Harnessing new mHealth technologies to Strengthen the Management of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Vietnam (V-SMART trial): a protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remains a major public health problem globally. Long, complex treatment regimens coupled with frequent adverse events have resulted in poor treatment adherence and patient outcomes. Smartphone-based mobile health (mHealth) technologies offer national TB programmes an appealing platform to improve patient care and management; however, clinical trial evidence to support their use is lacking.

Risk Factors for Tuberculosis (TB) Among Household Contacts of Patients With Smear-Positive TB in 8 Provinces of Vietnam: A Nested Case-Control Study.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) continues to account for significant morbidity and mortality annually. Household contacts (HHCs) of persons with TB are a key population for targeting prevention and control interventions. We aimed to identify risk factors associated with developing TB among HHCs.

Recurrence of tuberculosis among patients following treatment completion in eight provinces of Vietnam: A nested case-control study.

Background: Patients completing treatment for tuberculosis (TB) in high-prevalence settings face a risk of developing recurrent disease. This has important consequences for public health, given its association with drug resistance and a poor prognosis. Previous research has implicated individual factors such as smoking, alcohol use, HIV, poor treatment adherence, and drug resistant disease as risk factors for recurrence.

Video Directly Observed Therapy to support adherence with treatment for tuberculosis in Vietnam: A prospective cohort study.

Background: Ensuring patients fully adhere to their treatment is a major challenge for TB control programmes in resource-limited settings. This study was conducted three outpatient tuberculosis clinics in Hanoi, Vietnam. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using asynchronous Video Directly Observed Therapy (VDOT) to support treatment adherence among patients with bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis.

Effect of health expenses on household capabilities and resource allocation in a rural commune in Vietnam.

Background: Significant health expenses can force households to reduce consumption of items required for daily living and long-term well-being, depriving them of the capability to lead economically stable and healthy lives. Previous studies of out-of-pocket (OOP) and other health expenses have typically characterized them as "catastrophic" in terms of a threshold level or percentage of household income. We aim to re-conceptualize the impact of health expenses on household "flourishing" in terms of "basic capabilities.

Impact of health insurance on health care treatment and cost in Vietnam: a health capability approach to financial protection.

We applied an alternative conceptual framework for analyzing health insurance and financial protection grounded in the health capability paradigm. Through an original survey of 706 households in Dai Dong, Vietnam, we examined the impact of Vietnamese health insurance schemes on inpatient and outpatient health care access, costs, and health outcomes using bivariate and multivariable regression analyses. Insured respondents had lower outpatient and inpatient treatment costs and longer hospital stays but fewer days of missed work or school than the uninsured.

Coping with health care expenses among poor households: evidence from a rural commune in Vietnam.

With the 1980s "Doi Moi" economic reforms, Vietnam transitioned from state-funded health care to a privatized user fee system. Out-of-pocket payments became a major source of funding for treatments received at both public and private health facilities. We studied coping strategies used by residents of Dai Dong, a rural commune of Hanoi, for paying health care costs, assessing the effects of such costs on economic and health stability.

Ultrathin binary grafted polymer layers with switchable morphology.

Polymer surface layers comprised of mixed chains grafted to a functionalized silicon surface with a total layer thickness of only 1-3 nm are shown to exhibit reversible switching of their structure. Carboxylic acid-terminated polystyrene (PS) and poly (butyl acrylate) (PBA) were chemically attached to a silicon surface that was modified with an epoxysilane self-assembled monolayer by a "grafting to" routine. While one-step grafting resulted in large, submicron microstructures, a refined, two-step sequential grafting procedure allowed for extremely small spatial dimensions of PS and PBA domains.