This is the first time in Vietnam that people have undergone “social distancing” to minimize the spreading of infectious disease, COVID-19. These deliberate preemptive strategies may have profound impacts on the mental health of the population. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the psychological impacts of COVID-19 on Vietnamese people and associated factors. We conducted a cross-sectional study during a one-week social distancing and isolation from April 7 to 14, 2020, in Vietnam. A snowball sampling technique was carried out to recruit participants. Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) was utilized to assess the psychological impacts of the COVID-19. Of all participants, 233 (16.4%) reported low level of PTSS; 76 (5.3%) rated as moderate, and 77 (5.4%) reported extreme psychological conditions. Being female, above 44 years old, or having a higher number of children in the family were positively associated with a higher level of psychological distress. Being self-employed/unemployed/retired was associated with a higher score of intrusion and hyperarousal subscale. Individuals who have a history of touching objects with the possibility of spreading coronavirus (utensils) were related to a higher level of avoidance. There were relatively high rates of participants suffering from PTSS during the first national lockdown related to COVID-19. Comprehensive strategies for the screen of psychological problems and to support high-risk groups are critical, especially females, middle-aged adults and the elderly, affected laborers, and health care professionals.
Innovation has long been considered an important factor for creating and maintaining the competitiveness of nations and firms. Common knowledge holds that innovation causes an increase in exports. However, contradicting empirical evidence is reported in the literature on the links between innovation and export. In this paper we examine whether innovation by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) enhances their likelihood of exporting in the context of the developing country of Vietnam. Using a uniquely rich Vietnamese SMEs database, we find that innovation as measured directly by 'new products', 'new production process' and 'improvement of existing products' are important determinants of exports by Vietnamese SMEs. We add to the current literature by examining the modification of existing products as an innovation activity. We also find evidence of endogeneity of innovation that may lead to biased estimate of innovation in previous studies, which failed to take this problem into account. L'innovation a longtemps ete consideree comme un element important dans la creation et le maintien de la competitivite des pays et des entreprises. Il est souvent convenu que l'innovation est a la base de l'augmentation des exportations. Cependant, il existe des resultats empiriques contradictoires sur la causalite entre l'innovation et l'exportation dans la litterature. Dans cet article, nous etudions si l'innovation menee par de petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) augmente leur probabilite d'exportation dans le contexte d'un pays en voie de developpement, le Vietnam. A partir d'une base de donnees fournie sur les PMEs vietnamiennes, nous constatons que l'innovation en 'nouveaux produits', 'nouveaux processus de production' et 'amelioration des produits existants' est un facteur important pour les exportations des PMEs vietnamiennes. Nous contribuons a la litterature actuelle en etudiant la modification des produits existants comme activite d'innovation. Nous trouvons egalement une preuve de l'endogeneite de l'innovation qui a pu mener a une evaluation de l'innovation biaisee dans les etudes precedentes, qui n'ont pas tenu compte de ce probleme.innovation, exports, Vietnam, SME, instrumental variable, bivariate probit,
Due to the rapid spread of coronavirus, Vietnam introduced its first national partial lockdown on April 1st, 2020. The public relied on online sources, whether through official websites or phone-based applications, to acquire up-to-date health information, provide accurate instructions, and limit misinformation. This study aims to provide insight regarding the current level of awareness of the pandemic, and to identify associated factors in Vietnamese participants to recommend necessary interventions. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a web-based survey during the first week of the lockdown period. There were 341 observations collected using a snowball sampling technique. A Tobit multivariable regression model was used to identify factors associated with the demand for each category of health information. The most requested information was the latest updated news on the epidemic, followed by information about disease symptoms and updated news on the outbreak. The prevalence of diverse socioeconomic, demographic, and ethnic factors in Vietnam requires consideration of the specific health information needs of unique groups. Identifying group-specific demands would be helpful to provide proper information to fulfill each population group’s needs.
Human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key regulator of angiogenesis and plays a central role in the process of tumor growth and metastatic dissemination. Escherichia coli is one of the most common expression systems used for the production of recombinant proteins; however, expression of human VEGF in E. coli has proven difficult because the E. coli-expressed VEGF tends to be misfolded and forms inclusion bodies, resulting in poor solubility. In this study, we successfully produced semi-preparative amounts of soluble bioactive human VEGF165 (hVEGF). We created seven N-terminal fusion tag constructs with hexahistidine (His6), thioredoxin (Trx), glutathione S-transferase (GST), maltose-binding protein (MBP), N-utilization substance protein A (NusA), human protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), and the b'a' domain of PDI (PDIb'a'), and tested each construct for soluble overexpression in E. coli. We found that at 18°C, 92.8% of the MBP-tagged hVEGF to be soluble and that this tag significantly increased the protein's solubility. We successfully purified 0.8 mg of pure hVEGF per 500 mL cell culture. The purified hVEGF is stable after tag cleavage, contains very low levels of endotoxin, and is 97.6% pure. Using an Flk1+ mesodermal precursor cell (MPC) differentiation assay, we show that the purified hVEGF is not only bioactive but has similar bioactivity to hVEGF produced in mammalian cells. Previous reports on producing hVEGF in E. coli have all been based on refolding of the protein from inclusion bodies. To our knowledge, this is the first report on successfully expressing and purifying soluble hVEGF in E. coli.
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