Publications by authors named "Phung N"

: Primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) caused by is a rare and devastating infection of the central nervous system, often diagnosed late, due to its rapid progression and nonspecific symptoms. We report one of the youngest documented pediatric Vietnamese cases of PAM in a 10-month-old girl from the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The diagnosis was confirmed through multiplex real-time PCR (MPL-rPCR), microscopy, and sequencing.

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The cascade of events leading to tumor formation includes induction of a tumor supporting neovasculature, as a primary hallmark of cancer. Developing vasculature is difficult to evaluate but can be captured using microfluidic chip technology and patient derived cells. Herein, we established an approach to investigate the mechanisms promoting tumor vascularization and vascular targeted therapies via co-culture of cancer spheroids and endothelial cells in a three dimensional environment.

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The eyebrow plays a crucial role in facial aesthetics and expression. Reconstructing an eyebrow defect remains a challenge due to the unique characteristics of eyebrow hair. While various advanced methods exist, we report the first documented use of a free superficial temporal artery flap for total eyebrow reconstruction.

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Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food for half of the world's population, and its biofortification is a key factor in fighting micronutrient malnutrition. However, harmful heavy metals tend to accumulate in rice grains due to soil and water contamination.

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Recent reports have shown that nickel oxide (NiO) when adopted as a hole transport layer (HTL) in combination with organic layers, such as PTAA or self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), leads to a higher device yield for both single junction as well as tandem devices. Nevertheless, implementing NiO in devices without PTAA or SAM is seldom reported to lead to high-performance devices. In this work, we assess the effect of key NiO properties deemed relevant in literature, namely- resistivity and surface energy, on the device performance and systematically compare the NiO-based devices with those based on PTAA.

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  • Fluorescence-guided surgery relies on the ability of dyes to highlight tumor tissue compared to healthy tissue, and the dye CJ215 shows promise for this application due to its favorable optical properties.
  • CJ215, a carbocyanine dye that is cleared by the kidneys, enables effective tumor detection and evaluation of wound healing within a day of intravenous injection, with minimal presence in healthy organs.
  • In studies involving various cancer types, CJ215 provided significantly high contrast ratios for tumors compared to muscle and liver, and it also offered non-contact monitoring of wounds using shortwave infrared fluorescence imaging.
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Introduction Dengue is an infectious disease that is a burden in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The COVID-19 pandemic in dengue-endemic areas has caused a "double burden" because of the possibility of coinfection, especially in children who are vulnerable to both COVID-19 and dengue. This study aimed to describe the characteristics and identify risk factors for the severity of the coinfection in Vietnamese children.

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Hypereosinophilia is a rare condition, defined as a persistent elevation of absolute eosinophil count greater than 1.5x10/L and/or tissue eosinophilia. This condition can be caused by numerous different etiologies, both hematological (clonal) and non-hematological (reactive).

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Acid-sulfate soils and overuse of chemical fertilizers have been obstacles to sustainable agriculture. The variation of fertilization due to poor soil fertility has remarkably affected the yield gap and the quality of the environment, so an optimal fertilizing rate should be formulated. Therefore, this study aimed at (i) detecting obstacles in soil characteristics reducing pineapple yield between farms and (ii) assessing the effects of NPKCaMg fertilizers on soil fertility, uptakes, and pineapple yield.

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  • Fluorescence guided surgery (FGS) uses special dyes for real-time identification of tumors, improving surgical outcomes by distinguishing tumors from healthy tissue.
  • A specific dye, CJ215, targets apoptosis (cell death) and has been validated in various cancer models, showing high contrast imaging effectiveness in near infrared and shortwave infrared settings.
  • CJ215 allows for detailed tumor visualization with minimal impact on healthy organs and can be used for tumor assessment, surgical guidance, and post-operative wound monitoring, integrating into current clinical practices.
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  • The study focuses on how genetic variants affect thiopurine drug dosages in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
  • A new and simplified PCR method was developed for quickly detecting these variants in Vietnamese patients, compared to traditional Sanger sequencing.
  • The new PCR technique showed 100% sensitivity and specificity, making it a reliable alternative for clinical settings.
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Unlabelled: The cascade of events leading to tumor formation includes induction of a tumor supporting neovasculature as a primary hallmark of cancer. Developing vasculature is difficult to evaluate but can be captured using microfluidic chip technology and patient derived cells. Herein, we established an approach to investigate the mechanisms promoting tumor vascularization and vascular targeted therapies via co-culture of metastatic renal cell carcinoma spheroids and endothelial cells in a 3D environment.

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Background: Public safety personnel (PSP) are exposed to traumatic events due to their work environments, which increases the risk of mental health challenges. Providing effective and evidence-based interventions, such as SMS text messaging programs, can improve PSP's overall mental well-being with high user satisfaction rates.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate users' satisfaction, receptiveness, and perceptions of a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based supportive SMS text messaging intervention (Text4PTSI).

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Nanomedicine is giving rise to increasing numbers of successful drugs, including cancer treatments, molecular imaging agents, and novel vaccine formulations. However, traditionally available model systems offer limited clinical translation and, compared to the number of preclinical studies, the approval rate of nanoparticles (NPs) for clinical use remains disappointingly low. A new paradigm of modeling biological systems on microfluidic chips has emerged in the last decade and is being gradually adopted by the nanomedicine community.

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  • Monolithic tandem solar cells combining perovskite and silicon heterojunction (SHJ) technology have reached efficiencies over 30%, showcasing significant advancements in solar energy research.
  • The study focuses on enhancing SHJ bottom-cells with engineered a-Si:H passivating layers and various interfacial layers to achieve a high minority carrier lifetime of 16.9 ms.
  • Light management techniques through optical simulation reveal that using specific layers can minimize reflection at the perovskite and SHJ interfaces, resulting in tandem efficiencies soaring to 24.6%, showing great potential for future solar cell designs.
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Plastoglobules, which are lipoprotein structures surrounded by a single hydrophobic phospholipid membrane, are subcellular organelles in plant chromoplasts and chloroplasts. They contain neutral lipids, tocopherols, quinones, chlorophyll metabolites, carotenoids and their derivatives. Proteomic studies indicated that plastoglobules are involved in carotenoid metabolism and storage.

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Nervonic acid, a 24-carbon fatty acid with only one double bond at the 9th carbon (C24:1n-9), is abundant in the human brain, liver, and kidney. It not only functions in free form but also serves as a critical component of sphingolipids which participate in many biological processes such as cell membrane formation, apoptosis, and neurotransmission. Recent studies show that nervonic acid supplementation is not only beneficial to human health but also can improve the many medical conditions such as neurological diseases, cancers, diabetes, obesity, and their complications.

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Background: Public safety personnel experience various mental health conditions due to their work's complex and demanding nature. There are barriers to seeking support and treatment; hence, providing innovative and cost-effective interventions can help improve mental health symptoms in public safety personnel.

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the impact of Text4PTSI on depression, anxiety, trauma, and stress-related symptoms, and the resilience of public safety personnel after six months of providing supportive text message intervention.

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  • 6-Meraptopurine (6-MP) is a key drug for maintaining treatment in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and its metabolism is influenced by specific genetic variants in the Asian population.
  • A study of 102 children found that those with certain genetic mutations (especially the c.415C>T variant) had significantly higher rates of neutropenia (low white blood cell count) during the first 3 months of treatment compared to normal metabolizers.
  • The research suggests that about 25% of the participants had mutations affecting 6-MP metabolism, highlighting the need for genetic testing to optimize treatment doses for better patient outcomes.
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Background: This study aimed to describe the cardiovascular injury and clinical features of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of children with MIS-C (from September 1, 2021 to February 28, 2022) in Children's Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Demographics, clinical history, significant underlying conditions, clinical manifestations, laboratory investigations, and medical management were analyzed.

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  • First responders often face traumatic situations that can lead to posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSIs), and many seek therapies to manage these conditions.
  • Digital interventions such as SMS text messaging services, specifically Text4PTSI and Text4Wellbeing, aim to provide accessible support for first responders in Alberta, improving their mental health and overall quality of life.
  • The study plans to evaluate the effectiveness of these text-based interventions on reducing PTSI symptoms, stress, anxiety, and depression through regular assessments and participant interviews over a six-month period.
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Background And Aims: Recent studies indicate that sex may moderate the response to baclofen in the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD). We conducted a secondary analysis of a double-blind randomized controlled trial, Baclofen in the treatment of Alcohol Liver Disease (BacALD), to examine the moderating role of sex on treatment response to baclofen in reducing alcohol consumption.

Methods: Alcohol-dependent patients ( = 104 including 74 men and 30 women) were treated for 12 weeks with baclofen (30 mg/day or 75 mg) or placebo.

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The application of self-assembled molecules (SAMs) as a charge selective layer in perovskite solar cells has gained tremendous attention. As a result, highly efficient and stable devices have been released with stand-alone SAMs binding ITO substrates. However, further structural understanding of the effect of SAM in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is required.

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Chronic antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) is a key limiting factor for the clinical outcome of a kidney transplantation (Ktx), where early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention is needed. This study describes the identification of the biomarker CXC-motif chemokine ligand (CXCL) 9 as an indicator for AMR and presents a new aptamer-antibody-hybrid lateral flow assay (hybrid-LFA) for detection in urine. Biomarker evaluation included two independent cohorts of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) from a protocol biopsy program and used subgroup comparisons according to BANFF-classifications.

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High affinity phenyl-piperidine P2YR antagonist (PPTN) was modified with piperidine bridging moieties to probe receptor affinity and hydrophobicity. Various 2-azanorbornane, nortropane, isonortropane, isoquinuclidine, and ring-opened cyclopentylamino derivatives preserved human P2YR affinity (fluorescence binding assay), and their pharmacophoric overlay was compared. Enantiomeric 2-azabicyclo[2.

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