Gegen Qinlian Decoction (GQD), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, has long been used for the treatment of common metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the main limitation of its wider application is ingredient complexity of this formula. Thus, it is critically important to identify the major active ingredients of GQD and to illustrate mecha-nisms underlying its action. Here, we compared the effects of GQD and berberine, a hypothetical key active pharmaceutical ingredient of GQD, on a diabetic rat model by comprehensive analyses of gut microbiota, short-chain fatty acids, proinflammatory cytokines, and ileum transcriptomics. Our results show that berberine and GQD had similar effects on lowering blood glucose levels, modulating gut microbiota, inducing ileal gene expression, as well as relieving systemic and local inflammation. As expected, both berberine and GQD treatment significantly altered the overall gut microbiota structure and enriched many butyrate-producing bacteria, including Faecalibacterium and Roseburia, thereby attenuating intestinal inflammation and lowering glucose. Levels of short-chain fatty acids in rat feces were also significantly elevated after treatment with ber-berine or GQD. Moreover, concentration of serum proinflammatory cytokines and expression of immune-related genes, including Nfkb1, Stat1, and Ifnrg1, in pancreatic islets were significantly reduced after treatment. Our study demonstrates that the main effects of GQD can be attributed to berberine via modulating gut microbiota. The strategy employed would facilitate further stan-dardization and widespread application of TCM in many diseases.

We reported a case of a patient dignosed as tuberculosis and severe malnutrition with coronavirus disease 2019 （critical type） treated with a combination of Chinese medicine and Western medicine. Through the retrospective analysis of the diagnosis and treatment process of this patient， on the basis of Chinese medicine's understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of “old state” and “deficient state”， the critical coronavirus pneumonia combined with pulmonary tuberculosis and severe malnutrition was mostly due to the physical condition and the invasion of epidemic toxin， resulting in dysfunctions of the internal organs such as the lungs， spleens， kidneys and other organs. Based on the understanding of the cause and mechanism of the coronavirus disease， the treatment combined Chinese and Western medical therapies was given. The western medicine was used with the main treatments of oxygen therapy， anti-viral， intestinal nutritional support， and anti-coagulation， while the Chinese medicine was used by tonifying qi， blood， yin， and yang， warming yang and dissipating cold， and clearing heat and dampness， then tonifying qi， nourishing yin and eliminating heat， in which tonifying middle and replenishing qi ran through the whole process. The integrated treatment eventually improved the patient's symptoms and accelerated the negative conversion of nucleic acid of the coronavirus.

“Cold-dampness entering ying （营）” is the key to the worsening of cold-dampness epidemic， and is more common in the elderly or critically ill cases of cold-dampness epidemic with pathogen exuberance and healthy qi deficiency. This paper reported a case of critically ill COVID-19 combined with multiple organ dysfunction treated by integrative traditional Chinese and western medicine based on “cold-dampness entering ying” theory. The patient did not have high fever after being infected with SARS-Cov-2， but D-dimer continued to increase， and she developed multiple thrombosis throughout the body and multiple organ dysfunctions such as pulmonary embolism， edema， oliguria， and shock. The patient were with enlarged and dusky tongue， with yellow， thick and greasy coating， and sublingual blood stasis， and thready， rapid and rough pulse. All these were characteristic manifestations of “cold-dampness entering ying”， and was differentiated as cold-dampness stasis. For the treatment， symptomatic and supportive western medicine of improving heart function， anti-infection， relieving asthma， stopping cough and reducing phlegm was given as the basic therapy， and additionally， traditional Chinese medicine to open the constraint and the blocked， save from collapse and restore yang， boost qi and relieve collapse， invigorate blood and drain water was used， usually with Modified Poge Zilong Xuanbai Chengqi Decoction （破格子龙宣白承气汤加减）， which was in accordance with the pathogenesis and thus achieving good effect.