Ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants used by Maonan people in China

Abstract Background This paper is based on an ethnobotanical investigation that focused on the traditional medicinal plants used by local Maonan people to treat human diseases in Maonan concentration regions. The Maonan people have relied on traditional medicine since ancient times, especially medicinal plants. The aim of this study is to document medicinal plants used by the Maonans and to report the status of medicinal plants and associated traditional knowledge. Methods Ethnobotanical data were collected from June 2012 to September 2014 in Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, northern Guangxi, southwest China. In total, 118 knowledgeable informants were interviewed. Following statistically sampling method, eighteen villages from 5 townships were selected to conduct field investigations. Information was collected through the approache of participatory observation, semi-structured interviews, ranking exercises, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory rural appraisals. Results A total of 368 medicinal plant species were investigated and documented together with their medicinal uses by the Maonans, most of which were obtained from the wild ecosystems. The plants were used to treat 95 human diseases. Grinding was a widely used method to prepare traditional herbal medicines. There were significant relationships between gender and age, and between gender and informants’ knowledge of medicinal plant use. Deforestation for agricultural purposes was identified as the most destructive factor of medicinal plants, followed by drought and over-harvest. Conclusions The species diversity of medicinal plants used by the Maonans in the study area was very rich. Medicinal plants played a significant role in healing various human disorders in the Maonan communities. However, the conflicts between traditional inheriting system and recent socio-economic changes (and other factors) resulted in the reduction or loss of both medicinal plants and associated indigenous knowledge. Thus, conservation efforts and policies, and innovation of inheriting system are necessary for protecting the medicinal plants and associated indigenous knowledge. Awareness is also needed to be raised among local Maonans focusing on sustainable utilization and management of both medicinal plants and traditional knowledge

Influence of Aerodynamic Interaction on Performance of Contrarotating Propeller/Wing System

This paper gives a quantitative account of the influence of slipstream on the aerodynamic performance of a contrarotating propeller (CRP)/wing system, and compares it with the CRP and clean wing. To accurately evaluate the complex aerodynamic interaction, the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes approach using the sliding mesh method is performed at a typical freestream velocity of 30 m/s. Four different critical parameters, including the freestream angle of attack (AoA), axial spacing between the front propeller (FP) and rear propeller (RP), number of blades, and rotational speed, are considered in the present work. The results show that the thrust coefficient, power coefficient, and propulsion efficiency of the CRP/wing system change sharply and the difference in amplitude between adjacent waves is large. In particular, the propeller slipstream has a significant impact on the lift–drag performance of the wing in the case of a nonzero AoA. The presence of a wing also increases the efficiency of propulsion due to the recovery of vortices. In the case of a small axial spacing, the thrust coefficient value of the FP is significantly smaller than that of the RP. However, when the axial spacing exceeds a certain value, the opposite relationship is obtained. When the rotational speed increases from 3695 RPM to 8867 RPM, the lift coefficient and drag coefficient of the wing gradually increase

A Fast Eye Localization Algorithm Using Integral Image

Conference Name:2nd International Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Design. Conference Address: Changsha, PEOPLES R CHINA. Time:DEC 12-14, 2009.Eye localization is an essential step in automatic face recognition system(AFRC), since it has a direct influence on the overall recognition performance. In this paper, we present a simple and fast eye localization algorithm, called Integral Image Approach (IIA), for real time face recognition system. IIA can find out candidate positions for pupils and brows using the representation of image. Then by applying some constraints, such as the position of left pupil should be lower than that of the left brow, and adjusting the results, the IIA can eventually retrieve the locations of two pupils in a given face. The experiments show that the proposed HA can locate eyes considerably fast with high accuracy in nearly frontal faces

Smartphone landmark image retrieval based on Lucene and GPS

Conference Name:9th International Conference on Computer Science and Education, ICCCSE 2014. Conference Address: Vancouver, BC, Canada. Time:August 22, 2014 - August 24, 2014.With continuous reduction of the cost of internet-enabled smartphones and recent advances in mobile computing, the demand for content based image retrieval tools used for landmark identification on smartphones is gaining interest. We have developed a system that allows users to take photos of famous landmarks using a smartphone and receive information of landmarks from the system. This landmark image retrieval system contains an android application as the fronted client and a backend web server. It is based on Lucene and takes advantage of GPS data. In this paper we propose our ideas, design and architecture of the system. We also propose an approach to use combined feature and GPS filtering to improve the accuracy of classifying images. The experimental results show that the accuracy of combined feature is higher than individual feature and the system works quickly and reliably

Real-time Eye Detection in Video Streams

A fast eye detection scheme for use in video streams rather than still images is presented in this paper, The temporal coherence of sequential frames was used to greatly improve the detection speed. First, the eye defector trained by AdaBoost algorithm is used to obtain the rough eye positions. Then these candidate positions are filtered by geometrical patterns of human eyes. The detected eye regions are then taken as the initial detecting window. After each frame is detected, the detecting window is updated. The experiments focused on video stream to exploit the benefits of our defector. In our experiments the mean detection rate was 92.73% for 320x240 resolution test videos, with a speed of 24.98ms per frame. This speed is faster than previous research; however the detection rate does not dramatically decrease

An Online Repository of Solvation Thermodynamic and Structural Maps of SARS-CoV-2 Targets

SARS-CoV-2 recently jumped species and rapidly spread via human-to-human transmission to cause a global outbreak of COVID-19. The lack of effective vaccine combined with the severity of the disease necessitates attempts to develop small molecule drugs to combat the virus. COVID19_GIST_HSA is a freely available online repository to provide solvation thermodynamic maps of COVID-19-related protein small molecule drug targets. Grid Inhomogeneous Solvation Theory maps were generated using AmberTools cpptraj-GIST and Hydration Site Analysis maps were created using SSTmap code. The resultant data can be applied to drug design efforts: scoring solvent displacement for docking, rational lead modification, prioritization of ligand- and protein- based pharmacophore elements, and creation of water-based pharmacophores. Herein, we demonstrate the use of the solvation thermodynamic mapping data. It is hoped that this freely provided data will aid in small molecule drug discovery efforts to defeat SARS-CoV-2

Piperlongumine inhibits proliferation and oncogenic MYCN expression in chemoresistant metastatic retinoblastoma cells directly and through extracellular vesicles

Ocular retinoblastoma malignancies, which develop into metastatic phenotypes, result in poor prognosis and survival for infant and child patients. To improve the prognosis of metastatic retinoblastoma, it is important to identify novel compounds with less toxic side effects and higher therapeutic efficacy compared to existing chemotherapeutics. Piperlongumine (PL), a neuroprotective, plant-derived compound has been explored for its anticancer activities both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we analyze the potential efficacy of PL for metastatic retinoblastoma cell treatment. Our data reveal that PL treatment significantly inhibits cell proliferation in metastatic retinoblastoma Y79 cells compared to the commonly used retinoblastoma chemotherapeutic drugs carboplatin, etoposide, and vincristine. PL treatment also significantly increases cell death compared to treatment with other chemotherapeutic drugs. PL-induced cell-death signaling was associated with significantly higher caspase 3/7 activities and greater loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. PL was also internalized into Y79 cells with an estimated concentration of 0.310pM and expression analysis revealed reduced MYCN oncogene levels. We next examined extracellular vesicles derived from PL-treated Y79 cells. Extracellular vesicles in other cancers are pro-oncogenic, mediating systemic toxicities via the encapsulation of chemotherapeutic drugs. Within metastatic Y79 EV samples, an estimated PL concentration of 0.026pM was detected. PL treatment significantly downregulated Y79 EV cargo of the oncogene MYCN transcript. Interestingly, non-PL-treated Y79 cells incubated with EVs from PL-treated cells exhibited significantly reduced cell growth. These findings indicate that in metastatic Y79 cells, PL exhibits potent anti-proliferation effects and oncogene downregulation. Importantly, PL is also incorporated into extracellular vesicles released from treated metastatic cells with measurable anti-cancer effects on target cells at a distance from the site of primary treatment. The use of PL in the treatment of metastatic retinoblastoma may reduce primary tumor proliferation and inhibit metastatic cancer activity systemically via extracellular vesicle circulation

Noninvasive right ventricular work in patients with atrial septal defects: a proof-of-concept study

Abstract Background Noninvasive right ventricular (RV) myocardial work (RVMW) determined by echocardiography is a novel indicator used to estimate RV systolic function. To date, the feasibility of using RVMW has not been verified in assessing RV function in patients with atrial septal defect (ASD). Methods Noninvasive RVMW was analysed in 29 ASD patients (median age, 49 years; 21% male) and 29 age- and sex-matched individuals without cardiovascular disease. The ASD patients underwent echocardiography and right heart catheterization (RHC) within 24 h. Results The RV global work index (RVGWI), RV global constructive work (RVGCW), and RV global wasted work (RVGWW) were significantly higher in the ASD patients than in the controls, while there was no significant difference in RV global work efficiency (RVGWE). RV global longitudinal strain (RV GLS), RVGWI, RVGCW, and RVGWW demonstrated significant correlations with RHC-derived stroke volume (SV) and SV index. The RVGWI (area under receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.895), RVGCW (AUC = 0.922), and RVGWW (AUC = 0.870) could be considered good predictors of ASD and were superior to RV GLS (AUC = 0.656). Conclusion The RVGWI, RVGCW, and RVGWW could be used to assess RV systolic function and are correlated with RHC-derived SV and SV index in patients with ASD. Graphical Abstrac