The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2018 is the sixth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of over eighty trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in the recent years. The evaluation included the standard VOT and other popular methodologies for short-term tracking analysis and a "real-time" experiment simulating a situation where a tracker processes images as if provided by a continuously running sensor. A long-term tracking subchallenge has been introduced to the set of standard VOT sub-challenges. The new subchallenge focuses on long-term tracking properties, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance. A new dataset has been compiled and a performance evaluation methodology that focuses on long-term tracking capabilities has been adopted. The VOT toolkit has been updated to support both standard short-term and the new longterm tracking subchallenges. Performance of the tested trackers typically by far exceeds standard baselines. The source code for most of the trackers is publicly available from the VOT page. The dataset, the evaluation kit and the results are publicly available at the challenge website 60 .

The worldwide spread of H1N1 avian influenza and the increasing reports about its resistance to the current drugs have made a high priority for developing new anti-influenza drugs. Owing to its unique function in assisting viruses to bind the cellular surface, a key step for them to subsequently penetrate into the infected cell, hemagglutinin (HA) has become one of the main targets for drug design against influenza virus. To develop potent HA inhibitors, the ZINC fragment database was searched for finding the optimal compound with the core hopping technique. As a result, the Neo6 compound was obtained. It has been shown through the subsequent molecular docking studies and molecular dynamic simulations that Neo6 not only assumes more favorable conformation at the binding pocket of HA but also has stronger binding interaction with its receptor. Accordingly, Neo6 may become a promising candidate for developing new and more powerful drugs for treating influenza. Or at the very least, the findings reported here may provide useful insights to stimulate new strategy in this area.

Inhibition of α-glucosidase and α-amylase decreases postprandial blood glucose levels and delays glucose absorption, making it a treatment strategy for type 2 diabetes. This study examined in vivo and in vitro antidiabetic activities of natural prenylchalconaringenins 1 and 2 and prenylnaringenins 3 and 4, found in hops and beer. 3'-Geranylchalconaringenin (2) competitively and irreversibly inhibited α-glucosidase (IC = 1.08 μM) with activity 50-fold higher than that of acarbose (IC = 51.30 μM) and showed moderate inhibitory activity against α-amylase (IC = 20.46 μM). Docking analysis substantiated these findings. In addition, compound 2 suppressed the increase in postprandial blood glucose levels and serum levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice. Taken together, these results suggest that 2 has dual inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase and α-amylase and alleviates diabetic hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, making it a potential functional food ingredient and drug candidate for management of type 2 diabetes.

Owing to their unique functions in regulating glucose, lipid and cholesterol metabolism, PPARs (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors) have drawn special attention for developing drugs to treat type-2 diabetes. By combining the lipid benefit of PPAR-alpha agonists (such as fibrates) with the glycemic advantages of the PPAR-gamma agonists (such as thiazolidinediones), the dual PPAR agonists approach can both improve the metabolic effects and minimize the side effects caused by either agent alone, and hence has become a promising strategy for designing effective drugs against type-2 diabetes. In this study, by means of the powerful “core hopping” and “glide docking” techniques, a novel class of PPAR dual agonists was discovered based on the compound GW409544, a well-known dual agonist for both PPAR-alpha and PPAR-gamma modified from the farglitazar structure. It was observed by molecular dynamics simulations that these novel agonists not only possessed the same function as GW409544 did in activating PPAR-alpha and PPAR-gamma, but also had more favorable conformation for binding to the two receptors. It was further validated by the outcomes of their ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) predictions that the new agonists hold high potential to become drug candidates. Or at the very least, the findings reported here may stimulate new strategy or provide useful insights for discovering more effective dual agonists for treating type-2 diabetes. Since the “core hopping” technique allows for rapidly screening novel cores to help overcome unwanted properties by generating new lead compounds with improved core properties, it has not escaped our notice that the current strategy along with the corresponding computational procedures can also be utilized to find novel and more effective drugs for treating other illnesses.

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