Long-term dietary supplementation with a yang-invigorating Chinese herbal formula increases lifespan and mitigates age-associated declines in mitochondrial antioxidant status and functional ability of various tissues in male and female C57BL/6J mice.

To investigate whether Vigconic 28 (VI-28), a Yang-invigorating Chinese herbal formula, could affect survival of aging animals, male and female C57BL/6J mice were given a VI-28-supplemented diet (0.05 and 0.5%, wt/wt) starting at 36 weeks of age, until death. VI-28 dietary supplementation at 0.05% significantly increased median lifespans of both male and female mice as compared to controls. Survival enhancement was associated with protection against age-associated impairments in mitochondrial antioxidant status and functional ability in various tissues. In conclusion, VI-28 could retard the aging process in mice, probably by mitigating age-associated declines in mitochondrial antioxidant status and functional ability in tissues.

Dialectic classification of syndrome diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine used as new criterion for evaluating prognosis of patients with cervical cancer.

254 patients with cervical cancer were treated by radiotherapy from Jan 1979 to Dec 1984. All the patients were followed up at least for more than 3 years, of them 180 for over 5 years. According to various symptoms, picture of the tongue and pulse condition, the disease was classified into 4 types, namely: 1) deficiency of liver-yin and kidney-yin, 2) deficiency of splenic qi, 3) internal retention of damp-heat, and 4) stagnation of qi and blood or stagnation of liver qi. The survival rate of the various types was quite different. The patients of type 4 had the worst prognosis. The prognosis of patients with type 1 was significantly better than that of patients with type 4. The difference was of statistical significance (P less than 0.01).