Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a good reputation for preventing or healing diseases in clinic due to its higher efficacy, minor toxicity and abundant resources. Screening bioactive components in TCMs is not only crucial for clarifying their action mechanisms, but also the basis of their safety and quality control. TCM is characterized by multiple components, multiple targets and multiple mechanisms, however the complex composition of TCM makes it difficult to study the therapeutic material basis which has become the bottleneck in the process of its modernization and internationalization. Recently, with the rapid development of modern technologies and the unceasing progress of various disciplines, multidisciplinary approach, such as analytical chemistry, chemistry of TCM, pharmacology, cell biology, systems biology and bioinformatics has been successfully applied to the study of TCM. Multidisciplinary approach realizes the communication and interaction of multi-discipline, and accelerates the research and development of TCM. This review summarizes the application of multidisciplinary approach which may have certain potential of bringing new thoughts to TCM research and provide references for screening and identification of therapeutic material basis of TCMs.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; Computational Biology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Phototherapy ; Systems Biology

BACKGROUND: The biomechanical property(BP) of the bone is decided by its geometric structure and component material. Merely pursuing increase of the bone mineral density(BMD) might lead to deterioration of bone BP.However at present, some researohes on therapeutic action on osteoporosis emphasize excessively medical influence to BMD, and the change in the holistic BP of the bone in osteoporotic zone and its mechanism still need to investigate deeply.OBJECTIVE: To probe into the action and its mechanism of "the kidney tonifying compound of the Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) "on BP of cortical bone in ovariectomized osteoporotic model rats.DESIGN: Completely randomized controlled experiment based on experimental animals.SETTING: Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, Luoyang Hospital and Institute of Traditional Chinese Orthopedics and Traumatology in Henan Province.MATERIALS: The experiment was completed from November 2000 to July 2001 at Research Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering,Luoyang Institute of Traditional Chinese Orthopedics and Traumatology of Henan Province. The healthy Wistar female rats aged 10 months,weighing(350±20) g.METHODS: Fifty Whistar female rats aged 10 months were randomly divided into 5 groups: the normal, model, premarin-treated, xianling gubao-treated and migu capsule-treated with 10 in each group. The normal group was only given sham operation and the other four groups were ovariectomized. The rats after operation were fed normally for ninety days.Since the 91st day after operation,the rats had been given the medicines for 90 days and then killed. The thighbones were taken out,then BMD,femoral geometry sizes and BP were determined.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① The primary sequel was the comparison of the parameters of femoral BP. ② The secondary sequel was the changes in parameters of femoral geometric structure, area of cortical bone and BMD of every midsectional fomur.RESULTS: Femoral BP worsened significantly,its mechanical intensity reduced,its external diameter diminished,cortical bone area decreased and femoral BMD lowered in osteoporotic model rats. In comparison with the above,in "the kidney tonifying compound ofTCM " groups(migu capsule group and xianling gubao group) femoral BP raised significantly, its mechanical intensity advanced,its external diameter augmented,cortical bone area aggrandized and femoral BMD enhanced.CONCLUSION: "The kidney tonifying compound of TCM" can improve BP of the cortical bone(thighbone) in ovariectomized osteoporosis rats. Its primary mechanism of action is that the TCM compound prescription could enhance"the mechanism of biomechanical response and regulation"(MBRR) of macrostructure of cortical bone,consequently increase femoral external diameter,aggrandize cortical bone area and enhance BMD in ovariectomized rats.

Objective To investigate the changes of early and delayed washout rates of 99Tcm-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) in ischemic heart disease (IHD), and to explore the value of 99Tcm-MIBI SPECT in evaluating impairment of ischemic myocardial cells. Methods Patients diagnosed of IHD with three-vessel stenosis ( ≥50% ) without myocardial infarction based on angiography (CAG) underwent 99Tcm-MIBI static planar and gated SPECT imaging. The early (90 min after the intravenous injection) and delayed (4 h after the intravenous injection) washout rates of 99Tcm-MIBI and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of IHD patients and normal subjects were compared using t-test. Linear correlation analysis was performed between the early, delayed washout rates and LVEF measured by gated SPECT. Results Statistically significant lower early washout rate of 99Tcm-MIBI was observed in IHD group than control group: (13.44 ± 2.87 )%vs ( 17.32 ± 4.92) %, t = 2.384, P ＜ 0.05, but higher delayed washout rate of 99Tcm-MIBI was observed in IHD group than control group: (19.24 ±4.71)% vs (15.23 ±3.81)%, t= -2.246, P＜0.05. LVEF in IHD group was significantly lower than that in control group: (55.71 ±7.97)% vs (67.75 ±5.43)%, t =-4.418, P ＜0.01. There were no correlations between the early/delayed washout rates and LVEF, respectively in IHD patients (r = -0.212, P ＞ 0.05; r =0.352, P ＞ 0.05, respectively). Conclusion 99Tcm-MIBI washout rate may reflect myocardial cell impairment due to IHD.

ObjectiveTo explore the clinical and epidemiological value of semi-quantitative regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF)imaging in children with school phobia. Methods A total of 20 cases diagnosed with school phobia were examined with rCBF.Twelve were males and the other 8 were females.The mean age was(14.2?2.1)years(11-18 years).Semi-quantitative analysis methods were used to investigate the correlations among gender,age and rCBF. ResultsThere were significant differences in the rCBF of right fronto-parietal lobe,right occipital lobe,caput and putamen,left thalamus and hippocampus,and temporo-occipital lobe between males and females(P0.05).Only the PI of left temporo-parietal lobe of those ≥ 15 years old was significantly different from that of those

Background Human limbal allograft transplantation or limbal autograft transplantation are the primary approaches to the severe corneal-blindness,but their application in clinic were limited because of the defects of donor material.With the development of tissue engineering technology,transplantation of in vitro cultured limbal epithelial stem cells is being an advanced management.Objective The aim of this work was to expand human limbal epithelial stem cells ex vivo under the guidance of confocal microscope and to lay the foundation for fabricating ex vivo cultured cell sheets.Methods Ten eyes of ten patients were examined with the Heidelberg Retina Tomography Ⅲ Rostock Cornea Module(HRT3-RCM)to elucidate the structure of the human corneoscleral limbus and to correlate limbal epithelial dimensions.According to the analysis of the images of limbal epithelia,the limbal tissues provided by Eye Bank of Henan Eye Institute were cut into suitable explants.Then,this study was conducted to expand limbal epithelial stem cells ex vivo on denuded amniotic membrane.The phenotypes of primary cultured cells were evaluated by morphology and immunofluorescent staining with antibodies for limbal epithelial stem cell markers (p63,cytokeratinl9)and differentiation markers(keratin 3,involucrin).This experimental procedure was approved by the Ethic Committee of Henan Provincial People's Hospital.The written informed consent was obtained from subjects before initiation of any examination.Results The palisade morphology of human limbus was imaged clearly on the laser scanning in vivo confocal microscopy and many hyperreflective cells were observed in palisade basal cells.The cell-island phenomenon was seen in the basement membrane under the laser scanning in vivo confocal microscopy.The oblique sections of limbus showed many papilla-like epithelial columns below the superficial limbal epithelia.Throughout the experiment duration,the epithelial cells grew well with the migration rates from limbal tissue (68.62± 16.94)％ and the migration time(5.83 ±2.04)days,which depended on the tissue freshness.Compared with the second and forth batch of tissue,the migration rates of the third and sixth batch of tissues were significantly higher(P＜0.05),and the migration time was evidently longer in the forth and sixth batch of tissue compared with the first,second,third and fifth batch(P＜0.05).The positively expressing rates in the cultured corneal stem cells were 4.05％ and 36.52％ for p63,26.07％ and 40.55％ for CK19,57.88％ and 40.81％ for K3,64.66％ and 59.19％ for involucrin.Conclusion Human limbal epithelial stem cells can be successfully and purposefully obtained from the limbal tissue based on the guidance confocal miscroscope.The cultured corneal stem cells can grow well on the denuded amniotic membrane

OBJECTIVESTo explore whether the angiotensin I -converting enzyme (ACE) I/D (insertion/ deletion) polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) in the Han Chinese.

METHODSOne hundred and forty-seven HAPE-p (HAPE patients) and 193 HAPE-r (HAPE resistants) were enrolled from the Yushu earthquake reconstruction workers in Qinghai province where the altitude is over 3 500 m above sea level. Blood samples were collected from each of the HAPE-p and HAPE-r groups. Information about physiological phenotypes was obtained via fieldwork investigation. The ACE-I/D polymorphism in HAPE-p and HAPE-r was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

RESULTSThe SaO2 was significantly lower while HR was significantly higher in HAPE-p group than those in HAPE-r group. The genotype frequencies of ACE-I/D for II, ID, DD in HAPE-r and HAPE-p groups were 0.430, 0.446, 0.124 and 0.435, 0.469, 0.095, respectively, the allelic frequencies of I and D were 0.650, 0.350 and 0.670, 0.330, respectively. The OR of ID, DD and D alleles relative to II for HAPE was 0.961 (0.610-1.514), 1.322 (0.634-2.758) and 1.080 (0.783-1.489). There was no significant difference of the genotypic and the allelic frequencies in ACE-I/D polymorphism between HAPE-p and HAPE-r groups.

CONCLUSIONSThere is no relation between ACE-I/D polymorphism and HAPE in the Han Chinese.

Alleles ; Altitude ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Pulmonary Edema ; genetics

Objective To analyze the genetic model of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD).Methods The segregation analysis and polygenic multiple threshold model were used to prove the polygenic model and to estimate the heritability and recurrence risk of ADHD in each degree relatives.Results 1. The average heritability of ADHD was (102.47?9.78)%;2.The first-degree relatives of probands were in high risk for ADHD(23.0%)compared with colony prevalence rate(2.6%). The ADHD prevalence of each degree relatives rapidly decreased with the increased magnitude of consanguineous relationship of each degree relatives and ADHD probands. Conclusions The genetic model of ADHD is the most likely polygenic inheritance with major genes, which suggested that the genetic factor might play an important role in the liability variance of ADHD.Apart from the involvement of multiple genes,each gene contributes a small additive effect,and the major genes may be involved as well.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether the eight- year program students retain the skills from the endoscopy simulator gastroscopy training.Methods4 trainees accepted virtual reality simulator gastroscopy training and performed a standardized VR gastroscopy scenario at the end of training,and after a median 12 months without practice ( retention ).The intensified training was done by trainees based on the differences between the training end and the retention for a median 12 months and the number of intensified training times was found.ResultsThe significant differences existed in the overinsufflation and opeirational force and time.The score at the training end was better than after retention.Through the average 5.5 times intensified trainings the original levels could be reached.ConclusionThrough Endoscopy Simulator the key skills could be retained well and through a litde training the original levels could also be reached.

Objective To explore the effect of action observation therapy (AOT) on upper limb function in children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy,and the better program. Methods From March to November,2017,45 children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy were randomly assigned to control group and AOT group.The control group was further divided into group A(n=11)and group B(n=11), and received conventional rehabilitation treatment and scenic-observation therapy, 20 minutes every time for group A,and 30 minutes every time for group B.AOT group was further divided into group C(n=10)and group D (n=11), and received AOT in addition, 20 minutes every time for group C, and 30 minutes every time for group D,five times each week for twelve weeks for all the groups.Before treatment,eight and twelve weeks af-ter treatment, they were assessed with hand grip strength, Upper Extremities Functions Test (UEFT), and Wee Functional Independence Measure(WeeFIM). Results After treatment,the hand grip strength and the score of UEFT were better in group D than in groups B and C(P<0.05),and were better at twelve weeks than at eight weeks(P<0.05).No significant difference was found in the score of WeeFIM among groups after treatment(P>0.05). Conclusion AOT could improve upper limp function in children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy,and it's more ef-fective after more training.