160 coloured foodstuffs and 115 colouring agent sample were collected and analyzed. The results showed that 55% of coloured foodstuff sample and 92.2% of colouring agent contained nonpermitted colours.
Food Additives ; Utilization ; Safety ; Hygiene

Background: aaP, aggR, and astA have been found to play important roles in diarrheal pathogenecity of EAEC. They may be exist in other diarrheagenic E.coli (DEC). Objectives: To determine the distribution of aaP, aggR, and astA in ETEC, EPEC, EIEC and non-diarrheagenic E.coli. Subjects and method: 75 strains of ETEC, EPEC, EIEC and 100 non-DEC have been screen by PCR with primers specific toaaP, aggR, and astA. Results: aaP, aggR, and astA have been seen in DEC with the prevence from 7 to 72,7%. The highest prevence was in EIEC, 72,7% for aap; 45,5% in EIEC for aggR; and 50% in ETEC for astA. 14% of non-DEC harbored aggR and more than 30% harbored aap and astA. Conclusion: This finding has contributed to understanding the distribution of aap, aggR and astA in ETEC, EPEC, EIEC and non-DEC as well.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli ; Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli ; Escherichia coli ;

Background: PCR technique combined with culture isolates is used commonly to detect bacteria that can cause diarrhea from clinical samples. Direct DNA extraction which is a simple, fast and effective method is very important in the rapid diagnosis of bacterial pathogens from fecal samples. Objective: Perfection of method for direct DNA extraction of Shigella and EIEC from fecal samples. Subjects and method: EIEC ATCC 43893, E. coli ATCC 11775 was used for positive and negative controls. Extracted DNA would be used for PCR. Results: The method for direct DNA extraction of Shigella and EIEC from fecal sample had been successfully developed. It was a simple, rapid, cheap and applicable method. Conclusion: The method for direct Shigella/EIEC DNA extraction had been successfully developed and it was very helpful in early detection of diarrheal-induced bacterial pathogens.
Shigella ; DNA ; feces ; diarrhea

Background: It is important to diagnosis and properly treat patients with diarrhea is having a highly sensitive and specific technique to rapidly identify the caused bacteria, especially Diarrheagenic Escherichia Coli (DEC) isolates. Objectives: To develop and complete the bacterial DNA extraction procedure and optimize the DNA concentration for multiplex PCR for DEC. Materials and method: 7 reference strains of DEC and 10 fecal samples taken randomly were tested using DNA extraction and PCR techniques. Results. A bacterial DNA extraction procedure has been developed and optimized. This is a simple process and does not require expensive equipment. The test result is available after 90 \u2013 100 minutes. The minimum DNA content required for PCR to give positive results is 100ng per reaction. Conclusion: The development and completion of DNA extraction procedure plays an important role in early detection of DEC in fecal samples and serves as a base for further research on diarrheagenic bacteria.
DNA extraction ; PCR ; Escherichia coli

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

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.

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.

Several factors presumed to facilitate the transmission of Taenia spp. were reported in Vietnam. We conducted a cross-sectional study taking questionnaires from 1,185 participants, and collecting 1,151 sera and 1,036 stool samples in northern Vietnam. Sera were examined for circulating antigens of Taenia solium cysticerci using ELISA, stools for Taenia eggs by Kato-Katz smear, and copro-antigens by ELISA. Ag-ELISA revealed 4.6% antigen positivity, indicating infection with viable cysticerci. Taenia eggs were detected in 1.5% of participants. Copro-antigens were found in 2.8% of participants. Eating raw meat and/or vegetables was significantly associated with the presence of copro-antigen (OR=8.6, 95% CI: 1.16-63.9, P=0.01). Considering the high taeniasis prevalence and the associated threat, public health attention should be given to treat the tapeworm carriers in the projected areas.

Several factors presumed to facilitate the transmission of Taenia spp. were reported in Vietnam. We conducted a cross-sectional study taking questionnaires from 1,185 participants, and collecting 1,151 sera and 1,036 stool samples in northern Vietnam. Sera were examined for circulating antigens of Taenia solium cysticerci using ELISA, stools for Taenia eggs by Kato-Katz smear, and copro-antigens by ELISA. Ag-ELISA revealed 4.6% antigen positivity, indicating infection with viable cysticerci. Taenia eggs were detected in 1.5% of participants. Copro-antigens were found in 2.8% of participants. Eating raw meat and/or vegetables was significantly associated with the presence of copro-antigen (OR=8.6, 95% CI: 1.16-63.9, P=0.01). Considering the high taeniasis prevalence and the associated threat, public health attention should be given to treat the tapeworm carriers in the projected areas.

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