Association between nasopharyngeal load of Streptococcus pneumoniae, viral co-infection and radiologically confirmed pneumonia in Vietnamese children.

Hospitalized Vietnamese children with acute respiratory infection (ARI) were investigated for 13 viral pathogens using multiplex-polymerase chain reaction. We enrolled 958 children of whom 659(69%) had documented viral infection: rhinovirus (28%), respiratory syncytial virus (23%), influenza virus (15%), adenovirus (5%), human metapneumo virus (4.5%), parainfluenza virus (5%) and bocavirus (2%). These Vietnamese children had a range of respiratory viruses which underscores the need for enhanced ARI surveillance in tropical developing countries. Positive templates were used in each assay for quality control. RESULTSDuring the 14-months study period, a total of 1,014 pediatric patients from the catchment area were admitted to KHGH, of which 958 (95%) were enrolled in the study.Males comprised 58% of patients and 94% of the patients were less than 5 years old (median age: 1.4 years). The results showed that one or more respiratory viruses were found in 69% of patients: 11% had dual and 1.4% had triple infection. Eighty six percent of the viral ARI patients were less than 3 years old (detail information of age breakdown is shown in supplementary table 2, online only).Major viruses detected were rhinovirus (28%), RSV (23%) and influenza A (15%). This was followed by adenovirus (5%), hMPV (5%), PIV3 (4%) and bocavirus (2%). Other viruses (PIV1, PIV2 and influenza B) were detected in a small proportion (1.5%) of ARI patients. Across age, sex, and case categories, there were no significant differences between proportion of virus positive and negative patients.The pattern of virus detection did not differ between URTI and LRTI patients. A total of 268 radiologically-confirmed pneumonia (RCP) patients and 195 bronchiolitis 7 patients were identified. PIV3 detection was significantly associated with hospitalized LRTI (p=0.016) and bronchiolitis (p=<0.001). Similar to previous reports, we found that RSV infection was significantly associated with bronchiolitis (p=0.002) (6). We also found that a significantly higher proportion of patients (n=119)

OBJECTIVE: Outbreaks of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) continue to arise in various countries where a rubella-containing vaccine is not included in the national immunization program. After a large-scale rubella outbreak in 2011, CRS cases emerged in Vietnam. The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical features of these cases with an emphasis on cardiovascular complications and outcomes. METHODS: From October 2011 to September 2012, we conducted a prospective surveillance study of infants &lt;12 months of age who had manifestations suggesting CRS at the only referral hospital in Khanh Hoa Province. These infants underwent standard examinations, echocardiography, cranial ultrasonography, automated auditory brainstem responses, blood cell count measurements, and rubella-specific antibody testing. Detected cardiovascular defects were regularly followed with echocardiography. RESULTS: We enrolled 38 cases of CRS characterized by a low birth weight (71%), cardiovascular defects (72%), cataracts (13%), hearing impairment (93%), purpura (84%), hepatosplenomegaly (68%), and thrombocytopenia (76%). Patent ductus arteriosus, the most common cardiovascular complication, was often associated with progressive pulmonary hypertension (PH). As of January 2013, 13 infants (34%) had died, and PH was significantly more frequent among the fatalities (P = .004); however, therapeutic closure of the ductus reversed the PH in several cases. CONCLUSIONS: PH-associated mortality is high among infants who have CRS in Vietnam. Providing proper assessments, continuous follow-up, and timely intervention for cardiovascular defects is critical for the management of CRS patients. Echocardiography is of diagnostic and prognostic value and can support better clinical management of CRS, even in a developing country setting.

Physical aging of thin film glassy polymers continuously decreases gas permeability, presenting a great challenge in designing membrane systems for long-term gas separation. Most studies on the effect of physical aging on membrane applications use freestanding thin films, which are often annealed above the polymer glass transition temperature (T g) before gas permeability is determined. However, industrial membranes are often thin film composites (TFCs) comprising the thin film on top of porous polymeric supports, and they may not be annealed above the T g. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of physical aging of the selective layer on gas permeance and selectivity of TFC membranes to establish industrial relevance. Two-layer TFC membranes consisting of perfluoropolymers (including Teflon ® AF1600 and Hyflon ® AD) at various film thicknesses (50-400 nm) on polyethersulfone porous support were prepared and determined for permeances of CH 4 , N 2 , H 2 and CO 2 at 35 o C for over 1000 hr. Gas permeances decrease with time, and the decrease is more significant for larger penetrants and for membranes with thinner selective layers. For example, CH 4 permeance decreases by 54% and 27% after aging for about 1400 hr in TFC membranes comprising 50-nmand 370-nm-thick Teflon AF1600, respectively. The decrease of gas permeances over time in these TFC membranes is compared with that of freestanding films. This study is one of only a few to present the results of physical aging in industrial TFC membranes and to provide useful insights for practical membrane applications.

Human pancreatic cancer cell lines such as PANC-1 have an altered metabolism, enabiling them to tolerate and survive under extreme conditions of nutrient starvation. The search for candidates that inhibit their viability during nutrition starvation represents a novel antiausterity strategy in anticancer drug discovery. A methanol extract of the bark of Mangifera indica was found to inhibit the survival of PANC-1 human pancreatic cancer cells preferentially under nutrient-deprived conditions with a PC50 value of 15.5 μg/mL, without apparent toxicity, in normal nutrient-rich conditions. Chemical investigation on this bioactive extract led to the isolation of 19 compounds (1-19), including two new cycloartane-type triterpenes, mangiferolate A (1) and mangiferolate B (2). The structures of 1 and 2 were determined by NMR spectroscopic analysis. Among the isolated compounds, mangiferolate B (2) and isoambolic acid (12) exhibited potent preferential cytotoxicity against PANC-1 human pancreatic cancer cells under the nutrition-deprived condition with PC50 values of 11.0 and 4.8 μM, respectively.

Background Tyrosinase is an oxidoreductase that is very important in medicine and cosmetics because the excessive production of melanin causes hyperpigmentation. The development of novel, effective tyrosinase inhibitors has long been pursued. In preliminary tests, we found that an extract of the wood of Artocarpus heterophyllous (AH) potently inhibited tyrosinase activity.ResultsTwo new flavonoids, artocaepin E (1) and artocaepin F (2), were isolated from the wood of AH, together with norartocarpetin (3), artocarpanone (4), liquiritigenin (5), steppogenin (6), and dihydromorin (7). Their structures were elucidated using one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry. The absolute configuration of 2 was determined from the circular dichroism (CD) spectrum. Artocarpanone (4) had the most potent tyrosinase inhibitory effect, with an IC50 of 2.0 ± 0.1 μM, followed by artocaepin E (1) and steppogenin (6), with IC50 values of 6.7 ± 0.8 and 7.5 ± 0.5 μM, respectively. A kinetic investigation indicated that 1 showed competitive inhibition, with an inhibition constant (Ki) of 6.23 μM.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate that extracts of the wood of AH and its phytochemical constituents are potential sources for skin-whitening agents.Graphical abstractArtocarmin E (1) and artocarmin F (2) were isolated from the wood of Artocarpus heterophyllous. Their structures were elucidated using nuclear magnetic resonance analysis and mass spectrometric methodsElectronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13065-016-0150-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

From an EtOAc-soluble extract of the roots of Taxus wallichiana, six new (1-6) and 11 known lignans were isolated. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated based on interpretation of spectroscopic data. (+)-7'-epi-Tsugacetal (1) is a rare aryltetralin-type lignan having a cis-orientation of H-7' and H-8'. Compounds 3-6 were identified as the first naturally occurring tetrahydrofuranoid lignans having a cis-orientation of H-7 and H-8. All tested compounds were found to possess α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, with formosanol (9) showing the most potent effect with an IC value of 35.3 μM.

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