As the post-genome era is approaching, omics has become a hot topic in the research field of life sciences and is also widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research. For discussing the correlation between syndromes and omics, the authors explored the application of genomics, proteomics and metabonomics in the study of syndrome classification from the macroscopic view, after a systematic and normative study of the literature. The authors drew the conclusion that research into the correlation between syndromes and omics has great clinical significance in terms of the scientific application and quantification of TCM treatment based on syndrome differentiation.

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is well developed in international medical research. This article analyzes the basic connotations of CER from five aspects, including selection of objective, positioning of target population, comparison of intervention scheme, identification of contrast condition and analysis of therapeutic effects. The inclusiveness and advanced nature of CER were revealed by comparing with modern medical research methods, such as evidence-based medicine, patient-important outcome and randomized controlled trials. Based on the superiority of CER, the feasibility of applying CER in clinical evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine is explored. CER should be combined with the holistic concept, syndrome differentiation and individuality-concerned treatment so as to facilitate its development in research of traditional Chinese medicine in China.

Evidence-based medicine advocates that decision making should be based on the adequate evidence. High quality systematic review is an important source of information for clinicians, patients, governments and other decision makers in decision making. If reviewers couldn't master the correct method of systematic review or meta-analysis was misused, the inaccurate, biased or misleading outcomes would be produced. So understanding of the methods of evaluating the quality of systematic review and meta-analysis is helpful to make good use of the review's information.

Unclear clinical orientation in practice has become one of the common problems with the effective application of famous and excellent Chinese herbal drugs, consequently restricting their development. The authors suggest that there are three aspects to be considered in dealing with this problem. Clinical evaluation and orientation of the famous and excellent Chinese herbal drugs is an important task, and it is also a requirement for the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine. Literature evaluation-pharmacology research-clinical expertise analysis method will establish a theoretical basis and method for post-marketing development of famous and excellent Chinese patent drugs.

This paper introduces the international experiments of risk management in clinical trails, responsibility of sponsor, responsibility of investigator and responsibility of other participators and to help to improve our management level of clinical trails.

Objective To prepare proanthocyanidins/bletilla striata polysaccharide/chitosan microspheres ( PC/BSP/CTS ) and the physic-chemical characterizations were investigated.Methods The PC/BSP/CTS microspheres were prepared by spray drying method.The morphology of PC/BSP/CTS microspheres was observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM), and its physic-chemical characteristics such as diameters, release in vitro, moisture content, swelling ratio, solid density were studied.ResuIts The PC/BSP/CTS microspheres were successfully prepared by spray drying method, SEM showed that PC/BSP/CTS microspheres had the spherical shape with smooth surfaces.The diameters of microsphere A, B and C were 10~20, 2~15, 10~25μm.The in-vitro release showed that the cumulative release of three kinds of microspheres A, B, C was 25.07 %, 38.83 %and 60.00 % in 24 h, which had no burst release, while with time prolonged to 48 h, the cumulative release was 28.89%, 43.17% and 72.86%, respectively.The results of moisture content, swelling ratio, solid density were 15.35% ~23.51%, 46.50% ~105.80%, 0.375 ~0.496. ConcIusion The PC/BSP/CTS microspheres are successfully prepared by spray drying method which possess good characteristics and sustained-release effect, which would be as a good pulmonary drug delivery system.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has its own system of diagnosis and treatment theory, and its methods for evaluating clinical efficacy are different from those of Western medicine. Applying evaluation techniques and methods that are used in Western medicine mechanically to TCM will not work. So building evaluation techniques, which adhere to regulations and characteristics of TCM, is necessary and imperative. As the quality of life and patient-reported outcome instruments were brought into practice and developed, clinical evaluation ideas and methods for TCM are provided with an opportunity for development. This article puts forward the concept of subjective complex outcomes (SCOs), which constitutes subjective feelings gained from the patient, doctor and caregiver, different from laboratory parameters. SCOs provide a multidimensional and complex health-related quality of life (HRQL) assessment and focus on the source of assessment information of diseases. This article also introduces a case study building SCO methods of TCM treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, in order to promote discussion and provide a platform for future research.

By bibliometric method, acupuncture-moxibustion literature from 2003 to 2013 included by SCIE and GoPubMed was analyzed. The number of annually published literature, distribution of country, agency and area, author, journal, subject category, high-frequency words and H index were analyzed to explore the current situation and development trend of acupuncture and moxibustion.
Acupuncture Therapy ; statistics & numerical data ; Bibliometrics ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; statistics & numerical data

Objective To investigate the effects of astragalus polysaccharides on radio-pulmonary lesion.Methods 48 Wistar rats were divided into normal group, model group, astragalus polysaccharides treated group and dexamethasone treated group, each had 12 rats.Models of radio-pulmonary lesion of rats in later three groups were established by whole-thorax irradiation 20 Gy, then normal group was pretending to irradiation.Rats in normal group and model group were given 0.9% NaCl, astragalus polysaccharides treated group and dexamethasone treated group were given astragalus polysaccharides(8mg/mL) and dexamethasone(0.05mg/mL), accordingly.All rats were with 8 weeks, at 2 w and 8 w post-injury, 6 rats in each group were selected randomly and anesthesia to death.The erythrocytes and leukocytes in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid ( BALF) in each group were detected and histological examination of lung tissues were performed by Haematoxylin and Eosin staining to study general morphology.Results Radiation-induced lung injury rat model were successfully constructed, general observation showed that irradiated rats gradually appear listlessness, reduce the volume of activities, arched, hair removal and other symptoms, astragalus polysaccharide (APS) and dexamethasone treated rats had gradual improvement than model group.Compared with control group, erythrocytes and leukocytes counts in serum of model group at 2 w and 8 w post-injury were significantly decreased(P <0.05), the numbers of erythrocytes and leukocytes in BALF were significantly increased(P <0.05). Compared with model group group, the leukocytes, erythrocytes and neutrophils counts in serum of astragalus polysaccharides treated group and dexamethasone treated group were all increased(P <0.05), respectively, and the number of leukocytes and erythrocytes in BLAF were significantly decreased(P<0.05).All the indexes between two groups had no significant difference.The pathological changes of lung tissues showed that rats in model group had rupture alveolar wall, widened alveolar interval, pulmonary interstitial hyperplasia, and the alveolar space and interstitial lung stroma had a large number of inflammatory cells exudation.The symptoms in astragalus polysaccharides treated group and dexamethasone treated group were all alleviated, and there was no significant difference between the two groups.Conclusion Astragalus polysaccharides have therapeutic effect on radio-pulmonary lesion in rats, and the therapeutic effects of astragalus polysaccharides are roughly similar to dexamethasone.Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanism behind the effects of astragalus polysaccharides in order to develop appropriate treatment.