Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics Research Articles

TCM diagnostics for injury prevention in Mid/Long-Distance runs

The middle and long-distance running event in the "College Students' Physical Health Standards" test has the effect of enhancing students' willpower, expressiveness, and social adaptability. However, injuries are highly likely to occur during the middle and long-distance running, which can cause physical harm and mental pressure to schools, teachers, parents, and students, and affect the authenticity of the test results. The "Four Diagnostic Methods" of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are treasures of our country's traditional medical culture. By utilizing the rich theories and experiences of TCM' s "Four Diagnostic Methods" to explore the hidden dangers that lead to sports injuries, it is possible to prevent injuries in middle and long-distance running at an early stage and reduce the occurrence of sports injuries.

Construction and Application of a Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome Differentiation Model for Dysmenorrhea Based on Machine Learning.

Dysmenorrhea is one of the most common ailments affecting young and middle-aged women, significantly impacting their quality of life. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers unique advantages in treating dysmenorrhea. However, an accurate diagnosis is essential to ensure correct treatment. This research integrates the age-old wisdom of TCM with modern Machine Learning (ML) techniques to enhance the precision and efficiency of dysmenorrhea syndrome differentiation, a pivotal process in TCM diagnostics and treatment planning. A total of 853 effective cases of dysmenorrhea were retrieved from the CNKI database, including patients' syndrome types, symptoms, and features, to establish the TCM information database of dysmenorrhea. Subsequently, 42 critical features were isolated from a potential set of 86 using a selection procedure augmented by Python's Scikit-Learn Library. Various machine learning models were employed, including Logistic Regression, Random Forest Classifier, Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), each chosen for their potential to unearth complex patterns within the data. Based on accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score metrics, SVM emerged as the most effective model, showcasing an impressive precision of 98.29% and an accuracy of 98.24%. This model's analytical prowess not only highlighted the critical features pivotal to the syndrome differentiation process but also stands to significantly aid clinicians in formulating personalized treatment strategies by pinpointing nuanced symptoms with high precision. The study paves the way for a synergistic approach in TCM diagnostics, merging ancient wisdom with computational acuity, potentially innovating the diagnosis and treatment mode of TCM. Despite the promising outcomes, further research is needed to validate these models in real-world settings and extend this approach to other diseases addressed by TCM.

A Comparative Analysis on the Translation of Two English Versions of Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine—Based on the Perspective of “Différance” in Deconstruction

A Comparative Analysis on the Translation of Two English Versions of Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine—Based on the Perspective of “Différance” in Deconstruction

Enhancing traditional Chinese medicine diagnostics: Integrating ontological knowledge for multi-label symptom entity classification.

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted syndrome differentiation and disease diagnoses primarily confront the challenges of accurate symptom identification and classification. This study introduces a multi-label entity extraction model grounded in TCM symptom ontology, specifically designed to address the limitations of existing entity recognition models characterized by limited label spaces and an insufficient integration of domain knowledge. This model synergizes a knowledge graph with the TCM symptom ontology framework to facilitate a standardized symptom classification system and enrich it with domain-specific knowledge. It innovatively merges the conventional bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) + bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) + conditional random fields (CRF) entity recognition methodology with a multi-label classification strategy, thereby adeptly navigating the intricate label interdependencies in the textual data. Introducing a multi-associative feature fusion module is a significant advancement, thereby enabling the extraction of pivotal entity features while discerning the interrelations among diverse categorical labels. The experimental outcomes affirm the model's superior performance in multi-label symptom extraction and substantially elevates the efficiency and accuracy. This advancement robustly underpins research in TCM syndrome differentiation and disease diagnoses.

Personalized Intelligent Syndrome Differentiation Guided By TCM Consultation Philosophy.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is one of the oldest medical systems in the world, and inquiry is an essential part of TCM diagnosis. The development of artificial intelligence has led to the proposal of several computational TCM diagnostic methods. However, there are few research studies among them, and they have the following flaws: (1) insufficient engagement with the patient, (2) barren TCM consultation philosophy, and (3) inadequate validation of the method. As TCM inquiry knowledge is abstract and there are few relevant datasets, we devise a novel knowledge representation technique. The mapping of symptoms and syndromes is constructed based on the diagnostics of traditional Chinese medicine. As a guide, the inquiry knowledge base is constructed utilizing the "Ten Brief Inquiries," TCM's domain knowledge. Subsequently, a corresponding assessment approach is proposed for an intelligent consultation model for syndrome differentiation. We establish three criteria: the quality of the generated question-answer pairs, the accuracy of model identification, and the average number of questions. Three TCM specialists are asked to undertake a manual evaluation of the model separately. The results reveal that our approach is capable of pretty accurate syndrome differentiation. Furthermore, the model's question and answer pairs for simulated consultations are relevant, accurate, and efficient.

Bian Que, the founder of diagnostics of traditional Chinese medicine

Bian Que, the founder of diagnostics of traditional Chinese medicine

Serum Metabolomic Analysis of Coronary Heart Disease Patients with Stable Angina Pectoris Subtyped by Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics Reveals Biomarkers Relevant to Personalized Treatments.

To improve the treatment of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), personalized treatments based on potential biomarkers could make a difference. To investigate if such potential biomarkers could be found for CHD inhomogeneous, we combined traditional Chinese medicine based diagnosis with untargeted and targeted metabolomics analyses. Shi and Xu patient subtype groups of CHD with angina pectoris were identified. Different metabolites including lipids, fatty acids and amino acids were further analyzed with targeted metabolomics and mapped to disease-related pathways. The long-chain unsaturated lipids ceramides metabolism, bile acid metabolism were differentially affected in the Xu subtype groups. While, Shi-subtype patients seemed to show inflammation, anomalous levels of bioactive phospholipids and antioxidant molecules. Furthermore, variations in the endothelial damage response and energy metabolism found based on ELISA analysis are the key divergence points between different CHD subtypes. The results showed Xu subtype patients might benefit from long-chain unsaturated lipids ceramides as therapeutic targets. Shi subtype patients might benefit more from levels of polyunsaturated fatty acid consumption and treatments that help in restoring energy balance. Metabolic differences can be essential for treatment protocols. Thus, patient group specific differences can serve as important information to refine current treatment approaches in a personalized manner.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a well-established medical system with a long history. Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly expanding in many fields including TCM. AI will significantly improve the reliability and accuracy of diagnostics, thus increasing the use of effective therapeutic methods for patients. This systematic review provides an updated overview on the major breakthroughs in the field of AI-assisted TCM four diagnostic methods, syndrome differentiation, and treatment. AI-assisted TCM diagnosis is mainly based on digital data collected by modern electronic instruments, which makes TCM diagnosis more quantitative, objective, and standardized. As a result, the diagnosis decisions made by different TCM doctors exhibit more consistency, accuracy, and reliability. Meanwhile, the therapeutic efficacy of TCM can be evaluated objectively. Therefore, AI is promoting TCM from experience to evidence-based medicine, a genuine scientific revolution. Furthermore, huge and non-uniform knowledge on formula-syndrome relationships and the combination rules of herbal TCM formulae could be better standardized with the help of AI analysis, which is necessary for the clinical efficacy evaluation and further optimization on the standardized TCM formulae. AI bridges the gap between TCM and modern science and technology. AI may bring clinical TCM diagnostics closer to western medicine. With the help of AI, more scientific evidence about TCM will be discovered. It can be expected that more unified guidelines for specific TCM syndromes will be issued with the development of AI-assisted TCM therapies in the future.

An Analysis on the Teaching Reform of the Basic Course of Zhuangyi Undergraduate Major

The basic course of Zhuangyi is a part of the undergraduate course which teaching content covers the basic theory of Zhuangyi, diagnosis of Zhuangyi, basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine, diagnostics of traditional Chinese medicine, anatomy of Western medicine and pathology.Whether we can lay a solid foundation for the professional knowledge of Zhuangyi is related to the ability of students to enter clinical posts. This paper explores the teaching method reform of basic courses of Zhuangyi, in order to cultivate high-level talents more suitable for the current social requirements.

Implementation of a TCM-based computational health informatics diagnostic tool for Sub-Saharan African students

Abstract Health status checkup is a crucial step towards early detection of diseases. Health status diagnosis, in university health centers, within the sub-Saharan African region, can be cumbersome and time consuming. In many cases, facilities for health checkup are not available. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a promising approach, when integrated with in-silico methods. This study was conducted to implement a TCM-based computational health informatics diagnostic tool. The tool was applied to diagnose African students. This study was also conducted to stimulate further research into in-silico TCM diagnostics. Besides developing a reliable biometric verification system, to ascertain the real identities of patients brought to university health centers, it is assistive to create a platform that provides automated and complementary support for preliminary health diagnostic activities. It also mitigates stress, by helping to efficiently decipher and provide quick objective opinion from the perspective of a computerized decision support system. The diagnostic module of the computational health informatics diagnostic tool adopts knowledge from a TCM facial color diagnosis. A comprehensive literature search was conducted for relevant full-text research papers. Only research publications written in English language were reviewed. The present work was compared qualitatively and quantitatively with the existing works noted in the literature. Facial detection and matching algorithms were implemented for the TCM-based computational health informatics diagnostic tool by using Java programming language. Facial image acquisition processes were conducted. Captured facial images of African students were preprocessed. Facial feature extraction was performed by implementing feature extraction algorithms. An algorithm for the extraction of color information and measurement was also implemented. Knowledge of machine learning was applied to extract and collate facial features, and to machine learn from them. Facial classification and recognition algorithms were implemented. Finally, the results from the computational health informatics diagnostic tool were evaluated, by conducting a performance evaluation and validation. This study provides qualitative and quantitative information on facial recognition, facial color information measurement, as well as prediction of health status, for some sub-Saharan African University students. Performance evaluation was shown using confusion matrix and ROC curves. Statistical analysis of the experimental results was presented. The parameters in each diagnostic illustration were shown with valid range. In order to justify the effectiveness of the computational tool, further explanations were provided from relevant methodology guides on the evaluation of diagnostic tests. The computational health informatics diagnostic tool will complement the diagnostic efforts in university health centers of sub-Saharan African universities. It will also be useful for personal health diagnosis of interested individuals. The tool will also be viable for educating health professionals. TCM will be of immense benefit to developing countries by positively contributing towards diagnosing different non-communicable diseases and some infectious diseases in such countries.

Application Study of Two Strengthening in Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Clinical Course

Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of two strengthening (the strengthening of both basic theoretical knowledge and clinical skill) in traditional Chinese and western medicine clinical courses. Methods: In the experimental group, to strengthen basic theoretical knowledge, and the results were observed by the final exam and questionnaire. Results: The scores of Basic Theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Introduction of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine from experimental group were better than those in control group. Classroom climate, interactive activity with teachers, participation initiative and classroom attention were also better than control group. Furthermore, understanding of knowledge and connection with subjects in experimental group were better. Increasing active learning, collaboration ability and communication ability were also better in experimental group. Conclusion: Two strengthening was conducive to classroom teaching, learning promotion and capacity improving for undergraduates in traditional Chinese and western medicine major. It could endow flexibility for students in the use of theory in clinic, ability in syndrome differentiation and treatment on diseases in TCM clinic, and preliminary ability in treating urgent, difficult and severe diseases.

Study of traditional Chinese medicine syndrome on multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in the elderly

To statistically analyze the clinical data from patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in the elderly (MODSE), and to investigate the distribution pattern of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes. TCM data of 200 patients with MODSE was collected on 1, 3 and 7 days after diagnosis. Using 134 symptoms as observation indexes, clustering analysis was used to analyze the TCM symptoms and syndromes of these patients. In accordance with Diagnostic efficacy of standard TCM Syndrome, Diagnostics of TCM, State Standard of the People's Republic of China: clinical diagnose and treat Terminology of TCM, expert group differentiate on the professional knowledge and clinical manifestation and 7 types of TCM syndrome were selected. Among all syndrome types, there were 134 (22.3%) cases of phlegm stagnation with the largest population, 113 cases (18.8%) of toxic heat flourishing, 97 cases (16.2%) of damp-heat accumulation, 85 cases (14.2%) of qi-deficiency, 67 cases (11.2%) of both yin and yang deficiency, 55 cases (9.2%) of fu being filled and substances could not pass through, and 48 cases (8.1%) of qi stagnation and blood stasis. This preliminary study found 7 primary types of TCM syndrome in patients with MODSE, including syndrome of phlegm stagnation, toxic heat flourishing, accumulation of damp-heat, qi-deficiency, both yin and yang deficiency, fu being filled and substances could not pass through and qi stagnation and blood stasis. The most common syndrome is phlegm stagnation and deficiency, phlegm, blood stasis, toxic are the main etiology and pathology of the disease.

TCM Zheng Classification and Clinical Trials

According to the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory, TCM Zheng (or pattern, syndrome) is an analysis on disease presentation by TCM practitioners. Zheng classification (Bian Zheng) is a traditional diagnostic method to categorize patients' syndromes based on their presented conditions. Currently, combination of Zheng classification and biomedical diagnosis becomes a common model in TCM diagnostics in clinical practice. Clinical treatments of a patient rely on the classification of a specific TCM Zheng. This special issue collects articles describing the clinical trials with TCM Zheng classification, Zheng classification methodology from clinical data, systematic reviews on clinical studies using Zheng classification, and the clinical pharmacological evaluation on TCM interventions using the omics platforms as well as bioinformatics.

Analysis of agreement on traditional chinese medical diagnostics for many practitioners.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnostics, it is an important issue to study the degree of agreement among several distinct practitioners. In order to study the reliability of TCM diagnostics, we have to design an experiment to simultaneously deal with both of the cases when the data is ordinal and when there are many TCM practitioners. In this study, we consider a reliability measure called “Krippendorff's alpha” to investigate the agreement of tongue diagnostics in TCM. Besides, since it is not easy to obtain a large data set with patients rated simultaneously by many TCM practitioners, we use the renowned “bootstrapping” to obtain a 95% confidence interval for the Krippendorff's alpha. The estimated Krippendorff's alpha for the agreement among ten physicians that discerned fifteen randomly chosen patients is 0.7343, and the 95% bootstrapping confidence interval for the true alpha coefficient is [0.6570, 0.7349]. The data was collected and analyzed at the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changhua Christian Hospital (CCH) in Taiwan.

Study on the diagnostics of traditional Chinese medicine (1) Visual diagnosis

Study on the diagnostics of traditional Chinese medicine (1) Visual diagnosis

Herbal and Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Treatment of Cardiovascular Complications in Diabetes Mellitus

Cardiovascular diseases, the number one causes of death worldwide, are responsible for the majority of the increased morbidity and mortality seen in patients with diabetes mellitus. Useful therapies for diabetes include lifestyle modification and drugs to lower conventional cardiovascular risk factors, such as metformin, thiazolindinedione, sulfonylureas and evidence-based drugs. These hypoglycemic or antihyperglycemic agents are widely used either for monotherapy or in combination to improve glycemic control and to slow disease progression associated with a decline in pancreatic function in diabetic patients. In addition, a large body of clinical evidence has suggested that the appropriate use of traditional Chinese medicines with modern Western medicinal, or mainstream antidiabetic drugs, can prevent or ameliorate the development of diabetic complications. The traditional Chinese medicine diagnostics are based on "zheng" or "symptom", a system emphasizing the overall function of the human body. Since diabetes is a rather complicated metabolic disorder involving multi-organ damage, a majority of diabetic patients may be subject to multi-pharmacy to combat symptoms resulting from diabetes. Many diabetic patients choose alternative therapeutic approaches such as herbal or traditional Chinese medicine along with the mainstream anti-diabetic drugs, thus making alternative therapy for diabetes a popular remedy. In this review, we will briefly summarize the application of herbal or traditional Chinese medicinal therapy for diabetes with an emphasis on diabetic cardiovascular complications.

Nervous function and manifestations of mental psychology in patients with post-stroke depression of different syndrome types of traditional Chinese medicine

Background Poly-criteria pathogenesis of patients with stroke causes diversity of syndrome types of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM); meanwhile, complexity and diversity of pathological mechanism also play a key role in determining severity so as to induce effects on nervous function and manifestation of mental psychology in patients with post-stroke depression (PSD). Objective To analyze the syndrome types of TCM with nervous function and manifestations of mental psychology in PSD patients so as to provide evidence for the treatment based on the syndrome differentiation. Design Contrast observation. Setting Departments of Neurology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Industry Group. Participants A total of 469 outpatients or inpatients with stroke were selected from the Department of Neurology, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Industry Group from April 2002 to July 2005. All subjects met the diagnostic criteria of stroke established by the Fourth National Cerebrovascular Disease Academic Meeting in 1995 and were finally diagnosed with CT and MRI. Totally, 177 PSD patients were involved in the final analysis and provided the confirmed consent. There were 121 males and 56 females aged from 46 to 79 years. Methods ▪ All the enrolled subjects were diagnosed for syndrome differentiation by senior TCM physicians within 1 week before discharge based on Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which was classified into 5 types, including sputum-stasis stagnation syndrome, qi stagnation and blood stasis, kidney-essence deficiency, deficiency of the spleen and stomach and phlegm-fire disturbing the heart. In addition, they were also assessed by neurologic deficit scale (NDS; 45 points in total; the higher the scores were, the severer the deficit was), Fugl-Meyer assessment, (FMA; 100 points in total, including 66 points of upper limbs and 34 points of lower limbs; the higher the scores were, the stronger the motor function was), modified Barthel index [BI; 100 points in total; the higher the scores were, the better the activity of daily life (ADL) was], symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90; including total scores, positive scores, mean and average scores of positive items), Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD) and Hamilton anxiety rating scale (HAMA, the higher the scores were, the severer the degree was). ▪ Patients were divided into one symptom type, two symptom types and ≥ 3 symptom types; meanwhile, they were also divided into deficiency symptom, excess symptom and deficiency-excess symptom. Scores among various groups were compared simultaneously. Main outcome measures Comparison of nervous function and mental psychology of PSD patients with various symptoms. Results ▪ Differences of various symptoms: Among 177 patients, there were 43 subjects in the types of sputum-stasis stagnation, 64 in qi stagnation and blood stasis, 21 in kidney-essence deficiency, 33 in deficiency of the spleen and stomach, and 16 in phlegm-fire disturbing the heart. In the comparison of the scores of nervous function and psychological tests among different syndrome types, the scores of most motor functions of upper and lower limbs, total scores of FMA and ADL in PSD patients of sputum-stasis stagnation, qi stagnation and blood stasis, kidney-essence deficiency were obviously lower than those of the total samples and PSD patients of deficiency of the spleen and stomach and phlegm-fire disturbing the heart, whereas the total scores of NDS, HAMD, HAMA, SCL-90 and SCL-90 positive items, average number of SCL-90 positive items and average score of SCL-90 positive items in the former three groups were all obviously higher than those in the latter three groups ( P < 0.05–0.01). ▪ Different number of syndrome types: In the comparison of the scores of nervous function and psychological tests among the PSD patients with different number of syndrome types, the scores of most motor functions of upper and lower limbs, total scores of FMA and ADL in PSD patients with one or two syndrome types were obviously higher than those of the total samples and the PSD patients with three or more syndrome types, whereas the total scores of NDS, HAMD, HAMA, SCL-90 and SCL-90 positive items, average number of SCL-90 positive items and average score of SCL-90 positive items were all obviously lower in the former two than in the latter two ( P < 0.05–0.01). ▪ There were no obvious differences in the scores of most items of nervous function and psychological tests among the PSD patients of deficiency syndrome, excess syndrome and the deficiency-excess syndrome ( P > 0.05). Conclusion The damages of nervous function and mental psychology are more serious in PSD patients with the syndrome types of sputum-stasis stagnation, qi stagnation and blood stasis, kidney-essence deficiency, as well as those with several (three or more) syndrome types, and the conditions may be improved by the treatment based on TCM syndrome differentiation.

Review of the chinese medical approach to the management of fibromyalgia

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a long history of efficacy in treating chronic illness. TCM views fibromyalgia and related conditions as disorders in the movement of energy (Qi) and body fluids (including blood) in the body and gets excellent treatment results using acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, diet, and exercise to restore the proper flow of Qi and fluids. This article briefly introduces the TCM model of human physiology and TCM diagnostics and describes the TCM pathophysiology and treatment models for fibromyalgia.

Traditional Chinese medicine syndromes in women with frequently recurring cystitis: frequencies of syndromes and symptoms

Background: Frequently recurrent acute cystitis in adult women is common in Western medicine. In prophylactic treatment, women are treated between attacks of acute cystitis to prevent recurrences. A recent study has shown that acupuncture seems effective for prophylaxis. Objectives: To describe the frequency of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes found in females vulnerable to recurrent cystitis, and which symptoms most often form the basis for TCM diagnoses made in this condition. Methods: A descriptive study based on TCM diagnostic methods as used by experienced acupuncturists, and a questionnaire of symptoms used in TCM diagnostics. Results: Of 61 women with frequently recurring cystitis, 90% were diagnosed as having either a Spleen/Kidney yang xu/qi xu (54%), or a Liver qi stagnation (36%). Only 10% fell in other diagnostic groups. Of all symptoms noted, only three differed in frequency between the two main diagnostic groups: feeling cold (29/33 vs. 13/22, P<0.05), feeling tired (25/33 vs. 4/22, P<0.001), and having a preference for sweets (10/33 vs. 2/22, P<0.05). Conclusion: Our findings have implications for TCM-based diagnostic work in females with recurrent cystitis, and also indicate that recurrent cystitis may be used as a case for further TCM research.

Media review

Background: Frequently recurrent acute cystitis in adult women is common in Western medicine. In prophylactic treatment, women are treated between attacks of acute cystitis to prevent recurrences. A recent study has shown that acupuncture seems effective for prophylaxis. Objectives: To describe the frequency of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes found in females vulnerable to recurrent cystitis, and which symptoms most often form the basis for TCM diagnoses made in this condition. Methods: A descriptive study based on TCM diagnostic methods as used by experienced acupuncturists, and a questionnaire of symptoms used in TCM diagnostics. Results: Of 61 women with frequently recurring cystitis, 90% were diagnosed as having either a Spleen/Kidney yang xu/qi xu (54%), or a Liver qi stagnation (36%). Only 10% fell in other diagnostic groups. Of all symptoms noted, only three differed in frequency between the two main diagnostic groups: feeling cold (29/33 vs. 13/22, P<0.05), feeling tired (25/33 vs. 4/22, P<0.001), and having a preference for sweets (10/33 vs. 2/22, P<0.05). Conclusion: Our findings have implications for TCM-based diagnostic work in females with recurrent cystitis, and also indicate that recurrent cystitis may be used as a case for further TCM research.