The Common Prescription Patterns Based on the Hierarchical Clustering of Herb-Pairs Efficacies

Table 1

HPEs and some statistics.

ID	Efficacy	Size	Candidate	HPE in 2-clustering	⁢The number of herb-pairs composed of herbs in HPE  and HPE
					HPE	HPE
	Expelling wind and dispersing cold	35
	Dispelling wind and clearing hot	24	√	HPE	20	0
	Warming Zang-fu organs	17	√	HPE	17	0
	Warming meridians	9
	Clearing hot and purging fire	46	√	HPE	42	1
	Clearing hot and cooling blood	17	√	HPE	17	0
	Clearing hot and detoxicating	19	√	HPE	17	2
	Clearing deficient hot	12	√	HPE	4	7
	Resolving and drying dampness	19	√	HPE	5	14
	Promoting urination and dehumidification	34	√	HPE	31	1
	Clearing wind and damp	14
	Cold purgation	6
	Warm purgation	4
	Moistened cathartic	5
	Dispelling retained water	7
	Regulating Qi	24	√	HPE	2	20
	Promoting Qi	18	√	HPE	3	15
	Depressing Qi	12	√	HPE	0	12
	Activating blood	40	√	HPE	37	2
	Hemostasis	26	√	HPE	26	0
	Relieving cough and asthma	33	√	HPE	7	22
	Elimination	22	√	HPE	4	18
	Supplying Qi and blood	135	√	HPE	131	1
	Astringing	29	√	HPE	28	1
	Extinguishing wind	21	√	HPE	3	18
	Tranquilization	16	√	HPE	3	13
	Resuscitation	11
	Expelling parasite	4
	Emetics	3
	External application	16	√	HPE	15	1
	Clearing hot and drying dampness	6
	Eliminating phlegm	13	√	HPE	0	12
Summary		697			412	160