With advances in complex network theory, the thinking and methods regarding complex systems have changed revolutionarily. Network biology and network pharmacology were built by applying network-based approaches in biomedical research. The cardiovascular system may be regarded as a complex network, and cardiovascular diseases may be taken as the damage of structure and function of the cardiovascular network. Although Chinese medicine (CM) is effective in treating cardiovascular diseases, its mechanisms are still unclear. With the guidance of complex network theory, network biology and network pharmacology, network-based approaches could be used in the study of CM in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases. A new discipline-network cardiovasology of CM was, therefore, developed. In this paper, complex network theory, network biology and network pharmacology were introduced and the connotation of "disease-syndrome-formula-herb" was illustrated from the network angle. Network biology could be used to analyze cardiovascular diseases and syndromes and network pharmacology could be used to analyze CM formulas and herbs. The "network-network"-based approaches could provide a new view for elucidating the mechanisms of CM treatment.

Botulinum Toxins, Type A ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Cerebral Palsy ; drug therapy ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Humans ; Male

Adult ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome ; complications ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; complications

The prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) is increasing, and has been a severe burden on society and family worldwide. New ideas need to be achieved for developing more efficacious and safe therapies to treat CHD. Chinese medicine (CM) uses multicomponent drugs to prevent disease and ameliorate symptoms based on patients' different syndromes. The benefit of CM in CHD has recently been proven by increasing clinical evidence. More importantly, linking CM syndrome differentiation and biomedical diagnosis might provide innovative thinking for treating CHD. According to epidemiological investigations, blood stasis syndrome (BSS) is the major type of syndrome in CHD. Investigating the biomedical mechanisms of BSS of CHD is a topic of CM research. Because the holistic perspective of systems biology is well matched with CM, the application of omics techniques and other integrative approaches appears inherently appropriate. A wide range of omics techniques, including transcriptomics and proteomics, have been used in studies of BSS of CHD to search for a common ground of understanding. These approaches could be useful for understanding BSS of CHD from clinical and biological viewpoints. Nevertheless, current studies mainly contain results from a single approach, and they have not achieved the holistic, systematic and integrative concept of system biology. Therefore, we discuss the progress and challenges in exploring the biomedical mechanisms of BSS of CHD by systems biology approaches. With further development of systems biology, a better platform to study BSS of CHD may be provided, and biomarkers for BSS of CHD and therapeutic targets may be found. The study of BSS of CHD by systems biology approaches will also be beneficial for developing personalized treatment for BSS of CHD patients.
Coronary Disease ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; Humans ; Syndrome ; Systems Biology ; methods

Objective: To study the preventive actions of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide(GLP) against kidney damage induced by cisplatin. Methods : Female Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal saline(NS) group, cisplatin(CDDP) group, GLP group, CDDP+GLP group. The changes of Scr, BUN, MDA, SOD were measured and renal structure was observed after 5 days by injecting drugs. Results : The contents of serum Scr and BUN of CDDP group were significantly highter than that of NS group. The activity of RBC SOD reduced and the contents of serum MDA increased. The contents of renocortical tissue MDA increased and the activity of SOD declined in renocortical tissue. The contents of serum Scr and BUN of GLP+CDDP group were significantly lower than that of CDDP group. The activity of RBC SOD increased and the contents of serum MDA declined. The concents of renocortical tissue MDA declined and the activity of SOD increased in renocortical tissue. The pathological slice indicated that renal structure was significantly improved. Conclusion : GLP may reduce cisplatin nephrotoxicity and its mechanism may be correlative with that GLP inhibited the blood and renocortical tissue lipid peroxidation increasing.

The gene types of breast cancer can be classified into three types according to its molecules: Luminal type A, Luminal type B, HER-2-positive type, triple negative type. Authors combined pathological characteristics of breast cancer, biological characteristics, and comprehensive treatment, used syndrome typing based medication, and explored treatment meticulous ideas and methods of "treating the same disease with different methods" as well as "different treatment methods in accordance with patients individually".
Biomarkers, Tumor ; genetics ; Breast Neoplasms ; classification ; genetics ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; genetics

Objective To partially purify the toxic factor secreted by A. corymbifera and to analyze the mechanism of A. corymbifera-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) apoptosis. Methods Glycoprotein secreted by A. corymbifera was purified by Con A Lectin chromatography. The influence of different protein fractions on HUVEC apoptosis was determined by flow eytometer. Both denaturing and nondenaturing deglycosylation of purified glycoprotein was performed and the ability of the protein moiety and carbohydrate moiety to induce HUVEC apoptosis was evaluated respectively. Activation of related caspases during A. corymbifera-induced apoptosis was analyzed by Western blot. The role of caspase-8 and -9 in HUVEC apoptosis was investigated using caspase inhibitors. Caspase inhibitors were used to stop the suppression of HUVEC viability by XTT assay. Results Flow cytometric analysis shows the total protein as well as the glycoprotein fraction of A. corymbifera may induce HUVEC apoptosis in a dose dependent manner. In contrast, similar activity was not observed in the non-glycoprotein fraction. Neither deglycosylated protein nor carbohydrate moiety is able to induce HUVEC apoptosis alone. In the apoptotic signaling pathway, caspase9, caspase-3 and cytochrome C were activated significantly, except caspase-8. Moreover, caspase-9 inhibitor, instead of caspase-8 inhibitor, completely abrogates A. corymbifera-induced HUVEC apoptosis. Caspase9 and caspase-3 inhibitors completely waived the suppression of HUVEC viability by A. corymbifera. Conclusion Glycoprotein secreted by A. corymbifera is associated with HUVEC apoptosis. Intact glycoprotein is essential for the apoptotic progress. Intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway mediates A. corymbifera-induced HUVEC apoptosis.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of MGIT liquid medium fluorescence instrument manual interpretation method for rapid detection of Mycobacterium. Methods Two hundred sputa with newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients were collected from October 2008 to January 2009 in the district hospitals in Shanghai. Of these 200 sputa, 67 sputa were positive AFB, 133 were negative. All the sputa were isolated by L-J, BacT / Alert 3D system and MGIT liquid medium methods. Results Of the 200 sputa specimens,105(52. 5% ) were isolated as Mycobacterium strains. The positive culture rate of the MGIT, BacT/Alert 3D and L-J method was 49. 5% ( 99/200 ), 48. 0% (96/200) and 45.0% ( 90/200), respectively. The MGIT culture positive rate was significantly higher than that of L-J method (x2 = 5.40, P = 0. 020 1 ). Of the 133 sputa with negative AFB, the positive culture rate was 24. 8% ( 33/133 ), 23. 3% ( 31/133 ) and 18. 8% (25/133) with MGIT, BacT/Alert 3D and L-J method, respectively. The MGIT culture positive rate with the AFB negative sputum was significantly higher than that of L-J method (x2 = 5. 33, P = 0. 020 9 ).The median time of detection with MGIT, BacT/Alert 3D system and L-J method was 11 days, 15 days and 22 days, respectively. Comparing the median time of detection of MGIT with BacT/Alert 3D, the difference was statistically significant ( Z = 3.414 ,P ＜ 0. 01 ). Comparing the median time of detection of MGIT with L-J method, the difference was statistically significant (Z =7.083,P＜0. 01).Conclusions MGIT liquid medium manual method is a rapid detection method of Mycobacterium with a high positive detection rate, and do not need expensive equipment This method may suitable to resource limited medical institutions due to its low cost and short round time.

Objective To investigate correlation between the results of drug susceptibility and the extent of drug-resistances in Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates. Methods Liquid culture and MTT test were used. Twelve anti-TB drug MICs and drug susceptibility testing of the 163 MTB strains from random clinical isolates were detected, which including RFP, INH, SM, EBM, OFLX, LVFX, MOX, AMK,CPM, PTA, CLA and PAIN. Results There are 67% (42/62) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to SM, 63% (51/81) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to INH, 77% (50/65) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to RFP, 41% ( 15/37 ) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to AMK,41% (12/29) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to CPM, 20% (12/60) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to EMB and 43% (25/58) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to OFLX which MICs were equal to or more than 16 μg/ml, 8 μg/ml, 8 μg/ml, 16 μg/ml and 4 μg/ml, 4 μg/ml and 8 μg/ml,respectively. There were significant differences in the MICs of OFLX, LVFX and MOX in OFLX resistant strains (2-128, 1-32 and 0.0625-1 μg/ml, respectively) by ANOVA ( F = 16.874, P ＜ 0.001 ). The MICs of SM, INH, RFP, EMB, OFLX, AMK and CPM in isolates resistant to six or seven drugs (0.5-128,2-64,0.25-128,1-32,1-64,0.5-128 and 1-128 μg/ml,respectively) were higher than those (0.25-128,0.0625-64,0.25-32,0.25-2,0.125-2,0.5-4 and 1-4 μg/ml,respectively) in isolates resistant to one or two drugs (F=20.066, 40.499, 47. 197, 70.373, 91.432, 41.840 and 21.547, respectively, P ＜0.05). The MICs of SM, INH, RFP and EMB in isolates resistant to four drugs (1-128,2-64,0.25-128 and 1-32 μg/ml,respectively ) were higher than those ( 0.25-128,0.0625-64, 0.25-64 and 0.25-2 μg/ml,respectively) in isolates resistant to one or two drugs (F = 26.242, 23.563, 31.541 and 64.469,respectively, P ＜0.05).The MICs of RFP in MDR isolates (2-64 μg/ml) were higher than those (0. 25 μg/ml) in other resistant isolate except M DR isolates (F = 5.613, P <0.05). Conclusions The study shows that there are associations between the results of routine drug susceptibility testing and the resistant extent of anti-TB drugs. This could help doctors select more effective anti-TB regimen for TB patients according to the correlations.

MicroRNA (miRNA) is single-stranded small non-coding RNA, which binds to the 3'untranslated region of the target mRNAs and negatively regulates the expression of the target mRNAs by translational inhibition or miRNA cleavage. miRNA plays an important role in regulating the occurrence and progression of coronary artery disease (CAD), and could be potential biomarkers and treatment targets of CAD. The syndrome typing is the superiority and feature for treating CAD by Chinese medicine (CM). To master the space-time qualitation and quantitation is the key step in improving the clinical efficacy of treating CAD. The specificity and sequence of miRNA are very similar to the dynamic space-time features of syndromes. Besides, miRNA is closely correlated with CAD. Therefore, by using miRNA microarray and bioinformatics to build CM syndrome correlated miRNA regulating networks, miRNA can be introduced to study the CM syndromes of CAD, thus providing a new angle to elucidate the essence of CM syndrome of CAD at the post-transcriptional level.
Coronary Artery Disease ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics