Chinese medicine syndromes in congestive heart failure: A literature study and retrospective analysis of clinical cases / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To discuss the characteristics of Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome factors and distribution of congestive heart failure (CHF), and provide a basis for the diagnosis criteria of essential syndromes.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Based on databases of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI, 1980-2012) and Chinese Journal of Chongqing VIP Database (1989-2012), the eligible studies in CHF and extracted factors associated with compound syndromes were analyzed. All the syndromes were classified into deficiency, excess, and deficiency-excess in complexity syndrome were classified. Compound syndromes were separated into syndrome factors including single, double, three or four factors, along with the frequency of occurrence. The relation of CHF syndromes with age, gender, primary disease, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and cardiac functional grade was studied in 1,451 CHF cases (between December 2010 and September 2012), and the clinical distribution of common CHF syndromes was summarized.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The literature study involved 6,799 CHF cases in 66 literatures after screening. Of the different factors affecting CHF, qi deficiency was the most important one. In deficiency syndrome, Xin (Heart)-qi-deficiency was the most common single factor, and deficiency of both qi and yin was the most common double factor. The retrospective analysis involved 1,451 CHF cases (431 cases with test results of BNP). The xin blood stasis and obstruction and deficiency of both qi and yin syndrome were mostly seen in female patients, and phlegm-blocking-Xin-vessel and qi-deficiency-blood-stasis syndrome mostly in males. Xin-qi-deficiency and qi-deficiency-blood-stasis syndrome were mostly seen in patients aged 50-60 years. Patients aged over 60 years likely manifest deficiency of both qi and yin and Xin blood stasis and obstruction syndrome. The severity of syndrome is aggravated with increased BNP and cardiac functional grade.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The essential syndromes of CHF include qi-deficiency-blood-stasis and deficiency of both qi and yin. The clinical distribution is linked to patients' age and gender. BNP and cardiac functional grade is closely related to CHF syndromes, which may indicate the severity of CM syndromes of CHF.</p>

The application status of Chinese herbal medicine in military health service in China / 中国结合医学杂志

Military medicine has had a long history in China since the emergence of the war. Chinese medicine, especially Chinese herbs, was widely used in China as well as other Asian countries for the prevention and treatment of diseases in the military for hundreds of years. However, the use of Chinese medicine in military health service has never been well studied. In this article, we briefly summarize the application status of Chinese herbal medicine in military health service in China, putting particular emphasis on special military environment, in an attempt to build a bridge between Chinese medicine and military health service and promote the quality of health service for the military and maintain world peace.

Application and research of acupuncture in military / 中国针灸

Acupuncture has remarkable effects of pain relieving and functional restoration on injuries of soft tissue and joint due to military training. As more and more attention has been attached to the impact of psychological states and biorhythm disorder on the fighting ability of military staff, acupuncture has found its place in treating chronic fatigue, combat stress reaction, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as regulating circadian rhythms. The therapeutic effect of acupuncture in military training-related physical damage and psychological trauma has already been proved by numerous clinical practices and researches. It is held that using acupuncture as an alternative could not only save medical resources, but also enhance the fighting ability of the army. However, the current clinical studies is facing the problem of limited sample size. Therefore, randomized controlled trials in large scale and multiple centers should be further carried out toward military staff, so as to provide more speaking evidences to the prevention and treatment of physical and psychological diseases.