Threatened miscarriage is the commonest complication of early pregnancy and affects about 20% of pregnancies. It presents with vaginal bleeding with or without abdominal cramps. Increasing age of women, smoking, obesity or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and a previous history of miscarriage are risk factors for threatened miscarriage. The pathophysiology has been associated with changes in levels of cytokines or maternal immune dysfunction. Clinical history and examination, maternal serum biochemistry and ultrasound findings are important to determine the treatment options and provide valuable information for the prognosis. Bed rest is the commonest advice, but there is little evidence of its value. Other options include progesterone, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and muscle relaxants. The complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies such as acupuncture and Chinese herbs have also been tried. There is some evidence from clinical studies indicating that CAM therapies may reduce the rate of miscarriage, but the quality of studies is poor. Thus, further double-blind, randomized-controlled trials are necessary to confirm its effectiveness, especially acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

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Objective: To investigate the effects of paired ST36 and RN12 acupuncture stimulation on gastric motility and the firing rate of responsible neurons in anesthetized rats. Methods: Using electrophysiological methods, we measured the effects of acupuncture at RN12, ST36, or RN12+ST36 on gastric motility as well as nerve discharges from the gastric sympathetic, vagal nerve, and wide dynamic range (WDR) neurons in the spinal dorsal horn T7-9 in anesthetized rats. Results: 1) Acupuncture at RN12 inhibited gastric motility (83.84±4.49)% and vagal nerve discharge (65.64±5.67)%, but promoted sympathetic nerve activity (243.70±40.67)%; acupuncture at ST36 induced opposing effects on gastric motility (111.31±2.01)% and vagal nerve discharge (166.98±15.92)%. Interestingly, acupuncture at RN12+ST36 together yielded effects similar to that of acupuncture at RN12 alone (93.59±2.05)%, (54.52±7.12)%. 2) WDR neuron discharges induced by gastric distension were inhibited by acupuncture at RN12 (194.56 ± 18.79)%. However, acupuncture at ST36 induced a more significant inhibitory effect. Conclusion: Acupuncture at RN12 inhibits gastric motility by activation of the sympathetic reflex at the spinal level; acupuncture at ST36 promotes gastric motility by activation of the parasympathetic reflex at the supraspinal level, and acupuncture at RN12+ST36 produces a similar decrease in gastric motility as RN12 stimulation alone. Both acupoints decrease the effect of noxious gastric distention on WDR neuron activity, but paired RN12+ST36 stimulation does not significantly affect WDR neuron discharge.

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Western science has been strong in measuring details of biological systems such as gene expression levels and metabolite concentrations, and has generally followed a bottom up approach with regard to explaining biological phenomena. Chinese medicine in contrast has evolved as a top down approach in which body and mind is seen as a whole, a phenomenological approach based on the organization and dynamics of symptom patterns. Western and Chinese perspectives are developing towards a ‘middle out’ approach. Chinese medicine diagnosis, we will argue, allows bridging the gap between biologists and psychologists and offers new opportunities for the development of health monitoring tools and health promotion strategies. In this paper, health, resilience and stress concepts are explored from an integrated systems biology perspective. This is followed by a discussion about measuring aspects of health and resilience. Then the issue of how to integrate different types of data is discussed. Semi-quantitative modeling appears to be very suitable and looks promising for building integrated health models. The challenge for the future lies in applying those models in developing personalized health monitoring and advice systems that will tempt people to lead more healthy lives.

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Objective: Establish a quick, precise and specific method to determine whether the moutan cortex obtained from market is processed with sulfur; provide a reliable method for the scientific evaluation. Methods: Three methods, including acid-base titration method, high-performance liquid-chromatography (HPLC) method, and ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-TOF-MS) method were used to detect whether 30 batches of samples were fumigated with sulfur. Results: The results of three methods were substantially the same. Fifteen batches were identified to have been processed with sulfur fumigation, while others were not. Conclusions: The HPLC method was found to be most appropriate for the determination of sulfur fumigation for moutan cortex.

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Objective: To explore the effects of two Rehmanniae Radix formulae in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS), a randomized controlled study was conducted. Methods: MetS patients were randomly assigned to receive either a classic Rehmanniae Six Formula (R6, or ‘Liu Wei Di Huang Wan’) or a novel multi-herbal Rehmanniae Radix containing formula SUB889 for 8 weeks. Western medicine related clinical parameters, Chinese medicine defined symptoms and syndromes as well as metabolomic profiles were evaluated at different time points. Results: R6 (n = 20) and SUB889 (n = 20) showed similar effects on MetS regarding the improvement of clinical parameters (waist circumference, body mass index, LDL-cholesterol, systolic blood pressure) and Qi/Yin deficiency (p < 0.05). Decreased levels of cholesteryl esters, phosphatidylcholines, triglycerides and sphingomyelins were found in the R6 group, while SUB889 formula resulted in increased levels of tricarboxylic acid cycle and glucose metabolism intermediates (malate, fumarate and pyruvate). Conclusions: R6 and SUB889 have similar effects on the treatment of MetS by improving Chinese medicine and Western medicine defined clinical outcomes. R6 is more effective in improving lipid profiles compared to SUB889. The exact mechanisms of the two formulae on MetS remain to be elucidated. Abbreviation: ChE: cholesteryl ester; CM: Chinese medicine; DG: diglyceride; DHAP: dihydroxyacetone phosphate; F-6-P: fructose 6-phosphate; FA: fatty acid; G-6-P: glucose 6-phosphate; GADP: glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate; GC/MS: chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry; Gl-3-P: glycerol 3-phosphate; HbA1c: glycated hemoglobin; HDL-C: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LC/MS: liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry; LDL-C: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LPA: lysophosphatidic acid; LPC: lysopho- sphatidylcholine; MetS: metabolic syndrome; MG: monolinoleoglycerol; PA: phosphatidic acid; PC: phosphatidylcholine; R6: Rehmannia Six Formula; SPM: sphingomyelin; T-C: total cholesterol; TG: triglyceride; WM: western medicine

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Objective: To identify Kadsura interior (Dian Ji Xue Teng, Schisandraceae) by using DNA barcoding. Methods: We analyzed five DNA barcodes (ITS, ITS2, psbA-trnH, matK and rbcL) using DNA barcoding in terms of distance-based, tree-based and character-based identification to distinguish Kadsura interior and its adulterants. Results: In distance-based and tree-based identification, K. interior could be distinguished easily from the species of Schisandra and K. coccinea. In character-based identification, there are two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ITS and one SNP in psbA-trnH which can be used to distinguish K. interior from K. heteroclita and K. longipedunculata. Conclusion: The results indicate that DNA barcoding can be used to identify K. interior. ITS and psbA-trnH sequence can be the most ideal DNA barcode for discriminating K. interior and its adulterants by the combination analysis of distance-based, tree-based and character-based identification (SNPs).

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Objective: A sensitive HPLC-DAD detection method was established for the comparative analysis of the four active compounds (including baicalin, baicalein, wogonoside and wogonin) of Baikal Skullcap and its classical TCM prescriptions according to different clinical curative effects. And analyze the relationship between compatibility of medicines, content and clinical curative effect. Methods: Water extracts were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD), using an Agilent extend-C₁₈ (4.6mm×250mm,5μm) column by using solvent A (0.2% phosphoric acid water) and solvent B (methanol) in the ratio of 52:48 (v/v) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. The column temperature was maintained at 25°C and the detection wavelength was set at 280 nm. Results: In quantitative analysis, the four selected markers showed good regression (R²>0.999) within test ranges. The average recoveries were between 99.75~100.60% and their RSD values were between 0.97%~1.71%. The proportions of the four chemical compounds for different efficacy were 33.51~35.76: 6.78~6.87: 3.45~3.64: 1; 18.6~23.64: 3.63~4.27: 1.36~1.53: 1; 29.94~31.78: 5.14~5.23: 3.28~3.56: 1; 33.99~41.91: 5.83~7.42: 2.83~3.39: 1. Conclusion: Clinical practice of thousands of years have proved that the curative effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine depends on the compatibility of different kinds of medicine material crude slices. According to this study we found that different compatibility of medicines leads to different proportions of the chemical compounds. We assume that there is a certain correlation between therapeutical effect of TCM and compatibility of medicines.

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