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Background and Aim: The Rome IV criteria, the standard for diagnosing functional constipation (FC), deem the Bristol Stool Scale (BSS) unsuitable for assessing stool consistency in young children. Hence, the Brussels Infant and Toddler Stool Scale (BITSS) was developed. We aimed to validate and test the reliability of BITSS for hard stools and FC among infants and toddlers, where there is limited evidence in Asian populations., Methods: The research evaluated FC in children aged 0-48 months who came for medical examination using Rome IV criteria. Stool properties provided by caregivers were assessed sequentially through three methods: the BSS, the BITSS, and caregiver reports., Results: A total of 370 responses were received, with an average age of 26.2 months. Substantial agreement was observed between the BITSS and caregiver reports for hard stools (concordance rate: 91.9%, κ = 0.75), while near-perfect agreement was found between BITSS and BSS (concordance rate: 93.5%, κ = 0.81). The BITSS exhibited higher sensitivity than the BSS in assessing hard stools (95.3% vs 87.5%, P < 0.001). And the BITSS (23.5%) identified the highest prevalence of FC than the BSS (20.5%) and caregiver report (18.7%), with near-perfect agreement. Moderate agreement was reported when evaluating the test-retest reliability between BITSS and caregiver reports (concordance rate: 86.2%, κ = 0.44)., Conclusions: The BITSS, more sensitive than the BSS in identifying abnormal, especially hard stools, aids in early FC detection in young children. These findings support using BITSS over BSS for evaluating hard stools in infants and toddlers, both in Vietnam and globally., (© 2024 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Gingival recession is a common condition in adults, causing esthetic issues or tooth sensitivity in patients. Gingival recession in the lower incisors area after orthodontic treatment is often difficult to predict, due to anatomical factors such as thin phenotype, shallow vestibular depth, and low frenum attachment. A young male patient presented to the clinic with severe Cairo Class I gingival recession at tooth 41 after 2 years of orthodontic treatment. Surgery combining tunneling technique and multiple papilla full thickness flap was performed to treat the patient after endodontic treatment. The clinical case was followed up to monitor gingival margin recovery one year post-surgery. The clinical case introduces a treatment method for severe localized gingival recession in the lower anterior region of a single tooth., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest associated with the content of this manuscript., (Published by Oxford University Press and JSCR Publishing Ltd. © The Author(s) 2024.)

This study evaluates the performance of the Internal Circulation eXperience (ICX) reactor in treating high-strength paper mill wastewater in the south of Vietnam. The ICX reactor effectively managed organic concentrations (sCOD) of up to 11,800 mg/L. Results indicate a volumetric loading rate (VLR) of 26.8 kg/m 3 × day, achieving processing efficiency exceeding 81% while consistently maintaining volatile fatty acids (VFA) below 300 mg/L. The study employed Monod and Stover-Kincannon kinetic modeling, revealing dynamic parameters including K s = 56.81 kg/m 3 , Y = 0.121 kgVSS/kgsCOD, K d = 0.0242 1/day, μ max = 0.372 1/day, U max = 151 kg/m 3 × day, and K B = 175.92 kg/m 3 × day, underscoring the ICX reactor's superior efficiency compared to alternative technologies. Notably, the reactor's heightened sensitivity to VFA levels necessitates influent concentrations below 1,400 mg/L for effective sludge treatment. Furthermore, the influence of calcium on treatment efficiency requires post-treatment alkalinity maintenance below 19 meq/L to stabilize MLVSS/MLSS concentration. Biogas production ranged from 0.6 to 0.7 Nm 3 biogas/kg sCOD; however, calcium impact diminished this ratio, reducing overall treatment efficiency and biogas production. The study contributes valuable insights into anaerobic treatment processes for complex industrial wastewaters, emphasizing the significance of controlling VFA, calcium, and alkalinity for optimal system performance., Competing Interests: The authors declare there is no conflict., (© 2024 The Authors This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits copying, adaptation and redistribution, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

Introduction and Importance: Os odontoideum is a rare condition commonly associated with atlantoaxial instability (AAI) and leading to atlantoaxial dislocation. The incidence of Os odontoideum is higher in patients with Down syndrome. Similar to odontoid fractures, atlantoaxial dislocation in patients with Os odontoideum can result in neurological deficits, disability, and even mortality., Case Presentation: We present two cases of Os odontoideum accompanied by Down syndrome. Both patients were hospitalized due to progressive tetraparesis after falls several months prior. Upon examination, the patients exhibited myelopathy and were unable to walk or stand. MRI revealed spinal stenosis at the C1-C2 level due to atlantoaxial dislocation. C1-C2 fixation using Harms' technique was performed in both cases. One case experienced a complication involving instrument failure, necessitating revision surgery., Clinical Discussion: Due to the characteristics of transverse ligament laxity, low muscle tone, excessive joint flexibility, and cognitive impairment, children with both Down syndrome and Os odontoideum are at a high risk of disability and even mortality from spinal cord injury. Most authors recommend surgical management when patients exhibit atlantoaxial instability. Additional factors such as low bone density, cognitive impairment, and a high head-to-body ratio may increase the risk of surgical instrument failure and nonunion postoperatively in patients with Down syndrome., Conclusion: Os odontoideum is a cause of AAI in patients with DS. Indication of surgery in the presence of AAI helps to resolve neurological injury and prevent further deterioration. The use of a cervical collar is considered to prevent instrument failure postoperatively., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This study explored the treatment of Leucomalachite Green (LMG) solutions using an electron beam and sodium persulfate (Na 2 S 2 O 8 ), employing Box-Behnken design (BBD) to optimize operational variables such as absorbed dose, initial pH and Na 2 S 2 O 8 concentration. The findings highlighted an optimal absorbed dose of 4.5 kGy, a Na 2 S 2 O 8 concentration of 1.0 mM, and an initial pH of 6, leading to a remarkable 97.77% removal of LMG. The adjusted R 2 for the model indicated a close match of 1.4% between predicted and actual outcomes under these optimized conditions, affirming the quadratic model's suitability for predicting the LMG removal process using combined EB and Na 2 S 2 O 8 . To assess the environmental impact of the LMG treatment, the study applied SimaPro 9.4 with the TRACI tool, examining ten distinct environmental impact categories. The results unveiled that deionized water and Na 2 S 2 O 8 exhibited a notable impact on global warming (GW) and ecotoxicity (ET) in controlled laboratory settings. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of four scenarios shed light on the environmental implications of different energy sources. Notably, electricity generated from waste incineration demonstrated a substantial influence on all environmental indicators. In contrast, natural gas emerged as the cleanest source for electricity generation, offering a promising avenue for reducing environmental impacts. This study presents a practical method for addressing dye contaminants through the employment of EB in conjunction with Na 2 S 2 O 8 , with potential implications for broader applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The association between statin use and mortality in patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) has not been rigorously evaluated., Methods: We used the data in the RIETE registry to examine the association between statin use and mortality at 3 months. We used mixed effects survival models accounting for clinical covariates and clustering of patients in enrolling centers., Results: From January 2009 through April 2022, there were 46,440 patients with isolated DVT in RIETE (in the lower-limbs 42,291, in the upper limbs 4149). Of these, 21 % and 18 %, respectively, were using statins. Statin users were older than non-users (72 ± 12 vs. 62 ± 18 years), and more likely had diabetes, hypertension, prior myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke, or were receiving antiplatelets. The 3-month mortality rates were: 6.0 % vs. 5.8 %, respectively. On multilevel multivariable analysis, the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for all-cause death in statin users vs. non-users was 0.77 (95%CI: 0.69-0.86). The 3-month risk of death in statin users was significantly lower than in non-users in patients with upper-limb DVT (aHR: 0.81; 95%CI: 0.72-0.91), distal lower-limb DVT (aHR: 0.48; 95%CI: 0.32-0.72), or proximal lower-limb DVT (aHR: 0.69; 95%CI: 0.50-0.95), and in those receiving simvastatin (aHR: 0.73; 95%CI: 0.60-0.90), atorvastatin (aHR: 0.70; 95%CI: 0.59-0.85), or rosuvastatin (aHR: 0.47; 95%CI: 0.27-0.80). Major bleeding, used as a falsification endpoint, did not show an association with use of statins at 3-month follow-up., Conclusions: Statin users with isolated DVT were at significantly lower risk for death at 3 months than non-users., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Dr. Carmine Siniscalchi received a speaker's fee for congress presentation by MediK. Dr. Bikdeli is supported by a Career Development Award from the American Heart Association and VIVA Physicians (#938814) for the PE-EHR+ study. Outside the submitted work, Dr. Bikdeli is supported by the Scott Schoen and Nancy Adams IGNITE Award, as well as the Mary Ann Tynan Research Scientist award from the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Heart and Vascular Center Junior Faculty Award from Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Hussain is funded by a Heart and Vascular Center Junior Faculty Award from Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Bikdeli reports that he is a consulting expert, on behalf of the plaintiff, for litigation related to two specific brand models of IVC filters., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Although sediments are considered to be a major sink for microplastics (MP), there is still a relative lack of knowledge on the factors that influence the occurrence and abundance of MP in riverine sediments. The present study investigated the occurrence and distribution of MP in riverine sediments collected at twelve sites representative of different populated and urbanized rivers (To Lich, Nhue and Day Rivers) located in the Red River Delta (RRD, Vietnam, during dry and rainy seasons. MP concentrations ranged from 1600 items kg -1 dw to 94,300 items kg -1 dw. Fiber shape dominated and MP were made of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) predominantly. An absence of seasonal effect was observed for both fragments and fibers for each rivers. Decreasing MP concentrations trend was evidenced from the To Lich River, to the Nhue River and to the Day River, coupled with a decreasing fiber length and an increasing fragment area in the surface sediment from upstream to downstream. Content of organic matter was correlated to MP concentrations suggesting that, high levels of organic matter could be MP hotspots in urban rivers. Also, high population density as well as in highly residential areas are related to higher MP concentrations in sediments. Finally, a MP high ecological risk (RI: 866 to 4711) was calculated in the RDD., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This investigation is a review of the potential of aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactor (AGMBR) in wastewater treatment due to the advantage of combination of membrane and aerobic granules for reducing membrane fouling and enhancing removal performance. The AGMBR is the same as the membrane bioreactor (MBR), but the activated sludge is replaced by aerobic granular sludge. This technology combines the advantages of aerobic granular sludge, such as good settleability, strong ability to withstand shock-loadings and high organic loading rate, and capacity of simultaneous chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nitrogen removal, and advantages of membrane bioreactor (MBR) such as excellent effluent quality, high biomass content, low excess sludge production, and small land requirement. Therefore, it can be considered a promising option for efficient wastewater treatment. Most studies have shown that aerobic granules could control membrane fouling, which often occurs in MBR. The main fouling mechanism was determined to be surface fouling by floccular sludge in MBR but pore fouling by colloids and solutes in AGMBR. Aerobic granular sludge also removed COD and nitrogen simultaneously, with more than 60% total nitrogen removal efficiency. The formation and stability of aerobic granules in AGMBR with various operational modes are discussed in this study.

We report on an outbreak of nongroupable Neisseria meningitidis-associated urethritis, primarily among men who have sex with men in southern Vietnam. Nearly 50% of N. meningitidis isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin. This emerging pathogen should be considered in the differential diagnosis and management of urethritis.

The Red River is one of the largest rivers that plays an important role in the economic development of North Vietnam. There are many radionuclides bearing rare earth, uranium ore mines, mining industrial zones and magma intrusive formations along this river. The contamination and accumulation of radionuclides could exist at high concentration in surface sediments of this river. Thus, the present investigation aims to study the activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th ( 228 Ra), 40 K, and 137 Cs in Red River surface sediments. Thirty sediment samples were collected, and their activity concentration was calculated using high-purity germanium gamma-ray detector. The observed results ranged from 51.0 ± 2.1 to 73.6 ± 3.7 for 226 Ra, 71.4 ± 3.6 to 103 ± 5.2 for 232 Th, 507 ± 24.0 to 846 ± 42.3 for 40 K, and ND (not detected) to 1.33 ± 0.06 Bq/kg for 137 Cs, respectively. In general, the natural radionuclides concentration of 226 Ra, 232 Th ( 228 Ra), and 40 K is higher than the average world average values. This indicated that the natural radionuclides could contribute from similar and principal sources surrounding the upstream of Lao Cai where distributed uranium ore mines, radionuclide bearing rare earth mines, mining industrial zones and intrusive formations. Regarding the radiological hazard assessment, results of the indices computed such as absorbed gamma dose rate (D), the excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR), and the annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) were nearly two times higher than world average values., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This study optimized biodiesel synthesis from Pangasius fat using a Box-Behnken experimental design. The manipulation of key variables included the CoFe 2 O 4 catalyst dosage, the methanol-to-fat molar ratio, and the ultrasonic wave amplitude. We determined optimal conditions for biodiesel synthesis through the central runs, resulting in a remarkable 96.5% yield. The produced biodiesel exhibited diverse fatty acid compositions and met specifications for viscosity, specific gravity, acid value, and iodine value. Furthermore, we conducted a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) to shed light on the environmental implications of the process. The LCA revealed a minimal global warming potential of 0.21 kg CO 2 per kg of biodiesel produced, demonstrating the environmental viability of the entire process. These significant findings highlight the promising potential of using Pangasius fat as a sustainable feedstock for biodiesel production. Additionally, they provide valuable insights into developing ecologically friendly energy sources., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

The present study delved into the enhancement of essential oil (EO) extraction process from Chlorella sp. through the implementation of ultrasound-assisted extraction. The Taguchi method was instrumental in determining the ideal parameters for the extraction process, which encompassed ultrasonic amplitude, reaction duration, hexane/ethanol (HE/EtOH) ratio, and processing temperature. The empirical findings indicated that optimal EO yield was realized at an ultrasonic amplitude of 80%, a reaction timeframe of 15 min, a HE/EtOH proportion of 3:1, and a temperature setting of 40 °C. These optimal conditions were further substantiated through additional experimentation, resulting in an EO yield of 18.8 ± 0.2%. A fatty acid profile analysis disclosed that the extracted EO predominantly consisted of long-chain fatty acids (C14-C20), with Palmitic, Heptadecanoic, Oleic, and Linoleic acids featuring as the main components. Nevertheless, a high unsaturation rate of 37.9% in the EO could potentially render it vulnerable to oxidative deterioration during storage, consequently affecting the quality of the ensuing biodiesel. A life cycle assessment of the sonication technique utilized for biodiesel production from Chlorella sp. highlighted that lipid extraction was the principal contributor to global warming and ecotoxicity, as per the CML and TRACI methods. Hence, the ultrasound-assisted extraction of EO from Chlorella sp. appears to be a promising and ecologically viable substitute to conventional techniques employed for biodiesel production., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Besides photocatalysts, novel catalytic wet-air oxidation (CWAO) catalysts capable of operating under mild conditions are a potential candidate to fabricate antifouling filtration membranes. This study optimized the CWAO catalyst consisting of three metal oxide components (ZnO, CuO, and Fe 3 O 4 ) and used it to fabricate composite membranes with PES (polyethersulfone). The catalyst was characterized by methods such as FTIR, BET, XRD, UV-Vis DRS, XPS, ESR. The activity of the catalyst and the composite membranes was tested by the Acid Yellow 42 (AY42) degradation experiments in both cases with and without hydrogen peroxide at room conditions with air aeration. The pure water fluxes of composite membranes were also investigated based on a vacuum filtration system. The major degradation pathways of AY42 by the catalyst were proposed from the DFT (Density Functional Theory) and NBO (Natural Bond Orbital) calculations. The results showed that the optimal catalyst has molar ratios of Zn, Cu, and Fe metal ions of 0.05, 0.588, and 0.362, respectively, with AY42 decomposition efficiency of 88% in 3 h. The main factors affecting the catalytic efficiency of the CWAO catalyst determined from the trapping experiment were e - and O 2 . The results from different materials characterization methods have demonstrated the successful synthesis of the catalyst with a high surface area (103.5 m 2 /g) and small pore diameters (∼10 nm). The AY42 degradation of composite membranes was stable over five repeated cycles with over 70% efficiency. The pure water fluxes of composite membranes have also been significantly improved and are proportional to catalyst contents.

Human beings are frequently exposed to a mixture of chemical pollutants through the ingestion of contaminated drinking water. The present study aimed to assess the ecological and human health risks associated with the contamination of cyanotoxins and heavy metals in a drinking water supply reservoir, the Tri An Reservoir (TAR), in Vietnam. Results demonstrated that the concentrations of individual heavy metals varied in the following order: iron (Fe) > lead (Pb) > arsenic (As) > zinc (Zn). Although the ecological potential risk of heavy metals was low during the study period, the concentration of Fe sometimes exceeded the Vietnamese standard for drinking water. Toxic cyanobacteria and microcystins (MCs) frequently occurred in the TAR with the highest density of 198.7 × 10 3 cells/mL and 7.8 μg/L, respectively, indicating a high risk of health impacts to humans. The results of the study indicate that exposure to heavy metals does not pose any non-carcinogenic health risks for both adults and children. However, the contamination of MCs in the surface water posed a serious disease enhancement to both adults and children through direct ingestion and dermal absorption.

2-Methylquinazolin-4(3 H )-one was prepared by the reaction of anthranilic acid, acetic anhydride, and ammonium acetate. The reaction of 2-methylquinazolin-4(3 H )-one with N -aryl-2-chloroacetamides in acetone in the presence of potassium carbonate gave nine N -aryl-2-(2-methyl-4-oxoquinazolin-3(4 H )-yl)acetamide compounds. The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of their IR, 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13 C NMR, and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) spectral data. These synthesized compounds containing the 2-methyl-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-4-one moiety exhibited activity against Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae with LC 50 values of 2.085-4.201 μg/mL after 72 h exposure, which is also confirmed using a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model. Interestingly, these compounds did not exhibit toxicity to the nontarget organism Diplonychus rusticus . In silico molecular docking revealed acetylcholine binding protein (AChBP) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) to be potential molecular targets. These data indicated the larvicidal potential and environmental friendliness of these N -aryl-2-(2-methyl-4-oxoquinazolin-3(4 H )-yl)acetamide derivatives., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion has proven effectiveness in treating spondylolisthesis, but there were few reports applying the technique from scarce resourcing developing countries. In this study, the authors report the results and share our experience of minimally invasive spinal transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion in spondylolisthesis treatment in Vietnamese patients., Materials and Methods: In this study, the authors enroled 92 patients diagnosed with single-level, grade I or grade II lumbar spondylolisthesis from January 2019 to October 2022., Results: The median age in our study was 47.79±12.61 (range 15-75), the male/female ratio was 1/2.3. The mean disease duration was 28.57 months. Conventional X-ray images showed that there were 74 patients (80.43%) with spondylolisthesis grade I, 18 patients (19.57%) with grade II. Spondylolisthesis occured mainly in L4-L5 with 53 patients (57.61%). The isthmic sign was recorded in 16 patients (31.4%). The mean blood loss was 149.46 ml. Patients walked on average of 3.22 days after surgery. VAS score reduced significantly in both back and leg. Spinal function improved significantly with a preoperative Owestry Disability Index of 48.18% decrease to 15.18% 12 months after surgery. The surgical results were good and excellent at 95.00% after 12 months of surgery according to Macnab scale. The fusion rate reached 97.50%., Conclusions: The results of this Macnab's classification study show that minimally invasive spinal transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion is an effective treatment for spondylolisthesis with less pain, less blood loss after surgery, and high fusion rate., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

This study developed an antifouling coating for polyethersulfone (PES) membranes by tuning the bandgap of TiO 2 with Cu nanoparticles (NPs) via a polyacrylic acid (PAA)-plasma-grafted intermediate layer. Cu NPs were synthesized at different molar ratios and precipitated onto TiO 2 using the sol-gel method. The resulting Cu@TiO 2 photocatalysts were characterized using various techniques, showing reduced bandgap, particle size range of 100-200 nm, and generation of reactive free radicals under light irradiation. The 25% Cu@TiO 2 photocatalyst displayed the highest catalytic efficiency for Acid Blue 260 (AB260) degradation, achieving 73% and 96% with and without H 2 O 2 , respectively. Photocatalytic membranes based on this catalyst achieved an AB260 degradation efficiency of 91% and remained stable over five cycles. Additionally, sodium alginate-fouled photocatalytic membranes fully recovered water permeability after undergoing photocatalytic degradation of foulants. The modified membrane displayed a higher surface roughness due to the presence of photocatalyst particles. This study demonstrates the potential application of Cu@TiO 2 /PAA/PES photocatalytic membranes for mitigating membrane fouling in practice.

On April 27, 2021, the fourth wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic originating from the Delta variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began in Vietnam. The adoption of travel restrictions, coupled with rapid vaccination and mask-wearing, is a global strategy to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Although trade-off between health and economic development are unavoidable in this situation, little evidence that is specific to Vietnam in terms of movement restrictions, vaccine coverage, and real-time COVID-19 cases is available. Our research question is whether travel restrictions and vaccine coverage are related to changes in the incidence of COVID-19 in each province in Vietnam. We used Google's Global Mobility Data Source, which reports different mobility types, along with reports of vaccine coverage and COVID-19 cases retrieved from publicly and freely available datasets, for this research. Starting from the 50th case per province and incorporating a 14-day period to account for exposure and illness, we examined the association between changes in mobility (from day 27 to 04-03/11/2021) and the ratio of the number of new confirmed cases on a given day to the total number of cases in the past 14 days of indexing (the potentially contagious group in the population) per million population by making use of LOESS regression and logit regression. In two-thirds of the surveyed provinces, a reduction of up to 40% in commuting movement (to the workplace, transit stations, grocery stores, and entertainment venues) was related to a reduction in the number of cases, especially in the early stages of the pandemic. Once both movement and disease prevalence had been mitigated, further restrictions offered little additional benefit. These results indicate the importance of early and decisive actions during the pandemic., Competing Interests: The 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 © 2023 Bui, Ha, Dao, Vu, Pham, Nguyen, Phan, Nguyen, Hoang, Ngo, Van and Quang.)

Because of the small size effect leading to the high bandgap of TiO 2 P25, the photocatalytic membrane using this photocatalyst has low antifouling efficiency. This study prepared CuO@TiO 2 composite photocatalyst with a lower bandgap than TiO 2 P25 and used it as antifouling coatings on the PES membrane with PAA intermediate adhesive layer. PAA was grafted onto the surface of the PES membranes through free radicals generated by the cold plasma treatment of the PES membrane. The composite photocatalysts were characterized by FTIR, SEM-EDS, TEM-EDS, XRD, BET, UV-Vis DRS, XPS, and ESR methods demonstrating high surface area (51.0 m 2 /g), decreased bandgap, and the formation of active free radicals under UV light irradiation. Under photocatalysis and hydrogen peroxide activation, the degradation of AB260 (acid blue 260) catalyzed by 10%CuO@TiO 2 reached about 92% after 60 min. Besides, the photocatalytic and antifouling activities of CuO@TiO 2 /PAA/PES membranes are high and stable over five continuous cycles. The water flux of the modified membrane was not significantly influenced and only decreased about 10% compared to the pristine membrane. In addition, the flux recovery ratios (FRR) of fouled membranes treated by photocatalysis were almost 100%., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

As cobalt (Co) has been the most useful element for activating Oxone to generate SO 4 •- , this study aims to develop a hierarchical catalyst with nanoscale functionality and macroscale convenience by decorating nanoscale Co-based oxides on macroscale supports. Specifically, a facile protocol is proposed by utilizing Cu mesh itself as a Cu source for fabricating CuCo 2 O 4 on Cu mesh. By changing the dosages of the Co precursor and carbamide, various nanostructures of CuCo 2 O 4 grown on a Cu mesh can be afforded, including nanoscale needles, flowers, and sheets. Even though the Cu mesh itself can be also transformed to a Cu-Oxide mesh, the growth of CuCo 2 O 4 on the Cu mesh significantly improves its physical, chemical, and electrochemical properties, making these CuCo 2 O 4 @Cu meshes much more superior catalysts for activating Oxone to degrade the Azo toxicant, Acid Red 27. More interestingly, the flower-like CuCo 2 O 4 @Cu mesh exhibits a higher specific surface area and more superior electrochemical performance, enabling the flower-like CuCo 2 O 4 @Cu mesh to show the highest catalytic activity for Oxone activation to degrade Acid Red 27. The flower-like CuCo 2 O 4 @Cu mesh also exhibits a much lower E a of Acid Red 27 degradation than the reported catalysts. These results demonstrate that CuCo 2 O 4 @Cu meshes are advantageous heterogeneous catalysts for Oxone activation, and especially, the flower-like CuCo 2 O 4 @Cu mesh appears as the most effective CuCo 2 O 4 @Cu mesh to eliminate the toxic Acid Red 27.

Osteoporosis contributes significantly to health and economic burdens worldwide. However, the development of osteoporosis-related prediction tools has been limited for lower-middle-income countries, especially Vietnam. This study aims to develop prediction models for the Vietnamese population as well as evaluate the existing tools to forecast the risk of osteoporosis and evaluate the contribution of covariates that previous studies have determined to be risk factors for osteoporosis. The prediction models were developed to predict the risk of osteoporosis using machine learning algorithms. The performance of the included prediction models was evaluated based on two scenarios; in the first one, the original test parameters were directly modeled, and in the second the original test parameters were transformed into binary covariates. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, the Brier score, precision, recall and F1-score were calculated to evaluate the models' performance in both scenarios. The contribution of the covariates was estimated using the Permutation Feature Importance estimation. Four models, namely, Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine, Random Forest and Neural Network, were developed through two scenarios. During the validation phase, these four models performed competitively against the reference models, with the areas under the curve above 0.81. Age, height and weight contributed the most to the risk of osteoporosis, while the correlation of the other covariates with the outcome was minor. Machine learning algorithms have a proven advantage in predicting the risk of osteoporosis among Vietnamese women over 50 years old. Additional research is required to more deeply evaluate the performance of the models on other high-risk populations., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Tuberculosis has caused significant public health and economic burdens in Vietnam over the years. The Vietnam National Tuberculosis Program is facing considerable challenges in its goal to eliminate tuberculosis by 2030, with the COVID-19 pandemic having negatively impacted routine tuberculosis services at all administrative levels. While the turnaround time of tuberculosis infection may delay disease detection, high transportation frequency could potentially mislead epidemiological studies. This study was conducted to develop an online geospatial platform to support healthcare workers in performing data visualization and promoting the active case surveillance in community as well as predicting the TB incidence in space and time., Method: This geospatial platform was developed using tuberculosis notification data managed by The Vietnam National Tuberculosis Program. The platform allows case distribution to be visualized by administrative level and time. Users can retrieve epidemiological measurements from the platform, which are calculated and visualized both temporally and spatially. The prediction model was developed to predict the TB incidence in space and time., Results: An online geospatial platform was developed, which presented the prediction model providing estimates of case detection. There were 400,370 TB cases with bacterial evidence to be included in the study. We estimated that the prevalence of TB in Vietnam was at 414.67 cases per 100.000 population. Ha Noi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City were predicted as three likely epidemiological hotspots in the near future., Conclusion: Our findings indicate that increased efforts should be undertaken to control tuberculosis transmission in these hotspots., Competing Interests: The 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 © 2022 Dao, Hoang, Nguyen, Huynh, Pham, Nguyen, Nguyen, Do, Nguyen, Dao, Nguyen and Bui.)

Information about the occurrence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in indoor dusts from various industrial sectors in Southeast Asia is still scarce. In this study, concentrations and congener-specific profiles of PBDEs were determined in indoor dusts from industrial factories, offices, and houses in northern Vietnam. Levels of Σ8PBDEs were higher in the office dusts (median 270; range 230-300 ng/g) and factory dusts (170; 89-510 ng/g) than in the house dusts (61; 25-140 ng/g). BDE-209 was the most dominant congener, accounting for 27-98% (average 62%) of Σ8PBDEs, suggesting the abundance of products treated with deca-BDE mixtures. Residential, commercial, and industrial activities in the studied locations of this survey were not significant sources of PBDEs as compared to those of informal waste processing activities in Vietnam. Relatively low PBDE concentrations detected in our dust samples partially reflect effectiveness of the global PBDE phase-out. Human exposure and health risk associated with dust-bound PBDEs were estimated, indicating acceptable levels of risk (i.e., neurobehavioral effects). The contributions of workplace dusts in total daily intake doses of PBDEs via dust ingestion were more important for local workers in informal recycling areas than factory workers and general population, raising the need of appropriate labor protection measures., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Background: On the basis of molecular dating, Pleistocene glaciations have been proposed as the major driving force of biota speciation in the Palearctic and the pre-Quaternary origin of Amazonian taxa. However, the major driving factors in East Asia remain unclear. All 16 saturniine species inhabiting Taiwan with congeners of populations, subspecies, or species in East Asia constitute research objects for addressing the mode of speciation because of the repeated formation and disappearance of a landbridge from the Asian mainland to Taiwan during glacial cycles., Methods: The genetic divergences of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S rDNA and the nuclear 28S rDNA of the saturniine species from Taiwan and the Asian mainland were assessed to determine the monophyly of each genus and species of Saturniinae. Moreover, 519 saturniine COI sequences of 114 taxa from adjacent East and Southeast Asian populations and closely related species were retrieved from GenBank and analyzed. The differentiation timing and possible origination of the insular saturniines were elucidated based on phylogenetic relationships, haplotype networks, and lineage calibrations., Results: Approximately 90% of intraspecific COI divergence was <2%; all divergences exceeding 2% originated from comparisons between allopatric populations or subspecies. Relationship analyses revealed that multiple introductions likely occurred in insular saturniines and that some East Asian saturniines were paraphyletic as deduced by analyzing endemic insular species. Calibration dating revealed that Taiwanese endemic saturniines split from sibling Asian species 0.2-2.7 million years ago (Mya), whereas subspecific-level and population-level splitting events occurred 0.1-1.7 Mya and 0.2-1.2 Mya, respectively. Moreover, phylogenetic patterns combined with geographical distributions revealed that hill-distributed Taiwanese saturniines are closely related to those from southern China and Southeast Asia, whereas saturniines inhabiting altitudes higher than 1,500 m in Taiwan have siblings distributed in temperate Northeast Asia., Discussion: The Global DNA Barcoding Initiative was successfully applied to study the population genetic structure in species. Most Formosan saturniines are distinct and monophyletic, reflecting the vicariant barrier of the Taiwan Strait; Pleistocene glacial cycles provided opportunities for insular saturniines to experience repeated isolation from and secondary contact with the continental mainland. Each insular saturniine may have evolved with a unique differentiation timing pattern that possibly emerged in the Early, Middle, or Late Pleistocene with these patterns differing from the consistent pattern that occurred in the temperate Palearctic and tropical Amazonian regions. Moreover, multiple migrations or artificial genetic admixtures may have also occurred, as suggested by the coexistence of two divergent lineages in a few Taiwanese saturniines., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 Yeh et al.)

Although in a critical position in the economy, the paper industry releases a lot of wastewater that requires adequate treatment for sustainable development. This study presents an application of Life cycle assessment (LCA) with the ReCiPe tool on the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of a paper factory in Vietnam to evaluate the environmental effect of the individual techniques in WWTP, especially the internal circulation (IC) reactor, a pioneer and practical anaerobic technology. Both Midpoint and Endpoint categories results demonstrated that chemical use and electricity consumption mainly contributed to the environmental impact in the WWTP. The Dissolved air flotation (DAF) and Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) are classified as effective techniques to reduce the impacts on the environment. Moreover, the comparison of LCA between IC and up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) shows that IC is the better practically green technique for the environment.

One of the advanced oxidative processes is gamma irradiation, an efficient technique for removing pesticides and pharmaceutical products. Radiolytic degradation leads to free radical's formation, which facilitates molecular lesion and breaks the chemical bonds. The use of pharmaceutical compounds, such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), is increasing nowadays due to the Covid 19 pandemic situation. This study focused on gamma radiation-induced degradation of HCQ in aqueous solution. The degradation was monitored by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) using an Eclipse XDB-C18 column (150 × 3.0 mm, 3.5 µm) and a mobile phase composed of 94% water (phosphate buffer at pH = 3.6) and 6% acetonitrile, with a DAD detection at λ  = 343 nm. The effect of different gamma radiation doses (from 0.05 to 3 kGy) was investigated. Chromatographic analysis shows that 1 kGy dose is effective to degrade completely HCQ at 20 ppm and following a first-pseudo-kinetic order with a dose constant corresponding to 4.2 kGy -1 . A comparison was done between gamma degradation and other methods. LC-QToF-MS/MS identified the intermediate products, and their kinetic constants were determined. A mechanism pathway was proposed for HCQ degradation under gamma irradiation., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2021.)

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms with widespread diversity and extensive global distribution. They produce a wide variety of bioactive substances (e.g., lipopeptides, fatty acids, toxins, carotenoids, vitamins and plant growth regulators) that are released into culture media. In this study, the capability of a cyanobacterial strain of Planktothricoides raciborskii to produce intra- and extracellular auxins was investigated. The filamentous cyanobacterial P. raciborskii strain was isolated from a river in Vietnam, and it was cultivated in the laboratory under the optimum conditions of the BG11 culture medium and a pH of 7.0. The auxins were identified and quantified by the Salkowski colorimetric method and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). Colorimetric analysis revealed that P. raciborskii produces extracellular indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in the absence and presence of l-tryptophan. The maximum extracellular IAA concentration of the culture reached 118 ± 2 μg mL -1 , which was supplemented with 900 μg mL -1 of l-tryptophan. HPLC-MS analysis revealed that the isolated cyanobacteria accumulate other plant-growth-promoting hormones besides IAA, such as indole-3-carboxylic acid (ICA), indole-3 butyric acid (IBA) and indole propionic acid (IPA). This is the first report on the production of auxins in an isolated strain of cyanobacteria Planktothricoides from a polluted river. The capability of producing auxins makes the P. raciborskii strain an appropriate candidate for the formulation of a biofertilizer., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study, the electro-Fenton (EF) method was applied to remove total organic carbon (TOC) from the pesticide production wastewater containing tricyclazole (TC). Statistical Taguchi method was used to optimize the treatment performance. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the polynomial regression model fitted experimental data with R 2 of 0.969. The optimal conditions for eliminating 75.4% TOC and 93.7% TC were 0.2 mM of Fe 2+ , 990 mg/L of Na 2 SO 4 , 180 min of reaction time at pH 3 with 2.22 mA/cm 2 of current density. The removal of TC present in the wastewater followed the first-order reaction kinetic model (R 2 = 0.993); while that was the second-order kinetic model in the case of the TOC removal (R 2 = 0.903). In addition, the experimental results and theory approaches (density functional theory and natural bond orbital calculations) also showed the C-N bond breaking and nitrate ions cleavage to ammonia. Acute toxicity of the pesticide wastewater after treatment (PWAT) on microcrustaceans showed that the treated wastewater still exhibited high toxicity against D. magna, with LC 50 values of 3.84%, 2.68%, 2.05%, and 1.78% at 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 96 h, respectively.

In developing countries, nitrogen in the traditional market wastewater is a critical environmental problem. In this study, the microalga Chlorella sp., which was isolated from wastewater, was used to remove the total nitrogen (TN) from conventional market wastewater in combination with audible sound (Vietnamese classical music). In addition, effects of sound exposure on removal efficiency at different initial cell densities were analyzed. Results revealed that music sound control demonstrates potential to improve the removal efficiency. TN removal efficiencies of 96%, 69.5%, and 4.3% were observed for treatments with Chlorella sp./audible sound, Chlorella sp., and without Chlorella sp., respectively. The significance of probability value (p-value) (<0.05) on the paired sample t-test confirmed the critical role of audible sound and Chlorella sp. density on the TN removal in screening experiments. The predicted optimal conditions for TN removal were as follows: a Chlorella sp. density of 4%, an audible sound of 52.5 dB, and a cultivation time of 4.6 days. Results based on statistical analysis revealed that the quadratic models for TN removal are significant at a low p-value (<0.05) and a high predicted coefficient of determination (R 2 = 0.9452) value. The obtained statistical results also indicated that most of the variables are significant for the abatement of TN from market wastewater using Chlorella sp.

Introduction and Importance: The treatment of a fractures in tibial distal metaphyseal remained controversial. The purpose of this study was to assess the results and complications of minimally invasive medial plate osteosynthesis for distal metaphyseal tibial fractures., Material and Method: From April 2014 to December 2019, 70 patients were enrolled in the study who were underwent MIPPO for metaphyseal tibial fractures using a medial distal tibial locking plate in our hospital. Wound healing, alignment, full weight bearing time, function, and complications were recorded., Results: All wounds primarily healed, just one fibular plating wound was deeply infected. All tibial fractures were solid union without secondary displacement. The average time back to walk without a crutch was 12,5 weeks. The mean AOFAS score was 89 at a mean of 15 months follow-up. There were seven cases of late infection, 14 patients of skin impingement by implants and nine cases of broken screws, who were older than 65 years old. No case was varus, valgus or rotation >5°., Conclusion: Minimally invasive medial plate osteosynthesis for the distal metaphyseal tibial fracture is safe and effective. This technique decreases the incidence of complications and can help patients to resume their function early. The implant impingement, late wound infections and screw breakage were the quite common complications in old patients but these complications could be simply resolved and did not affect the overall rehabilitation and functions of the patient., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Emerging from early of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the most serious health crisis globally. In response to such threat, a wide range of digital health applications has been deployed in Vietnam to strengthen surveillance, risk communication, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19. Digital health has brought enormous benefits to the fight against COVID-19, however, numerous constrains in digital health application remain. Lack of strong governance of digital health development and deployment; insufficient infrastructure and staff capacity for digital health application are among the main drawbacks. Despite several outstanding problems, digital health is expected to contribute to reducing the spread, improving the effectiveness of pandemic control, and adding to the dramatic transformation of the health system the post-COVID era., Competing Interests: The 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 © 2021 Bui, Ha, Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen, Tran, Tran, Nguyen, Tran, Pham and Bui.)

The formation of aerobic granular sludge was carried out in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for tapioca processing wastewater treatment. The effect of organic loading rates (OLRs) in the range of 2.5-10.0 kg COD m -3 day -1 on the granulation was investigated. The size and settleability of the aerobic granular sludge increased with increasing OLR from 2.5 to 7.5 kg COD m -3 day -1 . The mature granules had an average size of 2.5 mm and good settleability with the sludge volume index (SVI) lower than 50 mL g -1 . The granules had a layered structure consisting of anoxic sludge core with nematodes and an outer aerobic layer surrounded by stalked ciliates. Removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and NH 4 + -N reached 90.0%-93.0% and 86.6%-92.5%, respectively. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification at the OLR of 7.5 kg COD m -3 day -1 resulted in the improvement of total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency to 66.1%., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)