Objectives: The prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has increased, particularly among individuals who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Health literacy is considered a “social vaccine” that helps people respond effectively to the pandemic. We aimed to investigate the association between long COVID-19 and PTSD, and to examine the modifying role of health literacy in this association. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at 18 hospitals and health centers in Vietnamfrom December 2021 to October 2022. We recruited 4,463 individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 infection for at least 4 weeks. Participants provided information about their sociodemographics, clinical parameters, health-related behaviors, health literacy (usingthe 12-item short-form health literacy scale), long COVID-19 symptoms and PTSD (Impact Event Scale-Revised score of 33 or higher). Logistic regression models were used to examine associations and interactions. Results: Out of the study sample, 55.9% had long COVID-19 symptoms, and 49.6% had PTSD.Individuals with long COVID-19 symptoms had a higher likelihood of PTSD (odds ratio [OR], 1.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.63–2.12; p < 0.001). Higher health literacy was associated with a lower likelihood of PTSD (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97–0.99; p = 0.001). Compared to those without long COVID-19 symptoms and the lowest health literacy score, those with long COVID-19 symptoms and a 1-point health literacy increment had a 3% lower likelihood of PTSD (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.96–0.99; p = 0.001). Conclusion Health literacy was found to be a protective factor against PTSD and modified the negative impact of long COVID-19 symptoms on PTSD.

Objectives: The study was conducted to comprehensively assess the status cervical cancer screening registry based on the experience of several countries and the domestic context, to propose related recommendations for Vietnam. Method: The study collected and evaluated the models and induced lessons in implementing and managing cervical cancer recording systems, from four countries/territory namely: Australia, Taiwan-China, Korea, and Thailand. Additionally, a literature review on policies documents and programs related to cervical cancer screening that have been implemented in Vietnam was also conducted. Results and Conclusion: All four selected countries/territory have prioritized to develop their cervical screening data management system with different models, all systems aimed at personalized management and used the data to evaluate the effectiveness of the screening program. Currently, there is no system to record and manage data on cervical screening in Vietnam. However, the country has many strengths and opportunities for the implementation of this program at the national level. The recommendations focus on the preparation and establishment of an integrated system for cervical cancer screening registry data, is suggested as a component of the information system of maternal and child health/ reproductive health, into the existing medical data management system, according to the short-term and long-term roadmap.

Aim: DNA molecular size markers or DNA ladders play a vital role in molecular biology laboratories where DNA electrophoresis experiments are usually conducted. This study aimed to produce a 100 bp DNA ladder at laboratory scale, which could be applied to determine the size of DNA fragments in molecular biology experiments. Methodology and results: In this study, 14 primers including 4 forwards and 10 reverses were designed based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of Bacillus subtilis. These primers were able to amplify 10 DNA fragments with accurate sizes from 100 to 1000 bp. Furthermore, touchdown PCR was involved to maximize the specificity and yield of PCR products. Ten DNA fragments with the sizes including 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1000 bp were synthesized, and such bands were equivalent with commercial DNA ladders. Moreover, the quantity and quality of PCR products were measured using a nanodrop spectrophotometer. The optimal concentration ratios between such fragments (100- 1000 bp) were 800, 300, 150, 150, 500, 50, 50, 50, 50 and 50 (ng/µL), respectively. These ratios showed the clear and high resolution on 1.5% agarose gel. Conclusion, significance and impact of the study The results indicated that 16S rRNA gene of B. subtilis was a potential material for DNA ladder preparation due to the multiple copies number of this gene. Furthermore, in combination with touchdown PCR, the nonspecific bands were reduced, and the products could be used directly without the need of purification step.
Bacillus subtilis--genetics

Objective: The purpose of this survey was to estimate the prevalence of viral load (VL) suppression and emergence of HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) among individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) for 36 months or longer in Viet Nam using a nationally representative sampling method. Methods: The survey was conducted between May and August 2014 using a two-stage cluster design. Sixteen ART clinics were selected using probability proportional to proxy size sampling, and patients receiving ART for at least 36 months were consecutively enrolled. Epidemiological information and blood specimens were collected for HIV-1 VL and HIVDR testing; HIVDR was defined by the Stanford University HIVDR algorithm. Results: Overall, 365 eligible individuals were recruited with a mean age of 38.2 years; 68.4% were men. The mean time on ART was 75.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 69.0–81.9 months), and 93.7% of the patients were receiving non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based regimens. Of the 365 individuals, 345 (94.7%, 95% CI: 64.1–99.4%) had VL below 1000 copies/mL and 19 (4.6%, 95% CI: 2.8-–7.5) had HIVDR mutations. Discussion Our nationally representative survey found a high level of VL suppression and a low prevalence of HIVDR among individuals who received ART for at least 36 months in Viet Nam. Continued surveillance for HIVDR is important for evaluating and improving HIV programs.

Objective: To establish a surveillance in Dong Thap, at the border with Cambodia by assessing the presence of DENV serotypes and CHIKV among patients hospitalized at Dong Thap general hospital. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive analysis was conducted on a cohort of 131 patients hospitalized with acute fever and symptoms compatible with dengue or chikungunya. The study was conducted from January 2012 to February 2013. The full clinical picture was established as well as serological and molecular detection. Serological analysis was sequentially performed on blood samples collected on admission and an average of seven days after admission. The detection of IgM antibody to DENV was performed by IgM capture ELISA and the detection of DENV and CHIKV RNA was done by reverse-transcription multiplex PCR. Results: 101 patients out of 131 (77%) were confirmed with dengue. All four dengue serotypes were detected with a predominance of DENV2 and DENV4. No chikungunya infection was detected although reported in neighboring Cambodia. A differential efficiency of serological dengue detection was observed. Efficiency was 29% upon admission and 53% after seven days on the same patients. 30 patients out of 131 (23%) were negative with both DENV and CHIKV. Conclusions: Dengue is at risk of being underestimated and chikungunya is not systematically detected. Changes in detection and surveillance procedures are therefore discussed to increase efficiency of dengue detection and continue the monitoring the emergence of CHIKV in Dong Thap province and in Vietnam.

Objective: To record the human cases of dengue fever (DF) and investigate the Aedes mosquito species circulating during the Hanoi 2011 DF epidemics. Methods: 24 different outbreak points were recorded in 8 districts between August and December 2011. Results: 140 patients were hospitalized following dengue diagnostic with a predominance of males (59.3%) and the 15-34 age class. Only DENV-1 (11.27%) and DENV-2 (88.73%) serotypes were detected in human samples. Mosquito sampling performed in and around patients households revealed the predominance of Aedes aegypti (A. aegypti) (95.15%) versus Aedes albopictus (4.85%). Conclusions: There is a positive correlation between the population density of A. aegypti and the number of human cases and duration of outbreaks. This was not observed for Aedes albopictus. Three pools of A. aegypti were positive with dengue virus, two with DENV-1 and one with DENV-2.

Background: Investment to meet the man power requirements are recognized as urgent; especially to efficiently implement the National Strategy of Preventive Medicine. To strengthen the capability of provincial preventive medicine centers, the Ministry of Health has approved Decision No 05/2006QD-BYT for functions, tasks, authorization and organizational structure of Provincial Preventive Medicine Centers (PPMCs). Objectives: The study was conducted to evaluate the manpower and organization structure of northern PPMCs and provide recommendations for policy makers. Subjects and method: Using the cross-sectional descriptive method, the study covered the preventive medicine centers of 29 northern provinces between Jan to Jun 2007. The information was collected by interviews and self-reported questionnaires. Results:23/29 PPMCs have not met the criteria of man power stated in the Circular 08/2007/TTLB-BYT-BNV. Only 9/29 PPMCs were well organized in accordance with Decision 05/2006/QD-BYT of the Ministry of Health. The average number of staffs in PPMCs was 50+15. Medical staffs accounted for 53%, out of which 21.1% had postgraduate degrees; 32.2% had graduate degrees and 23.3% had been trained in preventive care. Conclusion: To meet the requirements provided by the Decision No05/2006QD-BYT, the man power and training for staffs in PPMCs should be improved and strengthened.
Man power ; Preventive medicine.

Background: Recently, microplate almar blue assay has been used commonly in detecting gen related to tuberculosis drug resistance, which provides results after 5-7 days with lower cost compared to traditional methods. Objective: To evaluate the application of microplate almar blue assay for rapid detection of drug resistance of M. tuberculosis strains. Subject and Method: A microplate-based assay which uses Alamar blue reagent - an oxidation reduction dye (MABA), was used for the determination of the anti-tuberculosis drug (isoniazid-INH, rifampicine-RIF, streptomycine-STR and ethabuton=EMB) resistance of 96 M. tuberculosis strains isolated from Vietnamese patients in comparison to those obtained by conversional method. Result: MABA showed to have high sensitivity and specificity in testing the sensitivity to individual anti-tuberculosis drugs (from 82.4% for STR to 93.3% for - INH and from 82.5% for EMB to 98.4% for STR; respectively), as well as for the multi-drug resistant M.tuberculosis (86.4% of sensitivity), highly correlated with the result determined by proportion method. Conclusion: MABA reveals the advantage in shortening test time, in simple performance and lower cost compared with the conversional culture based methods.
Microplate almar blue assay ; M. tuberculosis ; drug resistance

Background: There are many methods used in epidemiological studies of tuberculosis (TB) bacteria but Spoligotyping method is widely used with high accuracy, simple procedure, and carried out on strains containing a little of IS6110 segment \r\n', u'Objectives: To improve Spoligotyping technique and apply this technique to classify Mycobacterium tuberculosis\r\n', u'Subjects and method: Subjects and methods: The study included 12 medical waste samples collected at Thai Binh Hospital of Tuberculosis and 19 samples obtained from the The Hanoi Institute for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases. Spoligo model of 31 samples were analyzed based on Spotclust and SpoIDB4 database and divided up into family and subfamily.\r\n', u'Results: Spoligotyping technique has good results with the PCR product amplified 40 cycles and presented the film in 18 hours. Obtained results in 31 medical waste samples belong to 4 families: Beijing, EAI, T1 and H3-LAM9. EAI and Beijing are dominant families with 45.16% and 38.7%), respectively. T1 and H3-LAM9 are 12.9% and 3.22%, respectively. The number of samples in the study is little but the obtained rate of different spoligo models of strains are quite diversified (41.9%)\r\n', u'Conclusion: This result is relatively appropriate with previous studies on the distribution of EAI and Beijing families in Vietnam and the world. Spligotyping technique distinguished samples belonging to Beijing or non-Beijing families, which support for clinical treatment and development of new vaccines.\r\n', u'\r\n', u'\r\n', u'
Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis

Background: The method of immunoelectron microscopy has been found more than 20 years. It is widely applied to detect and identify some types of virus in medical waste samples.\r\n', u'Objectives: To identify antigen location of Rota virus in organelle of the Vero cell and primary monkey kidney cells after infecting and to study the interaction between the virus and host cells.\r\n', u'Subjects and methods: The study was conducted on Rota virus G1P8 (KH0118) isolated from patients with symptoms of acute diarrhea, primary monkey kidney cells collected from Macaca mulatta monkey and the Vero cell of WHO. \r\n', u'Results: Gold particles (10nm) coated protein A and polyclonal antibodies were used to interact directly with Rotavirus proteins \r\n', u'These gold particles with high electron density revealed the antigen location of the Rota virus in the lysosome, pouch and other compartments of the cytoplasm.\r\n', u'Newly assembled viral particles could be identified only after 18-20hours post-infection. It is also noteworthy that viral particles and empty capsides (virus like particles) were comprised into cytoplasmic vesicles associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi system.\r\n', u'Conclusion: In order to better understand the interaction mechanism of virus and host cells, the use of this method together with specific monoclonal antibodies for each protein component of viruses and cells is essential.\r\n', u'\r\n', u'\r\n', u'
Rotavirus ; Vero Cells ;