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Introduction: Hericium erinaceus is known as a medicinal edible mushroom owing to its antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-tumor and immunomodulatory effects. Helicobacter pylori infection is one of the major health concerns worldwide due to its high rate in global populations, frequent recurrence, and rapid emergence of drug-resistant strains. The present study aims to investigate antioxidant anti-H. pylori and urease inhibitory activities of solvent fractions from H. erinaceus mycelium and culture filtrate. Methods: H. erinaceus mycelium was purely cultured in a liquid medium. A polysaccharide fraction was obtained from the culture filtrate by precipitation with ethanol. The mycelium and culture filtrate were extracted by liquid extraction to obtain solvent-soluble fractions. The antibacterial effects of these fractions were determined using paper disc diffusion and broth microdilution assays. Urease inhibition was determined using the salicylate-hypochlorite method. The antioxidant activity of H. erinaceus was evaluated via 2,2,1-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. Results: The ethyl-acetate (EtOAc) fractions derived from H. erinaceus culture filtrate (fEtOAc Fr.) and mycelium (mEtOAc Fr.) showed the strongest anti-H. pylori activity with MIC (MBC) of 1.25 – 1.5 (5.0 – 7.5) mg/mL and potential urease inhibitory activity with IC50 of 0.34 – 0.35 mg/mL. In addition, fEtOAc Fr. exhibited the greatest antioxidant activity (IC50, 11.83 mg/mL), which was slightly stronger than that of mEtOAc Fr. (IC50, 14.75 mg/mL). Moreover, our study also found that the water fractions from the culture filtrate (fWater Fr.) and the mycelium (mWater Fr.) displayed considerable inhibitory activities against bacterial urease (IC50, 1.26 – 1.40 mg/mL), although they had low or no anti-H. pylori activities and low antioxidant properties. Conclusion: The present study revealed that the EtOAC fractions derived from the H. erinaceus mycelium and culture filtrate potentially have anti-H. pylori, anti-urease and antioxidant activities. These results suggest that H. erinaceus mycelium and culture filtrate could be utilized to develop functional foods and nutraceuticals to prevent H. pylori infection. More research is needed to prove the safety of the H. erinaceus mycelium and culture filtrate fractions and their in vivo efficacy in the treatment of H. pylori infection.

The research focuses deeply on and evaluates the factors affecting financial management of educational managers training and fostering institutions in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This is a very specific model for countries in transition economies as in Vietnam, a country is in the process of comprehensive renovation, restructuring public service delivery institutions, increasing the assignment of self-responsibility to institutions, reducing financial pressure on the State budget. Using qualitative and quantitative research methods together with techniques, i.e., testing reliability scales with Cronbach's alpha coefficients, exploratory factor analysis EFA, CFA and linear model SEM, the study investigated 500 samples in 07 educational institutions in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The findings revealed six (06) factors, which are internal control system, technology infrastructure, top managers’ commitment, cash management and budget system, organizational responsibility, affected the financial reporting system, and meanwhile, the financial reporting system has a positive impact on the financial management. Based on this result, the study has proposed implications for improving financial management in educational managers training and fostering institutions in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Antibiotic resistance of bacterial strains causing serious diseases is one of the major concerns of public health worldwide. Metabolites of plants, particularly higher plants, have been suggested as alternative potential sources for antibacterial products due to their safe. They have little or no side effects and may act at multiple and novel target sites to bacteria. The study aims to evaluate antibacterial activities of leaf and flower extracts and solvent soluble fractions of the extracts against Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, the major causes of infection-related kidney stones (struvite stones). Diameters of inhibitory zones, and MIC and MBC values of the extracts and fractions against the bacteria were evaluated. The results showed that the extracts and fractions derived from flowers have activities stronger than those from leaves, especially the ethyl acetate fraction (EtOAc fr.). The inhibitory zone diameters of 10 mg per paper disc of the EtOAC fr. towards Ps. aeruginosa, Pr. mirabilis, and K. pneumoniae were 17, 15 and 13 mm, respectively. The EtOAC fraction. had antibacterial activity against both Ps. aeruginosa and Pr. mirabilis with MIC (MBC) values of 2.5–5.0 (7.5) mg/mL and against K. pneumoniae with MIC (MBC) values of 7.5 (10) mg/mL. The fraction needs to be more studied for identifying its major active constituents. These leaf and flower extracts of H. rosa-sinensis could be used to treat against urinary tract infections caused by multiple drug resistant bacteria.

Home composting (HC) has become an increasingly important consideration in the framework of sustainable municipal organic waste (MOW) management in developing countries. We develop, for the first time, two HC behavior models, which include households’ decisions to participate in a HC scheme and the level of HC participation. By applying Logit and Ordered logit models, a survey of 202 respondents in rural areas of Hoi An, Vietnam, indicates that households’ decisions to get involved in a HC scheme and the level of HC participation are affected by motivational factors such as knowledge about HC, attitude toward it, and owning a garden. We then explore the differences between the influencing factors for the two models. Interestingly, while participation in the HC training program influence the decision to participate in the HC scheme, the factor appears unimportant in increasing the level of HC practice. In addition, once the HC participation decision has been made, we find that pro-environmental behavior (such as habit of reusing plastic bags and reducing wastefulness) could promote a higher level of HC practice. These findings could help policy makers in promoting HC behavior to enhance a sustainable MOW management strategy at the household level.

In 2009, migrant workers in the two major cities of Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, earned 42% less per hour than did non-migrant (“resident”) workers. We seek to explain this gap using data from a carefully-designed urban poverty survey undertaken in 2009 by the General Statistics Office. We use the method proposed by Brown, Moon, and Zoloth, which first explains how workers sort into different sectors, and then examines wage differentials using a Blinder-Oaxaca style decomposition. About half of the wage gap may be explained by endowments. The system of residential permits (ho khau) may contribute to the difficulties faced by migrants. Our results are broadly similar to, although more stable and plausible than, those found for the major cities in China.

Most recent municipal organic waste-separation at source (MOW-SAS) programs that have been introduced in developing countries remain pilot programs, but have not fully developed into sustainable municipal solid-waste management strategies. The city of Hoi An, Vietnam, implemented a mandatory MOW-SAS program in 2012. Using Structural Equation Modeling, this study investigates the psychological driving forces behind households’ behaviors toward the MOW-SAS program. This study finds that moral norm (moral perception of what is good or bad), attitude toward sorted waste, and situational factors (issues concerning physically sorting garbage, such as time, space, and lack of family cooperation) can significantly affect household behaviors toward MOW-SAS. It confirms the need for supplying frequent environmental educational campaigns and highlighting the benefits of MOW-SAS programs. Moreover, the study finds that households’ system trust in local authority concerning the MOW-SAS program is an important driving force behind the behavior. Therefore, recommendation is also made on the need to develop strong leadership in local authorities through improving: (1) reliability (ability to effectively treat sorted waste), (2) legitimacy (punitive measures for non-participants), and (3) effectiveness (dissemination of information about the benefits of MOW-SAS programs) for promoting MOW-SAS.

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has supported the Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MOH) in implementing behavior change strategies to slow the HIV epidemic. These programs target commercial sex workers (CSW), injection drug users (IDU), and men who have sex with men (MSM). Using data from a program evaluation to assess effectiveness of the PEPFAR intervention, we conducted a sub-analysis of HIV/AIDS knowledge, sexual behaviors, and injection drug risk behaviors among 2,199 Vietnamese respondents, including those reporting recent contact with an outreach worker and those who did not report contact. We found overall high levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge, low rates of needle sharing, and moderate to high rates of inconsistent condom use. Average knowledge scores of IDU were significantly higher than non-IDU for antiretroviral treatment knowledge, while MSM had significantly less knowledge of treatment compared to non-MSM. HIV/AIDS-related knowledge was not significantly associated with needle-sharing practices. Knowledge was modestly but significantly associated with more consistent use of condoms with primary and commercial sex partners, even after controlling for contact with an outreach worker. Contact with an outreach worker was also an independent predictor of more consistent condom use. Outreach programs appear to play a meaningful role in changing sexual behavior, though the effect of outreach on IDU risk behaviors was less clear. More research is needed to understand the relationship between outreach programs and skill development, motivation, and use of referral services by most-at-risk populations in Vietnam.