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ObjectivesThe purposes of this study were to assess the adherence to medication of hypertensive patients visiting community health stations in a rural area in Vietnam, to examine the relationship between levels of adherence and cardiovascular risk among hypertensive patients and to further understand factors influencing adherence.MethodsThis study is part of a prospective one-year study conducted on hypertension management in a population aged 35 to 64 years. Data on age, sex, blood pressure and blood test results were collected at baseline. Cardiovascular risk was based on the Cardiovascular Risk Prediction Model for populations in Asia. To calculate medication adherence, the number of days the drug was taken was divided by the number of days since the first day of the prescription. A threshold of 80% was applied to differentiate between adherence and non-adherence. In-depth interviews were conducted among 18 subjects, including subjects classified as adherent and as non-adherent.ResultsAmong 315 patients analyzed, 49.8% of the patients were adherent. Qualitative investigation revealed discrepancies in classification of adherence and non-adherence based on quantitative analysis and interviews. No significant difference in medication compliance between two cardiovascular disease risk groups (<10% vs. >10% risk) was found, also not after controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity (adjusted odds ratio at 1.068; 95% CI: 0.614 to 1.857). The odds of medication adherence in females was 1.531 times higher than in males but the difference was not statistically significant (95% CI: 0.957 to 2.448). Each one-year increase in age resulted in patients being 1.036 times more likely to be compliant (95% CI: 1.002 to 1.072). Awareness of complications related to hypertension was given as the main reason for adherence to therapy.ConclusionsMedication adherence rate was relatively low among hypertensive subjects. The data suggest that rather than risk profile, the factor of age should be considered for guiding the choice on who to target for improving medication adherence.

Background : Health care in Vietnam is challenged by a high burden of hypertension (HTN). Since 2000, several interventions were implemented to manage HTN; it is not clear what is the status of patient access to HTN care. Objective : This article aims to perform a systematic narrative review of the available evidence on access to HTN care and services in primary health-care settings in Vietnam. Methods : Search engines were used to identify relevant records of scientific and grey literature. Data from selected articles were analysed using standardised spreadsheets and MaxQDA and following a framework synthesis methodology. Results : There has been increasing interest in research and policy concerning the burden of HTN in Vietnam, covering many aspects of access to treatment at the primary health-care level. Vietnam’s National HTN Programme is managed as a vertical programme and its services integrated into the network of primary health-care facilities across the public sector in selected provinces. The Programme financed population-wide screening campaigns for the early detection of HTN among people above 40 years of age. There was no information on the acceptability of HTN health services, especially regarding the interaction between patients and health professionals. In general, articles reported good availability of medication, but problems in accessing them included: fragmentation and lack of consistency in prescribing medication between different levels and short timespans for dispensing medication at primary health-care facilities. There was limited information related to the cost and economic impact of HTN treatment. Treatment adherence among hypertensive patients based on four studies did not exceed 70%. Conclusions : Although the Vietnamese health-care system has taken steps to accommodate some of the needs of HTN patients, it is crucial to scale-up interventions that allow for regular, systematic, and integrated care, especially at the lowest levels of care.

The Asian and CMCS models provided similar results in predicting CVD risk in the Vietnamese population in Thai Nguyen. The Framingham model provided vastly different results. The suggestion may be that for the specific Vietnamese setting, the Asian and CMCS models provide most valid and reliable results; however, this has to be investigated in further analyses using real-life data for potential confirmation.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand restaurant operators’ perception towards key areas of green practices that could be adopted in the future operations of the restaurant business in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The paper used a qualitative approach through face-to-face interviews. Five restaurant operators who operated their independently owned casual upscale restaurants in the Klang Valley were selected as the respondents for the interviews. Findings Eight areas of green practices adapted from Hu et al. (2010) have been commented and proposed to be served as a guideline to design the Environmental Management System (EMS) for restaurants to go green in Malaysia. Although the feedback given on the feasibility of implementing these green practices provided by the restaurant operators were generally positive, challenges lies ahead in getting them to adopt these green practices. It required understanding of the difficulties and motivations of implementing these practices. Practical implications An in-depth understanding from the voices of restaurant operators was essential for further policy formulation and implementation in fostering the green practices which in turn can serve as a “win-win” situation for all parties. Originality/value There seems to be a dearth of studies conducted on the perceptions of restaurant operators about the feasibility of green practices adoption in the operation of the restaurants in Malaysia. The implementation of EMS or the adoption of green practices was a vital missing-link among the restaurants. The outcome of this paper was expected to provide new ideas and knowledge on the areas of green practices to be adopted as the environmental guidelines to operate restaurants in Malaysia.

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e mud crab increases the yield of farming in Southeast Asian countries. Scylla paramamosain, one of four mud crab species belonging to the Scylla genus, is a rich nutrient source during its soft-shell moulting period. In this study, we analysed the total lipid content, fatty acid components, and phospholipid molecular species of the S. paramamosain mud crab. e total lipid content was 1.62 ± 0.08%, which is similar to that of S. serrata previously reported. Twenty-one fatty acids were identified in S. paramamosain. e composition and molecular forms of the phospholipids were identified using high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Fifty-four different molecules belonging to six types of phospholipids were identified. Notably, phospholipids were made of fatty acids with C16 : 0; C18 : 0; C20 : 4; C20 : 5; and C22 : 6 main components. e anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic effects of crab lipids and phospholipids were investigated for the first time.e anti-inflammatory activity of the total and polar lipids had IC 50 values of 71.5 and 68.6 μg/mL, respectively. e crab polar lipid fraction, which contained phospholipids, also presented high cytotoxic activity toward five cancer cell lines with IC 50 values ranging from 85.4 to 95.8 μg/mL.

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