| Objectives:Basic concepts in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)are generally referring to a number of key or common concepts discussed in basic TCM theories,including viscera manifestation,meridians and collaterals,qi,blood,essence,saliva and fluid,treatment based on pathogenic factors mentioned in TCM Basic Sciences.Since ancient times,there have been a lot of qualitative analysis on the relations between these concepts,but we still lack a clear idea or enough data about the extent of these relations.Based on the Yaosu(or Medicinal Element,ME)in TCM,this study aims to measure the relations between various basic TCM concepts by extracting data from prescriptions and different combinations of medicines,and finally give a systematic and stable description of the significance of the correlation between these basic concepts.Methodology:Firstly,this study proposes the concept of “Yaosu”,which is derived from the properties and effects of Chinese medicines,and also a basic TCM concept to denote these properties and effects.Each medicine has more than one properties and effects,each of which as described in basic TCM concepts constitutes a Yaosu of this very medicine.Secondly,this study introduces a hypothesis: since a Chinese medicine contains multiple Yaosu,and a prescription consists of multiple medicines,such a prescription can be considered as a set of Yaosu.Accordingly,the correlation between Yaosu,i.e.basic TCM concepts,can be measured by analyzing the Yaosu in each prescription,and then calculating the frequency with which each Yaosu occurs.During the process,prescriptions are used as samples,and Yaosu as parameters,so that the number of each Yaosu in a prescription constitutes the data to measure the correlation between all Yaosu with.A total of 80 basic TCM concepts are divided into two groups in this study to measure the correlation within each group.One group are treatment-related concepts,including 55 Yaosu,which are referred to as “therapeutic Yaosu”,and the other 25 concepts are related to physiological structures,which are referred to as “fundamental Yaosu”.Therapeutic Yaosu include: tranquilizing the mind,tonifying the heart,tonifying the yang of the heart,clearing the heart,tonifying the liver,dispersing stagnated liver qi,clearing the liver,warming the liver,tonifying the yang of the spleen,invigorating the spleen,tonifying the lungs,warming the lungs,clearing the lungs,moistening the lungs,restricting the lungs,ventilating the lungs,tonifying the essence of the kidney,tonifying the qi of the kidney,tonifying the yin of the kidney,tonifying the yang of the kidney,restraining the intestines,moistening the intestines,improving constipation,warming the stomach,clearing the stomach,regulating the stomach,invigorating the stomach,promoting the bile flow,promoting urination,lowering the adverse flow of qi,tonifying qi,promoting the flow of qi,collecting qi,raising the flow of qi,tonifying blood,promoting blood circulation,stopping bleeding,cooling down blood,producing saliva,tonifying yin,tonifying yang,wind,heat,dampness,cold,dryness,summer heat,phlegm,stagnation,toxin,dispersing mass,food retention,smoothing the throat,improving eyesight,and relieving exterior syndrome.And fundamental Yaosu include: the heart channel,the liver channel,the spleen channel,the lungs channel,the kidney channel,the larger intestines channel,the smaller intestines channel,the stomach channel,the bladder channel,the epicardium channel,the gallbladder channel,the Sanjiao channel,the uterus channel,heart,liver,spleen,lungs,kidney,essence,soul,qi,blood,saliva,yin and yang.The study uses prescription data mainly derived from the Database on Prescriptions in Chinese Medicine,and partly from the section of Renowned Prescriptions of the TCM Book(http://www.tcmbook.cn/).Data on the properties and effects of various Chinese medicines are mainly collected from Science of Traditional Chinese Medicine,and partly from the Traditional Chinese Medical Database System(http://cowork.cintcm.com/engine/windex.jsp).The aliases used in this study are based on those contained in the Encyclopedia on Traditional Chinese Medicine(https://zhongyibaike.com/),as well as the Traditional Chinese Medical Database System.Data collection is mainly performed with Autoit script,data cleaning and data extracting are mainly involving regular expressions,Perl script,Python script and Shell script.The establishment of our database employs Sqlite3.Statistical analysis uses the software R,and graphic drawing uses ggplot2 in R(for regular graphic drawing),Plotly(for dynamic interactive drawing)and Rgraphviz(for Network Graph).Prescription data cleaning involves three steps: replacing the name of each prescription with its constituent medicines,identifying the name of each medicine and ensuring the consistency of the name of each medicine throughout the study,and entering the period and author of the prescription.The information on the nature,taste,and target meridians of each medicine can be extracted directly.For the basic TCM concepts involved in the effects of medicines,data extracting is performed by splitting the verb+noun structure usually employed in the description of the effects of Chinese medicines.To get a stable and reliable description of the correlation between basic TCM concepts,we first have to analyze the correlational structures between the Yaosu in the data source,identify the factors that influence such correlation,then by controlling influence factors,arrive at a stable correlation between every two basic concepts,and finally display the relationships in Network Graph.Results:1? We have analyzed the Yaosu of 2,177 Chinese medicines,and data on Yaosu comprised in over 80,000 prescriptions.2? According to their frequencies and features of the correlation between basic TCM concepts,these 2,177 medicines cluster into 10 accumulative sections.Following the requirement that at least 8 sections should have the same order of correlation,data on relatively stable correlations between basic TCM concepts reflected by Yaosu are captured,and then the result is displayed in Network Graph.3? We measure the correlations between basic TCM concepts in prescriptions,and through validation,find that it is better to standardize the original data according to prescriptions(in rows)and then compute the spearman-related coefficients.4? The main factor that influences the correlations between basic TCM concepts in a prescription is the time period in which the prescription was written.It is advisable that the prescriptions should be grouped for every 200 years.With 100,200,300 or 500 years being the time unit,three stages can be derived according to the features of the correlation: 200-800 AD,800-1400 AD,and 1400-2000 AD,i.e.,600 years in each stage.TCM practitioners had less influence on the relationships between Yaosu than the era;in other words,TCM practitioners' views were rooted in their time.5? We establish a method to select data on stable correlation between basic TCM concepts in each period of time.The time between 200 AD and 2000 AD is divided into 9 periods(30 0,500,700,900,1100,1300,1500,1700 and 1900 AD),and 3 stages(with each stage consisting of three periods,i.e.,three sub-groups).For each stage,data are collected by considering correlation data consistent in at least two out of the three subgroups.And the final correlation data on basic TCM concepts are decided by the correlation data consistent in at least two out of the three stages.This method is called “voting method”.6? Correlation data obtained by applying the voting method reveal that for the five major organs,the liver and the kidney are most closely related,and the spleen and the lungs are most closely related,while the heart is related to the four.Qi is yang in nature,closely related to saliva;blood is yin in nature,closely related to essence;essence is yin in nature,closely related to soul;saliva is yin in nature,closely related to both essence and soul;most closely related to yin are saliva and essence,then blood and soul;most closely related to yang are essence and qi,then soul and saliva;for the relationships between qi,blood,essence,etc.and the five organs,the most closely related combinations are heart and soul,liver and blood,kidney and essence,spleen and qi,lungs and saliva,showing significant regularity.To find out the relationships between the five organs and other TCM concepts,we should replace the five organs with the channels originating from them,which means to represent the heart with Yaosu of the heart channel,the liver with Yaosu of the liver channel,and so on.7? Correlation between basic TCM concepts shows time-specific characteristics;more than 80% of the current relationships between TCM concepts(revealed by third-stage data)have been established based on the first and second-stage data.Compared with previous stage,each stage establishes new relationships,but sees rare examples of reversal.In the third stage,relative to the heart,the situation is reversed for the liver and the spleen;relative to the kidney channel,the situation is reversed for the essence and yang,and for yin and yang;relative to yang,the situation is reversed for the essence and the kidney channel,and for the kidney and the liver.The correlation between the kidney channel and the essence is strengthened,while that between the kidney channel and yang is weakened,and the correlation between the heart and spleen is strengthened,while that between the heart and liver is weakened.These two changes are the most obvious in the current stage.In the second stage,the relationships between qi and liver/Sanjiao,and between blood and the kidney/heart are strengthening.The relationships between soul and the kidney,and between the stomach and lungs are also established in the second stage.Conclusions:The study has arrived at the following conclusions:1? A method to measure the the correlations between basic TCM concepts based on Yaosu is established.The method is based on the concept of “Yaosu” first proposed in this study.Yaosu are derived from the properties and effects of Chinese medicines,and also a basic TCM concept to denote the properties and effects of the Chinese medicines.The concept strengthens the relationship between basic TCM theories and Chinese medicines,as well as prescriptions.Specifically,the method consists of analyzing correlations by adding the number of Yaosu,obtaining correlations based on the order of closeness,and demonstrating the result with Network Graph.The rationale,methods,procedures used in the process constitute a new measuring tool for analyzing the development and changes in TCM theories.It can be applied to describe the development of TCM theories with the passage of time,and also the difference and similarity between various TCM practitioners' conceptions represented in prescriptions.2? The method established in this study to measure “the correlations between basic TCM concepts based on Yaosu” is scientific and feasible.Information on Yaosu derived from the effects of Chinese medicines can be obtained by analyzing the constituents of prescriptions,and can be used in measuring correlations between basic TCM elements.The era when a prescription was written can be correctly identified according to such correlation data.This means the correlation data on basic TCM concepts contained in prescriptions can lead to correct inference of which prescriptions were written earlier,and which later.This attests that to measure “the correlations between basic TCM concepts based on Yaosu” is scientific and feasible.3? If the aim is to find out the relationships between Yaosu according to the properties and effects of Chinese medicines,it is unnecessary and improper to use data about the properties and effects of all Chinese medicines.This is because medicines used with different frequencies provide different amounts of Yaosu information.If medicines are arranged according to frequency of use,then the relationships between Yaosu will have greater change for medicines ranking top,with the change diminishing as the list goes downward.Specifically,the change is greater for the first 400 medicines,smaller for the medicines afterwards,and the relationships tend to stabilize after the 700 th medicine.This result is consistent with the data on the frequency of use of medicines.Therefore,to measure the correlation between Yaosu with data on Chinese medicines,the ideal number of medicines to be investigated ranges between 600 and 700.4? The correlations between basic TCM concepts demonstrate time-specific characteristics.These relationships have been changing during a process of formation and evolution.They may be divided into three periods: 200-800 AD,800-1400 AD,1400-2000 AD,with 600 years for each period.If the evolutionary process is omitted,it would be misleading to measure the correlations between basic TCM concepts based on the data on prescriptions and combinations of medicines as a whole.Such a measurement may lead to the results being only true to the period between 1300 and 1500 AD,contemporaneous to the Ming Dynasty. |
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