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Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry :... 2018Metabolic diseases are leading health concerns in today's global society. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), one body type studied is the phlegm-dampness...
BACKGROUND/AIMS
Metabolic diseases are leading health concerns in today's global society. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), one body type studied is the phlegm-dampness constitution (PC), which predisposes individuals to complex metabolic disorders. Genomic studies have revealed the potential metabolic disorders and the molecular features of PC. The role of epigenetics in the regulation of PC, however, is unknown.
METHODS
We analyzed a genome-wide DNA methylation in 12 volunteers using Illumina Infinium Human Methylation450 BeadChip on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Eight volunteers had PC and 4 had balanced constitutions.
RESULTS
Methylation data indicated a genome-scale hyper-methylation pattern in PC. We located 288 differentially methylated probes (DMPs). A total of 256 genes were mapped, and some of these were metabolic-related. SQSTM1, DLGAP2 and DAB1 indicated diabetes mellitus; HOXC4 and SMPD3, obesity; and GRWD1 and ATP10A, insulin resistance. According to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA), differentially methylated genes were abundant in multiple metabolic pathways.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest the potential risk for metabolic disorders in individuals with PC. We also explain the clinical characteristics of PC with DNA methylation features.
Topics: Adenosine Triphosphatases; Adult; Carrier Proteins; CpG Islands; DNA Methylation; Diabetes Mellitus; Epigenesis, Genetic; Female; Homeodomain Proteins; Humans; Insulin Resistance; Leukocytes, Mononuclear; Male; Membrane Transport Proteins; Metabolic Diseases; Middle Aged; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Obesity; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Sphingomyelin Phosphodiesterase
PubMed: 29518789
DOI: 10.1159/000487976 -
Chinese Medicine and Culture : Official... Jul 2020According to autopsy reports, patients who died from COVID-19 had a lot of mucus in the lung that obstructed the airways, reduced the effect of mechanical ventilation,...
According to autopsy reports, patients who died from COVID-19 had a lot of mucus in the lung that obstructed the airways, reduced the effect of mechanical ventilation, and even led to pulmonary failure. Traditional Chinese medicine literature mentions that "Inability to remove phlegm impairs the lung, which leads to death." Hence one of the most urgent problems to be solved is to remove phlegm from the small airways. This article elaborates ten methods to remove phlegm for clinical reference.
PubMed: 37641679
DOI: 10.4103/CMAC.CMAC_27_20 -
Evidence-based Complementary and... 2022This study evaluated the clinical efficacy and safety of the phlegm-resolving method in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the treatment of obstructive sleep...
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the clinical efficacy and safety of the phlegm-resolving method in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).
METHODS
We searched the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, CNKI, and VIP databases according to specific search strategies. The data were analyzed using RevMan 5.3 software.
RESULTS
Thirteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comprising 882 patients with OSAHS were selected. Compared to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the phlegm-resolving method of TCM combined with CPAP significantly more effectively improved the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and lowest oxygen saturation (LSaO). While the treatment effect was better for a treatment duration of >6 weeks compared to that at ≤6 weeks, the difference was not statistically significant. Compared to health guidance alone, the combination of the phlegm-resolving method in TCM with health guidance showed significantly better efficacy in improving AHI, ESS, and LSaO. In terms of reducing ESS and increasing LSaO, the effect was better for treatment courses >6 weeks. When the AHI was reduced, a duration of ≤6 weeks showed more advantages; however, the difference was not significant. Only one study reported mild nausea in one participant in the treatment group at the initial stage of treatment; the remaining studies did not mention any side effects.
CONCLUSION
Both the resolving phlegm method of TCM combined with CPAP and the resolving phlegm method of TCM combined with health guidance were more effective in improving AHI, LSaO, and ESS compared to the control group.
PubMed: 35958923
DOI: 10.1155/2022/7426552 -
American Journal of Respiratory and... Jan 2007
Topics: Adult; Chronic Disease; Cough; Humans; Mucus; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Risk
PubMed: 17179492
DOI: 10.1164/rccm.200610-1458ED -
Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi = Zhongguo... Nov 2021Polygalae Radix has long been used in China for calming the mind, promoting intelligence, communicating the heart and kidney, eliminating phlegm, and reducing swelling.... (Review)
Review
Polygalae Radix has long been used in China for calming the mind, promoting intelligence, communicating the heart and kidney, eliminating phlegm, and reducing swelling. At present, it is used to treat amnesia, insomnia, and malaise. Modern research has revealed that Polygalae Radix mainly contains triterpenoid saponins, xanthone, oligosaccharide esters, etc., with the activities of improving memory, resisting dementia, protecting the brain, relieving cough, and removing phlegm, as well as sedation and hypnosis. The present study reviews the research progress on chemical composition, pharmacological action, quality control, and metabolism of Polygalae Radix in the past 30 years, to provide a theoretical basis for further research and development.
Topics: Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Oligosaccharides; Plant Roots; Polygala; Quality Control
PubMed: 34951162
DOI: 10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20210518.601 -
Annals of Palliative Medicine Sep 2021It is becoming more and more important to judge whether patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) have phlegm and blood stasis syndromes in the process of traditional...
BACKGROUND
It is becoming more and more important to judge whether patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) have phlegm and blood stasis syndromes in the process of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnosis and treatment of CHD. The syndrome differentiation strategy of phlegm and blood stasis syndromes of CHD is still not standardized, and it is particularly necessary to make syndrome differentiation simpler and more accurate.
METHODS
Twenty-eight medical cases that met the criteria, comprising 10 ancient medical cases and 18 modern ones, were selected from the TCM literature, which were then analyzed by 57 experts via questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the data was mainly based on frequency analysis.
RESULTS
(I) The average age of the 57 experts from 20 provinces was 48.9±8.5 years; 89.5% were associate professor or above, and 75.4% of them worked at a tertiary hospital. (II) Consistency of expert consultation over medical cases: for the ancient medical cases, the diagnostic consistency rate of phlegm syndrome was 27/34 (79.4%) and additional diagnosis rate of the blood stasis syndrome was 27/57 (47.4%); for the modern medical cases, the consistency rate compared with the original diagnosis of phlegm syndrome was 54/80 (67.5%) and that of blood stasis syndrome was 73/90 (81.1%). (III) The top five experts' diagnostic basics of phlegm syndrome were oppression in the chest, slippery pulse, greasy fur, coughing of phlegm, and chest pain; the top five diagnostic basics of blood stasis syndrome were chest pain, dark tongue, oppression in chest, red tongue, and ecchymosis on tongue. (IV) In the questionnaire consultation on CHD phlegm-blood stasis syndrome cases, the diagnostic basis of "symptom or (and) tongue manifestation" accounted for 12/27 (44.4%) of the diagnostic basics of phlegm syndrome and 28/38 (73.7%) of that of blood stasis syndrome basis.
CONCLUSIONS
Modern Chinese medicine experts pay much attention to the diagnosis and treatment of CHD based on TCM pathology theories of phlegm and blood stasis. To collect and detect the patients' symptoms and tongue manifestation is an important strategy of the experts for CHD phlegm and blood stasis syndrome differentiation.
Topics: Adult; Coronary Disease; Humans; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Middle Aged; Referral and Consultation; Syndrome; Tongue
PubMed: 34628918
DOI: 10.21037/apm-21-2332 -
European Journal of Internal Medicine Oct 2023
PubMed: 37574349
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejim.2023.07.040 -
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases... Jan 2020Cough and phlegm are common symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and may significantly affect quality of life. This study assessed the burden of...
RATIONALE
Cough and phlegm are common symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and may significantly affect quality of life. This study assessed the burden of cough and phlegm on clinical outcomes and quality of life among people with a self-reported physician diagnosis of COPD.
METHODS
Patient-reported data from the COPD Foundation's Patient-Powered Research Network (COPD PPRN) were utilized. Cough and phlegm severity and frequency were assessed by responses to questions on the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and categorized into none/low, moderate and severe. Quality of life domains were evaluated using the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS-29). Associations between cough and phlegm levels and PROMIS-29 domains were examined using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).
RESULTS
The 5286 participants were average age 64.4 years (SD=11.4), 87.9% white, 60.4% female, 51.2% married, and 42.2% with caregivers. Approximately three-fourths of the participants had moderate or severe cough or phlegm levels. Respondents with moderate and high cough or phlegm had significantly worse dyspnea (<0.0001), more exacerbations in the previous one year (<0.0001), worse physical and social functioning, and more symptoms of anxiety and depression on PROMIS-29 compared to those with no/low cough and phlegm.
CONCLUSIONS
In this group of people with COPD, higher levels of cough and phlegm are associated with worse clinical and quality of life outcomes.
PubMed: 31999902
DOI: 10.15326/jcopdf.7.1.2019.0146 -
Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi = Zhongguo... Mar 2023Atherosclerosis(AS) is the key pathological basis of coronary heart disease(CHD), and lipid infiltration is a classical theory to explain the pathological mechanism of...
[Research advances in mechanism of lipid infiltration of coronary heart disease and simultaneous treatment of phlegm and blood stasis based on phlegm-blood stasis correlation theory].
Atherosclerosis(AS) is the key pathological basis of coronary heart disease(CHD), and lipid infiltration is a classical theory to explain the pathological mechanism of AS. The theory highlights that the occurrence and development of AS are closely related to abnormal lipid metabolism, with the essence of the pathological reaction caused by the invasion of lipids into arterial intima from plasma. Phlegm and blood stasis are physiologically homologous and subject to pathological co-existence. Phlegm-blood stasis correlation is the basic theory to explain the pathogenesis characteristics of CHD and has important guiding significance for revealing the mecha-nism of lipid infiltration of CHD. Phlegm is the pathological product of abnormal metabolism of Qi, blood, and body fluid, and a gene-ral summary of a series of abnormally expressed lipid substances. Among them, turbid phlegm invades the heart vessels, gradually accumulates, and condenses to achieve the qualitative change from "invisible pathogen" to "tangible pathogen", which corresponds to the mechanism of lipid migration and deposition in the intima of blood vessels, and is the starting factor of the disease. Blood stasis is the continuous development of phlegm, and it is a result of pathological states such as decreased blood fluidity, increased blood coagulation, and abnormal rheology. The fact that blood stasis caused by phlegm accords with the pathological process of "lipid abnormality-circulatory disturbance" and is the central link of the disease. Phlegm and blood stasis aggravate each other and lead to indissoluble cementation. The phlegm-blood stasis combination serves as common pathogen to trigger the disease, which is the inevitable outcome of the disease. Based on the phlegm-blood stasis correlation theory, the simultaneous treatment of phlegm and blood stasis is established. It is found that this therapy can simultaneously regulate blood lipid, reduce blood viscosity, and improve blood circulation, which can fundamentally cut off the biological material basis of the reciprocal transformation between phlegm and blood stasis, thus exerting a significant curative effect.
Topics: Humans; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Coronary Disease; Mucus; Atherosclerosis; Lipids
PubMed: 37005830
DOI: 10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20221126.502 -
Evidence-based Complementary and... 2021In this study, we analyzed the metabolite profile of the tongue coating of patients having gastric precancerous lesion (GPL) with damp phlegm pattern and proposed a...
OBJECTIVE
In this study, we analyzed the metabolite profile of the tongue coating of patients having gastric precancerous lesion (GPL) with damp phlegm pattern and proposed a mechanism of pathological transition.
METHODS
The changes in tongue-coating metabolites in patients with GPL damp phlegm pattern were analyzed using GC-TOF-MS and UHPLC-QE-MS metabolomics methods.
RESULTS
When compared with 20 patients who did not exhibit a nondamp phlegm pattern, 12 metabolites were highly expressed and 10 metabolites were under expressed in 40 cases of damp phlegm pattern, of which involved 9 metabolic pathways. Compared with 15 healthy people, 134 metabolites were upregulated and 3 metabolites were downregulated in 40 cases exhibiting a damp phlegm pattern, of which involved 17 metabolic pathways. The patients with damp phlegm pattern were compared with nondamp phlegm pattern patients and healthy people, the main differential metabolites were primarily lipids and lipid-like molecules, and the main differential metabolic pathways were related to glycerophospholipid metabolism. In the glycerophospholipid metabolism, the metabolites with changes were phosphatidylethanolamine and lysoPC(18 : 1 (9z)). Among them, phosphatidylethanolamine exists in the synthesis stage of glycerophospholipid metabolism.
CONCLUSIONS
Abnormal expression of lipids and lipid-like molecules, as the major metabolic change, was involved in the formation of GPL patients with damp phlegm pattern.
PubMed: 34122594
DOI: 10.1155/2021/5515325