Factors related to vaccines for both patients exposed with rabies and dogs

ABSTRACT Introduction: Rabies is a viral disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans. All warm-blooded animals, including humans, can host rabies's virus. Vaccination of dogs is an effective method of preventing rabies in humans. Objectives: To evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practices towards rabies prevention and factors related to vaccines for both patients exposed with rabies and dogs. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study, using the questionnaire on rabies prevention by interviewing 1 484 households. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors related to vaccines for both patients exposed to rabies and dogs. Results: Of all 67.32 % of the people surveyed with high knowledge, only 43.8 % and 31.47 % were assessed as having a good attitude and practice. Interviewees with poor knowledge and practice are independently related to low-rate vaccines provision for pets. Factors associated with low vaccination rates after pet bites were poor attitudes and practices. Conclusion: People with a high level of education, knowledge and practice, the rabies vaccination rate on pets is high. People with good attitudes and practices had a high rate of rabies vaccination after being bitten by an animal.

RESUMEN Introducción: La rabia es una enfermedad viral que puede transmitirse de animales a humanos. Todos los animales de sangre caliente, incluidos los humanos, pueden albergar el virus de la rabia. La vacunación de perros es un método eficaz para prevenir la rabia en humanos. Objetivos: Evaluar conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas de la comunidad hacia la prevención de la rabia y los factores relacionados con las vacunas, tanto para pacientes expuestos como para perros. Métodos: Estudio descriptivo transversal, se utilizó un cuestionario sobre prevención de la rabia, mediante entrevistas en 1 484 hogares. Se realizó un análisis de regresión logística multivariable para identificar los factores relacionados con las vacunas, tanto para pacientes expuestos como para los perros. Resultados: Del 67,32 % de encuestados, con alto conocimiento, solo el 43,8 % y el 31,47 % fueron evaluados como de buena actitud y práctica. Los entrevistados con insuficiente conocimiento y prácticas se relacionan de forma independiente con la baja provisión de vacunas para las mascotas. Las razones de bajas tasas de vacunación después de las mordeduras causadas por mascotas fueron las malas actitudes y prácticas. Conclusión: Las personas con nivel alto de práctica, educación y conocimientos, tienen elevados niveles de vacunación antirrábica de sus mascotas. Después de la mordedura de un animal, las personas con buenas prácticas y actitudes, tienen más altos niveles de vacunación antirrábica.

Assessment of arsenic contamination of milk and dairy products / Evaluación de la contaminación por arsénico de la leche y productos lácteos

ABSTRACTS Introduction: Milk and dairy products are nutritious and can play a significant role in a healthy diet. The safety of milk decreases with increasing concentration of arsenic. The Maximum Residue Limits of arsenic is 500 parts per billion (ppb). Objectives: To evaluate the status of arsenic contamination of milk and dairy products produced and processed in some provinces and cities of Vietnam. Methods: A total of 367 samples were tested. Samples were digested before analysis to remove organic compounds, and the total arsenic content determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Results: The average concentrations of total arsenic in liquid milk were 139.32 ppb; in yogurt, 169.81 ppb; in cheese, 221.38 ppb; in milk cake, 232.80 ppb; and in milk powder, 35.43 ppb, respectively. Conclusion: The arsenic concentrations in some samples are higher than the maximum permitted levels according to national regulations.

RESUMEN Introducción: La leche y los productos lácteos son nutritivos y pueden desempeñar un papel importante en una dieta saludable. La seguridad de la leche disminuye con el aumento de la concentración de arsénico. Los límites máximos de residuos de arsénico son 500 ppb. Objetivos: Evaluar el estado de contaminación por arsénico de la leche y los productos lácteos producidos y procesados ​​en algunas provincias y ciudades de Vietnam. Métodos: Se analizaron un total de 367 muestras. Las muestras se digirieron antes del análisis, para eliminar los compuestos orgánicos y se determinó el contenido total de arsénico mediante espectrofotometría de absorción atómica. Resultados: Las concentraciones promedio de arsénico total en la leche líquida fueron 139,32 ppb; en el yogur, 169,81 ppb; en el queso, 221,38 ppb; en el pastel de leche, 232,80 ppb; y en la leche en polvo, 35,43 ppb, respectivamente. Conclusión: Las concentraciones de arsénico en algunas muestras superan los niveles máximos permitidos según la normativa nacional.

The Levels of COVID-19 Related Health Literacy among University Students in Vietnam

Background@#Vietnam is among the few countries that were successful in the fight against the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, subsequent domestic outbreaks of COVID-19 continue to occur. To sharp the community education program to guarantee the final success in the fight against COVID-19 in Vietnam and comparable countries, we examined the levels of COVID-19 knowledge and associated predictors among university students in Vietnam. @*Materials and Methods@#A cross-sectional study was conducted on all students enrolling at Phenikaa University using a self-developed questionnaire consisted of 20 questions regarding COVID-19's risk factors, transmission routes, symptoms, and prevention. @*Results@#Among 728 participants, 40.9% were male, 63.2% studied health-related majors, and 18.1% lived alone. Correct response rates ranged from 25.3% to 98.9% across 20 questions. Only 51.9% (378/728) of participants had good knowledge levels. Studying health majors (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.547, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.398 - 0.751, P <0.001), and living with the seniors (AOR 0.612, 95% CI 0.389 - 0.963, P= 0.034) or with friends (AOR 0.405, 95% CI 0.252 – 0.650, P <0.001) were negatively associated with a poor level of COVID-19 knowledge. @*Conclusion@#The proportion of university students having good knowledge levels is suboptimal. It is essential to improve the quality of COVID-19 education with a more focus on not only the preventive measures, but also the disease itself. More studies are needed to improve the level of COVID-19 knowledge among those living alone or do not study healthrelated majors.

The Levels of COVID-19 Related Health Literacy among University Students in Vietnam

Background@#Vietnam is among the few countries that were successful in the fight against the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, subsequent domestic outbreaks of COVID-19 continue to occur. To sharp the community education program to guarantee the final success in the fight against COVID-19 in Vietnam and comparable countries, we examined the levels of COVID-19 knowledge and associated predictors among university students in Vietnam. @*Materials and Methods@#A cross-sectional study was conducted on all students enrolling at Phenikaa University using a self-developed questionnaire consisted of 20 questions regarding COVID-19's risk factors, transmission routes, symptoms, and prevention. @*Results@#Among 728 participants, 40.9% were male, 63.2% studied health-related majors, and 18.1% lived alone. Correct response rates ranged from 25.3% to 98.9% across 20 questions. Only 51.9% (378/728) of participants had good knowledge levels. Studying health majors (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.547, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.398 - 0.751, P <0.001), and living with the seniors (AOR 0.612, 95% CI 0.389 - 0.963, P= 0.034) or with friends (AOR 0.405, 95% CI 0.252 – 0.650, P <0.001) were negatively associated with a poor level of COVID-19 knowledge. @*Conclusion@#The proportion of university students having good knowledge levels is suboptimal. It is essential to improve the quality of COVID-19 education with a more focus on not only the preventive measures, but also the disease itself. More studies are needed to improve the level of COVID-19 knowledge among those living alone or do not study healthrelated majors.

Who Influences the Public Intention to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine and What are the Public References and Concerns? A Population Survey in Vietnam

Background@#Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine acceptance is influenced by the trusted recommenders. This survey examined the public references, concerns, and trust in seven groups of recommenders regarding COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnam. @*Materials and Methods@#A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 1,579 participants between April 16 and July 16, 2021. Participants’ references, concerns, and responses to vaccination recommendations made by government officials, employers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, senior family members, and religious leaders were captured using a selfadministered questionnaire. @*Results@#Rates of trust ranged from 18.5% to 89.1%. The highest rates were attributable to government (89.1%) and physicians (85.9%). Less than half of participants would accept the vaccines if pharmacists (45.5%), nurses (44.7%), employers (42.4%), senior family members (28.1%), and religious leaders (18.4%) recommended it. Only 37.6% of participants thought that vaccines were safe for them, while 57% were unsure. Most participants would wait and see how people respond to the vaccines before getting vaccinated (91.5%), preferred to receive the vaccines at public hospitals (88.6%), and were concerned about vaccine effectiveness (86.9%) and side effects (76.4%), while 61.8% were concerned about vaccine cost. @*Conclusion@#Focusing on the personal benefit and relying on the government, physicians, and social role models would make the vaccine advertising campaigns more effective. If annual vaccinations were needed, providing the community with affordable vaccines would be an appropriate, long-term solution to ensure vaccination coverage in low-resource countries like Vietnam. Further studies are needed to examine reasons for the public reference of vaccination centers which may help in improving their confidence in getting the vaccine, regardless of the settings.

Bibliometrics of Vietnam Publications in the Science Citation Index: general trends and comparison with other tropical countries

Introduction: The economy of Vietnam, a highly populated tropical country with a per capita gross domestic product of $ 8 000, is growing rapidly, but there are few recent studies of general scope about its scientific productivity and how it compares with other tropical countries. Objective: To identify trends in Vietnamese science and compare them with trends in other tropical countries. Methods: We extracted data about scientific papers, in all disciplines that had Vietnam as country in the Science Citation Index Expanded for the period 1991 to 2018, focusing on type of publication, language, subject, authorship, collaboration, and citations. Results: Vietnam publishes more document types than other tropical countries, and those in this particular database are mostly in English, albeit most Vietnamese science is published in Vietnamese and not covered by the index. The primary categories were multidisciplinary materials science, mathematics, and applied mathematics. Most collaboration was done with the USA, Japan, South Korea, and France. A large number of articles were published by the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, and the most frequent foreign collaboration was with the University of Oxford. Conclusion: The tropical countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia studied in our project have some similarities but also crucial differences. Science is developing rapidly in Vietnam and the production of articles in Vietnamese, which represent the vast majority of research in the country but is not included in this database, should also be studied.

Introducción: La economía de Vietnam, un país tropical muy poblado con un producto interno bruto per cápita de $ 8000, está creciendo rápidamente, pero hay pocos estudios recientes y de enfoque general sobre su productividad científica y cómo se compara con la de otros países tropicales. Objetivo: Identificar tendencias en la ciencia vietnamita y compararlas con las tendencias en otros países tropicales. Métodos: Extrajimos datos sobre artículos científicos, en todas las disciplinas que tenían a Vietnam como "país" en el Science Citation Index Expanded para el período 1991 a 2018, centrándonos en el tipo de publicación, idioma, tema, autoría, colaboración y citas. Resultados: Vietnam publica más tipos de documentos que otros países tropicales, y los de esta base de datos en particular están principalmente en inglés, aunque la mayoría de la ciencia vietnamita se publica en vietnamita y no está cubierta por el índice. Las categorías principales fueron ciencia de materiales (estudios multidisciplinarios), matemáticas y matemáticas aplicadas. La mayor parte de la colaboración se realizó con EE. UU., Japón, Corea del Sur y Francia. La Academia de Ciencia y Tecnología de Vietnam publicó una proporción importante de estos artículos, y la colaboración extranjera más frecuente fue con la Universidad de Oxford. Conclusión: los países tropicales de América Latina, África y Asia estudiados en nuestro proyecto tienen tanto similitudes como diferencias importantes con Vietnam. La ciencia en Vietnam está en una etapa de crecimiento y convendría estudiar los artículos que se publican en vietnamita, los cuales representan la amplia mayoría de la ciencia del país, pero no se incluyen en esta base de datos.

Usages of Computers and Smartphones to Develop Dementia Care Education Program for Asian American Family Caregivers / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVES: Families of ethnic minority persons with dementia often seek help at later stages of the disease. Little is known about the effectiveness of various methods in supporting ethnic minority dementia patients' caregivers. The objective of the study was to identify smartphone and computer usage among family caregivers of dementia patients (i.e., Korean and Vietnamese Americans) to develop dementia-care education programs for them. METHODS: Participants were asked various questions related to their computer or smartphone usage in conjunction with needs-assessment interviews. Flyers were distributed at two ethnic minority community centers in Southern California. Snowball recruitment was also utilized to reach out to the families of dementia patients dwelling in the community. RESULTS: Thirty-five family caregivers, including 20 Vietnamese and 15 Korean individuals, participated in this survey. Thirty participants (30 of 35, 85.7%) were computer users. Among those, 76.7% (23 of 30) reported daily usage and 53% (16 of 30) claimed to use social media. A majority of the participants (31 of 35, 88.6%) reported that they owned smartphones. More than half of smartphone users (18 of 29, 62%) claimed to use social media applications. Many participants claimed that they could not attend in-class education due to caregiving and/or transportation issues. CONCLUSIONS: Most family caregivers of dementia patients use smartphones more often than computers, and more than half of those caregivers communicate with others through social media apps. A smartphone-app-based caregiver intervention may serve as a more effective approach compared to the conventional in-class method. Multiple modalities for the development of caregiver interventions should be considered.

Biomass accumulation of Panax vietnamensis in cell suspension cultures varies with addition of plant growth regulators and organic additives

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the impact of plant growth regulators including kinetin (KN), benzyl adenine and naphthalene acetic acid, yeast extract and casein hydrolyzate on biomass accumulation of Vietnamese ginseng Panax vietnamensis (P. vietnamensis) in cell suspension culture.@*METHODS@#Cell suspension cultures were established from friable calluses derived from leaves and petioles of 3-year-old in-vitro P. vietnamensis plants. The cell suspension cultures were grown in Murashige and Skoog basal media supplemented with various concentrations of KN, benzyl adenine, naphthalene acetic acid, and yeast extract and casein hydrolyzate.@*RESULTS@#All tested factors generated an increase in the cell biomass of P. vietnamensis in suspension culture, but the impact of each varies depended on the factor type, concentration, and incubation period. Addition of 2.0 mg/L KN resulted in the largest biomass increase after 24 d, (57.0 ± 0.9) and (3.1 ± 0.1) mg/mL fresh and dry weight, respectively, whereas addition of benzyl adenine or naphthalene acetic acid produced optimum levels of Panax cell biomass at 1.0 and 1.5 mg/L, respectively. Addition of the elicitor yeast extract led to a 1.4-2.4 fold increase in biomass of P. vietnamensis, while addition of casein hydrolyzate enhanced biomass accumulation 1.8-2.6 fold.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The addition of each factor causes significant changes in biomass accumulation of P. vietnamensis. The largest biomass accumulation is from cultures grown in MS media containing 2.0 mg/L KN for 24 d. The outcome of the present study provides new insights into the optimal suspension culture conditions for studies on the in vitro cell biomass production of P. vietnamensis.

Biomass accumulation of Panax vietnamensis in cell suspension cultures varies with addition of plant growth regulators and organic additives

Objective To evaluate the impact of plant growth regulators including kinetin (KN), benzyl adenine and naphthalene acetic acid, yeast extract and casein hydrolyzate on biomass accumulation of Vietnamese ginseng Panax vietnamensis (P. vietnamensis) in cell suspension culture. Methods Cell suspension cultures were established from friable calluses derived from leaves and petioles of 3-year-old in-vitro P. vietnamensis plants. The cell suspension cultures were grown in Murashige and Skoog basal media supplemented with various concentrations of KN, benzyl adenine, naphthalene acetic acid, and yeast extract and casein hydrolyzate. Results All tested factors generated an increase in the cell biomass of P. vietnamensis in suspension culture, but the impact of each varies depended on the factor type, concentration, and incubation period. Addition of 2.0 mg/L KN resulted in the largest biomass increase after 24 d, (57.0 ± 0.9) and (3.1 ± 0.1) mg/mL fresh and dry weight, respectively, whereas addition of benzyl adenine or naphthalene acetic acid produced optimum levels of Panax cell biomass at 1.0 and 1.5 mg/L, respectively. Addition of the elicitor yeast extract led to a 1.4–2.4 fold increase in biomass of P. vietnamensis, while addition of casein hydrolyzate enhanced biomass accumulation 1.8–2.6 fold. Conclusions The addition of each factor causes significant changes in biomass accumulation of P. vietnamensis. The largest biomass accumulation is from cultures grown in MS media containing 2.0 mg/L KN for 24 d. The outcome of the present study provides new insights into the optimal suspension culture conditions for studies on the in vitro cell biomass production of P. vietnamensis.

Recent Advances of Vaccine Adjuvants for Infectious Diseases

Vaccines are the most effective and cost-efficient method for preventing diseases caused by infectious pathogens. Despite the great success of vaccines, development of safe and strong vaccines is still required for emerging new pathogens, re-emerging old pathogens, and in order to improve the inadequate protection conferred by existing vaccines. One of the most important strategies for the development of effective new vaccines is the selection and usage of a suitable adjuvant. Immunologic adjuvants are essential for enhancing vaccine potency by improvement of the humoral and/or cell-mediated immune response to vaccine antigens. Thus, formulation of vaccines with appropriate adjuvants is an attractive approach towards eliciting protective and long-lasting immunity in humans. However, only a limited number of adjuvants is licensed for human vaccines due to concerns about safety and toxicity. We summarize current knowledge about the potential benefits of adjuvants, the characteristics of adjuvants and the mechanisms of adjuvants in human vaccines. Adjuvants have diverse modes of action and should be selected for use on the basis of the type of immune response that is desired for a particular vaccine. Better understanding of current adjuvants will help exploring new adjuvant formulations and facilitate rational design of vaccines against infectious diseases.

Efflux-mediated resistance identified among norfloxacin resistant clinical strains of group B Streptococcus from South Korea / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES: Group B Streptococcus (GBS), a common bowel commensal, is a major cause of neonatal sepsis and an emerging cause of infection in immune-compromised adult populations. Fluoroquinolones are used to treat GBS infections in those allergic to beta-lactams, but GBS are increasingly resistant to fluoroquinolones. Fluoroquinolone resistance has been previously attributed to quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDRs) mutations. We demonstrate that some of fluoroquinolone resistance is due to efflux-mediated resistance. METHODS: We tested 20 GBS strains resistant only to norfloxacin with no mutations in the QRDRs, for the efflux phenotype using norfloxacin and ethidium bromide as substrates in the presence of the efflux inhibitor reserpine. Also tested were 68 GBS strains resistant only to norfloxacin not screened for QRDRs, and 58 GBS strains resistant to ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin or moxifloxacin. Isolates were randomly selected from 221 pregnant women (35-37 weeks of gestation) asymptomatically carrying GBS, and 838 patients with GBS infection identified in South Korea between 2006 and 2008. The VITEK II automatic system (Biomerieux, Durham, NC, USA) was used to determine fluoroquinolone resistance. RESULTS: The reserpine associated efflux phenotype was found in more than half of GBS strains resistant only to norfloxacin with no QRDR mutations, and half where QRDR mutations were unknown. No evidence of the efflux phenotype was detected in GBS strains that were resistant to moxifloxacin or levofloxacin or both. The reserpine sensitive efflux phenotype resulted in moderate increases in norfloxacin minimum inhibitory concentration (average=3.6 fold, range=>1-16 fold). CONCLUSIONS: A substantial portion of GBS strains resistant to norfloxacin have an efflux phenotype.