Research Progress of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Treating Dysphagia After Stroke

Dysphagia is a common complication after stroke, which does not only affect the quality of life of patients, but also increase the risk of death. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment has always played an important role in the clinical treatment of dysphagia after stroke, but its mechanism has not been fully elucidated. Literatures on the use of TCM for the disease in the recent 5 years have been reviewed, and the problems existing in the development and treatment of the disease are discussed in this article, in an attempt to provide new ideas for the treatment of the disease. This paper presents a summary of traditional Chinese medicine treatment for the disease in the past five years, including traditional Chinese medicine compound and acupuncture.

The Role of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and the Value of Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment

Invasion and metastasis are the main reasons for the high mortality of liver cancer, which involve the interaction of tumor stromal cells and malignant cells. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are one of the major constituents of tumor stromal cells affecting tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. The heterogeneous properties and sources of CAFs make both tumor-supporting and tumor-suppression effects possible. The mechanisms for CAFs in supporting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression can be categorized into upregulated aggressiveness and stemness, transformed metabolism toward glycolysis and glutamine reductive carboxylation, polarized tumor immunity toward immune escape of HCC cells, and increased angiogenesis. The tumor-suppressive effect of fibroblasts highlights the functional heterogenicity of CAF populations and provides new insights into tumor–stromal interplay mechanisms. In this review, we introduced several key inflammatory signaling pathways in the transformation of CAFs from normal stromal cells and the heterogeneous biofunctions of activated CAFs. In view of the pleiotropic regulation properties of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and heterogeneous effects of CAFs, we also introduced the application and values of TCM in the treatment of HCC through targeting CAFs.

A Prediction Model for High Risk of Positive RT-PCR Test Results in COVID-19 Patients Discharged From Wuhan Leishenshan Hospital, China

Several recent studies have reported that a few patients had positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA tests after hospital discharge. The high-risk factors associated with these patients remain to be identified. A total of 463 patients with COVID-19 discharged from Leishenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China, between February 8 and March 8, 2020 were initially enrolled, and 351 patients with at least 2 weeks of follow-up were finally included. Seventeen of the 351 discharged patients had positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Based on clinical characteristics and mathematical modeling, patients with shorter hospital stays and less oxygen desaturation were at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 RNA reoccurrence after discharge. Notably, traditional Chinese medicine treatment offered extensive benefits to reduce risk. Particular attention should be paid to those patients with high risk, and traditional Chinese medicine should be advocated.

Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of Chinese medicine in people with asymptomatic hyperuricemia: Protocol for a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial.

BackgroundHyperuricemia increases the risk of gout and cardiovascular complications. Studys show that Chinese medicine can decrease uric acid through multiple targets, but many of these studys is conducted on animal, because the lack of a consistent prescription and mechanism.So we design this research to study whether Chinese medicine is really effective and which target is essential.MethodsThis study is a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial. From March 2020 to December 2021.30 asymptomatic hyperuricemia people will be recruiting and assigned to either Chinese medicine group or placebo group, each group will have 15 subjects.During the 12-week observation period,there will be 4 times of visits.The decline in the uric acid is the main outcome measure, urinary uric acid,inflammatory biomarkers and other index that may involve in lowing uric acid are the secondary outcome measures.DiscussionThis study will probe the effect of Chinese medicine treatment on hyperuricemia, and explore possible therapeutic mechanisms. By performing this trial,we hoping to provide evidence and data to support further large clinical studies.Trial registration:ChiCTR2000038575. Registered on September 24, 2020.

Progress of Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment for Cancer-Related Fatigue in Patients with Colorectal Cancer

Cancer-related fatigue, which is a common symptom among colorectal cancer patients, has a high incidence and it affects the quality of life of these patients. Western medicine still lacks effective treatment means. However, with various methods of intervention and treatment, Chinese medicine has made certain progress in this area, where it has good curative effect in improving fatigue and the quality of life of patients. This article briefly summarizes the main TCM treatment methods for cancer-related fatigue in patients with colorectal cancer in order to provide reference and suggestions for clinical practice.

Research Progress on the Effect of Massage on Immune System Function in Children

As a traditional Chinese medicine treatment, massage has significant clinical effect. In recent years, a large number of clinical studies have shown that the mechanism of massage in the treatment of diseases is related to the regulation of immune function. In this article, we review the existing problems and prospects of massage on children with diarrhea, asthma and recurrent respiratory tract infection in relation to its effect on the regulation of immune function.

Discussion on the Mechanism of Action of High-frequency Drugs for Treating Heart Failure Based on Network Pharmacology

Objective: To explore the target and mechanism of Astragalus membranaceus, poria, salvia miltiorrhiza and semen leiocarpa in the treatment of heart failure by network pharmacology. Methods: The active components of traditional Chinese medicine and the target of heart failure were screened by multi-platform, and the standard gene was transformed by Uniprot. CytoCasp 3.6.1 was used to draw the network diagram of traditional Chinese medicine - component - target. Go and KEGG analysis were performed by Metascape. Results: A total of 36 predictive target sites of Radix Astragalus, Fuling poria, Salvia miltiorrhiza and Draba nemorosa were screened for treatment of heart failure, mainly involving nerve and factor pathways: ADRB2, ADRA1B and AChE. Cancer pathway: TP53, TNF; Pathways of inflammation: IL1B, PTSG2, PTSG1; Sex hormone pathway: ESR1, AR, PGR; Others: SCN5A, HIF1A, etc. The results of GO and KEGG enrichment suggested that the treatment of heart failure with the top four drugs involved cancer pathway, calcium signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, and involved in blood circulation, cell proliferation and other processes. Conclusion: This study combines the pharmacological studies of Chinese medicine and western medicine to reveal the mechanism of multi-target and multi-channel regulation of body balance in Chinese medicine treatment.

Acupuncture Combined With Emotional Therapy of Chinese Medicine Treatment for Improving Depressive Symptoms in Elderly Patients With Alcohol Dependence During the COVID-19 Epidemic

Objective: We aimed to analyze the characteristics and psychological mechanism of depressive symptoms in elderly patients with alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic and to observe the effect of acupuncture combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment on depressive symptoms in elderly patients with alcohol dependence.Methods: Sixty patients were randomly divided into two groups. One group was treated by a set of emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for 12 weeks (control group). One group was treated by a set of acupuncture combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for 12 weeks (treatment group). We compared the curative effect between the control group and the treatment group, the mean alcohol consumption, the SF-36 scores before and after treatment, and the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale before and after treatment of 3, 6, and 9 weeks.Results: Based on the cognitive behavior model, the characteristics and psychological mechanism of depression in elderly patients with alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic situation were summarized. The total effective rate of the control group was 60%, and that of the treatment group was 100% (p < 0.05). The alcohol consumption of the patients in each group decreased significantly after treatment (p < 0.05), and there was no significant difference in alcohol consumption between the treatment group and the control group (p > 0.05). After 12 weeks of treatment, there were significant differences in PF, RF, physical pain, general health status, energy, and mental health between the treatment group and the control group (p < 0.05). Before and after treatment, there were significant differences in PF, RF, physical pain, general health, energy, emotional function, and mental health (p < 0.05) of the treatment group. The PF, energy, and mental health of the control group were significantly different before and after treatment (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the treatment group and the control group in the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale before treatment. There was significant difference between the treatment group and the control group in the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale at 3, 6, and 9 weeks after treatment.Conclusion: Attention, cognition, emotion, behavior, and physical response reinforce each other, creating a vicious cycle that reinforces and sustains the depressive symptoms of elderly alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic, and acupuncture combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for improving the depressive symptoms of elderly alcohol dependence during the epidemic period of COVID-19 has a brilliant therapeutic effect.

Circulating cell-free mtDNA content is associated with outcome of HCC patients receiving TACE combined with traditional Chinese medicine treatment

Objectives: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 70%-85% of liver cancer, and about 85% of HCC are hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) in china. Most patients are already in the middle or late stages of the disease at the time of diagnosis, trans-hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combine with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been reported as an effective treatment, and effective prognostic molecular markers are helpful to predict therapeutic efficacy. In this study, we aim to explore whether circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA (ccf-mtDNA) content is associated with the outcome for HCC patients receiving TACE combine with TCM treatment. Method: Retrospective analysis was conducted in a cohort with 141 HBV-HCC patients. Univariate and multivariate analysis was conducted with Cox proportional risk regression model to explore the correlation between ccf-mtDNA content and patient prognosis. Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw the survival curve of ccf-mtDNA content and the survival prognosis of patients. Results: (1) high content of serum ccf-mtDNA is an independent risk factor for the prognosis of HBV-HCC patients treated with TACE combined with TCM adjuvant therapy (HR=4.010, 95%IC=1.252-12.844, P = 0.019). (2) K-M survival analysis showed that patients with high ccf-mtDNA content had poor prognosis (Log Rank P=0.027). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that ccf-mtDNA is a potential novel non-invasive biomarker for prognosis of HCC patients receiving TACE combine with TCM treatment.