Ethnomedicinal landscape: distribution of used medicinal plant species in Nepal

Background The risk of losing traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and their use and conservation is very high. Documenting knowledge on distribution and use of medicinal plants by different ethnic groups and at spatial scale on a single platform is important from a conservation planning and management perspective. The sustainable use, continuous practice, and safeguarding of traditional knowledge are essential. Communication of such knowledge among scientists and policy makers at local and global level is equally important, as the available information at present is limited and scattered in Nepal. Methods In this paper, we aimed to address these shortcomings by cataloguing medicinal plants used by indigenous ethnic groups in Nepal through a systematic review of over 275 pertinent publications published between 1975 and July 2021. The review was complemented by field visits made in 21 districts. We determined the ethnomedicinal plants hotspots across the country and depicted them in heatmaps. Results The heatmaps show spatial hotspots and sites of poor ethnomedicinal plant use documentation, which is useful for evaluating the interaction of geographical and ethnobotanical variables. Mid-hills and mountainous areas of Nepal hold the highest number of medicinal plant species in use, which could be possibly associated with the presence of higher human population and diverse ethnic groups in these areas. Conclusion Given the increasing concern about losing medicinal plants due to changing ecological, social, and climatic conditions, the results of this paper may be important for better understanding of how medicinal plants in use are distributed across the country and often linked to specific ethnic groups.</p

Distribution Pattern of Genus Taraxacum in the Nepalese Himalayas

The flowering plant diversity in Nepal is very rich with wide range of distribution due to overlap of different phytogeographical regions. In this study, we accounted the distribution pattern of genus Taraxacum belonging to the family Asteraceae. We included 14 species of Nepalese species which have wide range of altitudinal distribution i.e. from tropical region of Terai (720 m asl) to high Himalayas (4850 m asl) and east to west horizontal distribution with most of the species dominant in the central region of Nepal. Most of the species disappear or die during the dry winter season and their flowering starts by the starting of the Monsoon. These species within the genus have extended flowering period which is not strictly constrained by the monsoon. Taraxacum species richness increases along the elevation gradient from west to east across Nepal, in relation to the increased intensity of the monsoon.</jats:p

Evaluation of fully automated cephalometric measurements obtained from web-based artificial intelligence driven platform

Abstract Background Artificial Intelligence has created a huge impact in different areas of dentistry. Automated cephalometric analysis is one of the major applications of artificial intelligence in the field of orthodontics. Various automated cephalometric software have been developed which utilizes artificial intelligence and claim to be reliable. The purpose of this study was to compare the linear and angular cephalometric measurements obtained from web-based fully automated Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven platform “WebCeph”™ with that from manual tracing and evaluate the validity and reliability of automated cephalometric measurements obtained from “WebCeph”™. Methods Thirty pre-treatment lateral cephalograms of patients were randomly selected. For manual tracing, digital images of same cephalograms were printed using compatible X-ray printer. After calibration, a total of 18 landmarks was plotted and 12 measurements (8 angular and 4 linear) were obtained using standard protocols. The digital images of each cephalogram were uploaded to “WebCeph”™ server. After image calibration, the automated cephalometric measurements obtained through AI digitization were downloaded for each image. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to determine agreement between the measurements obtained from two methods. ICC value &lt; 0.75 was considered as poor to moderate agreement while an ICC value between 0.75 and 0.90 was considered as good agreement. Agreement was rated as excellent when ICC value &gt; 0.90 was obtained. Results All the measurements had ICC value above 0.75. A higher ICC value &gt; 0.9 was obtained for seven parameters i.e. ANB, FMA, IMPA/L1 to MP (°), LL to E-line, L1 to NB (mm), L1 to NB (°), S-N to Go-Gn whereas five parameters i.e. UL to E-line, U1 to NA (mm), SNA, SNB, U1 to NA (°) showed ICC value between 0.75 and 0.90. Conclusion A good agreement was found between the cephalometric measurements obtained from “WebCeph”™ and manual tracing. </jats:sec

Morphological Variation of Leaf Pattern of the Nepalese Taraxacum Spp. (Asteraceae)

Morphological variation of leaf pattern is very common in flowering plants to non-flowering plants that were used to differentiate the species in genus to species level. In this study, we used leaf morphology as the key characters to separate the species of Nepalese Taraxacum. Samples were collected from different parts of Nepal and herbarium specimen were observed to find the variation between the different species of Taraxacum. Our study shows that the presence of two distinct group in this genus Taraxacum. Taxa one is characterized by leaf with double margin (e.g. Taraxacum eriopodum along with 3 other species) and another group is characterized by leaf with single margin (e.g. Taraxacum tibetanum along with 5 other species).</jats:p

Comparison of Orthodontic Treatment Duration Among Extraction Versus Non Extraction Therapies

Introduction: Orthodontic treatment is usually perceived as a lengthy treatment as average treatment time usually last more than a year and may go up to even five years. So, in orthodontic practice the optimum treatment result with minimal treatment time should be the goal of clinicians. Treatment duration varies based on different clinico-environmental factors.&#x0D; Materials &amp; Method: Total 200 cases were randomly selected from the archives of debonded treatment records from the department of orthodontics, Dhulikhel Hospital, Kathmandu University Teaching Hospital. Out of the 200 records, 103 records were fit for the study based on previously set inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected cases were divided into three different groups: extraction n= 28 (extraction of 4 premolars), partial extraction= 19, (extraction of 1-3 teeth) and non-extraction n=56. Furthermore, the cases were also divided into Class I, II and III malocclusion patterns. After doing the test of normality, descriptive statistics, independent samples t test and ANOVA test were performed to compare the treatment duration with respect to gender, malocclusion pattern and treatment modalities.&#x0D; Result: Out of the 103 selected cases, maximum number of cases were of Class I(60) followed by Class II(37) and Class III(6). There was no statistical significance on treatment duration among male and female subjects (p= 0.933) as well as among different malocclusion pattern ( p= 0.255). On the contrary, there was statistical difference on treatment duration among non extraction, partial extraction and extraction groups ( p=0.0004). The average treatment duration for non extraction, partial extraction and extraction group were 22, 28 and 29 months respectively.&#x0D; Conclusion: Orthodontic treatment duration is shorter for therapies done by non extraction than extraction. The average treatment duration for non extraction and extraction therapy is 22 and 29 months respectively. The treatment duration is not affected by gender and type of malocclusion.</jats:p

Ethnomedicinal landscape: distribution of used medicinal plant species in Nepal

Abstract Background The risk of losing traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and their use and conservation is very high. Documenting knowledge on distribution and use of medicinal plants by different ethnic groups and at spatial scale on a single platform is important from a conservation planning and management perspective. The sustainable use, continuous practice, and safeguarding of traditional knowledge are essential. Communication of such knowledge among scientists and policy makers at local and global level is equally important, as the available information at present is limited and scattered in Nepal. Methods In this paper, we aimed to address these shortcomings by cataloguing medicinal plants used by indigenous ethnic groups in Nepal through a systematic review of over 275 pertinent publications published between 1975 and July 2021. The review was complemented by field visits made in 21 districts. We determined the ethnomedicinal plants hotspots across the country and depicted them in heatmaps. Results The heatmaps show spatial hotspots and sites of poor ethnomedicinal plant use documentation, which is useful for evaluating the interaction of geographical and ethnobotanical variables. Mid-hills and mountainous areas of Nepal hold the highest number of medicinal plant species in use, which could be possibly associated with the presence of higher human population and diverse ethnic groups in these areas. Conclusion Given the increasing concern about losing medicinal plants due to changing ecological, social, and climatic conditions, the results of this paper may be important for better understanding of how medicinal plants in use are distributed across the country and often linked to specific ethnic groups. </jats:sec

Additional file 1 of Ethnomedicinal landscape: distribution of used medicinal plant species in Nepal

Additional file 1. Data table of geography, demography, ethnicity, and used medicinal plants by distric