Perceptions and Controversies on Cholera in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Field in the Late Qing Dynasty

At the beginning of the initial cholera outbreak in China,Wang Qingren(王清任),after years of clinical trials,became an early representative who discovered the infectious characteristics and observed the course of cholera in the field of traditional Chinesse medicine(TCM).Kou Langao(寇兰皋)and Xu Zimo(徐子默),both medical practitioners,constructed a diagnosis and treatment system for cholera with cold patterns under the theory of typhoid.They represented“School of Cholera with Cold Patterns”(SCCP).In the 1860s,with the influence of Wang Shixiong’s(王士雄)studies on the nature of cholera under the theory of epidemic febrile disease,the“School of Cholera with Heated Patterns”(SCHP)prevailed thereafter.The two schools complemented each other in theories and contributed to the integrity of TCM in cholera diagnosis and treatment.By reviewing previous literature,books,clinical cases,and historical materials in medical field,this article aims 1)to summarise the influence of TCM on the cognitive development towards cholera in the late Qing dynasty;2)to explore the origin of the controversy between SCCP and SCHP from historical evidence;3)to summarize the historical lessons from the debate over cholera in TCM based on the principle of treatment based on pattern identification,and offer suggestions for the current prevention and treatment of new diseases using TCM.

Artificial intelligence meets traditional Chinese medicine: a bridge to opening the magic box of sphygmopalpation for pulse pattern recognition

Artificial intelligence(AI) aims to mimic human cognitive functions and execute intellectual activities like that performed by humans dealing with an uncertain environment. The rapid development of AI technology provides powerful tools to analyze massive amounts of data, facilitating physicians to make better clinical decisions or even replace human judgment in healthcare.Advanced AI technology also creates novel opportunities for exploring the scientific basis of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) and developing the standardization and digitization of TCM pulse diagnostic methodology. In the present study, we review and discuss the potential application of AI technology in TCM pulse diagnosis. The major contents include the following aspects:(1) a brief introduction of the general concepts and knowledge of TCM pulse diagnosis or palpation,(2) landmark developments in AI technology and the applications of common AI deep learning algorithms in medical practice,(3) the current progress of AI technology in TCM pulse diagnosis,(4) challenges and perspectives of AI technology in TCM pulse diagnosis. In conclusion, the pairing of TCM with modern AI technology will bring novel insights into understanding the scientific principles underlying TCM pulse diagnosis and creating opportunities for the development of AI deep learning technology for the standardization and digitalization of TCM pulse diagnosis.

Analysis on the traditional Chinese medicine syndromes and Six-Meridian Pattern Identification of coronavirus disease 2019

Zhongjing Zhang’s Shang Han Lun(Treatise on Cold-induced Diseases,an ancient Chinese medical book written by Zhongjing Zhang in the Eastern Han Dynasty)was pioneering to conduct the Six-Meridian Pattern Identification,which provided later generations with a theoretical basis for the treatment of Exogenous Febrile Diseases.The coronavirus disease 2019 belongs to the category of“Pestilence”(the general term for virulent infectious epidemic diseases)in“Febrile Diseases”(the general term for acute externally contracted diseases caused by Warm Pathogens,with fever as the chief manifestation,also known as Warm Diseases)and the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 is mostly based on the Triple Energizer Pattern Identification(the a categorization of Pattern Identification according to the theory of the Triple Energizer)or Defense,Qi,Nutrient and Blood Pattern Identification(the categorization of Febrile Diseases Pattern Identification according to the theory of Defense,Qi,Nutrient and Blood which indicates the stages of the clinical course with corresponding pathological changes).Although the theory of Cold-induced Diseases(the condition caused by Cold,manifested as chills and fever,absence of sweating,headache and floating-tense pulse)and the theory of Febrile Disease seem to be entirely distinct with each other,Zhongjing Zhang’s theory contained Triple Energizer Pattern Identification or Defense,Qi,Nutrient and Blood Pattern Identification,and Triple Energizer Pattern Identification or Defense Qi,Nutrient and Blood Pattern Identification also contained Zhongjing Zhang’s Six-Meridian Pattern Identification(the categorization of Pattern Identification according to the theory of the Six Meridians,applied to the diagnosis of acute Febrile Diseases at different stages,and also useful for the Pattern Identification of other diseases).The basic principles and therapeutic methods of Cold-induced Diseases and Febrile Diseases are intertwined.Therefore,this paper will combine the two theories to analyze the traditional Chinese medicine syndromes of coronavirus disease 2019,and try to use Six-Meridian Pattern Identification to guide the treatment of this disease.

Distribution patterns and industry planning of commonly used traditional Chinese medicinal plants in China

Medicinal plants are the primary material basis for disease prevention and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).The conservation and sustainable utilization of these medicinal plants is critical for the development of the TCM industry.However,wild medicinal plant resources have sharply declined in recent decades.To ameliorate the shortage of medicinal plant resources,it is essential to explore the development potential of the TCM industry in different geographical regions.For this purpose,we examined the spatial distribution of commonly used medicinal plants in China,the number of Chinese medicinal material markets,and the number of TCM decoction piece enterprises.Specifically,multispecies superimposition analysis and Thiessen polygons were used to reveal the optimal range for planting bulk medicinal plants and the ideal regions for building Chinese medicinal material markets,respectively.Furthermore,we quantitatively analyzed mismatches between the spatial distribution of commonly used medicinal plant richness,Chinese medicinal material markets,and TCM decoction piece enterprises.We found that the areas suitable for growing commonly used medicinal plants in China were mainly distributed in Hengduan Mountain,Nanling Mountain,Wuling Mountain,and Daba Mountain areas.The Thiessen polygon network based on Chinese medicinal material market localities showed there are currently fewer markets in southwestern,northwestern,and northeastern China than in central and southern China.TCM decoction piece enterprises are concentrated in a few provinces,such as Hebei and Jiangxi.We found that the distribution of commonly used medicinal plants,Chinese medicinal material markets and TCM decoction piece enterprises are mismatched in Henan,Shaanxi,Hunan,Hubei,Zhejiang,Fujian,Chongqing,and Xizang.We recommend strengthening development of the TCM industry in Henan,Hunan,Zhejiang,Shaanxi,Hubei,Chongqing,Fujian,and Xizang;building more Chinese medicinal material markets in southwestern,northwestern,and northeastern China;and establishing medicinal plant nurseries in resource-rich provinces to better protect and domesticate local medicinal plants.

Analysis on the medication rule of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of COVID-19 patients

Objective: To describe patterns of utilization of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in the treatment of patients with coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).Methods: Adult patients with COVID-19 who received TCM treatment were divided into a non-serious group(mild and moderate types) and a serious group(severe and critical types) according to their admission conditions. The medical records and prescriptions of these patients were investigated to determine their TCM utilization patterns.Results: In all, 3,872 COVID-19 patients were included. Oral Chinese traditional patent medicine(CPM) was the most commonly used type of TCM(83.2%), fol owed by decoction(64.4%). As for medication pattern, the proportion of multi-drug combinations was higher than single drug use(55.0% vs. 45.0%). Decoction combined with oral CPM was the most common combination(39.1%,1,514/3,872). Oral y administered, injected, and external y applied CPM were significantly more common in the serious group than in the non-serious, while decoction and non-drug TCM treatments were more common in the non-serious than in the serious group.Multi-drug combinations were used for the majority of patients in both groups, mainly in the form of decoction combined with oral CPM.Serious patients were analysed by three groups of different prognoses and outcomes, including discharged after improvement,discharged after relapse and improvement, died final y. The two most common medication patterns were decoction combined with oral CPM and oral CPM alone in the two final y discharged groups. Oral CPM alone or used in combination with injected CPM were seen most commonly in the death group. Significant differences were established in medication patterns among patients in these three groups.Conclusions: Oral CPM was the mainly used TCM for COVID-19 patients, followed by decoction. More common medication pattern was multi-drug combination, especially decoction combined with oral CPM. The treatment measures and medication patterns of TCM commonly used in COVID-19 patients with the range of conditions found in this study should be further explored in the future to provide a more complete reference for COVID-19 treatment.

Clinical distribution and molecular profiling on postoperative colorectal cancer patients with different traditional Chinese medicine syndromes

Background:Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syndrome,also named syndrome,are comprehensive and integral analyses of clinical information which helps to guide different individualized treatment prescriptions.Methods:Thirty healthy controls and 80 colorectal cancer(CRC)patients(including 33 Spleen Qi Deficiency syndrome,23 Dampness Heat syndrome,17 Blood Stasis syndrome and 7 other syndrome)were enrolled into this study.Human mRNAs were extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells.The gene expression for CRC patients with different TCM syndrome was determined by microarray and qRT-PCR.Results:Spleen Qi Deficiency,Dampness Heat and Blood Stasis were the most common syndromes in CRC patients.There is a significant difference was found in mRNA expression levels(especially for PIK3CA,STAT3,SOX9 and KDM5C)among Spleen Qi Deficiency,Dampness Heat and Blood Stasis syndrome groups.The higher mRNA levels of JNK1,TP53,MLH1,MSH6,PMS2,SOCS3,TCF7L2,FAM123B,PSAP,FBXW7,SALL4 and the lower expression of inflammatory cytokine IL-6 were found in Spleen Qi Deficiency group but not other syndrome types.The higher mRNA levels of KRAS,MUC16,EGFR,GRASP65,PIK3CA,MAPK7,CD24,STAT3,SLC11A1,Bcl-2,TXNDC17 and some inflammatory cytokines(IL-6,IL-23,TNF-a,CXCR4)were found in Dampness Heat group but not other syndrome types.Blood Stasis syndrome showed higher expression of SOX9,MLH1,MSH6,KDM5C,PCDH11X,PSAP and SALL4,and lower mRNA levels of PIK3CA,CD24,STAT3,CXCR4,TXNDC17 and TP53.The CRC patients with Dampness Heat syndrome might have a poor prognosis than other syndrome types.Conclusion:The identification of syndrome conditions had different impacts on CRC prognosis,and which might be related with different mRNA expression levels.Some oncogenes and pro-inflammatory cytokines were highly expressed in Dampness Heat group but not other syndrome types,suggesting that the CRC patients with Dampness Heat syndrome might have a poor prognosis.Our results prelimitarily uncovered the molecular basis of syndrome differences in CRC prognosis,a better understanding for TCM treatment of CRC.

Traditional Chinese Medicine in Canada: An Indigenous Perspective

This paper summarizes the practice of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in Canada by exploring why so many indigenous people are drawn to it.We present a brief history of TCM in Canada,including its acceptance by 5 of the 10 provinces in Canada as one of the medical approaches,accepted and regulated by the government.Chinese philosophy embedded in TCM is compared to indigenous philosophy,and there is a description of some of the plants and animals used as remedies in indigenous folk medicine.In addition,there is a short description of how TCM psychology parallels some practices in indigenous psychology.

Distribution of Traditional Chinese Medicine patterns in 324 cases with hepatitis B-related acute-on-chronic liver failure:a prospective,cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVE： To determine the distribution of Tradi- tional Chinese Medicine （TCM） patterns in hepatitis B-related acute-on-chronic liver failure （HB-ACLF） in different stages for guiding clinical prescriptions and treatments. METHODS： A prospective, cross-sectional survey method was used in this study. A total of 324 cases with HB-ACLF in China were involved. RESULTS： The general frequency of TCM patterns in HB-ACLF were as follows： Heat Toxin Stagnation Pattern （134/324, 41.36%）, Damp-heat Obstruction Pattern （66/324, 20.37% ）, Yong Qi Deficiency Pat- tern （52/324, 16.05%）, and Liver and Kidney Yin De- ficiency Pattern （26/324, 8.02%）. In the early stage of HB-ACLE there was a remarkably higher percent- age of excessive patterns than those in the middle and late stage. The incidence of Heat Toxin Stagna- tion reached 58.57% （82/140） in the early stage, while it was 33.96% （36/106） in the middle stage and 20.51% （16/78） in the late stage. In the early stage of HB-ACLF, excessive patterns, such as the Heat Toxin Stagnation Pattern, were more preva- lent than those in the middle and late stages （P〈a＇= 0.003）. However, in the late stage of HB-ACLE defi- cient patterns, such as the Yang Qi Deficiency Pat- tern, were more prevalent than those in the early and middle stages. The Yang Qi Deficiency Pattern had a higher rate of 41.03% （32/78） in the late stage compared with that of 20.75% （22/106） in the middle stage and 8.57% （12/140, P〈a＇ =0.003） in the early stage. The distribution of the other pat- terns was not significant between the three stages （P〉0.003）. CONCLUSIONS： There are four major patterns of HI3-ACLF, including the Heat Toxin Stagnation Pat- tern, the Damp-heat Obstruction Pattern, the Yang Qi Deficiency Pattern, and the Liver and Kidney Yin Deficiency Pattern. The Heat Toxin Stagnation and Yang Qi Deficiency Patterns are the representative patterns in the early and late stages of HB-ACLF. In the middle stage of HB-ACLF, the TCM patterns vary in a complicated manner, with no significant differ- ence among the patterns. Treatment for HB-ACLF should vary with the different representative pat- terns in the early and late stages.

Discussion on the Fundamental Role of Traditional Culture in the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine--Using Ophthalmology As An Example

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)was developed from and is rooted in traditional Chinese culture.Nowadays,the Chinese state attaches great importance to the development of TCM and has implemented a series of policies and measures.This paper first demonstrates the rationality of the view that"traditional culture plays a fundamental role in the development of TCM",and analyzes the influence of traditional culture on the development of TCM from the perspective of philosophy and religion,in order to have a deeper understanding of the formation and development process of TCM.Finally,taking ophthalmology of TCM as an example,this paper discusses the importance of the continual inheritance of traditional culture and development of TCM.

Bridging the Traditional Chinese Medicine Pattern Classification and Biomedical Disease Diagnosis with Systems Biology

Being the unique core of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）, pattern classification exerts a direct effect on the efficacy and safety of herbal interventions. In this article, the authors integrated the pattern classification and disease diagnosis with many approaches from systems biology, integration of pattern classification with biomedical diagnosis by systems biology is not only a new direction of personalized medicine development, but also provides a new drug development model. In the further study, the pattern classifications of major diseases will be the focus of research.

Guidelines on common cold for Traditional Chinese Medicine based on pattern differentiation

OBJECTIVE: To establish the guidelines on common cold treated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in terms of pattern identification. METHODS: The guidelines were formulated by using the basic patterns of common cold in ChinaPharmacopeia integrated with findings from systematic literature review and the experts' consensus on the issue in question. RESULTS: Common cold was divided into four patterns in the guidelines. The medications were recommended respectively: Ganmaoqingre granule for wind-cold exterior syndrome,Yinqiaojiedu granule for wind-heat exterior syndrome, Huoxiangzhengqi Wan for summer-heat dampness exterior syndrome and Shensu Wan for wind-cold exterior syndrome accompanied with Qi deficiency. CONCLUSION: The guidelines were primarily derived from the practice experience of TCM and the experts' consensus. The process was not strictly evidence-based because of lacking enough clinical studies. Further refinement of the guidelines should be needed as more studies are available.

Effect of polypeptide 2B1 on condition of dampness pattern in rats in terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine

OBJECTIVE： This study investigated how polypeptide 2B1 is involved in regulating and governing dampness in rat models with dampness pattern defined in terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine. METHODS： We randomly divided 48 SPF 10-week-old male Sprague-Dawley （SD） rats into a normal group, normal ＋ Aristolochic acid I （AA-I） for 5 min group, normal ＋ AA-I for 60 min group, dampness pattern group （DS-Group）, dampness pattern ＋ AA-I for 5 rain tern ＋ AA-I for 60 min group, and dampness pat- group. Groups were then treated accordingly. We took out the lung, stom- ach, liver, spleen, kidney, large intestine, and small intestine tissues to detect gene and protein expres- sion of organic anion transporter polypeptide 2B1 （OATP2B1）. RESULTS= Gene expression of OATP2B1 in spleen, kidney, and small intestine of rats with dampness pattern was lower than that in normal rats （P〈0.05）. The gene expressions of OATP2B1 in liver, stomach, large intestine, and small intestine were lower than that in control rats at different time points after being stimulated by AA-I （P〈0.05）. CONCLUSION There is coordination among multiple viscera in handling the condition of dampness, and the mechanism underlying the action may rely on regulating the expression of OATP2B1.

Correlation between Traditional Chinese Medicine symptom patterns and serum concentration of zinc,iron,copper and magnesium in patients with hepatitis B and associated liver cirrhosis

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the correlation between the patterns of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)syndromes and the serum concentration of zinc,iron,copper and magnesium of patients with chronic hepatitis B(CHB) and hepatitis B virus(HBV)-induced liver cirrhosis.METHODS:A total of 86 patients were included in the study between March 1,2009 and January 1,2010.All were diagnosed with CHB or HBV-induced liver cirrhosis according to the diagnosis standard of the Chinese Medical Association.Fasting serum concentrations of zinc,iron,copper and magnesium were measured.Patients were classified into different patterns of TCM symptoms according to TCM theory and clinical experience.RESULTS:In the HBV-induced liver cirrhosis group,the mean zinc concentration in patients with the TCM pattern of stagnation of fluid-Dampness was lower than that in patients with obstruction of collaterals by Blood stasis(P < 0.034).In the CHB group,the mean magnesium concentration in patients with toxic Heat flourishing was significantly lower than that in those with Damp-Heat in the Liver and Gallbladder,and those with Liver depression and Spleen deficiency(P < 0.021).The concentrations of iron and copper showed little difference among the different TCM symptom patterns.CONCLUSION:The serum zinc and magnesium concentrations correlated with certain TCM patterns of symptoms in patients with HBV-induced liver cirrhosis and CHB.It may be helpful to interpret the pathogenic change in the TCM symptom patterns in liver cirrhosis and CHB,and also to conduct clinical treatment of the diseases based on identified TCM patterns.

Logical thinking in pattern differentiation of Traditional Chinese Medicine

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the application of logic to pattern differentiation for treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). METHODS: Comparing logic reasoning of syllogism with the logical thinking ofTCM pattern differentiation for treatment. RESULTS:TCM logical thinking depends on symbolic and intuitive judgment with abstractive reasoning integrated into the process. Although it lacks quantitative measurement, it pays great attention to the comprehensive analysis of a disease's cause and its development patterns to get insight into the essence of illness. CONCLUSION: TCM diagnosis reasoning methodmay lack rigorousness, continuity, systematic induction and deduction, but its logical thinking still can attain its goal following a process with rigorous, regulated and scientific formal logic.

Herbal medicine prescribing patterns from contemporary famous old TCM doctors for treating coronary heart disease: an analysis based on data mining

To analyze the herbal medicine prescribing patterns of contemporary famous old traditional Chinese medicine doctors in treating coronary heart disease,based on data mining technology,so as to provide useful insights into the clinical practice.Methods:Databases,including Medline(January 1966 to December 2019),Wanfang(January 1982 to December 2019),VIP Database(January 1989 to December 2019),CNKI(January 1979 to December 2019),CBMdisc(January 1978 to December 2019),and Classic Case Collection from Contemporary Famous Old Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctors were searched,and 224 eligible studies involving 416 patients were entered into the case study database after data processing.Frequency analysis and association rule analysis were used to investigate the prescribing patterns of contemporary famous old traditional Chinese medicine doctors in treating coronary heart disease.Results:In total 290 kinds of Chinese herbal drugs and 19 core drugs were used in the cases studied.The most commonly used categories were“Qi-Tonifying Drugs”,“Blood-Activating Drugs”,and“Phlegm-Eliminating Drugs”.The association rule analysis identified 14 commonly used herbal pairs,19 three-drug combinations,and 1 four-drug combination.Conclusion:Contemporary famous old traditional Chinese medicine doctors considered warming heart yang as an extremely important approach to treat coronary heart disease based on Zhang Zhongjing’s treatment for chest painful obstruction caused by“Inactivity of Chest Yang”(blockade of phlegm turbidity).Both symptoms and root causes were addressed in the formulas prescribed by these doctors.“Tonifying Qi,Nourishing Yin,Activating Blood,and Eliminating Phlegm”were the most commonly used therapeutic methods for patients with coronary heart disease.

The role played by traditional Chinese medicine in preventing and treating COVID-19 in China

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),an ancient system of alternative medicine,played an active role in the prevention and control of COVID-19 in China.It improved the clinical symptoms of patients,reduced the mortality rate,improved the recovery rate,and effectively relieved the operating pressure on the national medical system during critical conditions.In light of the current global pandemic,TCM-related measures might open up a new channel in the control of COVID-19 in other countries and regions.Here,we summarize the TCM-related measures that were widely used in China,including TCM guidelines,the Wuchang pattern,mobile cabin hospitals,integrated treatment of TCM and modern medicine for critical patients,and non-medicine therapy for convalescent patients,and describe how TCM effectively treated patients afflicted with the COVID-19.Effective TCM therapies could,therefore,be recommended and practiced based on the existing medical evidence from increased scientific studies.

A data-driven method for syndrome type identification and classification in traditional Chinese medicine

The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） treatments for Western medicine （WM） diseases relies heavily on the proper classification of patients into TCM syndrome types. The authors developed a data-driven method for solving the classification problem, where syndrome types were identified and quantified based on statistical patterns detected in unlabeled symptom survey data. The new method is a generalization of latent class analysis （LCA）, which has been widely applied in WM research to solve a similar problem, i.e., to identify subtypes of a patient population in the absence of a gold standard. A well-known weakness of LCA is that it makes an unrealistically strong independence assumption. The authors relaxed the assumption by first detecting symptom co-occurrence patterns from survey data and used those statistical patterns instead of the symptoms as features for LCA. This new method consists of six steps： data collection, symptom co-occurrence pattern discovery, statistical pattern interpretation, syndrome identification, syndrome type identification and syndrome type classification. A software package called Lantern has been developed to support the application of the method. The method was illustrated using a data set on vascular mild cognitive impairment.

Inter-observer Reliability of Indicators and Decision of Pattern Identification Using Diagnostic Flowchart with Traditional Korean Medicine

Objective： To evaluate the consistency of patterns and pattern identification（PI）, and the improvement in the diagnosis of blood stasis after the standard operating procedures（SOPs） were enhanced by using a diagnostic flowchart. Methods： A total of 358 subjects who were admitted by the Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine between June 2013 and December 2014 were included in the study. Each patient was independently diagnosed by two experts from the same department. In 2014, the SOPs included the use of a diagnostic flowchart for each indicator. Inter-observer consistency was assessed by simple percent agreement and by the kappa and AC1 statistics. Results： The improvements in inter-observer agreement for the indicators（for al patients） and PI were greater in 2014 than in 2013. In 2013, the j-value measure of agreement between the two experts ranged from ＂poor＂（κ=–0.051） to ＂good＂（κ=0.968）. The AC1 measure of agreement between the experts was generally high for the indicators and ranged from –0.010 to 0.978. In most cases, agreement was considerably lower when it was assessed by the j-values compared with the AC1 values. In 2014, the j-value measure of agreement on the indicators（for the subjects） general y ranged from poor to good, with the values ranging from –0.007 to 0.994. Moreover, the AC1 measure of agreement between the experts was general y high for al of the indicators and ranged from ＂moderate＂（AC1=0.408） to ＂excel ent＂（AC1=0.996）. Conclusions： In four examinations, there was moderate agreement between the clinicians on the PI indicators of blood stasis. To improve clinician consistency（e.g., in the diagnostic criteria used）, it is necessary to analyse the reasons for inconsistency and to improve clinician training.（Trial registration No. KCT0000916）

Discrimination and feature selection of geographic origins of traditional Chinese medicine herbs with NIR spectroscopy

With the traditional Chinese medicine herbs angelicae dahuricae radix (ADR or Baizhi) and salviae miltiorrhizae radix (SMR or Danshen) as two examples, this work studies the automatic discrimination of the geographic origins of the herbs using near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy. Multi-class support vector machine (SVM) is utilized for the purpose, and recursive SVM is utilized to select the feature spectral segments that are decisive for the discrimination. With only 5 and 8 short spectral segments, discriminative accuracies of 92% are achieved on independ- ent test sample sets. This work not only provides a prototype of accurate rapid discriminating systems for quality control of herbal medicines, but also opens new possibilities in studying subtle differences in the chemical compositions of herbs from different cultivation conditions and investigating their associations with the effectiveness of the herbs.

Treatment Principles of Obesity with Chinese Herbal Medicine: Literature Analysis by Text Mining

Obesity represents a social health problem worldwide, associated with serious health risks and increased mortality. The prevalence of obesity is reported to be increasing in both developed and developing countries. Obesity is associated with a significant range of comorbidities and is linked with increases in mortality, thus the treatment of obesity is very important. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used for weight management both in China and in western countries for many years, the effectiveness and safety of CHMs in obesity have been proved. Yet the principles of treating obesity with CHMs are hard to manage due to the complexity of TCM theory. In this study, a novel text mining method was developed based on a comprehensive collection of literatures in order to explore the treatment principles more intuitively. Networks of TCM patterns and CHMs which are most frequently used in obesity treatment are built-up and analyzed, two major principles are explored in treating obesity: one is resolving phlegm and dampness, the other is clearing heat and reinforcing deficiency. These findings might guide the clinicians in treatment of obesity.