Characteristics and comparative study of medicinal materials between China and India based on data mining from literatures.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: China and India have unique traditional medicine systems with vast territory and rich medical resources. Traditional medicines in China include traditional Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine, Mongolian medicine, Uyghur medicine, Dai medicine, etc. In the third national survey of Chinese medicine resources, 12694 medicinal materials were identified. Traditional medicines in India include Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy, etc. There are 7263 medicinal materials in India. AIM OF THE STUDY: To reveal the characteristics of medicinal materials between China and India respectively, and to compare the similarities and differences in terms of properties, tastes, medicinal parts and therapeutic uses and to promote the exchange of traditional medicine between China and India and the international trade of traditional medicine industry. METHODS: The information of medicinal materials between China and India was extracted from The Chinese Traditional Medicine Resource Records and Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, as well as from 71 Indian herbal monographs. The information of each medicinal material, such as types, families, genera, properties, distribution, medicinal parts, efficacy, therapeutic uses, dosage form and dosage, was recorded in Excel for statistical analysis and visual comparison. RESULTS: A total of 12694 medicinal materials in China and 5362 medicinal materials in India were identified. The medicinal materials were mostly distributed in Southwest China and northern India. Plants were the main sources of medicinal materials. The common medicinal parts in China were whole medicinal materials, roots and rhizomes, and India used more renewable fruits, seeds and leaves. They are commonly used in the treatment of digestive system diseases. There were 1048 medicinal materials used by both China and India, which were distributed in 188 families and 685 genera. The Chinese and Indian pharmacopoeias had a total of 80 species of medicinal materials used by both China and India. CONCLUSIONS: The characteristics of medicinal materials between China and India were somewhat different, which was conducive to provide a reference basis for traditional medicine in China or India to increase the medicinal parts and indications when using a certain medicinal material, as well as to expand the source of medicine and introduce new resources. However, there were certain similarities and shared medicinal materials, which can tap the potential of bilateral trade of medicinal materials between China and India, so as to promote the medical cultural exchange and economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

[Long term power frequency electromagnetic fields exposure influences the causal network connection pattern of local field potentials during working memory].

The possible influence of electromagnetic field (EMF) on the function of neural systems has been widely concerned. In this article, we intend to investigate the effects of long term power frequency EMF exposure on brain cognitive functions and it's mechanism. The Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: the rats in EMF Ⅰ group were placed in the 2 mT power frequency EMF for 24 days. The rats in EMF Ⅱ group were placed in the 2 mT power frequency EMF for 48 days. The rats in control group were not exposed to the EMF. Then, the 16 channel local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from rats' prefrontal cortex (PFC) in each group during the working memory (WM) tasks. The causal networks of LFPs were also established by applying the directed transfer function (DTF). Based on that, the differences of behavior and the LFPs network connection patterns between different groups were compared in order to investigate the influence of long term power frequency EMF exposure on working memory. The results showed the rats in the EMF Ⅱ group needed more training to reach the task correction criterion (over 80%). Moreover, the causal network connection strength and the global efficiency of the rats in EMF Ⅰ and EMF Ⅱ groups were significantly lower than the corresponding values of the control group. Meanwhile, significant differences of causal density values were found between EMF Ⅱ group and the other two groups. These results indicate that long term exposure to 2 mT power frequency EMF will reduce the connection strength and the information transfer efficiency of the LFPs causal network in the PFC, as well as the behavior performance of the rats. These results may explain the effect of EMF exposure on working memory from the view of neural network connectivity and provide a support for further studies on the mechanism of the effect of EMF on cognition.