Background: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a benign childhood disease. The aim of this study was to assess Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) among chronic ITP children in Vietnam. Methods: A case -control study was conducted from January 2020 to April 2021. Case group consisted of 56 children with chronic ITP aged from 2 to 18 years and their parents selected in the Department of Nephrology-Hematology -Endocrinology, Haiphong Children's Hospital, Hai Phong city. Controls included 170 healthy children matched with the patients on sex, and age recruited from schools in the same city. The validated Vietnamese version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) 4.0 Generic Core Scale was used to assess QoL of the participants. Results: The mean HRQoL physical, emotional, social, school functioning domains and total scores of the chronic ITP patients were significantly lower compared with that of the controls (p < 0.001 for all). Children in the age group 13-18 had the lowest overall HRQoL score compared other age groups (60.87 ± 7.66, p = 0.023), especially in the emotional and social functioning domains (58.33 ± 6.83; 64.17 ± 11.58, respectively) (p < 0.001). Chronic ITP patients with older age, longer treatment duration, and ongoing treatment status showed to be having lower HRQoL scores than the younger one, shorter treatment duration, and the stopped treatment group. Conclusion: Chronic ITP has a negative impact on HRQoL in terms of physical functioning, emotional, social, school functioning, and overall scores when compared with the healthy sex, age-matched children.

Vaccination is one of the most effective and cost-beneficial interventions for protection of animals against the highly pathogenic A/H5N1 avian influenza virus. Haemagglutinin (HA) is a transmembrane glycoprotein of A/H5N1 virus and is a critical antigen for development of the influenza vaccine. The haemagglutinin-based vaccine produced in plants was demonstrated as a candidate vaccine since it elicited neutralizing antibodies against A/H5N1 virus. In this study, immunogenicity and protective ability of a plant-based recombinant HA antigen which was fused to IgMFc to form oligomerized HA antigen (H5TG oligomer) had been evaluated by vaccination in chickens. Chicken sera after each vaccination were collected for Western blot, ELISA and HI assays. Ten days after the second vaccination, the chickens have been challenged with A/duck/TG/NAVET(3)/2013 virus, clade 1.1. The analysis results showed that the oligomeric recombinant H5TG antigen elicited stronger H5TG-specific IgY antibodies and A/H5N1 clade 1.1 virus-neutralizing antibodies than the H5TGpII trimeric recombinant antigen without fusing IgMFc in vaccinated chickens. Notably, the chicken protection rate against A/H5N1 clade 1.1 virus of the H5TG oligomer antigen was 80% that is not significantly lower than that of a commercial vaccine as a positive control from National Veterinary Joint Stock company NAVETCO, Vietnam with the chicken protective rate of 90%. Whereas the chicken protection rate against A/H5N1 clade 1.1 virus of the H5TG trimer antigen was 50%. These results suggest that the IgMFc motif plays an important role in the forming of oligomeric proteins which had been proved for enhancing immunogenicity and protection ability in this study. Therefore, the plant-based oligomerized recombinant H5TG antigen is a potential vaccine candidate against A/H5N1 influenza virus in the future.

Bac thom 7 rice (BT7 rice) is one of the major elite rice cultivars in Vietnam with superior productivity and quality but very susceptible to bacterial leaf blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. The gene OsSWEET14, belonging to the OsSWEET family which encodes sugar transport proteins, is considered to be a susceptible gene involved in the virulence of Xoo. At least three cis-elements (EBE - Effector-binding element), including Tal5, PthXo3 and AvrXa7 on BT7 OsSWEET14 promoter, bind specifically to well-known transcription activator–like effectors (TALEs) of many Asian Xoo bacterium strains. In this study, a T-DNA construct which expressed the protein-RNA complex CRISPR/Cas for editing three EBEs position on the OsSWEET14 promoter was designed. The recombinant binary vector was tested by PCR, restriction enzyme and finally sequencing and then successfully transferred to Bac thom 7 rice through Agrobacterium tumefaciens. 28 of 30 hygromycin-resistant regenerated rice lines that grew and developed normally under nethouse conditions were selected by PCR with specific primers. Among these, twelve transgenic rice lines were identified carrying one copy of the T-DNA construct. The presence of CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations of the targeted promoter in the transgenic plants were confirmed by T7EI assay. These results provide the basis to determine the role of OsSWEET14 in the susceptibility of Bac thom 7 rice to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae -caused disease, towards the further goal of generating an improved Bac thom 7 rice variety with broad-spectrum bacterial leaf blight resistance using CRISPR/Cas9 technology.

Hội chứng rối loạn sinh sản và hô hấp ở lợn (Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome - PRRS) do virus PRRS gây ra đã và đang gây thiệt hại lớn về kinh tế cho ngành chăn nuôi ở nhiều quốc gia trên thế giới. Protein M là protein cấu trúc bảo thủ nhất của vius PRRS (PRRSV) và không bị glycosyl hóa. Protein M là yếu tố kích thích việc sản sinh kháng thể trung hòa trong miễn dịch dịch thể ở lợn. Trong nghiên cứu này, đoạn gen mã hóa cho protein M của chủng virus gây Hội chứng rối loạn sinh sản và hô hấp ở lợn (VN07196) được khuếch đại bằng phản ứng PCR sử dụng khuôn là plasmid pGEM-PRRS (VN07196) với cặp mồi đặc hiệu, được gắn kết với promoter 35S, Histag và Cmyc, ELP, nhân dòng trong vector pRTRA và thiết kế vào cấu trúc vetor chuyển gen thực vật pCB301-35S-M-Histag-Cmyc-100xELP. Protein M được biểu hiện trong mô lá cây thuốc lá N. benthamiana bằng công nghệ biểu hiện gen tạm thời nhờ Agrobacterium tumefaciens, protein M gắn ELP được tinh sạch bằng phương pháp mITC đạt hiệu suất 2,1% trên tổng số protein hòa tan, 208 mg/kg lá tươi, hiệu suất thu hồi là 86,5%. Kết quả này góp phần chứng minh sự thành công của thí nghiệm biểu hiện tạm thời kháng nguyên M của PRRSV trong mô lá thuốc lá N. benthamiana. Đây là cơ sở khoa học quan trọng để tiến hành biểu hiện và tinh sạch kháng nguyên M ở quy mô lớn nhằm sản xuất vaccine tiểu đơn vị phòng chống PRRSV.