Just a parallel news story:
Medical Research Gives Ancient Prescriptions New Life
Source: XINHUA
LANZHOU - XINHUA via Individual Inc. : More than 1,000 years ago, the Chinese used a medical preparation to cure heart pains that had the same function as modern-day nitroglycerine.
Information taken from a medical document discovered in northwest China's Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, where thousands of written materials were stored by residents in ancient times, revealed that people of the Tang Dynasty developed a mixture of nitre and realgar powder to place under the tongue to treat angina.
Now, pharmacologists at the Traditional Chinese Medical College of Gansu Province, where the Mogao Grottoes are located, are researching the documents, hoping that some of the findings can be applied to modern medicine.
Several important discoveries have been made: new medicines developed according to ancient prescriptions have proved successful, including a pill to treat hair loss, an acupuncture treatment to cure urological diseases in men, and an herbal medicine to promote health and prolong life.
They are currently developing a medicine, based on the ancient writings, to cure sterility.
About 45,000 square meters of murals and 40,000 scrolls of writings have been preserved in the 1,600-year-old grottoes. They cover religion, art, dance, music, science and technology, medicine, and folk customs from the ancient times.
Chinese and foreign experts have made decades-long research on every aspect of the Dunhuang heritage, including traditional Chinese medical theories and clinical practices.
Medical experts from Lanzhou, Beijing, Tianjin and overseas have carried out independent research, and held international symposiums on Dunhuang traditional medicine, believing their efforts would give the thousand-year-old prescriptions new life.
David |
