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Trombiculid "chigger" mites (Acari) are ectoparasites that feed blood on rodents and another animals. A crosssectional survey was conducted in 7 ecosystems of southern Vietnam from 2015 to 2016. Chigger mites were identified with morphological characteristics and assayed by polymerase chain reaction for detection of rickettsiaceae. Overall chigger infestation among rodents was 23.38%. The chigger index among infested rodents was 19.37 and a mean abundance of 4.61. A total of 2,770 chigger mites were identified belonging to 6 species, 3 genera, and 1 family, and pooled into 141 pools (10-20 chiggers per pool). Two pools (1.4%) of the chiggers were positive for Orientia tsutsugamushi. Ricketsia spp. was not detected in any pools of chiggers. Further studies are needed including a larger number and diverse hosts, and environmental factors to assess scrub typhus.

Background: Pediatric supracondylar humerus fracture (SHF) is a complicated injury which can result in severe sequela. Nowadays, closed reduction and percutaneous pinning (CRPP) is the most popular treatment., Aim: This study had two aims (1) checking the result of treating pediatric SHF patients without neurovascular injury by CRPP under image intensifier, and (2) analysing neurovascular complications of CRPP in treating these patients., Methods: We conducted a research on 42 patients from February 2018 to March 2019. The age of patients ranged from 3 to 11 years old, with a mean of 5. There was a male predominance with a male / female ratio of 3/1. The average duration of the procedure was 46 minutes, and there was no failed case., Results: Result evaluation based on Flynn criteria (1974): 85.74 % excellent, 9.5% good, 2.38% fair, and 2.38% poor. There was 1 patient how got ulnar nerve injury complication after medial-lateral crossed pinning, making up 2.38% of all cases. This case was a late admission - 3 days after being injured - and the elbow was badly swollen, so locating the medial condyle for pin placement was very problematic, this the ulnar nerve could be damaged during K-wire pinning. The K-wires are removed after 4 weeks., Conclusion: CRPP under image intensifier in treating pediatric supracondylar humerus fracture is an effective treatment and with good treatment result., (Copyright: © 2019 Dung Tran Trung, Nam Le Van, Vien Nguyen Huu, Chinh Dao Nguyen, Ha Nguyen Ngoc, Vu Thi Nga, Toi Chu Dinh.)

In this paper, we propose a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) relaying system, where a source node communicates simultaneously with multiple users via the assistance of the best amplify-and-forward (AF) relay. The best relay is selected among N relays which are capable of harvesting the energy from radio frequency (RF) signals. We analyze the performance of the proposed NOMA relaying system in the conditions of imperfect channel state information (CSI) and Rayleigh fading by deriving the exact expressions of the outage probability (OP) and the approximate expression of the ergodic capacities of each user and the whole system. We also determine the optimal energy harvesting duration which minimizes the OP. Numerical results show that, for the same parameter settings, the performance of the proposed NOMA relaying system, especially the ergodic capacity of the whole system, outperforms that of the orthogonal-multiple-access (OMA) relaying system. Monte-Carlo simulations are used to validate the correctness of the analytical results.

Nanoparticles and transgenic plants are recent scientific developments that require systematic study to understand their potential risks to human health. The effects of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) on Bt-transgenic cotton and conventional cotton are reported here. CuO NPs inhibited the growth, development, nutrient content, and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations of transgenic and conventional cotton. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed CuO NPs aggregated on the epidermis of conventional cotton leaves, whereas it had reached into the cells of transgenic cotton leaves by endocytosis. Most CuO NPs aggregates were found on the root outer epidermis and the rest were located in intercellular spaces of both conventional and Bt-transgenic cottons. CuO NPs enhanced the expression of the exogenous gene encoding of Bt toxin protein in leaves and roots, especially at low CuO NP concentrations, providing an important benefit for Bt cotton insect resistance., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)