Rule of Chinese Medicine Syndrome Differentiation in the Patients with Thoracic Diseases at Perioperation Stage

Objective： To study the rule of syndrome differentiation in the patients with thoracic diseases at perioperation stage. Methods： A standard was created referring to the related literature, and it was applied to differentiate the Chinese medicine syndrome in 150 patients before and three days after thoracic operation. Results： Before operation, Chinese medicine syndromes were as differentiated as phlegm type in 45.3%, blood stasis type in 17.3%, and qi-stagnancy type in 16.0%. The patients with asthenia syndrome markedly increased after operation, accounting for 34.0% （51 patients, including qi-, yin-, and blood-deficiency syndromes）. The most frequently seen intermixed syndromes were qi-deficiency with phlegm-stasis syndrome and Pi （脾）-deficiency with phlegm-dampness syndrome. The intermixed syndromes revealed in 37.5% and 42.0% of the patients before and after operation, respectively. Conclusion： The syndrome in the patients with thoracic disease before operation was mostly the excessive syndrome, mainly the phlegm syndrome type; at postoperation stage, Chinese medicine syndrome in patients become asthenia in essence with excessive superficiality, which is mostly revealed as Pi-deficiency with phlegm-dampness.

Treating Biliary System Postoperational Complications by Syndrome Differentiation Using Traditional Chinese Medicine

The operation of the biliary system is usually employed for liver, gallbladder or pancreatic diseases. Most benign cases are cholelithiasisinduced cholecystitis and choledochitis, while malignant ones mainly include gallbladder cancers, cholangiocarcinoma orcarcinoma of the head of the pancreas.

Treatment of Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer with Extracorporeal High Frequency Thermotherapy Combined with Chinese Medicine

Objective： To observe the clinical efficacy and benefit response of extracorporeal high frequency thermotherapy （EHFT） combined with Chinese medicine （CM） in the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Methods： The study adopted a prospective, small sample and randomized controlled method, and the advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients were assigned to two groups according to the table of random digits, one having the treatment of EHFT combined with CM （the treatment group）, the other only with CM （the control group）. The patients in the treatment group were treated with EHFT one hour once per day, together with CM differentiation decoction, 250 mL orally taken, twice daily for 14 days as one cycle, and 3-4 cycles was performed. The patients in the control group were treated only with CM differentiation decoction using the same dose as the treatment group. The efficacies were evaluated after three to four cycles of treatment. Primary endpoints were disease control rate （DCR） and time to progression （TTP）. Secondary endpoints were overall survival time and 1-year survival rate. Results： Sixty-six patients accomplished the study. After the patients underwent different treatments, none of the patients got a complete response or partial response in both groups. In the treatment group, DCR was 72.2%, and 10 had progression of disease （28.8%）, while the DCR of the control group was 63.3%, and 11 had progression of disease （36.7%）; there was a significant statistical difference （P0.05）, suggesting that the combined regimen had superiority on the DCR. As for long-term efficacy, the median survival time （MST） of the treatment group was 7.5 months, TTP was 5.5 months, and 1-year survival rate was 21.4 %; in the control group, the results were 6.8 months, 4.5 months and 16.6% respectively. There was significant statistical difference on TTP （P0.05）, but no difference on MST or 1-year survival rate. Conclusion： EHFT combined with CM differentiation has better tolerance and short-term efficacy in the treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC.

Electroacupuncture pretreatment exhibits antidepressive effects by regulating hippocampal proteomics in rats with chronic restraint stress

The clinical effect of electroacupuncture on depression is widely recognized. However, the signal transduction pathways and target proteins involved remain unclear. In the present study, rat models of chronic restraint stress were used to explore the mechanism by which electroacupuncture alleviates depression. Rats were randomly divided into control, model, and electroacupuncture groups. Chronic restraint stress was induced in the model and electroacupuncture groups by restraining rats for 28 days. In the electroacupuncture group, electroacupuncture pretreatment at Baihui（GV20） and Yintang（GV29） acupoints was performed daily（1 m A, 2 Hz, discontinuous wave, 20 minutes） prior to restraint for 28 days. Open field tests and body weight measurements were carried out to evaluate the depressive symptoms at specific time points. On day 28, the crossing number, rearing number, and body weights of the model group were significantly lower than those in the control group. Behavior test results indicated that rat models of depressive-like symptoms were successfully established by chronic restraint stress combined with solitary raising. On day 28, an isobaric tag for a relative and absolute quantitation-based quantitative proteomic approach was performed to identify differentially expressed proteins in hippocampal samples obtained from the model and electroacupuncture groups. The potential function of these differential proteins was predicted through the use of the Cluster of Orthologous Groups of proteins（COG） database. Twenty-seven differential proteins（uncharacteristic proteins expected） were selected from the model and electroacupuncture groups. In addition to unknown protein functions, COG are mainly concentrated in general prediction function, mechanism of signal transduction, amino acid transport and metabolism groups. This suggests that electroacupuncture improved depressive-like symptoms by regulating differential proteins, and most of these related proteins exist in nerve cells.

Effect of Yunqi Decoction (匀气汤 ) on Esophageal Mucosal Morphology and Esophapeal Motility in Reflux Esophagitis Patients

Objective: To observe the effects of Yunqi decoction (匀气汤, YQD) on both esophageal mucosal morphology and esophageal motility in patients with reflux esophagitis (RE). Methods: According to syndrome differentiation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), 42 RE patients were divided into three groups fdisharmony of Liver and Stomach (group D), Deficiency-Cold of Spleen and Stomach (Group DC), Heat Syndrome caused by stagnation of Liver Qi (Group H). No. Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ of YQD were taken respectively for 4 weeks.Before and after treatment scores of typical symptoms were collected, gastroscopy was performed and esophagealmotility were measured. Results: (1 ) The symptom remission rate was 81. 1 %, there were significant differences between the group DC with group D and group H (P< 0. 01 ). (2) The esophageal mucosal healing ratewas 61. 9 %, the effective rate was 90. 5 %, and the ineffective rate was 9. 5 %. There were not significant differences of effective rate among the three groups (P > 0. 05). (3) The changes of esophageal motility: Loweresophageal sphincter pressure (LESP) and average peristaltic pressure (APP) of group D were obviously higherthan before treatment (P < 0. 05), LESP, gastro--esophageal barrier pressure (GEBP) and peristaltic conductspeed (PCS) of group DC were remarkably higher (P < 0. 05). GEBP of group H was improved (P < 0. 05 ).Conclusions: YQD has a good therapeutic effect. It's not only resolving reflux esophageal symptoms, healingesophageal mucosa, but also improving esophageal motile function.

Distributions of Sasang constitutions and six syndromes in patients with functional dyspepsia and healthy subjects

OBJECTIVE:To investigated the characteristics of patients with functional dyspepsia(FD)in terms of Sasang constitutional medicine.METHODS:A total of 116 patients with FD were recruited based on diagnosis by gastroscopy and symptomatic measurements.The distributions of Sasang constitutions and six syndromes in terms of TKM theory in the patients was compared with those from 1423 healthy subjects.RESULTS:The distribution of Sasang constitutions for the patients with FD significantly differed from that for healthy subjects,especially among women;36.7%vs 45.6%for Taeumin,28.9%vs 33.9%for Soumin,and 34.4%vs 20.4%for Soyangin.Our results assumed a high prevalence in Soyangin women(around 1.7 folds),and Soumin(45.2%),inparticular,had a high prevalence of"deficiency and coldness of spleen and stomach"compared with Taeumin(14.9%)and Soyangin types(15.7%).CONCLUSION:This study identified a trend for the frequency of FD and the Sasang constitutions.The findings may provide new ideas for the study of prevention and management of FD.