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Nước ta có điều kiện khí hậu phù hợp với việc trồng cây xoài. Đây là loại cây ăn trái mang lại giá trị kinh tế cho người nông dân. Do đó, nhận dạng được bệnh hại trên bông trong giai đoạn ra hoa, đậu trái là rất quan trọng, ảnh hưởng lớn đến năng suất mùa vụ. Vì vậy, ứng dụng điện thoại thông minh để nhận dạng bệnh trên bông xoài thông qua hình ảnh của bông xoài là rất cần thiết. Nghiên cứu sử dụng tập dữ liệu của 4 loại bông xoài: bông xoài thán thư, bông xoài bị cháy (bệnh đốm đen), bông xoài nghẹn, bông xoài không bệnh, với 733 hình ảnh được thu thập. Nghiên cứu đã sử dụng kỹ thuật học sâu chuyển tiếp để tiến hành huấn luyện trên mô hình EfficientNetB0 và MobileNetV2, kết quả độ chính xác của mô hình EfficientNetB0 đạt 99,84% cao hơn so với mô hình MobileNetV2 chỉ đạt 95,21%. Kết quả nghiên cứu có thể giúp các nhà nông học, nhà nghiên cứu có các biện pháp hỗ trợ người nông dân định hướng xử lý bông xoài mang bệnh hại phù hợp, hiệu quả.

This study examines the effects of brand trust and Online Brand Community (OBC) trust on repeat purchase intention and positive Electronic Word-Of-Mouth intention (eWOM). A sample of 502 consumers was surveyed. The results show that brand trust positively affects the online brand community trust and repeat purchase intention, while the direct relationship between brand trust and eWOM intention is not significant. In addition, online brand community trust and intention to repurchase jointly mediate the relationship between brand trust and eWOM intention. This study shows the importance of brand trust and online brand community trust and suggests some practical insights for marketing professionals on how to interact with and manage their online brand community.

The purpose of this paper is to test and discuss the relationships between the Big-Five personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience) and social entrepreneurial intention. This study applies the technique of structural equation modeling to explore relationships among latent constructs. Survey responses were collected from 753 undergraduate students to compile the analysis. The results confirm that individuals with different personality traits behave differently in relation to social entrepreneurial intention. While agreeableness, extraversion, and openness to experience have positive effects, neuroticism and conscientiousness negatively impact social entrepreneurial intention. Policymakers should build an environment that fosters agreeableness, extraversion, and openness to experience—these are the primary factors that influence SEI. Educators can design personality development programs to help students perfect the personalities that match becoming social entrepreneurs. Future research should be expanded to incorporate other factors such as culture, background, education, and experience to provide a more general view of the impact of personality on intentions.

The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic literature review on personality trait research in social entrepreneurship, clarify the prevailing research categories and research themes, and suggest potential future research directions. The review process follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). A total of 60 publications in the research topic from Web of Science and Scopus were analyzed. This study identifies four main categories in studies of personality traits in social entrepreneurship: ‘comparison of personality traits,’ ‘description of personality traits of social entrepreneurs,’ ‘personality traits and social entrepreneurial intention,’ and ‘personality traits and other factors.’ In addition, the themes in each category are also determined and several research gaps deserving of future investigation are recognized. Policymakers and educators gain a deeper understanding of personality traits in social entrepreneurship to have policies that trigger a change in social entrepreneurship education by cultivating personality traits towards sustainable development. This study classifies publications related to personality traits in social entrepreneurship and provides a guide for researchers by providing a systematic understanding of the research structure in this topic.

This study aims to investigate the impact of risk-taking propensity on social entrepreneurial intention by extending the model of Mair and Noboa (2006), and examine the mediating effects of perceived feasibility and perceived desirability. The results obtained from a survey of 795 final semester students. Four-steps suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986) was followed to test the mediation effects of perceived desirability and perceived feasibility in the relationship between risk-taking propensity and social entrepreneurial intention. There is no direct relationship between risk-taking propensity and entrepreneurial intention. The results showed that the perceived feasibility fully mediated the effects of risk-taking propensity to social entrepreneurial intention. These results are expected to trigger a change in education about social entrepreneurship by developing programs for individuals who have different perceived risks. In addition, knowledge and skills to reduce the perceived risk of individuals also needs to be more concerned.

In recent years, Metagenomic data, or “multi-genome” data, has been increasingly used for research in “personalized medicine” approaches with the purpose of improving and enhancing effectiveness in human health care. Many studies have experimentally analyzed this data and proposed many methods to improve the accuracy of the analysis. Applying and integrating information technology to process and analyze Metagenomic data for personalized medicine approaches are necessary because of the enormous complexity of Metagenomic data. The potential advantages of Metagenomic data have been proven through many studies. Within the scope of this research, we introduce and evaluate useful tools for studying Metagenomic data in supporting the diagnosis of human disease and health conditions. From these studies, we may develop extensive and in-depth studies from previous studies to explore the important effect of the microbial ecosystem that is a rich set of microbial features for prediction and biomarker discovery in the human body. Moreover, there are trends diagnosis, appropriate treatments to improve and enhance human health.

Công tác cố vấn học tập đóng vai trò rất quan trọng trong đào tạo theo học chế tín chỉ, ảnh hưởng rất lớn quá trình học tập và rèn luyện của sinh viên. Mỗi giáo viên cố vấn (GVCV) như là một mắt xích trong vòng tròn mối quan hệ giữa sinh viên – chương trình đào tạo – nhà trường. Tuy nhiên, hiệu quả của công tác cố vấn tại nhiều trường đại học hiện nay vẫn còn hạn chế bởi rất nhiều nguyên nhân, trong đó có nguyên nhân là do phần lớn các giáo viên cố vấn là giảng viên kiêm nhiệm nên không có đủ thời gian cho công tác này. Vì vậy, trong bài báo này, chúng tôi đề xuất xây dựng một hệ thống hỗ trợ GVCV nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả của công tác cố vấn. Hệ thống này cung cấp sự sẵn dùng cho giáo viên cố vấn, giúp GVCV có thể truy cập thông tin sinh viên dễ dàng, mọi lúc mọi nơi bằng thiết bị di động. Ngoài ra, hệ thống còn giúp GVCV tự động hóa một số tác vụ nhằm tiết kiệm thời gian và nâng cao hiệu quả công việc.

Bài toán cây khung với chi phí định tuyến nhỏ nhất (Minimum Routing Cost Spanning Tree - MRCST) là bài toán tối ưu đồ thị có nhiều ứng dụng trong lĩnh vực thiết kế mạng truyền thông và trong tin sinh học; đây là bài toán thuộc lớp NP-hard. Hầu hết các đồ thị gặp trong thực tế ứng dụng là đồ thị thưa, trong khi các thuật toán hiệu quả nhất hiện biết giải bài toán MRCST trên đồ thị thưa chưa thực sự hiệu quả - nhất là với các đồ thị thưa có kích thước lớn. Bài báo này đề xuất một thuật toán mới với tên gọi HCST để giải bài toán MRCST trong trường hợp đồ thị thưa. Kết quả thực nghiệm trên các đồ thị thưa trong hệ thống dữ liệu thực nghiệm chuẩn cho thấy thuật toán HCST cho chất lượng lời giải tương đương hoặc tốt hơn và với thời gian tính nhanh hơn khi so với các thuật toán tốt nhất hiện biết. Bài báo này cũng là công trình đầu tiên công bố kết quả thực nghiệm giải bài toán MRCST cho 20 bộ dữ liệu là các đồ thị thưa có kích thước lớn.

Bài viết này giới thiệu một tiếp cận mới về tư vấn học tập nhóm bậc đại học dựa trên khái niệm lớp tương đồng lớn nhất (maximal tolerance class) của hệ thống thông tin đa trị (set-valued information system) để xây dựng các nhóm sinh viên có tương đồng về kết quả học tập, kết quả rèn luyện. Từ đó, cố vấn học tập có thể tổ chức tư vấn và đề ra những giải pháp cho mỗi nhóm sinh viên tương đồng một cách hiệu quả, giúp các sinh viên có kết quả học tập, rèn luyện yếu kém có hướng khắc phục tốt hơn. Đồng thời qua đó, cố vấn học tập cũng xác định được các nhóm sinh viên tương đồng về kết quả học tập và rèn luyện tốt, từ đó có thể xây dựng các nhóm học tập, nghiên cứu khoa học nhằm tạo cơ hội cho sinh viên không ngừng tiến bộ.

Most of the earth embankments in central Vietnam are usually built with clays. Some types of clays in this area are swollen. If they are used to build dams, it can be detrimental to the embankment. Based on the results of laboratory test analysis, the authors investigated swelling characteristics of some soil types in the study area and found that the swelling rate of soil increases with the compaction of the soil sample. When swelling under pressure in approaching water over time, the swelling coefficient of the soil decreases significantly. Thus, swelling clays can be used to make dams, but they must be put in the appropriate position for the purpose of not swelling freely.

Background: Cutaneous neurofibromas (cNFs) are a major cause of disfigurement in patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1). However, clinical trials investigating cNF treatments lack standardised outcome measures to objectively evaluate changes in cNF size and appearance. 3D imaging has been proposed as an objective standardised outcome measure however various systems exist with different features that affect useability in clinical settings. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy, precision, feasibility, reliability and accessibility of three imaging systems., Materials and Methods: We compared the Vectra-H1, LifeViz-Micro and Cherry-Imaging systems. A total of 58 cNFs from 13 participants with NF1 were selected for imaging and analysis. The primary endpoint was accuracy as measured by comparison of measurements between imaging systems. Secondary endpoints included reliability between two operators, precision as measured with the average coefficient of variation, feasibility as determined by time to capture and analyse an image and accessibility as determined by cost., Results: There was no significant difference in accuracy between the three devices for length or surface area measurements (p > 0.05), and reliability and precision were similar. Volume measurements demonstrated the most variability compared to other measurements; LifeViz-Micro demonstrated the least measurement variability for surface area and image capture and analysis were fastest with LifeViz-Micro. LifeViz-Micro was better for imaging smaller number of cNFs (1-3), Vectra-H1 better for larger areas and Cherry for uneven surfaces., Conclusions: All systems demonstrated excellent reliability but possess distinct advantages and limitations. Surface area is the most consistent and reliable parameter for measuring cNF size in clinical trials., (© 2024 The Author(s). Skin Research and Technology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

A basic mathematical model for IL-2-based cancer immunotherapy is proposed and studied. Our analysis shows that the outcome of therapy is mainly determined by three parameters, the relative death rate of CD4 + T cells, the relative death rate of CD8 + T cells, and the dose of IL-2 treatment. Minimal equilibrium tumor size can be reached with a large dose of IL-2 in the case that CD4 + T cells die out. However, in cases where CD4 + and CD8 + T cells persist, the final tumor size is independent of the IL-2 dose and is given by the relative death rate of CD4 + T cells. Two groups of in silico clinical trials show some short-term behaviors of IL-2 treatment. IL-2 administration can slow the proliferation of CD4 + T cells, while high doses for a short period of time over several days transiently increase the population of CD8 + T cells during treatment before it recedes to its equilibrium. IL-2 administration for a short period of time over many days suppresses the tumor population for a longer time before approaching its steady-state levels. This implies that intermittent administration of IL-2 may be a good strategy for controlling tumor size., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest On behalf of all coauthors, I state that: There is non-financial interest in this research., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASP) have been applied widely in high-resource countries to prevent surgical site infections (SSI). Evidence favoring ASP interventions (ASPi) in gastrointestinal surgeries from low and middle-income countries has been limited, especially in antimicrobial prophylaxis. We aimed to investigate this gap at a Vietnamese tertiary hospital., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on patients undergoing clean-contaminated surgeries in 2015 who received standard of care (SoC) or SoC + ASPi. Primary outcome was 30-day SSI incidence. Secondary outcomes included length of stay (LoS) after surgery (days), cost of antibiotics, and cost of treatment (USD). Results were controlled for multiplicity and reported with treatment effect and 95% confidence interval (95%CI). A predictive model was built and cross-validated to detect patients at high risk of SSI., Results: We included 395 patients for analysis (48.1% being female, mean age 49.4 years). Compared to patients receiving SoC, those with SoC + ASPi had a lower incidence of 30-day SSI (-8.8, 95%CI: -16.0 to -1.6, p  = 0.042), shorter LoS after surgery (-1.1 days, 95%CI: -1.8 to -0.4, p  = 0.004), and lower cost of antibiotics (-37.3 USD, 95%CI: -59.8 to -14.8, p  = 0.012) and treatment (-191.1 USD, 95%CI: -348.4 to -33.8, p  = 0.042). We estimated that by detecting patients at high risk of SSI with the predictive model and providing prophylactic measures, we could save 398120.7 USD per 1,000 cases of SSI., Conclusion: We found that ASPi were associated with a reduction in risks of SSI, hospital stays, and cost of antibiotics/treatment in a Vietnamese tertiary hospital., Competing Interests: HTP and M-HT reported receiving grants from Nguyen Tat Thanh University outside the submitted work. HTP reported receiving grants from Servier Vietnam Ltd. outside the submitted work. The remaining 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 © 2024 Pham, Mai-Phan, Nguyen, Nguyen and Tran.)

Based on a deterministic and stochastic process hybrid model, we use white noises to account for patient variabilities in treatment outcomes, use a hyperparameter to represent patient heterogeneity in a cohort, and construct a stochastic model in terms of Ito stochastic differential equations for testing the efficacy of three different treatment protocols in CAR T cell therapy. The stochastic model has three ergodic invariant measures which correspond to three unstable equilibrium solutions of the deterministic system, while the ergodic invariant measures are attractors under some conditions for tumor growth. As the stable dynamics of the stochastic system reflects long-term outcomes of the therapy, the transient dynamics provide chances of cure in short-term. Two stopping times, the time to cure and time to progress, allow us to conduct numerical simulations with three different protocols of CAR T cell treatment through the transient dynamics of the stochastic model. The probability distributions of the time to cure and time to progress present outcome details of different protocols, which are significant for current clinical study of CAR T cell therapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There is non-financial interest in this research., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Slightly different reaction conditions afforded two distinct cavity-shaped cis-chelating diphosphanes from the same starting materials, namely diphenyl(2-phosphanylphenyl)phosphane and an α-cyclodextrin-derived dimesylate. Thanks to their metal-confining properties, the two diphosphanes form only mononuclear [CuX(PP)] complexes (X=Cl, Br, or I) with the tricoordinated metal ion located just above the center of the cavity. The two series of Cu I complexes display markedly different luminescence properties that are both influenced by the electronic properties of the ligand and the unique steric environment provided by the cyclodextrin (CD) cavity. The excited state lifetimes of all complexes are significantly longer than those of the cavity-free analogues suggesting peculiar electronic effects that affect radiative deactivation constants. The overall picture stemming from absorption and emission data suggests close-lying charge-transfer (MLCT, XLCT) and triplet ligand-centered (LC) excited states., (© 2023 The Authors. Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: Antivirals have been given widely for patients with COVID-19 breakthrough in Asian countries, creating a "black market" for unapproved and unprescribed medications. More evidence is needed to clarify the benefits of antivirals in these settings., Methods: We conducted a random-sampling retrospective cohort study at a general hospital in Vietnam. We recruited patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 breakthrough who were given either standard of care (SoC) alone or SoC + antiviral. Primary outcome was residual respiratory symptoms that lasted > 7 days. Secondary outcome was long COVID-19, diagnosed by specialized physicians. We used logistic regression to measure odds ratio (OR), in addition to a sensitivity and subgroup analyses to further explore the results., Results: A total of 142 patients (mean age 36.2 ± 9.8) were followed. We recorded residual symptoms in 27.9% and 20.3% of the SoC and SoC + antiviral group, while the figures for long COVID-19 were 11.8% and 8.1%, respectively. Antiviral use was not significantly associated with lower the risks of residual symptoms (OR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.22-1.20, p = 0.12) or long COVID-19 (OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.16-1.90, p = 0.35). The sensitivity and subgroup analyses did not show any significant differences between the study groups (all p > 0.05)., Conclusion: Antivirals were not associated with faster resolution of respiratory symptoms or lower risks of long COVID-19. Further studies should focus on different antivirals to confirm their effects on different sub-populations. Meanwhile, antivirals should only be used in very high-risk patients to avoid excessive costs and harms., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Starting from a deterministic model, we propose and study a stochastic model for human papillomavirus infection and cervical cancer progression. Our analysis shows that the chronic infection state as random variables which have the ergodic invariant probability measure is necessary for progression from infected cell population to cervical cancer cells. It is shown that small progression rate from infected cells to precancerous cells and small microenvironmental noises associated with the progression rate and viral infection help to establish such chronic infection states. It implicates that large environmental noises associated with viral infection and the progression rate in vivo can reduce chronic infection. We further show that there will be a cervical cancer if the noise associated with precancerous cell growth is large enough. In addition, comparable numerical studies for the deterministic model and stochastic model, together with Hopf bifurcations in both deterministic and stochastic systems, highlight our analytical results., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused changes in surgical practice. For acute appendicitis (AA), measures to control the pandemic might hinder patients from seeking medical care timely, resulting in increasing severity, postoperative complications, and mortality. This study aimed to investigate whether the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the severity and postoperative outcomes of patients with AA. Methodology We retrospectively reviewed medical records of AA patients treated operatively at Nhan Dan Gia Dinh Hospital hospital from June 1st to September 30th in three consecutive years: pre-pandemic (2019)/Group 1, minor waves (2020)/Group 2, and major wave (2021)/Group 3 (2021). Data were collected focusing on the duration of symptoms, severity of AA, time from admission to operation, postoperative complications, and mortality. Results There were 1,055 patients, including 452 patients in Group 1, 409 in Group 2, and 194 in Group 3. The overall number of patients decreased mainly in non-complicated AA. The percentages of hospital admission after 24 hours gradually increased (20.8%, 27.9%, and 43.8%, p < 0.05). The percentages of complicated AA in Group 2 and Group 3 were statistically higher than in Group 1 (39% and 55% vs. 31%, p < 0.05). Waiting time for operation increased to five hours during the major wave. Laparoscopic appendectomy was performed in 98-99% of AA patients during the pandemic, with an early postoperative complication rate of 5-9% and a mortality rate of 0.2-1%. Conclusions Although the percentages of hospital admission after 24 hours and complicated AA increased, laparoscopic appendectomy was still feasible and effective and should be maintained as the standard management for AA during the COVID-19 pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Nguyen et al.)

Objectives: This study investigated remdesivir's clinical use to provide direct evidence of effectiveness for a low-middle income Asian setting., Design: A one-to-one propensity score matching retrospective cohort study., Setting: A tertiary hospital with COVID-19 treatment facilities in Vietnam., Participants: A total of 310 patients in standard of care (SoC) group were matched with 310 patients in SoC+remdesivir (SoC+R) group., Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was time to critical progression, defined as all-cause mortality or critical illness. The secondary outcomes were length of oxygen therapy/ventilation and need for invasive mechanical ventilation. Outcome reports were presented as HR, OR or effect difference with 95% CI., Results: Patients receiving remdesivir had a lower risk for mortality or critical illness (HR=0.68, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.96, p=0.030). Remdesivir was not associated with a shorter length of oxygen therapy/ventilation (effect difference -0.17 days, 95% CI -1.29 to 0.96, p=0.774). The need for invasive mechanical ventilation was lower in SoC+R group (OR=0.57, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.86, p=0.007)., Conclusions: This study's results showing remdesivir's benefits in non-critical patients with COVID-19 may be extrapolated to other similar low-middle income countries, allowing more regimens for limited resource areas and reducing poor outcomes and equity gap worldwide., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Dermatological diseases are widespread and have a significant impact on the quality of life of patients; however, access to appropriate care is often limited. Improved early training during medical school represents a potential upstream solution. This scoping review explores dermatology education during medical school, with a focus on identifying the factors associated with optimizing the preparation of future physicians to provide care for patients with skin disease. A literature search was conducted using online databases (Embase, MEDLINE, CINAHL and Scopus) to identify relevant studies. The Joanna Briggs Institute methodological framework for scoping reviews was used, including quantitative and qualitative data analysis following a grounded theory approach. From 1490 articles identified, 376 articles were included. Most studies were from the USA (46.3%), UK (16.2%), Germany (6.4%) and Canada (5.6%). Only 46.8% were published as original articles, with a relatively large proportion either as letters (29.2%) or abstracts (12.2%). Literature was grouped into three themes: teaching content, delivery and assessment. Core learning objectives were country dependent; however, a common thread was the importance of skin cancer teaching and recognition that diversity and cultural competence need greater fostering. Various methods of delivery and assessment were identified, including computer-aided and online, audiovisual, clinical immersion, didactic, simulation and peer-led approaches. The advantages and disadvantages of each need to be weighed when deciding which is most appropriate for a given learning outcome. The broader teaching-learning ecosystem is influenced by (i) community health needs and medical school resources, and (ii) the student and their ability to learn and perform. Efforts to optimize dermatology education may use this review to further investigate and adapt teaching according to local needs and context., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Association of Dermatologists.)

A β-cyclodextrin-based diphosphane with metal-confining properties was efficiently synthesized thanks to an unprecedented Smiles-like rearrangement of diphenyl-(2-phosphanylphenyl)phosphane in the presence of excess n-BuLi. The cis-chelating bidentate ligand is capable of forming very stable heteroleptic [Cu(NN)(PP)] + complexes in which a metal-bound diimine ligand (bpy, phen, or mmp) is located within the cyclodextrin cavity. As a result of ligand encapsulation, flattening of the metal tetrahedral geometry in the excited state is disfavored, thereby resulting in enhanced luminescent properties., (© 2022 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Potassium (K + ) is one of the most abundant cations in the human body. Under normal conditions, the vast majority of K + is found within cells, and the extracellular [K + ] is tightly regulated to within 3.0 to 5.0 mM. However, it has recently been shown that high levels of localized necrosis can increase the extracellular concentration of K + to above 50 mM. This raises the possibility that elevated extracellular K + might influence a variety of biological processes that occur within regions of necrotic tissue. For example, K + has been shown to play a central role in the replication cycles of numerous viral families, and in cases of lytic infection, localized regions containing large numbers of necrotic cells can be formed. Here, we show that the replication of the model poxvirus myxoma virus (MYXV) is delayed by elevated levels of extracellular K + . These increased K + concentrations alter the cellular endocytic pathway, leading to increased phagocytosis but a loss of endosomal/lysosomal segregation. This slows the release of myxoma virus particles from the endosomes, resulting in delays in genome synthesis and infectious particle formation as well as reduced viral spread. Additionally, mathematical modeling predicts that the extracellular K + concentrations required to impact myxoma virus replication can be reached in viral lesions under a variety of conditions. Taken together, these data suggest that the extracellular [K + ] plays a role in determining the outcomes of myxoma infection and that this effect could be physiologically relevant during pathogenic infection. IMPORTANCE Intracellular K + homeostasis has been shown to play a major role in the replication of numerous viral families. However, the potential impact of altered extracellular K + concentrations is less well understood. Our work demonstrates that increased concentrations of extracellular K + can delay the replication cycle of the model poxvirus MYXV by inhibiting virion release from the endosomes. Additionally, mathematical modeling predicts that the levels of extracellular K + required to impact MYXV replication can likely be reached during pathogenic infection. These results suggest that localized viral infection can alter K + homeostasis and that these alterations might directly affect viral pathogenesis.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to validate the low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) score questionnaire in the Vietnamese language among Vietnamese patients who underwent sphincter-preserving surgery for rectal cancer., Methods: The LARS score questionnaire was translated from English into Vietnamese and then back-translated as recommended internationally. From January 2018 to December 2020, 93 patients who underwent sphincter-preserving surgery completed the Vietnamese version of the LARS score questionnaire together with an anchored question assessing the influence of bowel function on quality of life (QoL). To validate test-retest reliability, patients were requested to answer the LARS score questionnaire twice., Results: Ninety-three patients completed the LARS score questionnaire, of whom 89 responded twice. The patients who responded twice were included in the analysis of test-retest reliability. Fifty-eight patients had a "major" LARS score. The LARS score was able to discriminate between patients who were obese and those who were not (P<0.001) and between the low anterior resection and anterior resection procedures (P<0.001). Age and sex were not associated with higher LARS scores (P=0.975). There was a perfect fit between the QoL category question and the LARS score in 56.2% of cases, and a moderate fit was found in 42.7% of cases, showing reasonable convergent validity. The test-retest reliability of 89 patients showed a high intraclass correlation coefficient., Conclusion: The Vietnamese version of the LARS score questionnaire is a valid tool for measuring LARS.

Photocatalyzed and photosensitized chemical processes have seen growing interest recently and have become among the most active areas of chemical research, notably due to their applications in fields such as medicine, chemical synthesis, material science or environmental chemistry. Among all homogeneous catalytic systems reported to date, photoactive copper(I) complexes have been shown to be especially attractive, not only as alternative to noble metal complexes, and have been extensively studied and utilized recently. They are at the core of this review article which is divided into two main sections. The first one focuses on an exhaustive and comprehensive overview of the structural, photophysical and electrochemical properties of mononuclear copper(I) complexes, typical examples highlighting the most critical structural parameters and their impact on the properties being presented to enlighten future design of photoactive copper(I) complexes. The second section is devoted to their main areas of application (photoredox catalysis of organic reactions and polymerization, hydrogen production, photoreduction of carbon dioxide and dye-sensitized solar cells), illustrating their progression from early systems to the current state-of-the-art and showcasing how some limitations of photoactive copper(I) complexes can be overcome with their high versatility.

In part II, we analyze our stochastic model which incorporates microenvironmental noises and uncertainties related to immune responses. Outcomes of the therapy in our model are largely determined by the infectivity constant, the infection value, and stochastic relative immune clearance rates. The infection value is a universal critical value for immune-free ergodic invariant probability measures and persistence in all cases. Asymptotic behaviors of the stochastic model are similar to those of its deterministic counterpart. Our stochastic model displays an interesting dynamical behavior, stochastic Hopf bifurcation without parameters, which is a new phenomenon. We perform numerical study to demonstrate how stochastic Hopf bifurcation without parameters occurs. In addition, we give biological implications about our analytical results in stochastic setting versus deterministic setting.

Purpose: Laparoscopic surgery is considered a promising approach for Hartmann reversal but is also a complicated major surgical procedure. We conducted a retrospective analysis at a city hospital in Vietnam to evaluate the treatment technique and outcomes of laparoscopic Hartmann reversal (LHR)., Methods: A colorectal surgery database in 5 years between 2015 and 2019 (1,175 cases in total) was retrieved to collect 35 consecutive patients undergoing LHR., Results: The patients had a median age of 61 years old. The median operative time was 185 minutes. All the procedures were first attempted laparoscopically with a conversion rate of 20.0% (7 of 35 cases). There was no intraoperative complication. Postoperative mortality and morbidity were 0 and 11.4% (2 medical, 1 deep surgical site infection, and 1 anastomotic leak required reoperation) respectively. The median time to first bowel activity was 2.8 days and median length of hospital stay was 8 days., Conclusion: When performed by skilled surgeons, LHR is a feasible and safe operation with acceptable morbidity rate.

Motivated by our study of infiltrating dynamics of immune cells into tumors, we propose a stochastic model in terms of Ito stochastic differential equations to study how two parameters, the chemoattractant production rate and the chemotactic coefficient, influence immune cell migration and how these parameters distinguish two types of gliomas. We conduct a detailed analysis of the stochastic model and its deterministic counterpart. The deterministic model can differentiate two types of gliomas according to the range of the chemoattractant production rate as two equilibrium solutions, while the stochastic model also can differentiate two types of gliomas according to the ranges of the chemoattractant production rate and chemotactic coefficient with thresholds as one non-zero ergodic invariant measure and one weak persistent state when the noise intensities are small. When the noise intensities are large comparing with the chemotactic coefficient, there is only one type of glioma that corresponds to a non-zero ergodic invariant measure. Using our experimental data, numerical simulations are carried out to demonstrate properties of our models, and we give medical interpretations and implications for our analytical results and numerical simulations. This study also confirms some of our results about IDH gliomas., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Based on our deterministic models for cholera epidemics, we propose a stochastic model for cholera epidemics to incorporate environmental fluctuations which is a nonlinear system of Itô stochastic differential equations. We conduct an asymptotical analysis of dynamical behaviors for the model. The basic stochastic reproduction value R s is defined in terms of the basic reproduction number R 0 for the corresponding deterministic model and noise intensities. The basic stochastic reproduction value determines the dynamical patterns of the stochastic model. When R s < 1 , the cholera infection will extinct within finite periods of time almost surely. When R s > 1 , the cholera infection will persist most of time, and there exists a unique stationary ergodic distribution to which all solutions of the stochastic model will approach almost surely as noise intensities are bounded. When the basic reproduction number R 0 for the corresponding deterministic model is greater than 1, and the noise intensities are large enough such that R s < 1 , the cholera infection is suppressed by environmental noises. We carry out numerical simulations to illustrate our analysis, and to compare with the corresponding deterministic model. Biological implications are pointed out.

In diabetes there is a long latency between the onset of hyperglycemia and the appearance of structural microangiopathy. Because Ly6C low patrolling monocytes (PMo) behave as housekeepers of the vasculature, we tested whether PMo protect microvessels against diabetes. We found that in wild-type mice, diabetes reduced PMo in the general circulation but increased by fourfold the absolute number of PMo adherent to retinal vessels (leukostasis). Conversely, in diabetic NR4A1 -/- mice, a model of absence of PMo, there was no increase in leukostasis, and at 6 months of diabetes, the number of retinal acellular capillaries almost doubled compared with diabetic wild-type mice. Circulating PMo showed gene expression changes indicative of enhanced migratory, vasculoprotective, and housekeeping activities, as well as profound suppression of genes related to inflammation and apoptosis. Promigratory CXCR4 was no longer upregulated at longer duration when retinal acellular capillaries begin to increase. Thus, after a short diabetes duration, PMo are the cells preferentially recruited to the retinal vessels and protect vessels from diabetic damage. These observations support the need for reinterpretation of the functional meaning of leukostasis in diabetes and document within the natural history of diabetic retinopathy processes of protection and repair that can provide novel paradigms for prevention., (© 2020 by the American Diabetes Association.)

Background: Tumor-infiltrated immune cells compose a significant component of many cancers. They have been observed to have contradictory impacts on tumors. Although the primary reasons for these observations remain elusive, it is important to understand how immune cells infiltrating into tumors is regulated. Recently our group conducted a series of experimental studies, which showed that muIDH1 gliomas have a significant global reduction of immune cells and suggested that the longer survival time of mice with CIMP gliomas may be due to the IDH mutation and its effect on reducing of the tumor-infiltrated immune cells. However, to comprehend how IDH1 mutants regulate infiltration of immune cells into gliomas and how they affect the aggressiveness of gliomas, it is necessary to integrate our experimental data into a dynamical system to acquire a much deeper understanding of subtle regulation of immune cell infiltration., Methods: The method is integration of mathematical modeling and experiments. According to mass conservation laws and assumption that immune cells migrate into the tumor site along a chemotactic gradient field, a mathematical model is formulated. Parameters are estimated from our experiments. Numerical methods are developed to solve the problem. Numerical predictions are compared with experimental results., Results: Our analysis shows that the net rate of increase of immune cells infiltrated into the tumor is approximately proportional to the 4/5 power of the chemoattractant production rate, and it is an increasing function of time while the percentage of immune cells infiltrated into the tumor is a decreasing function of time. Our model predicts that wtIDH1 mice will survive longer if the immune cells are blocked by reducing chemotactic coefficient. For more aggressive gliomas, our model shows that there is little difference in their survivals between wtIDH1 and muIDH1 tumors, and the percentage of immune cells infiltrated into the tumor is much lower. These predictions are verified by our experimental results. In addition, wtIDH1 and muIDH1 can be quantitatively distinguished by their chemoattractant production rates, and the chemotactic coefficient determines possibilities of immune cells migration along chemoattractant gradient fields., Conclusions: The chemoattractant gradient field produced by tumor cells may facilitate immune cells migration to the tumor cite. The chemoattractant production rate may be utilized to classify wtIDH1 and muIDH1 tumors. The dynamics of immune cells infiltrating into tumors is largely determined by tumor cell chemoattractant production rate and chemotactic coefficient., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Plant-derived anthraquinones were evaluated in cell assays for their inhibitory activities against the parasitic protozoa Trichomonas vaginalis human strain G3 that causes the sexually transmitted disease trichomoniasis in women, Tritrichomonas foetus bovine strain D1 that causes sexually transmitted diseases in farm animals (bulls, cows, and pigs), Tritrichomonas foetus -like strain C1 that causes diarrhea in domestic animals (cats and dogs), and bacteria and fungi. The anthraquinones assessed for their inhibitory activity were anthraquinone, aloe-emodin (1,8-dihydroxy-3-hydroxymethylanthraquinone), anthrarufin (1,5-dihydroxyanthraquinone), chrysazin (1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone), emodin (1,3,8-trihydroxy-6-methylanthraquinone), purpurin (1,2,4-trihydroxyanthraquinone), and rhein (1,8-dihydroxy-3-carboxyanthraquinone). Their activities were determined in terms of IC 50 values, defined as the concentration that inhibits 50% of the cells under the test conditions and calculated from linear dose response plots for the parasitic protozoa, and zone of inhibition for bacteria and fungi, respectively. The results show that the different substituents on the anthraquinone ring seem to influence the relative potency. Analysis of the structure-activity relationships in protozoa indicates that the aloe-emodin and chrysazin with the highest biological activities merit further study for their potential to help treat the diseases in women and domestic and farm animals. Emodin also exhibited antifungal activity against Candida albicans . The suggested mechanism of action and the additional reported beneficial biological properties of anthraquinones suggest that they have the potential to ameliorate a broad spectrum of human diseases.

The complexity of oncolytic virotherapy arises from many factors. In this study, we incorporate environmental noise and stochastic effects to our basic deterministic model and propose a stochastic model for viral therapy in terms of Ito stochastic differential equations. We conduct a detailed analysis of the model using boundary methods. We find two combined parameters, one describes possibilities of eradicating tumors and one is an increasing function of the viral burst size, which serve as thresholds to classify asymptotical dynamics of the model solution paths. We show there are three ergodic invariant probability measures which correspond to equilibrium states of the deterministic model, and extra possibility to eradicate tumor due to strong variance of tumor growth rate and medium viral burst size. Numerical analysis demonstrates several typical solution paths with biological explanations. In addition, we provide some medical interpretations and implications.

Background: The benefit of one-stage surgery in emergency surgery for obstructing colorectal cancer (oCRC) by colorectal surgeons has increased during the last century but little is known about the outcomes of this technique conducted by general surgeons in developing countries. This retrospective study was to evaluate the outcomes of emergency surgery for oCRC in a general surgery unit., Methods: A retrospective review of data from 1175 patients who underwent colorectal surgery between January 2013 and January 2018 was performed. Among these, a total of 186 patients with oCRC who underwent surgery within 24 h of hospital admission were analyzed. For patients with resectable right-sided oCRC, one-stage surgery was performed. For left-sided oCRC, primary anastomosis was mainly attempted; otherwise, a stoma was formed. The rates of primary resection, PRa, stoma, mortality, and morbidity were evaluated., Results: Among 186 patients, oCRC involving the right colon, left colon, and rectum were found in 33.3%, 59.1% and 7.5% respectively. Primary resection and anastomosis were performed in 100%, 44.7%, and 0% of patients with oCRC in the right colon, left colon, and rectum respectively. The complication incidence based on Clavien-Dindo grade III or higher was 16.1% and the mortality rate was 7.5%. The median length of hospital stay was 8.5 days, ranging from 2 to 70 days., Conclusion: General surgeons with colorectal surgery experience can still manage oCRC effectively. Primary resection and anastomosis for left-sided oCRC is safe in selective patients. The emergency surgery for oCRC could be benefit with the participation of colorectal surgeons., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose and received no specific grants to fund this research., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC.)

Glioblastomas are highly malignant brain tumors. Knowledge of growth rates and growth patterns is useful for understanding tumor biology and planning treatment logistics. Based on untreated human glioblastoma data collected in Trondheim, Norway, we first fit the average growth to a Gompertz curve, then find a best fitted white noise term for the growth rate variance. Combining these two fits, we obtain a new type of Gompertz diffusion dynamics, which is a stochastic differential equation (SDE). Newly collected untreated human glioblastoma data in Seattle, US, re-verify our model. Instead of growth curves predicted by deterministic models, our SDE model predicts a band with a center curve as the tumor size average and its width as the tumor size variance over time. Given the glioblastoma size in a patient, our model can predict the patient survival time with a prescribed probability. The survival time is approximately a normal random variable with simple formulas for its mean and variance in terms of tumor sizes. Our model can be applied to studies of tumor treatments. As a demonstration, we numerically investigate different protocols of surgical resection using our model and provide possible theoretical strategies.

Here we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to reach a consensus on whether infected and uninfected mosquitoes respond differently to repellents. After screening 2,316 published studies, theses, and conference abstracts, we identified 18 studies that tested whether infection status modulated the effectiveness of repellents. Thirteen of these studies had outcomes available for meta-analysis, and overall, seven repellents were tested (typically DEET with 62% of outcomes), six mosquito species had repellence behaviors measured (typically Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquitoes with 71% of outcomes), and a broad diversity of infections were tested including Sindbis virus (Togaviridae: Alphavirus) (33% of outcomes), Dengue (Flaviviridae: Flavivirus) (31%), malaria (Plasmodium berghei Vincke & Lips (Haemospororida: Plasmodiidae) or P. falciparum Welch (Haemospororida: Plasmodiidae); 25%), Zika (Flaviviridae: Flavivirus) (7%), and microsporidia (4%). Pooling all outcomes with meta-analysis, we found that repellents were less effective against infected mosquitoes-marking an average 62% reduction in protective efficacy relative to uninfected mosquitoes (pooled odds ratio = 0.38, 95% confidence interval = 0.22-0.66; k = 96). Older infected mosquitoes were also more likely to show altered responses and loss of sensitivity to repellents, emphasizing the challenge of distinguishing between age or incubation period effects. Plasmodium- or Dengue-infected mosquitoes also did not show altered responses to repellents; however, Dengue-mosquito systems used inoculation practices that can introduce variability in repellency responses. Given our findings that repellents offer less protection against infected mosquitoes and that these vectors are the most dangerous in terms of disease transmission, then trials on repellent effectiveness should incorporate infected mosquitoes to improve predictability in blocking vector-human contact., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Dermatitis artefacta is a self-inflicted cutaneous disease presenting as sharply delineated ulcers, usually in accessible sites such as the head and neck. IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a recently recognised immune-mediated condition causing a fibroinflammatory process, resulting in the formation of tumefactive lesions in various organs, rarely presenting primarily in the skin. We report a case of cutaneous IgG4-RD clinically presenting as dermatitis artefacta., (© 2019 The Australasian College of Dermatologists.)

Mitochondrial DNA mutations accumulate with age and may play a role in stem cell aging as suggested by the premature aging phenotype of mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma (POLG) exonuclease-deficient mice. Therefore, E1A immortalized murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) from POLG exonuclease-deficient and wild-type (WT) mice were constructed. Surprisingly, when some E1A immortalized MEF lines were cultured in pyruvate-containing media they slowly became addicted to the pyruvate. The POLG exonuclease-deficient MEFs were more sensitive to several mitochondrial inhibitors and showed increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production under standard conditions. When cultured in pyruvate-containing media, POLG exonuclease-deficient MEFs showed decreased oxygen consumption compared to controls. Increased AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling and decreased mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling delayed aging and influenced mitochondrial function. Therefore, the effects of 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide (AICAR), an AMPK activator, or rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, on measures of mitochondrial function were determined. Rapamycin treatment transiently increased respiration only in WT MEFs and, under most conditions, increased ATP levels. Short term AICAR treatment transiently increased ROS production and, under most conditions, decreased ATP levels. Chronic AICAR treatment decreased respiration and ROS production in WT MEFs. These results demonstrate the context-dependent effects of AICAR and rapamycin on mitochondrial function., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)

A new type of DNA ligand that contains a phosphate-binding group and a photoresponsive azobenzene moiety is reported. When the azobenzene is in trans configuration, the ligand binds to the minor groove of a double-stranded DNA, whereas it partially desorbs upon trans-cis isomerisation with light. The ability to photoswitch the ligand upon interaction with DNA is evidenced by (chir)optical signatures, and deciphered by the differences of binding geometry, stability, and dynamics of the DNA/ligand complexes for the two isomers. We exploit these properties to photomodulate DNA-templated self-assembly, through the incorporation of another π-stacking DNA ligand, which together with the photoresponsive ligand form mixed supramolecular complexes along DNA. Our study demonstrates that well-designed photoresponsive DNA binders can be used to modulate multicomponent supramolecular DNA assemblies., (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Aza-capped, methylated cyclodextrins (CDs) were obtained in high yields by reacting the soft nitrogen nucleophile 2-nitrobenzenesulfonamide with either A,B-dimesylated CDs in basic media or their diol analogues under Mitsunobu reaction conditions followed by deprotection with thiophenol. A methyl pyridine substituent was grafted on the N atom of these secondary amines. When built on an α-CD scaffold, the resulting tertiary amine no longer undergoes nitrogen inversion at room temperature and behaves as a confining ligand, opening the way to intra-cavity metal complexation and promoting the formation of supramolecular helices.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by alpha-synuclein accumulation and loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) region of the brain. Increased levels of alpha-synuclein have been shown to result in loss of mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I activity leading to increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. WT alpha-synuclein was stably overexpressed in human BE(2)-M17 neuroblastoma cells resulting in increased levels of an alpha-synuclein multimer, but no increase in alpha-synuclein monomer levels. Oxygen consumption was decreased by alpha-synuclein overexpression, but ATP levels did not decrease and ROS levels did not increase. Treatment with ferrous sulfate, a ROS generator, resulted in decreased oxygen consumption in both control and alpha-synuclein overexpressing cells. However, this treatment only decreased ATP levels and increased ROS production in the cells overexpressing alpha-synuclein. Similarly, paraquat, another ROS generator, decreased ATP levels in the alpha-synuclein overexpressing cells, but not in the control cells, further demonstrating how alpha-synuclein sensitized the cells to oxidative insult. Proteomic analysis yielded molecular insights into the cellular adaptations to alpha-synuclein overexpression, such as the increased abundance of many mitochondrial proteins. Many amino acids and citric acid cycle intermediates and their ester forms were individually supplemented to the cells with L-serine, L-proline, L-aspartate, or L-glutamine decreasing ROS production in oxidatively stressed alpha-synuclein overexpressing cells, while diethyl oxaloacetate or L-valine supplementation increased ATP levels. These results suggest that dietary supplementation with individual metabolites could yield bioenergetic improvements in PD patients to delay loss of dopaminergic neurons.

The complexity of the immune responses is a major challenge in current virotherapy. This study incorporates the innate immune response into our basic model for virotherapy and investigates how the innate immunity affects the outcome of virotherapy. The viral therapeutic dynamics is largely determined by the viral burst size, relative innate immune killing rate, and relative innate immunity decay rate. The innate immunity may complicate virotherapy in the way of creating more equilibria when the viral burst size is not too big, while the dynamics is similar to the system without innate immunity when the viral burst size is big.