Rapid metabolic fingerprinting with the aid of chemometric models to identify authenticity of natural medicines: Turmeric, Ocimum, and Withania somnifera study

Herbal medicines are popular natural medicines that have been used for decades.The use of alternative medicines continues to expand rapidly across the world.The World Health Organization suggests that quality assessment of natural medicines is essential for any therapeutic or health care applications,as their therapeutic potential varies between different geographic origins,plant species,and varieties.Classification of herbal medicines based on a limited number of secondary metabolites is not an ideal approach.Their quality should be considered based on a complete metabolic profile,as their pharmacological activity is not due to a few specific secondary metabolites but rather a larger group of bioactive compounds.A holistic and integrative approach using rapid and nondestructive analytical strategies for the screening of herbal medicines is required for robust characterization.In this study,a rapid and effective quality assessment system for geographical traceability,species,and variety-specific authenticity of the widely used natural medicines turmeric,Ocimum,and Withania somnifera was investigated using Fourier transform near-infrared(FT-NIR)spectroscopy-based metabolic fingerprinting.Four different geographical origins of turmeric,five different Ocimum species,and three different varieties of roots and leaves of Withania somnifera were studied with the aid of machine learning approaches.Extremely good discrimination(R^(2)>0.98,Q^(2)>0.97,and accuracy=1.0)with sensitivity and specificity of 100%was achieved using this metabolic fingerprinting strategy.Our study demonstrated that FT-NIR-based rapid metabolic fingerprinting can be used as a robust analytical method to authenticate several important medicinal herbs.

Transplanted: Chinese Herbal Medicine in the United States, 1800-1911

Chinese medicine has a long history in the United States, dating back to its colonial period and extending up to the present. This essay focuses on the earliest generation of practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine in the United States. Although acupuncture is the modality most commonly associated with Chinese medicine in today's medical marketplace, up until the 1970s, Chinese healers in the United States typically specialized in herbalism. Well before mass emigration from China to the United States began, Chinese material medica crossed the oceans, in both directions: Chinese medicinal teas and herbs came west while Appalachian ginseng went east. Beginning in the 1850s, Chinese immigrants came to the United States and transplanted their health practices, sometimes quite literally by propagating medicinal plants in their adopted home. Over time, Chinese doctors learned how to sell their services to non-Chinese patients by presenting herbalism as “nature's remedies.”

Evolving of treatment options for cerebral infarction

In this editorial,we comment on a recent article which addressed the therapeutic effect of aspirin plus edaravone in patients with cerebral infarction(CI).Herein,we outline the progress in therapy of CI.Apart from thrombolysis,aspirin is the most effective treatment for CI.Edaravone,a free radical scavenger,reduces endothelial cell damage and delays neuronal cell death.Aspirin plus edaravone mitigates damage to brain tissue by different mechanisms,thereby expediting the reinstation of neurological function.However,the nephrotoxic effect of edaravone,along with gastrointestinal bleeding associated with aspirin,may restrict this combination therapy.Although clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy of thrombolytic therapy and mechanical thrombectomy,patients receiving these treatments experience modest efficacy and many adverse events.Moreover,interest in exploring natural medicines for CI is increasing,and they appear to have a high potential to protect against CI.The evolution of therapeutic strategies is expected to improve clinical outcomes of patients with CI.

Macrophages:Key players in diabetic wound healing

In this editorial,we discuss the article by Wen et al published.Diabetic foot ulcers are prevalent and serious complications of diabetes,significantly impacting patients’quality of life and often leading to disability or death,thereby placing a heavy burden on society.Effective diabetic wound healing is hindered by an imbalance in macrophage polarization;many macrophages fail to transition from the pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype to the anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype,which is crucial for tissue remodelling and repair.The wound healing process is both dynamic and complex.Healthy M1 macrophages,which have strong phagocytic abilities,are vital during the inflammatory phase of diabetic wound healing.However,the failure to transition to M2 macrophages during the proliferative phase hinders wound healing.We anticipate the development of new therapies that can repair damaged M1 macrophages during the inflammatory phase and promote M2 macrophage polarization during the proliferative phase,thereby enhancing the overall healing process.

Determination of reactive oxygen generated from natural medicines and their antibacterial activity

Extracts of 16 natural medicine powders {Galla chinensis,Malloti cortex,Cassiae semen,Sophorae radix,Myricae cortex,Crataegi fructus,Gambit,Mume fructus,Geranii herba,Phellodendri cortex,Coptidis rhizoma,Swertiae herba,and Cinnamomi cortex） were assayed for reactive oxygen concentrations using the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescent detection system.High luminescence intensity was observed in Galla chinensis,Geranii herba,Malloti cortex,Myricae cortex,and Cinnamomi cortex.Additional experiments identified the reactive oxygen species as hydrogen peroxide.Galla chinensis generated 2.4 × 10^（-4） mol/L hydrogen peroxide from a 1 mg/mL solution.In bacterial growth tests,Galla chinensis extract had antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli.Staphylococcus aureus,Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron,Campylobacter sputorum biovar sputorum.Streptococcus salivarius thermophilus,Lactobacillus casei,and Bifidobacterium longum infantis.This antibacterial activity was decreased by the addition of catalase.It revealed that hydrogen peroxide which Galla chinensis produced participated in antibacterial activity.

Cautiously using natural medicine to treat liver problems

Natural medicine is a system of therapy that administrates natural agents and their derivatives to treat human diseases.This medicine has been used to treat many kinds of human diseases for thousands of years.The treatment protocols of natural medicine are integrative in nature,and are required to utilize the most appropriate therapies to address the needs of the individual patient.Because of the relative convenience,safety and efficacy,natural medicine is now increasing worldwide.Naturopathic doctors are licensed in many areas of the world and regulated partly by law in these areas,which is quite different from various other forms of complementary and alternative medicine.Liver diseases,such as hepatitis,liver cirrhosis and liver carcinoma,are serious health problems worldwide.Nearly half of the natural agents used in treatment of liver diseases today are natural products and their derivatives.Although natural medicine is beneficial and safe,physicians should pay close attention to the potential side-effects of the naturopathic agents,which lead to liver injury,interstitial pneumonia and acute respiratory failure.Therefore,when administrating naturopathic protocols to patients for the treatment of liver diseases,we should try our best to prevent and avoid as much as possible the negative impact of these medicines.This article highlights the current practice and recommended improvement of natural medicines in the treatment of liver diseases and gives some specific examples to emphasize the prevention and management of adverse reactions of the natural agents and suggests that natural medicine should be cautiously used to treat liver problems.

99 NANJING“SINO-AUSTRALIAN ACADEMIC SYMPOSIUM ON NATURAL MEDICINE”

A Sino-Australian Academic Symposium of Natural Medicine,sponsored by China Society of TraditionalChinese Medicine and Pharmacy,assisted by Australian National Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine,Pharmacy and Acupuncture Societies,and undertaken by Nanjing Society of Natural Medicine,will be held inNanjing,China on December 2-4 1999.Contents of solicited papers1.Theoretical research of natural medicine1)Meaning and contents of natural medicine;2)Origin development and prospects of natural medicine;3)Characteristics of natural medicine;4)Relation between natural medicine and human body science;5)and Culturalbackground and philosophical thinking of natural medicine.2.Exchange of experience in natural

Exploitation of Pangolins (Pholidota, Mammalia) by Communities Living in and around the Tayna Nature Reserve (RNT) North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Pangolin exploitation has recently increased in diverse forms such as bushmeat consumption;species or parts trade, medical use. This species is protected in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and worldwide, unfortunately it is threatened by numerous human actions. The purpose of this study was to determine the profiles of actors using pangolins, the reasons for pangolin exploitation and its products and their use within the local community in and surrounding the reserve. We carried out surveys in the households of hunters, farmers and people practicing other professions in 12 villages, located within the Tayna Nature Reserve (RNT) and surroundings areas. Two interview techniques were used: the individual interview and the participatory diagnostic technique. During one month of data collection, 175 respondents were interviewed. Respondents had diverse profiles according to sex, age, education level and ethnicity. Men were more represented as actors in pangolin exploitation (71.70%) than women (28.30%);the most represented age interval was 20 - 30 years. The education level is distinct amongst respondents: illiterate (37%), primary school (32.4%) and graduate from university (2.9%). An average number of respondents are motivated to consume pangolin as meat obtained by hunting at 50%. The main reason for its consumption is preference (44%) and habit (33%). The scales are pangolin derivatives most recognized by local people and widely used in the pharmacopoeia. Consequently, pangolin protection needs some rigorous measures to reinforce the current law implementation.

Ethnic Chinese Medicine,Borderless Civilization--On the Identity of Humane and Scientific Nature of Chinese and Western Medicines

The identity of Eastern and Western cultures should include aspects such as its concepts of societal development and science and technology.Though this is related to issues like history of the culture and regional cultural psychologies,the essence lies in the identity of social values at its core.

Potential of natural medicines for treatment of osteoporosis:a narrative review

OBJECTIVE:To organize the fragmented information available in the literature to describe and summarize the extracts used by natural medicines in the treatment of bone loss,and to provide evidence and support for the potential use of natural medicines in the treatment of osteoporosis.METHODS:A literature survey for relevant information regarding the osteogenesis of Dongkuiguo(Fructus Malvae Verticillatae),Machixian(Herba Portulacae Oleraceae).etc.,was conducted using PubM ed,ScienceDirect,MEDLINE,Springer LINK and Google Scholar electronic databases from the years 2000-2020.RESULTS:Dongkuiguo(Fructus Malvae Verticillatae),Machixian(Herba Portulacae Oleraceae).etc.,both inhibit the activity of osteoclasts and reduce bone resorption by regulation of signaling pathways through interacting with signaling molecules.CONCLUSIONS:In this review,the current knowledge of the novel medicines with osteogenesis properties were summarized and their potential in the treatment of bone loss were demonstrated,but the lack of research on the regulation of the signaling pathway’s mechanism of action,and the corresponding theoretical basis for the application of natural medicines in clinical osteoporosis,made it difficult to be widely applied and promoted in clinical practice.Further experiments with some of the medicines and the mechanisms is needed to realize their potential as osteoporosis treatments.

Bibliometric analysis of literature on prevention and treatment of gastric ulcer with natural medicines

This study aimed to explore the application status of natural products in gastric ulcer research and explore the research hotspots and future research directions.CiteSpace was used to conduct metrological and visual analysis on the number of articles published in the core set of Web of Science database about natural medicines therapy for gastric ulcer,including co-cited journals,co-cited authors,co-cited literatures and keywords.From 1953 to 2021,the number of articles published on natural medicines therapy for gastric ulcer was 1373,the total number of articles had increased rapidly in recent years.China and the United States were the driving force in this field,and the main research institution was Chinese Univ.Hong Kong.Most of the publications are in the journal Gastroenterology."peptic ulcer","Helicobacter pylori","infection","duodenal ulcer","disease","gastric ulcer","peptic ulcer disease","gastric cancer",and"prevalence"were the research frontiers in recent years.This study was the first to conduct literature metrology visualization analysis on the research status and hot spots and development trend of natural medicines against gastric ulcer,in order to provide reference for follow-up researchers to quickly understand the research focus of natural medicines against gastric ulcer and literature retrieval.In addition,this paper also put forward suggestions and prospected for the future development of this field,which will help researchers to open up new directions for future research in this field.

Those Responsible for the Pharmacological Actions of Plants are the Active Secondary Metabolites

Objectives: To relate the presence of the active secondary metabolites in the pharmacological actions and the therapeuticeffects of the plants. Methods: Search about the topic in the last 5 years and present some active secondary metabolites that explainthe pharmacological actions and therapeutic effects of medicinal plants. Conclusions: It was based on the search of articles in theVirtual Library in Health (Spanish: BVS) and using the key words: secondary metabolites, phytotherapy, medicinal plants.

Comprehensive chemical profiling and quantitative analysis of ethnic Yi medicine Miao-Fu-Zhi-Tong granules using UHPLC-MS/MS

Developing analytical methods for the chemical components of natural medicines remains a challenge due to its diversity and complexity.Miao-Fu-Zhi-Tong(MFZT)granules,an ethnic Yi herbal prescription,comprises 10 herbs and has been clinically applied for gouty arthritis(GA)therapy.Herein,a series of chemical profiling strategies including in-house library matching,molecular networking and MS/MS fragmentation behavior validation based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UHPLC-MS/MS)were developed for qualitative analysis of MFZT granules.A total of 207 compounds were identified or characterized in which several rare guanidines were discovered and profiled into alkyl substituted or cyclic subtypes.Moreover,network pharmacology analysis indicated that MFZT’s anti-gout mechanism was mostly associated with the nuclear factor kappa-B(NF-κB)signaling,nucleotide oligomerization domain(NOD)-like signaling and rheumatoid arthritis pathways,along with the synergistic effect of 84 potential active compounds.In addition,a quantitative analytical method was developed to simultaneously determine the 29 potential effective components.Among them,berberine,pellodendrine,3-feruloylquinic acid,neoastilbin,isoacteoside and chlorogenic acid derivatives at higher concentrations were considered as the chemical markers for quality control.These findings provide a holistic chemical basis for MFZT granules and will support the development of effective analytical methods for the herbal formulas of natural medicines.

Application of Natural Medicinal Plants Active Ingredients in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC)is the most common malignant cancer of the head and neck,with high morbidity and mortality,ranking as the sixth most common cancer in the world.The treatment of OSCC is mainly radiotherapy,chemotherapy and surgery,however,the prognosis of patients is still poor and the recurrence rate is high.This paper reviews the range of effects of natural medicinal plant active ingredients(NMPAIs)on OSCC cancer,including the types of NMPAIs,anti-cancer mechanisms,involved signaling pathways,and clinical trials.The NMPAIs include terpenoids,phenols,flavonoids,glycosides,alkaloids,coumarins,and volatile oils.These active ingredients inhibit proliferation,induce apoptosis and autophagy,inhibit migration and invasion of OSCC cells,and regulate cancer immunity to exert anti-cancer effects.The mechanism involves signaling pathways such as mitogen-activated protein kinase,phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/protein kinase B,nuclear factor kappa B,miR-22/WNT1/β-catenin and Nrf2/Keap1.Clinically,NMPAIs can inhibit the growth of OSCC,and the combined drug is more effective.Natural medicinal plants are promising candidates for the treatment of OSCC.

Journals on Traditional Medicine and Natural Products Published in English

Due to better understanding of traditional medicine, complementary and alternative medicine,and natural products, there are increasing findings in these fields.In order to facilitate the findings to be known widely and timely by readers, here this articleAcupuncture ＆ Basic ＆ clinical research in Electro-Therapeutics acupuncture,

ANTICANCER AGENTS FROM TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE AND NATURAL PRODUCTS

Chemotherapy is still the effective strategy for treating cancer.It is important to explore anticancer agents from Traditional Chinese Medicine and Natural products.Different cancer cell lines were included in our research,such as HL60,K562,K562/ADR,KB,KBv200 cells.Cell growth inhibition assay,Annexin V-FITC/PI double-staining assay,measurement of reactive

Natural Medicines From VOA Special English

这是一篇不存在偏见的好文章。 记得在电视剧《北京人在纽约》中,有一个角色对中医中草药大放厥词,无知而又狂妄地贬低中医中草药。 而本文却说: Many parts of the world still do not have university—educated doctors.Nor dothey have costly hospitals.Yet injuries are treated.And diseaes are often cured.How?By ancient time methods.By medicines that might seem mysterious.even magical. 文章提供了不少读者已知或未知的趣闻。其中一则是: For centuries people in Asia and South America have used the roots of plantscontaining rotenone.Such plants are called tuba in Asia and barbasco in SouthAmerica.Fishermen threw the cut—up roots into the water.The rotenone paralyzesthe fish.They rise to the top,unable to move.They are cught easily. Nature is really a chemical factory.为什么? …many of these traditional medicines may provide the cure for some of today’smost serions diseases.这又是为什么? 这些问题的答案是简单的:All living things contain chemicals that help themsurvive.——人类无非借植物之“刀”杀人体之“病毒”而已。 这些问题的答?

基于撤稿事件的专刊/专栏约组启示

出版专刊/专栏已成为国内外科技期刊争取优质稿件、提升期刊影响力的重要措施。但近年来,国内外撤稿事件中专刊/专栏文章屡见不鲜,表明部分专刊/专栏的约组事与愿违,忽略了组约稿件学术质量的把控。本研究在分析近年来专刊/专栏撤稿经典案例的基础上,进一步比较分析国内外2种期刊PNAS和《Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines--》专刊/专栏相对于同期其他自由投稿论文的影响力,据此提出提升专刊/专栏质量的相关建议:核实客座编辑身份,慎重选择客座编辑;加强评审环节,避免"既当运动员又当裁判";稿件面前一视同仁,不迷信权威;合理安排专刊/专栏出版频率,保证学术质量。