Give Full Play the Role of Traditional Chinese Medicine to Prevent and Treat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome with Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine Approach

Member of Political Bureau of Central Committee of CPC, Vice Premier of State Council concurrently Minister of Health, General Command of National Protecting and Treating Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS) Headquarters Vice premier WU Yi cordially met the well-known TCM specialists, and held a symposium with them. Sixteen specialists including WANG Yong-yan, CHEN Ke-ji, LI Fu-ren, JIAO Shu-de, HE Pu-ren, LIU

A General Description for Chinese Medicine in Treating Premature Ovarian Failure

Premature ovarian failure（POF） is a kind of gynecological disease that causes amenorrhea, infertility, menopause and urogenital symptoms. Currently hormone replacement therapy（HRT） is the most popular choice for women with POF to get rid of menopausal syndrome. However, as the popularization of Chinese herbs made Chinese medicine（CM） shine new lights, physicians are able to treat POF with both meno-herbs and integrated therapy. HRT has its own indications and contraindications. For example, unexplained vaginal bleeding, acute liver damage, liver dysfunction, vascular embolization, and breast cancer are all contraindications of HRT, and CM is taken by more physicians as an adjuvant therapy. This review, including a range of common Chinese herbs and formulations according to the existing literature, provides a general description of CM treating POF from the aspects of mechanisms and clinical application. It also highlights acupuncture as a unique physiotherapy for POF. Although the validity of CM has been supported by the evidence of many preclinical trials, clinical trials and meta-analysis, the adverse events with CM therapy still exist and no guarantee has been made for its safety. This review concludes the updated information for CM treating POF contributing to further studies.e

An Overview of Epigenetics in Chinese Medicine Researches

Chinese medicine（CM） has contributed to human health care for several thousand years and is still popular in Asian countries. But the mechanisms underlying CM remain obscure, and need to be clarified by modern biological subjects and methods. Recently, CM researches on epigenetics have gained obvious improvement following rapidly developed molecular technologies. In this review, we revealed mutual characteristics of epigenetics and CM, such as holism, yin-yang dynamic nature, reversibility and balance, and visceral manifestation. Moreover, epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, histone post-transcriptional modifications, micro RNA interference, etc. may help explore the molecular basis of CM syndrome classification, and mechanisms of Chinese herbal medicine（CHM）, CHM compounds and Chinese herbal formulae activities. Meanwhile, CM and epigenetics might promote each other and jointly develop following the continuous progress of epigenetics in CM researches.

Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline for Stomach Pain in Hong Kong

Stomach pain in Chinese medicine（CM） is a very common disorder in clinical practice and it has been listed as one of the pilot three conditions in Hong Kong to develop evidence-based CM clinical practice guidelines（CM CPGs）. The aim of this stomach Pain CPG is to summarize the treatment methods of stomach pain with CM and evaluate reasonably, then to guide local licensed CM practitioners and provide beneficial reference for social medical decision makers and patients. In this manuscript, we defined stomach pain in CM and the category of chronic gastritis in Western medicine. The clinical manifestation, CM pattern classification, and CM intervention including herbal medicine treatment based on pattern differentiation, symptomatic treatment, acupuncture treatment, regulation and nursing were illustrated.

Correlation between tobacco and alcohol use and Traditional Chinese Medicine constitutions: an analysis based on a sample from general population of China

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the relationship between smoking and drinking and constitution types from Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)theory.METHODS:The Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire(CCMQ)was used.A sample of 8448subjects from nine provinces and municipalities was chosen from the database of the TCM constitution and health status survey.Constituent ratio and correspondence analysis were used to find the relationship between smoking and drinking and TCM constitution.RESULTS:There was an association between smokinganddrinkingandtheGentleness,phlegm-dampness,and dampness-heat type constitutions.People that did not smoke tobacco or drink alcohol tended to have Yang-deficiency,Yin-deficiency,Qi-depression,Qi-deficiency,special diathesis,orblood-stasis type constitutions.CONCLUSION:There was a significant correlation between tobacco and alcohol use and TCM constitutions.To improve patient health,more attention should be paid to tobacco and alcohol control.

Controversies on the Values for Health Instruments of Chinese Medicine

Currently, there are increasing debates on the necessity of health instruments in Chinese medicine（CM） emerging in China. This study aims to reevaluate its status and values. Analyzing the causes, limits, advantages, and properties characters of health instruments in CM, it is found that weak fundamental research, incomplete self-awareness, and complicated social factors are the primary causes of debates. A comprehensive analysis showed health instruments in CM have health evaluation benefits to people from a dominant Chinese culture, meet the requirements of cultural background, and bring long-term value to Chinese instrument researches. However, its values and status should be treated differently depending on various subtypes. Although little theoretical and practical evidences proved that patients-reported health instruments in CM should be proposed independently, the doctors- and nurses-reported questionnaires are necessary. With this in mind, the study group proposes the ＇Chinese cultural instruments（CCIs）＇ and ＇health-related CCIs＇. The latter one aims to evaluate the health status of people in a dominant Chinese culture. The CCIs theory represents Chinese instrument researches on a larger regional and higher level, and resolves the debates on instruments between CM and Western medicine in China. Health instruments in CM bring more scientific and social benefits for Chinese instrument researches. However, it does not include cultural demands, and lacks scientific significance. CCIs have all its virtues, and add solutions to the latter＇s theory bottleneck and scientific debates, thus bringing increased benefits to clinical assessment in complementary and alternative medicine researches.

The 7th Pong Ding Yuen International Symposium on Traditional Chinese Medicine cum the 10th Anniversary of the Full-time Bachelor of Chinese Medicine Programme Was Successfully Organized by the School of Chinese Medicine,the University of Hong Kong

The School of Chinese Medicine, the University of Hong Kong has organized the 7th Pong Ding Yuen International Symposium on Traditional Chinese Medicine cum the 10th Anniversary of the Full-time Bachelor of Chinese Medicine Programme on 1 December, 2012, and 2 December, 2012, in Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong.

Targeting Tumor-Associated Macrophages by Anti-tumor Chinese Materia Medica

Tumor-associated macrophages（TAMs） play a key role in all stages of tumorigenesis and tumor progression. TAMs secrete different kinds of cytokines, chemokines, and enzymes to affect the progression, metastasis, and resistance to therapy depending on their state of reprogramming. Therapeutic benefit in targeting TAMs suggests that macrophages are attractive targets for cancer treatment. Chinese materia medica（CMM） is an important approach for treating cancer in China and in the Asian region. According to the theory of Chinese medicine（CM） and its practice, some prescriptions of CM regulate the body＇s internal environment possibly including the remodeling the tumor microenvironment（TME）. Here we briefly summarize the pivotal effects of TAMs in shaping the TME and promoting tumorigenesis, invasion, metastasisand immunosuppression. Furthermore, we illustrate the effects and mechanisms of CMM targeting TAMs in antitumor therapy. Finally, we reveal the CMM＇s dual-regulatory and multi-targeting functions on regulating TAMs, and hopefully, provide the theoretical basis for CMM clinical practice related to cancer therapy.