Modernization Of Chinese Medicine Research Articles

Gamma Oryzanol: A natural compound with potential for treating polycystic ovary syndrome

IntroductionPolycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. Current management strategies only provide symptomatic relief, and there is a need for better treatments. Gamma-oryzanol, a dietary component found in rice bran oil, has been shown to be effective in increasing insulin sensitivity, reducing weight, and alleviating oxidative stress. In modern Chinese medicine, 香格里拉谷维素胶囊, 纯净谷维素软胶囊, and 诺特博谷维素片 are some of the medicines marketed in China that contain gamma-oryzanol. This study aims to evaluate the effects of gamma-oryzanol on clinical hallmarks of PCOS. Also to compare the efficacy of gamma-oryzanol alone versus in combination with clomifene citrate. MethodsIn this study, PCOS was induced in a rat model using estradiol valerate. Gamma-oryzanol was then administered both alone and in combination with clomifene citrate. ResultsThe effects of gamma-oryzanol on estrous cyclicity, fertility, histopathological alterations, estradiol and testosterone levels, and oxidative parameters were evaluated. The results showed that gamma-oryzanol, both alone and in combination with clomifene citrate, had protective effects against the estradiol valerate-induced PCOS rat model. The combination of gamma-oryzanol and clomifene citrate was particularly effective, showing significantly better results than the standard treatment group (clomifene citrate alone). DiscussionThese results suggest that gamma-oryzanol could be used in combination with existing standard treatments to enhance the management of PCOS. However, further molecular and clinical studies are needed to confirm these findings.

A patient with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest saved from heart transplantation and amputation through a collaboration between modern and traditional Chinese medicine: A case report

IntroductionPatients with end-stage heart failure have limited options for medical treatment, and this ultimately necessitates heart transplantation. Patients undergoing heart transplant surgery are burdened with substantial costs related to finances, procedural risks, and postoperative quality of life. This report presents a case of heart failure in a patient whose limbs and heart were preserved through a collaboration between modern and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Patient PresentationA 47-year-old man was admitted to the emergency department with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and was diagnosed with 3-vessel disease and acute decompensated heart failure on October 27, 2020. After extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), the patient presented with cyanosis and gangrene in all four limbs. Cardiologists and plastic surgeons recommended heart transplantation and amputation. The patient wanted to keep his limbs and heart intact and requested to receive TCM. A TCM physician was consulted by visiting staff to provide combined care. After TCM intervention, both the ejection fraction (EF) and gangrene improved. Until now, the patient continues to receive TCM treatment, lives with preserved limbs and heart, and went through SARS-CoV2 infection smoothly in 2023. ConclusionTCM met the expectations of the patient and reduced the high medical expenses. This approach may improve the outlook and be a more economical option for patients with end-stage heart failure.

Effectiveness of Zhengqing Fengtongning in combination with routine rheumatoid arthritis treatment: A real-world multicenter retrospective study

BackgroundZhengqing Fengtongning (ZF) is a modern traditional Chinese medicine preparation used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, we aimed to prove the effectiveness of ZF in combination with routine RA treatment in the real world. MethodsThis was a retrospective study including 3877 RA patients in multi-centers from August 2015 to April 2023. The experimental group received ZF and the control group received other RA regimens. Propensity score matching was used to eliminate bias. The effectiveness of ZF in combination with routine RA treatment was evaluated through DAS28, ESR, CRP and RF. ResultsThe effectiveness of combining ZF with methotrexate (MTX), iguratimod (IGU), leflunomide (LEF), MTX + LEF, and MTX + nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in treating RA was significantly better than that of not combining ZF (p < 0.05). The effectiveness of combining ZF was significantly better than that of combining total glucosides of paeony, Kunxian capsule, or Biqi capsule (p < 0.05). No significant difference existed in effectiveness among MTX, IGU, and ZF combined with JAK inhibitor or TNF-ɑ inhibitor (p > 0.05). ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that the effectiveness of MTX, IGU, LEF, MTX + LEF, and MTX + NSAIDs combined with ZF in treating RA was better than those without ZF.

EUMENOL—Merck’s Patent Emmenagogue and its Chinese Connections (1896–1961)

This article examines the rise and fall of Eumenol, Merck's patent emmenagogue extracted from danggui (當歸), and its destined connections with China. Understood to affect the blood, danggui, one of the most prolifically used substance among Chinese materia medica, had been included in recipes for women aged from before menarche to after menopause since the twelfth century, but it was not until its production and advertisement by the German pharmaceutical company that the multi-functional material was placed on the international stage with a sharpened gendered image. For Merck customers around the world, Eumenol was a long-awaited, harmless emmenagogue made from an obscure Chinese material; for Chinese who had been using the root to treat a wide range of disorders, the branded drug was a scientific refinement of a time-honored medicine. The success of Eumenol gave advocates of Chinese medicine a concrete example with which to rejuvenate their medical traditions, but the later cessation of Chinese imports forced Merck to eventually stop marketing the emmenagogue. Within this intersection of medicinal exchanges, Eumenol emerged as an indispensable piece of the puzzle in terms of both the history of an ancient remedy and the modernization of Chinese medicine.

Study on changes of Styrax varieties

Styrax is a commonly used imported traditional Chinese medicinal material in China. It was introduced to China in the Han Dynasty and was first described as a traditional Chinese medicine in Miscellaneous Records of Famous Physicians(Ming Yi Bie Lu). In this paper, by combing ancient and modern Chinese and foreign herbal medicine books and modern literature, combined with the results of field investigations on the origin of Styrax, the changes of Styrax involving the name, quality evaluation, origin, place of origin, and harvesting and processing were systematically verified. The results show that since ancient times, the origin and place of origin of Styrax have been unclear. The medical scientists of all dynasties in China have evaluated the quality of Styrax from four aspects: texture, viscosity, odor concentration, and color. The varieties of Styrax changed twice. The first change may have occurred during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the base changed from Styrax officinalis to Liquidambar orientalis. The second change was in modern times, and the base changed from L. orientalis to L. styraciflua. At the same time, the place of origin changed for the first time, from Turkey, Syria, and other countries in southern Asia Minor to Honduras, Guatemala, and other countries in Central America and southern North America. This paper studied the historical evolution of Styrax in terms of quality evaluation, origin, place of origin, character, and harvesting and processing. At the same time, it summarized the application of Styrax in the western countries, which can provide a historical basis for the further development and utilization of Styrax.

Isolation and Identification of Anti-Inflammatory Active Components from Asparagi Radix cochinchinensis Based on HPLC-CAD and UPLC-Q/TOF-MS Techniques

Background: In the research of the pharmacological activity of modern Chinese medicine, a large number of traditional Chinese medicines show anti-inflammatory activity. Asparagi radix is one of the anti-inflammatory drugs. With the deepening of people's research on Asparagi radix, its anti-inflammatory pharmacological effects have been gradually explored, but its specific anti-inflammatory active ingredients are still unclear. Therefore, it is necessary to screen and identify its specific anti-inflammatory active ingredients from Asparagi radix. At present, COX-2 is an important target for the treatment of chronic inflammation, and many drugs targeting this target have been marketed. However, some drugs have serious side effects, so it is very meaningful to study new COX-2 inhibitors. Methods: In this experiment, the fractions of different time periods are separated by high performance liquid chromatography-separation-trapping system (HPLC-CAD-FC). Then, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight/mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) and biological activity analysis techniques are used to identify the chemical composition and in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of each fraction. Finally, the data is integrated to screen out the substances with potential anti-inflammatory activity in Asparagi radix. Results: The results showed that the method established in this experiment can successfully isolate the active components of Asparagi radix, and four saponins with potential anti-inflammatory activity are identified. Conclusion: In summary, the analysis method established in this study can quickly and effectively screen out its anti-inflammatory active substances, and its potential anti-inflammatory active ingredients are mainly steroidal saponins.

Knowledge Graph Enhanced Transformers for Diagnosis Generation of Chinese Medicine.

Chinese medicine (CM) diagnosis intellectualization is one of the hotspots in the research of CM modernization. The traditional CM intelligent diagnosis models transform the CM diagnosis issues into classification issues, however, it is difficult to solve the problems such as excessive or similar categories. With the development of natural language processing techniques, text generation technique has become increasingly mature. In this study, we aimed to establish the CM diagnosis generation model by transforming the CM diagnosis issues into text generation issues. The semantic context characteristic learning capacity was enhanced referring to Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BILSTM) with Transformer as the backbone network. Meanwhile, the CM diagnosis generation model Knowledge Graph Enhanced Transformer (KGET) was established by introducing the knowledge in medical field to enhance the inferential capability. The KGET model was established based on 566 CM case texts, and was compared with the classic text generation models including Long Short-Term Memory sequence-to-sequence (LSTM-seq2seq), Bidirectional and Auto-Regression Transformer (BART), and Chinese Pre-trained Unbalanced Transformer (CPT), so as to analyze the model manifestations. Finally, the ablation experiments were performed to explore the influence of the optimized part on the KGET model. The results of Bilingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU), Recall-Oriented Understudy for Gisting Evaluation 1 (ROUGE1), ROUGE2 and Edit distance of KGET model were 45.85, 73.93, 54.59 and 7.12, respectively in this study. Compared with LSTM-seq2seq, BART and CPT models, the KGET model was higher in BLEU, ROUGE1 and ROUGE2 by 6.00-17.09, 1.65-9.39 and 0.51-17.62, respectively, and lower in Edit distance by 0.47-3.21. The ablation experiment results revealed that introduction of BILSTM model and prior knowledge could significantly increase the model performance. Additionally, the manual assessment indicated that the CM diagnosis results of the KGET model used in this study were highly consistent with the practical diagnosis results. In conclusion, text generation technology can be effectively applied to CM diagnostic modeling. It can effectively avoid the problem of poor diagnostic performance caused by excessive and similar categories in traditional CM diagnostic classification models. CM diagnostic text generation technology has broad application prospects in the future.

Guiding modern traditional Chinese medicine research using the theory of state‐target differentiation and treatment—Maintaining the validity of traditional Chinese medicine and creating new medical science

AbstractAs an important part of Chinese civilization, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a long history and broad social foundation. In the development of modern medicine, TCM bears the responsibility of inheriting Chinese culture, while integrating with modern science and technology to continuously promote medical progress. The theory of “state‐target differentiation and treatment” is an innovative model combining Chinese and Western medicine that has provided a new mindset and method for modernizing TCM. This theory not only guides the reconstruction of modern TCM diagnosis and treatment systems, but also strongly promotes the reconstruction of the modern herbal system. As an emerging bioinformatics technology, phenomics research can reveal biological processes dynamically and quantitatively, which will help “open the black box” of TCM by providing technical methods to reveal the nature of “state” and the mechanism of “state modulation” in TCM. TCM can provide a valuable clinical reference from the perspective of disease cognition, sort out phenomics information parameters systematically and uniformly, and provide more accurate and meaningful data for phenomics research. The in‐depth combination of TCM and phenomics from the concept and technology will vigorously promote the development of human precision medicine. Modern TCM research guided by the theory of state‐target differentiation and treatment can effectively improve the scientific basis and targetability of clinical treatments and can also initiate a breakthrough in the integration of Chinese and Western medicine, further promoting the profound communication and cooperation between Chinese and Western medicine, so as to achieve better development of medicine in the future.

Application and Research Progress of Modern Chinese and Western Medicine in the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer

Application and Research Progress of Modern Chinese and Western Medicine in the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer

Experience Gathering of Modern Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Chronic Atrophic Gastritis Characteristic Therapy

Experience Gathering of Modern Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Chronic Atrophic Gastritis Characteristic Therapy

Roadmap for modern development of Chinese medicine: Traditional, evidence-based, and digital-intelligent paths

Abstract Accelerating the modernization of Chinese medicine (CM) is the focus of CM development in the new era. Looking back over the past 50 years, CM has progressed along traditional, evidence-based, and digital-intelligent paths. These paths have intertwined and mutually propelled the advancement of CM modernization. This article analyzes the patterns of 3 paths, summarizes the current status of CM development along these paths, and presents a vision for future development.

Revealing the “Yin-Jing” mystery veil of Platycodon grandiflorum by potentiating therapeutic effects and lung-oriented guidance property

Ethnic pharmacological relevance“Yin-Jing” medicine (YJM) has been widely used by both ancient and modern Chinese medicine practitioners during long-term clinical practice. However, it remains unclear how to best guide other medicines to the targeted organs in a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription. Here, in an attempt to explain the scientific connotation of the YJM property (YJMP) attributed to a basic TCM theory, Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) was chosen as a case study to reveal the mystery of YJMP theory. Aim of the studyThe main purpose of this study is to employ modern chemical and molecular biology methods to confirm the “Yin-Jing” effect of PG, and further clarify its material basis and related possible mechanism. Materials and methodsThe ammonia-induced lung injury rat model was utilized to determine the optimal dosage of traditional prescription Hui Yan Zhu Yu decoction (HYZYD) using Wright Giemsa staining, HE staining, Masson staining, and TUNEL analysis. With the same way, PG was confirmed to have potentiating therapeutic effect (PTE) by comparison with HYZYD and [HYZYD-PG]. TMT proteomics was used to reveal the “Yin-Jing” mechanism of action. Western blot assay (WB) was employed for verification of differentially expressed proteins. Additionally, four non-crossing fragmentations (Fr. A-D) were characterized by RPLC/SEC-ELSD and HILIC-ESI–-Q-OT-IT-MS techniques. The PTE and guidance property assays were utilized to evaluate “Yin-Jing” functions by a compatible combination of hydroxysafflor yellow A (HYA) using qPCR, FCM, WB, HPLC, high content cell imaging (HCI) and high-resolution live-cell imaging (HRLCI) techniques. ResultsThe HYZYD-M (medium dose group) significantly improved the lung injury level in a pneumonia model of rats. PG enhanced the therapeutic effect of HYZYD ascribed to Yin-Jing PTE functions. TMT proteomics revealed a category of differentially expressed proteins ascribed to Golgi-ER between HYZYD and [HYZYD-PG]. Fr. C (i.e., saponins) and Fr. D (i.e., lipids) were determined as therapeutic fragmentations via the LPS-induced A549 cell injury model; however, Fr. B (fructooligosaccharides and small Mw fructans) had no therapeutic effect. Further compatibility PTE assays confirmed Fr. B significantly improved efficiency by a combination of HYA. The guidance assays showed Fr. B could significantly increase the uptake and distribution of HYA into lung cells and tissues. HCI assays showed that Fr. B increased uptake of HYA accompanied by significant activation of Golgi-ER. Unlike Fr. B, HRLCI showed that Fr. A, C and D were not only unobvious activations of Golgi-ER but also insignificant facilitation of colocalizations between HYA and Golgi-ER. ConclusionsFr. B is believed to be a key YJMP material basis of PG attributed to Yin-Jing PTE with characteristic of lung-oriented guidance property, whereas another abound Fr. C was determined to have synergistic effects rather than Yin-Jing material basis.

Fructooligosaccharides and fructans from Platycodon grandiflorum: Structural characterization, lung-oriented guidance and targetability

Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) has been widely applied as a conductant drug by ancient and modern traditional Chinese medicine practitioners during long-term clinical practice. However, determining how to guide other medicines to the targeted lungs in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription remains unclear. An ethanol soluble fraction (Fr. B) was obtained by macroporous resin and 75 % ethanol precipitate. The components were unambiguously determined as fructooligosaccharides and small molecule weight (Mw) fructans according to HILIC-ESI−-MS/MS, MS/MS and 1/2D NMR. We discovered that the Fr. B possesses the lung-oriented guidance and targetability by activating Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum (Golgi-ER) transport system. Rab21, a highly expressed transmembrane protein in the lungs, was found to be the core-affinity target of Fr. B which physically colocalized with the Golgi-ER and directly interacted with Rab21 to accelerate the uptake of extracellular therapeutic substances. The lung-oriented guidance and targetability of Fr. B was validated by the transient knockdown and overexpression of Rab21 considering dynamic observations of colocalization interactions among Fr. B, extracellular substances, and the Golgi-ER. Together, our results delineate a potential mechanism of Fr. B toward lung-oriented guidance and targetability via a direct targeting affinity of Rab21 and resulting collective stimulation of key Golgi-ER transport effectors for the acceleration of extracellular substances into the lungs.

The Development of Modern Chinese Medicine in a Comparative Perspective of the History of Chinese and Western Medicine

Chinese and Western medicine have different origins and have developed in different ways and with different contents. This paper focuses on a comparative study of the history of Chinese and Western medicine, tracing the development of ancient Greek medicine, the rescue and treatment of the Black Death in medieval Europe, and the medical treatment and public health represented by the prevention and treatment of smallpox in the Qing Dynasty. Chinese and Western medicine offered different paths to the rescue and treatment of disease from different perspectives. At the same time, the paper focus on the formation and development of the systematization of Chinese and Western medicine in modern times and the transformation of modern Chinese medicine under the influence of Western learning in the east. By discussing the changes in the modern Chinese medical education system - from ecclesiastical medicine to an integrated institutional training model, the further training of medical talents and finally the government's promulgation of the University Decree to provide modern By discussing the changes in the modern Chinese medical education system - from ecclesiastical medicine to an integrated institutional training model for medical personnel and finally the government’s promulgation of the University Decree to provide institutional guarantees for modern medical education, the significance of the convergence of Western and Chinese medicine for the development of modern Chinese medicine will be discussed in this paper.

Internet-Based Healthcare Knowledge Service for Improvement of Chinese Medicine Healthcare Service Quality.

With the development of new-generation information technology and increasing health needs, the requirements for Chinese medicine (CM) services have shifted toward the 5P medical mode, which emphasizes preventive, predictive, personalized, participatory, and precision medicine. This implies that CM knowledge services need to be smarter and more sophisticated. This study adopted a bibliometric approach to investigate the current state of development of CM knowledge services, and points out that accurate knowledge service is an inevitable requirement for the modernization of CM. We summarized the concept of smart CM knowledge services and highlighted its main features, including medical homogeneity, knowledge service intelligence, integration of education and research, and precision medicine. Additionally, we explored the intelligent service method of traditional Chinese medicine under the 5P medical mode to support CM automatic knowledge organization and safe sharing, human-machine collaborative knowledge discovery and personalized dynamic knowledge recommendation. Finally, we summarized the innovative modes of CM knowledge services. Our research will guide the quality assurance and innovative development of the traditional Chinese medicine knowledge service model in the era of digital intelligence.

The Development Trend of Medical Animals in the Last Ten Years: A Review.

There are many kinds of medicinal animal resources, which are an important part of traditional Chinese medicine resources (TCM). However, the use of medicinal animals in TCM, especially wild animals, has become a sensitive problem at home and abroad. Systematic analysis on the research status and direction of medical animals in the last 10 years which for promoting the sustainable development of Chinese medicine. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, CNKI, VIP database and WanFang Database were selected, and SPSS 25.0 software was used to analyze annual publications, journals, global distribution, authors, coauthors and co-authors rate, author institutions and high-frequency keywords. Chinese Journal of modern Chinese medicine occupies the majority articles with a high co-authorship rate, but low impact factors. The development of medical animals around the world is not balanced. The top three countries are China, United Kingdom and United States. However, these countries have less exchanges and cooperation with each other. The Institute of TCM of Chinese Academy owns the most research achievements. At present, the hot spots involve the identification and quality of medical animals, applied basic research. The identification, quality and applied basic research of medical animals are still worthy of increasing research investment. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen exchanges and international cooperation among different countries in TCM, and promote the high-quality development in medical animals.

Modern Chinese Medicine and Modern Yi

Modern Chinese Medicine and Modern Yi

Ferulic acid mitigates 2-methoxyethanol-induced testicular oxidative stress via combined downregulation of FoxO1, PTEN, and modulation of Nrf2-Hmox1-NQO1 signaling pathway in rats

IntroductionFerulic acid (FERA) is a natural antioxidant that is richly found in herbs, including Ligusticum chuangxiong, Cimicifuga heracleifolia, and female ginseng (Angelica sinensis), which are utilized in modern Chinese medicine, and in cereals/grains including rice, which is mostly consumed by humans. 2METE on the other hand, is a ubiquitous substance that has many industrial applications, including use in the preparation of dyes for textiles, hydraulic fluid for automobiles, paints, and liquid soaps. It is a testicular toxin, which can induce oxidative stress in the testis of rats. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of FERA, which was concomitantly administered, against 2-methoxyethanol (2METE)-induced testicular oxidative stress in rats. MethodsMale Wistar rats totaling twenty (20), separated into four (4) groups, were used for the study. Rats in group one served as the control, rats in groups two and three were administered 100 mg/kg of 2METE only for 30 consecutive days, but only rats in group three were concomitantly treated with 50 mg/kg of FERA for the same duration, while rats in group four were treated with 50 mg/kg of FERA only. ResultsFollowing analysis, 2METE administration caused a significant reduction in the relative testes weight (RTW), NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels, as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities in the testis of rats compared with the control. Moreover, 2METE administration also significantly increased the testicular levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), and RNA gene expressions of heme oxygenase 1 (Hmox1), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1), and phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) compared with the control. FERA treatment, on the other hand, significantly decreased the testicular levels of MDA, as well as Nrf2, Hmox1, PTEN, and FoxO1 gene expressions, and significantly increased the testicular GSH and NQO1 levels, activities of GST, SOD, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and catalase (CAT) compared with 2METE only administered rats. Conclusion2METE-induced testicular oxidative stress, marked by the depletion of the endogenous antioxidant systems, was recorded, which resulted in the activation of PTEN, FoxO1, and Nrf2 genes in rats. FERA demonstrated a strong antioxidant effect by restoring the levels and activities of the endogenous antioxidants as well as downregulating the expressions of PTEN, FoxO1, and Nrf2 in the testis of rats.

Syringic acid demonstrates an anti-inflammatory effect via modulation of the NF-κB-iNOS-COX-2 and JAK-STAT signaling pathways in methyl cellosolve-induced hepato-testicular inflammation in rats

Syringic acid (SACI) is an emerging nutraceutical and antioxidant used in modern Chinese medicine. It has potential neuroprotective, anti-hyperglycemic, and anti-angiogenic properties. Methyl cellosolve (MCEL) has been reported to induce tissue inflammation in the testis, kidney, liver, and lung. This study aimed to investigate the effect and probable mechanism of action of SACI on MCEL-induced hepatic and testicular inflammation in male rats. Compared to the control group, administration of MCEL to rats significantly increased the levels of IL-6, TNF-α, iNOS, COX-2, and NF-κB in the liver and testis. Additionally, the total mRNA expressions of JAK1 (in the liver only), STAT1, and SOCS1 were significantly increased in both the liver and testis, while testicular JAK1 total mRNA levels were significantly decreased.The expression of PIAS1 protein was significantly higher in the liver and testis. Treatments with SACI at 25 (except liver iNOS), 50, and 75 mg/kg significantly decreased the levels of IL-6, TNF-α, iNOS, COX-2, and NF-κB compared to the control group. Furthermore, the total mRNA expressions of JAK1 and SOCS1 in the liver were significantly reduced by all doses of SACI investigated, while the total mRNA levels of liver and testis STAT1 were significantly reduced by 25 and 50 mg/kg of SACI only. In the testis, the mRNA level of SOCS1 was significantly reduced by all doses of SACI compared to MCEL only. Additionally, SACI (at 75 mg/kg) significantly reduced PIAS1 protein expression in the liver, while in the testis, SACI at all investigated doses significantly reduced the expression of PIAS1. In conclusion, SACI demonstrated a hepatic and testicular anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting the MCEL-induced activation of the NF-κB and JAK-STAT signaling pathways in rats.

Food and Medicine: Qualities and Efficacies in Chinese Ethnic Medicines

Drawing on our research in China’s southern mountains about ethnic medicines, and intrigued by the proverbial Chinese view that Yao Shi Tong Yuan (food and medicine have the same source), this article traces the eventfulness and powers at play in healing and eating when they are seen as closely related forms of life. Ancient and modern traditional Chinese medicine understandings of flavor are here shown to be a common basis for the healing and harming powers of both food and medicine. The term Wu Wei, or five flavors is explored as both experiences of eating and cooking, and some patterns of qi movement that animate and invigorate the body. Following Vivienne Lo’s term “potent flavors,” practices of harmonizing (He, Tiao He) flavors in Chinese medicine, as in cooking, express a world of natural powers and expert embodiment that goes far beyond mere taste.