Patient-reported Outcomes (PROs): An Approach to Evaluate Treatment Efficacy of Chinese Medicine or Integrative Medicine

Chinese medicine (CM) has been an experience based practice over the past three thousand years. The safety and efficacy of CM has been practised through experience, rather than nowadays’ modern scientific measurements. In this way, the development of CM has not been keeping pace with the advance in science and technology and the progress in orthodox medicine. In order to meet the requirements of modern science and technology, an evidence based approach must be adopted. Reassurance is needed to convince people for safety and efficacy of CM and give confidence to the evidence based demands ——“Tradition is confirmed by Modern Science” (1) .

To set up a logistic regression prediction model for hepatotoxicity of Chinese herbal medicines based on the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicines

In our previous research,a logistic regression prediction model for hepatotoxicity of Chinese herbal medicines based on the four properties,five flavors and channel tropism has been successfully established.However,could Chinese herbal medicines efficacy also be applied to predict the hepatotoxicity of Chinese herbal medicines?Therefore,a logistic regression prediction model for hepatotoxicity of Chinese herbal medicines based on Chinese herbal medicines efficacy has been tentatively set up to study the correlations of hepatotoxic and nonhepatotoxic Chinese herbal medicines with efficacy by using a chi-square test for two-way unordered categorical data.Logistic regression prediction model was established and the accuracy of the prediction by this model was evaluated.It has been found that the hepatotoxicity and nonhepatotoxicity of Chinese herbal medicines were weakly related to the efficacy,and the coefficient was 0.295.There were 20 variables from Chinese herbal medicines efficacy analyzed with unconditional logistic regression,and 6 variables,rectifying Qi and relieving pain,clearing heat and disinhibiting dampness,invigorating blood and stopping pain,invigorating blood and relieving swelling,killing worms and relieving fright were chosen to establish the logistic regression prediction model,with the optimal cutoff value being 0.250.Dissipating cold and relieving pain(DCRP),clearing heat and disinhibiting dampness,invigorating blood and relieving pain(IBRP),invigorating blood and relieving swelling,killing worms,and relieving fright were the variables to affect the hepatotoxicity and the established logistic regression prediction model had predictive power for hepatotoxicity of Chinese herbal medicines to a certain degree.

Significance of Evidence-based Medicine in the Assessment of Chinese Medicine Clinical Efficacy

Evidence-base dmedicine （EBM） requires the integration of the best research evidence with our clinical expertise and our patient＇s unique values and circumstances. Thebest evidence is valid and clinically relevant, especially from patient-centered clinical research. The clinical expertise means the ability to use our clinical skills and past experiences to rapidly identify each patient＇s unique health state and diagnosis, their individual risks,

Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Bathing with Chinese Medicine Taohong Siwu Decoction(桃红四物汤) for Treatment of Diffuse Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis:A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial

Objective：To examine the efficacy and safety of bathing therapy with Taohong Siwu Decoction（桃红四物汤,TSD） in the treatment of early-stage,mild-moderate diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis（dc SSc）.Methods：This randomized,placebo-controlled trial enrolled 148 men and women（18–60 years） with dc SSc（disease duration 12 months） and baseline modified Rodnan skin score（MRSS） 10.Patients were randomized into a TSD group（71 cases bathing with TSD plus oral prednisone） or control group（71 cases bathing with placebo plus oral prednisone）.Bathing（40 ℃,30 min） of the upper and lower limbs was carried out once daily for 12 consecutive weeks.The primary outcome measure was MRSS;secondary outcomes were Raynaud＇s phenomenon（RP） score,quality of life（QOL）,physician visual analogue scale（VAS）,patient VAS,percent predicted diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide（DLCO）,percent predicted forced vital capacity（FVC）,erythrocyte sedimentation rate（ESR）,C-reactive protein（CRP） level and overall treatment effect.Results：The final analysis included 135 patients（control group,68 cases;TSD group,67 cases）.Primary and secondary outcome measures after 2 weeks of treatment showed no improvement（versus baseline） in both groups,with no differences between groups.At 12 weeks,QOL,physician VAS,patient VAS,ESR and CRP were improved in both groups,but MRSS and RP score were improved only in the TSD group（all P〈0.05）.MRSS,RP score,QOL,physician VAS,patient VAS,ESR and CRP differed significantly between groups（all P〈0.05）.Meanwhile,the overall treatment effect was significantly higher in the TSD group than in the control group（P〈0.05）.Adverse events in the two groups were similar（P〉0.05）.Conclusions：Bathing with TSD plus oral prednisone achieves better outcomes than oral prednisone alone in patients with dcS Sc and is not associated with serious adverse events.

Study on Effect of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Enhancing Therapeutic Efficacy on Refractory Drug Resistant Leukemia

The so-called multidrug resistance （MDR） of leukemic cells means the cross resistance of leukemic cells against multiple anti-tumor agents with different constitution and acting mechanism, which takes place simultaneous after resistance to a single contacted drug has been produced. Tumor cells with MDR would now show a low sensitivity to anti-tumor agents, making chemotherapy ineffective or of little effect. Moreover, MDR is one of the pathogenetic factors for inducing refractory leukemia.