Search

Abstract Objective To analyse data from 2016–17 from a hospital-based antimicrobial resistance surveillance with national coverage in a network of hospitals Viet Nam. Methods We analysed data from 13 hospitals, 3 less than the dataset from the 2012–13 period. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing data from the clinical microbiology laboratories from samples sent in for routine diagnostics were used. Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute 2018 guidelines were used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing interpretation. WHONET was used for data entry, management and analysis. Results 42,553 deduplicated isolates were included in this analysis; including 30,222 (71%) Gram-negative and 12,331 (29%) Gram-positive bacteria. 8,793 (21%) were from ICUs and 7,439 (18%) isolates were from invasive infections. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were the most frequently detected species with 9,092 (21%) and 4,833 isolates (11%), respectively; followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (3,858 isolates – 9.1%) and Acinetobacter baumannii (3,870 isolates – 9%). Bacteria were mainly isolated from sputum (8,798 isolates – 21%), blood (7,118 isolates – 17%) and urine (5,202 isolates – 12%). Among Gram-positives 3,302/4,515 isolates (73%) of S. aureus were MRSA; 99/290 (34%) of Enterococcus faecium were resistant to vancomycin; and 58% (663/1,136) of Streptococcus pneumoniae proportion were reduced susceptible to penicillin. Among Gram-negatives 59% (4,085/6,953) and 40% (1,186/2,958) of E. coli and K. pneumoniae produced ESBL and 29% (376/1,298) and 11% (961/8,830) were resistant to carbapenems, respectively. 79% (2855/3622) and 45% (1,514/3,376) of Acinetobacter spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were carbapenem resistant, respectively. 88% (804/911) of Haemophilus influenzae were ampicillin resistant and 18/253 (7%) of Salmonella spp. and 7/46 (15%) of Shigella spp. were resistant to fluoroquinolones. The number of isolates from which data were submitted in the 2016–2017 period was twice as high as in 2012–2013. AMR proportions were higher in 2016–2017 for most pathogen-antimicrobial combinations of interest including imipenem-resistant A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa and Enterobacterales. Conclusions The data show alarmingly high and increasing resistant proportions among important organisms in Viet Nam. AMR proportions varied across hospital types and should be interpreted with caution because existing sampling bias and missing information on whether isolates were community or hospital acquired. Affordable and scalable ways to adopt a sample- or case-based approach across the network should be explored and clinical data should be integrated to help provide more accurate inferences of the surveillance data.

It is unclear why the severity of influenza varies in healthy adults or why the burden of severe influenza shifts to young adults when pandemic strains emerge. One possibility is that cross-protective T cell responses wane in this age group in the absence of recent infection. We therefore compared the acute cellular immune response in previously healthy adults with severe versus mild pandemic H1N1 infection.49 previously healthy adults admitted to the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, Viet Nam with RT-PCR-confirmed 2009 H1N1 infection were prospectively enrolled. 39 recovered quickly whereas 10 developed severe symptoms requiring supplemental oxygen and prolonged hospitalization. Peripheral blood lymphocyte subset counts and activation (HLADR, CD38) and differentiation (CD27, CD28) marker expression were determined on days 0, 2, 5, 10, 14 and 28 by flow cytometry. NK, CD4 and CD8 lymphopenia developed in 100%, 90% and 60% of severe cases versus 13% (p

The relationships between the infecting dengue serotype, primary and secondary infection, viremia and dengue severity remain unclear. This cross-sectional study examined these interactions in adult patients hospitalized with dengue in Ha Noi.158 patients were enrolled between September 16 and November 11, 2008. Quantitative RT-PCR, serology and NS1 detection were used to confirm dengue infection, determine the serotype and plasma viral RNA concentration, and categorize infections as primary or secondary. 130 (82%) were laboratory confirmed. Serology was consistent with primary and secondary infection in 34% and 61%, respectively. The infecting serotype was DENV-1 in 42 (32%), DENV-2 in 39 (30%) and unknown in 49 (38%). Secondary infection was more common in DENV-2 infections (79%) compared to DENV-1 (36%, p

The femtosecond laser direct writing of metals has gained significant attention for micro/nanostructuring. Copper (I) oxide nanospheres (NSs), a promising material for multi-photon metallization, can be reduced to copper (Cu) and sintered through near-infrared femtosecond laser pulse irradiation. In this study, we investigated the size effect of copper (I) oxide nanospheres on their morphology when coated on Cu thin films and irradiated by near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses. Three Cu2O NS inks were prepared, consisting of small (φ100 nm), large (φ200 nm), and a mixture of φ100 nm and φ200 nm NSs. A unique phenomenon was observed at low laser pulse energy: both sizes of NSs bonded as single layers when the mixed NSs were used. At higher pulse energies, the small NSs melted readily compared to the large NSs. In comparisons between the large and mixed NSs, some large NSs remained intact, suggesting that the morphology of the NSs can be controlled by varying the concentration of different-sized NSs. Considering the simulation results indicating that the electromagnetic fields between large and small NSs are nearly identical, this differential morphology is likely attributed to the differences in the heat capacity of the NSs.

(1) Background: This study aims to assess the magnitude of, and factors associated with, depression and anxiety among Vietnamese frontline hospital healthcare workers in the fourth wave of COVID-19; (2) Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was carried out within two weeks, October 2020, at a central COVID-19 treatment hospital. Depression and anxiety were measured with PHQ-9 and GAD-7, respectively. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were applied to recognize variables related to depression and anxiety, respectively; (3) Results: Among 208 frontline hospital healthcare workers, overall prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and both symptoms of depression and anxiety was 38.94%, 25.48% and 24.04%, respectively, in healthcare workers. In a reduced model after using multivariate stepwise logistic regression, age (OR = 0.9, p = 0.001), marital status (OR = 7.84, p = 0.027), profession (OR = 0.39, p = 0.028), having experienced traumatic stress following a work event (OR = 46.24, p < 0.001), feeling at very high risk for COVID-19 (OR = 0.02, p < 0.04), and affected by workplace conditions (OR = 5.36, p < 0.001) were associated with the symptoms of depression. With regard to symptoms of anxiety, single status (OR: 12.18, p = 0.002), being medical technician (OR: 68.89, p < 0.001), alcohol use (OR: 6.83, p = 0.014), using pain relief medications (OR: 25.50, p = 0.047), having experienced traumatic stress following a family event (OR: 130.32, p = 0.001), having experienced traumatic stress following a work event (OR: 181.55, p = 0.002), reporting at very high risk for COVID-19 (OR: 29.64, p = 0.011), treating moderate (OR: 6.46, p = 0.038) and severe (OR: 18.96, p = 0.004) COVID-19 patients, and being significantly affected by the community (OR: 6.33, p = 0.003) were increased risk factors for the symptoms of anxiety. Meanwhile, those living with 4–5 people (OR: 0.15, p = 0.011), specializing in infectious disease (OR: 0.13, p = 0.044)/resuscitation and emergency medicine (OR: 0.04, p = 0.046), and having knowledge preparation before participating in COVID-19 (OR: 0.008, p = 0.014) were less associated with the symptoms of anxiety; (4) Conclusions: There was a relatively high prevalence among Vietnamese hospital healthcare workers exhibiting symptoms of depression and anxiety during the ongoing pandemic. Greater attention to training in psychological skills should be suggested for those belonging to a younger age group, being single/widowed/divorced, treating moderate and severe COVID-19 patients, feeling at very high risk for COVID-19, being significantly affected a lot the community or workplace conditions, or experiencing traumatic stress following a family/work event in the past week.

We investigated the bonding mechanism of single-layered Cu2O nanospheres (NSs) on Cu thin films. When near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses were focused and irradiated on the Cu2O NS films containing the NSs and reducing agents on Cu thin film-coated Si substrates, single-layered NSs were bonded just above the substrates after rinsing the non-bonded NSs. The minimum pulse energy for the single bonding on the Cu thin film-coated Si substrates was smaller than that on Si substrates. The electromagnetic enhancement was calculated between the Cu2O NSs and Cu thin films by simulating the finite element method. The enhancement was estimated using a transverse mode of the linear polarization of the incident femtosecond laser pulses. The experimental and simulation results indicated that the single-layered NSs were bonded on the Cu thin films by femtosecond laser pulse-induced local heating and melting due to the localized plasmon enhancement between the Cu2O NSs and substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The emergence and co-circulation of two different clades (clade 1 and 2) of H5N1 influenza viruses in Vietnam necessitates the availability of a diagnostic assay that can detect both variants. Results: We developed a single real-time RT-PCR assay for detection of both clades of H5N1 viruses, directly from clinical specimens, using locked nucleic acid TaqMan probes. Primers and probe used in this assay were designed based on a highly conserved region in the HA gene of H5N1 viruses. The analytical sensitivity of the assay was < 0.5 PFU and 10 - 100 ssDNA plasmid copies. A total of 106 clinical samples (58 from patients infected with clade 1, 2.1 or 2.3 H5N1 viruses and 48 from uninfected or seasonal influenza A virus-infected individuals) were tested by the assay. The assay showed 97% concordance with initial diagnostics for H5 influenza virus infection with a specificity of 100%. Conclusions: This assay is a useful tool for diagnosis of H5N1 virus infections in regions where different genetic clades are co-circulating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant bottlenecks in determining bacterial species are much more time-consuming and the biology specialist's long-term experience requirements. Specifically, it takes more than half a day to cultivate a bacterium, and then a skilled microbiologist and a costly specialized machine are utilized to analyze the genes and classify the bacterium according to its nucleotide sequence. To overcome these issues as well as get higher recognition accuracy, we proposed applying convolutional neural networks (CNNs) architectures to automatically classify bacterial species based on some key characteristics of bacterial colonies. Our experiment confirmed that the classification of three bacterial colonies could be performed with the highest accuracy (97.19%) using a training set of 5000 augmented images derived from the 40 original photos taken in the Hanoi Medical University laboratory in Vietnam.

Background: An endotracheal tube cuff pressure between 20 and 30 cmH2O is recommended to prevent ventilator-associated respiratory infection (VARI). We aimed to evaluate whether continuous cuff pressure control (CPC) was associated with reduced VARI incidence compared with intermittent CPC., Methods: We conducted a multicenter open-label randomized controlled trial in intensive care unit (ICU) patients within 24 hours of intubation in Vietnam. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive either continuous CPC using an automated electronic device or intermittent CPC using a manually hand-held manometer. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of VARI, evaluated by an independent reviewer blinded to the CPC allocation., Results: We randomized 600 patients; 597 received the intervention or control and were included in the intention to treat analysis. Compared with intermittent CPC, continuous CPC did not reduce the proportion of patients with at least one episode of VARI (74/296 [25%] vs 69/301 [23%]; odds ratio [OR] 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] .77-1.67]. There were no significant differences between continuous and intermittent CPC concerning the proportion of microbiologically confirmed VARI (OR 1.40; 95% CI .94-2.10), the proportion of intubated days without antimicrobials (relative proportion [RP] 0.99; 95% CI .87-1.12), rate of ICU discharge (cause-specific hazard ratio [HR] 0.95; 95% CI .78-1.16), cost of ICU stay (difference in transformed mean [DTM] 0.02; 95% CI -.05 to .08], cost of ICU antimicrobials (DTM 0.02; 95% CI -.25 to .28), cost of hospital stay (DTM 0.02; 95% CI -.04 to .08), and ICU mortality risk (OR 0.96; 95% CI .67-1.38)., Conclusions: Maintaining CPC through an automated electronic device did not reduce VARI incidence., Clinical Trial Registration: NCT02966392., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.)

Infectious diseases, such as dengue fever and Middle East respiratory syndrome, have become prevalent worldwide in recent times. To conduct highly accurate and effective infection screening, we are working on the development of a contactless infection screening system using Doppler radar and thermography. In our previous work, three parameters (face temperature, heartbeat rate, and respiration rate) were used to judge whether a subject was infected. However, facial temperature measurements may be vastly different from temperatures measured at the axilla owing to influence from the immediate environment. In this study, heartbeat rate (HR), respiration rate (RR), and standard deviation of heartbeat interval (SDHI) were used to quantify the infection screening system without using facial temperature as a parameter. We found that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) diminished in patients who had dengue fever. We gathered data from 47 patients with dengue fever using a 10-GHz Doppler radar system at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases (NHTD) in Hanoi, Vietnam. To evaluate the accuracy, the data of these patients were compared to that of 23 unaffected subjects. We observed that a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was effective at detecting the dengue fever conditions, and the detection accuracy was approximately 97.6%.

Trichinellosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease with a worldwide distribution. The aim of this work was to describe the epidemiological and clinical data of five outbreaks of trichinellosis, which affected ethnic minorities living in remote mountainous areas of northwestern Vietnam from 1970 to 2012. Trichinellosis was diagnosed in 126 patients, of which 11 (8.7%) were hospitalized and 8 (6.3%) died. All infected people had consumed raw pork from backyard and roaming pigs or wild boar at wedding, funeral, or New Year parties. The short incubation period (average of 9.5 days), the severity of the symptoms, which were characterized by diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, myalgia, edema, weight loss, itch, and lisping, and the high mortality, suggest that patients had ingested a high number of larvae. The larval burden in pigs examined in one of the outbreaks ranged from 70 to 879 larvae/g. These larvae and those collected from a muscle biopsy taken from a patient from the 2012 outbreak were identified as Trichinella spiralis. Data presented in this work show that the northern regions of Vietnam are endemic areas for Trichinella infections in domestic pigs and humans., (© The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.)

Fbh1 (F-box DNA helicase 1) orthologues are conserved from Schizosaccharomyces pombe to chickens and humans. Here, we report the disruption of the FBH1 gene in DT40 cells. Although the yeast fbh1 mutant shows an increase in sensitivity to DNA damaging agents, FBH1(-)(/)(-) DT40 clones show no prominent sensitivity, suggesting that the loss of FBH1 might be compensated by other genes. However, FBH1(-)(/)(-) cells exhibit increases in both sister chromatid exchange and the formation of radial structures between homologous chromosomes without showing a defect in homologous recombination. This phenotype is reminiscent of BLM(-)(/)(-) cells and suggests that Fbh1 may be involved in preventing extensive strand exchange during homologous recombination. In addition, disruption of RAD54, a major homologous recombination factor in FBH1(-)(/)(-) cells, results in a marked increase in chromosome-type breaks (breaks on both sister chromatids at the same place) following replication fork arrest. Further, FBH1BLM cells showed additive increases in both sister chromatid exchange and the formation of radial chromosomes. These data suggest that Fbh1 acts in parallel with Bloom helicase to control recombination-mediated double-strand-break repair at replication blocks and to reduce the frequency of crossover.