Lycium barbarum berries, also named wolfberry, Fructus lycii, and Goji berries, have been used in the People’s Republic of China and other Asian countries for more than 2,000 years as a traditional medicinal herb and food supplement. L. barbarum polysaccharides (LBPs) are the primary active components of L. barbarum berries and have been reported to possess a wide array of pharmacological activities. Herein, we update our knowledge on the main pharmacological activities and possible molecular targets of LBPs. Several clinical studies in healthy subjects show that consumption of wolfberry juice improves general wellbeing and immune functions. LBPs are reported to have antioxidative and antiaging properties in different models. LBPs show antitumor activities against various types of cancer cells and inhibit tumor growth in nude mice through induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. LBPs may potentiate the efficacy of lymphokine activated killer/interleukin-2 combination therapy in cancer patients. LBPs exhibit significant hypoglycemic effects and insulin-sensitizing activity by increasing glucose metabolism and insulin secretion and promoting pancreatic β-cell proliferation. They protect retinal ganglion cells in experimental models of glaucoma. LBPs protect the liver from injuries due to exposure to toxic chemicals or other insults. They also show potent immunoenhancing activities in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, LBPs protect against neuronal injury and loss induced by β-amyloid peptide, glutamate excitotoxicity, ischemic/reperfusion, and other neurotoxic insults. LBPs ameliorate the symptoms of mice with Alzheimer’s disease and enhance neurogenesis in the hippocampus and subventricular zone, improving learning and memory abilities. They reduce irradiation- or chemotherapy-induced organ toxicities. LBPs are beneficial to male reproduction by increasing the quality, quantity, and motility of sperm, improving sexual performance, and protecting the testis against toxic insults. Moreover, LBPs exhibit hypolipidemic, cardioprotective, antiviral, and antiinflammatory activities. There is increasing evidence from preclinical and clinical studies supporting the therapeutic and health-promoting effects of LBPs, but further mechanistic and clinical studies are warranted to establish the dose–response relationships and safety profiles of LBPs.

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The concept of blockchain has received a lot of attention and research since it was first proposed in 2008. With the popularization and development of blockchain technology, its huge development opportunities in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) have gradually revealed. This article studies the development path and technical characteristics of blockchain, analyzes the current research status of application of blockchain technology in medical field. It also summarizes the application and future research directions of blockchain technology in four typical TCM fields: TCM big data safe storage, Chinese medicine traceability, TCM electronic medical record privacy protection, TCM cloud health system and wearable devices. It is hoped that this paper can provide useful reference for relevant research.

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Abstract. This paper presents a method based on a multi-objective self-adaptive differential evolution (MOSaDE) algorithm to improve the parametric reconfiguration feature in the optimal design of a parallel robot. We propose a MOSaDE algorithm, in which both trial vector generation strategies and their associated control parameter values are gradually self-adapted by learning from their previous experiences in generating promising solutions. Consequently, a more suitable generation strategy along with its parameter settings can be determined adaptively to match different phases of the search process. Furthermore, a constraint-handling mechanism is added to bias the search to the feasible region of the search space. The obtained solution will be a set of optimal geometric parameters and optimal PID control gains. The results obtained in a set of experiments performed mechatronic system show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.