Purpose: To assess the prevalence of myopia and associated factors among secondary school children in a rural area of Vietnam. Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study of children in grades six to nine was conducted in four secondary schools in Hoang Mai town, Nghe An Province, Vietnam, during December 2018 and January 2019. The status of myopia was defined as a spherical equivalent objective refractive error of −0.50 D or worse in either eye. A case-control study was conducted to explore factors associated with myopia, where children with myopia were considered to be cases, and children without myopia were considered to be controls. Factors associated with myopia were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of myopia among secondary school children was 14.2% (95% CI: 12.7-15.7%) and tended to increase with grade, from 10.5% in grade six to 17.7% in grade nine. Myopia prevalence in girls was significantly higher than in boys. Factors associated with myopia were a mother with a college/university education (OR = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.2-5.3), parents who wore spectacles (OR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.1-3.8), distance from near work (OR = 5.2, 95% CI = 3.5-7.9), and taking breaks after 30 minutes of continued reading (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1-2.5). However, there were inverse associations with myopia for children belonging to the wealthiest households (OR = 0.2, 95% CI = 0.1-0.5) and time spent performing outdoor activities (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.4-0.9). Conclusion: Our study showed that the prevalence of myopia is considerable among secondary children in rural areas of Vietnam. The prevalence of myopia tended to increase among children in higher grade levels. Thus, appropriate interventions should be developed and conducted to deal with the issue of school-age myopia.

Background and Objectives: Identification of GBS serotypes provides helpful information for appropriate the develop- ment of suitable vaccines; however, no reports from Vietnam have been published. This study has been performed to find the prevalence and serotypes of group B Streptococcus isolated from vagina of pregnant women in Nghe An province, Vietnam. Materials and Methods: Vaginal swabs were collected from pregnant women at 35-37 weeks of gestation at the Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, Vietnam between May 2018 and July 2019. The swabs were cultured on 5% sheep blood agar for isolation of GBS. All isolates were identified using the Gram staining, CAMP test and specific PCR. GBS strains were serotyped using the multiplex PCR assays. Results: The prevalence of vaginal GBS colonization was 9.20% of 750 participants. Among the isolates, serotypes III (39.13%) and V (31.89%) were the most frequent, followed by serotypes Ia (11.59%), VI (11.59%), Ib (2.90%), II (1.45%) and VII (1.45%), respectively. Serotypes IV, VIII and IX were not found. Conclusion: The prevalence of GBS in the Nghe An province of central Vietnam was similar to reports from other parts of the world. The predominat GBS serotypes (III, V, Ia and VI) were slightly different from those previously described from other regions around the world. The high frequency of serotype VI was a notable feature of the strains from pregnant women in Vietnam.

Background and Objectives: Identification of pnemococcal serotypes and antimicrobial resistance provides helpful infor- mation for the use of suitablevaccines and antibiotics; however, very limited data is available on these issues in Vietnam. The present study aimed to find the serotype distribution and drugresistance patterns of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from unvaccinated children less than 5 years of age with pneumonia at a province in centre Vietnam. Materials and Methods: A total of 126 clinical pnemococcal strains isolated from unvaccinated children less than 5 years of age with pneumonia at theNghe An province, Vietnam between Nov 2019 and Mar 2021. All strains were identified using conventional microbiological method, VITEK® 2 Compactsystem, specific PCR and sequencing. The serotypes and antimicrobial resistance patterns of pnemococcal strains were determined using the multiplex PCRassays and VITEK® 2 Compact system. Results: The results showed that, eight different pneumococcal serotypes were identified. The  most  common  serotypes were 19F (67.46%), followed by23F (10.32%), 19A (9.52%), 6A/B (3.17%), 15A (2.38%), 9V (3.17%), 11A (1.59%) and 14 (0.80%), respectively. More than half of the pneumococcal strainswere non-susceptible to penicillin. The resistance rate to ceftriaxone and cefotaxime were 41.3% and 50.8%. The percentage of pneumococci strains resistantto clarithromycin, azi- thromycin, erythromycin, cotrimoxazole, tetracyclin, and clindamycin were more than 93% of all strains. All pneumococcal serotypes were highly resistant to clarithromycin, azithromycin, erythromycin, cotrimoxazole, and clindamycin. Conclusion: Our findings showed high antibioticresistance rates of the strains causing pneumococcal pneumonia, mostly macrolide resistance, among unvaccinated children.

We conducted an initial evaluation of the effectiveness of the application of the model of capacity building for early diagnosis and treatment with PCI in STEMI patients in Nghe An to contribute to solving the problems and to be able to replicate the model. STEMI patients received PCI from 7/2018 - 8/2020 at Nghe An General Hospital. Retrospective and prospective cross-sectional study, intervention with comparison before and after intervention included 280 patients, mean age 71.9 ± 14.59 (years); men accounted for 69.3%. After implementing the model, the number of patients increased by 135%, the time of the door - the ball decreased (71.3 ± 71.8 compared to 152.29 ± 167.3 minutes), the length of hospital stays, and the mortality rate decreased significantly.