Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 49: Confirmation

Jinmen University, the main auditorium of the School of Life Sciences.

A medical academic forum was underway.

The auditorium was brilliantly lit, and the flashes from reporters’ cameras blinked nonstop.

Wang Tao stood at the podium, the large screen behind him displaying "A New Breakthrough in Tick-borne Disease Treatment—The Clinical Study of the ’Clearing Qi and Stabilizing Blood Formula’."

"Our ’Clearing Qi and Stabilizing Blood Formula’ has achieved significant results in inhibiting viral replication..." Wang Tao began, describing the journey of researching the formula, some of the difficulties they encountered, and how they were overcome.

Then, his tone shifted. "However, we also discovered that it falls short in protecting internal organs. In some severe cases, although the virus was eliminated, the patients’ liver and kidney functions were still impaired."

A low murmur rippled through the audience.

A reporter raised his hand and asked, "Professor Wang, do you believe this shortcoming can be resolved in the future?"

Wang Tao nodded slightly. "Of course. Medical research is a process of continuous optimization. Our team is already exploring new combination formulas, and I believe we will have a breakthrough soon."

His tone was firm, but in his heart, he knew, ’Finding the perfect solution will still require arduous research; we might not even achieve it within the next ten years.’

「...」

After the forum, Wang Tao and his team had dinner at the university’s private dining hall.

"Don’t be discouraged, everyone." Wang Tao raised his glass with a smile. "The ’Clearing Qi and Stabilizing Blood Formula’ is already a major breakthrough. As for the issue of organ protection, we’ll continue our research. We’ll find an answer eventually."

The team members nodded, but the atmosphere remained somewhat somber.

After all, organ damage was the primary cause of death from the tick-borne disease. If they couldn’t solve that, their research would ultimately be incomplete.

Just then, Wang Tao’s phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID and raised an eyebrow—Gao Guanghui.

"Hello, Old Gao?" Wang Tao answered with a laugh. "What’s up? Did you hear about my speech at the forum today and call to congratulate me?"

Gao Guanghui’s laughter came through the phone. "Old Wang, you just love to show off! But I didn’t call to listen to you brag."

Wang Tao chuckled. "Then why did you call? Surely not to mock me for the ’Clearing Qi and Stabilizing Blood Formula’ still having flaws?"

"Heh, you actually hit the nail on the head!" Gao Guanghui’s voice was triumphant. "But I’m not calling to mock you. I’m calling to give you the answer!"

Wang Tao was stunned. "What do you mean?"

Gao Guanghui chuckled. "Your ’Clearing Qi and Stabilizing Blood Formula’ doesn’t offer enough organ protection, right? I have a young man over here who proposed a solution—Apigenin combined with Luteolin, taken separately and not decocted. It can effectively protect the internal organs!"

"What did you say?!" Wang Tao’s first reaction was disbelief.

Apigenin can detoxify and reduce inflammation, similar in effect to Luteolin.

When they were first experimenting, the very first thing they thought of was combining Apigenin and Luteolin.

However, the results were mediocre.

After countless experiments, they finally settled on a compound formula consisting of five herbs: Honeysuckle, Danshen, Forsythia Suspensa, Ligusticum Chuanxiong, and Xuanshen.

The main active component in these five herbs is Luteolin.

There was no Apigenin. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

His voice had risen so sharply that his team members all turned to look at him.

Gao Guanghui sounded even more pleased. "I’ve already run live-subject trials, and the results are remarkable! After the virus is suppressed, the organ damage is significantly reduced!"

Wang Tao’s mind raced.

He recalled something.

Back then, they had decocted celery along with the other herbs, and the results were not ideal.

’Taken separately? This... We never tried that!’

"Old Gao, are you sure?" Wang Tao’s voice was filled with excitement.

"Of course! I’ve already sent the experimental data to your email!" Gao Guanghui laughed. "So, what do you say? Want to have your team verify it right away?"

Wang Tao calmed himself.

’Let the experimental data speak for itself.’

"Everyone, eat up. As soon as we’re done, we’re heading back to the lab to run an experiment."

「...」

Late that night, the laboratory was brightly lit.

Wang Tao led his team as they worked intently on the experiment.

It was another live-subject experiment with lab mice.

The procedure was the same as Gao Guanghui’s.

They were split into groups for a comparative experiment, testing the ’Clearing Qi and Stabilizing Blood Formula’ with and without the addition of Apigenin.

The next day, the preliminary data was in.

"It really works..." Wang Tao stared at the data, muttering to himself.

The team members looked at each other, their eyes filled with shock.

"Professor, how did we not think of this before?" one of the researchers couldn’t help but ask.

Wang Tao gave a wry smile. "We were bound by conventional thinking. We were so focused on decocting all the herbs together that we overlooked the possibility that some components could be rendered ineffective by the high temperature."

There was another point as well: for the same herb, taking it directly, decocting it, or extracting its components all produce different effects.

Herbs are classified by yin and yang, by the five elements...

Every small change can alter a medicine’s efficacy.

This is also what makes researching traditional Chinese medicine so difficult.

If Li Xu hadn’t broken through this final barrier for them, who knows how much more time and effort they would have spent to discover this.

Wang Tao let out a long breath, picked up his phone, and called Gao Guanghui again.

"Old Gao, you were right... this method really works!" Wang Tao’s voice carried a hint of relief. "Who’s the young man who proposed this hypothesis? We’ll add his name to the paper when we publish it!"

Gao Guanghui laughed. "Old Wang, I knew I wasn’t wrong about you. You’ve got integrity. His name is Li Xu, a young practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine who currently has a clinic in Feng City. I’ll send you his information in a bit. When are you planning to publish?"

Wang Tao thought for a moment. "As soon as possible."

Dragon Country Virus is a bimonthly academic journal.

It publishes one issue every two months, for a total of six issues a year.

The last issue was just released.

If they waited for the next issue, it would be almost two months.

Now that Li Xu’s method was fully confirmed to be effective, Wang Tao was unwilling to wait.

"I’ll contact the journal’s editorial department and see if we can publish a supplementary or special issue."

A supplementary issue is a publication released outside of a journal’s normal publishing cycle.

It typically uses the original journal’s ISSN, is labeled as a "supplementary issue" on the cover and copyright page, and explains the reason for the extra publication or its theme.

A special issue is a publication released for an anniversary or a specific purpose, usually edited around a particular theme, such as an emerging field or a new perspective on existing research problems.

Special issues can be managed by guest editors or commissioning editors, and articles published in them usually receive more downloads and citations.

Wang Tao preferred to publish a special issue.

The tick-borne virus was an infectious disease. With such a clear purpose, publishing a special issue would be more meaningful.

「...」

Li Xu had no idea that a single speculative article he wrote had set off such a chain of events.

Just then, a patient who was both expected and unexpected arrived at his clinic—Wang the Third.

Wang the Third and his wife appeared, carrying large and small bags of gifts to express their gratitude.