• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.298-303
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• 2018

Background: Panax ginseng is one of the most commonly used medicinal herbs worldwide for a variety of therapeutic properties including neurocognitive effects. Ginsenoside Rg1 is one of the most abundant active chemical constituents of this herb with known neuroprotective, anxiolytic, and cognition improving effects. Methods: We investigated the effects of Rg1 on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a key brain region involved in cognition, information processing, working memory, and decision making. In this study, the effects of systemic administration of Rg1 (1 mg/kg, 3 mg/kg, or 10 mg/kg) on (1) spontaneous firing of the medial prefrontal cortical neurons and (2) long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampal-medial prefrontal cortical (HP-mPFC) pathway were investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Results: The spontaneous neuronal activity of approximately 50% the recorded pyramidal cells in the mPFC was suppressed by Rg1. In addition, Rg1 attenuated LTP in the HP-mPFC pathway. These effects were not dose-dependent. Conclusion: This report suggests that acute treatment of Rg1 impairs LTP in the HP-mPFC pathway, perhaps by suppressing the firing of a subset of mPFC neurons that may contribute to the neurocognitive effects of Rg1.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.209-219
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• 2022

The determination for bearing capacity of precast nodular piles is conventionally time-consuming and high-cost by using numerous experiments and empirical methods. This study proposes an intelligent method to evaluate the bearing capacity and shaft resistance of the nodular piles with high efficiency based on long short-term memory (LSTM) approach. A series of field tests are first designed to measure the axial force, shaft resistance and displacement of the combined nodular piles under different loadings, in comparison with the single pre-stressed high-strength concrete piles. The test results confirm that the combined nodular piles could provide larger ultimate bearing capacity (more than 100%) than the single pre-stressed high-strength concrete piles. Both the LSTM-based method and empirical methods are used to calculate the shift resistance of the combined nodular piles. The results show that the LSTM-based method has a high-precision estimation on shaft resistance, not only for the ultimate load but also for the working load.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.245-252
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• 2024

Ginseng is a traditional herbal medicine used for prevention and treatment of various diseases as a tonic. Recent scientific cohort studies on life prolongation with ginseng consumption support this record, as those who consumed ginseng for more than 5 years had reduced mortality and cognitive decline compared to those who did not. Clinical studies have also shown that acute or long-term intake of ginseng total extract improves acute working memory performance or cognitive function in healthy individuals and those with subjective memory impairment (SMI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or early Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia who are taking AD medication(s). Ginseng contains various components ranging from classical ginsenosides and polysaccharides to more recently described gintonin. However, it is unclear which ginseng component(s) might be the main candidate that contribute to memory or cognitive improvements or prevent cognitive decline in older individuals. This review describes recent clinical contributors to ginseng components in clinical tests and introduces emerging evidence that ginseng components could be novel candidates for cognitive improvement in older individuals, as ginseng components improve SMI cognition and exhibits add-on effects when coadministered with early AD dementia drugs. The mechanism behind the beneficial effects of ginseng components and how it improves cognition are presented. Additionally, this review shows how ginseng components can contribute to SMI, MCI, or early AD dementia when used as a supplementary food and/or medicine, and proposes a novel combination therapy of current AD medicines with ginseng component(s).

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.159-219
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• 2016

Mathematical ability is important for academic achievement and technological renovations in the STEM disciplines. This study concentrated on the relationship between neural basis of mathematical cognition and its mechanisms. These cognitive functions include domain specific abilities such as numerical skills and visuospatial abilities, as well as domain general abilities which include language, long term memory, and working memory capacity. Individuals can perform higher cognitive functions such as abstract thinking and reasoning based on these basic cognitive functions. The next topic covered in this study is about individual differences in mathematical abilities. Neural efficiency theory was incorporated in this study to view mathematical talent. According to the theory, a person with mathematical talent uses his or her brain more efficiently than the effortful endeavour of the average human being. Mathematically gifted students show different brain activities when compared to average students. Interhemispheric and intrahemispheric connectivities are enhanced in those students, particularly in the right brain along fronto-parietal longitudinal fasciculus. The third topic deals with growth and development in mathematical capacity. As individuals mature, practice mathematical skills, and gain knowledge, such changes are reflected in cortical activation, which include changes in the activation level, redistribution, and reorganization in the supporting cortex. Among these, reorganization can be related to neural plasticity. Neural plasticity was observed in professional mathematicians and children with mathematical learning disabilities. Last topic is about mathematical creativity viewed from Neural Darwinism. When the brain is faced with a novel problem, it needs to collect all of the necessary concepts(knowledge) from long term memory, make multitudes of connections, and test which ones have the highest probability in helping solve the unusual problem. Having followed the above brain modifying steps, once the brain finally finds the correct response to the novel problem, the final response comes as a form of inspiration. For a novice, the first step of acquisition of knowledge structure is the most important. However, as expertise increases, the latter two stages of making connections and selection become more important.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2008

In the present study, we assessed the effects of white ginseng and red ginseng extract on the learning and memory impairments induced by scopolamine. The cognition-enhancing effect of ginseng extracts was investigated using the Morris water maze and Y-maze test. Drug-induced amnesia was induced by treating animals with scopolamine (2 mg/kg, i.p.), an antagonist of muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor. Tacrine was used a positive control. Ginseng extract (200 mg/kg, p.o.), tacrine (10 mg/kg, p.o.) administration significantly reduced the escape latency during training in the Morris water maze (p<0.05). At the probe trial session, scopolamine significantly increased the escape latency on day 5 in comparison with control (p<0.01). The effect of ginseng extracts on spontaneous alternation in Y-maze was similar to that of scopolamine treated group. In addition, numbers of arm entries were similar in all experimental groups. Moreover, red ginseng extract significantly inhibited acetylcholinesterase activity in the cortex and serum (p<0.05). Brain ACh contents of ginseng extract treated groups increased more than that of scopolamine group, which did not show statistically significant. These results suggest that ginseng extract may be useful for the treatment of cognitive impairment.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.877-885
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• 2022

Vision-based activity recognition has been widely attempted at construction sites to estimate productivity and enhance workers' health and safety. Previous studies have focused on extracting an individual worker's postural information from sequential image frames for activity recognition. However, various trades of workers perform different tasks with similar postural patterns, which degrades the performance of activity recognition based on postural information. To this end, this research exploited a concept of human-object interaction, the interaction between a worker and their surrounding objects, considering the fact that trade workers interact with a specific object (e.g., working tools or construction materials) relevant to their trades. This research developed an approach to understand the context from sequential image frames based on four features: posture, object, spatial features, and temporal feature. Both posture and object features were used to analyze the interaction between the worker and the target object, and the other two features were used to detect movements from the entire region of image frames in both temporal and spatial domains. The developed approach used convolutional neural networks (CNN) for feature extractors and activity classifiers and long short-term memory (LSTM) was also used as an activity classifier. The developed approach provided an average accuracy of 85.96% for classifying 12 target construction tasks performed by two trades of workers, which was higher than two benchmark models. This experimental result indicated that integrating a concept of the human-object interaction offers great benefits in activity recognition when various trade workers coexist in a scene.