[Methods and key points of literature collation and mining of classic prescriptions in ethnic medicine].

The systematic collation and mining of ethnic medicine literature is the key to the screening and textual research of classic prescriptions. This study focused on the textual research of such key issues as the source of prescriptions, the translation of minority languages into Chinese characters and their corresponding medical terms, the original plants of drugs, and the standard dosage. It is believed that the methods and experience of textual research of classic prescriptions in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) can be utilized by the ethnic medicine. At the same time, the prominent problems unique to ethnic medicine cannot be neglected.(1)Attention should be paid to extraterritorial traditional medical literature in the textual research of the source of prescriptions. For instance, Indian medical literature is the source of many classic prescriptions in Tibetan medicine, Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine the source of those in Uygur and Hui medicine, and ancient Indian Buddhist classics the source of those in Dai medicine.(2)The translation and comparison of medical terms in different language systems requires the cooperation of linguists, historians, and medical experts, the combination of historical research, historical linguistics and clinical research methods, and the use of cross-language comparison. In recent years, the related research achievements like multiple translated and annotated versions of classical literature in ethnic medicine and their respective terminology standards have been constantly emerging.(3)In textual research of the original plants of drugs, the following two points deserve attention: one is that the same drug is used in different ethnic medical systems, but there are differences in the understanding of drug properties and active parts; the other is that the original plants of the same drug vary in different ethnic medical systems.(4)The derivation of some classic prescriptions in ethnic medicine from foreign classics results in the difference among measurement systems. In addition, the detailed dosage fails to be covered in some ethnic literature, so the dosage standard should be determined depending on clinical practice and expert consensus.

Methods and key points of literature collation and mining of classic prescriptions in ethnic medicine / 中国中药杂志

The systematic collation and mining of ethnic medicine literature is the key to the screening and textual research of classic prescriptions. This study focused on the textual research of such key issues as the source of prescriptions, the translation of minority languages into Chinese characters and their corresponding medical terms, the original plants of drugs, and the standard dosage. It is believed that the methods and experience of textual research of classic prescriptions in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) can be utilized by the ethnic medicine. At the same time, the prominent problems unique to ethnic medicine cannot be neglected.(1)Attention should be paid to extraterritorial traditional medical literature in the textual research of the source of prescriptions. For instance, Indian medical literature is the source of many classic prescriptions in Tibetan medicine, Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine the source of those in Uygur and Hui medicine, and ancient Indian Buddhist classics the source of those in Dai medicine.(2)The translation and comparison of medical terms in different language systems requires the cooperation of linguists, historians, and medical experts, the combination of historical research, historical linguistics and clinical research methods, and the use of cross-language comparison. In recent years, the related research achievements like multiple translated and annotated versions of classical literature in ethnic medicine and their respective terminology standards have been constantly emerging.(3)In textual research of the original plants of drugs, the following two points deserve attention: one is that the same drug is used in different ethnic medical systems, but there are differences in the understanding of drug properties and active parts; the other is that the original plants of the same drug vary in different ethnic medical systems.(4)The derivation of some classic prescriptions in ethnic medicine from foreign classics results in the difference among measurement systems. In addition, the detailed dosage fails to be covered in some ethnic literature, so the dosage standard should be determined depending on clinical practice and expert consensus.

Discrimination of cinnamon bark and cinnamon twig samples sourced from various countries using HPLC-based fingerprint analysis.

A simple and efficient HPLC method was developed to evaluate the quality of traditional herbal medicines made from cinnamon bark (CB) and cinnamon twig (CT). Seven major bioactive ingredients in 56 samples (24 CB and 32 CT) collected from China, Vietnam, and Indonesia were separated and quantified. The method was validated following the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines. A fingerprint analysis method to discriminate between CB and CT using major component content levels was developed. The discrimination process included the use of similarity indices and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Classification accuracy by the PLS-DA method was about 98%. The pattern analysis method was specific and could be readily used for the comprehensive evaluation of cinnamon samples. Therefore, an HPLC fingerprint in combination with pattern analysis provides a very flexible and reliable method for quality assessment of herbal drugs.