Journal of Integrative Medicine-Jim最新文献

Over the past three decades, a growing body of research has been dedicated to the integration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and modern medicine, highlighting the complementary benefits of both disciplines. However, in the context of skin wound treatment, such integration remains limited and warrants further exploration. During the wound healing process, the inflammatory response is a critical physiological event. A harmonious balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory events is essential for the progression of inflammation and the overall wound healing process. This equilibrium reflects the dynamic and reciprocal interaction embodied in the TCM concept of yin and yang. This study analyzes the dynamic changes in wound inflammation from the perspective of TCM's yin-yang theory and pinpoints the key cellular and molecular factors that influence the yin-yang balance in wound inflammation. The findings offer significant theoretical and practical value for future clinical and translational research. These insights will inform more effective strategies for the treatment of skin wounds and to facilitate the development of novel therapeutics. Please cite this article as: Geng YF, Ma XY, Ge Y, Liu B, Deng JG, Liu S, Wu TQ, Jiang SR, Geng FN. Yin-yang dynamics in wound inflammation: yin and yang manifestations of inflammatory substances. J Integr Med. 2025; Epub ahead of print.

The integration of materials science and Chinese medicine (CM) has emerged as a significant interdisciplinary field, playing a crucial role in enhancing the pharmacodynamics of CM and its derived small molecules. This field introduces novel concepts, like carrier-based CM delivery systems and carrier-free CM-based material systems, and here we present a detailed exposition of their respective merits and drawbacks. In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in research on carrier-based drug delivery systems for CM, which are designed to optimize administration routes, improve targeted delivery precision, and enable controlled drug release. Nonetheless, these systems face critical challenges including suboptimal drug payloads, prohibitive manufacturing costs, and compromised biocompatibility. The introduction of carrier-free CM-based material system addresses these shortcomings through inherent advantages including exceptional drug-loading capacity, full-bioactive components, and superior biocompatibility. Comparative analyses demonstrate that nanonization of the active components of herbal medicines can significantly improve the permeability, solubility, stability, and targeting of the active components themselves. The intrinsic therapeutic components, eco-friendly attributes, and sustainable regenerative capacity of CM, combined with the adjustable physicochemical properties of advanced materials create unique therapeutic advantages. The advancement and optimization of CM and materials science concept have significantly bolstered the clinical application of drugs, increasingly aligning with the personalized treatment model in clinical practice. We provide an overview of the future obstacles and potential development strategies in the realm of CM-materials science with the aspiration to propel sustainable development in both CM and materials science. Please cite this article as: Luo WK, Guo XH, Cao LN, Zheng J, Luo M, Wang Y. Collision of Chinese medicine and materials science: Interdisciplinary biomaterials' perspectives. J Integr Med. 2025; Epub ahead of print.

Objective: In integrative traditional Korean medicine, children without abnormalities on medical examination but who frequently experience minor illnesses, fatigue and poor appetite are diagnosed as children with weakness. The Pediatric Weakness Scale (PWS) is a validated questionnaire for assessing pediatric weakness, but no standardized cutoff value exists. This study aimed to develop a validated cutoff value for PWS.

Methods: Parents of children between 6-9 years of age were administered a survey to measure PWS, PedsQL™ Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (MFS), Korean Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL), Korean version of the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (K-CEBQ), child growth indices, frequency of respiratory infections, and average duration of respiratory infections. The correlation between PWS and the results of each survey was analyzed using Pearson's or Spearman's correlation. The differences between the weak and normal groups were compared using independent sample t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the PWS subscale were generated based on five visceral theories (liver, heart, spleen, lung and kidney). The cutoff value was determined at the point that maximized Youden's index on the ROC curve.

Results: A total of 326 parents participated in the study. In PWS, the liver weakness index was significantly correlated with the MFS, heart weakness index with the K-CBCL, spleen weakness index with the K-CEBQ, lung weakness index with the frequency of respiratory infections, average duration of respiratory infections in the past year, and kidney weakness index with birth weight, height percentile, and weight percentile. Significant differences in each PWS subscale were observed between the weak and normal children. The cutoff values for diagnosing weakness in the liver, heart, spleen, lung and kidney were 4.50, 7.50, 4.50, 4.50 and 4.50, respectively, with sensitivity and specificity reaching up to 84.6% and 82.5%.

Conclusion: The cutoff values for PWS derived from this survey will be a useful tool for diagnosing and assessing pediatric weakness. Please cite this article as: Kim TH, Chae H, Han JH, Bang MR, Chang GT, Lee JY, Lee SH. Cutoff value for Pediatric Weakness Scale for diagnosis of pediatric weakness. J Integr Med. 2025; Epub ahead of print.

Objective: This study aimed to predict biased traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) constitutions among individuals aged ≥ 65 years using machine learning models and to identify the key predictors of biased TCM constitutions.

Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 4,403 older adults in Shanghai, China. Demographic, lifestyle and clinical data were collected. Six machine learning models were trained and compared: random forest (RF), gradient boosting machine (GBM), support vector machine (SVM), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), adaptive boosting classifier (AdaBoost) and logistic regression (LR).

Results: Among these 4,403 participants, 29.2% presented with biased TCM constitutions. RF demonstrated the highest predictive performance with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.847 (indicating excellent discrimination), followed by GBM (AUC = 0.842), XGBoost (AUC = 0.840), AdaBoost (AUC = 0.830), SVM (AUC = 0.764) and LR (AUC = 0.759). Key predictors included age, heart rate, and specific blood parameters such as monocytes, alanine aminotransferase, platelet distribution width, total bilirubin, and creatinine.

Conclusion: The high prevalence of biased TCM constitutions among elderly adults underscores the need for targeted health management strategies. Machine learning models, particularly RF, can accurately predict biased TCM constitutions, enabling early identification of at-risk individuals. The identified predictors provide valuable insights for developing personalised preventive strategies and inform future research on TCM-based elderly healthcare. Please cite this article as: Sun C, Yu Z, Ge ZY, Wang WJ, Wang BY, Song HL, Xie GQ, Zhao HL, Zhang Y, Xu XL. Predicting traditional Chinese medicine constitutions in adults aged ≥ 65 years: A machine learning approach. J Integr Med. 2025; Epub ahead of print.

Acupuncture therapy has demonstrated therapeutic effects on various systemic diseases through the use of specific acupoints along meridians. However, due to the multi-target effect of acupuncture and the complexity of meridian pathways, the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture have not been well understood. Tissue clearing and three-dimensional (3D) imaging is an emerging medical technology that provides high-resolution 3D molecular information while preserving the structural integrity of tissues. In relevant research articles, tissue-clearing and 3D imaging techniques stood out for their ability to visualize the structural characteristics of meridians and acupoints of intact tissues, in order to reveal their intricate connections by means of topological principles. Specifically, this technology has managed to show that acupuncture points like Guilai (ST29) and Sanyinjiao (SP6), which are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating gynecological disorders, promote angiogenesis in the ovaries and thus improve follicle numbers in polycystic ovary syndrome-like ovaries. This article summarizes recent progress on tissue-clearing and 3D imaging technologies and anticipates the prospects of utilizing this technology to further explore the effects of acupuncture. Please cite this article as: Gao WH, Wang Y, Tong XY, Hu W, Wang YC, Xiao Y, Li JJ, Feng Y. Research progress of tissue clearing and three-dimensional imaging on multiple effects of acupuncture and moxibustion. J Integr Med. 2025; Epub ahead of print.