response System (CRS) to the teaching process has been a flowering trend recently thanks to its appeal to students’ satisfaction and active learning. This paper set out simply to determine the learners’ perception of the Class Point tool – a modern CRS that was launched in 2015 and has not yet been familiar to Vietnamese educators. After nine times applying the Class Point tool directly in the classrooms, the teachers, also the researchers, conducted an online survey and a semi-structured interview with over two hundred learners from four different EFL English classes at a private institution in Ho Chi Minh City. Far from the expectation, the result of this study proved that participants not only experienced pleasure with the tool but also felt effectively engaged in interactive activities. Furthermore, its modernized features seem to maximize the dominance and minimize the hardship that other CRSs still entail. The finding of this study will enable teachers to further apply the tool in their classroom with a certain view of its benefits.

This paper discusses the challenges posed in creating a Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) environment for multiple languages. By selecting one language from each of three different language families, we show that a single environment may be tailored to cater for different target languages. We detail the challenges faced during the development of a multimodal CAPT environment comprising a toolkit that manages mobile applications using speech signal processing, visualization, and estimation algorithms. Since the applied underlying mathematical and phonological models, as well as the feedback production algorithms, are based on sound signal processing and modeling rather than on particular languages, the system is language-agnostic and serves as an open toolkit for developing phrasal intonation training exercises for an open selection of languages. However, it was necessary to tailor the CAPT environment to the language-specific particularities in the multilingual setups, especially the additional requirements for adequate and consistent speech evaluation and feedback production. In our work, we describe our response to the challenges in visualizing and segmenting recorded pitch signals and modeling the language melody and rhythm necessary for such a multilingual adaptation, particularly for tonal syllable-timed and mora-timed languages.

African swine fever (ASF) is a contagious and lethal hemorrhagic disease with a case fatality rate approaching 100% in domestic pigs. The main objectives of this study were to describe the spatiotemporal analysis as well as to assess the potential risk factors along the pig value chain in Lao Cai province, Vietnam. A total of 925 outbreaks were reported from 2019 to 2020. The three clusters (primary, secondary and 5th) were observed near the Chinese border. The most temporal clusters were detected between May and August during the study period. In addition, we evaluated the association between ASF outbreak locations to the nearest main roads and elevation. For ASF outbreak locations to the nearest main roads, compared with the reference (1,500 m), the farm locations with

Complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) adversely influence patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This study is aimed at examining HRQOL of T2DM patients, as well as the effects of diabetic complications and comorbidities on HRQOL in this population. This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study on 214 T2DM patients in Hanoi, Vietnam. Short-form 12 version 2 (SF-12v2) and EuroQOL-5 Dimensions-5 Levels (EQ-5D-5L) were employed to measure the HRQOL. The median physical component summary score (PCS), mental component summary score (MCS), and EQ-5D index were 45.6, 56.3, and 0.94, respectively. Having at least one diabetic complication was associated with the reduction of SF-12 scores in social functioning (Diff.=−5.69, 95%CI=−9.24; -2.13), role emotional (Diff.=−1.81, 95%CI=−3.12; -0.51), and MCS (Diff.=−2.55, 95%CI=−5.01; -0.1). Significant decrement of physical functioning, role physical, social functioning, role emotional, and MCS was found in patients having diabetic heart diseases compared to those without diabetic complications. The study revealed that HRQOL of Vietnamese patients with diabetic complications was moderately low, especially in social and mental health perspectives. Strategies to prevent the onset of diabetic complications should be developed as a priority in diabetes management.

Vietnamese luxury market is rapidly growing, however, there is a few researches on Vietnamese consumers’ perceptions of luxury products and influential factors in purchasing intention. The purpose of this study is to explore Vietnamese consumers’ value dimensions and mediating effect of social media information for their decision making for luxury product. Data were collected using self-administered mail survey. This study examines the influences of consumers’ perceptions of quality and value, and social media word-of-mouth on Vietnamese consumers’ luxury purchase intention.

Objective This review was conducted to identify interventions effective in improving uptake and retention of HIV-positive mothers and their infants in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) services in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) in order to inform programme planning.Methods We conducted a systematic review of studies comparing usual care with any intervention to improve uptake and retention of HIV-positive pregnant or breastfeeding women and their children from birth to 2 years of age in PMTCT services in LMICs. Twenty-two electronic databases were searched from inception to 15 January 2018, for randomised, quasi-randomised and non-randomised controlled trials, and interrupted time series studies; reference lists of included articles were searched for relevant articles. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care group criteria. Random-effects meta-analysis was conducted for studies reporting similar interventions and outcomes.Results We identified 29 837 articles, of which 18 studies were included in our review. Because of heterogeneity in interventions and outcome measures, only one meta-analysis of two studies and one outcome was conducted; we found a statistically significant increase in antiretroviral therapy (ART) use during pregnancy for integration of HIV and antenatal care relative to standard non-integrated care (pooled AOR=2.69; 95% CI 1.25 to 5.78, p=0.0113). The remaining studies assessing other patient, provider or health system interventions were synthesised narratively, with small effects seen across intervention categories for both maternal and infant PMTCT outcomes based predominately on evidence with moderate to high risk of bias.Conclusions Evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to improve uptake and retention of mothers and infants in PMTCT care is lacking. Our findings suggest that integration of HIV and antenatal care may improve ART use during pregnancy. Future studies to replicate promising approaches are needed. Improved reporting of key methodological criteria will facilitate interpretation of findings and improve the utility of evidence to PMTCT programme planners.PROSPERO registration number CRD42015020829.

This paper investigates the energy management system (EMS) of a conventional autonomous vehicle, with a view to enhance its powertrain efficiency. The designed EMS includes two neuro-fuzzy (NF) systems to produce the optimal torque of the engine. This control system uses the dynamic road power demand of the autonomous vehicle as an input, and a PID controller to regulate the air mass flow rate into the cylinder by changing the throttle angle. Two NF systems were trained by the Grid Partition (GP) and the Subtractive Clustering (SC) methods. The simulation results show that the proposed EMS can reduce the fuel consumption of the vehicle by 6.69 and 6.35 l/100 km using the SC and the GP, respectively. In addition, the EMS based on NF trained by GP and NF trained by SC can reduce the fuel consumption of the vehicle by 11.8% and 7.08% compared with the case without the controller, respectively.

Viral load (VL) monitoring of HIV-infected patients in decentralized areas is limited due to logistic constraints. Dried Blood Spots (DBS) offer the opportunity to collect samples in remote area which can be easily transferred and tested at a central laboratory. The MOVIDA (Monitoring Of Viral load In Decentralized Area) project evaluated the performance of VL measurements on DBS using the new CE marked optimized Abbott protocol.HIV-1 infected adults from three outpatient clinics in Hanoi (Vietnam) were enrolled into the study between 1 March and 13 April 2017. VL was measured on DBS using the optimized protocol provided by the manufacturer and compared to plasma VL as reference method on the Abbott m2000rt RealTime HIV-1 platform. Sensitivity was defined as the ability for DBS samples to correctly identify VL failure at the threshold of 1000 copies/mL of plasma, while specificity represented the ability to identify patients with a plasma HIV-RNA VL of

This work presents the performances of silicon micro-preconcentrators chips for breath sampling. The silicon chips were coupled to a handheld battery powered system for breath sampling and direct injection in a laboratory gas chromatography mass spectrometry system through thermal desorption (TD). Performances of micro-preconcentrators were first compared to commercial TD for benzene trapping. Similar chromatographic peaks after gas chromatographic separation were observed while the volume of sample needed was reduced by a factor of 5. Repeatability and day to day variability of the micro-preconcentrators were then studied for a 500 ppb synthetic model mixture injected three times a day four days in a row: 8% and 12% were measured respectively. Micro-preconcentrator to micro-preconcentrator variability was not significant compared to day to day variability. In addition, micro-preconcentrators were tested for breath samples collected in Tedlar ® bags. Three analyses of the same breath sample displayed relative standard deviations values below 16% for eight of the ten most intense peaks. Finally, the performances of micro-preconcentrators for breath sampling on a single expiration were illustrated with the example of volatile tobacco markers tracking. The signals of three smoking markers in breath, benzene, 2,5-dimethylfuran, and toluene were studied. Concentrations of benzene and toluene were found to be 10 to 100 higher in the breath of smokers. 2,5-dimethylfuran was only found in the breath of smokers. The elimination kinetics of the markers were followed as well during 4 h: a fast decrease of the signal of the three markers in breath was observed 20 min after smoking in good agreement with what is described in the literature. Those results demonstrate the efficiency of silicon chips for breath sampling, compared to the state of the art techniques. Thanks to miniaturization and lower sample volumes needed, micro-preconcentrators could be in the future a key technology towards portable breath sampling and analysis.

Objective: Osteoporosis is a chronic disease manifested by wrist, vertebral, and hip fractures that results in significant morbidity and burden to society. About 30% of postmenopausal women have osteoporosis according to the WHO criteria. Women with one vertebral fracture have a 4-fold increased risk of a subsequent fracture. The goal of treatment is to prevent fractures and improve quality of life. Preferences or utilities are now recommended for incorporating quality of life into evaluations of the cost effectiveness of new therapeutic interventions. We evaluated the psychometric properties of preference based measures in osteoporosis., Methods: Preference scenarios were constructed with a health state classification system. The reliability and validity of the feeling thermometer and the standard gamble was assessed by interviewing 42 women from 4 different patient groups. The sensitivity to change of the feeling thermometer and standard gamble was compared with the Health Utilities Index Mark 2 (HUI2) and SF-36. All subgroups were reassessed about 2 months after their first interview., Results: Preference measurement was feasible in women of different age groups. The reliability coefficients for health states ranged from 0.65 to 0.87. The preference scores for the marker states demonstrated content validity. Convergent validity of the feeling thermometer was supported by a significant correlation with the HUI2 (r = 0.38, p < 0.05) and the physical health summary of the SF-36 (r = 0.56, p < 0.005). The standard gamble did not correlate with the HUI2 (r = 0.15) or the feeling thermometer (r = 0.09), but correlated with 2 domains of the SF-36. The preference measures were sensitive to change, with the efficiency scores ranging from 0.78 to 1.0., Conclusion: Preference measurements in the evaluation of osteoporosis are feasible. The feeling thermometer and standard gamble appear to be related to different aspects of health related quality of life. Both instruments were sensitive to change over a 2 month period.