[Visualization and application method of acupuncture-moxibustion knowledge of senile dementia in ancient books based on partial order structure].

Acupuncture-moxibustion has affirmative curative effect in the prevention and treatment of senile dementia. Starting from the literature research, a visualization and application method of acupuncture-moxibustion knowledge of senile dementia in ancient books based on partial order structure is proposed. This method could extract and integrate the acupuncture-moxibustion knowledge of senile dementia contained in ancient books of traditional Chinese medicine, and establish a standardized, structured and visual knowledge graph. Applying this method to knowledge visual analysis and clinical auxiliary guidance could provide reference for combing the knowledge of ancient books of traditional Chinese medicine and transforming the knowledge of ancient books into clinical application.

Decision tree model based prediction of the efficacy of acupuncture in methadone maintenance treatment.

Background: Patients with MMT often face difficulties such as sleep disturbance, headaches, and difficulty in complete abstinence from drugs. Research has shown that acupuncture can mitigate side effects while attenuating methadone dependence. It also has a synergistic and attenuated effect on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Exploring the predictors of the efficacy of acupuncture intervention in MMT might help clinicians and patients promote acupuncture-assisted participation in MMT, and improve clinical treatment strategies for MMT. Objective: To describe the effect of potential predictors on MMT after acupuncture intervention by building a decision-tree model of data from A Clinical Study of Acupuncture-assisted MMT. Design setting and participants: In this randomized controlled trial, 135 patients with MMT underwent acupuncture at the Substance Dependence Department of Guangzhou Huiai Hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Intervention: A total of 135 patients were 1:1 randomly assigned to either an acupuncture plus routine care group (acupuncture plus methadone) or a routine group (methadone only) for 6 weeks, and followed up for 10 weeks. Sex, age, education level, route of previous opioid use, years of opioid use, and MMT time were recorded before the trial. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: All analyses were based on the intention-to-treat (ITT) population. The two decision tree models used the change of methadone dosage and the VAS score for opioid desire as response variables, respectively, and the evaluation criteria were positive effect (decreased by ≥20%) and no effect (decreased by <20%, or increased). We generated the respective feature weights for the decision tree and evaluated the model's accuracy and performance by Precision-Recall. Results: The overall accuracy of methadone reduction and psychological craving VAS scoring decision trees were 0.63 and 0.74, respectively. The Methadone Dosage Efficacy decision tree identified years of opioid use (weight = 0.348), acupuncture (weight = 0.346), and route of previous opioid use (weight = 0.162) as key features. For the VAS Score decision tree, acupuncture (weight = 0.618), MMT time (weight = 0.235), and age (weight = 0.043) were the important features. Conclusion: Exploratory decision tree analysis showed that acupuncture, years of opioid use, route of previous opioid use, MMT time, and age were key predictors of the MMT treatment. Thus, acupuncture-assisted MMT strategy should consider the relevant influencing factors mentioned above. Patient summary: Understanding patient characteristics and the impact of acupuncture regimens on methadone dosage reduction in MMT patients may help physicians determine the best treatment regimen for patients. An analysis of data from our clinical trial showed that acupuncture, years of opioid use, route of previous opioid use, age, and MMT time were key predictors of progressive recovery in patients with MMT. Eligible patients may benefit most from the MMT rehabilitation that reduces consumption and psychological cravings for methadone. Clinical trial registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx, identifier: ChiCTR1900026357.

A research on syndrome element differentiation based on phenomenology and mathematical method.

BACKGROUND: As an empirical medical system independent of conventional Western medicine (CWM), over thousands of years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has established its own unique method of diagnosis and treatment. The perspective of holism and system in TCM is essentially different from the view of Reductionism in CWM. With the development of modern science and technology, the restriction of reductionism is more and more prominent, and researchers begin to pay more attention to holistic thinking in TCM. Confronted with the above situation, there is an urgent need to explore the diagnosis of TCM by the techniques of modern science. METHODS: To explore the feasibility of using modern science to describe and realize the diagnosis of TCM, in this paper, a method of syndrome element differentiation based on phenomenology is proposed. The proposed method is implemented by mathematical mapping, and then it is testified through analysis of 670 medical records: Based on the original mapping data between two data sets (set of syndrome elements and set of clinical manifestations), new mapping data is generated, and thus the corresponding quantitative diagnostic results are calculated and evaluated. Finally, knowledge discovery of the diagnosis results based on attribute partial-ordered structure diagram is conducted. RESULTS: The value order's matching results between original and new results show that the matched degree of each record is no less than 65%, while there are at least 87% records whose matched degree is more than 80%. In addition, the knowledge discoveries of new results are basically identical with the ones of original results as well. CONCLUSION: Using phenomenology to describe syndrome differentiation should be feasible, and further research on mapping relations between various sets (symptoms, formulas, drugs) of TCM should be conducted and evaluated through clinical trials in future.