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Background: phenotypic approach in the treatment of COPD is lacking in general medical facilities, despite the importance of this data. Objectives: The study aimed to identify divergences in features, pharmacologic regimens of COPD by clinical phenotypes in the real-life context of care units in Can Tho City that manage outpatients with chronic respiratory diseases. Materials and methods: a prospective cohort study was carried out. We enrolled 158 patients who met the sampling criteria for this study. Data collected include (1) biometric characteristics, (2) medical history, (3) characteristics of COPD (including: symptoms, chest radiograph, peripheral blood eosinophil count, pulmonary ventilation parameters, bronchodilator test, and pharmacological regimen). COPD were classified into three phenotypic groups according to the criteria of the 2017 Spanish guideline (GesEPOC) and were also categorized into four groups (ABCD) according to the 2019 GOLD guideline. Results: the clinical AE phenotype was predominant at 41.8%, whereas the NON-AE and ACO was 38.6% and 19.6%. According to the GOLD, classifying as group A, B, C, D is 19%, 34.8%, 10.1%, and 36.1%, respectively. Between the different phenotypic groups, there were a variety of variances in the eosinophil count of the peripheral blood, but there were no changes in some kinds of chest radiograph images. Response-to-bronchodilator-test rate was higher in the ACO phenotype than in the NON-AE and the AE phenotypes. All ACO patients who received LABA/ICS. The proportion of using LABA/ICS accounted for most NON-AE and AE patients. Conclusions: among clinical phenotypes, the AE phenotype accounted for the highest percentage. There were differences in the clinical characteristics among phenotypes. ICS using is popular among COPD patients.

Agricultural wastes can be converted into biofuels. To meet the requirements of biofuels, the conditions of their manufacturing process for these products must be considered. The purpose of this research is to optimize experimental designs for converting biomass into energy products like pyrolysis and pelleting process. The products were optimized in terms of their energy performance while lowering CO2 emissions. In Tien Giang province, we experimented with pyrolysis and pelleting biowastes derived from an integrated farming system in acid sulfate soil. The experimental factors influencing the energy content of products were determined using statistical analysis and optimization methods, and the potential CO2 emissions from the products were calculated. The optimization results revealed that the ideal pyrolysis parameters were 120 minutes of combustion time at 400oC and 30% moisture content of orchard pruning residues. The best pellets were obtained by combining biogas sludge and biochar from mango pruning residues. These products will store approximately 900 kilograms of CO2 emissions a year. The optimized processes would benefit the environment and bring profits to the system.

This study focused on evaluating the diagnostic performance of the lung point (LP)- a lung ultrasound (LUS) sign in detecting and semi-quantifying pneumothorax (PTX), using computed tomography (CT) as the reference standard. The study included 150 patients who underwent CT-guided transthoracic biopsy (TTB) for lung lesions. Two radiologists blinded to the participant’s prior information performed LUS post-biopsy. The results showed that PTX was present on CT in 49/150 (32.3%) cases. The LP was positive in 36/150 (24%) patients, with a substantial agreement between the two radiologists (Cohen κ statistics = 0.8). The sensitivity and specificity of the LP were 73.5% (95%CI 66.5% to 80.5) and 100% (95%CI 97.6% to 100%), respectively. Moreover, the positive and negative predictive values were 100% (95%CI 97.6% to 100%) and 67.3% (95%CI 59.8% to 78.4%), respectively. In the semi-quantification of PTX, the location of LP was described in 36/49 (73.5%) patients. The sensitivity and specificity of this sign were 87.5% (95%CI 82.2% to 92.8%) and 96.4% (95%CI 92.4% to 98.9%), respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 87.5% (95%CI 82.2% to 92.8%) and 96.4% (95%CI 92.4% to 98.9%), respectively. In conclusion, LP is a susceptible and specific LUS sign for diagnosing and semi-quantifying PTX.

Preclinical and clinical studies demonstrate that T cell-dependent bispecific antibodies (TDBs) induce systemic changes in addition to tumor killing, leading to adverse events. Here, we report an in-depth characterization of acute responses to TDBs in tumor-bearing mice. Contrary to modest changes in tumors, rapid and substantial lymphocyte accumulation and endothelial cell (EC) activation occur around large blood vessels in normal organs including the liver. We hypothesize that organ-specific ECs may account for the differential responses in normal tissues and tumors, and we identify a list of genes selectively upregulated by TDB in large liver vessels. Using one of the genes as an example, we demonstrate that CD9 facilitates ICAM-1 to support T cell-EC interaction in response to soluble factors released from a TDB-mediated cytotoxic reaction. Our results suggest that multiple factors may cooperatively promote T cell infiltration into normal organs as a secondary response to TDB-mediated tumor killing. These data shed light on how different vascular beds respond to cancer immunotherapy and may help improve their safety and efficacy.

SUMMARYThe thyroid functions at the apex of a web of endocrine organs that control cell growth, differentiation and metabolic homeostasis. Thyroid dysregulation significantly impacts human health in myriad ways with thyroid diseases standing as the most common endocrine disorder. Despite the essential role of the thyroid in human health, a high-resolution view of the cellular composition as well as molecular mechanisms that govern function of this crucial organ have been lacking. Employing the first single-cell analyses of adult mouse thyroid, we here report the discovery of unexpected thyrocyte heterogeneity, specifically three distinct thyrocyte subtypes marked by different metabolic and Notch signaling patterns. Using a battery of pharmacologic and genetic methods, we find that selective inhibition of Notch ligands and receptors disrupts thyrocyte mitochondrial activity and ROS production, thus decreasing levels of circulating thyroid hormones, inducing hypothyroidism and disrupting whole-body thermoregulation. We find an enriched frequency of hypothyroidism in children with Alagille Syndrome, a genetic disorder marked by Notch loss-of-function mutations, suggesting that our Notch-thyroid mechanisms are relevant in humans and directly account for Alagille hypothyroidism. Overall, our work reveals that Notch, although classically described as a developmental pathway that determines cell fate, controls homeostasis and thermoregulation in the adult through a mitochondria-based mechanism in a subset of thyrocytes. Our fine-grained picture of the thyroid unveils a novel understanding of this key metabolic organ and provides clinically impactful insights into its pathological dysfunctions.

The single nucleotide polymorphisms of the XRCC3 gene including rs1799794 affect the DNA double-strand break/repair. Therefore, it plays a critical part in the initiation of carcinogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the distribution of rs1799794 and the association between rs1799794 and breast cancer risk. The study was performed in 208 Vietnamese females suffering from breast cancer and 208 age-matched normal healthy controls. DNA was extracted from whole blood whilst genotyping was conducted using PCR-RFLP. The results show that the frequency of the A and G allele in the case group are 0.575 and 0.425, in the control group are 0.548 and 0.452. The frequency of AA, AG, GG genotype in the case group are 34.6, 45.7, and 19.7%; in the control group are 33.2, 43.3, and 23.5%. AG genotype of rs1799794 associated with disease onset early of breast cancer, increasing the risk of breast cancer among those who were 45 years old and younger. The GG genotype has protective effects and reduces the risk of breast cancer in the age group ≤45 years.

Background: Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death among adolescents. Therefore, research on the risk of unintentional injury among adolescents is imperative in public health because adolescents are the future generations of each country. However, studies on the real situation of unintentional injury and associated factors among adolescents in Vietnam are still limited. Objectives: Describe the situation of risk behaviors towards unintentional injury to adolescent health and associated factors in Hanoi in 2019. Methods: We used a cross-sectional study using multi-stage sampling design. A total of 3,443 subjects who were students from high schools in Hanoi agreed to participate in the study. The data was collected by online self-answered through KoboToolbox software, then aggregated on Microsoft Excel and analyzed by STATA 14.0 software. Results: Fourteen percent of students said that they used to smoke, 51.6% said that they used to drink alcohol. About 6.9% of adolescents said they rarely or never wore a helmet, 30% said they had at least once used the phone and 8.2% admitted that they had ever drank alcohol, beer before driving. Regarding the group of violent behavios, nearly 4.8% of students have been carrying weapons with them in the past 30 days, 6.5% have had at least 1 fight in the past 12 months, 2.4% said that they had been sexually abused at least once and about 11.6% of the students said that they had experienced bullying at school. Smoking (OR = 2.21), drinking alcohol (OR = 2.08), and had psychology problems for 2 weeks (OR = 1.61) had increased the risk of performing risk behaviors that may lead to the unintentional injuries. Conclusions and Implication: The prevalence of adolescents in Hanoi who engage in risk behaviors that can lead to unintentional injury was high. Factors such as smoking, drinking or having psychological problems increased the risk of these behaviors. We recommend that family and school should educate for adolescents to raise the awareness when driving and avoid substance abuse. In addition, family and school also need to promptly detect school violence and provide psychological supports when adolescents experienced psychological problems. Keywords: unintentional injury, smoking, alcohol use, adolescent, Hanoi

Moisturizers play an essential role in maintaining the integrity of the skin barrier by increasing stratum corneum hydration (SCH) and reducing transepidermal water loss (TEWL). According to dermatology and allergy guidelines, moisturizers should be applied on the skin within 3 min after bathing or showering. However, there is very little evidence supporting this recommendation. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of immediate and delayed moisturizing after bathing/washing on the improvement of SCH and TEWL.This was a crossover study of 60 healthy Vietnamese volunteers aged 18-25 years. In each subject, SCH and TEWL levels were measured at three areas: non-moisturized, immediate moisturizing after washing, and delayed moisturizing at 30 min after washing.In non-moisturized skin, SCH and TEWL levels were significantly different from the baseline at 60 min after washing, while significantly decreased TEWL levels were observed immediately after moisturizing. In addition, moisturized skin had significantly higher SCH and lower TEWL levels compared with non-moisturized areas at every time point (p 0.05). Interestingly, the percentage changes of SCH and TEWL levels from baseline did not differ between immediately and delayed moisturized areas.Tested moisturizer helped increase SCH and decrease TEWL; however, there was no difference in moisturizing effectiveness between immediate and delayed moisturizing in healthy skin. The recommendation of immediate application of moisturizers after bathing/washing should be reconsidered, and more studies are needed to establish a stronger recommendation.

In the context of globalization and economic integration, labor mobility in general, international labor migration and export in particular are increasingly playing an important role in reshaping the future of the world’s economic geography. This study is conducted to provide insights into employment, costs and incomes of export labors in Yen Khe, Thanh Ba district, Phu Tho province. In-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys were applied to collect primary data on employment, costs and incomes of export labors, related issues and consequences. These were also supplemented by the secondary data collected from different sources during the study process. The study found that labor export not only helps to create jobs, reduce unemployment and underemployment, but also to diversify jobs for workers, contributing to the restructure of the local economy. Remittances from export labors contribute directly to the increase of individual workers and their families’ incomes, transforming the income structure in the way that is less dependent on local livelihood capitals and local livelihood strategies. However, labor export has also posed issues and consequences for export labors and their families. Notably, the status of illegal labor abroad, investment capital for labor export and related debt, services for labor export, voluntary unemployment, family conflicts, income inequality caused by remittances.

​​Notch signaling regulates cell fate decisions during development and maintenance of many organs. During hepatogenesis, an active NOTCH2 signal is required for specification of the cholangiocyte lineage, while hepatoblasts remaining in a Notch-off state contribute to the default hepatocyte lineage. Notch pathway activation has been reported in liver tumors, although Notch-related liver cancer mutations are rare. We identified a subset of hepatocellular carcinoma that is exceptionally sensitive to the inhibition of a JAG1-NOTCH2 signal in a mouse preclinical trial using 47 liver cancer PDX models. Transcriptional profiling revealed that the sensitive models resemble a progenitor-like state. Highly selective therapeutic antibodies targeting either the JAG1 ligand or the NOTCH2 receptor triggered hepatocyte differentiation programs and tumor regressions.Single cell analyses revealed heterogeneous transcriptional states at baseline, some of which were profoundly perturbed upon Notch inhibition. Topic modeling combined with inference of transcription factor activities suggested the involvement of HNF4α and C/EBPα in treatment induced changes. Through its target HES1, Notch signaling directly represses C/EBPα expression. Notch inhibition derepresses C/EBPα which then binds chromatin in cooperation with HNF4α. We found that this cooperative binding results in expression of genes associated with mature hepatocyte activity, which was incompatible with tumor maintenance. Importantly, we identify hallmarks to aid the identification of this relatively rare tumor type. We suggest that inducing cell states towards differentiated, less aggressive states, especially using targeted single-agent therapeutics, holds great promise for the treatment of certain tumors in the liver and, by extension, possibly in other progenitor-like cancers. Citation Format: Kerstin Seidel, Robert Piskol, Thi Thu Thao Nguyen, Charisa Cottonham, Mark Merchant, Christian Siebel. Inhibition of Notch signaling causes progenitor-to-hepatocyte differentiation and regressions in a subset of hepatocellular carcinoma by controlling C/EBPα expression and HNF4α activity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 679.

Multiphase CT scanning of the liver is performed for several clinical applications; however, radiation exposure from CT scanning poses a nontrivial cancer risk to the patients. The radiation dose may be reduced by determining the scan range of the subsequent scans by the location of the target of interest in the first scan phase. The purpose of this study is to present and assess an automatic method for determining the scan range for multiphase CT scans. Our strategy is to first apply a CNN-based method for detecting the liver in 2D slices, and to use a liver range search algorithm for detecting the liver range in the scout volume. The target liver scan range for subsequent scans can be obtained by adding safety margins achieved from Gaussian liver motion models to the scan range determined from the scout. Experiments were performed on 657 multiphase CT volumes obtained from multiple hospitals. The experiment shows that the proposed liver detection method can detect the liver in 223 out of a total of 224 3D volumes on average within one second, with mean intersection of union, wall distance and centroid distance of 85.5%, 5.7 mm and 9.7 mm, respectively. In addition, the performance of the proposed liver detection method is comparable to the best of the state-of-the-art 3D liver detectors in the liver detection accuracy while it requires less processing time. Furthermore, we apply the liver scan range generation method on the liver CT images acquired from radiofrequency ablation and Y-90 transarterial radioembolization (selective internal radiation therapy) interventions of 46 patients from two hospitals. The result shows that the automatic scan range generation can significantly reduce the effective radiation dose by an average of 14.5% (2.56 mSv) compared to manual performance by the radiographer from Y-90 transarterial radioembolization, while no statistically significant difference in performance was found with the CT images from intra RFA intervention (p = 0.81). Finally, three radiologists assess both the original and the range-reduced images for evaluating the effect of the range reduction method on their clinical decisions. We conclude that the automatic liver scan range generation method is able to reduce excess radiation compared to the manual performance with a high accuracy and without penalizing the clinical decision.

Genetic and non-genetic heterogeneity within cancer cell populations represent major challenges to anticancer therapies. We currently lack robust methods to determine how preexisting and adaptive features affect cellular responses to therapies. Here, by conducting clonal fitness mapping and transcriptional characterization using expressed barcodes and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), we have developed tracking differential clonal response by scRNA-seq (TraCe-seq). TraCe-seq is a method that captures at clonal resolution the origin, fate and differential early adaptive transcriptional programs of cells in a complex population in response to distinct treatments. We used TraCe-seq to benchmark how next-generation dual epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor-degraders compare to standard EGFR kinase inhibitors in EGFR-mutant lung cancer cells. We identified a loss of antigrowth activity associated with targeted degradation of EGFR protein and an essential role of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein processing pathway in anti-EGFR therapeutic efficacy. Our results suggest that targeted degradation is not always superior to enzymatic inhibition and establish TraCe-seq as an approach to study how preexisting transcriptional programs affect treatment responses.

Objectives To describe the attitudes and perceptions toward nursing profession among nursing students at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Hue UMP). Method The mixed method study involved 319 nursing students from first to fourth-year. Quantitative data was collected by using the Attitudinal Scale for Nursing Profession, and participants’ subjective perception of nursing profession was collected by asking participants questions such as: "How do you feel about nursing and nursing profession?" Results The quantitative results showed that the mean score of nursing students’ attitudes toward nursing profession was 148.76 (SD = + 37.29). The average score on satisfaction for nursing profession varies from 40 to 200. The qualitative findings show perceptions classified under 2 emergent themes: 1) A career that requires passion and professionalism 2) High-pressure and a boring career. Conclusion These findings provide a preliminary understanding of nursing students’ attitudes and perceptions toward the nursing profession. The study has implications for both the nursing professors and university: Curricula have to emphasize ways of enhancing student’s positive awareness of the contemporary roles and values of the profession to students. Collaborative studies with other Universities and Colleges will assist in developing stimulus material and learning strategies that will enhance the value of the role of nurses in contemporary Vietnamese health care.

Background Maternal antenatal depression is associated with offspring socio-emotional problems. However, the impact varies across the population such that some individuals seem resilient. Genetic factors may define vulnerability/resilience to the environment, effects that likely span many molecular pathways. Despite moderate success in candidate gene approaches, genome-wide approaches in gene-environment interactions (GxE) have been under exploited. We sought to identify genes and biological pathways that moderate the relationship between Maternal Antenatal Depressive Symptoms (MADS) and child socio-emotional outcomes. Methods Our sample included 190 mother-child dyads from a Canadian longitudinal birth cohort. MADS was measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies – Depression Scale. Child socio-emotional outcomes were mother-reported at 5 years with the Child Behavior Checklist. We constructed Genomic Profile Risk Scores (GPRS) from the children's SNPs genome-wide that account for polygenic risk for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) based on risk information from the genome-wide associations with ADHD by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and applied them in our GxE model. GPRS with the smallest p-value in the GxE model was defined as the best-fit GPRS. SNPs constituting the best-fit GPRS were used in a genome-wide by environment association analysis follow-up. We used MetaCore to examine the enriched gene ontology in a subset of SNPs in the GxE model with p-values less than .01. Results GPRS moderated the relationship between MADS and child internalizing problems (p Discussion We used the GPRS for ADHD to facilitate our genome-wide approach in examining GxE and identified genes that have a moderating effect on the relationship between MADS and internalizing problems in children. The enriched biological pathways are implicated in axon development and synaptic functions, critically important in fetal neurodevelopment. These findings suggest that specific genes involved in the biological framework for antenatal neurodevelopment can confer sensitivity or resilience to the influences of MADS on mental health.

Variations in maternal care in the rat affect hippocampal morphology and function as well as performance on hippocampal-dependent tests of learning and memory in the offspring. Preliminary genome-wide analyses of gene transcription and DNA methylation of the molecular basis for such maternal effects suggested differences in the epigenetic state and transcriptional activity of the Grm1 gene in the rat as a function of maternal care. Grm1 encodes the type I metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR1), and we found increased mGluR1 mRNA and protein in hippocampus from the adult offspring of mothers showing an increased frequency of pup licking/grooming (i.e., high-LG mothers) that was associated with a decrease in the methylation of Grm1 . ChIP assays showed increased levels of histone 3 lysine 9 acetylation and histone 3 lysine 4 trimethylation of Grm1 in hippocampus from the adult offspring of high-LG compared with low-LG mothers. These histone posttranslational modifications were highly correlated, and both associate inversely with DNA methylation and positively with transcription. Studies of mGluR1 function showed increased hippocampal mGluR1-induced long-term depression in the adult offspring of high-LG compared with low-LG mothers, as well as increased paired-pulse depression (PPD). PPD is an inhibitory feedback mechanism that prevents excessive glutamate release during high-frequency stimulation. The maternal effects on both long-term depression and PPD were eliminated by treatment with an mGluR1-selective antagonist. These findings suggest that variations in maternal care can influence hippocampal function and cognitive performance through the epigenetic regulation of genes implicated in glutamatergic synaptic signaling.