A hybrid model integrating recurrent neural networks and the semi-supervised support vector machine for identification of early student dropout risk.

Background: Student dropout rates are one of the major concerns of educational institutions because they affect the success and efficacy of them. In order to help students continue their learning and achieve a better future, there is a need to identify the risk of student dropout. However, it is challenging to accurately identify the student dropout risk in the preliminary stages considering the complexities associated with it.

New biomarkers for liver involvement by dengue infection in adult Vietnamese patients: a case-control study.

Liver injury with marked elevation of aspartate aminotransferase enzyme (AST) is commonly observed in dengue infection. To understand the pathogenesis of this liver damage, we compared the plasma levels of hepatic specific, centrilobular predominant enzymes (glutamate dehydrogenase, GLDH; glutathione S transferase-α, αGST), periportal enriched 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD), periportal predominant arginase-1 (ARG-1), and other non-specific biomarkers (paraoxonase-1, PON-1) in patients with different outcomes of dengue infection. This hospital-based study enrolled 87 adult dengue patients, stratified into three groups based on plasma AST levels (< 80, 80-400, > 400 U/L) in a 1:1:1 ratio (n = 40, n = 40, n = 40, respectively.

Association of self-reported allergic rhinitis with dengue severity: A case-control study.

Background: The severity of dengue infection has been reportedly associated with patients' allergic reactions. To further elucidate the role of allergy in dengue severity, we conducted a matched case-control study to assess the association between allergic background and dengue shock syndrome.

Methods: This is a matched case-control study that was carried out in the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from January to December 2017.

Updated upper limit of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase value in Vietnamese population.

Background: Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is a marker of hepatic damage and its range can be affected by viral hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases. We aimed to study the factors associated with higher ALT level and update the upper limit of normal (ULN) in the Vietnamese population.

Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 8383 adults, aged 18 years and older who visited the Medical Center at Ho Chi Minh City for a health check-up.

Primary care influenza-like illness surveillance in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2013-2015.

Background: Year-round transmission of influenza has been detected in Vietnam through both national surveillance and other epidemiological studies. Understanding the demographic and clinical features of influenza-like illness (ILI) presenting to primary care in urban Vietnam is vital to understand these transmission dynamics.

Methods: An observational study of patients with ILI in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was conducted between August 2013 and November 2015 in a mix of public and private primary care settings.

Progressive cutaneous Cryptococcosis complicated with meningitis in a myasthenia gravis patient on long-term immunosuppressive therapy - a case report.

Background: Cryptococcosis is an opportunistic infection caused by the encapsulated yeast Cryptococcus neoformans and most remarkably manifests in HIV-infected individuals, especially in the settings of very low CD4 count. Development of cryptococcosis in HIV-uninfected individuals is exceedingly rare and usually signifies a marked immunodeficiency. Cryptococcosis in association with myasthenia gravis or thymoma has been previously documented in only very few cases in the literature.

Physicians, Primary Caregivers and Topical Repellent: All Under-Utilised Resources in Stopping Dengue Virus Transmission in Affected Households.

Background: Primary health care facilities frequently manage dengue cases on an ambulatory basis for the duration of the patient's illness. There is a great opportunity for specific messaging, aimed to reduce dengue virus (DENV) transmission in and around the home, to be directly targeted toward this high-risk ambulatory patient group, as part of an integrated approach to dengue management. The extent however, to which physicians understand, and can themselves effectively communicate strategies to stop focal DENV transmission around an ambulatory dengue case is unknown; the matter of patient comprehension and recollection then ensues.