Distribution channel of Chinese herbal medicines has been changing. From Han to Ming Dynasty, Chinese herbal medicine were mainly trafficked to urban by dealers or farmers; From the Ming Dynasty to the foundation of new China, distribution channels are primarily intermediated with township "bazaar" and national distribution center with fixed place and regularly trading hours. In the planned economy period, the state-owned herbal medicine company was the sole medium with monopoly nature. From the mid1980s to the end of last century, planned economy and market economy have been co-existing. Stepping into 21st century, producing area highlighted in the distribution channels. Presence or absence and rise or fall of different types of distribution market went throughout the changing process of distribution channels, which became an important clue. Changes were motivated by economical consideration of channel subject, which originated from commodity characteristic and social environment changes.
Cities ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; economics ; supply & distribution ; Economic Development ; Marketing

Traditional Chinese medicine market is a typical market with information asymmetry, which may lead to "lemons" problem. Third-Party Certification is efficient path to solve the problem of information asymmetry. For this reason geo-authentic and commodity classes certification seems to be very important. But as we know, information asymmetry happen in the stages of traditional Chinese patent medicines market. So a signaling transfer mechanism, which can deliver the quality signal, is badly needed in TCM market. This paper analysis and design of signaling transfer mechanism based on Third-Party Certification, which called quality prestige index of TCM enterprises (QPITCM). QPITCM can display quality information as a signal run through the TCM market.
Certification ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; economics ; standards ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; economics ; standards ; Quality Control

Standards of commodity classes of Chinese materia medica is an important way to solve the "Lemons Problem" of traditional Chinese medicine market. Standards of commodity classes are also helpful to rebuild market mechanisms for "high price for good quality". The previous edition of commodity classes standards of Chinese materia medica was made 30 years ago. It is no longer adapted to the market demand. This article researched progress on standards of commodity classes of Chinese materia medica. It considered that biological activity is a better choice than chemical constituents for standards of commodity classes of Chinese materia medica. It is also considered that the key point to set standards of commodity classes is finding the influencing factors between "good quality" and "bad quality". The article also discussed the range of commodity classes of Chinese materia medica, and how to coordinate standards of pharmacopoeia and commodity classes. According to different demands, diversiform standards can be used in commodity classes of Chinese materia medica, but efficacy is considered the most important index of commodity standard. Decoction pieces can be included in standards of commodity classes of Chinese materia medica. The authors also formulated the standards of commodity classes of Notoginseng Radix as an example, and hope this study can make a positive and promotion effect on traditional Chinese medicine market related research.
China ; Drug Industry ; economics ; standards ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; economics ; standards ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; economics ; methods ; standards ; Panax notoginseng ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry ; Phytotherapy ; economics ; methods ; standards ; Plant Roots ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry ; Quality Control ; Reference Standards ; Research ; trends

Objective There is little population-based data on the prevalence and the environmental or genetic determinants of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in China. The purpose of this paper is to study LVH in relation to systolic blood pressure and the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion(I/D) polymorphism in Chinese. Methods We recorded 12-lead ECG (CardioSoft, v4.2) in 1365 residents in the Jingning County, Zhejiang Province, China. LVH was defined according to the gender-specific Sokolow-Lyon and Comell product ECG criteria. Results Regardless of whether the Sokolow-Lyon or Comell product ECG criteria was used, the prevalence of LVH (20.7% and 4.8%, respectively) significantly (P<0.0001) increased with male gender (odds ratio [OR] 2.33 and 7.15) and systolic blood pressure (per 10 mm Hg increase, OR 1.46 and 1.33). If the Sokolow-Lyon criteria was used, the prevalence of LVH was also influenced by alcohol intake (OR 1.44, P=0.03) and body mass index (OR 0.83, P=0.0005). The association between the Sokolow-Lyon voltage amplitude and the ACE I/D polymorphism was dependent on antihypertensive therapy (P=0.01). In 1262 untreated subjects, but not 103 patients on antihypertensive medication, the ACE DD compared with Ⅱ subjects had significantly higher Sokolow-Lyon voltage amplitudes (29.8±0.6 vs. 28.0±20.5 mV, P=0.02) and higher risk of LVH (OR 1.74, 95% CI: 1. 12-2.69, P=0.01). Conclusion LVH is prevalent in Chinese, and is associated with systolic blood pressure and the ACE D allele. The genetic association might be modulated by antihypertensive therapy.

Seven emotions generation relates to the interaction between individual and external objective matters,which is accompanied with interaction between internal desire and external matters.The activity of seven emotions bases on essence of zang-fu organs,being regulated by five zang viscera.Heart is the upstream controller,liver is the key organ to maintain normal emotionds,spleen and stomach is the hub of emotional activities,lung is the auxiliary organ, kidney is origin of emotional generation.Five zang viscera's cooperation and interaction generate the seven emotions.

Objective: To observe the clinical effects of Shu-acupuncture method in Nei Jing (Classic of Internal Medicine) in the treatment of shoulder and arm pain. Methods: A total of 90 patients with shoulder and arm pain were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 45 cases in each group. The treatment of Shu-acupuncture method in Nei Jing (Classic of Internal Medicine) was adopted in the observation group, routine acupuncture was used in the control group. The two groups were treated once every day, with 5 treatments as one course, and a 2-day rest between two courses. After 3 courses, pain was assessed by visual analog scale (VAS), and the clinical effects were compared between the two groups. Results: After the treatment, VAS scores were significantly changed in both groups (both P<0.01). The VAS score was lower in the observation group than that in the control group, with a statistical difference between the two groups (P<0.05). The total effective rate was 100% in the observation group, versus 91.1% in the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The therapeutic effect of Shu-acupuncture method in Nei Jing (Classic of Internal Medicine) is better than that of routine acupuncture in treating shoulder and arm pain.

Functional constipation (FC) is a common functional bowel disorder disease that affects life quality of a large number of people. This study aimed to explore the impact of different intensities of electro-acupuncture (EA) treatment for FC patients. Totally, 111 patients with FC meeting the Rome III criteria were randomly assigned to different intensities of EA groups (low and high intensity of EA groups) and medicine-controlled (MC) group. In EA groups, patients were treated with EA at quchi (LI11) and shangjuxu (ST37) bilaterally for 4 weeks, 5 times/week in the first 2 weeks, and 3 times/week in the last 2 weeks. In MC group, 5 mg mosapride citrate was administered orally 3 times/day for 4 weeks. Spontaneous bowel movement frequency each day was recorded using a constipation diary. Self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) were used to assess the patients' psychological state. Cortisol (CORT), substance P (SP), and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) were evaluated at baseline and at the end of 4 weeks after treatment. As compared with the baseline, there was statistically significant increase in stool frequency every week (P<0.01), but there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups. As compared with the baseline, after 4 weeks of EA therapy, the scores of SDS and serum levels of CORT were decreased significantly in low intensity of EA group (P<0.01), and the serum levels of SP and VIP were increased significantly (P<0.05); the scores of SAS and SDS and serum levels of CORT were decreased significantly in high intensity of EA group (P<0.05), and the serum levels of SP and VIP were increased significantly (P<0.05); the serum levels of CORT and VIP were increased significantly in MC group (P<0.05). As compared with MC group, after 4 weeks of treatment, the serum levels of SP were signifcicantly increased in low intensity of EA group (P<0.01). Low and high intensities of EA could increase the stool frequency, improve the FC patient's anxiety and depression, reduce the serum levels of CORT, and increase the serum levels of SP and VIP effectively. It is concluded that both low and high intensities of EA are effective for FC patients, but there is no significant difference between the low and high intensities of EA.

Objective To investigate the effect of interferon-γ(IFN-γ) on the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase(IDO),and tryptophanyl-tRNA-synthetase (TTS) in thyrocytes; and to study the relevant immunopathological significance in Graves' disease.Methods The expressions of IDO and TTS genes in IFN-γ stimulated Nthy-ori3-1 cell line and human thyrocytes,as well as in human thyroid tissues were determined by realtime quantitative PCR.Results IDO and TTS genes were expressed slightly in both Nthy-ori3-1 cell line and human thyrocytes,and were significantly up-regulated after IFN-γ stimulation(P＜0.01).Compared to healthy controls,TTS mRNA level was higher in thyroid tissues of patients with Graves' disease (P =0.018 2),while IDO mRNA level showed no difference,but was notably correlated with IFN-γ mRNA level (R2 =0.716,P =0.002).Conclusion In the early stage of Graves' disease,thyrocytes may decompose local tryptophan by enhancing the expression of IDO and TTS under IFN-γstimulation,thus inhibit auto-reactive function of lymphocytes and balance excessive autoimmune reaction.

This study was aimed to optimize dihydromyricetin liposome formulations by orthogonal design in order to study its characterization. Dihydromyricetin liposomes were prepared with thin-film ultrasonic dispersion technology. Formulations of dihydromyricetin liposomes were optimized with entrapment efficiency as the optimized index. The formulation and technology were evaluated by the single factor. Based on this, orthogonal design was made on the screening and optimization of dihydromyricetin liposome. Its morphology was observed by transmission electron micro-scope. Its in vitro drug-release behavior was studied by equilibrium dialysis. The preliminary stability was studied. The results showed that the optimized formulation and technology of dihydromyricetin liposome was when the molar ratio of lecithin and cholesterol was 1:1, the dosage of dihydromyricetin was 4.0 mg. The pH of PBS was 5.0, ultra-sonic time was 3 min. The encapsulation efficiency of dihydromyricetin liposome was 58.1%. Its morphology was small spherical or nearly spherical vesicle with observation in transmission electron microscope. It showed that the in vitro release of dihydromyricetin liposome arrived 76.29% in 48 h. The drug content was still 96.57% of dosage for 30 days at 4oC in the dark place. It was concluded that the optimized formulation and preparation technology of di-hydromyricetin liposome were simple, replicable and stable.

The complex production processes and long industrial chain in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) market result in difficulty in Chinese market microstructure research. Based on the defining the logical relationships among different concepts. This paper divides TCM market into two stages as Chinese materia medica resource market and traditional Chinese Patent Medicines market. Under this foundation, we investigated the supply capacity, approaching rules and motivation system of suppliers in TCM market, analyzed the demand situation in the perspective of demand side, and evaluated the purchasing power in terms of population profile, income, and insurance. Furthermore we also analyzed the price formation mechanism in two stages of TCM market. We hope this study can make a positive and promotion effect on TCM market related research.
Materia Medica ; economics ; supply & distribution ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; economics ; Statistics as Topic