Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in health checkup participants: a cross-sectional study at University Medical Center, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

OBJECTIVES: Vietnam is one of the countries in highly endemic areas of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the world. Our study aims to determine the prevalence of HBV infection among different age groups of workers who had been included for annual general health checkups. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Health Screening Department, University Medical Center at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, using anonymous data from employees who had health checkups from June 2017 to June 2018. RESULTS: A total of 5727 subjects were included, with an overall HBV prevalence of 9.0%. The prevalence of HBV infection was significantly higher in men and lowest in the age groups of 18-30. In multivariable analysis, the variables that were independently associated with HBV infection were male gender (Odd ratio (OR), 2.03; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.58-2.60; p < 0.001), older than 30 years old (age group of 31-40: OR 1.7; 95% CI, 1.33-2.18; p < 0.001; of 41-50, OR 1.82; 95% CI, 1.37-2.43; p < 0.001); high total cholesterol (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.64-0.94; p = 0.011), high triglyceride (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.42-0.65; p < 0.001), and having significant fibrosis (OR, 2.7; 95% CI 1.85-3,95; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HBV infection among employees on health assessments is still high (9%), even in the age group under 30 (7%). Male, age group older than 30, and significant liver fibrosis were the factors related to HBV infection. High cholesterol and level triglyceride were protective factors against HBV infection.

The simultaneous impact of education and financial development on renewable energy consumption: an investigation of Next-11 countries.

The use of fossil fuels is a primary source of global warming owing to the greenhouse effect. Renewable energy is the best alternative environment-friendly energy source. Previous studies have highlighted the significant influence of financial development and education on renewable energy. However, the simultaneous effects of these two factors on renewable energy have rarely been examined, especially in emerging economies. This study employed dynamic seemingly unrelated cointegrating regression and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test to analyze the effect of education and financial development on renewable energy consumption in N-11 countries during 1990-2016. Empirical results show that financial development significantly increased renewable energy use; however, education failed to make a positive difference. Additionally, bidirectional- and unidirectional causality was observed for financial development and education, respectively, toward renewable energy. This suggests that policymakers should combine financial development policies with education to improve the efficiency of renewable energy use.