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Thiobencarb is an herbicide component extensively applied for weed control. In this study, the mixed culture of Pseudomonas sp. Th1 and Cupriavidus oxalaticus Th2 was determined for degradability towards thiobencarb at several conditions. The degradation of thiobencarb at 50 µM by the mixture of these strains in the medium without any co-substrate was 48.5±5.5% for 24 hours, increased to 78.0% with the addition of 0.5 mg/L ammonium sulfate and 0.5 mg/L succinate in to the medium. Moreover, the mixed culture could degrade the compound at quite ranges of NaCl concentrations, pH and temperatures. To increase the degradation of the compound in a commercial herbicide, bacteria were immobilized in a matrix consisting of polyvinyl alcohol and sodium alginate. The average degradation of thiobencarb in an herbicide named Satunil 60E by immobilized bacteria was 25.8% higher than that of non-immobilized bacteria at a cell density of 1.0×107 CFUs/mL.

Abstract Hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is caused by a variety of enteroviruses, and occurs in large outbreaks in which a small proportion of children deteriorate rapidly with cardiopulmonary failure. Determining which children are likely to deteriorate is difficult and health systems may become overloaded during outbreaks as many children require hospitalization for monitoring. Heart rate variability (HRV) may help distinguish those with more severe diseases but requires simple scalable methods to collect ECG data. We carried out a prospective observational study to examine the feasibility of using wearable devices to measure HRV in 142 children admitted with HFMD at a children’s hospital in Vietnam. ECG data were collected in all children. HRV indices calculated were lower in those with enterovirus A71 associated HFMD compared to those with other viral pathogens. HRV analysis collected from wearable devices is feasible in a low and middle income country (LMIC) and may help classify disease severity in HFMD.

We report on a 2023 outbreak of severe hand, foot, and mouth disease in southern Vietnam caused by an emerging lineage of enterovirus A71 subgenogroup B5. Affected children were significantly older than those reported during previous outbreaks. The virus should be closely monitored to assess its potential for global dispersal.

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is highly prevalent in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in Vietnam. To develop effective interventions and efficient vaccination programs, we inferred the age-time-specific transmission patterns of HFMD serotypes enterovirus A71 (EV-A71), coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6), coxsackievirus A10 (CV-A10), coxsackievirus A16 (CV-A16) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from a case data collected during 2013–2018 and a serological survey data collected in 2015 and 2017. We proposed a catalytic model framework with good adaptability to incorporate maternal immunity using various mathematical functions. Our results indicate the high-level transmission of CV-A6 and CV-A10 which is not obvious in the case data, due to the variation of disease severity across serotypes. Our results provide statistical evidence supporting the strong association between severe illness and CV-A6 and EV-A71 infections. The HFMD dynamic pattern presents a cyclical pattern with large outbreaks followed by a decline in subsequent years. Additionally, we identify the age group with highest risk of infection as 1-2 years and emphasise the risk of future outbreaks as over 50% of children aged 6-7 years were estimated to be susceptible to CV-A16 and EV-A71. Our study highlights the importance of multivalent vaccines and active surveillance for different serotypes, supports early vaccination prior to 1 year old, and points out the potential utility for vaccinating children older than 5 years old in Vietnam.

The median location problem concerns finding locations of one or several new facilities that minimize the overall weighted distances from the existing to the new facilities. We address the problem of locating one new facility with a radius \(r\) on networks. Furthermore, the radius \(r\) is flexible and the objective function is the conic combination of the traditional 1-median function and the value \(r\). We call this problem an extensive 1-median problem with radius on networks. To solve the problem, we first induce the so-called finite dominating set, that contains all points on the underlying network and radius values which are candidate for the optimal solution of the problem. This helps to develop a combinatorial algorithm that solves the problem on a general network \(G=(V,E)\) in \(O(|E||V|^3)\) time. We also consider the underlying problem with improved algorithm on trees. Based the convexity of the objective function with variable radius, we develop a linear time algorithm to find an extensive 1-median with radius on the underlying tree.

Congenital abnormalities of the iliac artery are uncommon and often discovered incidentally during the diagnosis or treatment of peripheral vascular diseases such as abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and peripheral arterial diseases. The endovascular treatment of infrarenal AAA can be complicated by anatomic abnormalities in the iliac arteries, such as the absence of the common iliac artery (CIA) or overly short bilateral common iliac arteries. We present a case of a patient with a ruptured AAA and bilateral absence of the CIA, successfully treated by endovascular intervention combined with preservation of the internal iliac artery using the sandwich technique.

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), caused by Neisseria meningitidis, is life-threatening with a high case fatality rate (CFR) and severe sequelae. We compiled and critically discussed the evidence on IMD epidemiology, antibiotic resistance and disease management in Vietnam, focusing on children. PubMed, Embase and gray literature searches for English, Vietnamese and French publications, with no date restrictions, retrieved 11 eligible studies. IMD incidence rate (/100,000 population) was 7.4 [95% confidence interval 3.6–15.3] in children under 5 years of age; driven by high rates in infants (e.g. 29.1 [8.0–106.0] in 7–11 month-olds). Serogroup B IMD was predominant. Neisseria meningitidis strains may have developed resistance to streptomycin, sulfonamides, ciprofloxacin, and possibly ceftriaxone. There was a lack of current data on diagnosis and treatment of IMD, which remain challenging. Healthcare professionals should be trained to rapidly recognize and treat IMD. Preventive measures, such as routine vaccination, could help address the medical need.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the non-linear relationship between working capital management (WCM) and firm profitability (FP). As well as checking whether there is a financial leverage threshold in the decision on working capital, thereby assessing the change in the impact of working capital on corporate profits with a defined threshold. Through panel data of 405 enterprises listed on the Vietnam stock exchange in the period from 2010 to 2020, compiled by Thomson Reuters (2021), The study uses Hansen’s (1999) threshold estimate (fixed-effects panel threshold model) to determine the threshold and estimate the model’s parameters. Research results have been found: (i) there exists a non-linear relationship be tween working capital management and corporate profitability; and (ii) at a certain percentage of the debt coefficient (Impact Threshold), the variables representing working capital management all have a negative impact on the profitability of the firm. In this relationship, there are different effects of the proxies of Working Capital Management before and after the threshold, and specifically, the impact values of these proxies are higher after the threshold. This implies that tighter working capital management depends on the profitability of the business. This is the first study to clarify the effect of working capital in terms of the capital structure of enterprises. At a certain leverage threshold, the business will decide to optimize the appropriate working capital management to improve profitability.

The objective of this paper is to examine the simultaneous relationship between fiscal decentralization, economic growth, and human development using the panel data of 18 countries over the 2011–2017 period. 3SLS-GMM (Three Stage Least Squares—Generalized Method of Moments Estimator) and GMM-HAC (Generalized Method of Moments—Heteroskedastic and Autocorrelation Consistent estimator) are employed to obtain unbiased coefficients in the system of equation. The results indicate that the significant relationship does exist between fiscal decentralization, economic growth, and human development from different directions. Specifically, economic growth and human development are positively and negatively affected by fiscal decentralization, respectively. These results hold true with alternative estimation methods and sub-indexes of decentralization. Interestingly, economic growth is fostered by human development index, as justified by the statistical evidence of the studied sample, but these results are found to be consistent as well when it comes to expenditure-based decentralization. However, in the opposite direction, the impact of human development on economic growth is ambiguous and only remains significant in the case of expenditure decentralization purposefully utilized as an explanatory variable. Thirdly, economic growth does not give rise to the efficiency of fiscal decentralization, yet could reduce human development instead. The results provide several plausible implications to policy makers.

This paper proposes a new approach to analyse the dynamic relationships between Fiscal decentralization and Income inequality of 63 provinces/cities of Vietnam in the period from 2000 to 2018, with the the Panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model for estimating the threshold impact of fiscal decentralization on income equality through economic growth. The empirical results obtained from the analysis show strong and unequivocal evidence on the different effects of fiscal decentralization variables (ED1, ED2, RD1, RD2, TD) on income inequality, according to each stage of local growth. Additionally, in their relationship with inequality, the variables ED1, ED2, and FDI react quite sensitively to the change of income levels of the economy around the threshold value of VND78.33 million VN/person/year. Thus, our study contributes to the theory a new insight into the mixed results regarding the nonlinear relationship between fiscal decentralization and income inequality, based on which an effective strategy can be drawn up to reduce income inequality within the country.

Encephalitis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The clinical syndrome of encephalitis consists of altered mental status, seizures, neurologic signs, and is often accompanied by fever, headache, nausea, and vomiting. The encephalitis in children has been known that more common than in adult, with the incidence rate of infants was 3.9 times higher than that of people 20-44 years of age. The reported incidence of hospitalization attributed to paediatric encephalitis ranged from 3 to 13 admissions per 100,000 children per year with the overall mortality ranging from 0 to 7%. There are however more than 100 pathogens that can cause encephalitis and accurate diagnosis is challenging. Over 50% of patients with encephalitis are left undiagnosed despite extensive laboratory investigations. Furthermore, recent studies in high-income settings have suggested autoimmune encephalitis has now surpassed infectious aetiologies, mainly due to increased awareness and diagnostic capacity, which further challenges routine diagnosis and clinical management, especially in developing countries. There are limited contemporary data on the causes of encephalitis in children in Vietnam. Improving our knowledge of the causative agents of encephalitis in this resource-constrained setting remains critical to informing case management, resource distribution and vaccination strategy. Therefore, we conduct a prospective observational study to characterise the clinical, microbiological, and epidemiological features of encephalitis in a major children’s hospital in southern Vietnam. Admission clinical samples will be collected alongside meta clinical data and from each study participants. A combination of classical assays (serology and PCR) and metagenomic next-generation sequencing will used to identify the causative agents. Undiagnosed patients with clinical presentations compatible with autoimmune encephalitis will then be tested for common forms of the disease. Finally, using direct- and indirect costs, we will estimate the economic burden of hospitalization and seven days post hospital discharge of paediatric encephalitis in our setting.

In this study, we utilized digital twin technology in combination with genetic algorithms to optimize human–robot cooperation in a miniature light bulb assembly production line. First, the digital twin was used to find the robot’s motion trajectory; a digital replica of the assembly system and human was created by combining sensors that track the position and activity characteristics of the human in the workspace, which helped to prevent human–robot conflicts. Then, a multi-adaptive genetic algorithm was applied to calculate optimal ergonomics and create a worker’s movement schedule. To ensure continuous operation and no shortage of materials, the worker must observe and move to the input conveyor and material pallets to supply materials to the system. It aimed to provide more input materials for the assembly line while allowing the worker’s task to take place in parallel with the robotic assembly operation. The algorithm was designed to reduce the number of moves required to obtain materials and to ensure that the robot always had enough materials to assemble along the defined trajectory, thus, saving labor and optimizing the manufacturing process. The combination of a digital twin and multi-adaptive genetic algorithm optimized the robot’s movement path and the number of movements performed by the human operator in parallel.

We tested pre-pandemic (2015–-2019) plasma samples from 148 Vietnamese children and 100 Vietnamese adults at high risk of zoonotic infections for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid and spike proteins. None was positive. The data thus demonstrated no evidence of prior serological cross-reactivity with SARS-CoV-2 that might explain the low numbers of COVID-19 in Vietnam. No pre-existing cross-reactivity might explain Vietnam success of COVID-19 control.

The paper aims to verify the impact of state-ownership on banks’ risks at Vietnamese commercial banks. Based on the survey data of 31 commercial banks in Vietnam from 2007 to 2018, the empirical result shows that the state-ownership in the Vietnamese commercial banks has a decrease in the banks’ risks. Besides, the research result is shown that the lower Vietnamese commercial banks’ risks at the previous time lead to the lower ones at present. Furthermore, this evidence contributes to the debate of state-ownership for the Vietnamese commercial banks which gives policy-makers to pay more attention to the efficiency of joint-stock state-ownership.

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is an emerging infection with pandemic potential. Knowledge of neutralizing antibody responses among its pathogens is essential to inform vaccine development and epidemiologic research. We used 120 paired-plasma samples collected at enrollment and >7 days after the onset of illness from HFMD patients infected with enterovirus A71 (EV-A71), coxsackievirus A (CVA) 6, CVA10, and CVA16 to study cross neutralization. For homotypic viruses, seropositivity increased from

Sepsis is a major cause of neonatal mortality and children born in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at greater risk of severe neonatal infections than those in higher-income countries. Despite this disparity, there are limited contemporaneous data linking the clinical features of neonatal sepsis with outcome in LMICs. Here, we aimed to identify factors associated with mortality from neonatal sepsis in Vietnam. We conducted a prospective, observational study to describe the clinical features, laboratory characteristics, and mortality rate of neonatal sepsis at a major children's hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. All in-patient neonates clinically diagnosed with probable or culture-confirmed sepsis meeting inclusion criteria from January 2017 to June 2018 were enrolled. We performed univariable analysis and logistic regression to identify factors independently associated with mortality. 524 neonates were recruited. Most cases were defined as late-onset neonatal sepsis and were hospital-acquired (91.4% and 73.3%, respectively). The median (IQR) duration of hospital stay was 23 (13-41) days, 344/524 (65.6%) had a positive blood culture (of which 393 non-contaminant organisms were isolated), and 69/524 (13.2%) patients died. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (232/405; 57.3%), Klebsiella spp. (28/405; 6.9%), and Escherichia coli (27/405; 6.7%) were the most isolated organisms. Sclerema (OR = 11.4), leukopenia 4 mmol/L (OR = 3.4), extremely low birth weight (OR = 3.2), and hyperglycaemia >180 mg/dL (OR = 2.6) were all significantly (p

Background: Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) is a major public health concern in the Asia-Pacific region. Most recent HFMD outbreaks have been caused by enterovirus A71 (EV-A71), coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16), CVA10, and CVA6. There has been no report regarding the epidemiology and genetic diversity of CVA16 in Vietnam. Such knowledge is critical to inform the development of intervention strategies.Materials and Methods: From 2011 to 2017, clinical samples were collected from in- and outpatients enrolled in a HFMD research program conducted at three referral hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. Throat or rectal swabs positive for CVA16 with sufficient viral load were selected for whole genome sequencing and evolutionary analysis.Results: Throughout the study period, 320 CVA16 positive samples were collected from 2808 HFMD patients (11.4%). 59.4% of patients were male. The median age was 20.8 months (IQR, 14.96–31.41). Patients resided in HCMC (55.3%), Mekong Delta (22.2%), and South East Vietnam (22.5%). 10% of CVA16 infected patients had moderately severe or severe HFMD. CVA16 positive samples from 153 patients were selected for whole genome sequencing, and 66 complete genomes were obtained. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that Vietnamese CVA16 strains belong to a single genogroup B1a that clusters together with isolates from China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, France and Australia. The CVA16 strains of the present study were circulating in Vietnam some 4 years prior to its detection in HFMD cases.Conclusion: We report for the first time on the molecular epidemiology of CVA16 in Vietnam. Unlike EV-A71, which showed frequent replacement between subgenogroups B5 and C4 every 2–3 years in Vietnam, CVA16 displays a less pronounced genetic alternation with only subgenogroup B1a circulating in Vietnam since 2011. Our collective findings emphasize the importance of active surveillance for viral circulation in HFMD endemic countries, critical to informing outbreak response and vaccine development.

We investigated enterovirus A71–associated hand, foot and mouth disease in Vietnam and found that, after replacing subgenogroup C4 in 2013, B5 remained the leading cause of this disease. In contrast with previous observations, this switch did not result in an explosive outbreak, and B5 evolution was driven by negative selection.

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) continues to challenge Asia with pandemic potential. In Vietnam, there have been two major outbreaks occurring during 2011-2012 (>200,000 hospitalizations and >200 deaths) and more recently in 2018 (>130,000 hospitalizations and 17 deaths). Given the high burden and the complex epidemic dynamics of HFMD, synthesizing its clinical and epidemiological data remains essential to inform the development of appropriate interventions and design public health measures. We report the results of a hospital-based study conducted during 2015-2018, covering the severe HFMD outbreak recently documented in Vietnam in 2018. The study was conducted at three major hospitals responsible for receiving HFMD patients from southern Vietnam with a population of over 40 million. A total of 19 enterovirus serotypes were detected in 1196 HFMD patients enrolled in the clinical study during 2015-2018, with enterovirus A71 (EV-A71), coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6), CV-A10 and CV-A16 being the major causes. Despite the emergence of coxsackieviruses, EV-A71 remains the leading cause of severe HFMD in Vietnam. EV-A71 was consistently detected at a higher frequency during the second half of the years. The emergence of EV-A71 subgenogroup C4 in late 2018 was preceded by its low activity during 2017-early 2018. Compared with EV-A71 subgenogroup B5, C4 was more likely to be associated with severe HFMD, representing the first report demonstrating the difference in clinical severity between subgenogroup C4 and B5, the two predominant EV-A71 subgenogroups causing HFMD worldwide. Our data have provided significant insights into important aspects of HFMD over four years (2015-2018) in Vietnam, and emphasize active surveillance for pathogen circulation remains essential to inform the local public health authorities in the development of appropriate intervention strategies to reduce the burden of this emerging infections. Multivalent vaccines are urgently needed to control HFMD.

Enterovirus-A71 (EV-A71) cyclically causes hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) epidemics in Asian children. An EV-A71 epidemic occurred in Southern Vietnam in 2011, but its scale is not clear. We collected residual sera from non-HFMD Vietnamese inpatients in 2012-2013 to determine seroprevalence of EV-A71 neutralizing antibodies, and measured cross-reactive neutralizing antibody titers against three EV-A71 genogroups. About 23.5% of 1-year-old children in Southern Vietnam has been infected by EV-A71, and the median age of infection was estimated to be 3 years. No significant antigenic variation could be detected among the three EV-A71 genogroups. The high seroprevalence of EV-A71 neutralizing antibody in children living in southern Vietnam indicates the necessity of introducing EV-A71 vaccines in southern Vietnam, particularly for children under 6 months of age. Moreover, it is critical to understand EV-A71 disease burden for formulating national vaccination policy.

Hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and tetanus are serious infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries. Tetanus, in particular, has a high mortality rate and its treatment is resource-demanding. Furthermore, HFMD often affects a large number of infants and young children. As a result, its treatment consumes enormous healthcare resources, especially when outbreaks occur. Autonomic nervous system dysfunction (ANSD) is the main cause of death for both HFMD and tetanus patients. However, early detection of ANSD is a difficult and challenging problem. The authors aim to provide a proof-of-principle to detect the ANSD level automatically by applying machine learning techniques to physiological patient data, such as electrocardiogram waveforms, which can be collected using low-cost wearable sensors. Efficient features are extracted that encode variations in the waveforms in the time and frequency domains. The proposed approach is validated on multiple datasets of HFMD and tetanus patients in Vietnam. Results show that encouraging performance is achieved. Moreover, the proposed features are simple, more generalisable and outperformed the standard heart rate variability analysis. The proposed approach would facilitate both the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries, and thereby improve patient care.

Background and objectivesTreatment guidelines do not recommend antibiotic use for acute respiratory infections (ARI), except for streptococcal pharyngitis/tonsillitis and pneumonia. However, antibiotics are prescribed frequently for children with ARI, often in absence of evidence for bacterial infection. The objectives of this study were 1) to assess the appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions for mild ARI in paediatric outpatients in relation to available guidelines and detected pathogens, 2) to assess antibiotic use on presentation using questionnaires and detection in urine 3) to assess the carriage rates and proportions of resistant intestinal Enterobacteriaceae before, during and after consultation.Materials and methodsPatients were prospectively enrolled in Children's Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and diagnoses, prescribed therapy and outcome were recorded on first visit and on follow-up after 7 days. Respiratory bacterial and viral pathogens were detected using molecular assays. Antibiotic use before presentation was assessed using questionnaires and urine HPLC. The impact of antibiotic usage on intestinal Enterobacteriaceae was assessed with semi-quantitative culture on agar with and without antibiotics on presentation and after 7 and 28 days.ResultsA total of 563 patients were enrolled between February 2009 and February 2010. Antibiotics were prescribed for all except 2 of 563 patients. The majority were 2nd and 3rd generation oral cephalosporins and amoxicillin with or without clavulanic acid. Respiratory viruses were detected in respiratory specimens of 72.5% of patients. Antibiotic use was considered inappropriate in 90.1% and 67.5%, based on guidelines and detected pathogens, respectively. On presentation parents reported antibiotic use for 22% of patients, 41% of parents did not know and 37% denied antibiotic use. Among these three groups, six commonly used antibiotics were detected with HPLC in patients' urine in 49%, 40% and 14%, respectively. Temporary selection of 3rd generation cephalosporin resistant intestinal Enterobacteriaceae during antibiotic use was observed, with co-selection of resistance to aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones.ConclusionsWe report overuse and overprescription of antibiotics for uncomplicated ARI with selection of resistant intestinal Enterobacteriaceae, posing a risk for community transmission and persistence in a setting of a highly granular healthcare system and unrestricted access to antibiotics through private pharmacies.RegistrationThis study was registered at the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trials Number registry under number ISRCTN32862422: http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN32862422.

Government quality, economic growth and income inequality are topics that are of interest to many researchers, especially in Vietnam—a country with high economic growth and income inequality, and the quality of government is not fully transparent. Moreover, these three topics are only experimentally conducted separately and have not been explored simultaneously. This study analyzed the concurrent relationship between government quality, economic growth and income inequality within Vietnam in the period 2006–2017 with Stata tool with 3-stage regression model. The results show that higher government quality will boost economic growth and reduce inequality among provinces. On the other hand, economic growth can improve government quality but increase income inequality among provinces. This implies that the government and public administration executives will have a full perspective to assess and predict macro policies and make reference for further studies.

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a major public health issue in Asia and has global pandemic potential. Coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6) was detected in 514/2,230 (23%) of HFMD patients admitted to 3 major hospitals in southern Vietnam during 2011–2015. Of these patients, 93 (18%) had severe HFMD. Phylogenetic analysis of 98 genome sequences revealed they belonged to cluster A and had been circulating in Vietnam for 2 years before emergence. CV-A6 movement among localities within Vietnam occurred frequently, whereas viral movement across international borders appeared rare. Skyline plots identified fluctuations in the relative genetic diversity of CV-A6 corresponding to large CV-A6–associated HFMD outbreaks worldwide. These data show that CV-A6 is an emerging pathogen and emphasize the necessity of active surveillance and understanding the mechanisms that shape the pathogen evolution and emergence, which is essential for development and implementation of intervention strategies.

Abstract Seroepidemiological studies aim to understand population-level exposure and immunity to infectious diseases. Their results are normally presented as binary outcomes describing the presence or absence of pathogen-specific antibody, despite the fact that many assays measure continuous quantities. A population’s natural distribution of antibody titers to an endemic infectious disease may include information on multiple serological states – naiveté, recent infection, non-recent infection, childhood infection – depending on the disease in question and the acquisition and waning patterns of immunity. In this study, we investigate 20,152 general-population serum samples from southern Vietnam collected between 2009 and 2013 from which we report antibody titers to the influenza virus HA1 protein using a continuous titer measurement from a protein microarray assay. We describe the distributions of antibody titers to subtypes 2009 H1N1 and H3N2. Using a model selection approach to fit mixture distributions, we show that 2009 H1N1 antibody titers fall into four titer subgroups and that H3N2 titers fall into three subgroups. For H1N1, our interpretation is that the two highest-titer subgroups correspond to recent and historical infection, which is consistent with 2009 pandemic attack rates. Similar interpretations are available for H3N2, but right-censoring of titers makes these interpretations difficult to validate.

Recently, the coastal zone in Vietnam has experienced more intensive sea attacks due to severe typhoons, climate change, and humsection an activities. Sea level rise has been recorded all along the coast. Moreover, sand exploitation and engineering measures have significantly changed local reliefs and led to apparent sea water level change on the coast of Nam Dinh province. Coastal erosion and sea dike failures have become a serious problem in the region. The site investigation of nearshore topography shows the recent changes to the coast. Hydrodynamic models show that changes of relief and increased wave attacks on dikes. The main reason for sea dike instability is soil erosion due to wave topping; meanwhile, the dikes are stable in terms of sliding. The coast should be reinforced with properly constructed revetments, wave topping preventive measures, and nearshore sand exploitation should be halted.

BACKGROUND:Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok are highly dengue endemic. The extent to which disease patterns are attributable to local versus regional dynamics remains unclear. To address this gap we compared key transmission parameters across the locations. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We used 2003-2009 age-stratified case data to inform catalytic transmission models. Further, we compared the spatial clustering of serotypes within each city. We found that annual case numbers were highly consistent across the two cities (correlation of 0.77, 95% CI: 0.74-0.79) as was the annual force of infection (correlation of 0.57, 95% CI: 0.46-0.68). Serotypes were less similar with serotype-specific correlations ranging from 0.65 for DENV1 to -0.14 for DENV4. Significant spatial clustering of serotypes was observed in HCMC at distances

BACKGROUND:Dengue is the commonest arboviral disease of humans. An early and accurate diagnosis of dengue can support clinical management, surveillance and disease control and is central to achieving the World Health Organisation target of a 50% reduction in dengue case mortality by 2020. METHODS:5729 children with fever of

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) frequently causes fatal infections in young children in Asia. In 2011, EV71 epidemics occurred in southern Vietnam. We conducted genetic and antigenic analysis of the EV71 isolates and found that 94% of them were genotype C4a related to two lineages circulating in China and 6% were genotype C5 which have circulated in Vietnam since 2003. Antigenic variants were not detected. EV71 vaccines are being developed. Longitudinal enterovirus surveillance data are critical to formulate vaccination policy in Vietnam.