BACKGROUNDClinical research encompasses a wide variety of disciplines. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and natural product research have made great contributions to preventing and treating illness. The number and content of original research reports evaluating TCM and natural products have not previously been described. Information in this area will identify areas of relative strength and weakness in terms of knowledge gaps with respect to clinical conditions and natural product remedies.

METHODSOriginal research reports (i.e. original articles, brief reports, and research letters) published in the Chinese Medical Journal (CMJ) from January 2000 to December 2009 evaluating TCM and other natural products were reviewed. The United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration (UK-CRC) Health Research Classification System was used to analyze the type of health research conducted. Further analysis on the major illnesses addressed and the major herbal components utilized was conducted.

RESULTSOne hundred and seventeen original research reports involving TCM or other natural products were identified, comprising 3.82% of the CMJ output in the period covered by this study. Of the different materia medica described in these reports, 74.4% were derived exclusively from plant material, 10.3% from animals, 3.4% from fungi, 1.7% from minerals, and 10.3% were of mixed (plant/animal/fungal/mineral) composition. Twelve herbs were investigated exclusively or were constituents of 66/87 (75.9%) of the plant-based materia medica investigated. Panax ginseng was the most commonly investigated herb or constituent (14/87, 16.1%), followed by Astragalus membranaceus (9/87, 10.3%), Coptis chinensis/Berberis spp. (7/87, 8.0%) and Rheum spp. (7/87, 8.0%). Four UK-CRC health categories accounted for the majority of TCM and other natural product research (cancer, 20.9%; cardiovascular, 19.2%; oral/gastrointestinal, 9.8%; and inflammatory/immune, 9.0%). The most common research activity was "development of treatments and therapeutic interventions", which was undertaken by 103/117 (88.0%) of the research investigations reported. Human clinical trials involving natural products accounted for only 5.31% of the reported studies.

CONCLUSIONSThis is a relatively early systematic description of published research from a single journal related to TCM and other natural products. The majority of the research reports described preliminary findings and very few controlled clinical trials in human subjects were reported. Further applied studies will be required to demonstrate the clinical effectiveness, utility and cost-effectiveness of TCM and natural products in clinical practice. The UK-CRC health research classification system is a useful tool for evaluating published research output and could be applied to describe the output from other journals, national and provincial funding bodies, charities, and non-governmental organizations involved in supporting health-related research.

Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Publishing

Objective To study the separate and combined effects of environment,lifestyle,physical characteristics,blood biomarkers and genetic factors on aetiology of major chronic diseases in adult Chinese.Methods China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) is a large blood-based prospective cohort study.The baseline survey took place in 5 urban and 5 rural areas across China during 2004-2008,with collection of data through questionnaire,physical examination and blood samples.Following the baseline survey,5％ of the randomly selected participants were surveyed in 2008,and repeated every 4-5 years.All participants would be followed for cause-specific mortality and morbidity through registries and for any hospital admission through linkages with health insurance databases.Results Overall,512 891 adults aged 30-79 years (mean 51.5) were recruited,including 41.0％ men and 55.9％ from rural areas.Blood collection was successfully done in 99.98％ of the participants.The prevalence of current regular smoking was 61.3％ in men and 2.4％ in women.The prevalence of regular alcohol consumption (i.e.,weekly) was 33.4％ in men and 2.1％ in women.At the baseline,41.8％ of men and 45.3％ of women were overweight or obese (i.e.,BMI≥24.0 kg/m2) and 32.2％ of men and 30.2％ of women were hypertensive (i.e.,SBP≥140 mm Hg or DBP≥90 mm Hg).For each of the main baseline variables,there were large variations on age,sex and areas of study.Conclusion CKB seemed to be a powerful and rich resource in studying the environmental and genetic determinants of major chronic diseases in the Chinese population.

OBJECTIVETo determine if there are any differences in the number of exclusions from paternity of men using an anonymous parentage testing service compared with that of men using an in-person parentage testing service provided by the same company in Hong Kong SAR of China.

METHODSComparable numbers of consecutive anonymous and in-person parentage tests conducted by the same company were analyzed.

RESULTSMen using an anonymous parentage testing service were excluded from paternity at a significantly greater rate (P < 0.001), compared with men using an in-person parentage test service.

CONCLUSIONSThe results obtained from anonymous parentage testing indicate that the number of families containing children of doubtful parentage is much greater than expected previously. As illegitimate children are known to suffer greater degrees of abuse and neglect, this finding poses serious social questions regarding the welfare of families, which the relevant authorities should acknowledge and address.

Child ; China ; DNA Fingerprinting ; methods ; Gene Frequency ; Hong Kong ; Humans ; Male ; Paternity ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Tandem Repeat Sequences

INTRODUCTION: Stigmatizing attitudes are barriers to treatment of mental health disorders. The burden of stigma has not been established locally. This study aimed to assess the stigma in the community by determining the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of barangay residents towards mental health and persons with mental health illness. METHODS: A total of 422 participants were included using convenience sampling. Participants were given self-administered questionnaires that consisted of the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS), Community Attitudes Towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI), and Reported and Intended Behavior Scale (RIBS) tools. The mean scores and percentages were computed and compared across the sociodemographic data of the respondents. RESULTS: Knowledge levels were relatively high with a mean score of 26.63. Depression, stress, bipolar disorder and drug addiction were recognized as mental illnesses by the majority of the participants. Scores in the stigmatizing ideologies authoritarianism (3.07) and social restrictiveness (2.58) were low, while the positive ideologies benevolence (3.76) and community health ideology (3.85) had higher scores. Participants were reluctant to work with mentally-ill people (3.18) but were willing to be friends with them (3.87). CONCLUSION This study concludes that the respondents were generally knowledgeable about mental health illness. There was a general acceptance and less stigmatizing attitude, and a willingness to interact with people with mental illness.
psychiatry ; Mental health ; Social Stigma