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.

Exploration and Thinking of Literature Research on Ancient Books of Traditional Chinese Medicine / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Literature research on ancient books of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） is an important carrier for inheriting the academic achievements and thoughts of TCM， and a key step for continuing the Chinese civilization and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Based on this， the paper puts forward the purpose of sorting out TCM ancient books：to explore the treasure of traditional culture， reveal its significance， carry forward its spirit， learn from its experiences， so as to make a contribution to the development of TCM. And this paper expounds several major problems in the literature research， that is， paying attention to the phenomenon of "stubborn bass"， avoiding the trend of "latecomers turning inferior"， attaching importance to the hidden trouble of "making comments on behalf of the ancients". Then， this paper discusses the methodology of carrying out accurate research and revealing the true nature and true value of scholarship with the idea of confucian orthodoxy， the rules of not forgetting the original intention and the scientific method. Taking the materia medica archaeology as an example， the author shared the practical exploration of how to crack the historical code with scientific and technological means， so as to provide useful reference for the literature research on TCM ancient books.

Health-related Quality of Life in Patients with Injury in the Emergency Department

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to assess healthrelated quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with injury in the Emergency department, to compare that HRQOLs with normal control group, and to offer the results of this study as basic data on the HRQOL in Korean patients with injury, in the Emergency department. METHODS: Between November 1, 2003, and March 2, 2004, 266 eligible injury patients who had visited our emergency center were enrolled in the study. The HRQOL was measured by using the Korean Short Form Health Survey-36 (KSF-36)and the Korean EuroQol 5 dimensions (KEQ-5D). The HRQOL was assessed at 10 days after injury. The severity of injury was measured by using the Injury Severity Score (ISS). RESULTS: Of the 266 subjects, 164 (61.7%) were men and 102 (38.3%) were women, with a mean (+/-SD) age of 42.8 (+/-15.2) and mean ISS (+/-SD) of 4.54 (+/-3.98). The KSF- 36 and KEQ-5D scores in patients with injury were significantly lower than those in the normal control group. The HRQOL scores of each group by cause of injury had significant differences in the KSF-36 MCS and the KEQ-5D utility index, but they had no significant differences in the KSF-36 PCS. Women were more likely to have poor HRQOLs than men, but no statistical significance was found. Patients with non-intentional injury and hospitalized were more likely to have poor HRQOLs than patients with intentional injury and discharged, but the statistical significance varied with the measurement tool. CONCLUSION: In this study, we observed that the HRLOQs in patients with injury were lower than those in healthy subjects. However, if more definite feature of HRLOQ in patients with injury are to be defined, a study with a large epidemiologic controlled injury group and with detailed adjustments of the variable is needed.