Symptom prevalence, burden and correlates among people living with HIV in Vietnam: a two-centre self-report study.

Physical and psychological symptoms among people living with HIV (PLWH) adversely affect quality of life and treatment adherence. Study objectives were: (i) to determine validity and reliability of a Vietnamese translation of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short Form (MSAS-SF) among PLWH in Vietnam; (ii) to measure prevalence and burden of physical and psychological symptoms using the MSAS-SF including the Global Distress Index (GDI), Physical Distress subscale (PHYS), and Psychological Distress subscale (PSY); (iii) to identify symptom burden risk factors. We recruited 567 patients. Cronbach's alpha scores were: total MSAS-SF 0.91, GDI 0.83, PHYS 0.85, PSYCH 0.81. The scale showed good discriminant validity (low vs high function) (p < 0.001). The mean number of symptoms was 7.66, and the most prevalent were "worrying" (41.6%), "lack of energy" (40.6%), "feeling irritable" (40.4%), and "feeling sad" (39.2%). Monthly income below the poverty line was independently associated with increased: GDI,, PHYS, and PSY and a greater number of symptoms. The Vietnamese version of the MSAS-SF is valid to measure symptom prevalence and burden in HIV-positive populations. Here is a high symptom prevalence and burden among PLWH in Vietnam, especially those living in poverty, and a great need for palliative care integrated with HIV treatment.

Synthesizing and Evaluating the Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Ability of TiO2/SiO2 Nanocomposite for Silicate Coating.

The TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite has been synthesized by a sol-gel method and investigated the effect of the SiO2 content (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 50%) on the rutile-to-anatase phase transition of TiO2 NPs. In order to increase the photocatalytic efficiency of the nanocomposite and decrease the price of material, the TiO2/SiO2 Nc with content SiO2 of 15% sample is chosen for preparing silicate coating. The efficiency of photocatalytic MB and antibacterial ability in the air of W silicate coating (adding TiO2/SiO2 Nc (15%)) achieve almost 100% for 60 h and 94.35% for 3 h, respectively. While the efficiency of photocatalytic MB and antibacterial ability of WO silicate coating (adding commercial TiO2/SiO2) is about 25-30% for 60 h and 6.02% for 3 h, respectively. The presence of TiO2/SiO2 Nc (15%) with a larger surface area in W silicate coating can provide increased centers for absorption, photocatalytic reaction, and the contact between sample and bacteria lead to enhance the photocatalytic and antibacterial ability of W silicate coating.