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Abstract Background The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least two years (24 months or more) after birth. In Vietnam, 22% of women continue breastfeeding for at least two years. The aim of this study was to determine the sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics of mother-baby dyads associated with breastfeeding for 24 months or more in a rural setting in Vietnam. Methods A secondary analysis was conducted on existing data obtained from a prospective study in Ha Nam, Vietnam. Women were recruited when they were pregnant and were followed up until 36 months after giving birth. The data were collected between 2009 and 2011. The associations between sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics and continued breastfeeding for 24 months or more were examined using a multivariable logistic regression model. Results Overall, 363 women provided complete data which were included in the analyses. Among those, 20.9% breastfed for 24 months or more. Women who were 31 years old or older were more likely to breastfeed for 24 months or more than women who were 20 years old or younger (adjusted odds ratio, AOR, 9.54 [95% CI 2.25, 40.47]). Women who gave birth to girls were less likely to breastfeed for 24 or more months than women who had boys (AOR 0.44; 95% CI 0.25, 0.80). Conclusions This study provides evidence that may be useful for policy-makers to help improve breastfeeding practices for all children in Vietnam by targeting policy towards younger women and women with girls to promote continued breastfeeding for at least 24 months.

A patient initially diagnosed as having central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) presented to a clinic with recurrence of pancreatic cancer manifesting as choroidal metastasis. He was initially diagnosed with CSC by a local ophthalmologist 8 weeks earlier and subsequently presented to our clinic for second opinion after further loss of vision. His medical history was significant for locally advanced pancreatic cancer that was resected by pancreaticoduodenectomy and was treated with adjuvant Folfirinox chemotherapy that was completed 12 months earlier. On examination, there was a large serous retinal detachment overlying a large pale ill-defined elevated choroidal lesion. A diagnosis of choroidal metastasis from recurrence of his pancreatic cancer was made. The diagnosis of choroidal metastasis of his pancreatic cancer represented recurrence of his pancreatic cancer that is associated with high mortality. Early recognition by clinical assessment may allow timely management with chemotherapy and radiation, and potentially prolong survival.

Numerical modeling for the safety-related equipment used in a nuclear power plant (i.e., cabinet facilities) plays an essential role in seismic risk assessment. A full finite element model is often time-consuming for nonlinear time history analysis due to its computational modeling complexity. Thus, this study aims to generate a simplified model that can capture the nonlinear behavior of the electrical cabinet. Accordingly, the distributed plasticity approach was utilized to examine the stiffness-degradation effect caused by the local buckling of the structure. The inherent dynamic characteristics of the numerical model were validated against the experimental test. The outcomes indicate that the proposed model can adequately represent the significant behavior of the structure, and it is preferred in practice to perform the nonlinear analysis of the cabinet.Further investigations were carried out to evaluate the seismic behavior of the cabinet under the influence of the constitutive law of material models. Three available models in OpenSees (i.e., linear, bilinear, and Giuffre-Menegotto-Pinto (GMP) model) were considered to provide an enhanced understating of the seismic responses of the cabinet. It was found that the material nonlinearity, which is the function of its smoothness, is the most effective parameter for the structural analysis of the cabinet. Also, it showed that implementing nonlinear models reduces the seismic response of the cabinet considerably in comparison with the linear model.

The recovery of valuable metals such as Co, Cu, and Ni from spent lithium-ion batteries has attracted much attention due to environmental issues and economic values. Separation of these metals from the synthetic metallic mixtures was investigated by employing nonaqeous solvent. In this work, the mixture of HCl in ethylene glycol (EG) and Aliquat 336 in kerosene was employed as nonaqeous solvents and the leaching conditions were optimized. Under the optimum condition, Ni was completely leached and remained in the EG phase with 99.8% purity. Meanwhile, the leaching percentage of Co(II) and Cu(II) was 62.3% and 18.3% and most of the two dissolved metal ions were extracted into Aliquat 336 phase. After complete stripping of Co(II) and Cu(II) from the loaded Aliquat 336 phase with 2.0 mol L−1 H2SO4, Cu(II) was selectively extracted over Co(II) by 0.1 mol L−1 Cynanex301 and then stripped by 50% aqua regia solution with >99.9% purity. The purity of Co(II) in the raffinate was 99.6%. Besides, Co from the leaching residue was selectively dissolved over Cu by 5.0 mol L−1 H2SO4 with 99.6% purity. A process was proposed for the separation of Co, Cu and Ni from metallic mixtures. The process showed some advantages in terms of the high purity of the metal solutions recovered and a decrease in the number of steps for the metal recovery. Thus, the application of this process to real operation can be considered.

The L-type flange joint is widely used to attach steel tower segments to each other. However, tolerances on the flange surface flatness may occur during its fabrication, leading to a negative impact on the bolt stress distribution. This study evaluates the influences of the flange surface flatness on the behavior of L-type flange joints through numerical simulations. First, the finite element model of a 5 MW L-type flange joint is established, and its accuracy is verified based on comparison with an experimental test. Using the same loading conditions and material properties, the influences of geometrical imperfections (i.e., flange-sided gap, tower-sided gap) on the structural response are investigated. Furthermore, the impact of the flange gap opening length is reported. The results show that the flange-sided gap outperforms the tower-sided gap, resulting in reduced stress concentration in the bolt. In addition, the stresses in flange-sided gapping joints increase with an increase in the opening length.

In this study, we introduce semi-supervised machine learning models designed to predict molecular properties. Our model employs a two-stage approach, involving pre-training and fine-tuning. Particularly, our model leverages a substantial amount of labeled and unlabeled data consisting of SMILES strings, a text representation system for molecules. During the pre-training stage, our model capitalizes on the Masked Language Model, which is widely used in natural language processing, for learning molecular chemical space representations. During the fine-tuning stage, our model is trained on a smaller labeled dataset to tackle specific downstream tasks, such as classification or regression. Preliminary results indicate that our model demonstrates comparable performance to state-of-the-art models on the chosen downstream tasks from MoleculeNet. Additionally, to reduce the computational overhead, we propose a new approach taking advantage of 3D compound structures for calculating the attention score used in the end-to-end transformer model to predict anti-malaria drug candidates. The results show that using the proposed attention score, our end-to-end model is able to have comparable performance with pre-trained models.

Biochar is suggested as a conditioner for salt-affected soils for various crops. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of biochar on the growth and physiology of sugarcane under saline and non-saline conditions at an early growth stage. The experiment was conducted in pots in the greenhouses with three replications. Three biochar rates (0, 5, and 10 tons ha−1) were applied before transplanting sugarcane seedlings into the pots. Four weeks after transplanting, plants were irrigated with 300 mL of 100 mM NaCl every two days for 2 weeks. Salinity significantly affected the growth and physiology of sugarcanes. The application of biochar increased plant height, shoot dry weight, root volume, root dry weight, Fv/Fm, and chlorophyll content while decreasing the water saturation deficit and the relative ion leakage in the leaves under both saline and non-saline conditions. Thus, biochar application has positive effects on the growth and physiology of sugarcane at an early growth stage under both saline and non-saline conditions. However, further study is suggested to investigate the effects of biochar on sugarcane under saline stress in the field at different growth stages.

Abstract Graph sampling methods have been used to reduce the size and complexity of big complex networks for graph mining and visualization. However, existing graph sampling methods often fail to preserve the connectivity and important structures of the original graph. This paper introduces a new divide and conquer approach to spectral graph sampling based on graph connectivity, called the BC Tree (i.e., decomposition of a connected graph into biconnected components) and spectral sparsification. Specifically, we present two methods, spectral vertex sampling $$BC\_SV$$ B C _ S V and spectral edge sampling $$BC\_SS$$ B C _ S S by computing effective resistance values of vertices and edges for each connected component. Furthermore, we present $$DBC\_SS$$ D B C _ S S and $$DBC\_GD$$ D B C _ G D , graph connectivity-based distributed algorithms for spectral sparsification and graph drawing respectively, aiming to further improve the runtime efficiency of spectral sparsification and graph drawing by integrating connectivity-based graph decomposition and distributed computing. Experimental results demonstrate that $$BC\_SV$$ B C _ S V and $$BC\_SS$$ B C _ S S are significantly faster than previous spectral graph sampling methods while preserving the same sampling quality. $$DBC\_SS$$ D B C _ S S and $$DBC\_GD$$ D B C _ G D obtain further significant runtime improvement over sequential approaches, and $$DBC\_GD$$ D B C _ G D further achieves significant improvements in quality metrics over sequential graph drawing layouts.

The violent splash of a droplet caused by residual air pockets trapped during impact on a solid surface appears inevitable. Vo and Tran show how to vent the drop on short notice for a smooth touchdown, harnessing dielectrophoretic forces to create dynamic drainage channels.

Servelle-Martorell syndrome, also known as angio-osteohypotrophic syndrome, is a congenital venous malformation that rarely involves the arterial system. There are many different, mainly conservative, treatment methods. We present the case of a 28-year-old woman with a history of left arm and back lesions, which appeared at birth and had enlarged over time. She had been diagnosed with a vascular malformation but had not yet received treatment. She presented to our hospital with numbness in her left arm and was diagnosed with Servelle-Martorell syndrome based on computed tomography (CT) angiography. This case emphasizes that CT angiography is a useful modality for evaluating the extent of the venous malformations in patients with Servelle-Martorell syndrome.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), a group of unstable and highly reactive molecules or free radicals, are productions of molecular oxygen through cell metabolism. In invertebrates, especially in crustaceans, hemolymph plays an extremely important role in innate immune regulation and inflammatory responses, in which various microbes were modified by ROS. Even so, the information about ROS in relation to hemolymph microbiota and innate immunity is still limited in mud crab. To investigate the underlying mechanism, the ROS-excessive mud crabs (Scylla paramamosain) caused by knocking down catalase (SpCAT) were used to demonstrate the effects of abnormal levels of ROS on the changes in the hemolymph microbiota. Our results showed that SpCAT silence significantly increase ROS production and decrease the load of the bacteria in the hemolymph in mud crab. In the siCAT group, the dominant phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidonacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadetes, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, Rokubacteria and Verrucommicrobia. Among them, the relative abundance of Firmicutes and Cyanobacteria was significantly increased upon the elevated ROS production. Some bacterial genera such as Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Faecalibacterium and Romboutsia also increased with higher level of ROS. Moreover, the results showed that excessive ROS could promote the evident autophagy of the hemocytes. The result of this study demonstrated that ROS plays a vital role in modulating the homeostasis of the microbiota, and SpCAT is also crucially important in the ROS-mediated hemolymph microbiota homeostasis and the autophagy of the hemocytes in mud crab.

Background: CDI is the single most common cause of nosocomial diarrhea in both adults and children. Available data regarding treatment outcomes in hospitalized children remain limited. CDI recurrence in children has been reported in 20%–30% of cases. Consensus regarding the best testing method for CDI is lacking. The 2018 IDSA guideline recommends a multistep algorithm with detection of glutamate dehydrogenase antigen plus toxin, followed by detection of toxigenic C. difficle with nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) if results are discordant. Methods: We included patients aged 1–26 years admitted from July 2020 through June 2021 with CDI symptoms and positive toxin or NAAT. Healthcare facility-onset CDI (HO-CDI) was defined as positive specimen collected >3 days after admission. Community-onset CDI (CO-CDI) was defined as positive specimen collected ≤3 days after admission. Community-onset healthcare facility-associated CDI (CO-HCFA-CDI) was defined as positive specimen from a patient who was discharged from the facility ≤4 weeks prior. Recurrence was defined as an episode of CDI occurring within 60 days after onset of a previous infection. Results: Mean age of the 63 patients meeting inclusion criteria was 11.2 years (range, 1–21 years). Most patients (n = 37; 58.7%) were male, tested negative for C. difficile toxins (n = 39; 61.9%), and had mild-to-moderate disease (n = 61; 96.8%). Patients with immunocompromising conditions were common, including malignancy (n = 38; 60.3%), inflammatory bowel disorder (n = 8; 12.7%), and history of solid organ transplant (n = 5; 7.9%). Previously healthy without chronic medical conditions were uncommon (n = 4; 6.3%). CO-CDI was most common (n = 26; 41.3%) followed by HO-CDI (n = 23; 36.5%). Also, 34 patients (53.9%) were exposed to antibiotics within the previous 30 days, 16 (47.0%) of whom received 2 or more antibiotics. Sulfamethoxazole–trimethoprim was the most prescribed agent (13; 38%), most (12; 92.3%) as prophylaxis for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia. Furthermore, 42 patients (66.7%) were receiving gastric acid suppressant agents. Laxatives were given to 14 patients (22.2%) within 72 hours of testing, despite electronic reminders. Most were treated with oral vancomycin (n = 46; 73.0%). In addition, 5 patients (7.9%) did not receive CDI treatment at the discretion of the treating physician; all were toxin negative. CDI was cured in 58 patients (92.1%) with only 5 (7.9%) experiencing recurrence infection. Patients testing positive for C. difficile toxin were more likely to experience infection recurrence compared to those with a negative toxin screen: 4 of 24 (16.7%) versus 1 of 39 (2.6%) (P = .044). Conclusions: Most patients with CDI were treated with oral vancomycin at our institution. We observed significantly lower rate of recurrence than previously reported. Toxin-positive patients experienced higher recurrence rate. Prospective studies are needed to confirm our findings.

Abstract Background Several inherited metabolic diseases are underreported in Vietnam, namely glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PDd), phenylketonuria (PKU) and galactosemia (GAL). Whilst massively parallel sequencing (MPS) allows researchers to screen several loci simultaneously for pathogenic variants, no screening programme uses MPS to uncover the variant spectra of these diseases in the Vietnamese population. Methods Pregnant women (mean age of 32) from across Vietnam attending routine prenatal health checks agreed to participate and had their blood drawn. MPS was used to detect variants in their G6PD, PAH and GALT genes. Results Of 3259 women screened across Vietnam, 450 (13.8%) carried disease‐associated variants for G6PD, PAH and GALT. The prevalence of carriers was 8.9% (291 of 3259) in G6PD and 4.6% (152 of 3259) in PKU, whilst GAL was low at 0.2% (7 of 3259). Two GALT variants, c.593 T > C and c.1034C > A, have rarely been reported. Conclusion This study highlights the need for routine carrier screening, where women give blood whilst receiving routine prenatal care, in Vietnam. The use of MPS is suitable for screening multiple variants, allowing for identifying rare pathogenic variants. The data from our study will inform policymakers in constructing cost‐effective genetic metabolic carrier screening programmes.

BackgroundRecent trials including DIRECT-MT, DEVT, and SKIP have found that direct mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is equally effective as the combination of MT and intravenous thrombolysis. However, the results of the other trials, namely MR-CLEAN NO-IV and the SWIFT-DIRECT trial have failed to confirm the non-inferiority of direct MT vs. the combination therapy.AimWe aimed to identify prognostic factors of direct MT for anterior circulation large vessel occlusion within 4.5 h.Materials and MethodsData from January 2018 to January 2022 were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Adult patients with confirmed anterior circulation large vessel occlusion within 4.5 h of onset with baseline NIHSS of ≥6 and baseline ASPECTS of ≥6 treated using direct MT within 6 h were recruited.ResultsA total of 140 patients were enrolled in the study with a median age of 65.5 years [interquartile range (IQR), 59–76.5], median baseline NIHSS of 13.5 (IQR, 11–16), and median baseline ASPECTS of 8 (IQR, 7–8). Direct MT was feasible in all patients (100%). Successful reperfusion (mTICI 2b-3) was achieved in 124/140 patients (88.6%) with a low rate of complications (8/140, 5.7%). Any type of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and symptomatic ICH occurred in 44/140 (31.4%) and 5/140 (3.6%), respectively. Overall, a good outcome (mRS 0–2) was achieved in 93/140 (66.4%), and the mortality rate was 9.3% (13/140 patients). Using multivariate analysis, lower age [odds ratio (OR), 0.96; 95% CI, 0.92–1.00; P = 0.05], low baseline NIHSS (OR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.74–0.92; P = 0.00), and absence of ICH (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.10–0.81; P = 0.02) were independently associated with favorable outcome. Independent predictors of mortality were baseline NIHSS (OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.01–1.46; P = 0.04), successful reperfusion (OR, 0.02; 95% CI, 0.00–0.58; P = 0.02), and ICH (OR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.02–0.75; P = 0.02). Further analysis showed that the median mRS at 90 days was significantly better in the MCA occlusion group compared to the ICA plus M1 occlusion group [1 (IQR 0–3) vs. 2 (IQR 1–4); P = 0.05].ConclusionsOur findings suggest that direct thrombectomy may be an adequate clinical option for younger patients (≤70) experiencing proximal middle artery occlusion within 4.5 h and who have low baseline NIHSS (≤14).

Orthotropic steel decks are prone to fatigue problems and to delamination of the wearing surface. In addition, the mechanical behavior of the asphalt wearing surface on an orthotropic steel bridge deck is viscous and affected by the amplitude and frequency of moving loads. This paper presents an experimental investigation on the strain distribution and evolution in an orthotropic deck under cyclic loading. A five-point bending (5PB) test was used in this study. The tested orthotropic deck was composed of a 14-mm-thick steel plate, an epoxy bonding layer, and a 7-cm-thick epoxy asphalt mixture layer. Two types of tests performed at a fixed temperature were: i) cyclic loading with a small number of cycles at different frequencies and loading amplitudes, and ii) fatigue test. The strain was measured at different positions in the steel plate and in the asphalt wearing course. The results obtained from the first type of tests show the strain distribution in the orthotropic deck and the effect of frequency and loading amplitude on this distribution. When the loading amplitude varied from 20 kN to 40 kN, the behavior of the deck structure was observed to be quasi-linear except for several points in the asphalt wearing course where the strain amplitude was higher than 1000 µm/m. The viscoelastic property of the epoxy asphalt concrete was shown to have a significant influence on the deformation of the deck structure. During the fatigue test, the effect of the cyclic loading on the strain evolution in the orthotropic deck was analyzed. The results show that the accumulated strain in the steel plate was small and reversible while that in the asphalt wearing course was important and irreversible, which caused the cracks and damage in the specimen. Fatigue cracking at the top of the asphalt concrete layer and the debonding of the asphalt concrete layer from the steel plate at the support positions were also observed during the fatigue test.

Night security is known for its long hours and heavy tasks. In Japan, a labor shortage of security guards has become an issue in recent years. To solve these problems, an increasing number of robotic security methods are being used. However, several problems exist with existing security robots. For example, wheeled robots traveling on the ground have difficulty in dealing with obstacles such as steps, while most drones are only for monitoring and do not have a function to help people. In this study, an aerial ubiquitous display (AUD) night security drone has been developed to solve the problems of existing security robots. The AUD is equipped with an infrared camera and a projector to detect human behavior at night and present information to people in need. In this paper, an experiment was conducted with the AUD to evaluate whether it can provide adequate nighttime security. In the experiment, real-time monitoring and information projection from the air were achieved. In addition, new security methods using the AUD were shown to be effective. Replacing security guards with the AUD to provide security at night will improve labor shortages in the future, and better security methods will be developed.

The wide-scale adoption and accelerated growth of electric vehicle (EV) use and increasing demand for faster charging necessitate the research and development of power electronic converters to achieve high-power, compact, and reliable EV charging solutions. Although the fast charging concept is often associated with off-board DC chargers, the importance of on-board AC fast charging is undeniable with the increasing battery capacities. This article comprehensively reviews gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor-based bidirectional on-board charger (OBC) topologies used in both 400 V and 800 V EV applications. Moreover, comparative evaluations of GaN-based bi-directional OBC topologies regarding power conversion losses (conduction loss and soft switching capabilities), power density, implementation considerations, power quality, electromagnetic interference, and reliability aspects have been presented. The status of commercially available GaN power modules, advancements in GaN technology, applicable industry standards, and application requirements for OBCs have been also included in this study. Finally, in light of forthcoming advancements in GaN power transistor technology, this study highlights potential areas of research related to the reviewed topologies. Such research can aid researchers and designers in improving the performance and user experience of electric vehicles, ultimately supporting the widespread adoption of EVs.

Phosphorus (P) nonpoint source pollution from soil to water is increasing dramatically, leading to the eutrophication of water bodies. Using amendment materials for P retention in soil is a promising strategy for environmental restoration and nonpoint source pollution management. This strategy has attracted significant attention because of its highly effective P retention. This study reviews management strategies of P nonpoint pollution from soil to water, including the basic P forms and accumulation situation in soil and P loss from soil to water. Recent advances in the use of amendment materials, such as inorganic, organic, and composite amendment materials, to mitigate P pollution from soil to water have also been summarized. Environmental risks of reloss of P retention in soil with different soil properties and water conditions have also been investigated. This review improves the understanding of P nonpoint source pollution from soil to water, providing an innovative perspective for the large-scale application of amendment materials to control water eutrophication.

In this study, the CuFe2O4 on rGO/halloysite material was made in an uncomplicated manner. The catalyst has a sandwich-like shape with a uniform coating of the active phase on the rGO sheets and halloysite tubes. The catalyst’s large specific surface area (130 m2/g) and small band gap energy (1.9 eV) allow it to adsorb photons and photocatalyze organic contaminants effectively. In approximately 1 h of light, the catalyst showed high performance in achieving almost complete conversion in photodegrading CIP for an initial CIP concentration of 20 ppm. A pseudo-first-order rate law was followed by the process, as revealed by the experimental results. In addition, the pH effect and the contribution of intermediate reactive radicals that emerged during the photochemical process were explored. The results indicated that hydroxyl radicals and holes had a major impact on CIP decomposition, suggesting that the addition of these radicals could enhance CIP degradation efficiency at a larger scale. This study also confirmed the superiority of catalysis and photochemical processes in environmental treatments by the neutral pH values.

Along with the technology boom regarding electric vehicles such as lithium-ion batteries, electric motors, and plug-in charging systems, inductive power transfer (IPT) systems have gained more attention from academia and industry in recent years. This article presents a review of the state-of-the-art development of IPT systems, with a focus on low-voltage and high-current electric mobility applications. The fundamental theory, compensation topologies, magnetic coupling structures, power electronic architectures, and control methods are discussed and further considered in terms of several aspects, including efficiency, coil misalignments, and output regulation capability. A 3D finite element software (Ansys Maxwell) is used to validate the magnetic coupler performance. In addition, a 2.5 kW 400/48 V IPT system is proposed to address the challenges of low-voltage and high-current wireless charging systems. In this design, an asymmetrical double-sided LCC compensation topology and a passive current balancing method are proposed to provide excellent current sharing capability in the dual-receiver structures under both resonant component mismatch and misalignment conditions. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is verified by MATLAB/PSIM simulation results.

This study seeks to explore the underlying resources that promote employee resilience and the impact of resilience on work engagement and job performance within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical investigation employed the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method. It was conducted with a sample comprising 255 employees actively engaged in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The results reveal the significant influence of selfefficacy, optimism, and support from various sources (superiors, colleagues, family, and friends) on employee resilience. Additionally, work engagement is a mediator in the relationship between employee resilience and job performance. These findings offer valuable insights for human resources managers in fostering a flexible work environment and providing essential support to enhance employee resilience, benefiting both the employees and the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]