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Chronic wounds often result in multiple infections with various kinds of bacteria and uncontrolled wound exudate, resulting in several healthcare issues. Advanced medicated nanofibres prepared by electrospinning have gained much attention for their topical application on infected chronic wounds. The objective of this work is to enhance the critical variables of ciprofloxacin-loaded polycaprolactone-silk sericin (PCL/SS-PVA-CIP) nanofibre production via the process of electrospinning. To examine the antibacterial effectiveness of PCL/SS-PVA-CIP nanocomposites, the material was tested against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. The combination of PCL/SS-PVA-CIP exhibited potent inhibitory properties, with the most effective concentrations of ciprofloxacin (CIP) being 3 μg/g and 7.0 μg/g for each bacterium, respectively. The biocompatibility was evaluated by conducting cell reduction and proliferation studies using the human epidermal keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells and human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) in vitro cell lines. The PCL/SS-PVA-CIP showed good cell compatibility with HaCaT and HGF cells, with effective proliferation even at antibiotic doses of up to 7.0 μg/g. The drug release effectiveness of the nanocomposites was assessed at various concentrations of CIP, resulting in a maximum cumulative release of 76.5% and 74.4% after 72 h for CIP concentrations of 3 μg/g and 7 μg/g, respectively. In summary, our study emphasizes the possibility of combining silk sericin (SS) and polycaprolactone (PCL) loading with CIP nanocomposite for wound management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on two-dimensional heat transfer and unsteady flow past two tandem heated porous square cylinders using lattice Boltzmann method combined with block-structured topology-confined mesh refinement. The effects of the Reynolds number (30 ≤ R e ≤ 150), the Darcy number ( 10 − 5 ≤ D a ≤ 10 − 2 ), and spacing ratio (1.5 ≤ L / D ≤ 5 , where L and D are distance of two adjacent cylinder centers and square cylinder length, respectively) are investigated. The intended analysis links hydrodynamic and heat transfer coefficients and wake structures in parameter space of R e − D a − L / D to fluid mechanics. For upstream cylinder, drag coefficients decrease with a reduction of Da and range of R e ≥ 100 , while wake length increases with an increment of L / D ratio at the same range of Re. Time-averaged normalized velocity increases at higher permeability levels. A significant augmentation in a time-averaged Nusselt number is reported for an increase in Da and full L / D range. For downstream cylinder, the interaction of fluid vortices in the gap between the cylinders affects the flow pattern, causing irregularities in the drag coefficient variation. The impacts of L / D on the wake length is more obvious than that of Da. Both the wake length and time-averaged Nusselt number values are proportional to an increase in L / D. Consequently, all the investigated results of the upstream cylinder are significantly altered from those of the downstream cylinder due to the shadowing effect of the upstream cylinder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, MnO2@SiO2/C was produced from rice husk derived SiO2/carbon composite and MnO2 via hydrothermal method. The nanostructure gave good microstructural, morphological properties with highly catalytic properties. The hybrid catalyst comprising of MnO2@SiO2/C nanocomposite-supported gold nanoparticles was successfully fabricated by the novel solid grinding and tested for CO oxidation's application. MnO2 nanoballs are 5 − 8 nm in diameter with a shell thickness of 1 nm, packing with laminar [MnO6] unit cells. The as-prepared gold catalysts containing 2wt% of Au loading, exhibited 50% CO conversion and a high specific activity of 0.21 molCO gAu−1 h−1 at 38 °C. MnO2@SiO2/C nanocomposite-supported gold nanoparticles were prepared by solid grinding using a non-volatile organogold(III) complex and rice husk. The catalysts showed high activity for CO oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally produced fish sauce can contain significant amounts of histamine. In some instances, the histamine concentration may be well above the limit recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The aim of this study was to discover new bacterial strains capable of growing under the stressful environmental conditions of fish sauce fermentation and metabolizing histamine. In this study, 28 bacterial strains were isolated from Vietnamese fish sauce products based on their ability to grow at high salt concentrations (23% NaCl) and tested for their ability to degrade histamine. Strain TT8.5 showed the highest histamine-degradation (45.1 ± 0.2% of initially 5 mM histamine within 7 days) and was identified as Virgibacillus campisalis TT8.5. Its histamine-degrading activity was shown to be localized intracellularly and the enzyme is a putative histamine dehydrogenase. The strain exhibited optimal growth and histamine-degrading activity at 37°C, pH 7%, and 5% NaCl in halophilic archaea (HA) histamine broth. It also showed pronounced histamine-degrading activity in HA histamine broth when cultivated at temperatures of up to 40 °C as well as in the presence of up to 23% NaCl. After treatment with immobilized cells, 17.6–26.9% of the initial histamine in various fish sauce products were reduced within 24 h of incubation, while no significant changes in other parameters of fish sauce quality were observed after this treatment. Our results indicate that V. campisalis TT8.5 is of potential interest to be applied in histamine degradation of traditional fish sauce. • 28 bacterial strains were isolated from Vietnamese fish sauce products, in which the strain TT8.5 showed the highest histamine degrading efficiency and was identified as Virgibacillus campisalis TT8.5. • After treatment with immobilized cells of V. campisalis TT8.5, 17.6–26.9% of the initial histamine in various fish sauce products were reduced within 24 h of incubation. • Immobilized V. campisalis TT8.5 cells is of potential interest to be applied in histamine degradation of traditional fish sauce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The success of the chemotherapeutic treatment of hydatid disease is based upon the drug ability to operate on the germinal layer and on the protoscolices of the hydatid cyst interior at adequate concentrations for sufficient periods. The goal of this study was to evaluate the ability of the drug diffusion through the cyst membrane from sheep hydatid cysts and the increase of drug concentration in the cyst environment. In the first part of this work, the permeation behaviour through the hydatid cyst membrane was studied with five model molecules, having different molecular descriptors (log P, molecular weight, polar surface area …) onto static Franz glass diffusion cells. A good correlation has been observed between the permeation coefficient and the partition coefficient, log P (r =0.951). In the second part, albendazole-loaded nanoparticles (about 300nm) prepared by the emulsion solvent evaporation method have shown a sufficient entrapment efficiency (36.4±6.4%) to raise the apparent solubility of albendazole. The diffusion of drug from the nanoparticles across the hydatid cyst membrane was also improved compare to albendazole suspension. These results have shown the interest of the albendazole-loaded nanoparticles for the treatment of hydatid cysts in the future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

No-cook process or Simultaneous Liquefaction, Saccharification, and Fermentation process (SLSF) under very-high-gravity (VHG) condition possesses many advantages for potable ethanol production from rice. The important nutrient that affects the effectiveness of fermentation is nitrogen. Two sources of nitrogen are considered including added urea and indigenous rice protein which can be hydrolysed by an external protease. This study aims to assess the impact of urea and protease on rice conversion, yeast performance including the formation of ethanol and co-products in the SLSF-VHG. The results show that in comparison to the control process (without adding nitrogen), a protease (Fermgen™ 2.5X) supplementation of 600 SAPU/kg rice flour resulted in efficient breakdown of the rice structure along with 2.4% v/v higher ethanol yield and shorter fermentation time of 48 h. Meanwhile, the adding urea at concentration of 16 mM had a slight effect on the structural modification of the rice material without a significant increase (p < 0.05) of final ethanol yield. There was no significant difference (p < 0.05) in ethanol yield between urea and protease addition compared with protease alone. Our results suggested that the addition of protease provided enough nitrogen for yeast by hydrolysing the endogenous rice protein during SLSF-VHG process. [Display omitted] • Protease significantly affected the growth and size of yeast as well as structure and shape of rice. • Protease addition enhanced ethanol content by 2.40% v/v and shortened fermentation time by 48 h. • SLSF-VHG process from rice did not require any external nitrogen addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Dy addition reduces Ni crystallite size and improve its dispersion on Ni/SiC-SiO 2. • 0.5 %Dy-10 %Ni/SiC-SiO 2 achieves 100 % CH 4 selectivity and 73.9 % CO 2 conversion at 350 °C. • Microwave heating outperforms electric, yielding higher CO 2 conversion. • Extreme SiC dilution hampers CO 2 conversion and CH 4 selectivity in both reactors. • Carbon formation in the microwave reactor quantified at only 0.0099 mg C /g cat /h. In this work, Dy-promoted Ni/SiC-SiO 2 catalysts with varied Dy loadings (0–1 %) were developed using the wet impregnation method and evaluated for their effectiveness in CO 2 methanation. The characterization results reveal that Dy addition can reduce the Ni crystallite size, enhance the dispersion of active phase and increase the catalyst's reducibility. Among the prepared catalysts, the 0.5 %Dy-10 %Ni/SiC-SiO 2 demonstrated the highest CH 4 selectivity (100 %) and CO 2 conversion (73.9 %) at 350 °C owing to its highest basic sites and H 2 chemisorption capacity. The performance of this Dy-promoted catalyst diluted with different amounts of SiC, which was employed as a microwave susceptor and high thermal conductive dilution material, was also investigated in both microwave and electric reactor. Microwave heating leads to higher CO 2 conversion compared to electric heating, regardless of reaction temperature and dilution factor due to selective heating and the random occurrence of hot spots, which are usually considered as micro-plasmas in the catalyst bed. However, further increase quantity of SiC decreased both CO 2 conversion and CH 4 selectivity regardless of heating method. This may be attributed to the appearance of extreme overheating and the absence of gentle overheating with increased amount of SiC in the microwave and electric reactors, respectively. The temperature-programmed oxidation results demonstrated that carbon deposition on the 0.5 %Dy-10 %Ni/SiC-SiO 2 catalyst during 30 h of reaction can be significantly suppressed by microwave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the synthesis of perovskite Cs 2 SnI 6 films via the solution–processed approach. The cubic Cs 2 SnI 6 phase (Fm3m group) formed at the annealing temperature of 170 °C for 8 h in air has uniform morphology. The optical characteristics of the compound depended on the annealing temperature and the compound behaved like a direct band gap semiconductor. Based on these findings, we firstly investigated the potential application of Cs 2 SnI 6 to photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting using a 0.3 M NaCl electrolyte. The photocurrent density (PCD) and photoconversion efficiency (η) were 0.92 mA cm−2 and 0.54% at −0.8 V, respectively. This might be suitable for fabricating the hybrid PEC device. • Synthesis of perovskite Cs 2 SnI 6 film and high stable phase in air. • Controllable of Cs 2 SnI 6 phase using the annealing approach. • A first study of photoelectrochemical characteristic of Cs 2 SnI 6 /FTO film with NaCl electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Multi-layered thin film nanocomposite is fabricated completely using electrodeposition. • MWCNTs nanopaper is yielded by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) as conducting electrode. • EPD can be set-up to purify CNTs due to different impact of electric field to polarization of functionalized CNTs. • MoS 2 @MoO 2 shell@core structure covers MWCNTs by low current density galvanostatic deposition. • MoS 2 @MoO 2 formed in two types including nano-onion and nano-trail at the end and along length of MWCNTs, respectively. A shell@core nanostructure of MoS 2 @MoO 2 on multi-walled carbon nanotubes paper (MWCNP) is fabricated by a two-step electrochemical process. Consecutively, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and galvanostatic deposition (GSD) techniques are applied to deposit MWCNP on indium tin oxide coated polyethylene terephthalate (ITO-PET) film, then, to form MoS 2 @MoO 2 on the surface of MWCNP. Raman spectra and XRD pattern of MWCNP/ITO-PET and MoS 2 @MoO 2 /MWCNP/ITO-PET thin films confirm EPD retains the original structure of MWCNTs as well as GSD successfully generates amorphous MoS 2 @MoO 2 as skin of MWCNP. In EPD process, MWCNT-COOH with high defect density are preferred to deposition on ITO-PET electrode as well as MoS 2 @MoO 2 reduces defect on sidewall of MWCNTs in GSD process. The XRD patterns confirms the orthorhombic and hexagonal structure of MoO 2 and MoS 2 , respectively. The thickness of MoS 2 @MoO 2 skin measured on TEM images is about 13–15 nm, while the planes distance measured on HRTEM is about 3.8 Å. Combination of characterization shows the mechanism leading to formation of MoS 2 @MoO 2 nano-trail and nano-onion on body and end of MWCNTs, respectively, according defect density of the position. Thence, the two-step electrodeposition holds great potential due to its ability to rapidly produce large-area thin films as well as control nanostructures of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abundance of raw materials is a significant advantage that positions sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) as a promising energy storage solution for the future. However, the low cycle efficiency and poor rate capacity of cathode materials have hindered the commercialization of SIBs, prompting extensive research efforts to address these challenges. Ion doping into the material structure is considered to be an effective, simple, and scalable approach to enhancing the electrical performance of cathode materials. In this work, B and F elemental ions were selectively doped into the structure of sodium-lithium-manganese-cobalt oxide material via the sol-gel method combined with calcination. The effects of B and F ion doping on the properties of the obtained materials exhibited distinct variations, particularly in the electrochemical performance. While the B-doped material (B-NLMC) exhibited a specific capacity of up to 166.5 mAh g -1 at a current density of 10 mA g -1 and maintained 72.1% capacity after 100 cycles, the material simultaneously doped with B and F ions (BF-NLMC) demonstrated lower specific capacity and cycling efficiency compared to B-NLMC. However, the BF-NLMC material exhibited significantly improved rate capability, delivering a specific capacity of up to approximately 80 mAh g -1 at a high current density of 200 mA g -1 . Obviously, this research offers valuable insights into diversifying doping strategies to enhance the electrochemical performance of cathode materials, contributing to the advancement of SIB technology., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

The challenge of wound healing, particularly in patients with comorbidities such as diabetes, is intensified by wound infection and the accelerating problem of bacterial resistance to current remedies such as antibiotics and silver. One promising approach harnesses the bioactive and antibacterial compound C-phycocyanin from the microalga Spirulina maxima. However, the current processes of extracting this compound and developing coatings are unsustainable and difficult to achieve. To circumvent these obstacles, a novel, sustainable argon atmospheric plasma jet (Ar-APJ) technology that transforms S. maxima biomass into bioactive coatings is presented. This Ar-APJ can selectively disrupt the cell walls of S. maxima, converting them into bioactive ultrathin coatings, which are found to be durable under aqueous conditions. The findings demonstrate that Ar-APJ-transformed bioactive coatings show better antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Moreover, these coatings exhibit compatibility with macrophages, induce an anti-inflammatory response by reducing interleukin 6 production, and promote cell migration in keratinocytes. This study offers an innovative, single-step, sustainable technology for transforming microalgae into bioactive coatings. The approach reported here has immense potential for the generation of bioactive coatings for combating wound infections and may offer a significant advance in wound care research and application., (© 2023 The Authors. Small published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Hydrogen production through photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactions is an innovative and promising approach to producing clean energy. The PEC working electrode of a Co 3 O 4 /ZnO-based p-n heterojunction was prepared by a straightforward electrochemical deposition with different deposition times onto an FTO (Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide) glass substrate. The successful synthesis of the materials was confirmed through analysis using XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDX, DRS, and PL techniques. Mott-Schottky plots and some characterization studies also checked the determination of the formation of the p-n junction. Co 3 O 4 /ZnO/FTO with a Co 3 O 4 deposition time of 2 minutes exhibited the lowest onset potential of 0.82 V and the lowest overpotential of 470 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm -2 . Furthermore, the photo-conversion efficiency of the Co 3 O 4 /ZnO/FTO sample showed 1.4 times higher current density than the ZnO/FTO sample. A mechanism is also proposed to enhance the Co 3 O 4 /ZnO/FTO electrode photo-electrocatalytic activity involved in the water-splitting reaction. The Co 3 O 4 /ZnO/FTO electrode shows significant potential as a promising PEC electrode to produce hydrogen., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Background and Objectives: A comprehensive nutritional management is necessary for favourable outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We aimed to assess the changes in nutritional status and disease progression with nutritional management where renal replacement therapy (RRT) was not in place., Methods and Study Design: A quasi-experiment intervention was conducted on 70 CKD patients at stages 3-5 from July to December 2022. Participants were excluded if they underwent RRT, including dialy-sis (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis), or kidney transplantation. The nutritional regimen covered nutrition-al counseling, samples of the dietary menu, and supplement products. We evaluated nutritional status using Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) scale and sub-clinical blood test at T0 (hospital admission) and T1 (two weeks after the admission or 24 hours before the discharge)., Results: After the intervention, the number of patients classified as malnutrition or at risk of malnourished reduced significantly (65.7% to 54.3% and 25.7% and 5.7%, respectively). The serum concentration of urea, creatinine and parathyroid hormone decreased remarkably, especially in patients receiving nutritional management. In the intervention group, the dietary pattern provided increased intakes of calcium and iron at T1, while phosphorus, sodium and potassium decreased after follow-up. Nausea/vomiting, loss of appetite, tiredness and sleep disorders were improved in the intervention compared to the control group., Conclusions: Nutritional therapy enhanced the nutritional sta-tus, and quality of dietary and renal function in CKD patients without RRT. Applying nutrition education and treatment at an early stage can slow CKD progression, which should be applicable elsewhere in Vietnam., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could constitute a potential conflict of interest

We report the temperature dependences of the dielectric function ε = ε 1 + i ε 2 and critical point (CP) energies of the uniaxial crystal GaSe in the spectral energy region from 0.74 to 6.42 eV and at temperatures from 27 to 300 K using spectroscopic ellipsometry. The fundamental bandgap and strong exciton effect near 2.1 eV are detected only in the c-direction, which is perpendicular to the cleavage plane of the crystal. The temperature dependences of the CP energies were determined by fitting the data to the phenomenological expression that incorporates the Bose-Einstein statistical factor and the temperature coefficient to describe the electron-phonon interaction. To determine the origin of this anisotropy, we perform first-principles calculations using the mBJ method for bandgap correction. The results clearly demonstrate that the anisotropic dielectric characteristics can be directly attributed to the inherent anisotropy of p orbitals. More specifically, this prominent excitonic feature and fundamental bandgap are derived from the band-to-band transition between s and p z orbitals at the Γ-point.

Lithium-ion batteries lay the foundation for satisfying the fast-growing demand of portable electronics and electric vehicles. However, due to the complexity of material syntheses, high fabrication temperature condition, and toxic gas emission, high volume manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries is still challenging. Here, we propose a modified coprecipitation method to synthesize Li 1.0 Ni 0.6 Mn 0.2 Co 0.2 O 2 (NMC622-MCP) as a cathode material in a simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly approach. We demonstrate that the proposed method can be operated in a lower temperature environment, with respect to the requirement of conventional synthesis methods. Furthermore, only CO 2 gas is emitted during synthesis. We also employed first-principles simulations to evaluate the crystallinity of the synthesized materials via X-ray diffractometer patterns. During charge/discharge processes, the obtained cathode materials induce outstanding electrochemical performance with a maximum specific capacity of up to 206.9 mAh g -1 at 0.05 C and a retention capacity of 83.22% after 100 cycles. Thus, the simple, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and highly electrochemical performance of the newly acquired material envisages the modified coprecipitation method as a promising tool to manufacture cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Introduction: As sufficient nutrition helps alleviate catabolic stress and modulate the systemic inflammatory response of the body, it plays an indispensable role in the good prognosis of critically ill patients. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the malnutrition of patients with severe COVID-19 and its association with adverse treatment outcomes., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study in two provincial hospitals in Hanoi from February to April 2022. Participants were patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Malnutrition risk were evaluated by Nutritional Risk Screening-2002 (NRS), Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM), Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), and the adverse prognosis was assessed by Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II). The multivariate receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to estimate the predictive ability of those criteria regarding worse treatment results., Results: The percentages of malnutrition measured by NRS, GLIM, PNI, and BMI were 62.6, 51.5, 42.9, and 16.6%, respectively. Patients with more severe malnutrition assessed by GLIM, PNI, and having above target fasting blood glucose (FBG) (≥10.0 mmol/L) were more likely to have higher APACHE scores. PNI had a better diagnostic performance than NRS and BMI (AUC = 0.84, 0.81, and 0.82, respectively). In addition, FBG revealed a good prognostic implication (AUC = 0.84)., Conclusion: A relatively high percentage of patients experienced moderate and severe malnutrition regardless of screening tools. Individuals at higher risk of malnutrition and high FBG were predicted to have more adverse treatment outcomes. It is recommended that nutritional screening should be conducted regularly, and personalizing nutritional care strategies is necessary to meet patients' nutrient demands and prevent other nutrition-related complications., 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 Nguyen, Dang, Tran, Phan, Doan, Nguyen, Tran, Do, Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen and Le.)

Objective: Acute lung injury (ALI) is an acute clinical syndrome characterized by uncontrolled inflammation response, which causes high mortality and poor prognosis. The present study determined the protective effect and underlying mechanism of Periplaneta americana extract (PAE) against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI., Methods: The viability of MH-S cells was measured by MTT. ALI was induced in BALB/c mice by intranasal administration of LPS (5 mg/kg), and the pathological changes, oxidative stress, myeloperoxidase activity, lactate dehydrogenase activity, inflammatory cytokine expression, edema formation, and signal pathway activation in lung tissues and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were examined by H&E staining, MDA, SOD and CAT assays, MPO assay, ELISA, wet/dry analysis, immunofluorescence staining and Western blotting, respectively., Results: The results revealed that PAE obviously inhibited the release of proinflammatory TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β by suppressing the activation of MAPK/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathways in LPS-treated MH-S cells. Furthermore, PAE suppressed the neutrophil infiltration, permeability increase, pathological changes, cellular damage and death, pro-inflammatory cytokines expression, and oxidative stress upregulation, which was associated with its blockage of the MAPK/Akt/NF-κB pathway in lung tissues of ALI mice., Conclusion: PAE may serve as a potential agent for ALI treatment due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties, which correlate to the blockage of the MAPK/NF-κB and AKT signaling pathways., (© 2023. Huazhong University of Science and Technology.)

Cellulose was extracted from the banana stem by chemical method and the factors affecting the extraction process such as concentration of NaOH and H 2 O 2 , as well as the assisted microwave time were investigated. Design-Expert software with Response Surface Methodology was used in the modeling and optimization of the cellulose extraction process. The results of XRD, FT-IR, SEM were also used to determine the physicochemical properties of cellulose obtained from the banana stem. The results of the modeling and optimization process of cellulose extraction showed the efficiency of the process and the high applicability of cellulose from the banana stem to create valuable industrial products., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Sugarcane is one of the most important industrial crops in Vietnam and covers a total of 127,000 hectares of plantation area. In the season 2020-2021, Vietnam has produced 0.763 million tons of sugar (accounting for 0.34% total world sugar production). A current sugarcane production of 7.498 million tons is being used mainly for sugar production for direct consumption, ethanol production, bio-electricity and fertilization. To ensure crop sustainability, various policies and plans have been implemented. Crop breeding and zoning improvement programme significantly influence sugarcane production and sugar yield. Over 25 years since the programme "one million ton of sugar" was promoted, Vietnam currently possesses 25 sugar mills with a total capacity of 110,000 tons of sugarcane per day. Major problems of sugarcane industry as well as research and development have been discussed in this review. Recent research and development work focused on the added values of co-products to ensure sustainability of the sugarcane industry. Molasses will be used for ethanol production, and bagasse is used as the biomass for the alternative energy. Sugarcane and sugar would be the main feedstocks for those bio-economy growths in Vietnam. To keep the sustainable development of the sugar industry, and to meet the demand of the food and non-food requirements, it is necessary to upgrade the sugar value chain through the adoption and the development of co-products of the sugar industry., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society for Sugar Research & Promotion 2022.)

Background: To investigate the relationship between unexplained indirect hyperbilirubinemia of Vietnamese newborns and the polymorphism of the promoter TATA box and exon 1 of bilirubin uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase (UGT1A1) gene., Methods: A total of 149 neonates were divided into the hyperbilirubinemia group (n = 99) and control group (n = 50). The gene polymorphisms of UGT1A1 gene in the two groups were detected by PCR and direct sequencing, which revealed the relationship between UGT1A1 polymorphism with neonatal hyperbilirubinemia of neonates. The types of UGT1A1 polymorphism in the hyperbilirubinemia group and the peak total serum bilirubin (PSB) levels with different genotypes were observed., Results: (1) (TA)7 insertion mutation, 211G>A, 189C>T, 190G>A, 378C>T and 686C>A were detected. (2) The allele frequency of 211G>A allele mutation was significantly different between the two groups (p < 0.05). (3) Logistic regression analysis showed that homozygosity and heterozygosity of 211G>A were both significantly associated with neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. (4) In the hyperbilirubinemia group, the peak total serum bilirubin level of 211G>A homozygous neonates was higher than that of the wild-type neonates (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: We noted that there was an association between neonates with unexplained indirect hyperbilirubinemia in Vietnam and the polymorphism of UGT1A1c.211G>A. In addition, the homozygous 211G>A polymorphism was related to the degree of hyperbilirubinemia., Impact: Our article provided data on UGT1A1 polymorphism distribution in the Vietnamese population, which have not been reported yet. Our findings revealed that mutations in UGT1A1 gene are risk factors for unexplained hyperbilirubinemia in Vietnamese neonates. Our article will strengthen the cognition of neonatal jaundice at the genetic level in the pediatric field in Vietnam.

Medical literature abounds with reports of injuries and fatalities caused by arrows and crossbow bolts. Crossbows are of particular forensic and traumatological interest, because their mode of construction allows for temporary mechanical storage of energy. A newly developed type of pistol (Arcus Arrowstar), which belongs to the category of air and carbon dioxide weapons, discharges arrow-shaped bolts actuated by carbon dioxide cylinders. As, to the best of the authors' knowledge, literature contains no information on this uncommon subclass of weapons it is the aim of this work to provide the experimental data and to assess the trauma potential of these projectiles based on the ascertained physical parameters. Basic kinetic parameters of these carbon dioxide-actuated bolts (velocity v = 39 m/s, energy E = 7.2 J, energy density E' = 0.26 J/mm(2)) are similar to bolts discharged by pistol crossbows. Subsequent firing resulted in a continuous and fast decrease in kinetic energy of the arrows. Test shots into ballistic soap blocks reveal a high penetration capacity, especially when compared to conventional projectiles of equal kinetic energy values (like, e.g., airgun pellets). To conclude, these data demonstrate the high efficiency of arrow-shaped projectiles, which are also characterized by a high cross-sectional density (ratio of mass to cross-sectional area of a projectile).