The RET gene point mutation is the main molecular alteration involved in medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) tumorigenesis. Previous studies in Vietnam mainly consisted of case reports, with limited data on larger sample sizes. In this study, we investigated RET gene mutations in exons 10, 11, and 16 and analyzed clinicopathological features of a series of Vietnamese MTC patients. Methods: We collected 33 tissue samples from patients with MTC and analyzed RET mutations using the Sanger sequencing method. The relationship between hotspot RET mutations (exons 10, 11, 16) and clinicopathological features were investigated. Results: Among the 33 analyzed cases, 17 tumors (52%) harbored RET mutations in exon 10, 11, or 16. A total of 10 distinct genetic alterations were identified, including eight missense mutations and two short indels. Of these, seven were classified as pathogenic mutations based on previous publications, with p.M918T being the most frequent (4 cases), followed by p.C634R (3 cases) and p.C618R (3 cases). Mutations were significantly associated with specific histological patterns, such as the nested/insular pattern (p=.026), giant cells (p=.007), nuclear pleomorphism (p=.018), stippled chromatin (p=.044), and amyloid deposits (p=.024). No mutations were found in germline analyses, suggesting these were somatic alterations. Conclusions: Our results provided the first comprehensive analysis of RET mutations in Vietnamese MTC patients. The most frequent mutation was p.M918T, followed by p.C634R and p.C618R. Mutations in these three exons were linked to specific histopathological features. Information on mutational profiles of patients with MTC will further aid in the development of targeted therapeutics to ensure effective disease management.

The RET gene point mutation is the main molecular alteration involved in medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) tumorigenesis. Previous studies in Vietnam mainly consisted of case reports, with limited data on larger sample sizes. In this study, we investigated RET gene mutations in exons 10, 11, and 16 and analyzed clinicopathological features of a series of Vietnamese MTC patients. Methods: We collected 33 tissue samples from patients with MTC and analyzed RET mutations using the Sanger sequencing method. The relationship between hotspot RET mutations (exons 10, 11, 16) and clinicopathological features were investigated. Results: Among the 33 analyzed cases, 17 tumors (52%) harbored RET mutations in exon 10, 11, or 16. A total of 10 distinct genetic alterations were identified, including eight missense mutations and two short indels. Of these, seven were classified as pathogenic mutations based on previous publications, with p.M918T being the most frequent (4 cases), followed by p.C634R (3 cases) and p.C618R (3 cases). Mutations were significantly associated with specific histological patterns, such as the nested/insular pattern (p=.026), giant cells (p=.007), nuclear pleomorphism (p=.018), stippled chromatin (p=.044), and amyloid deposits (p=.024). No mutations were found in germline analyses, suggesting these were somatic alterations. Conclusions: Our results provided the first comprehensive analysis of RET mutations in Vietnamese MTC patients. The most frequent mutation was p.M918T, followed by p.C634R and p.C618R. Mutations in these three exons were linked to specific histopathological features. Information on mutational profiles of patients with MTC will further aid in the development of targeted therapeutics to ensure effective disease management.

The RET gene point mutation is the main molecular alteration involved in medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) tumorigenesis. Previous studies in Vietnam mainly consisted of case reports, with limited data on larger sample sizes. In this study, we investigated RET gene mutations in exons 10, 11, and 16 and analyzed clinicopathological features of a series of Vietnamese MTC patients. Methods: We collected 33 tissue samples from patients with MTC and analyzed RET mutations using the Sanger sequencing method. The relationship between hotspot RET mutations (exons 10, 11, 16) and clinicopathological features were investigated. Results: Among the 33 analyzed cases, 17 tumors (52%) harbored RET mutations in exon 10, 11, or 16. A total of 10 distinct genetic alterations were identified, including eight missense mutations and two short indels. Of these, seven were classified as pathogenic mutations based on previous publications, with p.M918T being the most frequent (4 cases), followed by p.C634R (3 cases) and p.C618R (3 cases). Mutations were significantly associated with specific histological patterns, such as the nested/insular pattern (p=.026), giant cells (p=.007), nuclear pleomorphism (p=.018), stippled chromatin (p=.044), and amyloid deposits (p=.024). No mutations were found in germline analyses, suggesting these were somatic alterations. Conclusions: Our results provided the first comprehensive analysis of RET mutations in Vietnamese MTC patients. The most frequent mutation was p.M918T, followed by p.C634R and p.C618R. Mutations in these three exons were linked to specific histopathological features. Information on mutational profiles of patients with MTC will further aid in the development of targeted therapeutics to ensure effective disease management.

Peptide-based therapeutics hold great promise for the treatment of various diseases; however, their clinical application is often hindered by toxicity challenges. The accurate prediction of peptide toxicity is crucial for designing safe peptide-based therapeutics. While traditional experimental approaches are time-consuming and expensive, computational methods have emerged as viable alternatives, including similarity-based and machine learning (ML)-/deep learning (DL)-based methods. However, existing methods often struggle with robustness and generalizability. To address these challenges, we propose HyPepTox-Fuse, a novel framework that fuses protein language model (PLM)-based embeddings with conventional descriptors. HyPepTox-Fuse integrates ensemble PLM-based embeddings to achieve richer peptide representations by leveraging a cross-modal multi-head attention mechanism and Transformer architecture. A robust feature ranking and selection pipeline further refines conventional descriptors, thus enhancing prediction performance. Our framework outperforms state-of-the-art methods in cross-validation and independent evaluations, offering a scalable and reliable tool for peptide toxicity prediction. Moreover, we conducted a case study to validate the robustness and generalizability of HyPepTox-Fuse, highlighting its effectiveness in enhancing model performance. Furthermore, the HyPepTox-Fuse server is freely accessible at https://balalab-skku.org/HyPepTox-Fuse/ and the source code is publicly available at https://github.com/cbbl-skku-org/HyPepTox-Fuse/. The study thus presents an intuitive platform for predicting peptide toxicity and supports reproducibility through openly available datasets.

Objectives: Survey on erectile dysfunction in patients with lumbosacral disc herniation and evaluation of their clinical improvement after surgical treatment of spinal canal stenosis due to herniated disc. Materials and Methods: 35 patients with lumbosacral were treated with discectomy with posterior intervertebral fusion (PLIF) surgery from 10/2021 - 4/2022 at the Department of Neurology, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. Patients were evaluated for erectile dysfunction and postoperative improvement using the IIEF-5, CSFQ-14, DASS-21, Oswestry scales. Results: The mean age was 48.49 ± 9.15 years old. 51.4% of patients had the most severe hernia at the L4-L5 disc, 28.6% L3-L4 and 20% L5-S1. 100% of patients with herniated disc have erectile dysfunction. Of which 40% had mild-moderate disorders, 34.3% had moderate disorders, 14.3% had severe disorders and 11.4% had mild disorders. The CSFQ-14 and DASS-21 scales were correlated with erectile dysfunction (p < 0.05). Surgery significantly improved pain (VAS score), activity limitation (ODI and JOA), degree of erectile dysfunction, changes in sexual function, depression and anxiety, stress of the patient 1 month after surgery (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients with lumbosacral disc herniation had a 100% erectile dysfunction rate with a mean IIEF-5 score of 11.69 ± 3.77. The CSFQ-14 and DASS-21 scores have a strong positive correlation with erectile dysfunction. Surgical treatment of spinal canal stenosis due to lumbosacral disc herniation improves the clinical status of herniated disc as well as improves erectile dysfunction in these patients.

BACKGROUND: Currently, it is recognized that water polluted with toxic heavy metal ions may cause serious effects on human health. Therefore, the development of new materials for effective removal of heavy metal ions from water is still a widely important area. Melanin is being considered as a potential material for removal of heavy metal from water. METHODS: In this study, we synthesized two melanin-embedded beads from two different melanin powder sources and named IMB (Isolated Melanin Bead originated from squid ink sac) and CMB (Commercial Melanin Bead originated from sesame seeds). These beads were of globular shape and 2-3 mm in diameter. We investigated and compared the sorption abilities of these two bead materials toward hexavalent-chromium (Cr) in water. The isotherm sorption curves were established using Langmuir and Freundlich models in the optimized conditions of pH, sorption time, solid/liquid ratio, and initial concentration of Cr. The FITR analysis was also carried out to show the differences in surface properties of these two beads. RESULTS: The optimized conditions for isotherm sorption of Cr on IMB/CMB were set at pH values of 2/2, sorption times of 90/300 min, and solid-liquid ratios of 10/20 mg/mL. The maximum sorption capacities calculated based on the Langmuir model were 19.60 and 6.24 for IMB and CMB, respectively. However, the adsorption kinetic of Cr on the beads fitted the Freundlich model with R values of 0.992 for IMB and 0.989 for CMB. The deduced Freundlich constant, 1/n, in the range of 0.2-0.8 indicated that these beads are good adsorption materials. In addition, structure analysis data revealed great differences in physical and chemical properties between IMB and CMB. Interestingly, FTIR analysis results showed strong signals of -OH (3295.35 cm) and -C=O (1608.63 cm) groups harboring on the IMB but not CMB. Moreover, loading of Cr on the IMB caused a shift of broad peaks from 3295.35 cm and 1608.63 cm to 3354.21 cm and 1597.06 cm, respectively, due to -OH and -C=O stretching. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our study suggests that IMB has great potential as a bead material for the elimination of Cr from aqueous solutions and may be highly useful for water treatment applications.
Adsorption ; Chromium ; chemistry ; Kinetics ; Melanins ; chemistry ; Waste Disposal, Fluid ; methods ; Water Pollutants, Chemical ; chemistry ; Water Pollution, Chemical ; prevention & control ; Water Purification ; methods

Background: Deltoid contracture can be a congenital or acquired condition. There were not any reports on deltoid contracture in English literature until 1960. In 2005 there were 170 children presented at the Viet Nam Pediatric Institute with deltoid contracture. These children came from different provinces, nationwide. The numbers of children who have this condition is increasing, but there were few studies on this problem in Viet Nam. Objectives: To identify the prevalence of deltoid contracture in Viet Nam in 2006-2007. Subjects and method: A cross-sectional study was done in 8 provinces representing for 3 geographic regions of Viet Nam., included Ha Noi, Ha Tay, Thanh Hoa and Lang son in Northern, Ha Tinh and Da Nang in Central and Tien Giang and Can Tho in the Southern region. 29,696 people aged from 1 to 60 years old at the baseline were involved in the study. The subjects were examined to identify the deltoid contracture based on defined criteria. Results: The prevalence of disease was 0.65% (0.83% in men and 0.51% in women). The rate was highest in the group of 6-10 years of age (1.81%). The prevalence was 0.82% in rural and 0.31% in urban area. Cases were found in all but 4 provinces (Da Nang, Tien Giang, Can Tho and Ha Noi) Conclusion: The prevalence of Deltoid contracture in Viet Nam was 0.65% in 2006-2007. It was more likely to occur in men than in women, in age group of 6 \u2013 10 than in other groups and in rural than in urban area.
Deltoid contracture

Background: Deltoid contracture can be congenital or acquired. A cross-sectional study has been done in 8 provinces representing three regions in Vietnam. These are Ha Noi, HaTay, Thanh Hoa and Lang Son in the North, Ha Tinh and Da Nang provinces in the central, Tien Giang and Can Tho provinces in the South of Vietnam. Objective: To identify the risk factors of Deltoid contracture in Vietnam from 2006 - 2007. Subject and Method: 29696 people aged from 1 to 60 years old at the time of the survey were examined to diagnose the Deltoid contracture as well as being interviewed by structured questionnaire. Results: There was significant association between contracture of Deltoid muscle and some factors. These are antibiotics injection into the Delta muscle at 0 - 5 years old: OR = 2.93 (1.435,8); Antibiotics type (streptomycin) was injected at 0-5 years old: OR = 45.2 (13.1 - 167); having cicatrix: OR = 73.4 (46.1 - 116.9). There was no significant association between Deltoid fibrosis and vaccination (position and administration). Logistic regression was done to find that antibiotics injection into Delta muscle at 6 - 10 years old and antibiotics type (streptomycin) were significantly associated with Deltoid contracture. Conclusion: Risk factors of Deltoid contracture in this study were antibiotic injection at aged 0 - 5 years old, antibiotic type (Streptomycin) and having cicatrix. There was no significant association between Deltoid fibrosis and vaccination (position and administration).
Deltoid contracture ; Risk factors ; Vietnam

Through interviewing, discussing with the managers of the Population and family Planning boards and staffs of the contraceptive warehouses at provincial level, the author found that: There were many limitations in facilities and staffs at the contraceptive warehouses at provincial and districts levels. New contraceptive users increased fast from 2.7 million in 1995 to rough 3.7 million in 2001 and estimated 5.6 million of users in 2010. Demands of contraceptives needed to increase faster than the numbers of contraceptive method users. National budget provided only 16.7% of total contraceptive cost
Family Planning Services ; epidemiology ; Contraceptive Agents ; Vietnam

189 health workers who collaborated directly to the procedure to insert and remove intrauterine device, were interviewed about side effects and complications of the use of IUD in Vietnam. Among them, 82.8% were < 40 years old, 65.1% had got a doctors, 74.6% practised at State Health Center. 19.8% at General Hospital and 6.6% at private health institutions. In case of complication after the insertion of IUD, 50.8% of health workers gave the advices, explained and continued to teach and to treat, 27.2% gave medicines and 21.3% removed IUD. 86.4% of these health worker underwent the reeducation yearly about family plaing and reproduction health in 1995-2000 year period.
Intrauterine Devices/epidemiology ; Medical Staff ; Epidemiology