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This study aims to determine the diagnostic values of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and Pap smear in a cervical cancer screening program at a community level in Vietnam. A cross-sectional analysis was obtained, including 1034 women of reproductive age from Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam from 09/2012 to 09/2013. Samples were taken from cervixes for Pap smear testing, followed by visual inspection with acetic acid. Subjects with abnormal VIA and/or positive cytology results were invited for colposcopy and biopsy. Histologic confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2+) served as gold standards for diagnostic values analysis. Abnormal VIA results were recorded in 87 cases (7.7%). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of VIA for CIN2+ were 88.8%, 43.8%, 63.4%, 51.2% and 83.3%, respectively. Diagnostic values of Pap smear were 58.0%, 85.2%, 69.9%, 83.3% and 61.3% for its sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV, respectively. VIA yielded high sensitivity but its accuracy is still limited in pre-cancerous lesions during cervical cancer screening. The Pap smear has acceptable sensitivity and specificity, but its false-negative rate is still high. We recommend a combination of different tests to increase the efficiency of screening in our community., Highlights • VIA has high sensitivity in pre-cancerous lesions and cervical cancer screening. • The sensitivity and specificity of Pap smear are acceptable. • Pap smear for triage after VIA(+) could increase the efficiency.

The overall objective of this study is to determine molecular epidemiology and phenotypic and genetic characterization of mycobacteria isolated in central Vietnam. In this study, the MODS assay was used to isolate mycobacteria and determine the proportion of drug resistant strains in 252 clinical samples. M.tuberculosis was detected in 153 samples (60.7%) and 46 (30.1%) were antibiotic resistant. One drug resistance was present in 30 strains (19.6%): 18 for RIF, 6 for INH and 3 for STR and EBM. Multidrug resistant M. tuberculosis as defined by WHO (resistant to RIF and INH) was observed in 13 strains. There were additional 14 strains showing resistance to two or more drugs. Identification of M. tuberculosis using the 16S rDNA based PCR assay detected 258 positive in 480 clinical samples(53.8%), including 73 smear negative cases. The IS6110 PCR of positive cases could not confirm the positivity in 3 samples, probably due to the absence of the insertion sequence. Spoligotyping produced a total of 36 different patterns for the 122 M. tuberculosis strains examined. The EAI family genotype (65.6% of isolates) dominated in our study: 15.6 % were of the EAI4-VNM genotype and 46.7 % were of EAI5. Beijing genotype was observed in 12.3 % of isolates. There were 4 isolates (3.3%) in which spoligotype pattern did not match with any of the updated international spoligotype database of the M. tuberculosis complex -SpolDB4. The remaining 22% were of other genotypes (including U, T, MANU, H and CAS). Sequence and analysis of the whole genome of MTB_HUE_20 strain - a multidrug resistant strain with unknown spoligotype pattern - showed that it is 4,397,928 bp in length and contains 64.8% of GC. This strain harbors only one copy of IS6110 and has a mutation on katG gene.

has become a significant public health problem in a number of countries and an obstacle for an effective control of tuberculosis. Vietnam is a high-burden country for tuberculosis [1]. In Vietnam, almost 30,000 gpeople die every year from TB (one death e very 18 minutes). Vietnam, with its estimated 175,000 new cases per year, ranks 12th among the 22 countries that bear 80% of the global TB burden [1,2]. If TB is detected early and treated pr operly by using a combination treatment for six Gto nine months, the patients quickly become pnon-infectious and are eventually cured. Multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), HIV- associated TB, and weak health systems are major challenges i n Vietnam. There are an estimated 7,000 new MDR-TB cases and 6,400 new TB/HIV cases every year. Both of these forms of complicated TB carry a high risk of early mortality [1]. Although tubercu losis is still a public health problem in Vietnam, there is little information about the genetic characteristics of the isolates. A better knowledge of the molecular characteristics of

Purpose - Green tea consumption has been shown to exhibit cancer-preventive activities in preclinical studies. Polyphenon E (Poly E) is a green tea standardized extract. This study was undertaken to examine the effects of Poly E on PC3 prostate cancer cells and identify the potential signals involved in the anti-proliferative effect of Poly E. Experimental design and results - PC3 prostate cancer cells were used as model system. Treatment of PC3 cells with 30 and 100 μg/ml Poly E significantly decreased cell viability and proliferation, while increasing apoptosis. At all the tested concentrations, Poly E did not exert any antioxidant effect, eliciting instead a pro-oxidant effect at concentrations 30 and 100 μg/ml. The pro-oxidant effect of Poly E is consistent with the observed cytotoxicity, thus establishing a correlation between pro-oxidant activity and the anti-proliferative effect of Poly E in PC3 cells. Furthermore, Poly E-induced cell death was associated with mitochondrial dysfunction in PC3 cells. Exposure of PC3 cells to Poly E caused phospho-Akt inhibition while induced phospho-ERK activation, implicating these two signaling pathways in the observed anti-proliferative effect. Conclusion - Our data indicated a correlation between pro-oxidant activity and anti-proliferative effect Poly E in PC3 cells and suggest ERK and AKT pathways as potential molecular machinery involved in observed phenomena.