"I can make more from selling medicine when breaking the rules" - understanding the antibiotic supply network in a rural community in Viet Nam.

Background: As in many other low and middle income countries (LIMCs), Vietnam has experienced a major growth in the pharmaceutical industry, with large numbers of pharmacies and drug stores, and increasing drug expenditure per capita over the past decade. Despite regulatory frameworks that have been introduced to control the dispensing and use of prescription-only drugs, including antibiotics, compliance has been reported to be strikingly low particularly in rural parts of Vietnam. This qualitative study aimed to understand antibiotic access and use practices in the community from both supplier and consumer perspectives in order to support the identification and development of future interventions.

A mini review on renewable sources for biofuel.

Rapid growth in both global energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions associated with the use of fossil fuels has driven the search for alternative sources which are renewable and have a lower environmental impact. This paper reviews the availability and bioenergy potentials of the current biomass feedstocks. These include (i) food crops such as sugarcane, corn and vegetable oils, classified as the first generation feedstocks, and (ii) lignocellulosic biomass derived from agricultural and forestry residues and municipal waste, as second generation feedstocks.

Linking microbial community structure, interactions and function in anaerobic digesters using new molecular techniques.

Over the last decade there has been a rapid development in culture-independent techniques for exploring microbial communities, which have led to new insights into their structure and function in both natural environments and engineered systems. This review focuses on some of the most important recent advances and their applications to the diverse microbial communities associated with anaerobic digestion. The use of these approaches in combination with complementary imaging techniques, chemical isotope analyses and detailed reactor performance measurements provides a new opportunity to develop a fundamental understanding of how microbial community dynamics, interactions and functionality influence digester efficiency and stability.

Methanosarcinaceae and acetate-oxidizing pathways dominate in high-rate thermophilic anaerobic digestion of waste-activated sludge.

This study investigated the process of high-rate, high-temperature methanogenesis to enable very-high-volume loading during anaerobic digestion of waste-activated sludge. Reducing the hydraulic retention time (HRT) from 15 to 20 days in mesophilic digestion down to 3 days was achievable at a thermophilic temperature (55°C) with stable digester performance and methanogenic activity. A volatile solids (VS) destruction efficiency of 33 to 35% was achieved on waste-activated sludge, comparable to that obtained via mesophilic processes with low organic acid levels (<200 mg/liter chemical oxygen demand [COD]).

Unnecessary antibiotic use for mild acute respiratory infections during 28-day follow-up of 823 children under five in rural Vietnam.

Few prospective studies regarding antibiotic use for mild acute respiratory infections (ARI) have been conducted in community settings. This paper aimed to assess knowledge of children's caregivers and actual antibiotic use for children under five and to identify factors associated with antibiotic treatment for mild ARIs. Caregivers in 828 households in Bavi, Vietnam, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire assessing both knowledge and practice.