Systems Study on the Antirheumatic Mechanism of Tibetan Medicated-Bath Therapy Using Wuwei-Ganlu-Yaoyu-Keli

Practical Implementation of Artificial Intelligence-Based Deep Learning and Cloud Computing on the Application of Traditional Medicine and Western Medicine in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology, is a serious threat to the health of middle-aged and elderly people. Although western medicine, traditional medicine such as traditional Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine and other ethnic medicine have shown certain advantages in the diagnosis and treatment of RA, there are still some practical shortcomings, such as delayed diagnosis, improper treatment scheme and unclear drug mechanism. At present, the applications of artificial intelligence (AI)-based deep learning and cloud computing has aroused wide attention in the medical and health field, especially in screening potential active ingredients, targets and action pathways of single drugs or prescriptions in traditional medicine and optimizing disease diagnosis and treatment models. Integrated information and analysis of RA patients based on AI and medical big data will unquestionably benefit more RA patients worldwide. In this review, we mainly elaborated the application status and prospect of AI-assisted deep learning and cloud computation-oriented western medicine and traditional medicine on the diagnosis and treatment of RA in different stages. It can be predicted that with the help of AI, more pharmacological mechanisms of effective ethnic drugs against RA will be elucidated and more accurate solutions will be provided for the treatment and diagnosis of RA in the future.

A Novel Strategy for Decoding and Validating the Combination Principles of Huanglian Jiedu Decoction From Multi-Scale Perspective

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas treat complex diseases through combined botanical drugs which follow specific compatibility rules to reduce toxicity and increase efficiency. "Jun, Chen, Zuo and Shi" is one of most used compatibility rules in the combination of botanical drugs. However, due to the deficiency of traditional research methods, the quantified theoretical basis of herbal compatibility including principles of "Jun, Chen, Zuo and Shi" are still unclear. Network pharmacology is a new strategy based on system biology and multi-disciplines, which can systematically and comprehensively observe the intervention of drugs on disease networks, and is especially suitable for the research of TCM in the treatment of complex diseases. In this study, we systematically decoded the "Jun, Chen, Zuo and Shi" rules of Huanglian Jiedu Decoction (HJD) in the treatment of diseases for the first time. This interpretation method considered three levels of data. The data in the first level mainly depicts the characteristics of each component in single botanical drug of HJD, include the physical and chemical properties of component, ADME properties and functional enrichment analysis of component targets. The second level data is the characterization of component-target-protein (C-T-P) network in the whole protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, mainly include the characterization of degree and key communities in C-T-P network. The third level data is the characterization of intervention propagation properties of HJD in the treatment of different complex diseases, mainly include target coverage of pathogenic genes and propagation coefficient of intervention effect between target proteins and pathogenic genes. Finally, our method was validated by metabolic data, which could be used to detect the components absorbed into blood. This research shows the scientific basis of "Jun-Chen-Zuo-Shi" from a multi-dimensional perspective, and provides a good methodological reference for the subsequent interpretation of key components and speculation mechanism of the formula.

Dexamethasone: chondroprotective corticosteroid or catabolic killer?

While glucocorticoids have been used for over 50 years to treat rheumatoid and osteoarthritis pain, the prescription of glucocorticoids remains controversial because of potentially harmful side effects at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. One member of the glucocorticoid family, dexamethasone (DEX) has recently been demonstrated to rescue cartilage matrix loss and chondrocyte viability in animal studies and cartilage explant models of tissue injury and post-traumatic osteoarthritis, suggesting the possibility of DEX as a disease-modifying drug if used appropriately. However, the literature on the effects of DEX on cartilage reveals conflicting results on the drug's safety, depending on the dose and duration of DEX exposure as well as the model system used. Overall, DEX has been shown to protect against arthritis-related changes in cartilage structure and function, including matrix loss, inflammation and cartilage viability. These beneficial effects are not always observed in model systems using initially healthy cartilage or isolated chondrocytes, where many studies have reported significant increases in chondrocyte apoptosis. It is crucially important to understand under what conditions DEX may be beneficial or harmful to cartilage and other joint tissues and to determine potential for safe use of this glucocorticoid in the clinic as a disease-modifying drug.