Barriers and enablers to blood culture sampling in Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam: a Theoretical Domains Framework-based survey.

Objective: Blood culture (BC) sampling is recommended for all suspected sepsis patients prior to antibiotic administration. We examine barriers and enablers to BC sampling in three Southeast Asian countries.

Design: A Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF)-based survey, comprising a case scenario of a patient presenting with community-acquired sepsis and all 14 TDF domains of barriers/enablers to BC sampling.

High Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Psychological Distress Among Healthcare Workers in COVID-19 Field Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study from Vietnam.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological disturbances in the Vietnamese healthcare workers (HCWs) at COVID-19 field hospitals.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) to measure PTSD and the Depression Anxiety Stress scale (DASS) to measure other psychological disturbances. The anxiety about COVID-19 was evaluated by the fear of COVID-19 (FOC) scale.

Finnish-specific AKT2 gene variant leads to impaired insulin signalling in myotubes.

Finnish-specific gene variant p.P50T/AKT2 (minor allele frequency (MAF) = 1.1%) is associated with insulin resistance and increased predisposition to type 2 diabetes.

Fear of COVID-19, healthy eating behaviors, and health-related behavior changes as associated with anxiety and depression among medical students: An online survey.

Background: Medical students' health and wellbeing are highly concerned during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the impacts of fear of COVID-19 (FCoV-19S), healthy eating behavior, and health-related behavior changes on anxiety and depression.

Methods: We conducted an online survey at 8 medical universities in Vietnam from 7th April to 31st May 2020.

Body mass index, body fat percentage, and visceral fat as mediators in the association between health literacy and hypertension among residents living in rural and suburban areas.

Background: Hypertension is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Enhancing health literacy (HL) may help to alleviate the risk of hypertension and its burden. However, evidence on the association between HL and hypertension and potential mechanisms remain to be explored.

Predictors of eHealth Literacy and Its Associations with Preventive Behaviors, Fear of COVID-19, Anxiety, and Depression among Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background: The infodemic has been co-existing with the COVID-19 pandemic with an influx of misinformation and conspiracy theories. These affect people’s psychological health and adherence to preventive measures. eHealth literacy (eHEALS) may help with alleviating the negative effects of the infodemic.

Etiologies of fever of unknown origin in HIV/AIDS patients, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Background: Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is a challenge for clinicians treating patients with HIV/AIDS. CD4 counts can be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment. This study aimed to determine several common etiologies of FUO stratified by CD4 count levels in HIV/AIDS patients.

Investigation of a Series of 2-(2'-Hydroxyaryl)benzazole Derivatives: Photophysical Properties, Excited-State Intramolecular Proton-Transfer Reactions, and Observation of Long-Lived Triplet Excited States.

Excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) has drawn much attention for its important applications in a variety of areas. Here, the steady-state and time-resolved absorption spectroscopic experiments as well as DFT/TD-DFT calculations are employed to study the photophysical properties and photochemical reaction mechanisms of 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl) benzoxazole () and selected derivatives (compounds -). Because of their larger π-conjugation framework, compounds - display red-shifted absorbance but blue-shifted fluorescence compared with .

Negative Impact of Fear of COVID-19 on Health-Related Quality of Life Was Modified by Health Literacy, eHealth Literacy, and Digital Healthy Diet Literacy: A Multi-Hospital Survey.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been disseminating fear in the community, which has affected people's quality of life, especially those with health problems. Health literacy (HL), eHealth literacy (eHEAL), and digital healthy diet literacy (DDL) may have potential impacts on containing the pandemic and its consequences. This study aimed to examine the association between the fear of COVID-19 scale (FCoV-19S) and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and to examine the effect modification by HL, eHEAL, and DDL on this association.

Simvastatin profoundly impairs energy metabolism in primary human muscle cells.

Objectives: Simvastatin use is associated with muscular side effects, and increased risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D). In clinical use, simvastatin is administered in inactive lipophilic lactone-form, which is then converted to active acid-form in the body. Here, we have investigated if lactone- and acid-form simvastatin differentially affect glucose metabolism and mitochondrial respiration in primary human skeletal muscle cells.

Fear of COVID-19 Scale-Associations of Its Scores with Health Literacy and Health-Related Behaviors among Medical Students.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic causes fear, as its immediate consequences for the public have produced unprecedented challenges for the education and healthcare systems. We aimed to validate the fear of COVID-19 scale (FCoV-19S) and examine the association of its scores with health literacy and health-related behaviors among medical students. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 7 to 29 April 2020 on 5423 students at eight universities across Vietnam, including five universities in the North, one university in the Center, two universities in the South.

Deprotection Strategies for Thioimidates during Fmoc Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis: A Safe Route to Thioamides.

Thioamides are important biophysical probes of peptide folding but are prone to α-C epimerization during Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis. The stereochemical integrity of thioamide-containing peptides can be dramatically improved by protecting the thioamide as a thioimidate during synthesis. A drawback of this approach, however, is that once synthesis of the peptide is complete, regeneration of the thioamide requires the toxic, corrosive, and flammable gas HS.

Community-wide Screening for Tuberculosis in a High-Prevalence Setting.

Background: The World Health Organization has set ambitious targets for the global elimination of tuberculosis. However, these targets will not be achieved at the current rate of progress.

Methods: We performed a cluster-randomized, controlled trial in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam, to evaluate the effectiveness of active community-wide screening, as compared with standard passive case detection alone, for reducing the prevalence of tuberculosis.

Demonstration of Baird's rule complementarity in the singlet state with implications for excited-state intramolecular proton transfer.

The aromatic character of an arene is proposed to switch from aromatic in the ground state (S0) to antiaromatic in the S1 and T1 excited states. This behavior is known as Baird's rule and has been invoked to explain excited-state properties, primarily in the triplet state, whereas rationalization of antiaromaticity in the singlet state is less developed. This work demonstrates the first application of Baird's rule to rationalize previously unexplained experimental behavior of the singlet state process known as excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT).

Open-Resonance-Assisted Hydrogen Bonds and Competing Quasiaromaticity.

The delocalization of electron density upon tautomerization of a proton across a conjugated bridge can alter the strength of hydrogen bonds. This effect has been dubbed resonance-assisted hydrogen bonding (RAHB) and plays a major role in the energetics of the tautomeric equilibrium. The goal of this work was to investigate the role that π-delocalization plays in the stability of RAHBs by engaging other isomerization processes.

Palmitate and oleate exert differential effects on insulin signalling and glucose uptake in human skeletal muscle cells.

Saturated fatty acids are implicated in the development of insulin resistance, whereas unsaturated fatty acids may have a protective effect on metabolism. We tested in primary human myotubes if insulin resistance induced by saturated fatty acid palmitate can be ameliorated by concomitant exposure to unsaturated fatty acid oleate. Primary human myotubes were pretreated with palmitate, oleate or their combination for 12 h.

The transcription factor Prox1 is essential for satellite cell differentiation and muscle fibre-type regulation.

The remarkable adaptive and regenerative capacity of skeletal muscle is regulated by several transcription factors and pathways. Here we show that the transcription factor Prox1 is an important regulator of myoblast differentiation and of slow muscle fibre type. In both rodent and human skeletal muscles Prox1 is specifically expressed in slow muscle fibres and in muscle stem cells called satellite cells.

The Internalized Homophobia Scale for Vietnamese Sexual Minority Women: Conceptualization, Factor Structure, Reliability, and Associations With Hypothesized Correlates.

We developed the first Vietnamese Internalized Homophobia (IH) scale for use with Vietnamese sexual minority women (SMW). Drawing from existing IH scales in the international literature and based on prior qualitative research about SMW in the Viet Nam context, the scale covers two domains: self-stigma (negative attitudes toward oneself as a sexual minority person) and sexual prejudice (negative attitudes toward homosexuality/same-sex relations in general). Scale items, including items borrowed from existing scales and items based on local expressions, were reviewed and confirmed by members of the target population.

Characterization of bispecific T-cell Engager (BiTE) antibodies with a high-capacity T-cell dependent cellular cytotoxicity (TDCC) assay.

The Bispecific T-cell Engager (BiTE) antibody modality is a clinically validated immunotherapeutic approach for targeting tumors. Using T-cell dependent cellular cytotoxicity (TDCC) assays, we measure the percentage of specific cytotoxicity induced when a BiTE molecule engages T-cells, redirects T-cell mediated cytolysis, and ultimately kills target cells. We establish a novel luminescence-based TDCC assay quantified by measuring cell viability via constitutive expression of luciferase.

Limited density of an antigen presented by RMA-S cells requires B7-1/CD28 signaling to enhance T-cell immunity at the effector phase.

The association of B7-1/CD28 between antigen presenting cells (APCs) and T-cells provides a second signal to proliferate and activate T-cell immunity at the induction phase. Many reports indicate that tumor cells transfected with B7-1 induced augmented antitumor immunity at the induction phase by mimicking APC function; however, the function of B7-1 on antitumor immunity at the effector phase is unknown. Here, we report direct evidence of enhanced T-cell antitumor immunity at the effector phase by the B7-1 molecule.

[Mechanisms of insulin resistance].

Insulin resistance refers to an aberrant physiological response to insulin in its target tissues. Several signal transduction mechanisms sensing intracellular stress are activated in situations where energy supply exceeds the cells' energy requirements. This stress interferes with insulin-induced intracellular signal transduction and leads to an inflammatory state.

Studying cancer stem cell dynamics on PDMS surfaces for microfluidics device design.

This systematic study clarified a few interfacial aspects of cancer cell phenotypes on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates and indicated that the cell phenotypic equilibrium greatly responds to cell-to-surface interactions. We demonstrated that coatings of fibronectin, bovine serum albumin (BSA), or collagen with or without oxygen-plasma treatments of the PDMS surfaces dramatically impacted the phenotypic equilibrium of breast cancer stem cells, while the variations of the PDMS elastic stiffness had much less such effects. Our results showed that the surface coatings of collagen and fibronectin on PDMS maintained breast cancer cell phenotypes to be nearly identical to the cultures on commercial polystyrene Petri dishes.

Microfluidics separation reveals the stem-cell-like deformability of tumor-initiating cells.

Here we report a microfluidics method to enrich physically deformable cells by mechanical manipulation through artificial microbarriers. Driven by hydrodynamic forces, flexible cells or cells with high metastatic propensity change shape to pass through the microbarriers and exit the separation device, whereas stiff cells remain trapped. We demonstrate the separation of (i) a mixture of two breast cancer cell types (MDA-MB-436 and MCF-7) with distinct deformabilities and metastatic potentials, and (ii) a heterogeneous breast cancer cell line (SUM149), into enriched flexible and stiff subpopulations.