Understanding the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, knowledge and barriers to treatment and prevention of malaria among returning international laborers in northern Vietnam: a mixed-methods study.

Background: With the decline in local malaria transmission in Vietnam as a result of the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) elimination activities, a greater focus on the importation and potential reintroduction of transmission are essential to support malaria elimination objectives.

Methods: We conducted a multi-method assessment of the demographics, epidemiology, and clinical characteristics of imported malaria among international laborers returning from African or Southeast Asian countries to Vietnam. Firstly, we conducted a retrospective review of hospital records of patients from January 2014 to December 2016.

Results from a malaria indicator survey highlight the importance of routine data capture in high-risk forest and farm transmission sites in Vietnam to tailor location-specific malaria elimination interventions.

In-line with the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Technical Strategy for Malaria (2016-2030), Vietnam is striving to eliminate malaria by 2030. Targeting appropriate interventions in high-risk populations such as forest and forest-fringe communities is a critical component of malaria elimination efforts in Vietnam. In 2016, a household-level malaria indicator survey was conducted in Phu Yen Province, Vietnam with the aim of assessing the knowledge, behaviors and associated risks of malaria infection among priority mobile and migrant populations (MMPs) working and sleeping in forests and on farms.

Forces driving the binding of homeodomains to DNA.

Homeodomains are helix-turn-helix type DNA-binding domains that exhibit sequence-specific DNA binding by insertion of their "recognition" alpha helices into the major groove and a short N-terminal arm into the adjacent minor groove without inducing substantial distortion of the DNA. The stability and DNA binding of four representatives of this family, MATalpha2, engrailed, Antennapedia, and NK-2, and truncated forms of the last two lacking their N-terminal arms have been studied by a combination of optical and microcalorimetric methods at different temperatures and salt concentrations. It was found that the stability of the free homeodomains in solution is rather low and, surprisingly, is reduced by the presence of the N-terminal arm for the Antennapedia and NK-2 domains.