Iodine-Mediated Domino Cyclization for One-Pot Synthesis of Indolizine-Fused Chromones via Metal-Free sp3 C-H Functionalization.

An efficient method for the synthesis of new indolizine-fused chromones has been accomplished from ethyl (E)-3-(2-acetylphenoxy)acrylates and pyridines in a "one-pot" manner. Facile operation in open-air, metal-free, and mild conditions renders this protocol particularly practical and attractive. Moreover, this method can simultaneously construct two molecular fragments of chromone and indolizine. Scale-up experiment and the construction of natural products further prove the practicability of this strategy.

[Exploring a new mode of integrative medicine information service].

With the significant and continuous growth of the research and application of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) all over the world, the demand for medical information services has been increasing correspondingly. However, the barriers of accessing and utilizing non-English literature, and the barrier of language have blocked English speaking clinicians and researchers of CAM from obtaining high quality and authoritative medical evidence from the non-English medical resources. This article, with introducing the UCLA Information Center for East-West Integrative Medicine, will demonstrate a new collaborative mode of integrative medicine information service between China and the US, and discuss the perceived challenges.

Traditional Chinese Medical Journals currently published in mainland China.

BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) journals have been playing an important role in scholarly communication in China. However, the information in those periodicals was not enough for international readers. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to provide an overview of TCM journals in China. METHODS: TCM journals currently published in mainland China were identified from Chinese databases and journal subscription catalogs. Data on publication start year, publishing region, language, whether core journals, whether indexed in famous international databases, with/without accessible URL were investigated, and subjects of journals were categorized. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-nine (149) TCM journals are currently published in mainland China; 88.59% of them are academic journals. The subjects of those journals are various, ranging from the general TCM, integrative medicine, herbal medicines, to veterinary TCM. The publishing areas are distributed in 27 regions, with Beijing having the most TCM journals published. One hundred and forty-two (142) of those periodicals are in Chinese, while 4 are also in English, and 3 in other languages. Only 8 TCM journals were recognized as core journals, and 5 were identified as both core journals and journals with high impacted articles by all evaluation systems in China. A few of the TCM journals from mainland China are indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE (10), EMBASE (5), Biological Abstracts (2), or AMED (1). Online full-text Chinese databases CJFD, COJ, and CSTPD cover most of TCM the journals published in the country. One hundred (100) TCM journals have accessible URLs, but only 3 are open access with free full texts. CONCLUSIONS: Publication of TCM journals in China has been active in academic communication in the past 20 years. However, only a few of them received recognized high evaluation. English information from them is not sufficient. Open access is not extensively acceptable. The accessibility of those journals to international readers needs to be improved.

Astragalus-based Chinese herbs and platinum-based chemotherapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: meta-analysis of randomized trials.

PURPOSE: Systemic treatments for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer have low efficacy and high toxicity. Some Chinese herbal medicines have been reported to increase chemotherapy efficacy and reduce toxicity. In particular, Astragalus has been shown to have immunologic benefits by stimulating macrophage and natural killer cell activity and inhibiting T-helper cell type 2 cytokines. Many published studies have assessed the use of Astragalus and other Chinese herbal medicines in combination with chemotherapy. We sought to evaluate evidence from randomized trials that Astragalus-based Chinese herbal medicine combined with platinum-based chemotherapy (versus platinum-based chemotherapy alone) improves survival, increases tumor response, improves performance status, or reduces chemotherapy toxicity. METHODS: We searched CBM, MEDLINE, TCMLARS, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and CCRCT databases for studies in any language. We grouped studies using the same herbal combinations for random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: Of 1,305 potentially relevant publications, 34 randomized studies representing 2,815 patients met inclusion criteria. Twelve studies (n = 940 patients) reported reduced risk of death at 12 months (risk ratio [RR] = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.52 to 0.87). Thirty studies (n = 2,472) reported improved tumor response data (RR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.24 to 1.46). In subgroup analyses, Jin Fu Kang in two studies (n = 221 patients) reduced risk of death at 24 months (RR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.68) and in three studies (n = 411) increased tumor response (RR = 1.76; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.53). Ai Di injection (four studies; n = 257) stabilized or improved Karnofsky performance status (RR = 1.28; 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.46). CONCLUSION: Astragalus-based Chinese herbal medicine may increase effectiveness of platinum-based chemotherapy when combined with chemotherapy. These results require confirmation with rigorously controlled trials.