Background: The health education system has been established in Viet Nam since the early part of the 21st century from district to central level. In 2002, Health education has been considered as a first standard out of 10 national health standards for communal level. But there are few studies assessed the situation of health education activities at district level. Objectives: To discover the situation and identify possibilities to improve the health education activities at district level. Subjects and method: The cross-sectional study was conducted in 4 provinces: Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen, Ha Tay and Thai Binh. The questionnaires were used for interviewing health workers in preventive health centers at district and provincial levels of these provinces. Results. The health education activities have been carried out at district level with different methods, but 35.4% of respondents noted that these activities were not good enough. The significant number of health workers, who were responsible for health education at district level did not possess the proper knowledge and skills to meet the task requirements. The management of health education remained a limitation. 76.1% interviewed health workers said that the plans of health education activities have not been made properly, a lack of equipment and materials for these activities. Most of the respondents believed that the health education activities can be improved with better implementations.Conclusion: The health education management and activities at district level of the 4 investigated provinces has not achieved levels of expectation. The knowledge and skills of health workers had not met the task requirements. Therefore, it is important to strengthen both knowledge and skills for health workers to improve the health education activities at district level.
Health education ; District level

OBJECTIVE: Sperm cryopreservation has been widely used in assisted reproductive technology, as it offers great potential for the treatment of some types of male infertility. However, cryopreservation may result in changes in membrane lipid composition and acrosome status, as well as reductions in sperm motility and viability. This study aimed to evaluate sperm DNA fragmentation damage caused by conventional freezing using the sperm chromatin dispersion test. METHODS: In total, 120 fresh human semen samples were frozen by conventional methods, using SpermFreeze Solution as a cryoprotectant. Routine semen analysis and a Halosperm test (using the Halosperm kit) were performed on each sample before freezing and after thawing. Semen parameters and sperm DNA fragmentation were compared between these groups. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in sperm progressive motility, viability, and normal morphology after conventional freezing (32.78%, 79.58%, and 3.87% vs. 16%, 55.99%, and 2.55%, respectively). The sperm head, midpiece, and tail defect rate increased slightly after freezing. Furthermore, the DNA fragmentation index (DFI) was significantly higher after thawing than before freezing (19.21% prior to freezing vs. 22.23% after thawing). Significant increases in the DFI after cryopreservation were observed in samples with both normal and abnormal motility and morphology, as well as in those with normal viability. CONCLUSION: Conventional freezing seems to damage some sperm parameters, in particular causing a reduction in sperm DNA integrity.
Acrosome ; Chromatin ; Cryopreservation ; DNA Fragmentation ; DNA ; Freezing ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; Male ; Membranes ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Semen ; Semen Analysis ; Sperm Head ; Sperm Motility ; Spermatozoa ; Tail

OBJECTIVE: In frozen and thawed embryos, the zona pellucida (ZP) can be damaged due to hardening. Laser-assisted hatching (LAH) of embryos can increase the pregnancy rate. This study compared thinning and drilling of the ZP before frozen embryo transfer (FET). METHODS: Patients were randomly allocated into two groups for LAH using thinning or drilling on day 2 after thawing. Twenty-five percent of the ZP circumference and 50% of the ZP thickness was removed in the thinning group, and a hole 40 µm in diameter was made in the drilling group. RESULTS: A total of 171 in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection FET cycles, including 85 cycles with drilling LAH and 86 cycles with thinning LAH, were carried out. The thinning group had a similar β-human chorionic gonadotropin-positive rate (38.4% vs. 29.4%), implantation rate (16.5% vs. 14.4%), clinical pregnancy rate (36.0% vs. 25.9%), miscarriage rate (5.8% vs. 2.4%), ongoing pregnancy rate (30.2% vs. 23.5%), and multiple pregnancy rate (7.0% vs. 10.6%) to the drilling LAH group. There were no significant differences in pregnancy outcomes between subgroups defined based on age (older or younger than 35 years) or ZP thickness (greater or less than 17 µm) according to the LAH method. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that partial ZP thinning or drilling resulted in similar outcomes in implantation and pregnancy rates using thawed embryos, irrespective of women's age or ZP thickness.
Abortion, Spontaneous ; Chorion ; Embryo Transfer* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Methods ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnancy Rate ; Pregnancy, Multiple ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Spermatozoa ; Zona Pellucida

The 5th outbreak of trichinosis occurred in a mountainous area of North Vietnam in 2012, involving 24 patients among 27 people who consumed raw pork together. Six of these patients visited several hospitals in Hanoi for treatment. Similar clinical symptoms appeared in these patients within 5-8 days after eating infected raw pork, which consisted of fever, muscle pain, difficult moving, edema, difficult swallowing, and difficult breathing. ELISA revealed all (6/6) positive reactions against Trichinella spiralis antigen and all cases showed positive biopsy results for Trichinella sp. larvae in the muscle. The larvae detected in the patients were identified as T. spiralis (Vietnamese strain) by the molecular analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit III (cox3) gene.
Adult ; Animals ; Antigens, Helminth/analysis/immunology ; *Disease Outbreaks ; Electron Transport Complex IV/genetics ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Larva ; Male ; Meat/*parasitology ; Mitochondria/genetics ; Muscles/parasitology/pathology ; Swine ; Trichinella spiralis/genetics/immunology/*isolation & purification ; Trichinellosis/*epidemiology/parasitology/pathology ; Vietnam/epidemiology

Background: Acute gastroenterophathy usually caused by the Rota virus for children under 5 years old. Objectives: To present various types of data on epidemiology of ROTA virus diarrhea in Ho Chi Minh city from 12/2006-11/2007. Material and method: The data were collected from 500 stool specimens of diarrhea diagnosed chilren hosptalised at Thuy Dien Pediatric hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh city from December/2006 to November /2007. Results:There were 322 rotavirus-positive specimens, representing 64.4%. The proportions of monthly distribution of cases with diarrhea due to rotavirus were 90.1%, 54.39%, 85.37%, 74.51%, 72.92%, 41.67%, 26.67%, 58.33%, 79.31%, 52.63%, 69.05% and 57.78%, respectively. The numbers of rotavirus-positive cases in male and female were 216 (65.26%) and 106 (62.72%), respectively. The proportions of Rota virus positive children compared to total number of diarrheal cases with age 0-3, 3-6, 6-12, 12-24, 24-36 and over 36 months were 2.80%, 7.76%, 40.06%, 40.68%, 5.28% and 3.42%, respectively.\r\n', u'The results of typing identification indicated that the phenotypes of 98 among 100 specimens were identified (98%) in which there were sixty-one specimens of G1P8 (61%), one specimen of G2P8 (1%), fourteen specimens of G3P8 (14%), four of specimens of G4P8 (4%), eighteen specimens of GmixedP8 (18%). There were only two specimens of GnontypeableP8 (2%). Conclusion: Further studies should be carried out to clear this issue.\r\n', u'
Rotavirus ; gel type.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the efficacy of physiological intracytoplasmic sperm injection (PICSI) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in terms of the fertilization rate and embryo quality using sibling oocyte cycles. Methods: This prospective, cross-sectional study collected data from 76 couples who underwent their first cycle at the Hue Center for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Vietnam, between May 2019 and November 2021. The inclusion criteria were cycles with at least eight oocytes and a sperm concentration of 5×106/mL. Sperm parameters, sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF), fertilization, and the quality of cleavage-stage embryos on day 2 and blastocysts on day 5 were examined. Results: From 76 ICSI cycles, 1,196 metaphase II (MII) oocytes were retrieved, half of which were randomly allocated to either the PICSI (n=592) or ICSI (n=604) treatment group. The results showed no significant difference between the two groups in terms of fertilization (72.80% vs. 75.33%, p=0.32), day 2 cleavage rate (95.13% vs. 96.04%, p=0.51), blastulation rate (52.68% vs. 57.89%), and high-quality blastocyst rate (26.10% vs. 31.13%, p=0.13). However, in cases where SDF was low, 59 cycles consisting of 913 MII oocytes produced a considerably higher blastulation rate with PICSI than with ICSI (50.49% vs. 35.65%, p=0.00). There were no significant differences between the pregnancy outcomes of the PICSI and ICSI embryo groups following embryo transfer. Conclusion Using variable sperm quality provided no benefit for PICSI versus ICSI in terms of embryo outcomes. When SDF is low, PICSI appears to be able to produce more blastocysts.

As the associations of sperm DNA fragmentation with morphology have not been examined in detail, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between abnormalities of morphological details and DNA integrity in human sperm. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, men from infertile couples were enrolled at Hue Center for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Vietnam. Conventional semen parameters, including morphological details, were analyzed following the World Health Organization 2010 criteria. Sperm DNA fragmentation was evaluated using a sperm chromatin dispersion assay. The relationships and correlations between semen parameters, sperm morphology, and the type of halosperm and the DNA fragmentation index (DFI) were analyzed. Results: Among 130 men in infertile couples, statistically significant differences were not found in the sperm halo type between the normal and abnormal sperm morphology groups. The percentage of round-head spermatozoa was higher in the DFI >15% group (16.98%±12.50%) than in the DFI ≤15% group (13.13% ±8.82%), higher values for amorphous heads were found in the DFI >15% group, and lower values for tapered heads were observed in the DFI ≤15% group; however, these differences were not statistically significant. Small-halo sperm and the DFI were positively correlated with round-head sperm (r=0.243, p=0.005 and r=0.197, p=0.025, respectively). Conclusion: The rate of general sperm morphological abnormalities in semen analysis was not related to sperm DNA integrity. However, round sperm heads were closely associated with sperm DNA fragmentation.

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

As part of our continued study on the chemical constituents of Willughbeia edulis stems, a new dimeric lignan named edulignan (1) was isolated from its EtOAc-soluble extract. Based on NMR spectroscopic interpretation, the planar structure of 1 has been suggested to have two 2-substituted 4-chromanone subunits with different stereochemical configurations. In addition, the MS/MS analysis of the products obtained by acidcatalyzed hydrolysis of 1 was supportive of its structure. Unfornatually, the new compound 1 did not show α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with an IC 50 value > 250 μM.

Sphaeranthus africanus is commonly used as a traditional remedy for sore throats and pain treatment in Vietnam. The aerial parts have been studied for its anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative properties. However, the antioxidant and antidiabetic potential of the plant has not been explored. In this work, hydrophilic extracts of the plant's aerial parts were prepared in order to investigate its antioxidant and anti-diabetic properties. Also, the cytotoxicity of the root was evaluated and compared to that of the aerial parts. All of the extracts inhibited lipid peroxidation with IC 50 values ranging from 2.05 to 3.56 µg/mL, indicating substantial antioxidant activity. At an IC 50 value of 4.80 μg/mL, the 50% ethanol extract exhibited the most potent inhibition of α-glucosidase. The cytotoxic activity of root extracts is 2 to 5-fold less than that of the aerial parts. Nevertheless, dichloromethane and ethyl acetate extracts of the root demonstrated a selective effect on leukemia cells, with no harm towards the normal HEK-293 cell line. This work provides a scientific support for the antioxidant and antidiabetic activity of the plant. Hence, it may find a promising material for the development of novel antioxidant and antidiabetic agents. More research can be conducted on the phytochemistry and anticancer activities of the plant’s root.