A descriptive study on rickettsiosis was conducted at the largest referral hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, to identify epidemiological and clinical characteristics of specific rickettsiosis. Between March 2001 and February 2003, we enrolled 579 patients with acute undifferentiated fever (AUF), excluding patients with malaria, dengue fever, and typhoid fever, and serologically tested for Orientia tsutsugamushi and Rickettsia typhi. Of the patients, 237 (40.9%) and 193 (33.3%) had scrub and murine typhus, respectively, and 149 (25.7%) had neither of them (non–scrub and murine typhus [non-ST/MT]). The proportion of murine typhus was highest among patients living in Hanoi whereas that of scrub typhus was highest in national or regional border areas. The presence of an eschar, dyspnea, hypotension, and lymphadenopathy was significantly associated with a diagnosis of scrub typhus (OR = 46.56, 10.90, 9.01, and 7.92, respectively). Patients with murine typhus were less likely to have these findings but more likely to have myalgia, rash, and relative bradycardia (OR = 1.60, 1.56, and 1.45, respectively). Scrub typhus and murine typhus were shown to be common causes of AUF in northern Vietnam although the occurrence of spotted fever group rickettsiae was not determined. Clinical and epidemiological information may help local clinicians make clinical diagnosis of specific rickettsioses in a resource-limited setting.

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Our findings demonstrate that the new cucurbitane-type triterpenoids have potential for prevention and management of diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis.

Extrusion tectonics forced by plate collisions shape continents not only through lateral terrain displacement and mountain building but also through massive rifting and basin development. The rift system underneath the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam, constitutes a world-class example of how extrusion tectonics drives continental rifting and transtensional basin development. Rifting and the Song Hong and Beibuwan Basin evolution are compared with the development of the Ailao Shan-Red River Shear Zone (ASRRSZ) that accommodated the extrusion of Indochina forced by the Indian-Eurasia collision. Rifting occurred during later Eocene-Late Oligocene time forced by ASRRSZ left-lateral shearing. Latest Oligocene-earliest Miocene transpression and inversion brought rifting to a halt, after which left-lateral shearing decreased. Paleogene rift systems extended along the trail of the ASRRSZ now outlined by lower to midcrustal metamorphic core complexes. Most of these rift systems were probably inverted and removed during the latest Oligoceneearliest Miocene, however. The metamorphic core complexes are suggested to represent the lower to midcrustal roots of these transtensional rift basins exhumed by inversion. Rift termination in the northern Gulf of Tonkin and exhumation of the metamorphic core complexes coincided with cessation of Paleogene rifting along the western South China Sea, and a common causal mechanism is speculated. Recent discussions of the ASRRSZ concern four major aspects: (1) the timing of motion, (2) the crustal architecture of the shear zone, (3) the amount of lateral offset, and consequently, (4) the regional plate tectonic implications of the shear zone.

The minimum volume of the nonlinear longitudinal fin with rectangular and triangular profiles by using the modified Newton–Raphson method is presented in this paper. The dimension of the fin profile is regarded as the optimization variable. Furthermore, a mechanism called “volume updating” is added into the modified Newton–Raphson algorithm to obtain the minimum volume of the fin. Two examples are illustrated to demonstrate the proposed method. The obtained results showed that the proposed method can be used efficiently and accurately in finding the minimum volume of the nonlinear longitudinal fin problem with rectangular and triangle profiles.