TOC summary: Aquaculture nurseries should be included in control programs to produce parasite-free fish for human consumption.

No abstract

Dengue virus (DENV), which has circulated in Vietnam for several decades, has multiple serotypes and genotypes. A 2019 dengue outbreak resulted in a larger number of cases than any other outbreak. We conducted a molecular characterization using samples collected in 2019–2020 from dengue patients in Hanoi and nearby cities located in northern Vietnam. The circulating serotypes were DENV-1 (25%, n = 22) and DENV-2 (73%, n = 64). Phylogenetic analyses revealed that all DENV-1 (n = 13) were genotype I and clustered to local strains circulating during the previous outbreak in the 2017, whereas DENV-2 consisted of two genotypes: Asian-I (n = 5), related to local strains from 2006–2022, and cosmopolitan (n = 18), the predominant genotype in this epidemic. The current cosmopolitan virus was identified as having an Asian-Pacific lineage. The virus was closely related to strains in other recent outbreaks in Southeast Asian countries and China. Multiple introductions occurred in 2016–2017, which were possibly from maritime Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia), mainland Southeast Asia (Cambodia and Thailand), or China, rather than from an expansion of localized Vietnamese cosmopolitan strains that were previously detected in the 2000s. We also analyzed the genetic relationship between Vietnam’s cosmopolitan strain and recent global strains reported from Asia, Oceania, Africa, and South America. This analysis revealed that viruses of Asian-Pacific lineage are not restricted to Asia but have spread to Peru and Brazil in South America.

Background: Hypertension is one of the most common diseases worldwide, especially in Viet Nam. Screening for early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with hypertension remains controversial. We aimed to analyze the sensitivity and specificity of serum cystatin C and serum creatinine in detecting early-stage kidney function loss as a complication in hypertensive patients. Material and methods: From January 2013 to October 2018, 304 patients first-time diagnosed with primary hypertension at University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City participated in this cross-sectional study. Collected data includes anthropometric indicators, measured glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by plasma 99mTc-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic clearance, serum cystatin C (ScysC), and serum creatinine (Scr). Results: ScysC level was significantly reciprocal correlation between renal radiography (r = 0.781, p < 0.001). The cutoff value for the identification of GFR < 80 mL/min/1.73 m 2 was ScysC > 1.06 mg/L with a sensitivity of 90.8% and specificity of 90.6%, AUC was 0.90. The sensitivity and specificity of ScysC for the identification of GFR < 70 mL/min/1.73 m 2 and GFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 was 96.6%, 100% and 98.8%, 99.3%, respectively. Among 14 estimated glomerular filtration formulas used in this study, eGFR-cysC-Filler-Lepage had the highest sensitivity and specificity for identifying GFR < 80 mL/min/1.73 m 2 (79.8% and 100%, respectively). eGFR-cysC-LeBrion had the highest sensitivity and specificity for the identification of GFR < 70 mL/min/1.73 m 2 and GFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 (97.6%, 96.9% and 100%, 97%; respectively). Conclusion:The sensitivity and specificity of ScysC were significantly higher than Scr. The eGFR-cysC-Filler-Lepage formula had the highest sensitivity and specificity in detecting the early stages of CKD.

This paper examines the multi-dimensional efficiency of the Islamic banking sector and its determinants, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. To do that, we use a novel approach of two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) double frontiers to evaluate the overall efficiency of 79 Islamic banks across 16 countries (2005–2020). In the first-stage analysis, we found that the Islamic banking sector experienced an increasing trend in its efficiency and performance, even during the recent pandemic, although it varied across banks and countries. Our empirical results of the second-stage analysis further showed that economic development can help countries both withstand the recent pandemic and improve the efficiency and performance of their (Islamic) banking system. This, in turn, could help speed up the recovery process of the global economy. Since there is evidence that the Islamic banking sector is resilient to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that this sector will be a driving force of such recovery.