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Background: Metabolic syndrome is one of the most common public health concerns in the 21st century. Several previous studies have shown an association between increased serum ferritin levels and other components of metabolic syndrome and the risk of metabolic syndrome. They conclude that ferritin can be viewed as a predictor of metabolic syndrome risk. This study investigates some main features of metabolic syndrome and the serum ferritin levels in a Vietnamese adult cohort with metabolic syndrome. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 207 patients who were treated at the General Internal Medicine-Geriatric Department, Hue Central Hospital, from May 2018 to August 2020. Patients were divided into two groups: the study group (104 patients with metabolic syndrome) and the control group (103 patients without metabolic syndrome and no serum ferritin-mediated disease). The metabolic syndrome was diagnosed by a joint interim statement of the International Diabetes Federation/American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/World Heart Federation/International Atherosclerosis Society/International Association for the Study of Obesity in 2009. Results: Hypertriglyceridemia-hypertension-hyperglycemia (50.9%) is the most common combination of metabolic syndrome components. The mean serum ferritin concentration was 391.62±181.97ng/mL and 124.55±63.95ng/mL in the metabolic syndrome and control groups, respectively. In the metabolic syndrome group, increased ferritin concentration accounted for 86.54% for men, the mean serum ferritin concentration was 453.064 ± 161.75ng/mL (increased ferritin concentration accounted for 96.15%) for women; the mean serum ferritin concentration was 330.17 ± 181.71 ng/mL (increased ferritin concentration accounted for 86.54%). Conclusion: The serum ferritin level is significantly increased in Vietnamese patients with metabolic syndrome.
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Cheilocostuscandidus sp. nov. (Costaceae), a basally flowering spiral ginger with cream white flowers from southern Vietnam, is described and illustrated here. A new combination, Cheilocostustonkinensis (Gagnep.) Skornick., is proposed here and the lectotype is designated. A key to Cheilocostus in Vietnam is included.
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INTRODUCTION: Clarifying the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in diabetic patients, and the relationship between vitamin D concentration and insulin resistance, fasting plasma glucose, and HbA1C in patients in Hue City, Vietnam. METHODS: A cross-sectional study on 110 diabetic patients examined at Hue Central Hospital and Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. These patients were collected venous blood sampling, and the 25(OH)D test, fasting plasma glucose test, fasting insulin test, HOMA-IR and QUICKI calculation. RESULTS: Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency prevalence were 51.8%. The average concentration of 25(OH)D (ng/mL) was 30.67 ± 8.55; this concentration in fasting glucose level ≤8 mmol/l group and >8 mmol/l group was 32.08 ± 9.26 and 28.55±6.91 (p = 0.033); it was 32.95 ± 8.58 and 28.97 ± 8.17 in HOMA-IR ≤3.5 and HOMA-IR >3.5 group, (p = 0.015); in QUICKI ≤0.32 group, it was 29.16 ± 8.12; in QUICKI >0.32 group, it was 32.85 ± 8.76 (p = 0.025). Patients with an ideal exercise level have higher average levels of 25(OH)D (32.11±8.62 vs 26.83±7.16, p=0.003). The average levels of 25(OH)D in male patients are higher than in female patients (33.47±0.08 vs 29.01±8.43, p=0.008). Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency prevalence in patients with HOMA-IR ≤3.5 and QUICKI >0.32 were 36.2% and 37.8%, whereas in those with HOMA-IR >3.5 and QUICKI ≤0.32 they were 63.5% and 61.5% (p = 0.007 and 0.02, respectively). 25(OH)D is negative correlation with fasting glucose level and HOMA-IR, with r = -0.229 and -0.192, respectively (p = 0.016 and 0.045); 25(OH)D was positively correlated with QUICKI, with r = 0.235, p = 0.008. CONCLUSION: Patients who have better glucose-related parameters, such as fasting blood sugar, HOMA-IR and QUICKI, have a better vitamin D status. Some blood sugar-related factors, such as exercise level and sex, are related to vitamin D status.
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The Chinese water pine Glyptostrobus pensilis is the sole surviving species of the genus Glyptostrobus. It is endemic to southern China, central Vietnam, and eastern Laos, and today it is nearly extinct in the wild. Forest community characteristics and population structure of G. pensilis in China have remained unknown up to now. We investigated six swamp forest stands and analyzed their forest community characteristics (i.e. vertical stratification, species composition, and diversity) and population structure, including the frequency distribution of DBH (diameter at breast height) and age-classes as found in Fujian Province, southeastern China. The vertical stratifications of all the forest stands were rather simple. The remaining wild specimens ranged from roughly 15 to some 357 years for an average of ca. 85 years, with only a few individuals less than 20 years old. Compared with the stands and populations of G. pensilis in Vietnam, the taxonomic compositions of the stands in the two regions were different, except for the dominant species-G. pensilis. The Shannon-Wiener index showed the overstory of each stand had much lower diversity (0.26 on average) in Fujian Province than that (1.97 on average) in Vietnam, whereas the diversity indices were about the same (around 2.41) for the understories in the two regions. Furthermore, we discovered 18 G. pensilis seedlings at the study sites in Fujian Province. This discovery demonstrates that G. pensilis regeneration is extremely poor and its populations are declining, although these populations are relatively healthier than those in Vietnam.
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BACKGROUND: Sapria is a distinctive and narrowly host-specific holoparasitic genus belonging to the Rafflesiaceae. Sapria himalayana, rare throughout its range from NE India, SW China, Thailand to Vietnam, is a little-understood species first recorded for Vietnam in 1959, and only recollected there over half a century later in February 2017. This has facilitated an assessment of its taxonomic identity and our understanding of its morphology and natural history aspects. RESULTS: Six populations of Sapria at Vietnam's Tuyen Lâm Lake, and another two populations at the Nam Ban Protection Forest and the Cam Ly area were found, in an area of about 20 km in radius. Previously documented size attributes, morphological details and colour patterns allowed clear identification of the Vietnamese taxon as Sapria himalayana f. albovinosa. A full description of the species for Vietnam is provided. Past authors have distinguished the sexes by column form and structure, colour of the upper disk, details of the inner surface of the perigone tube, and presence of ovarial chambers below the column in the female. We present additional observations that male flowers consistently have more steeply held perigone lobes than females, in which the lobes were more spread out at wider angles in fully open flowers, and that males have a much lower cupule than females. The latter difference, especially, appears to be useful for quick determination of the sex even in the advanced floral bud stage. The host plant was the lianescent Tetrastigma laoticum (Vitaceae), but superficially it was not possible to ascertain the clonal relationship of neighbouring host lianas. Male and female flowers were found mixed together in the same cluster from one individual liana. Potential pollinators included Calliphorid and Stratiomyid flies observed visiting open flowers. CONCLUSIONS: Our observations have added to an increased understanding of the morphology of this highly specialized parasitic life form. More than this, we have ascertained its occurrence in Vietnam, with information made available to authorities of the Lâm Dong Province where our studies were conducted, for the sites to be specially demarcated for conservation and carefully managed tourism use.