Traditionally, differentiation of syndromes of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) mainly depends on the information obtained from four diagnosis methods. Now many physicochemical parameters are available in clinic. Th...Traditionally, differentiation of syndromes of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) mainly depends on the information obtained from four diagnosis methods. Now many physicochemical parameters are available in clinic. There exists great correlation between TCM syndromes and physicochemical parameters. The objective of the paper is to analyze the correlation between TCM syndromes and physicochemical parameters quantitatively. Correlation analysis has been widely studied and many analysis methods have been developed. Mutual information based on entropy can measure arbitrary dependence between variables. It has been applied to many kinds of fields, especially to pattern recognition. But most works are restricted to discrete variables and little work has been done to study the relation between discrete and continuous variables. A novel algorithm is proposed to calculate the mutual information between discrete and continuous variables. It is used to analyze the correlation between TCM syndromes and physicochemical parameters.展开更多
Whereas global medicine and health care practices have improved the quality of people's lives, especially in the developing countries data abounds that local communities have been crippled by the same medical practis...Whereas global medicine and health care practices have improved the quality of people's lives, especially in the developing countries data abounds that local communities have been crippled by the same medical practises. Some societies in developing countries have become sources of specimen for clinical trials of biomedicine which is unaffordable to their citizens. This paper explores the neglect of traditional African medicinal innovations and research in favour of imported Western medicine perpetuated by the developed countries. The paper argues that global medicine and health care have neither utilized nor recognized the African Traditional Medicine (ATM) fully, despite the fact that cultures in developed world used and continue to utilize the indigenous medical knowledge. The paper further argues that instead of neglecting African Traditional Medicine, ATM and biomedicine can be more beneficial by blending them into a single system, through what we would call in this paper High-Performance Medical Research (HPMR). This would allow participation of communities to achieve both socio-eeonomic and medical knowledge growth rather than being a monopoly and preserve of developed organizations in the North. This paper proposes that HPMR should be a systematic and scientific approach for enhancing local people's participation in the development of medical ventures. This paper draws on secondary data on traditional African therapeutic practices by some local communities in East Africa combined with literature review on medical practice in Western societies.展开更多
基金The research has been supported by National Basic Research Program of China(973 Grant 2003CB517106) MOSTProjects (No.2004DFB02100)
文摘Traditionally, differentiation of syndromes of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) mainly depends on the information obtained from four diagnosis methods. Now many physicochemical parameters are available in clinic. There exists great correlation between TCM syndromes and physicochemical parameters. The objective of the paper is to analyze the correlation between TCM syndromes and physicochemical parameters quantitatively. Correlation analysis has been widely studied and many analysis methods have been developed. Mutual information based on entropy can measure arbitrary dependence between variables. It has been applied to many kinds of fields, especially to pattern recognition. But most works are restricted to discrete variables and little work has been done to study the relation between discrete and continuous variables. A novel algorithm is proposed to calculate the mutual information between discrete and continuous variables. It is used to analyze the correlation between TCM syndromes and physicochemical parameters.
文摘Whereas global medicine and health care practices have improved the quality of people's lives, especially in the developing countries data abounds that local communities have been crippled by the same medical practises. Some societies in developing countries have become sources of specimen for clinical trials of biomedicine which is unaffordable to their citizens. This paper explores the neglect of traditional African medicinal innovations and research in favour of imported Western medicine perpetuated by the developed countries. The paper argues that global medicine and health care have neither utilized nor recognized the African Traditional Medicine (ATM) fully, despite the fact that cultures in developed world used and continue to utilize the indigenous medical knowledge. The paper further argues that instead of neglecting African Traditional Medicine, ATM and biomedicine can be more beneficial by blending them into a single system, through what we would call in this paper High-Performance Medical Research (HPMR). This would allow participation of communities to achieve both socio-eeonomic and medical knowledge growth rather than being a monopoly and preserve of developed organizations in the North. This paper proposes that HPMR should be a systematic and scientific approach for enhancing local people's participation in the development of medical ventures. This paper draws on secondary data on traditional African therapeutic practices by some local communities in East Africa combined with literature review on medical practice in Western societies.