Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not only a chronic inflammation but also an autoimmune disease with large progress in the management recently. But the condition still results in reduction of living quality, leading to pain and diability. The etiology and the mechanism of evolution, the unavailability of specific therapy had limited the success of treatment. Therefore, a comprehensive treatment of must be implemented as soon as possible, safe medicines must be used even in the beginning to minimize the inability caused by the disease.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Arthritis ; Disease ; Therapeutics

Background: Beer is produced to meet people\u2019s demands. Sanitation, old technology, poor knowledge on hygiene and safety of workers is still limited. Objectives: This study aims to learn the real situation and solution to improve the practical knowledge on food hygiene and the safety of workers at beer-producing enterprises in Ha Noi. Subjects and method: The descriptive, cross-sectional study on wokers at beer-producing enterprises in Ha Noi.The data were collected from designed questionaires and analysed by Epi.infor 6.04 software. Results: The general knowledge rate on hygiene food safety of workers is 42.5%; In there, the knowledge rate on environmental hygiene of workers is 45.6%; the knowledge rate on work instrument hygiene of workers is 46.4%; the knowledge rate on personal hygiene of workers is 37.7%; the knowledge rate on food hygiene of workers is 50.9%; the knowledge rate on food poisoning of workers is 76.3%; Conclusion: There is a relationship between the practical knowledge on hygiene food safety, age and work duration.
practical knowledge ; food hygiene safety ; beer-producing enterprises

Background: Worldwide, the beer industry has developed from 2% to 8% per year during 1990 and 2000 and the number of production surpassed 140 billion liters per year in 2001. Beer is not widely recommended for the population but the fact is consumption is on the increase. Objective: To evaluate the real situation of food safety conditions and hygiene safety requirements for beer at beer production enterprises in Hanoi and study various related factors to propose appropriate solutions to improving the food safety hygiene. Subject and methods: A cross-sectional, analysis investigation was conducted in 70 private beer-production enterprises in Hanoi in 2007. Results and Conclusion: The general rate with good food hygiene safety condition was 68.6%. Among them, the good environmental hygiene condition was 82.9%; good drainage condition was 75.7%; the work area hygiene condition meeting requirements was about 74.3% (with wall and floor hygiene regulation at 57.1%); food hygiene condition meet requirement about 95.7%; good work instrument hygiene condition was 72.9% and the lowest rate of work instrument hygiene regulation was 68.8%; good personal hygiene was 80%. The bad personal hygiene and environmental hygiene condition increased the risk of food hygiene quality that did not meet the requirement by ten-folds and thirteen-folds, respectively. The bad personal hygiene condition increased the risk of tool hygiene that did not meet the requirement by 5.5 folds.
food safety ; food safety hygiene ; beer-production enterprises

Background: hepatitis due to virus B is now one of the leading concerns in the community health care throughout the world. Vietnam was a country located in high risk areas for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with rate of HBV infection in the community ranged from 11.3 to 25.5%, the rate of HBsAg positive in pregnant women from 12-16%. Objectives: to evaluate knowledge and practice on HBV prevention among pregnant women in Hanoi in 2005-2006 period; to study on some related factors of HBsAg positive rate. Subjectives and Method: a cross sectional study (with analysis on knowledge and practice about HBV prevention) was carried out on 1.300 pregnant women above 28 gestational weeks at Hanoi Obstetrics/Gynecology Hospital in 2005. Results: the rates of women with knowledge about HBV prevention were 38.5% at good level, 24.4% at acceptable level, and 37.7% at unacceptable level. The rates of practice on HBV prevention were 58.5% at satisfied level and 41.5% at notsatified level. Knowledge was likely related to practice, age, educational level, and HBV positive rate. Practice on HBV prevention was also related to HBV infection. Conclusions: the rates of women with knowledge about HBV prevention at good level were relatively high. The rates of practice on HBV prevention at satisfied level were relatively low. Related factors of HBsAg positive rate: knowledge and practice about HBV prevention.
Hepatitis B/ prevention & ; control ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Health Knowledge ; Attitudes ; Practice ; Pregnant Women ;

Background: Fungal keratitis is a serious ocular infection that can cause corneal scarring and blindness. Currently, diagnosis of fungal pathogens remains a difficult problem. Objectives: To investigate the application of semi-nested PCR targeted ITS genes for detection of fungal agents causing keratitis. Material and method: Ten identified fungal strains, 4 bacterial strains, 20 scraping samples from patients with suspected fungal keratitis and 2 scraping samples from patients with suspected bacterial keratitis were tested using semi-nested PCR. Results: Semi-nested PCR showed positive results for the samples of identified fungal strains and for the 20 scraping samples from patients with suspected fungal keratitis. Neither samples of bacterial strains nor scraping samples from suspected bacterial keratitis patients gave positive PCR results. Conclusion: Semi-nested PCR is a robust tool for specific and rapid detection of fungal agents causing keratitis.
Fungal keratitis ; semi-nested PCR

To investigated the protective potential of ethanol extracts of Scutellaria baicalensis (S. baicalensis ) against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver injury. Methods: Dried roots of S. baicalensis were extracted with ethanol and concentrated to yield a dry residue. Mice were administered 200 mg/kg of the ethanol extracts orally once daily for one week. Animals were subsequently administered a single dose of LPS (5 mg/kg of body weight, intraperitoneal injection). Both protein and mRNA levels of cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6 in liver tissues were evaluated by ELISA assay and quantitative PCR. Cyclooxygenase-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and nuclear factor-κB protein levels in liver tissues were analyzed by western blotting. Results: Liver injury induced by LPS significantly increased necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, cyclooxygenase-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and nuclear factor-κB in liver tissues. Treatment with ethanol extracts of S. baicalensis prevented all of these observed changes associated with LPS-induced injury in liver mice. Conclusions: Our study showed that S. baicalensis is potentially protective against LPS-induced liver injury in mice.

Background: With the help of Japan, the Center for Research and Production of vaccines and biologicals, Hanoi has received a WHO standard measles vaccine production technology, including techniques in the examination of vaccine quality. Therefore, it is needed to be initiative on production of measles antibody. Objective: Study on production of measles antibody in rabbits and selecting the appropriate antibody for production of high titre antibody, which meets the standard of vaccine quality control in Vietnam. Subject and methods: Using the measles antigen from Edmonston and AIK-C strains, which were provided by the Kitasato Institute, to produce measles antibody. Making immunoreaction in rabbits and determination of neutralization antibody titre. Results and Conclusion: Measles antigen of Edmonston Vero 7/P2 strain used in the production of measles antibody in rabbit created the highest antibody titre in comparison with AIK-C strain from vero cell and FL cell supplied by the Kitasato Institute of Japan. Antibody titre of Edmonston Vero 7/P2 strain reached up to 1/8192 and met the sera standard required for measles vaccine quality control, it is similar to the measles sera to be produced from the Kitasato Institute.
measles antibody ; antibody titre

Cellular effects of ethanol in YD-15 tongue carcinoma cells were assessed by MTT assay, caspase activity assay, Western blotting and flow cytometry. Ethanol inhibited the growth and proliferation of YD-15 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner in an MTT assay. The effects of ethanol on cell cycle control at low percent range of ethanol concentration (0 to 1.5%), the condition not inducing YD-15 cell death, was investigated after exposing cells to alcohol for a certain period of time. Western blotting on the expression of cell cycle inhibitors showed that p21 and p27 was up-regulated as ethanol concentration increases from 0 to 1.5% whilst the cell cycle regulators, cdk1, cdk2, and cdk4 as well as Cyclin A, Cyclin B1 and Cyclin E1, were gradually down-regulated. Flow cytometric analysis of cell cycle distribution revealed that YD-15 cells exposed to 1.5% ethanol for 24 h was mainly arrested at G2/M phase. However, ethanol induced apoptosis in YD-15 cells exposed to 2.5% or higher percent of ethanol. The cleaved PARP, a marker of caspase-3 mediated apoptosis, and the activation of caspase-3 and -7 were detected by caspase activity assay or Western blotting. Our results suggest that ethanol elicits inhibitory effect on the growth and proliferation of YD-15 tongue carcinoma cells by mediating cell cycle arrest at G2/M at low concentration range and ultimately induces apoptosis under the condition of high concentration.
Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Cell Death ; Cyclin A ; Cyclin B1 ; Cyclins ; Ethanol ; Flow Cytometry ; Negotiating ; Tongue

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. Results: Of the 16,972 day 3 DET cycles investigated, 8,812 (51.9%) resulted in pregnancy. Of these, 6,108 cycles led to clinical pregnancy, with 1,543 (25.3% of clinical pregnancies) being twin pregnancies. Factors associated with twin pregnancy included age under 35 years (odds ratio [OR], 1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.32 to 1.71; p<0.001) and cycles involving the transfer of at least one grade I embryo. Relative to the transfer of two grade III embryos, the risk of twin pregnancy was significantly elevated following the transfer of two grade I embryos (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.16 to 1.69; p<0.001) or a combination of one grade I and one grade II embryo (OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.55; p=0.001). Conclusion By analyzing a large number of IVF/ICSI cycles, we identified several predictors of twin pregnancy. These findings can assist medical professionals in tailoring treatment strategies for couples with infertility.