ObjectiveThe essence of syndrome manifestation recognition in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is to infer the body’s latent pathogenesis state from clinical observational information, rather than to perform simple label matching. However, previous studies have largely modeled this task as syndrome pattern classification within a fixed label space, which does not adequately reflect the cognition process of TCM syndrome differentiation centered on pathogenesis reasoning, and is also insufficient to capture the openness, semantic variability, and cross-disease reusability of syndrome manifestation expression. This study aimed to investigate whether introducing pathogenesis reasoning chain-of-thought (PR-CoT) supervision into large language models (LLMs) could improve the quality and cognitive consistency of syndrome manifestation recognition and support cross-disease transfer. MethodsSyndrome manifestation recognition was formulated as a conditional generation task under the framework of clinical observational information (X)→pathogenesis structure (Z)→syndrome pattern output (Y), where Z serves as an explicit intermediate structural variable linking the clinical evidence and syndrome judgment. Within this framework, a PR-CoT-supervised dataset for syndrome manifestation recognition was constructed based on medical case records of spleen-stomach disorders. After preprocessing, information extraction, manual proofreading, and data cleaning, the dataset comprised 4 800 training cases, 400 development cases, and 400 test cases. Each sample was annotated with a structured PR-CoT consisting of three progressive levels: clinical information summarization, comprehensive pathogenesis analysis, and syndrome pattern output. Supervised fine-tuning was conducted on open-source LLMs, with an end-to-end model serving as the baseline. Qwen3-32B was used as the primary experimental model, and Qwen3-14B as the scale comparison model. A progressive multidimensional evaluation framework was further established, comprising a structural parsing level, a semantic similarity level, and an expert blind review level. At the structural parsing level, syndrome pattern expressions were decomposed into structural elements and evaluated using Precision, Recall, F1 score, and Jaccard similarity. At the semantic similarity level, independent LLMs scored the theoretical proximity between predicted and reference syndrome patterns. At the expert blind review level, three TCM experts independently evaluated model outputs on two dimensions: syndrome differentiation consistency and terminology standardization of syndrome patterns. In addition, zero-shot cross-disease transfer evaluation was conducted on gynecological and heart-system disorder test sets. ResultsAt the structural parsing level, PR-CoT supervision did not lead to a stable improvement in the element-wise overlap of syndrome pattern structural components. Compared with the corresponding baselines, neither Qwen3-32B nor Qwen3-14B showed consistent advantages in structural matching metrics after the introduction of PR-CoT supervision. In contrast, at the semantic similarity level, PR-CoT supervision produced stable positive gains across different model scales and evaluation systems. The average semantic score of Qwen3-32B increased from 6.425 8 in the baseline model to 6.585 0 after PR-CoT supervision, and that of Qwen3-14B increased from 5.870 0 to 5.964 2. At the expert blind review level, the overall score of Qwen3-32B (PR-CoT) was 7.026 0±0.107 7, higher than 6.416 3±0.288 9 for its baseline. In zero-shot cross-disease testing, the PR-CoT model still showed advantages in semantic evaluation and expert evaluation on both gynecological and heart-system disorder test sets, indicating a certain degree of transferability. ConclusionThe benefits of PR-CoT supervision are mainly reflected in TCM semantic consistency and clinical plausibility, rather than in improved hard matching of structural elements. These findings support understanding syndrome manifestation recognition as a process of generating and expressing latent pathogenesis structures, rather than as a classification task within a traditional fixed label space. By introducing pathogenesis reasoning as an explicit intermediate structure into the modeling process and combining it with a progressive multidimensional evaluation framework, this study provides a methodological pathway for intelligent TCM syndrome differentiation that integrates theoretical alignment, interpretability, and multi-level evaluation.

ObjectiveThe essence of syndrome manifestation recognition in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is to infer the body’s latent pathogenesis state from clinical observational information, rather than to perform simple label matching. However, previous studies have largely modeled this task as syndrome pattern classification within a fixed label space, which does not adequately reflect the cognition process of TCM syndrome differentiation centered on pathogenesis reasoning, and is also insufficient to capture the openness, semantic variability, and cross-disease reusability of syndrome manifestation expression. This study aimed to investigate whether introducing pathogenesis reasoning chain-of-thought (PR-CoT) supervision into large language models (LLMs) could improve the quality and cognitive consistency of syndrome manifestation recognition and support cross-disease transfer. MethodsSyndrome manifestation recognition was formulated as a conditional generation task under the framework of clinical observational information (X)→pathogenesis structure (Z)→syndrome pattern output (Y), where Z serves as an explicit intermediate structural variable linking the clinical evidence and syndrome judgment. Within this framework, a PR-CoT-supervised dataset for syndrome manifestation recognition was constructed based on medical case records of spleen-stomach disorders. After preprocessing, information extraction, manual proofreading, and data cleaning, the dataset comprised 4 800 training cases, 400 development cases, and 400 test cases. Each sample was annotated with a structured PR-CoT consisting of three progressive levels: clinical information summarization, comprehensive pathogenesis analysis, and syndrome pattern output. Supervised fine-tuning was conducted on open-source LLMs, with an end-to-end model serving as the baseline. Qwen3-32B was used as the primary experimental model, and Qwen3-14B as the scale comparison model. A progressive multidimensional evaluation framework was further established, comprising a structural parsing level, a semantic similarity level, and an expert blind review level. At the structural parsing level, syndrome pattern expressions were decomposed into structural elements and evaluated using Precision, Recall, F1 score, and Jaccard similarity. At the semantic similarity level, independent LLMs scored the theoretical proximity between predicted and reference syndrome patterns. At the expert blind review level, three TCM experts independently evaluated model outputs on two dimensions: syndrome differentiation consistency and terminology standardization of syndrome patterns. In addition, zero-shot cross-disease transfer evaluation was conducted on gynecological and heart-system disorder test sets. ResultsAt the structural parsing level, PR-CoT supervision did not lead to a stable improvement in the element-wise overlap of syndrome pattern structural components. Compared with the corresponding baselines, neither Qwen3-32B nor Qwen3-14B showed consistent advantages in structural matching metrics after the introduction of PR-CoT supervision. In contrast, at the semantic similarity level, PR-CoT supervision produced stable positive gains across different model scales and evaluation systems. The average semantic score of Qwen3-32B increased from 6.425 8 in the baseline model to 6.585 0 after PR-CoT supervision, and that of Qwen3-14B increased from 5.870 0 to 5.964 2. At the expert blind review level, the overall score of Qwen3-32B (PR-CoT) was 7.026 0±0.107 7, higher than 6.416 3±0.288 9 for its baseline. In zero-shot cross-disease testing, the PR-CoT model still showed advantages in semantic evaluation and expert evaluation on both gynecological and heart-system disorder test sets, indicating a certain degree of transferability. ConclusionThe benefits of PR-CoT supervision are mainly reflected in TCM semantic consistency and clinical plausibility, rather than in improved hard matching of structural elements. These findings support understanding syndrome manifestation recognition as a process of generating and expressing latent pathogenesis structures, rather than as a classification task within a traditional fixed label space. By introducing pathogenesis reasoning as an explicit intermediate structure into the modeling process and combining it with a progressive multidimensional evaluation framework, this study provides a methodological pathway for intelligent TCM syndrome differentiation that integrates theoretical alignment, interpretability, and multi-level evaluation.

Objective: To understand the current situation and influencing factors of comorbidity of depressive and anxiety symptoms among middle school students in Chongqing, so as to provide a scientific basis for formulating a comprehensive strategy for the co prevention of multiple diseases among middle school students. Methods: From September to December 2024, 12 327 middle school students were selected from 6 districts and counties in Chongqing by the combination of stratified cluster sampling and convenience sampling method. The current status of depressive and anxiety symptoms was investigated by using the Center for Epidemiological Survey-Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). The Chi-squared test was used to compare the differences between groups with comorbidity of depressive and anxiety symptoms, multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze its related factors, and a nomogram prediction model was drawn. Results: The detection rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and comorbidity among middle school students in Chongqing were 26.34%, 34.55% and 21.16%, respectively. Among them, the detection rates of the three types of symptoms in girls (29.80%, 40.99%, 25.15%) were all higher than those in boys (23.22%, 28.73%, 17.55%) ( χ 2=68.61, 204.23, 106.51, all P <0.01). Statistical significance was observed in the distribution of depressive and anxious symptoms among middle school students across different gender, academic stage, school district, family type, physical activity levels, parental discipline, smoking, alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation, excessive screen time, Internet addiction, and bullying ( χ 2=14.49-991.46, all P <0.01). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that compared with junior high school students, ordinary high school students had a higher risk of comorbidity ( OR=2.71, 95% CI = 2.41-3.05); girls ( OR=2.17, 95%CI =1.95-2.40), non-core family ( OR=1.20, 95%CI =1.08-1.32), and good neighborhood ( OR=1.16, 95%CI =1.02-1.30), campus bullying ( OR=4.88, 95%CI =4.32-5.50), Internet addiction ( OR=4.77, 95%CI = 3.41 -6.68), parental beating and scolding ( OR=3.18, 95%CI =2.72-3.71), alcohol consumption ( OR=2.10, 95%CI =1.86- 2.37 ), and insufficient sleep ( OR=1.73, 95%CI =1.54-1.95) had higher risks with comorbidity of depression and anxiety symptoms (all P <0.05). A nomogram prediction model was constructed based on significant variables shows that C-index=0.75 (AUC= 0.75 , 95% CI=0.74-0.76, P <0.05), and the model had good predictive performance. Conclusions The current situation of comorbidity of depressive and anxiety symptoms among middle school students in Chongqing is not optimistic. The nomograms can be used to effectively predict the risk of comorbidity of depressive and anxiety symptoms in middle school students.

Objective To establish radioresistant human non-small cell lung cancer NCI-H460R model cells and evaluate the sensitivity of these radioresistant cells to a ferroptosis inducer. Methods Radioresistant cell lines, designated as NCI-H460 R20Gy and NCI-H460 R116Gy, were generated by subjecting parental NCI-H460 cells to fractionated irradiation with varying cumulative doses. Both parental cells and the established radioresistant cell lines were each randomly divided into four groups and exposed to irradiation at 0, 2, 4, and 6 Gy, respectively. Successful establishment of the radioresistant cell lines was confirmed by colony formation assay. Subsequently, cells were treated with increasing concentrations of the ferroptosis inducer RSL-3 to assess differential sensitivity between parental and radioresistant cells to ferroptosis. Results In comparison to the parental NCI-H460 cells (D_0WT=1.2), both NCI-H460 R116Gy and NCI-H460 R20Gy cells exhibited radioresistance, with NCI-H460 R116Gy demonstrating a stronger radioresistance (D_0R116Gy=1.5) than NCI-H460 R20Gy (D_0R20Gy=1.4). Furthermore, NCI-H460 R116Gy cells exhibited increased sensitivity to RSL-3 relative to the parental cells (P < 0.001), while NCI-H460 R20Gy cells did not display a significant difference in sensitivity to RSL-3. Conclusion Human non-small cell lung cancer cells with radioresistance induced by a high cumulative irradiation dose exhibit increased sensitivity to the glutathione peroxidase 4-specific ferroptosis inducer RSL-3. This finding provides an experimental basis for optimizing combined treatment regimens involving radiotherapy and RSL-3 for non-small cell lung cancer patients with radiotherapy resistance.

BACKGROUND: Salvianolate is a compound mainly composed of salvia magnesium acetate, which is extracted from the Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhiza . In recent years, salvianolate injection has been widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, but the mechanism of how it can alleviate cardiotoxicity remains unclear. METHODS: The cardiac injury model was constructed by treatment with doxorubicin (Dox) or azithromycin (Azi) in zebrafish larvae. Heart phenotype, heart rate, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis were observed in the study. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis was used to explore the underlying mechanism of salvianolate treatment. Moreover, cardiomyocyte autophagy was assessed by in situ imaging. In addition, the miR-30a/becn1 axis regulation by salvianolate was further investigated. RESULTS: Salvianolate treatment reduced the proportion of pericardial edema, recovered heart rate, and inhibited cardiomyocyte apoptosis in Dox/Azi-administered zebrafish larvae. Mechanistically, salvianolate regulated the lysosomal pathway and promoted autophagic flux in zebrafish cardiomyocytes. The expression level of becn1 was increased in Dox-induced myocardial tissue injury after salvianolate administration; overexpression of becn1 in cardiomyocytes alleviated the Dox/Azi-induced cardiac injury and promoted autophagic flux in cardiomyocytes, while becn1 knockdown blocked the effects of salvianolate. In addition, miR-30a, negatively regulated by salvianolate, partially inhibited the cardiac amelioration of salvianolate by targeting becn1  directly. CONCLUSION This study has proved that salvianolate reduces cardiomyopathy by regulating autophagic flux through the miR-30a/becn1 axis in zebrafish and is a potential drug for adjunctive Dox/Azi therapy.
Animals ; Zebrafish ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Autophagy/drug effects* ; Myocytes, Cardiac/metabolism* ; Cardiomyopathies/metabolism* ; Beclin-1/genetics* ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Plant Extracts/therapeutic use* ; Doxorubicin

According to the principle and current domestic and international construction processes of core outcome set(COS) and the characteristics of post-stroke aphasia, this study built COS with evidence-based support for traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) treatment of post-stroke aphasia. Firstly, a comprehensive review was conducted on the articles about the TCM treatment of post-stroke aphasia that were published in the four major Chinese databases, three major English databases, and three clinical registration centers over the past five years. The articles were analyzed and summarized, on the basis of which the main part of the COS for clinical research on the TCM treatment of post-stroke aphasia was formed. Secondly, clinical doctors and related nursing personnel were interviewed, and important outcome indicators in the clinical diagnosis and treatment process were supplemented to form a pool of core outcome indicators. Two rounds of Delphi surveys were carried out to score the importance of the core outcome indicators in the pool. Finally, a consensus meeting of experts was held to establish the COS for clinical research on the TCM treatment of post-stroke aphasia. The final COS included a total of 268 studies [236 randomized controlled trials(RCTs), 21 Meta-analysis, and 11 clinical registration protocols] and 20 open questionnaire survey results. After two rounds of Delphi surveys, a total of 14 outcome indicators and their corresponding measurement tools were included in the expert consensus meeting. The final expert consensus meeting determined the COS for post-stroke aphasia, which included 9 indicator domains and 12 outcome indicators.
Humans ; Aphasia/therapy* ; Stroke/complications* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Treatment Outcome

Abelmoschi Corolla, the dried corolla of Abelmoschus manihot, has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-fibrosis activities. Its chemical constituents mainly include flavonoids, organic acids, steroids, and polysaccharides. This study reviewed the research progress in the chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Abelmoschi Corolla in recent 20 years. According to the concept of quality marker(Q-marker), the Q-markers of Abelmoschi Corolla were predicted from plant phylogeny, chemical constituent specificity, traditional efficacy, chemical constituent measurability, and absorbed constituents. The primary Q-markers for Abelmoschi Corolla were anticipated to include quercetin-3'-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, gossypetin-8-O-β-D-glucuronide, isoquercetin, myricetin,quercetin, and hyperoside, with the aim of providing reference data for improving the quality evaluation system of Abelmoschi Corolla.
Abelmoschus/chemistry* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Flowers/chemistry* ; Humans ; Animals ; Quality Control ; Flavonoids/chemistry*

Coronary heart disease is a cardiovascular disease that affects coronary arteries. It presents high incidence and high mortality worldwide, bringing a serious threat to human health and quality of life. Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma derived from Salvia miltiorrhiza is widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease. Salvianolic acid B is an active component in Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma extracts, and studies have shown that it has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, apoptosis-and autophagy-regulating, anti-fibrosis, and metabolism-modulating effects. This article reviews the research progress regarding the therapeutic effect of salvianolic acid B on coronary heart disease in the recent decade. It elaborates on the role and mechanism of salvianolic acid B in treating coronary heart disease from multiple perspectives, such as the inhibition of thrombosis, improvement of blood circulation, reduction of myocardial cell injury, and inhibition of cardiac remodeling. This article provides a theoretical basis for the application of Chinese medicinal materials and TCM prescriptions containing salvianolic acid B in the treatment of coronary heart disease.
Humans ; Benzofurans/administration & dosage* ; Coronary Disease/genetics* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Salvia miltiorrhiza/chemistry* ; Animals ; Depsides

The study aims to explore the herb-drug interaction between Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction(XFZY) and atorvastatin(AT). Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) was used to analyze the transcription levels of proteins related to drug metabolism and transport in LS174T cells, detect the intracellular drug uptake under various substrate concentrations and incubation time, and optimize the model reaction conditions of transporter multidrug resistance protein 1(MDR1)-specific probe Rhodamine 123 and AT to establish a cell model for investigating the human intestinal drug interaction. The cell counting kit-8(CCK-8) method was adopted to evaluate the cytotoxicity of XFZY on LS174T cells. After a single and continuous 48 h culture with XFZY, AT or Rhodamine 123 was added for co-incubation. The effect and mechanism of XFZY on human intestinal absorption of AT were analyzed by measuring the intracellular drug concentrations and transcription levels of related transporters and metabolic enzymes. The results of in vitro experiments show that a single co-culture with a high concentration of XFZY significantly increases the intracellular concentrations of Rhodamine 123 and AT. A high concentration of XFZY co-culture for 48 h increases the AT uptake level, significantly induces the CYP3A4 and UGT1A1 gene expression levels, and inhibits the OATP2B1 gene expression level. To compare with the evaluation results of the in vitro human cell model, the pharmacokinetic experiment of XFZY combined with AT was carried out in rats. Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into a blank control group and an XFZY group. After 14 days of continuous intragastric administration, AT was given in combination. The liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry(LC-MS)/MS method was used to detect the concentrations of AT and metabolites 2-hydroxyatorvastatin acid(2-HAT), 4-hydroxyatorvastatin acid(4-HAT), atorvastatin lactone(ATL), 2-hydroxyatorvastatin lactone(2-HATL), and 4-hydroxyatorvastatin lactone(4-HATL) in plasma samples, and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. Pharmacokinetic analysis in rats shows that continuous administration of XFZY does not significantly change the pharmacokinetic characteristics of AT in rats, but the AUC_(0-6 h) values of AT and metabolites 2-HAT, 4-HAT, and 2-HATL increase by 21.37%, 14.94%, 12.42%, and 6.68%, respectively. The metabolic rate of the main metabolites shows a downward trend. The study indicates that administration combined with XFZY can significantly increase the uptake level of AT in human intestinal cells and increase the exposure level of AT and main metabolites in rats to varying degrees. The mechanism may be mainly due to the inhibition of intestinal MDR1 transport activity.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Atorvastatin/administration & dosage* ; Humans ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Male ; Intestines/cytology* ; Intestinal Mucosa/metabolism* ; Herb-Drug Interactions ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A/metabolism* ; Intestinal Absorption/drug effects*

Since the promulgation of the first Drug Administration Law of the People's Republic of China 40 years ago in 1984, China has undergone four main stages in the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) regulation: the initial establishment of TCM regulation rules(1984-1997), the formation of a modern TCM regulatory system(1998-2014), the reform of the review and approval system for new TCM drugs(2015-2018), and the construction of a scientific regulation system for TCM(2019-2024). Over the past five years, a series of milestone achievements of TCM regulation in China have been achieved in the six aspects, including its strategic objectives and the establishment of a science-based regulatory system, the reform of the review and approval system for new TCM drugs, the optimization and improvement of the TCM standard system and its formation mechanism, comprehensive enhancement of regulatory capabilities for TCM safety, international harmonization of TCM regulation and its role in promoting innovation. Looking ahead, centered on advancing TCMRS to establish a sound regulatory framework tailored to the unique characteristics of TCM, TCM regulation will evolve into new reform patterns, advancing and extending across eight critical fronts, including the legal framework and policy architecture, the review and approval system for new TCM drugs, the quality standard and management system of TCM, the comprehensive quality & safety regulation and traceability system, the research and transformation system for TCMRS, AI-driven innovations in TCM regulation, the coordination between high-quality industrial development and high-level regulation, and the leadership in international cooperation and regulatory harmonization. In this way, a unique path for the development of modern TCM regulation with Chinese characteristics will be pioneered.
Humans ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/standards* ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/trends*