Introduction: Insomnia is a common disease in all societies and age groups. Among them, medical students are one of the population most susceptible to sleep problems. Studies from many countries have shown high prevalence of insomnia among medical students. Sleep diary is the gold standard for evaluating subjective insomnia and other sleep disorders. This research aims to study the prevalence of insomnia in Vietnamese medical students, associated factors, and their sleep patterns.

Method: In a cross-sectional survey using stratified random sampling, a total of 176 medical students was recruited, each completed a self-administered questionnaire and a 7-consecutive-day sleep diary. Demographic data and lifestyle factors were obtained from the questionnaire, while sleep patterns and quality were collected from the sleep diary. We performed data analysis using SPSS ver 22, p<0.05 was statistically significant.  

Results: Overall, out of 176 participants, 93 (52.8%) were affected by insomnia. On average, students acquired 6.2 hours of sleep each night. 70.94% of the recorded nights had total sleep time (TST) less than 7 hours. Associated factors of insomnia include sleep environment, sleep efficiency (SE), bedtime, falling asleep time, get up time, self-reported sleep quality.

Conclusion: The findings of our study revealed the high prevalence of insomnia among medical students. From recorded sleep data, we observed that sleep deprivation is also a common issue faced by the study participants. The valuable insights provided by sleep diary proved to be crucial in evaluating sleep patterns and quality.

Introduction: Endometrial cancer and endometrial atypical hyperplasia, futher referred to as endometrial (pre)malignancy in approximately 8.3-17.6% of cases depending on different studies. The incidence of abnormal endometrium increases during the postmenopausal period, especially endometrial (pre)malignancy. There are limited data regarding endometrial (pre)malignant disorders in patients with postmenopausal uterine bleeding.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the risk of endometrial cancer and atypical hyperplasia in the women who had postmenopausal uterine bleeding (PUB) and assess the risk factors associated with such cases.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 164 women with PUB used vacuum aspirator with Karman canula to evaluate endometrial pathology, underwent treatment at deparment of Gynaegology, Tu Du hospital through a set of questionaires and case file reports completed from February to June of 2020.

Results: In Bayesian inference, the risk of endometrial (pre)malignancy was 17.5%, CI (credible interval) 95% of 14.1 to 21.1%. There was a significant association between the risk and the duration of bleeding (OR = 1.02, CI 95% 1.01 to 1.03, LR+ 1.96, LR- 0.37), number of live births (OR = 0.79, CI 95% 0.66 to 0.95, LR+ 2.41, LR- 0.76), endometrial thickness (OR = 1.08, CI 95% 1.01 to 1.16, LR+ 1.16, LR- 0.77) and the presence of abnormal intracavitary mass in transvaginal ultrasound (OR = 9.12, CI 95% 4.09 to 20.33, LR+ 3.65, LR- 0.4).

Conclusions: Using manual vacuum aspirator with Karman canula showed the risk of (pre)malignancy in women having PUB and this risk depends on the presence of the risk factors.

Introduction: This study assessed the validation of Body Mass Index (BMI) against Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), and identify the prevalence of malnutrition and its associated factors in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) inpatients at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to consecutively select COPD inpatients based on medical records and consultancy with doctors. A structured questionnaire was designed to collect socio-demographic characteristics, health status and comorbidities, nutritional status, and handgrip strength. Nutritional status was assessed using SGA and BMI. Handgrip strength was measured using a hand dynamometer. Health status was collected from medical records.

Results: The mean age of 83 COPD inpatients recruited in this study was 67 (SD=10.4) years. Most of the sample population was ≥60 years old (75%), male (86%), Kinh ethnic (89%), married (72%), not currently working (70%), and less than junior high school (81%). Nearly 68% had at least one comorbidity and 27% were active smokers. The mean handgrip strength was 21.6 kg (SD=8.7), and mean weight was 53.9 kg (SD=10.0). The mean BMI was 20.4 kg/m² (SD=3.4) with 58% having BMI <21 kg/m². SGA provided the prevalence of malnutrition of 65%. Age-group, BMI and handgrip strength were associated with malnutrition. A BMI cut-off point of <21 kg/m² provided the highest ROC area of 84% (95%CI: 76%-92%).

Conclusion: Malnutrition is common in COPD inpatients. This study confirms findings of previous studies that a BMI cut-off point of <21 kg/m² was sensitive and specific for screening malnutritional risk at bedside.

Patients with Crohn’s disease may present with lesions in their oral cavity. Oral lesions may be associated with the disease itself representing an extraintestinal manifestation, with nutritional deficiencies or with complications from therapy including infections. Actinomycosis is a slowly progressive bacterial infection caused by Actinomyces spp., anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria. These organisms are normal inhabitants of mucous membranes, especially of the oropharynx, and cause opportunistic infections. We report a case of a 30-year-old male with Crohn’s disease presenting with painful oral aphthous ulcers and swelling of the upper lip. A diagnosis of oral actinomycosis was confirmed by histopathological examination. The patient was treated with infliximab and a regimen of amoxicillin 1 g three times a day. He had a marked response to the treatment after 2 weeks. The plan was to continue amoxicillin for at least 6 months with regular follow-up. Physicians should be aware that actinomycosis may be a cause of oral lesions in Crohn’s disease patient, particularly in immunosuppressed patient. Bacterial cultures and pathology are the cornerstones of diagnosis and should be performed in suspected cases to prevent misdiagnosis.

Background: The research aimed to increase certain HbA1c concentrations at medical decision levels for external quality control samples from healthy donor blood.

Methods: The in vitro study was performed from October 2019 to January 2021 at Quality Control Center for Medical Laboratory at University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City. The study observed on the conditions including the optimal buffer solutions (BAGPM, BPS, Ringer, Saline), temperature (2ºC - 8ºC, 22ºC - 24ºC, 37ºC), and glucose concentration (100 mM, 305 mM, 500 mM) affecting the HbA1c concentration in vitro to make the external quality control samples fell in normal, prediabetes, and diabetes range. At every condition, the HbA1c concentration was measured by Tina Quant method to look for the optimal procedure to increase HbA1c concentration required of the external quality control protocol.

Results: The highest HbA1c concentration (11.57±0.2%) was found in BAGPM solution with 100 mM glucose after 15 days with the baseline HbA1c 5.43±0.13%; the HbA1c level increase dramatically at 37ºC in BAGPM 500 mM glucose solution in fifteen days (40.03±1.05%).

Conclusions: The appropriate conditions were identified to prepare HbA1c standards for prediabetic and diabetic levels. The standards for HbA1c concentrations were recommended to prepare by incubating RBCs from non-diabetic donor blood in BAGPM solution containing glucose at 37ºC for 24 hours. Glucose concentrations should be 100 mM and 500 mM, respectively, for prediabetic level (HbA1c ~ 6.0 ± 0.12%) and diabetic level (HbA1c ~ 9.6 ± 0.17%).

Skin aging is a natural phenomenon which is related to progressive loss of skin structural integrity and physiological function and affects aesthetics which has been of highly interest. Inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) such as MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-9 is one of the potential approaches for anti-aging treatment as these targets are involved in molecular pathology to skin aging process from sunlight. The aim of the study was to investigate the binding affinity of 9 phytochemical compounds extracted from Morus alba Moraceae into the MMP enzymes leading to potential anti-aging activity by using in silico approaches including molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. All the compounds showed binding abilities into the targets. In particular, mulberrofuran H obtained the best docking results on the three MMPs. Molecular dynamics simulations of the complex of  mulberrofuran H and MMP-9 showed that this complex was stable. Combination of molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations results, there was an important hydrophobic interaction between mulberrofuran H and His401 at the active site of the MMP-9, which determined the MMP-9 inhibitory potential of mulberrofuran H. The ligand mulberrofuran H was also stabilized into the MMP-9 protein by hydrogen bonds with Pro421 with the high occupancy of 77.67%. These results demonstrated the good binding of mulberrofuran H on the protein MMP-9 which highlighted its anti-aging potency.