Alcohol consumption by adult women is consistently associated with risk of breast cancer. Several questions regarding alcohol and breast cancer need to be addressed. Menarche to first pregnancy represents a window of time when breast tissue is particularly susceptible to carcinogens. Youth alcohol consumption is common in the USA, largely in the form of binge drinking and heavy drinking. Whether alcohol intake acts early in the process of breast tumorigenesis is unclear. This review aims to focus on the influences of timing and patterns of alcohol consumption and the effect of alcohol on intermediate risk markers. We also review possible mechanisms underlying the alcohol-breast cancer association.

Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) is associated with a reduction in risk of some cancers, but its association with prognosis among patients with cancer is poorly understood. In view of the increasing number of cancer survivors in the United States and the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among patients with cancer, an evaluation of the role of circulating 25-OHD in prognosis among patients with cancer is essential. We conducted a systematic review of studies published in the following databases-PubMed, OvidSP, BioMed Central, EMBASE, and Scopus till September 2013 using the following search terms: "vitamin D," "25-hydroxyvitamin D," "calcidiol," "cancer," "survival," "mortality," and "prognosis." Our search yielded 1,397 articles. From the 1,397 articles, we identified 26 studies that evaluated the associations of circulating 25-OHD with prognosis among patients with cancer. Evidence suggests that circulating 25-OHD levels may be associated with better prognosis in patients with breast and colorectal cancer, but there is a paucity of information on its association with prognosis in other cancers. This review highlights the need for further studies evaluating the role of vitamin D in prognosis among patients with cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(6); 917-33. Ó2014 AACR.

There is little knowledge about how the influence of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) reduces the COVID-19 infection rate during the period of vaccine rollout. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of NPIs on decreasing the epidemic growth of COVID-19 between before and after the vaccine rollout period among Asian countries. Our ecological study included observations from 30 Asian countries over the 20 weeks of the pre- and post-vaccination period. Data were extracted from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker and other open databases. Longitudinal analysis was utilized to evaluate the impacts of public health responses and vaccines. The facial covering policy was the most effective intervention in the pre-vaccination period, followed by border control and testing policies. In the post-vaccination period, restrictions on gatherings and public transport closure both play a key role in reducing the epidemic growth rate. Vaccine coverage of 1–5%, 5–10%, 10–30%, and over 30% of the population was linked with an average reduction of 0.12%, 0.32%, 0.31%, and 0.59%, respectively. Our findings support the evidence that besides the vaccine increasingly contributing to pandemic control, the implementation of NPIs also plays a key role.

Herpes zoster is a localized skin infection caused by reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus. Tissue-resident T cells likely control skin infections. Zoster provides a unique opportunity to determine if focal reinfection of human skin boosts local or disseminated antigen-specific tissue-resident T cells. Here, we show virus-specific T cells are retained over one year in serial samples of rash site and contralateral unaffected skin of individuals recovered from zoster. Consistent with zoster resolution, viral DNA is largely undetectable on skin from day 90 and virus-specific B and T cells decline in blood. In skin, there is selective infiltration and long-term persistence of varicella-zoster virus-specific T cells in the rash site relative to the contralateral site. The skin T cell infiltrates express the canonical tissue-resident T cell markers CD69 and CD103. These findings show that zoster promotes spatially-restricted long-term retention of antigen-specific tissue-resident T cells in previously infected skin.

We examined factors associated with healthcare cost, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and kidney disease quality of life (KDQOL) in hemodialysis patients. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 160 patients from January to April 2019 at a hemodialysis center. Socio-demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters and quality of life (QOL) (using KDQOL-SF-v1.3) were assessed. Monthly healthcare costs were extracted from the hospital information system. The means of healthcare cost, HRQOL, and KDQOL were VND 9.4 ± 1.6 million, VND 45.1 ± 21.9 and VND 51.3 ± 13.0, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, the healthcare cost was higher in patients with a longer hemodialysis vintage (regression coefficient (B): 0.74; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.25; 1.23), comorbidity (B: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.24; 1.31); and lower in those with a higher hematocrit concentration (B: −0.07; 95% CI: −0.13; −0.01). Patients that lived in urban areas (B: 9.08; 95% CI: 2.30; 15.85) had a better HRQOL; those with a comorbidity (B: −14.20; 95% CI: −21.43; −6.97), and with hypoalbuminemia (B: −9.31; 95% CI: −16.58; −2.04) had a poorer HRQOL. Patients with a higher level of education (B: 5.38~6.29) had a better KDQOL; those with a comorbidity had a poorer KDQOL (B: −6.17; 95% CI: −10.49; −1.85). In conclusion, a longer hemodialysis vintage, a comorbidity and a lower hematocrit concentration were associated with higher healthcare costs. Patients who lived in urban areas had a better HRQOL and a higher level of education led to a better KDQOL. Patients with a comorbidity had a lower HRQOL and KDQOL. Malnourished patients had a lower HRQOL.

In the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and integration of the Vietnamese economy into the global economy, Vietnam's education and training has been increasingly developed and increasingly deeply integrated into the world. The development of teacher training programs is considered an urgent issue, a prerequisite to contribute positively to the development of education and training in the country. However, the first period of integration shows that teachers have many limitations in practical skills, soft skills, and foreign languages when working in a modern environment. These limitations are due to many factors; one of the basic factors is that the training programs at teacher training facilities are mainly focused on knowledge towards approaching content. Therefore, the development of training programs in general and teacher training programs in particular in the direction of developing necessary skills that society requires learners to have, in order to work and develop their qualities after graduation, to meet the integration needs in the context of the industrial revolution 4.0 is an important trend in the world and especially for Vietnam in the current period. CDIO stands for words: Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate. It is a solution to improve the quality of training to meet social requirements, on the basis of determining the outcome standards, developing programs and training plans; It is also the idea of universities, technical institutes of the United States and Sweden in the early 90s of the last century with the intention of training students after graduation with full knowledge and skills such as: communication skills, personal skills ... and immediate access to the labor market, meeting the needs of the business. In this article, we focus on the solution to develop teacher training programs under the CDIO approach to meet the requirements of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 in higher education institutions in Vietnam.

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Objectives To develop and manufacture both immediate and sustained release vaginal tablets containing the anticancer drug disulfiram, which has the potential to be used as a non‐invasive treatment for cervical cancer. Methods Disulfiram‐loaded vaginal tablets were manufactured at pilot scale using the direct compression method. These tablets were tested in accordance with the European Pharmacopeia testing of solid dosage form guidelines. They were also tested using a biorelevant dissolution method as well as a dual‐chambered release model designed to better mimic the dynamic nature of the vaginal vault. Key findings We have developed both immediate and sustained release vaginal tablets, which when manufactured at pilot scale are within the limits set by the European Pharmacopeia for the testing of solid dosage forms. Furthermore, these tablets are capable of releasing disulfiram in vitro using the dual‐chambered release model at levels 25 000 times and 35 000 times greater than its IC50 concentration for the HeLa cervical cancer cell line. Conclusions The successful pilot manufacture and testing of both the immediate and sustained release disulfiram‐loaded vaginal tablets warrant further investigation, using an in‐vivo model, to assess their potential for use as a non‐invasive treatment option for cervical cancer.