Use of and attitudes towards herbal medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in Vietnam

IntroductionHerbal medicine has a long and rich history of practice in Vietnam. However, research on this topic is limited, especially in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to explore (1) the prevalence and indication for herbal medicine use, (2) factors associated with herbal medicine use, and (3) people's attitude toward the herbal medicine within the Vietnamese population.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Vietnamese adults aged 18 years and older, distributed equally across the Northern, Central, and Southern regions of Vietnam, between September and October 2020. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to achieve the study objectives.ResultsNearly half of the respondents reported using herbal medicine for common illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence was strongly associated with marital status, urbanicity, monthly income, and health status perception. Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.), honey (Mel), garlic (Allium sativum L.), and perilla (Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt.) were the most commonly used herbal medicines, mainly for the treatment of sore throat, cough, nasal congestion, and fever. Nearly 70% of the participants believed herbal medicines to be safe, to have less side effects than conventional medicines, and to be effective for minor health conditions.ConclusionThe use of herbal medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic was a common practice among Vietnamese people. These findings may have implications for future medical research in Vietnam, and for policy-makers and those in the pharmaceutical industry with regard to future regulations and product development

Ngu-Vi-Tieu-Khat decoction, a Vietnamese traditional medicine, possesses hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects on streptozotocin-induced type-2 diabetic rat model

This study aims to assess the hypoglycemic effects of Ngu-Vi-Tieu-Khat (NVTK) decoction, a traditional Vietnamese medicine, in a rat model of type-2 diabetes. The NVTK decoction was prepared using the maceration method and tested for its hypoglycemic effects by measuring blood glucose levels, insulin resistance indicators, and pancreatic mass. The results showed that NVTK decoction improved diabetes symptoms, increased insulin levels, reduced insulin resistance, restored pancreatic mass, and decreased total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) while increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). The hypoglycemic effects of NVTK were comparable to those of gliclazide at a dose of 10 mg/kg. In conclusion, NVTK decoction possesses hypoglycemic properties and could be explored as a potential traditional medicine for treating type-2 diabetes in humans

In and Ga Codoped ZnO Film as a Front Electrode for Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

Doped ZnO thin films have attracted much attention in the research community as front-contact transparent conducting electrodes in thin film silicon solar cells. The prerequisite in both low resistivity and high transmittance in visible and near-infrared region for hydrogenated microcrystalline or amorphous/microcrystalline tandem thin film silicon solar cells has promoted further improvements of this material. In this work, we propose the combination of major Ga and minor In impurities codoped in ZnO film (IGZO) to improve the film optoelectronic properties. A wide range of Ga and In contents in sputtering targets was explored to find optimum optical and electrical properties of deposited films. The results show that an appropriate combination of In and Ga atoms in ZnO material, followed by in-air thermal annealing process, can enhance the crystallization, conductivity, and transmittance of IGZO thin films, which can be well used as front-contact electrodes in thin film silicon solar cells

Study on total lipid content, lipid class composition of some fire and soft corals collected in Nha Trang, Vietnam

For the first time, the total lipid content and lipid class composition of  the Vietnamese soft corals (Sinularia brassica, Sinularia flexibilis) and fire corals (Millepora dichotoma, Millepora platyphylla) were investigated. The results indicated that the total lipid content of the investigated species was significantly different. Compositions of the lipid classes were analyzed using TLC and image analysis program Sorbfil TLC Videodensitometer DV and the results showed that phospholipids (PL, 10.91–16.02%), monoalkyldiacylglycerols (MADAG, 20.69-39.92%) and hydrocarbon wax (HW, 29.83-37.17%) were the main lipid classes of the total lipid in soft coral species. Meanwhile, PL (24.11-33.23%), TG (14.27–34.92%), ST (10.10–14.50%) and HW (12.08–19.95%) were predominant in fire coral species. ST, TG and FFA contents in soft and fire corals were at low level. DG was only present in the Sinularia flexibilis but not in other studied corals

TextANIMAR: Text-based 3D Animal Fine-Grained Retrieval

3D object retrieval is an important yet challenging task, which has drawn more and more attention in recent years. While existing approaches have made strides in addressing this issue, they are often limited to restricted settings such as image and sketch queries, which are often unfriendly interactions for common users. In order to overcome these limitations, this paper presents a novel SHREC challenge track focusing on text-based fine-grained retrieval of 3D animal models. Unlike previous SHREC challenge tracks, the proposed task is considerably more challenging, requiring participants to develop innovative approaches to tackle the problem of text-based retrieval. Despite the increased difficulty, we believe that this task has the potential to drive useful applications in practice and facilitate more intuitive interactions with 3D objects. Five groups participated in our competition, submitting a total of 114 runs. While the results obtained in our competition are satisfactory, we note that the challenges presented by this task are far from being fully solved. As such, we provide insights into potential areas for future research and improvements. We believe that we can help push the boundaries of 3D object retrieval and facilitate more user-friendly interactions via vision-language technologies.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2304.0573

A meshless IRBFN-based numerical simulation of dynamic strain localization in quasi-brittle materials

This paper describes an integrated radial basis function network (IRBFN) method for the numerical modelling of the dynamics of strain localization due to strain softening in quasi-brittle materials. The IRBFN method is a truly meshless method that is based on an unstructured point collocation procedure. The integration approach is the key to achieving accurate function derivatives necessary for numerical stability and solution accuracy. A new coordinate mapping technique for the IRBFN method is introduced in this paper to resolve the steep velocity, strain and strain-rate gradients associated with the strain localisation process. The behaviour of a one dimensional bar is investigated using a nonlocal damage model governed by a Telegraph-type constitutive relation. The bar is dynamically loaded in tension with a constant end velocity. The strain waves propagating from the two ends meet at the centre of the bar and causes a large strain increase at this location. This strain increase, under suitable conditions, will initiate the strain localisation process due to the strain-softening constitutive behaviour of the material. Numerical results obtained compare favourably with those obtained by the FEM and demonstrate the efficiency of the present IRBFN approach in solving steep (singularity-like behaviour) nonlinear PDEs encountered

A meshless IRBFN-based numerical simulation of adiabatic shear band formation in one dimension

[Abstract]: In this paper, we describe an integrated radial basis function network (IRBFN) method for the numerical modelling of the dynamics of strain localization in elasto-thermo-viscoplastic materials with coupled heat conduction. A new coordinate mapping for the IRBFN method is introduced in this paper to resolve the steep temperature, velocity, strain and strain-rate gradients associated with the strain localization (shear band). The discrete governing PDEs are integrated in time using an implicit 5th-order Runge-Kutta method with automatic time step selection. Numerical results demonstrate the e±ciency of the present IRBFN approach in solving steep (singularity-like behaviour) nonlinear PDEs encountered

A numerical study of strain localization in elasto-thermo-viscoplastic materials using radial basis function networks

This paper presents a numerical simulation of the formation and evolution of strain localization in elasto-thermo-viscoplastic materials (adiabatic shear band) by the indirect/integral radial basis function network (IRBFN) method. The effects of strain and strain rate hardening, plastic heating, and thermal softening are considered. The IRBFN method is enhanced by a new coordinate mapping which helps capture the stiff spatial structure of the resultant band. The discrete IRBFN system is integrated in time by the implicit fifth-order Runge-Kutta method. The obtained results are compared with those of the Modified Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (MSPH) method and Chebychev Pseudo-spectral (CPS) method

A cartesian-grid collocation technique with integrated radial basis functions for mixed boundary value problems

In this paper, high order systems are reformulated as first order systems which are then numerically solved by a collocation method. The collocation method is based on Cartesian discretisation with 1D-integrated radial basis function networks (1D-IRBFN){MaiDuy_TranCong:2007}. The present method is enhanced by a new boundary interpolation technique based on 1D-IRBFN which is introduced to obtain variable approximation at irregular points in irregular domains. The proposed method is well suited to problems with mixed boundary conditions on both regular and irregular domains. The main results obtained are (a) the boundary conditions for the reformulated problem are of Dirichlet type only; (b) the integrated RBFN approximation avoids the well known reduction of convergence rate associated with differential formulations; (c) the primary variable (e.g. displacement, temperature) and the dual variable (e.g. stress, temperature gradient) have similar convergence order; (d) the volumetric locking effects associated with incompressible materials in solid mechanics are alleviated. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method achieves very good accuracy and high convergence rates

A moving IRBFN-based integration-free meshless method

A novel approximation method using integrated radial basis function networks (IRBFN) coupled with moving least square (MLS) approximants, namely moving integrated radial basis function networks (MIRBFN), is proposed in this work. In this method, the computational domain w is divided into finite sub-domains w which satisfy point-wise overlap condition. The local function interpolation is constructed by using IRBFN supported by all nodes in subdomain w. The global function is then constructed by using Partition of Unity Method (PUM), where MLS functions play the role of partition of unity. As a result, the proposed method is locally supported and yields sparse and banded interpolation matrices. The computational efficiency are excellently improved in comparison with that of the original global IRBFN method. In addition, the present method possesses the Kronecker-d property, which makes it easy to impose the essential boundary conditions. The proposed method is applicable to randomly distributed datasets and arbitrary domains. In this work, the MIRBFN method is implemented in the collocation of a first-order system formulation to solve PDEs governing various problems including heat transfer, elasticity of both compressible and incompressible materials, and linear static crack problems. The numerical results show that the present method offers high order of convergence and accuracy