[Discussion on discipline of herbalism].

Since the emergence of the term "materia medica", scholars have proposed different opinions on its concept. This term has been used to refer to traditional Chinese medicines, or medical books, or traditional pharmacology. Due to the differences in the concept of materia medica, scholars also have controversies about the concept of herbalism. Herbalism is usually understood as traditional Chinese pharmacology. After years of evolution, the term "herbalism" has now possessed the characteristics of an independent discipline, which can be defined as an applied basic discipline that comprehensively utilizes traditional and modern technological methods to study the formation, development, and changes of traditional pharmacology and reveal the basic theories and application laws of traditional medicine. At present, the research content of herbalism mainly includes three aspects: materia medica history, materia medica literature, and traditional pharmacology. This study explores the disciplinary concepts and main research content of herbalism based on a systematic review of the literature about the concepts of materia medica and herbalism, with the aim of attracting more attention to promote the establishment and development of the discipline of herbalism.

[Hotspots and trends of Ophiopogonis Radix based on CiteSpace knowledge map].

Ophiopogonis Radix is an important Yin-nourishing drug in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), with the effects of nourishing Yin, promoting fluid production, clearing away heart-fire, and relieving restlessness. It is widely used in clinical practice due to its multiple chemical components and pharmacological effects. The technique "mapping knowledge domains" is an effective tool to quantitatively and objectively visualize the development frontiers and trends of certain disciplines. In this study, TCM research papers related to Ophiopogonis Radix were retrieved from Web of Science(WoS) and CNKI, and the research institutions, journals, and keywords involved were visualized and analyzed using the scientometric software CiteSpace. The co-occurrence network of related research on Ophiopogonis Radix was constructed, and the Ophiopogonis Radix-disease-target network was plotted using Cytoscape 3.8.2. The hot topics in Chinese and English papers were analyzed and the shortcomings in the research on Ophiopogonis Radix were summed up. Furthermore, the development trends were discussed. A total of 1 403 Chinese papers and 292 English papers were included in this study. The analysis of research institutions showed that Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and China Pharmaceutical University were the two research institutions with the largest numbers of papers published. The analysis of journals showed that Hebei Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Journal of Asian Natural Products Research were the two journals with the highest numbers of papers concerning Ophiopogonis Radix. The keyword analysis showed that the research contents of Chinese papers focused on the analysis of medication regularity and clinical observation trials, while the English papers focused on component analysis and pharmacological investigation. Data mining and apoptosis-based pharmacological mechanism might be the research trends in the future.

Comparison of efficacy and tolerability of azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil, and lower dosages of rituximab among patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

OBJECTIVE: To observe and compare the efficacy and tolerability of azathioprine (AZA), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and lower dosages of rituximab (RTX) among patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder. METHODS: In this prospective cohort, AQP4-IgG-seropositive patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) were enrolled and randomly divided into three groups, using AZA, MMF or lower dosages of RTX (defined as 100mg RTX intravenous injection, once per week for 4 consecutive weeks) respectively. Annualized relapse rate (ARR), EDSS scores, CD19+ B-cell counts in peripheral blood, serum AQP-4-IgG titre and drug adverse reactions were compared between three groups. RESULTS: In the AZA group (n=22), MMF group (n=30) and RTX group (n=20), 54.5%, 60.0% and 65.0% of patients reached a relapse-free state and EDSS score improved in 90.9%, 83.3% and 90.0% of patients respectively. In addition, there was significant reduction in ARR in all the three groups. Reduced dosage of RTX exerted a significant effect in reducing CD19+ B-cell counts (P<0.01). Compared with the AZA group, the MMF group and the RTX group decreased the AQP-4-IgG titre evidently and caused fewer adverse events. Neither the Kaplan-Meier survival curves nor the Cox proportional hazard model indicated a significant difference in relapse among the three groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: AZA, MMF and reduced dosages of rituximab are all effective in reducing ARR and improving the clinical symptom of patients with NMOSD. Lower dosages of RTX are more effective than the others in decreasing the CD19 B-cell counts. MMF and reduced RTX decrease AQP-4-IgG titre more and cause fewer adverse events than AZA. However, more multicentre studies are still needed to find more effective therapeutic regimen.

Lower dosages of rituximab used successfully in the treatment of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis without tumour.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use and efficacy of lower dosages of rituximab for treating anti N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis without tumour. METHODS: We performed a prospective study of 10 patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis who did not respond to 10 to 14days first-line immunotherapy and received rituximab administered intravenously (IV) at a dosage of 100mg once per week for 4 consecutive weeks. Reinfusion of rituximab was given when CD19+ B-cell counts of total lymphocytes in peripheral blood >1%. The annualized relapse rate (ARR), modified Rankin scale (mRS) and CD19+ B-cell counts were measured every 4 to 10weeks after initial rituximab treatment in order to assess the clinical outcome and efficacy of rituximab. RESULTS: Lower dosages of rituximab led to a significant reduction of mRS and CD19+ B-cells when compared with before the rituximab infusion (P<0.05) and allowed 9 (90%) patients to maintain a stabilised neurological status. One patient experienced a relapse at 19weeks after initial rituximab infusion. Although ARR reduction of all 10 patients did not achieve statistical significance (P>0.05), in the 4 patients who had relapses before rituximab treatment there was an apparent reduction in ARR over 56weeks. At the last follow up, 9 patients (90%) had a good outcome (mRS≤2) including 3 patients (30%) who recovered completely (mRS=0). Transient infusion adverse events occurred in 2 patients. We observed no serious delayed adverse events during the 56weeks follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis who did not respond to first-line immunotherapy, early application of lower dosages of rituximab could efficiently reduce CD19+ B-cell counts of peripheral blood and improve the prognosis of anti-NMDAR encephalitis.