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Coastal sediments in the Mong Cai area were collected and analyzed for grain size, heavy metals, total organic carbon, and isotopes ( 210 Pb, 226 Ra, δ 15 N, δ 13 C) to assess sediment quality. The most common sediments were fine sand in surface sediment, very fine sand in core C1, and very coarse and coarse silt in core C2. The total organic carbon was highest in C2 next to the surface and lowest in C1, with content levels of 1.81%, 0.40%, and 0.31%, respectively. The chronology in C1 was 1877-2019 (142 years, 0-5 0 cm), with an average sedimentation rate of 0.71 cm/year. In C2, the chronology was 1944-2019 (75 years, 0-14 cm), with an average sedimentation rate of 0.27 cm/year. These δ 13 C and δ 15 N in the sediment reflect the source of the organic matter mix from the marine and terrigenous sediments. All studied heavy metals were lower than the ISQGs, with the exception of As in C1 and C2, which were higher. C1 showed a decline in As over time, while C2 As levels increased between 1996 and 2019. In terms of heavy metal pollution indexes, the geoaccumulation index (Igeo) showed that C1 and C2 were unpolluted to moderately polluted with As, with Li and Pb in C2; the enrichment factor (EF) was moderately enriched with As; the contamination factor (CF) was moderately contaminated (Pb, Cd, Fe, Mo, and Li) in C2 and C1 (Cd, As, Li) and considerably contaminated (As) in C2. The risk factor (ER) of As showed a moderate potential ecological risk in C2. The degree of contamination (CD) ranged from moderate to considerable (C1, C2), and the ecological risk (RI) was low. Although CD ranged from moderate (C1) to considerable (C2), most contamination was concentrated at the bottom of the cores. RI was low. The Mong Cai sediment quality does not currently affect the coastal area's ecosystem and fauna., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

In this work, a method of fabricating a NO 2 nano-sensor working at room temperature with a low detectable concentration limit is proposed. A 2D-MoS 2 flake is isolated by transferring a single MoS 2 flake to SiO 2 /Si substrate, followed by applying an advanced e-beam lithography (EBL) to form a metal contact with Au/Cr electrodes. The resulting chemoresistive nano-sensor using a single MoS 2 flake was applied to detect a very low concentration of NO 2 at the part-per-billion (ppb) level. This result is obtained due to the ability to create microscopic nano-sized MoS 2 gaps using e-beam lithography (300 nm-400 nm). Experimental results also show that the sensor can capture changes in concentration and send the information out extremely quickly. The response and recovery time of the sensor also reached the lowest point of 50 and 75 ms, outperforming other sensors with a similar concentration working range., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Cascabela peruviana (L.) Lippold ( C. peruviana ) has been extensively used for its antifungal and antibacterial properties. However, its role in anti-insect is still under investigation. To investigate the ability of the ethanol extract of C. peruviana against insects, we used the fruit fly ( Drosophila melanogaster ) as a model to gain more insight into the toxic effects of this extract. We found that the ethanol extract from the stem and leaves of C. peruviana was effective against insects and contained polyphenol and flavonoid compounds. C. peruviana could induce mortality of 2 nd -instar larvae and reduce growth and reproduction of fruit flies. Interestingly, the toxicity of C. peruviana extract has been remained to affect the development of the next generation of fruit flies. The locomotor activity and feeding ability of the F1 generation of this insect were significantly reduced by C. peruviana . In addition, flavonoids and polyphenols, as well as saponins and tannins were detected in the ethanol extract of C. peruviana . We assume that the ability of the extract of C. peruviana to control insects may be related to the presence of high levels of these compounds. The findings highlighted that the extract from the leaves of Cascabela peruviana has the potential to be used as an insecticide., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Breast tumorigenesis encompasses both extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Among intrinsic aspects, the appearance of DNA variation can cause genetic instability, which may lead to carcinogenesis. Genome-wide association studies have found several potential breast cancer-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in many different populations. Among these, seven (rs2046210, rs1219648, rs3817198, rs3803662, rs889312, rs10941679 and rs13281615) have been shown to be significantly associated with breast cancer risk in various populations including those very similar to the Vietnamese. Here, therefore, we have investigated the relationship between these SNPs and breast cancer risk in a Vietnamese population case-control cohort. Real-time PCR high-resolution melt analysis was performed to genotype 300 breast cancer cases and 325 healthy controls, and the association between the seven SNPs and breast cancer risk was determined by analyzing the differences in allelic and genotypic frequencies between case and control groups using R software. While five of the seven showed no association with breast cancer, there was a relationship between the other two SNPs, rs2046210 and rs3803662, and the risk of developing this disease in Vietnamese women. The A allele is the risk allele for both rs2046210 (OR [95% CI] = 1.43 [1.14 - 1.78], P = 0.0015) and rs3803662 (OR [95% CI] = 1.45 [1.16 - 1.83], P = 0.001). We conclude that two polymorphisms, rs2046210 in ESR1 and rs3803662 in TNRC9, are associated with breast cancer risk in the Vietnamese population.

Background: In Vietnam the blackwater fever syndrome (BWF) has been associated with malaria infection, quinine ingestion and G6PD deficiency. The G6PD variants within the Vietnamese Kinh contributing to the disease risk in this population, and more generally to haemoglobinuria, are currently unknown., Method: Eighty-two haemoglobinuria patients and 524 healthy controls were screened for G6PD deficiency using either the methylene blue reduction test, the G-6-PDH kit or the micro-methaemoglobin reduction test. The G6PD gene variants were screened using SSCP combined with DNA sequencing in 82 patients with haemoglobinuria, and in 59 healthy controls found to be G6PD deficient., Results: This study confirmed that G6PD deficiency is strongly associated with haemoglobinuria (OR = 15, 95% CI [7.7 to 28.9], P < 0.0001). Six G6PD variants were identified in the Vietnamese population, of which two are novel (Vietnam1 [Glu3Lys] and Vietnam2 [Phe66Cys]). G6PD Viangchan [Val291Met], common throughout south-east Asia, accounted for 77% of the variants detected and was significantly associated with haemoglobinuria within G6PD-deficient ethnic Kinh Vietnamese (OR = 5.8 95% CI [114-55.4], P = 0.022)., Conclusion: The primary frequency of several G6PD mutations, including novel mutations, in the Vietnamese Kinh population are reported and the contribution of G6PD mutations to the development of haemoglobinuria are investigated.

Varietal data from 27 crop species from five continents were drawn together to determine overall trends in crop varietal diversity on farm. Measurements of richness, evenness, and divergence showed that considerable crop genetic diversity continues to be maintained on farm, in the form of traditional crop varieties. Major staples had higher richness and evenness than nonstaples. Variety richness for clonal species was much higher than that of other breeding systems. A close linear relationship between traditional variety richness and evenness (both transformed), empirically derived from data spanning a wide range of crops and countries, was found both at household and community levels. Fitting a neutral "function" to traditional variety diversity relationships, comparable to a species abundance distribution of "neutral ecology," provided a benchmark to assess the standing diversity on farm. In some cases, high dominance occurred, with much of the variety richness held at low frequencies. This suggested that diversity may be maintained as an insurance to meet future environmental changes or social and economic needs. In other cases, a more even frequency distribution of varieties was found, possibly implying that farmers are selecting varieties to service a diversity of current needs and purposes. Divergence estimates, measured as the proportion of community evenness displayed among farmers, underscore the importance of a large number of small farms adopting distinctly diverse varietal strategies as a major force that maintains crop genetic diversity on farm.

Human fascioliasis caused by Fasciola hepatica or Fasciola gigantica is an increasing global problem. The mainstay of current treatment is triclabendazole, but resistance in animals has been described, and it is not available in many countries. The antimalarial artesunate has an excellent safety profile, and there is increasing evidence of its efficacy against other parasites both in vitro and in vivo. We performed a study to investigate the usefulness of artesunate in symptomatic human fascioliasis; 100 patients were enrolled. Patients treated with artesunate were significantly more likely to be free of abdominal pain at hospital discharge (50/50 versus 44/50, P = 0.027, relative risk 1.14, 95% confidence interval 1.03-1.26), but the complete response rate at 3 months was lower than for patients treated with triclabendazole (38/50 versus 46/50, P = 0.05, RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.69-0.98, artesunate versus triclabendazole). There may be a role for artesunate in fascioliasis.

Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) mediates innate immune responses to bacterial pathogens by binding to flagellin. A polymorphism in the TLR5 gene introduces a premature stop codon (TLR5(392STOP)) that is associated with susceptibility to legionnaires disease. Here we investigated whether TLR5(392STOP) was associated with typhoid fever. The frequency of TLR5(392STOP) was not significantly different in 565 patients with typhoid fever and 281 ethnically matched control subjects. Furthermore, TLR5 deficiency had no measurable effect on a number of clinical parameters associated with typhoid fever, including fever clearance time, pathogen burden, disease severity, or age at acquisition of disease. TLR5 may not play an important role in TLR-stimulated innate immune responses to human infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. Initiation of these responses may rely on other TLRs that recognize different bacterial ligands.