Anti-Tubercular Plants from Traditional Medicines of Laos

老挝有数百年历史的棕榈叶手稿(PLM)包含了从宗教习俗到日常生活到医疗治疗的各种信息，随着外部医学影响的传入，这些手稿正在被废弃和忽视，并受到昆虫和霉菌的破坏。与此相伴随的是，传统医学知识(TMK)的丧失(TMK)的威胁越来越大，这些知识在几代当代治疗师之间口头传递，以及由于砍伐森林而造成的植物物种丧失。这项拟议的研究培训旨在保存和保护TMK，并通过科学验证展示传统使用的药用植物的价值，为老挝未开发的森林资源的一个重要组成部分提供支持。研究培训将侧重于结核病(TB)的补救措施，结核病是NIH优先考虑的疾病，目前正在肆虐亚洲大陆和整个全球人口。这项研究还将考察整个补救措施(通常包含多个植物)的有效性，而不是这些补救措施的个别组成部分(单一植物和单一植物的部分)。基本假设指出，由于在创建PLM之前和期间，老挝就存在结核病，而且PLM中记录的植物疗法至今仍被传统治疗师用于治疗表明患有结核病的症状，因此这些治疗中使用的植物很有可能对结核病治疗有效。虽然这些治疗方法已经被使用了好几代，这一事实应该可以确保它们在人类身上的安全性和有效性，但这项研究将继续使用生化工具来调查这些相关性。现代治疗师和旧手稿引用的整个传统药物和植物都被收集、鉴定和提取，用于芝加哥伊利诺伊大学的生物和化学研究。在UIC结核病研究所的实验室进行的生物检测将提供补救措施有效性的证据，并作为其安全性的证据。参与该项目的有老挝国家图书馆和传统医学研究中心(TMRC)，前者拥有数以千计的PLM藏书并雇用了翻译专家，后者也收藏了大量的PLM医学文献，并与翻译人员和当代治疗师有联系。这项研究培训的具体目标的实现将有助于提供证据，证明老挝治疗结核病症状的传统药物的安全性和有效性，这反过来又将促进其继续使用，并有助于老挝人民的医疗保健和福祉。

Centuries-old palm leaf manuscripts (PLM) in the Lao PDR, which contain information ranging from religious practices to daily life to medical treatments, are falling into disuse and neglect as outside medical influences move in, and are becoming subject to destruction by insects and mold. Coupled to this are the increasing threats of loss of traditional medicine knowledge (TMK), passed orally between generations of contemporary healers, and the loss of plant species due to deforestation. This proposed research-training aims to preserve and protect TMK and to demonstrate the value of traditionally used medicinal plants through scientific validation, providing support for an important component of Laos' undeveloped forest resources. The research training will focus on remedies for tuberculosis (TB), which is an NIH priority disease that is currently ravaging the Asian continent and the entire global population. The research will also look at the effectiveness of whole remedies (usually containing multiple plants) as opposed to the individual components of those remedies (single plants and parts of single plants). The underlying hypothesis states that because TB was present in Laos before and during the period when the PLM were created, and the botanical treatments recorded in the PLM are still used to treat symptoms indicating TB by traditional healers today, there is a high potential that the plants used in those treatments are effective for TB treatment. While the fact that these treatments have been used for multiple generations should assure their safety and effectiveness in humans, this research will go on to investigate these correlations using biochemical tools. Whole traditional remedies and plants cited by both modern healers and the old manuscripts are collected, identified and extracted for biological and chemical studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Bioassays performed at the laboratories of the Institute of Tuberculosis Research at UIC will provide evidence of the effectiveness of the remedies and serve as evidence of their safety. Collaborating in this project are the National Library of Laos, which houses thousands of the PLM and employs translation experts, as well as the Traditional Medicine Research Center (TMRC), a research unit of the Ministry of Health of Laos, which also has an ample collection of the medical PLM, and contacts with translators and contemporary healers. Achievement of the specific aims of this research training will help provide evidence of the safety and effectiveness of traditional remedies to treat TB symptoms in Laos, which, in turn, will promote their continued use and contribute to the health care and well being of the people of Laos.