[Foreign Medicine "Angdi Moniu" in Qing Dynasty Court].

There is a kind of historical relics called "Angdi moniu" in the Palace Museum, which looks like metal and appears frequently in the archives of the Qing Dynasty as a foreign medicine.It is stated that it can treat sores and pus in the HanXiu CaoTang Biji and it was also found in the archives of the Palace Office. However, no researcher in the academic community has yet conducted an in-depth research of what exactly is it. Through the investigation of cultural relics, in-depth research of Chinese and foreign literature, and the use of linguistic methods, this paper examines "Angdi Moniu" and its related items, and clarifies that "Angdi Moniu" is antimony, related items are antimonials and antimony cup.

Museum Genomics of an Agricultural Super-Pest, the Colorado Potato Beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Chrysomelidae), Provides Evidence of Adaptation from Standing Variation.

Despite extensive research on agricultural pests, our knowledge about their evolutionary history is often limited. A mechanistic understanding of the demographic changes and modes of adaptation remains an important goal, as it improves our understanding of organismal responses to environmental change and our ability to sustainably manage pest populations. Emerging genomic datasets now allow for characterization of demographic and adaptive processes, but face limits when they are drawn from contemporary samples, especially in the context of strong demographic change, repeated selection, or adaptation involving modest shifts in allele frequency at many loci. Temporal sampling, however, can improve our ability to reconstruct evolutionary events. Here, we leverage museum samples to examine whether population genomic diversity and structure has changed over time, and to identify genomic regions that appear to be under selection. We focus on the Colorado potato beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say 1824; Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), which is widely regarded as a super-pest due to its rapid, and repeated, evolution to insecticides. By combining whole genome resequencing data from 78 museum samples with modern sampling, we demonstrate that CPB expanded rapidly in the 19th century, leading to a reduction in diversity and limited genetic structure from the Midwest to Northeast United States. Temporal genome scans provide extensive evidence for selection acting in resistant field populations in Wisconsin and New York, including numerous known insecticide resistance genes. We also validate these results by showing that known selective sweeps in modern populations are identified by our genome scan. Perhaps most importantly, temporal analysis indicates selection on standing genetic variation, as we find evidence for parallel evolution in the two geographical regions. Parallel evolution involves a range of phenotypic traits not previously identified as under selection in CPB, such as reproductive and morphological functional pathways that might be important for adaptation to agricultural habitats.

[The Museum of Western Studies on Chinese Medicine:Chinese medicine in the western societies].

The historical artifacts displayed in the Museum of Western study on Chinese Medicine at Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine came from a variety of Chinese medical schools in America and European countries. They are in the memorial galleries for some well-known figures, such as George Soulié de Morant (Su Lie), Jacques-André Lavier (La Wei Ai), Felix Mann (Man Fu Li) and Manfred Porkert (Man Xi Bo), representing the development and status of respective Chinese medical schools in America and European countries. The displayed artifacts are nearly 3,000 photos, manuscripts, documents and more than 500 hours of audiovisual materials, including instruments for acupuncture and moxibustion, books, passports, letters and even supplies for their life. The displayed artifacts demonstrate the process and the access of people in the western societies to know, learn and take use of Chinese medicine.

[Two newly recorded species of plants in Jiangxi province].

Based on the investigation of wild medicinal plant resources in Dexing city, Jiangxi province, and the collected plant specimens, which were identified by taxonomy, two new record species of geographical distribution were found, which are Meehania zheminensis A. Takano, Pan Li & G.-H. Xia and Corydalis huangshanensis L.Q.Huang & H.S.Peng. The voucher specimens are kept in Dexing museum of traditional Chinese medicine. In this paper, the new distribution species were reported, which provides valuable information for further enriching and supplementing the species diversity of medicinal plant resources in Jiangxi province.

Curating wellness during a pandemic in Singapore: COVID-19, museums, and digital imagination.

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unexpected disruption to the operation of many museums. However, the disruption also presents an opportunity for local museums to explore new modes of audience engagement that could also help to mitigate the negative health impact of COVID-19 through the imaginative use of technology. This article provides a snapshot of the various digital initiatives that were developed by museums in Singapore during the most challenging time of COVID-19 to exemplify the expanded role of museums as a public health resource. It will also offer a brief reflection on the challenges and benefits of curating wellbeing with digital technologies. STUDY DESIGN: A review of creative responses to COVID-19 by museums in Singapore. METHODS: Scoping search. RESULTS: Several local museums have stepped up efforts to support the wellbeing of people by exploring possibilities with digital virtual platforms. Their swift response to develop online contents following an abrupt closure due to the pandemic exemplifies the caring role of museums in offering people a much-needed respite from social isolation by connecting and interacting with others from a safe distance. Moving forward, it is also important for the museums to be mindful of the barriers that digital virtual platforms might present; since access to technology differs amongst population groups, as do digital competency, and literacy. Museums can benefit from further partnerships with sector experts and organisations to learn about the needs and challenges of different groups in future planning and design. This will help them to gather a holistic overview and help ensure inclusionary strategy and practice. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 has challenged museums to adapt their programme and keep the public engaged through virtual programmes on online spaces. Online initiatives have offered opportunities for people to remain socially active and meaningfully engaged despite the stringent measures imposed in response to the viral situation. Postpandemic, we can continue to anticipate a highly connected and inclusive society brought together by virtual technologies.

Preserve a Voucher Specimen! The Critical Need for Integrating Natural History Collections in Infectious Disease Studies.

Despite being nearly 10 months into the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, the definitive animal host for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the causal agent of COVID-19, remains unknown. Unfortunately, similar problems exist for other betacoronaviruses, and no vouchered specimens exist to corroborate host species identification for most of these pathogens. This most basic information is critical to the full understanding and mitigation of emerging zoonotic diseases. To overcome this hurdle, we recommend that host-pathogen researchers adopt vouchering practices and collaborate with natural history collections to permanently archive microbiological samples and host specimens. Vouchered specimens and associated samples provide both repeatability and extension to host-pathogen studies, and using them mobilizes a large workforce (i.e., biodiversity scientists) to assist in pandemic preparedness. We review several well-known examples that successfully integrate host-pathogen research with natural history collections (e.g., yellow fever, hantaviruses, helminths). However, vouchering remains an underutilized practice in such studies. Using an online survey, we assessed vouchering practices used by microbiologists (e.g., bacteriologists, parasitologists, virologists) in host-pathogen research. A much greater number of respondents permanently archive microbiological samples than archive host specimens, and less than half of respondents voucher host specimens from which microbiological samples were lethally collected. To foster collaborations between microbiologists and natural history collections, we provide recommendations for integrating vouchering techniques and archiving of microbiological samples into host-pathogen studies. This integrative approach exemplifies the premise underlying One Health initiatives, providing critical infrastructure for addressing related issues ranging from public health to global climate change and the biodiversity crisis.

At the ends of the line: How the Airy Transit Circle was gradually overshadowed by the Greenwich Prime Meridian.

The Greenwich Prime Meridian is one of the iconic features of the Royal Museums Greenwich. Visitors to the Museum even queue up to pose with one leg on either side of the Line. Yet, the Airy Transit Circle, the instrument that defined the meridian, is almost always excluded from these photographs. This paper examines how the instrument has become hidden in plain sight within the stories of Greenwich Time and Greenwich Meridian, as well as within the public imagination, by providing an analysis of the instrument's transformation from a working astronomical instrument to a museum object. The paper highlights the gradual decoupling of the instrument from narratives of Time and Longitude, which resulted in the Line's popularity overshadowing the instrument that defined it. By doing so, the paper aims at showing the symbiotic relationship between the materiality of the instrument and the meridian line that it defined. Approaching the instrument through the lenses of object biographies, the paper raises the question of whether the life of the instrument came to an end once operations with it were terminated. The analysis of the Transit Circle's life reveals that it reached its end multiple times, which shifts the emphasis away from a single and ultimate end of scientific objects to a process of gradual downfall, during which they can "end" several times. In addition, through the object biography approach, the Transit Circle no longer appears as a dead object reaching an afterlife within a museum setting. Instead, the approach demonstrates that, though the instrument can still be restored to an operational order, doubts about its accuracy, and its relevancy to today's astronomical methods, have led the instrument to be considered obsolete, transforming it into a museum object on display.

The Origins of Coca: Museum Genomics Reveals Multiple Independent Domestications from Progenitor Erythroxylum gracilipes.

Coca is the natural source of cocaine as well as a sacred and medicinal plant farmed by South American Amerindians and mestizos. The coca crop comprises four closely related varieties classified into two species (Amazonian and Huánuco varieties within Erythroxylum coca Lam., and Colombian and Trujillo varieties within Erythroxylum novogranatense (D. Morris) Hieron.) but our understanding of the domestication and evolutionary history of these taxa is nominal. In this study, we use genomic data from natural history collections to estimate the geographic origins and genetic diversity of this economically and culturally important crop in the context of its wild relatives. Our phylogeographic analyses clearly demonstrate the four varieties of coca comprise two or three exclusive groups nested within the diverse lineages of the widespread, wild species Erythroxylum gracilipes; establishing a new and robust hypothesis of domestication wherein coca originated two or three times from this wild progenitor. The Colombian and Trujillo coca varieties are descended from a single, ancient domestication event in northwestern South America. Huánuco coca was domesticated more recently, possibly in southeastern Peru. Amazonian coca either shares a common domesticated ancestor with Huánuco coca, or it was the product of a third and most recent independent domestication event in the western Amazon basin. This chronology of coca domestication reveals different Holocene peoples in South America were able to independently transform the same natural resource to serve their needs; in this case, a workaday stimulant. [Erythroxylum; Erythroxylaceae; Holocene; Museomics; Neotropics; phylogeography; plant domestication; target-sequence capture.].

Two newly recorded species of plants in Jiangxi province / 中国中药杂志

Based on the investigation of wild medicinal plant resources in Dexing city, Jiangxi province, and the collected plant specimens, which were identified by taxonomy, two new record species of geographical distribution were found, which are Meehania zheminensis A. Takano, Pan Li & G.-H. Xia and Corydalis huangshanensis L.Q.Huang & H.S.Peng. The voucher specimens are kept in Dexing museum of traditional Chinese medicine. In this paper, the new distribution species were reported, which provides valuable information for further enriching and supplementing the species diversity of medicinal plant resources in Jiangxi province.

[Interpretation of the connotation of the colored drawing of Neijing Tu in the Museum of Chinese Medical History].

Neijing Tu(, Chart of Inner Landscape), collected by the Museum of Chinese Medical History, is a colored drawing which is used to guide Taoist internal alchemy training pattern. It belongs to the inheritance of the immortals in the Tao Yin(physical and breathing exercise) of traditional Chinese medicine in folk. It is the essence for nurturing vitality of the traditional Chinese medicine. Its core tenet is that one practices with both Shen(spirit) and Qi(pneuma) and makes both to fuse in perfect harmony way. The specific practice process includes four phases: refining Jing and converting it into Qi, refining Qi and converting it into Shen, extracting and then restoring Xu(void)from Shen, purifying Xu to fit Dao. This process contains the contents of the Secret Alchemy such as sub-Meridian Circle Vessel, overcoming the roadblock and entering Primary Meridian Circle Vessel, getting Yangshen (highest level spirit) and harmonizing the body and spirit. Its important value lies in being able to treat the disease which has not yet completely developed and the disease developed already.

Art, nature and mental health: assessing the biopsychosocial effects of a 'creative green prescription' museum programme involving horticulture, artmaking and collections.

AIMS: To assess the biopsychosocial effects of participation in a unique, combined arts- and nature-based museum intervention, involving engagement with horticulture, artmaking and museum collections, on adult mental health service users. METHODS: Adult mental health service users (total n = 46 across two phases) with an average age of 53 were referred through social prescribing by community partners (mental health nurse and via a day centre for disadvantaged and vulnerable adults) to a 10-week 'creative green prescription' programme held in Whitworth Park and the Whitworth Art Gallery. The study used an exploratory sequential mixed methods design comprising two phases - Phase 1 (September to December 2016): qualitative research investigating the views of participants (n = 26) through semi-structured interviews and diaries and Phase 2 (February to April 2018): quantitative research informed by Phase 1 analysing psychological wellbeing data from participants (n = 20) who completed the UCL Museum Wellbeing Measure pre-post programme. RESULTS: Inductive thematic analysis of Phase 1 interview data revealed increased feelings of wellbeing brought about by improved self-esteem, decreased social isolation and the formation of communities of practice. Statistical analysis of pre-post quantitative measures in Phase 2 found a highly significant increase in psychological wellbeing. CONCLUSION: Creative green prescription programmes, using a combination of arts- and nature-based activities, present distinct synergistic benefits that have the potential to make a significant impact on the psychosocial wellbeing of adult mental health service users. Museums with parks and gardens should consider integrating programmes of outdoor and indoor collections-inspired creative activities permitting combined engagement with nature, art and wellbeing.

Exploration, Explanation, and Parent-Child Interaction in Museums.

Young children develop causal knowledge through everyday family conversations and activities. Children's museums are an informative setting for studying the social context of causal learning because family members engage together in everyday scientific thinking as they play in museums. In this multisite collaborative project, we investigate children's developing causal thinking in the context of family interaction at museum exhibits. We focus on explaining and exploring as two fundamental collaborative processes in parent-child interaction, investigating how families explain and explore in open-ended collaboration at gear exhibits in three children's museums in Providence, RI, San Jose, CA, and Austin, TX. Our main research questions examined (a) how open-ended family exploration and explanation relate to one another to form a dynamic for children's learning; (b) how that dynamic differs for families using different interaction styles, and relates to contextual factors such as families' science background, and (c) how that dynamic predicts children's independent causal thinking when given more structured tasks. We summarize findings on exploring, explaining, and parent-child interaction (PCI) styles. We then present findings on how these measures related to one another, and finally how that dynamic predicts children's causal thinking. In studying children's exploring we described two types of behaviors of importance for causal thinking: (a) Systematic Exploration: Connecting gears to form a gear machine followed by spinning the gear machine. (b) Resolute Behavior: Problem-solving behaviors, in which children attempted to connect or spin a particular set of gears, hit an obstacle, and then persisted to succeed (as opposed to moving on to another behavior). Older children engaged in both behaviors more than younger children, and the proportion of these behaviors were correlated with one another. Parents and children talked to each other while interacting with the exhibits. We coded causal language, as well as other types of utterances. Parents' causal language predicted children's causal language, independent of age. The proportion of parents' causal language also predicted the proportion of children's systematic exploration. Resolute behavior on the part of children did not correlate with parents' causal language, but did correlate with children's own talk about actions and the exhibit. We next considered who set goals for the play in a more holistic measure of parent-child interaction style, identifying dyads as parent-directed, child-directed, or jointly-directed in their interaction with one another. Children in different parent-child interaction styles engaged in different amounts of systematic exploration and had parents who engaged in different amounts of causal language. Resolute behavior and the language related to children engaging in such troubleshooting, seemed more consistent across the three parent-child interaction styles. Using general linear mixed modeling, we considered relations within sequences of action and talk. We found that the timing of parents' causal language was crucial to whether children engaged in systematic exploration. Parents' causal talk was a predictor of children's systematic exploration only if it occurred prior to the act of spinning the gears (while children were building gear machines). We did not observe an effect of causal language when it occurred concurrently with or after children's spinning. Similarly, children's talk about their actions and the exhibit predicted their resolute behavior, but only when the talk occurred while the child was encountering the problem. No effects were found for models where the talk happened concurrently or after resolving the problem. Finally, we considered how explaining and exploring related to children's causal thinking. We analyzed measures of children's causal thinking about gears and a free play measure with a novel set of gears. Principal component analysis revealed a latent factor of causal thinking in these measures. Structural equation modeling examined how parents' background in science related to children's systematic exploration, parents' causal language, and parent-child interaction style, and then how those factors predicted children's causal thinking. In a full model, with children's age and gender included, children's systematic exploration related to children's causal thinking. Overall, these data demonstrate that children's systematic exploration and parents' causal explanation are best studied in relation to one another, because both contributed to children's learning while playing at a museum exhibit. Children engaged in systematic exploration, which supported their causal thinking. Parents' causal talk supported children's exploration when it was presented at certain times during the interaction. In contrast, children's persistence in problem solving was less sensitive to parents' talk or interaction style, and more related to children's own language, which may act as a form of self-explanation. We discuss the findings in light of ongoing approaches to promote the benefit of parent-child interaction during play for children's learning and problem solving. We also examine the implications of these findings for formal and informal learning settings, and for theoretical integration of constructivist and sociocultural approaches in the study of children's causal thinking.

[Urology goes electric-electrotherapy : Modern therapies in the treatment of modern diseases-examples from urology]. / Die Urologie wird elektrisch ­ Elektrotherapie : Moderne Therapien zur Behandlung moderner Erkrankungen ­ Beispiele aus der Urologie.

The significance of electricity for medicine in the modern industrial age should not be underestimated. Particularly in connection with neurasthenia, electrotherapeutic approaches also experienced a boom for domestic use. Thus, electrotherapy reached urology just as it was becoming established as a medical specialty. We analyzed urological manuals and textbooks and objects in the W. P. Didusch Center for Urologic History and the Museum zur Geschichte der Urologie in Berlin to present the wide range of indications for electrotherapy in the emerging field of urology from impotence to urethral strictures and try to highlight the variability of their importance over time.

Vortex fluidics-mediated DNA rescue from formalin-fixed museum specimens.

DNA from formalin-preserved tissue could unlock a vast repository of genetic information stored in museums worldwide. However, formaldehyde crosslinks proteins and DNA, and prevents ready amplification and DNA sequencing. Formaldehyde acylation also fragments the DNA. Treatment with proteinase K proteolyzes crosslinked proteins to rescue the DNA, though the process is quite slow. To reduce processing time and improve rescue efficiency, we applied the mechanical energy of a vortex fluidic device (VFD) to drive the catalytic activity of proteinase K and recover DNA from American lobster tissue (Homarus americanus) fixed in 3.7% formalin for >1-year. A scan of VFD rotational speeds identified the optimal rotational speed for recovery of PCR-amplifiable DNA and while 500+ base pairs were sequenced, shorter read lengths were more consistently obtained. This VFD-based method also effectively recovered DNA from formalin-preserved samples. The results provide a roadmap for exploring DNA from millions of historical and even extinct species.

Using museum pelt collections to generate pollen prints from high-risk regions: A new palynological forensic strategy for geolocation.

The use of pollen as a forensic tool for geolocation is a well-established practice worldwide in cases ranging from the provenance of drugs and other illicit materials to tracking the travel of individuals in criminal investigations. Here we propose a novel approach to generation of pollen databases that uses pollen vacuumed from mammal pelts collected historically from international areas that are now deemed too high risk to visit. We present the results of a study we conducted using mammal pelts collected from Mexico. This new investigative technique is important because, although it would seem that the ubiquitous and geo-specific nature of pollen would make pollen analysis among the most promising forensic tools for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, it is not the case. The process is notoriously slow because pollen identification is a tedious task requiring trained specialists (palynologists) who are few in number worldwide, and the reference materials necessary for geolocation usually are rare or absent, especially from regions of the world that are no longer safe to visit because of war or threat of terrorism. Current forensic palynological work is carried out by a few highly trained palynologists who require accurate databases of pollen distribution, especially from sensitive areas, to do their jobs accurately and efficiently. Our project shows the suitability of using the untapped museum pelt resources to support homeland security programs. This first palynological study using museum pelts yielded 133 different pollen and spore types, including 8 moss or fern families, 12 gymnosperm genera and 112 angiosperm species. We show that the palynological print from each region is statistically different with some important clustering, demonstrating the potential to use this technique for geolocation.

[A century of memory of Tongji Medical College: Selected collections from Museum of History].

This paper presents a harsh course of Tongji Medical School.The school was relocated several times, but still kept running though it met with the cataclysm-the World WarⅠand World WarⅡ.By using collections from School History Museum of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Hospital History Museum of Tongji Medical School as clue and combining the years of itself, it's found that Tongji Medical School is a medical education institution which has Germanic medical educational tradition. The information from this paper has provided the primary sources for research on the origin and development of modern Chinese medical education.

Interdisciplinary arts and health practice with an institutional logics perspective.

Background: Investigating the interdisciplinary relationships between stakeholders engaged in arts and health practice in the UK and Denmark, specifically with regard to institutional logics theory. The identified stakeholders: health professionals, museum educators and mental health service users. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 participants: health professionals, museum educators and service users. Data were collected in Denmark and the UK. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data and theoretical lenses of sociological theories, and institutional logics explored the findings. Results: The interdisciplinary work in arts and health is complex, given the different disciplines and institutions involved. Findings illustrate that institutional logics play a vital and ambiguous part in arts and health practice and that this presents a challenge for interdisciplinary working in the field. Conclusions: Awareness of the complexity of multiple logics in the arts and health field; recognising the differences between disciplines and institutions could benefit from research and practice.