Study on Syndrome Element Characteristics and Its Correlation with Coronary Angiography in 324 Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

Objective： Recently, a new traditional Chinese medicine differentiation theory ＂Syndrome Element（SE）＂ has been raised. In this study, the main syndrome element types and their correlations with the results of coronary angiography （CAG） in patients with coronary heart disease （CHD） were investigated. Methods： Epidemiology cross-sectional study method was employed and 324 patients with CHD were enrolled, and their syndrome element types as well as the CAG results were analyzed. The correlations among syndrome element types, Gensini score, and the number of abnormal branches were also analyzed based on the distribution characteristics of syndrome element and coronary angiography results in the 324 cases. Results：According to their occurrence frequency in 324 CHD patients, the top eight major heart syndrome elements were Xin （心） blood stasis （85.8%）, Xin qi deficiency （79.6%）, Xin heat blockage （41.1%）, Xin phlegm with turbid fluid （38.0%）, Xin qi stagnation （24.7%）, Xin yang deficiency （18.9%）, Xin yin deficiency （17.5%） and Xin cold coagulation （4.4%）, respectively, which suggested that Xin blood stasis and Xin qi deficiency were the two most common syndrome elements. Also, as coronary artery Gensini score increased, the changing trend of the syndrome element was ＂Xin yang deficiency with blood stasis＂ to ＂Xin phlegm obstruction with heat blockage＂ to ＂Xin yin deficiency with blood stasis＂ to ＂Xin qi deficiency with blood stasis＂ to ＂Xin cold coagulation with phlegm and turbid fluid, ＂Xin cold coagulation with blood stasis＂ to ＂Xin deficiency of qi, yin and yang＂. As the number of abnormal branches increased, the syndrome element changing trend was simultaneous occurrence of cold and heat syndrome＂ to ＂Xin qi and yang deficiency with blood stasis＂ to ＂Xin retention of phlegm with turbid fluid＂ to ＂Xin cold coagulation in the heart meridian＂, ＂Xin deficiency of both qi and yin＂. The result of this study shows that Xin qi deficiency and Xin blood stasis were the major syndrome elements in patients with CHD. Conclusion： As the severity and extent of coronary artery lesion increased, there were some apparent correlations among syndrome elements, Gensini score and number of abnormal coronary artery branches.

Selecting An Appropriate Interestingness Measure to Evaluate the Correlation between Chinese Medicine Syndrome Elements and Symptoms

To select the best interestingness measure appropriate for evaluating the correlation between Chinese medicine （CM） syndrome elements and symptoms, 60 objective interestingness measures were selected from different subjects. Firstly, a hypothesis for a good measure was proposed. Based on the hypothesis, an experiment was designed to evaluate the measures. The experiment was based on the clinical record database of past dynasties including 51 186 clinical cases. The selected data set in this study had 44 600 records. Cold and heat were selected as the experimental CM syndrome elements. Three indicators calculated according to the distances between two CM syndrome elements were obtained in the experiment and combined into one indicator. The Z score, φ-coefficient, and Kappa were selected from 60 measures after the experiment. The Z score and φ-coefficient were selected according to subjective interestingness. Finally, the φ-coefficient was selected as the best measure for its low The method introduced in this paper may be used in other similar territories.

Biologic basis of TCM syndromes and the standardization of syndrome classification

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syndrome is an integral and essential component of TCM theory,and goes beyond philosophic concepts.This article reviews the concept of TCM syndromes and summarizes research findings on the biologic foundation of syndromes.In addition,insight is provided into the promotion of standardization of syndrome classification by enforcing uniformity of TCM terminology,applying standardized diagnostic criteria and operating procedures to minimize subjective effects.Also incorporating interdisciplinary approaches such as data mining and structure modeling,as well as integrating findings on biomarker research are discussed.Consideration is made of the fundamental TCM aspects of syndrome elements,symptoms,phenotypic features,as well as diseases,to form an integral process in the diagnostic path.We believe that better understanding of the biologic basis of the TCM syndrome and standardization of syndrome classification will improve diagnosis,which in turn will enhance therapeutic efficacy and disease prognosis.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Pattern Classification and Herbal Medicine for COVID-19: A Comparative Study of Data from Different Sources

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) plays a crucial role in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19). Objective: The study aimed to reveal the distribution characteristics of COVID-19 TCM syndrome types and syndrome elements and the law of TCM treatment and medication. Methods: The TCM diagnosis and treatment protocol for COVID-19 and clinical research data were obtained through network retrieval, and Revman 5.3 and SPSS 23.0 were employed to analyze the composition of TCM syndromes and the situation of TCMs in meta and frequency. Results: The top three TCM syndromes of COVID-19 included damp-heat accumulation in the lung pattern, damp abundance due to spleen deficiency, and epidemic toxin invading the lung pattern, while the syndrome elements were dampness, heat, and toxin. Gypsum fibrosum, Pogostemonis herba, and Armeniacae semen were identified as the commonly used drugs. Different syndrome elements were identified at lung disease location: Forsythiae fructus, Glycyrrhizae radix, and Armeniacae semen can be used for “wind;” Glycyrrhizae radix, Armeniacae semen, and Scutellariae radix can be used for “Heat;” Armeniacae semen, Sheng Gypsum fibrosum, and Ephedrae herba can be used for “Toxin;” Ephedrae herba, Armeniacae semen, and Atractylodis rhizome can be used for “Damp;” Magnoliae officinalis Cortex, Ephedrae herba, and Zingiberis Rhizoma recens can be used for “cold;” and Armeniacae semen, Gypsum fibrosum, Ephedrae herba, and Lepidii/Descurainiae semen can be used for “epidemic.” Conclusion: The establishment of a treatment scheme based on the classification of disease syndrome elements should be considered for sudden infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. Pogostemonis herba, Armeniacae semen, Gypsum fibrosum, and Glycyrrhizae radix should be considered as effective drugs from TCM for the treatment of COVID-19.