Characteristics of Immunogenicity against SARS-CoV-2 in a Community-Based Model of Care during the Fourth Wave of COVID-19 Outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City.

Purpose: Although some immune protection from close contact with individuals who have coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been documented, there is limited data on the seroprevalence of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals who were in lockdown with confirmed COVID-19 cases. This study investigated immunogenicity against SARS-CoV-2 in household members and people who lived near home-quarantined patients with COVID-19.

Materials And Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during the community-based care that took place during lockdowns in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from July to September 2021.

High-efficiency Lithium Metal Stabilization and Polysulfide Suppression in Li-S Battery Enabled by Weakly Solvating Solvent.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are considered a highly promising next-generation energy storage technology due to their exceptional energy density and cost-effectiveness. However, the practical use of current LSBs is hindered primarily by issues related to the "shuttle effect" of lithium polysulfide (LiPS) intermediates and the growth of lithium dendrites. In strongly solvating electrolytes, the solvent-derived solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) lacks mechanical strength due to organic components, leading to ineffective lithium dendrite suppression and severe LiPS dissolution and shuttling.

Predictors of twin pregnancy in in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles with day 3 double embryo transfer.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with twin pregnancy following day 3 double embryo transfer (DET).

Methods: This retrospective cohort study incorporated data from 16,972 day 3 DET cycles. The participants were women aged between 18 and 45 years who underwent in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) at My Duc Assisted Reproduction Technique Unit (IVFMD), My Duc Hospital, located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The impact of hyperandrogenism on the outcomes of ovulation induction using gonadotropin and intrauterine insemination in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the impact of hyperandrogenism (HA) on the outcomes of ovulation induction (OI) using gonadotropin and intrauterine insemination (IUI) in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study including 415 patients undergoing OI using gonadotropin and IUI treatment between January 2018 and December 2020 at a single infertility center. Baseline characteristics, clinical and laboratory parameters, and pregnancy outcomes were investigated.

Practical High-Voltage Lithium Metal Batteries Enabled by Tuning the Solvation Structure in Weakly Solvating Electrolyte.

Li metal batteries (LMBs) are ideal candidates for future high-energy-density battery systems. To date, high-voltage LMBs suffer severe limitations because of electrolytes unstable against Li anodes and high-voltage cathodes. Although ether-based electrolytes exhibit good stability with Li metal, compared to carbonate-based electrolytes, they have been used only in ≤4.

Molecular and Serological Characterization of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)-Positive Samples with Very Low or Undetectable Levels of HBV Surface Antigen.

Background: Gaps remain in the detection of nucleic acid test (NAT) yield and occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) by current HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) assays. The lack of detection may be due to HBsAg levels below current assay detection limits, mutations affecting HBsAg assays or HBsAg levels, or the masking of HBsAg by antibody to HBsAg (anti-HBs). In this study, we evaluate the incremental detection of NAT yield and OBI from five diverse geographic areas by an improved sensitivity HBsAg assay and characterize the samples relative to the viral load, anti-HBs status, and PreS1-S2-S mutations.

Design of a LiF-Rich Solid Electrolyte Interphase Layer through Highly Concentrated LiFSI-THF Electrolyte for Stable Lithium Metal Batteries.

Lithium metal is a promising anode material for lithium metal batteries (LMBs). However, dendrite growth and limited Coulombic efficiency (CE) during cycling have prevented its practical application in rechargeable batteries. Herein, a highly concentrated electrolyte composed of an ether solvent and lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) salt is introduced, which enables the cycling of a lithium metal anode at a high CE (up to ≈99%) without dendrite growth, even at high current densities.

Simultaneous Stabilization of the Solid/Cathode Electrolyte Interface in Lithium Metal Batteries by a New Weakly Solvating Electrolyte.

So far, the practical application of Li metal batteries has been hindered by the undesirable formation of Li dendrites and low Coulombic efficiencies (CEs). Herein, 1,2-diethoxyethane (DEE) is proposed as a new electrolytic solvent for lithium metal batteries (LMBs), and the performances of 1.0 m LiFSI in DEE are evaluated.

Detection of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika RNA in blood donors from Southeast Asia.

Background: Chikungunya (CHIKV), dengue (DENV), and Zika (ZIKV) viruses are of concern due to the potential of transfusion transmission in blood, especially in regions such as Southeast Asia where the viruses are endemic. The recent availability of nucleic acid testing (NAT) to screen blood donations on an automated platform provides the opportunity to detect potentially infectious units in asymptomatic donors.

Study Design And Methods: Three thousand blood donations from Vietnam and 6000 from Thailand were screened with a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test (cobas CHIKV/DENV, Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN) and equal numbers on cobas Zika (Roche Diagnostics).

Facile green synthesis of a CoVO nanoparticle electrode for high energy lithium-ion battery applications.

In the present study, a metal-organic framework (MOF) derived from a facile water-assisted green precipitation technique is employed to synthesize phase-pure cobalt vanadate (CoVO, CVO) anode for lithium-ion battery (LIB) application. The material obtained by this eco-friendly method is systematically characterized using various techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and N adsorption-desorption measurements. By using as an anode, an initial discharge capacity of 1640mAhg and a reversible capacity of 1194mAhg are obtained at the applied current densities after the 240th cycle (2Ag for 200 cycles followed by 0.

One-Step Pyro-Synthesis of a Nanostructured Mn O /C Electrode with Long Cycle Stability for Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries.

A nanostructured Mn O /C electrode was prepared by a one-step polyol-assisted pyro-synthesis without any post-heat treatments. The as-prepared Mn O /C revealed nanostructured morphology comprised of secondary aggregates formed from carbon-coated primary particles of average diameters ranging between 20 and 40 nm, as evidenced from the electron microscopy studies. The N adsorption studies reveal a hierarchical porous feature in the nanostructured electrode.

Hierarchical porous anatase TiO2 derived from a titanium metal-organic framework as a superior anode material for lithium ion batteries.

Hierarchical meso-/macroporous anatase TiO2 was synthesized by the hydrolysis of a titanium metal-organic framework precursor followed by calcination in air. This unique porous feature enables the superior rate capability and excellent cycling stability of anatase TiO2 as an anode for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Effect of ultrasound on removal of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from different types of soils.

A new and promising technology is utilization of sonochemistry on decontamination of polluted soil. The feasibility of this technology on treatment of contaminated soils (synthetic clay, natural farm clay, and kaolin) was studied by using two target persistent organic pollutants (POPs): hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and phenanthrene (PHE). The soils were highly contaminated in 500 mg/kg.