Lu Aiping

Curative effect of acupuncture on quality of life in patient with depression: a clinical randomized single-blind placebo-controlled study.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of acupuncture on the quality of life in patients with depression by clinical randomized single-blind placebo-controlled study. METHODS one hundred and sixty-three cases of depression according with the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into a group of acupuncture dredging liver and regulating flow of theosophy (group 1), a group of acupoint shallow stab (group 2) and a group of non-acupoint shallow stab (group 3) at 1 : 1 : 1 ratio, and treated with acupuncture, moxibustion, and intradermal embedding of needle, twice a week, for a total of 12 weeks. Scale of Quality of Life (SF-36) was used to measure the scores at four different time points and evaluate the effect of acupuncture on the quality of life of the patients with depression. RESULTS At each time point after treatment, in scores of the 8 items, physical function, physical role, bodily pain, general physical condition, energy, social function, emotional function and mental health there were statistically significant differences among the 3 groups (P < 0.0125). CONCLUSION Acupuncture can effectively improve the quality of life of patients with depression.

Duration of viral shedding of influenza A (H1N1) virus infection treated with oseltamivir and/or traditional Chinese medicine in China: a retrospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE H1N1 was a new and potentially serious infectious disease, in human, the severity of influenza can vary from mild to severe, thus to find an effective and safety way to control the influenza pandemic is of crucial importance. This retrospective study describes the duration of viral shedding in H1N1 patients that were hospitalized and treated in China. METHODS Clinical data were collected from May to July, 2009 in China for 963 patients with influenza A (H1N1) virus infection. Patients were treated based on the guidelines issued by the Chinese Ministry of Health. The primary outcome was duration of viral shedding and statistical comparisons were performed. RESULTS In the patients with body temperature greater than 38.0 degrees C, there were no differences in virus shedding duration among the patients taking oseltamivir within two days, patients undergoing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapy or those receiving no drug therapy. In patients with body temperature > or =38.1 degrees C, TCM therapy reduced the viral shedding duration (P < 0.05, vs. oseltamivir therapy). Furthermore, taking oseltamivir two days after onset of symptoms might prolong the virus shedding duration (P < 0.05, vs. taking oseltamivir less than 2 days of onset). CONCLUSION TCM therapy is effective for reducing the length of virus shedding in patients with body temperature > or =38.0 degrees C. Oseltamivir used for reducing virus shedding duration should be taken within two days of onset.

Biological Basis of Cold and Heat Pattern of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract An integrative mode of the disease classification in Western medicine and the syndrome differentiation in Chinese medicine is already the chief mode of sorting applied in clinical practice of Chinese medicine and integrative medicine. In this study, the cold and heat pattern of rheumatoid arthritis were comparatively analyzed. A range of facts, including the correlation of syndrome differentiations and therapeutic effects, the difference of laboratorial examination and omics expression between cold and heat pattern of RA were reviewed to demonstrate the biological basis of RA syndrome differentiations. It indicates that the better knowledge of the biological basis involved in syndrome differentiations of Chinese medicine might help to choose the most appropriate treatment.

Metabolic profiling of the traditional Chinese medicine formulation Yu Ping Feng San for the identification of constituents relevant for effects on expression of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1β and IL-4 in U937 cells

HighlightsThe classical TCM formulation Yu Ping Feng San (YPFS) was chemically characterized.Metabolomics based chemical profiles of YPFS were obtained by a HPLC‐DAD‐ESI‐MS/MS.24 metabolites were assigned in the chemical profiles of YPFS.Extracts of YPFS inhibited expression of TNF‐&agr;, IFN‐&ggr; and IL‐1&bgr; in U937 cells.MVA by means of OPLS‐DA allowed the tentative identification of active components. Abstract Yu Ping Feng San (YPFS) is a classical TCM formulation which has been traditionally used for treatment of immune system related diseases such as chronic bronchitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma. The formula is a mixture of Radix Saposhnikoviae (Fangfeng), Radix Astragali (Huangqi), and Rhizoma Atractylodis macrocephalae (Baizhu). TLC‐ and LC‐DAD‐ESI‐MS/MS methods have been developed for the analysis of the metabolic profiles of the single herbs and of the formula. Decoctions and ASE extracts were analyzed in order to trace components of the individual herbs in YPFS. Nine constituents of Radix Saposhnikoviae, ten constituents of Radix Astragali and five constituents of Rhizoma Atractylodis macrocephalae have been assigned in the chemical profiles of the formula, which now allow the standardisation of YPFS. The pharmacological testing showed that all extracts significantly inhibited expression of TNF‐&agr;, IFN‐&ggr;, and IL‐1&bgr; in U937 cells, while the inhibition of IL‐4 was consistently low. Compared to conventional analyses which are focused on a limited set of compounds, metabolomics approaches, together with novel data processing tools, enable a more holistic comparison of the herbal extracts. In order to identify the constituents which are relevant for the immunomodulatory effects of the formula, metabolomics studies (PCA, OPLS‐DA) have been performed using UPLC/QTOF MS data.

Mechanism of herbal pairs with the properties of Qi-tonifying, blood activation, blood-stasis breaking in treating coronary heart disease

Abstract Objective To investigating the molecular mechanism of herbal pairs in three types of Chinese medicinals: Qi-tonifying, blood activation, blood-stasis breaking in treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods The components of six herbs were searched in Chinese medicine dictionary and their target proteins were found in PubChem. CHD genes were obtained from PubMed gene database. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis was used to build the pharmacological network of three herbal pairs and CHD molecular network. The canonical pathways between each herbal pair network and CHD network was compared to decipher the molecular mechanism on three herbal pairs in treating CHD. Results The network analysis showed that there were the common signal pathways of three herbal pairs in treating CHD including hypoxia signaling in the cardiovascular system, Hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha signaling, glucocorticoid receptor signaling, G-Protein coupled receptor signaling and pregnane X receptor/retinoid X receptor (PXR/RXR) activation. Further to analyze cardiovascular signaling, cytokine signaling and cytokine signaling, the effective molecules for three herbal pairs in treating CHD included HIF1α and estrogen receptor 1, Qi-tonifying herbal pair included albumin and matrix metallopeptidase 2, and blood-activation herbal pair included estrogen receptor 2 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ. Conclusion Each herbal pair can affect some respective CHD-related functions and pathways, meanwhile three herbal pairs exert some mutual effects on CHD-related functions and pathways. Mutual effects of three herbal pairs may be the key components of their total molecular mechanisms and respective effects of each herbal pair may be the characteristic components of their respective molecular mechanism.

Application of Traditional Chinese Medicine in medical practice: a survey of community residents in Beijing, China

Abstract Objective To investigate how community residents in Beijing understood and used Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in their medical practice. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 3410 community residents from four large communities of Tongzhou district in Beijng, China. A validated, self-administered questionnaire comprised of three sections was used to gather the data. A systematic sampling procedure was applied to recruit the community residents. Results A total of 3410 participants completed the questionnaire survey. It showed that in highly educated residents, 33.4% (170) knew of the names of 3–10 Chinese herbals, 35.8% (182) knew of names of 3–10 traditional Chinese patent drug. Among all the respondent residents, 80.7% (2753) believed that TCM herbal therapy and TCM non-drug treatments were effective in disease treatment, health enhancement, 85.7% (2923) had taken traditional Chinese patent drug in their life, 56.8% (1937) of residents had used herbal decoction, 40.0% (1365) had received non-drug treatment of TCM, such as acupuncture, massage, cupping, auricular acupuncture. Among the elderly residents, 11.4% (98) often used Chinese patent drug and 9.8% (85) often used herbal decoction. In addition, 70.8% (2415) of residents were willing to accept knowledge and information on TCM for health enhancement and disease prevention, such as medicated diet, medicinal tea, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, although 82.8% (2825) of residents had never used them. Conclusion Chinese patent drug and herbal decoction are widely used in the communities in Beijing, and there existed a possible close correlation between high educational level and better understanding of TCM. Age and occupation also correlated with the attitude to TCM therapies. The characteristics of the residents should be considered seriously in the course of promoting the understanding and application of TCM.

Based on bioinformatics approach to explore the novel targets and activity of multiple ingredients in Shuang-Huang-Lian (Using bioinformatics approach to explore the machanisms of a modern formula)

Shuang-Huang-Lian (SHL) is a famous modern formula prepared from three medicinal herbs including Flos Lonicerae, Radix Scutellariae and Fructus Forsythiae. Currently, SHL has been developed a variety of dosage forms due to its proved clinical efficacy. However, the in-depth research on targets and pharmacological mechanisms of SHL preparations was scarce. In the presented study, the bioinformatics approaches were adopted to integrate relevant data and biological information. As a result, a PPI network was built and the common topological parameters were characterized. The reuslts suggested that the PPI network of SHL exhibited a scale-free property and modular architecture. The drug target network of SHL was structured with 21 functional clusters as modules naturally. According to certain modules and pharmacological effects distribution, an anti-tumor effect and protented durg targets were predicted. In conclutions, a bioinformatics approach was established for exploring the drug targets and pharmacological activity distribution. The results offered a novel anti-tumor effect of SHL and provide a clue for further research and development.

Analysis and Thinking on the Current Status of Traditional Chinese Medicine Standardization

Abstract Standard is one of basic elements that constitutes core competitive power of a country. It is also an important technical system for normalizing economy and social development. This study emphasizes on the importance of enforcing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) standardization, and summarizes the achievement, analyzes the problems, and provides the corresponding measures for settling the problems.

Exploring the Same Syndrome Existing in RA and DM through Data Mining

Abstract It is meaningful to search for the same syndromes existing among different diseases. One important terminology in Chinese medicine is called treating different diseases with the same therapy. In the clinical practice of Chinese medicine, some patients with rheumatoid arthritis and some other patients with diabetes mellitus can be treated with similar therapies. This suggests that there should be something commonly existing in the literature of different diseases unrevealed, i.e., biological networks. It is possible to mine those similar biological networks out. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to retrieve simple and meaningful networks from large data sets of rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes mellitus. We transfer XML type data sets to the structured database of Microsoft® SQL® and visualize them into different graphs by software Cytoscape. The results suggest that Huangqi (Radix Astragali), Guizhi (Ramulus Cinnamomi), Shaoyao (Radix Paeonise Alba), Zhimu (Rhizoma Anemarrhenae), Danggui (Radix Angelicae Sinensis), Chuanxiong (Rhizoma Chuanxiong), Maidong (Tuber Ophiopogonis), Shaoyao (Radix Dioscoreae), and Xuanshen (Radix Scrophulariae) are the commonly used herbal medicines. Huangqi (Radix Astragali) and Danggui (Radix Angelicae Sinensis) are of the core association. Quickening the blood and transforming stasis is the treatment principles for some pattern of rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes mellitus. The network visualized in these figures shows that those pairs of herbs in the two diseases are associated with the central commonly-existing biological networks.