Anti-aging is one of the top goals in the field of health care and aesthetics. Anti-aging cosmetics derived from nature are oriented to long-term development, bringing safety to users and being environmentally friendly. The aim of this study was to develop an anti-aging cosmetic formulation process based on coconut oil in combination with deer antler stem cell extract. The results show that the presence of deer antler stem cell extract added to the foundation made the serum product highly stable and helped improve skin aging significantly after 2 weeks of use. The skin site where the serum product was applied showed a smooth and elastic skin surface, with very few fine lines and shallow wrinkles. Serum reduced the number of wrinkles (48.09% compared to commercial serum (ME) and 60.31% compared to positive control (PC)), reduced skin recovery time (39.31% compared to ME and 67.1% of PC) after two weeks of use. After 2 weeks of use, collagen density increased 10.18% compared to ME and 63.76% compared to control. Epidermal thickness increased by 106.1% compared to PC and 121.7% compared to ME.

An entomopathogenic fungus newly named Ophiocordyceps langbianensis was collected from Lang Biang Biosphere Reserve, located in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam. It is characterized as a species of Ophiocordyceps (Ophiocordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) having the unique characteristics of a cylindrical fertile part and several branched apical appendices. Each ascospore develops as two swollen, constricted part-spores. A phylogenetic analysis of multiple genes, including nrLSU, nrSSU, Rpb1, ITS and Tef, supported its systematic position in the genus of Ophiocordyceps; it is related to O. brunneipunctata. Based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses, O. langbianensis was confirmed as a new species from Vietnam.

According to reports published, the aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of 19–25 nucleotide-long small non-coding RNAs, is responsible for human cancers, including nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). The dysregulation of miRNAs that act either as a tumor suppressor or oncogene, leading to a wide range of NPC pathogenesis pathways, includes the proliferation, invasion, migration as well as the metastasis of NPC cells. This article reviews and highlights recent advances in the studies of miRNAs in NPC, with a specific demonstration of the functions of miRNA, especially circulating miRNAs, in the pathway of NPC pathogenesis. Additionally, the possible use of miRNAs as early screening and prognostic biomarkers and for therapeutic molecular monitoring has been extensively studied.

Objective: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key post-transcriptional regulators of protein translation in humans. They have an essential role in various cancers, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The abnormal expression of miR-21 has been proven to be associated with various types of cancers, including NPC, through its targets. This study provides a systematic view of the roles of miR-21 and its network of targets (hsa-miR-21-3p, hsa-miR-21-5p) that are associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: Bioinformatics tools were applied to predict the targets of miR-21. Interactions among the targets of hsa-miR-21-3p/5p were found by the gene MANIA online tool. Results and conclusion: It was found that the target genes are involved in vital biological processes in cancer. In detail, a total of 95 targets of miR-21 were recorded to be associated with NPC. Therefore, they may provide new insights into nasopharyngeal pathogenesis and bring about novel targets for NPC diagnosis as well as therapy in near future.

DNA methylation, the most common epigenetic alteration, has been proven to play important roles in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Numerous tumor suppressor genes located on the chromosome 3p, particularly in the region of 3p21, are frequently methylated in NPC, thus suggesting great potential for diagnosis of NPC. In this review, we summarize recent findings of tumor suppressor genes on chromosome 3 that likely drive nasopharyngeal tumor development and progression, based on previous studies related to the hypermethylation of these target genes. Better understanding will allow us to design further experiments to establish a potential test for diagnosis of NPC, as well as bring about methylated therapies to improve the treatment of NPC.

Breast cancer, a leading cause of death among women in most countries worldwide, is rapidly increasing in incidence in Vietnam. One of biomarkers is the disruption of the genetic material including epigenetic changes like DNA methylation. With the aim of finding hypermethylation at CpG islands of promoter of BRCA1 gene, belonged to the tumor suppressor gene family, as the biomarker for breast cancer in Vietnamese population, sensitive methyl specific PCR (MSP) was carried out on 115 samples including 95 breast cancer specimens and 20 normal breast tissues with other diseases which were obtained from Ho Chi Minh City Medical Hospital, Vietnam. The result indicated that the frequency of BRCA1 hypermethylation reached 82.1% in the cases (p<0.001). In addition, the DNA hypermethylation of this candidate gene increased the possibility to be breast cancer with high incidence via calculated odd ratios (p<0.05). In conclusion, hypermethylation of this candidate gene could be used as the promising biomarker application with Vietnamese breast cancer patients.