ABSTRACT
Objectives: The lack of cognitive assessment tools suitable for people with minimal formal education is a barrier to identify cognitive impairment in Vietnam. Our aims were to (i) evaluate the feasibility of conducting the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Basic (MoCA-B) and Informant Questionnaire On Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) remotely on the Vietnamese older adults, (ii) examine the association between the two tests, (iii) identify demographic factors correlated with these tools. Methods: The MoCA-B was adapted from the original English version, and a remote testing procedure was conducted. One hundred seventy-three participants aged 60 and above living in the Vietnamese southern provinces were recruited via an online platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: IQCODE results showed that the proportions of rural participants classified as having mild cognitive impairment and dementia were substantially higher than those in urban areas. Levels of education and living areas were associated with IQCODE scores. Education attainment was also the main predictor of MoCA-B scores (30% of variance explained), with an average of 10.5 points difference between those with no formal education and those who attended university. Conclusions: It is feasible to administer the IQCODE and MoCA-B remotely in the Vietnamese older population. Education attainment played a stronger role in predicting MoCA-B scores than IQCODE, suggesting the influence of this factor on MoCA-B scores. Further study is needed to develop socio-culturally appropriate cognitive screening tests for the Vietnamese population.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Cognitive Dysfunction , Dementia , Aged , Humans , Dementia/diagnosis , Feasibility Studies , Pandemics , Southeast Asian People , Vietnam/epidemiology , Neuropsychological Tests , COVID-19/epidemiology , Cognitive Dysfunction/diagnosis , Cognitive Dysfunction/psychology , Mental Status and Dementia Tests , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from international travel is a priority. We evaluated the effectiveness of travellers being required to quarantine for 14-days on return to England in Summer 2020. We identified 4,207 travel-related SARS-CoV-2 cases and their contacts, and identified 827 associated SARS-CoV-2 genomes. Overall, quarantine was associated with a lower rate of contacts, and the impact of quarantine was greatest in the 16-20 age-group. 186 SARS-CoV-2 genomes were sufficiently unique to identify travel-related clusters. Fewer genomically-linked cases were observed for index cases who returned from countries with quarantine requirement compared to countries with no quarantine requirement. This difference was explained by fewer importation events per identified genome for these cases, as opposed to fewer onward contacts per case. Overall, our study demonstrates that a 14-day quarantine period reduces, but does not completely eliminate, the onward transmission of imported cases, mainly by dissuading travel to countries with a quarantine requirement.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/prevention & control , Communicable Diseases, Imported/prevention & control , Quarantine/legislation & jurisprudence , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/transmission , Communicable Diseases, Imported/epidemiology , Communicable Diseases, Imported/transmission , Contact Tracing , England/epidemiology , Genome, Viral/genetics , Genomics , Health Impact Assessment , Humans , SARS-CoV-2/classification , Travel/legislation & jurisprudence , Travel-Related IllnessABSTRACT
High-amylose starch branching enzyme II (sbeII) mutant wheat has potential to be low-glycaemic compared to conventional wheat; however, the effects of bread made from sbeII wheat flour on glycaemic response and product quality require investigation. We report the impact of white bread made from sbeII wheat flour on in vitro starch digestibility and product quality, and on postprandial glycaemia in vivo, compared to an isoglucidic wild-type (WT) control white bread. Starch in sbeII bread was â¼20% less susceptible to in vitro amylolysis leading to â¼15% lower glycaemic response measured in vivo, compared to the WT control bread, without major effects on bread appearance or texture, measured instrumentally. Despite the early termination of the in vivo intervention study due to the COVID-19 outbreak (n = 8 out of 19), results from this study indicate that sbeII wheat produces bread with lower starch digestibility than conventional white bread.