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We conducted a study in Binh Phuoc, Vietnam, in 2015 on the therapeutic efficacy of dihydroartemisinin/piperaquine for Plasmodium falciparum malaria. A high number of treatment failures (14/40) was found, and piperaquine resistance in Vietnam was confirmed. A change in the malaria treatment policy for Vietnam is in process. more...

Fascioliasis, only foodborne trematodiasis of worldwide distribution, is caused by Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica, liver flukes transmitted by freshwater snails. Southern and southeastern Asia is an emerging hot spot of F. gigantica, despite its hitherto less involvement in human infection. In Vietnam, increasing cases have been reported since 1995, whereas only sixteen throughout 1800–1994. A database was created to include epidemiological data of fascioliasis patients from the 63 Vietnam provinces throughout 1995–2019. Case profiles were based on serology, symptoms, eosinophilia, imaging techniques, stool egg finding, and post-specific-treatment recovery. Radio broadcasting about symptoms and costless diagnosis/treatment led patients to hospitals after symptom onset. Yearly case numbers were modelled and spatio-temporally analyzed. Missing data and confounders were assessed. The countrywide spread has no precedent. It started in the central coast, including 53,109 patients, mostly adults and females. Seasonality, linked to vegetable consumption, peaks in June, although the intensity of this peak differs according to relief/climatic zones. Incidence data and logistic regression curves are obtained for the first time in human fascioliasis. Fasciolid hybrids accompanying the spreading F. gigantica flukes, and climate change assessed by risk index correlations, are both ruled out as outbreak causes. Human-guided movements of livestock from an original area prove to be the way used by fasciolids and lymnaeid vectors to expand geographically. Radix viridis, a highly efficient transmitting and colonizing vector, played a decisive role in the spread. The use of irrigated crop fields, widely inhabited by R. viridis, for livestock grazing facilitated the transmission and spread of the disease. General physician awareness and diagnostic capacity improvement proved the successful impact of such knowledge transfer in facilitating and increasing patient infection detection. Information, education and communication to the public by radio broadcasting demonstrated to be very helpful. Fasciola gigantica is able to cause epidemic and endemic situations similar to F. hepatica. The magnitude of the human outbreak in Vietnam is a health wake-up call for southern and southeastern countries of Asia which present the highest human population densities with increasing food demands, uncontrolled livestock inter-country exchange, foreign import practices, and monsoon's increasing climate change impact. more...

Abstract Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 (NPC1L1) is essential for intestinal cholesterol absorption. Together with the cholesterol-rich and Flotillin-positive membrane microdomain, NPC1L1 is internalized via clathrin-mediated endocytosis and transported to endocytic recycling compartment (ERC). When ERC cholesterol level decreases, NPC1L1 interacts with LIMA1 and moves back to plasma membrane. However, how cholesterol leaves ERC is unknown. Here, we find that, in male mice, intracellular bile acids facilitate cholesterol transport to other organelles, such as endoplasmic reticulum, in a non-micellar fashion. When cholesterol level in ERC is decreased by bile acids, the NPC1L1 carboxyl terminus that previously interacts with the cholesterol-rich membranes via the A1272LAL residues dissociates from membrane, exposing the Q1277KR motif for LIMA1 recruitment. Then NPC1L1 moves back to plasma membrane. This study demonstrates an intracellular cholesterol transport function of bile acids and explains how the substantial amount of cholesterol in NPC1L1-positive compartments is unloaded in enterocytes during cholesterol absorption. more...

AbstractAlzheimer disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia characterized by the progressive cognitive and social decline. Clinical drug targets have heavily focused on the amyloid hypothesis, with amyloid beta (Aβ), and tau proteins as key pathophysiologic markers of AD. However, no effective treatment has been developed so far, which prompts researchers to focus on other aspects of AD beyond Aβ, and tau proteins. Additionally, there is a mounting epidemiologic evidence that various environmental factors influence the development of dementia and that dementia etiology is likely heterogenous. In the past decades, new risk factors or potential etiologies have been widely studied. Here, we review several novel epidemiologic and clinical research developments that focus on sleep, hypoxia, diet, gut microbiota, and hearing impairment and their links to AD published in recent years. At the frontiers of AD research, these findings and updates could be worthy of further attention. more...

To ensure the quality and effectiveness of nanoparticle material for specific applications, it is essential to eliminate contaminants or unreacted substances produced during the green synthesis process using leaf extract. In this study, dialysis membranes with a molecular weight cut‐off (MWCO) of approximately 12,000–14,000 Dalton (Da) were employed to remove metal ions, chlorides, and polyphenols from the zerovalent bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) suspension, instead of using centrifugation or filtration, which causes solvent loss to the environment. Our research results showed that the efficiency of removing impurities and residual components achieved by the dialysis membrane was relatively high. Furthermore, alterations in specific characteristics of BNPs following dialysis were also observed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Hyperglycemia, increased inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction in diabetes may eventually cause kidney damage. Black rice cyanidin-3-glucoside has anti-hyperglycemic and anti-osteoporosis effects. Whether it has preventive effects on renal dysfunction in diabetes has not been reported. In this study, a rat model of diabetic nephropathy was established, and cyanidin-3-glucoside was administered for 56 days, lisinopril was administered as the positive control. The research found that black rice cyanidin-3-glucoside supplementation decreased glucose, prevented insulin resistance, repaired kidney function of diabetic rats, prevented renal interstitial fibrosis, glomerulosclerosis, and oxidative stress of diabetic rats. The inflammatory cytokines were significantly reduced in cyanidin-3-glucoside treated group. The renal Nrf2 mRNA level was evaluated, renal TNF-α mRNA, and NF-κΒ mRNA expression levels was decreased in cyanidin-3-glucoside treated group. Immunohistochemical results showed that cyanidin-3-glucoside inhibited transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), phosphorylated Smad2 (p-Smad2), phosphorylated Smad3 (p-Smad3), type IV collagen, fibronetin, and laminin expression in the kidney of diabetic rats. Our results indicate cyanidin-3-glucoside can protect against diabetic nephropathy in rats; it is mainly attributed to its anti-insulin resistance, anti-oxidative stress, anti-inflammation, as well as inhibit TGF-β1/p-Smads expression and extracellular matrix (ECM) aggregation. more...

Abstract Background Plasmodium vivax malaria elimination can only be achieved by the deployment of 8-aminoquinolines (primaquine and tafenoquine) in combination with ACT to kill both blood and liver-stage parasites. However, primaquine and the other 8-aminoquinolines cause dose-dependent haemolysis in subjects with G6PD deficiency, an X-linked disorder of red blood cells that is very common in populations living in tropical and subtropical areas. In order to inform safer use of 8-aminoquinolines in the Greater Mekong Subregion, a multi-centre study was carried out to assess the prevalence of G6PD deficiency and to identify the main G6PD variants in samples collected in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Methods Blood samples were collected in the five countries during National Malaria Surveys or during Population Surveys. During Population Surveys samples were characterized for G6PD phenotype using the Fluorescent Spot Test. Samples were then genotyped for a panel of G6PD mutations. Results G6PD deficiency was found to be common in the region with an overall mean prevalence of deficient or mutated hemizygous males of 14.0%, ranging from a mean 7.3% in Thailand, 8.1% in Lao PDR, 8.9% in Vietnam, 15.8% in Myanmar and 18.8% in Cambodia. Mahidol and Viangchan mutations were the most common and widespread variants found among the nine investigated. Conclusions Owing to the high prevalence of G6PD deficiency in the Greater Mekong Subregion, strategies for vivax malaria elimination should include point-of-care G6PD testing (both qualitative and quantitative) to allow safe and wide treatment with 8-aminoquinolines. more...

This paper presents an energy-saving and lifetime-maximizing solution for the LoRa wireless mesh network (WMN). Energy dissipation is a crucial factor affecting the usability of the LoRa WMN. In the worst cases, in systems without electric mains, the life of a sensor node battery may last for only a few hours. Two proposed solutions are characterized as energy-saving due to the use of deep sleep in the ESP8266-12F microcontroller. This allows the optimization of duty cycling, which refers to the ratio between active and inactive periods of sensor nodes power-gating the node, i.e. turning off all circuitries. This solution benefits applications using active power-hungry sensors sampled many times daily. Notably, reducing power consumption during idle time increases the optimal battery life by up to hundreds of times. As a result, the automatic uptime of a LoRa WMN can increase from days to months or even years, depending on usage. Therefore, energy-saving must be optimized if the node is to be installed in locations without a grid or renewable energy source. Experimental results show that the proposed energy-saving solution is more effective than those introduced by previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...