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.

Efficient 4.95 µm-8.5 µm dual-band grating coupler with crosstalk suppression capability.

In many integrated optics systems, grating couplers are a key component of interfacing the external light source with in-plane photonic devices. Grating couplers with dual-band capability are often desired for expanding the operation spectrum of photonic systems. Here, we propose and theoretically investigate, for the first time, a 4.95 µm-8.5 µm dual-band grating coupler on a Ge-on-SOI platform. In addition to conventional structures, Bragg gratings are introduced to two wavelength division directions for crosstalk suppression. With this design, the simulated coupling efficiencies have respectively reached 59.93% and 46.38% for the 4.95 µm and 8.5 µm bands. This mid-infrared dual-band grating coupler may be useful for defense and environmental monitoring applications.

Harmonic optical microfiber Bragg grating immunosensor for the accelerative test of cardiac biomarker (cTn-I).

Fiber-optic biosensor has shown tremendous promise in probing cardiac biomarkers label-free and in-operando. However, temperature cross-sensitivity is ubiquitously found and impedes further advances of the fiber-optic biosensors, especially for the scenario of rapid test at-body. In this study, we exploit a new regime that harnesses the harmonic resonances of a single microfiber Bragg grating to rule out the impact of the thermal noise. The reflections yielded by the harmonics can be engineered simultaneously at the two overriding optical wavebands, i.e., 1 µm and 1.55 µm, promising a remote acquisition of the sensing signals at patient by virtue of the Yb and/or Er-doped fiber amplifiers which are highly commercial. Furthermore, the functionality of the temperature-offset allows for the understanding of the biomolecular stimulating at the body temperature and thus facilitating the acceleration of the cardiac biomarker test. The proposed proof-of-concept enriches the arsenal of tools for fiber biosensors and enables a vista for the instant and in-vivo diagnosis of acute heart diseases.

Label-Free and Reproducible Chemical Sensor Using the Vertical-Fluid-Array Induced Optical Fiber Long Period Grating (VIOLIN).

Fiber optical refractometers have gained a substantial reputation in biological and chemical sensing domain regarding their label-free and remote-operation working mode. However, the practical breakthrough of the fiber optical bio/chemosensor is impeded by a lack of reconfigurability as well as the explicitness of the determination between bulk and surface refractive indices. In this letter, we further implement the highly flexible and reproducible long period grating called "VIOLIN" in chemical sensing area for the demonstration of moving those obstacles. In this configuration, the liquid is not only leveraged as the chemical carrier but also the periodic modulation of the optical fiber to facilitate the resonant signal. The thiol compound that is adsorbed by the fluidic substrate can be transduced to the pure alteration of the bulk refractive index of the liquid, which can be sensitively perceived by the resonant drift. Taking advantage of its freely dismantled feature, the VIOLIN sensor enables flexible reproduction and high throughput detection, yielding a new vision to the fiber optic biochemical sensing field.

Temperature monitorable refractometer of microfiber Bragg grating using a duet of harmonic resonances.

To overcome the temperature cross-sensitivity of the microfiber Bragg grating (m-FBG) refractometer, we propose a novel refractive-index-temperature dual-sensing paradigm involving the third harmonic Bragg resonance that presents distinctive sensing characteristics. Strong resonances are obtained in both 1060 nm and 1550 nm wavebands under the modulation of the UV Talbot pattern. Moreover, higher-order transverse mode coupled resonance is also observed at the third harmonic waveband, supplementing an independent signal for enabling a sensing trio potentially. It is believed that the proposed dual-sensing paradigm would contribute to the m-FBT-based chemoprobes/bioprobes.