This study aimed to identify core herbal combinations for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) treatment from multiple senior Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) experts. We analyzed prescription data from 4,729 RA inpatients using constrained frequent closed itemset mining. The results revealed distinct core prescriptions from different experts, such as strategies focused on reinforcing the spleen, warming the kidney, activating blood circulation, and clearing heat. These combinations reflect the TCM principle of “treating the same disease with different methods” and are suited for specific clinical patterns of RA. This data-driven approach provides a foundation for standardizing TCM diagnosis and treatment and advancing precision medicine for RA.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by underlying pathological manifestations such as synovitis and abnormalities in blood vessels. To retrospectively analyze the correlation between medication use and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) changes in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) treated with Chinese herbal medicine or Western medicine injections at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, evaluating the clinical impact of these medications on ESR reduction. Medical records of 440 RA patients hospitalized in the Rheumatology and Immunology Department of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine between November 2019 and January 2025, who received combination therapy with Chinese herbal medicine or Western medicine injections, were collected. ESR levels before and after treatment were compared, and the correlation between the use of specific Chinese herbs or Western medicine injections and ESR reduction was analyzed. Compared to pre-treatment levels, the ESR levels in the 440 RA patients significantly decreased after treatment, with a statistically significant difference$(P<0.05)$. Specifically, ESR decreased from$(53.63 \pm 29.96)$mm/h before treatment to$(29.85 \not \leq 23.30) \text{mm} / \mathrm{h}$after treatment. The use of Mulberry Leaf (Sang Ye), Ophiopogon Root (Mai Dong), Trichosanthes Root (Tian Hua Fen), Glehnia Root (Bei Sha Shen), Lidocaine Hydrochloride Injection, Insulin Injection, Sodium Hyaluronate Injection, and Compound Betamethasone Injection showed a positive correlation with ESR reduction. Conversely, the use of Prepared Aconite Root (Fu Zi), Forsythia Fruit (Lian Qiao), Astragalus Root (Huang Qi), Pueraria Root (Ge Gen), and Fresh Ginger (Sheng Jiang) showed a negative correlation with ESR reduction. This retrospective analysis suggests that Mulberry Leaf (Sang Ye), Ophiopogon Root (Mai Dong), Trichosanthes Root (Tian Hua Fen), Glehnia Root (Bei Sha Shen), and Compound Betamethasone Injection can significantly reduce ESR levels in RA patients, effectively suppressing inflammatory responses, and are worthy of clinical application.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by underlying pathological manifestations such as synovitis and abnormalities in blood vessels. By mining the real electronic medical record data of RA patients, this paper divides the respondents into glucocorticoid group and non-glucocorticoid group, then describes the use of traditional Chinese and Western medicines in RA patients. Subsequently, the article analyzes the differences in medication frequency between the two groups. The results indicate that Atractylodes macrocephalus, Zhimu, Tripterygium wilfordii polysaccharide tablets, Xiangdan Injection, Danshen Injection, and Rhodiola Rosea Dazhu Injection were used more frequently in the glucocorticoid group. Additionally, the frequency of Western medicine use was generally higher in the glucocorticoid group compared to the non-glucocorticoid group, and this difference was statistically significant. In summary, the primary medications used for RA patients are Western medicines, supplemented by traditional Chinese medicines. Western medicines primarily exert anti-inflammatory effects, while traditional Chinese medicines can enhance the efficacy of RA treatment and reduce the incidence of osteoporosis..

This study utilized electronic medical record data of RA inpatients to ascertain potential risk factors associated with patient readmission. Specifically, the investigation concentrated on the impact of various Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndromes, comorbidities, interactions between TCM syndromes and comorbidities, as well as interactions among comorbidities themselves, on the likelihood of hospital readmission among RA patients. The present study employed logistic regression analysis to examine the interaction between dichotomous variables. The findings revealed that individuals diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and experiencing arthralgia caused by wind-cold-dampness, in addition to hyperlipidemia, exhibited a heightened likelihood of hospital readmission. Similarly, RA patients with hyperlipidemia and the syndrome of dampness-heat blocking collaterals were found to be at an even greater risk of readmission. Furthermore, individuals with RA and comorbidities such as atherosclerosis and chronic gastritis were identified as being at a high risk of readmission. Lastly, RA patients with hyperlipidemia and fatty liver were also found to have an increased likelihood of being readmitted to the hospital. Hence, it is advisable to closely monitor the disease progression among the aforementioned population and implement essential interventions in clinical practice to mitigate the readmission rate of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), consequently alleviating the disease and economic burdens experienced by patients.

Objective: To study the phenotypic characteristics of the combination of disease and syndrome of COPD. Methods: Structured clinical EMRs of inpatients in the respiratory department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine for a total of 10 years from 2010 to 2019 were collected. Patients with COPD in Western medicine diagnosis on admission or discharge were used as the study subjects. A Heterogeneous Medical Record network based on COPD patients was constructed. Then, the K-means clustering algorithm was used to divide the supplemented patient medical record feature matrix into different modules (ie, subtypes), and enrichment analysis was performed on the phenotypes characteristics of different modules to determine the typical clinical phenotypes characteristics of different modules. Results: After the analysis of different phenotypic characteristics of COPD patients, it was found that the phenotypic characteristics of COPD patients were diverse. The prominent manifestation is that COPD patients often have diseases and symptoms other than respiratory system, and more than 70% of them have 2-6 different diseases. Through cluster study and analysis of each subtype of COPD patients revealed that each module has its own unique core characteristics. Conclusions: After the analysis of different phenotypic characteristics of COPD patients, it was found that the phenotypic characteristics of COPD patients were diverse, and each subtype has its own unique core characteristics.

Objective: To propose a frequent closed itemsets mining method based on item constraints to study the combination rules between symptoms, diagnoses, and herbs in clinical data of TCM. Methods: Based on the Charm algorithm, prune the itemsets which do not meet the constraint conditions firstly, design a constraint based frequent closed itemsets mining algorithm, which was used on the clinical dataset of TCM to confirm the effectiveness of the method and the clinical significance of the mining results. Results: Based on the Charm algorithm, a constraint based frequent closed itemsets mining algorithm was proposed. The results of the method for mining frequent closed itemsets from data of symptom, diagnosis and herbs were consistent with the relevant theories of TCM.Conclusion: The combination of constraint conditions and frequent closed itemsets mining methods can effectively reduce the mining space. Using constraint based frequent closed itemsets mining methods to mine the combination rules between symptoms, diagnosis, and herbs in TCM clinical data maybe helpful for assisting clinical diagnosis and treatment.

We derive approximate bit error probability (BEP) expressions for binary differential phase shift keying (BDPSK) and quadrature differential phase shift keying (QDPSK) signals in free-space optical communication system over exponentiated Weibull (EW) fading channel. By using the cumulative distribution function of EW channel and integration by parts, the conventional BEP expressions with the integral over an infinite interval are transformed to the integral over a finite interval. Based on the novel BEP expressions, we derive new, closed-form, approximate BEP expressions that involve only a gamma function, which reduce the computational complexity. The approximate BEP expressions are compared with theoretical BEP expressions under weak, moderate, and strong turbulence regimes, where the maximum gaps between the approximate and theoretical BEP expressions are 0.33 dB and 1.36 dB for BDPSK and QDPSK signals, respectively. The approximate BEP expressions are also used to analyze the loss of signal-to-noise ratio in EW fading channel.

In conventional approach, the bit error probability (BEP) expressions of$M$-ary phase-shift keying (MPSK) signals over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel are derived by averaging error probabilities for all bits of MPSK symbol. The closed-form BEP expressions of MPSK signals over AWGN channel can also be derived by using the weighted conditional symbol error probability (SEP) expressions, which has not been reported. In this paper, we derive the conditional SEP expressions of MPSK signals in terms of Gaussian$Q$and Owen's$T$functions by changing the domain of integration from a plane bounded by two rays into a quadrant. By weighting the conditional SEP expressions according to average distance spectrum, the closed-form BEP expressions of MPSK signals over AWGN channel are obtained. Only two summations involving two parameters are required. The closed-form BEP expressions of MPSK signals over Nakagami-$m$fading channel are derived by using the BEP expressions over AWGN channel and the moment generating function-based approach. The approximate BEP expressions of MPSK signals over Nakagami-$m$fading channel are obtained by using elementary functions-based approximations of Gaussian$Q$and Owen’s$T$functions. The conciseness and computational complexity of our BEP expressions are verified by the comparison with existing results.

Visible light communication (VLC) system is a great candidate for indoor downlink access. Due to the limitation of light-emitting diode (LED)'s bandwidth, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is used to enhance the transmission capacity of VLC system. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) can support multiple users in VLC system by sharing time and spectrum resources. The combination of OFDM and NOMA improves the overall channel capacity and spectral efficiency of a multi-user VLC system. In order to increase the data rate further, high order modulation formats are often applied. However, for the superposition of multiple high order modulation signals such as 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and 64-QAM, it is hard to recover each user's signal under traditional successive interference cancellation (SIC) method, which is usually used in NOMA scheme. In this paper, we proposed a novel method to decode the superposed signals. This method is called ergodicity and comparison (EAC). By applying the EAC method, the bit error rate (BER) performance of two- user OFDM-NOMA VLC system is investigated under different power allocation conditions. In this system, the modulation formats for both the two users' signals are 4-QAM, 16-QAM and 64-QAM. Peak clipping effect on the received superposed signals is also considered. Numerical results demonstrate that the EAC method can improve significantly the BER performance of OFDM-NOMA VLC system, when high order M-QAM (M> 4) signals are applied to the two users.