Objective Evaluation of Pulse Width Using an Array Pulse Diagram.

BACKGROUND: Pulse width, which can reflect qi, blood excess, and deficiency, has been used for diagnosing diseases and determining the prognosis in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This study aimed to devise an objective method to measure the pulse width based on an array pulse diagram for objective diagnosis. METHODS: The channel 6, the region wherein the pulse wave signal is the strongest, is located in the middle of the pulse sensor array and at the guan position of cunkou during data collection. Therefore, the main wave (h1) time of the pulse wave was collected from the channel 6 through calculation. The left h1 time was collected from the remaining 11 channels. The amplitudes at these time points were extracted as the h1 amplitudes for each channel. However, the pulse width could not be calculated accurately at 12 points. Consequently, a bioharmonic spline interpolation algorithm was used to interpolate the h1 amplitude data obtained from the horizontal and vertical points, yielding 651 (31 × 21) h1 amplitude data. The 651 data points were converted into a heat map to intuitively calculate the pulse width. The pulse width was calculated by multiplying the number of grids on the vertical axis with the unit length of the grid. The pulse width was determined by TCM doctors to verify the pulse width measurement accuracy. Meanwhile, a color Doppler ultrasound examination of the volunteers' radial arteries was performed and the intravascular meridian widths of the radial artery compared with the calculated pulse widths to determine the reliability. RESULTS: The pulse width determined using the maximal h1 amplitude method was comparable with the radial artery intravascular meridian widths measured using color Doppler ultrasound. The h1 amplitude was higher in the high blood pressure group and the pulse width was greater. CONCLUSIONS: The pulse width determined using the maximal h1 amplitude was objective and accurate. Comparison between the pulse widths of the normal and high blood pressure groups verified the reliability of the method.

Relationships Between Diurnal Changes of Tongue Coating Microbiota and Intestinal Microbiota.

The oral cavity and the intestine are the main distribution locations of human digestive bacteria. Exploring the relationships between the tongue coating and gut microbiota, the influence of the diurnal variations of the tongue coating microbiota on the intestinal microbiota can provide a reference for the development of the disease diagnosis and monitoring, as well as the medication time. In this work, a total of 39 healthy college students were recruited. We collected their tongue coating microbiota which was collected before and after sleep and fecal microbiota. The diurnal variations of tongue coating microbiota are mainly manifested on the changes in diversity and relative abundance. There are commensal bacteria in the tongue coating and intestines, especially Prevotella which has the higher proportion in both sites. The relative abundance of Prevotella in the tongue coating before sleep has a positive correlation with intestinal Prevotella; the r is 0.322 (p < 0.05). Bacteroides in the intestine had the most bacteria associated with the tongue coating and had the highest correlation coefficient with Veillonella in the oral cavity, which was 0.468 (p < 0.01). These results suggest that the abundance of the same flora in the two sites may have a common change trend. The SourceTracker results show that the proportion of intestinal bacteria sourced from tongue coating is less than 1%. It indicates that oral flora is difficult to colonize in the intestine in healthy people. This will provide a reference for the study on the oral and intestinal microbiota in diseases.