Early anthropological evidence for plant use as medicine is 60,000 years old as reported from the Neanderthal grave in Iraq. The importance of plants as medicine is further supported by archeological evidence from Asia and the Middle East. Today, around 1.4 billion people in South Asia alone have no access to modern health care, and rely instead on traditional medicine to alleviate various symptoms. On a global basis, approximately 50 to 80 thousand plant species are used either natively or as pharmaceutical derivatives for life-threatening conditions that include diabetes, hypertension and cancers. As the demand for plant-based medicine rises, there is an unmet need to investigate the quality, safety and efficacy of these herbals by the "scientific methods". Current research on drug discovery from medicinal plants involves a multifaceted approach combining botanical, phytochemical, analytical, and molecular techniques. For instance, high throughput robotic screens have been developed by industry; it is now possible to carry out 50,000 tests per day in the search for compounds, which act on a key enzyme or a subset of receptors. This and other bioassays thus offer hope that one may eventually identify compounds for treating a variety of diseases or conditions. However, drug development from natural products is not without its problems. Frequent challenges encountered include the procurement of raw materials, the selection and implementation of appropriate high-throughput bioassays, and the scaling-up of preparative procedures. Research scientists should therefore arm themselves with the right tools and knowledge in order to harness the vast potentials of plant-based therapeutics. The main objective of Plant and Human Health is to serve as a comprehensive guide for this endeavor. Volume 1 highlights how humans from specific areas or cultures use indigenous plants. Despite technological developments, herbal drugs still occupy a preferential place in a majority of the population in the third world and have slowly taken roots as alternative medicine in the West. The integration of modern science with traditional uses of herbal drugs is important for our understanding of this ethnobotanical relationship. Volume 2 deals with the phytochemical and molecular characterization of herbal medicine. Specifically, it focuess on the secondary metabolic compounds, which afford protection against diseases. Lastly, Volume 3 discusses the physiological mechanisms by which the active ingredients of medicinal plants serve to improve human health. Together this three-volume collection intends to bridge the gap for herbalists, traditional and modern medical practitioners, and students and researchers in botany and horticulture.

The book provides an informative overview of diabetes mellitus in conjunction with current plant-based treatments for this disease and available methods for studying the antidiabetic activities of scientifically developed plant products, mechanisms of action, their therapeutic superiority, and current genome editing research perspectives and biotechnological approaches. The book begins with an introduction to diabetes, giving an overview of the history, diagnosis, classification, pathophysiology, and risk factors. It goes on to review traditional uses of plants for diabetes along with some ethnobotanical information as well. The results of scientific studies on the various modes of action of antidiabetic plants are discussed, such as the molecular aspects active plant-based antidiabetic drug molecules. A section featuring recent biotechnological advancements of antidiabetic plants and plant-based antidiabetic drugs covers advances in molecular breeding and application of molecular markers, biotechnologically engineered transgenic medicinal plants, and advances in genomic editing tools and techniques. This volume will be helpful for researchers, medical practitioners, academicians, students in the study of plant-based treatments for the treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Everything you need to know about plant medicine: the history, how it works, how to grow, gather and prepare herbs, and how to use them to create a herbal prescription. Herbal medicines have been used for many centuries to treat illnesses and restore health, and today herbalism still remains the most widely-practised form of medicine around the world. Written by a leading medical herbalist, this new revised edition of The Complete Herbal Tutor provides in-depth knowledge of the practice and theory of herbal medicine. The illustrated materia medica contains over 150 herbs, with thorough descriptions of their properties and active ingredients. There is also a clear explanation of how herbs can be used to treat each of the body's systems, with advice on using remedies for healing a range of specific conditions. This revised edition of Anne McIntyre's popular classic will be invaluable to all herbalists and students of herbal medicine. It is beautifully illustrated with a series of colour photographs, many taken by the author in her own garden.

A collection of essays focused largely on the 19th century when alternative medicine as opposed to orthodox medicine was not accepted as "professional". Historians in this book explore the dissent which arose in various local and national contexts.

This book offers a fresh look on a variety of issues concerning herbal medicine - the methods of growing and harvesting various medicinal plants; their phytochemical content; medicinal usage; regulatory issues; and mechanism of action against myriad of human and animal ailments. 'Medicinal Plants: From Farm to Pharmacy' comprises chapters authored by renowned experts from academics and industry from all over the world. It provides timely, in-depth study/analysis of medicinal plants that are already available in the market as supplements or drug components, while also introducing several traditional herbs with potential medicinal applications from various regions of the world. The book caters to the needs of a diverse group of readers: plant growers, who are looking for ways to enhance the value of their crops by increasing phytochemical content of plant products; biomedical scientists who are studying newer applications for crude herbal extracts or isolated phytochemicals; clinicians and pharmacologists who are studying interactions of herbal compounds with conventional treatment modalities; entrepreneurs who are navigating ways to bring novel herbal supplements to the market; and finally, natural medicine enthusiasts and end-users who want to learn how herbal compounds are produced in nature, how do they work and how are they used in traditional or modern medicine for various disease indications.

This volume brings together basic research on the nature of stress reactivity with up-to-date research on the effectiveness and mechanisms of mindfulness interventions. The chapters review the major research areas that elucidate the impact of stress reactivity on health, and explore the mechanisms and effectiveness of mindfulness-based approaches for stress reduction and improved physical and emotional health. The first section examines biopsychosocial mechanisms of stress reactivity such as allostasis and allostatic load, neurobiology of stress, biology of the "fight-or-flight" and "tend-and-befriend" responses, and psychoneuroimmunology. This section concludes by addressing the roles of perception and appraisal, including the role of perceived threat in stress reactivity as well as the role that negative perceptions of the stress response itself play in compromising health. The second section opens with review of leading psychological models of mindfulness, including self-regulation, reperceiving, and the Intention, Attention, Attitude (IAA) triaxiomatic model. Subsequent chapters discuss mindfulness-based interventions and mechanisms of change for stress and related clinical conditions including chronic pain, traumatic stress, anxiety and related disorders, and clinical depression. The final chapter reviews possible neural networks and brain mechanisms associated with mindfulness meditation practice. As the research on stress reactivity and mindfulness-based stress reduction continues to proliferate, this book offers readers a single volume covering the most relevant information across this vast terrain. Other available volumes offer in-depth coverage of stress research with little mention of mindfulness and stress reduction. Conversely, many texts on the topic of mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions do not adequately cover the biopsychosocial processes of stress reactivity.

This master-class-in-a-book is designed to guide teachers of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) in continuing to develop more competence while raising global standards of practice and pedagogy. Starting with the central yet elusive concept of stewardship, it then expands upon the core components of MBI pedagogy. A series of reflective essays by MBI teachers from around the world foregrounds differences and challenges in meeting participants "where they are." Such reflections are both inspiring and thought-provoking for teachers -wherever they are. The book also provides practical guidance and tools for adjusting teaching style and content for special populations, from chronic pain patients to trauma survivors, from health care professionals to clergy, and including many others. Detailed scripts and practices, ready to adopt and adapt, offer opportunities to explore new directions in the classroom, and to continue the life-long development of the teacher. Included in the coverage: Deepening teachers' skills of guidance of meditation practices Insights into the essential practice of inquiry and dialogue with participants New practices that allow participants to explore mindfulness together in a spoken encounter How to keep up with, review, and make clear to participants the range of scientific evidence supporting the MBIs The breadth of practical insights and hands-on strategies makes Resources for Teaching Mindfulness a unique developmental asset for a wide range of practitioners around the world. Among those who will benefit are physicians and other medical practitioners, health and clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, nurses, clinical social workers, physical and occupational therapists, health educators, and organizational development specialists.

This book describes the essential and cutting-edge concepts based on the frontier of pharmaceutical research in TCM, underlying scientific principles, and current advancements of drug delivery systems for Chinese medicines, including sustained-release drug delivery systems, trans-nasal drug delivery systems, dermal and transdermal drug delivery systems, etc. Novel carriers and emerging technologies (such as 3D printing) are also covered. The book provides readers with an overall picture of drug delivery systems for Chinese medicines and also yields benefits for the pharmaceutical industry with regard to TCM-based drug development.

Current research lays emphasis on exploring natural products for use in nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals to overcome various side effects of synthetic drugs. Fungi occupy an eminent position among natural sources of food and medicinal importance since ancient times. Many fungal species have been eaten as food and used in folk medicine for the treatment of many human ailments as mentioned in traditional medical literature. However, scanty information is available pertaining to the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical importance of fungi which merits an extensive review. This book spotlights the use value macrofungi in human health. Macrofungi with health benefitting properties largely belong to Basidiomycota followed by Ascomycota growing indoor (cultivated) and outdoor (wild). We endeavoured to throw light on the benefits of macrofungal taxa in relation to their food and medicinal significance in human life. We provided knowledge pertaining to the ethnomycological significance of macrofungi with respect to their uses as food and medicine by the people inhabiting different parts of the world. This book highlights the nutritional composition and bioactive compounds present in macrofungi. We also focused on the pharmacological activities of macrofungi contributing towards their medicinal value against several human disorders. We cited many commercially available nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products of macrofungal origin. This work will hopefully serve as a basic reference for general public, mycologists, researches and industry men, interested in consumption, research and marketing of macrofungi.

This book follows the life of Hahnemann from his birth and boyhood at Meissen (1755) through his student years, his disillusionment with common medical practice, translations, physician for the mentally disordered and onwards. The book follows Hahnemann during his struggles to have Homeopathy accepted, his determination, his marriage to Melanie, his final years in Paris and his death in 1843. This book has been well researched and contains great detail. Rosa Hobhouse has used the private letters of Hahnemann to enable us to see the person, the poet, the humanitarian, the loving father and the compassionate defender of human rights that Hahnemann was. This is a fascinating insight to Hahnemann the person and to Germany at the time of Hahnemann.

This book represents the first comprehensive compilation of information on all aspects of the medicinal plant Panax ginseng, ranging from its botany to applied aspects in medicine and molecular breeding. In contributions by respected experts, it also discusses the genetic background and biochemical profile of this important medicinal plant. Ginsenoside biosynthesis and metabolic dynamics are also described in detail. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable guide for students, educators and scientists in academia and industry interested in medicinal plants and pharmacy.

From meditation to reciting mantras or praying, spirituality is more and more often being recognized for its beneficial effects on health. In this volume, a team of experts from across disciplines including psychology, medicine, nursing, public health, and pastoral care offer reader-friendly chapters showing the state of the art in understanding this connection. Chapters include attention to special populations such as youth, HIV/AIDS patients, cancer patients, and those in hospice care. Contributors, all members of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University, aim to use the scientific understanding of the spirituality/health connection to promote better health for the general public. From meditation to reciting mantras or praying, spirituality is more and more often being recognized for its beneficial effects on health. In this volume, a team of experts from across disciplines including psychology, medicine, nursing, public health, and pastoral care offer reader-friendly chapters showing the state of the art in understanding this connection. Chapters include attention to special populations such as youth, HIV/AIDS patients, cancer patients, and those in hospice care. Contributors, all members of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University, aim to use the scientific understanding of the spirituality/health connection to promote better health for the general public. One focus of this volume is to show easy ways to incorporate spiritual practices in an environment that is often multicultural, multi-religious, stressful, hurried, and secular.

Bronze Winner - 2010 IP's Living Now AwardFinalist - 2010 USA Best Book Award Written for those new to natural healing, Simple Chinese Medicine gives you tools that you can use today to improve your quality of life and begin your healing journey. Based upon centuries old practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), readers are provided simple-to-do exercises for stress relief, health maintenance, and cancer prevention. Additional sections include guidance on using food for healing and for weight control. Careful attention is given to explaining the differences between Eastern healing methods and Western treatment methods, as well as an insightful discussion of TCM's concept of 'prevention' for health maintenance. A final section shares the personal experiences of some of Dr. Kuhn's patients. Contents include:* Healing in Traditional Chinese Medicine* Differences in Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine* TCM Diagnostic Method* Seeking the Right Medical Care* Food Healing in Chinese Medicine* Food Balance* Healthy Balanced Diet and Weight Reduction* Weight Control ProgramFood and Exercise Log* Exercises for Healing, Disease Prevention, and Good Health* Cancer Prevention and Healing* Exercise Routines for Healing Cancer* Chinese Medicine's Secrets of Good Health and Longevity* Trends in Longevity

This exciting new edition of "Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture" gives a clear, detailed, and accessible presentation of the main features of constitutional Five Element acupuncture. It covers the context and history of this form of acupuncture, as well as the relevant Chinese medicine theory. After examining the Elements themselves and the functions of the Organs, the book explores the basis of diagnosis in Five Element acupuncture, possible blocks to treatment and the treatment itself. It puts this style of treatment into the context of other styles of acupuncture treatment - especially Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as it is used in the West today.

Features

The Five Elements referred to in the title are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

Gives a clear, detailed and accessible presentation of the main features of Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture treatment.

Covers the context and history of this form of acupuncture, as well as the relevant Chinese medicine theory.

Includes an unambiguous description of the principle aspects of diagnosis within a system, ironing out inconsistencies often present in discussions of these aspects.

This edition has been thoroughly revised throughout and includes a new and improved colour page design.

Quotes from the foreword to the first edition by Peter Eckman, San Francisco:

..".the authors have shown how their approach can even integrate with TCM findings to treat patients more completely and rapidly. As the case histories illustrate, Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture is a style of practice that is second to none, and this innovative text is an excellent resource for learning it"

This book presents an in-depth analysis of issues in trade law and EU pharmaceutical law concerning market access for traditional Chinese medicinal products. It discusses these issues from the standpoints of fundamental law, international law and EU law, so to offer a comprehensive perspective. Specifically, it points out the core legislative issues for EU policymakers who deal with market access for traditional medicinal products; describes the relation between law and science; and offers essential information on herbal medicinal product registration in the EU. Further, it compares EU law and Chinese law in this regard, which can offer inspirations for readers from other counties that have similar medicinal products. The book uses straightforward, accessible language to break down the key issues involved.

Irritable bowel syndrome is a type of functional bowel disorder causing symptoms of abdominal pain and altered bowel habits such as diarrhoea (IBS-D) and constipation (IBS-C). This book uses the 'whole evidence' approach to give an overview of the available evidence for Chinese medicine treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, particularly subtypes IBS-D and IBS-C.The book starts by summarising the conventional understanding of irritable bowel syndrome, including its subtypes, aetiology, diagnosis and current available treatments. Data from Chinese medicine classical literature and clinical studies are then discussed. Evidence from clinical studies are evaluated using high-quality and rigorous scientific methodology. For IBS-D and IBS-C, evidence from treatment modalities including Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture and combination Chinese medicine therapies are presented. The findings are analysed and potential implications for clinical practice and research are explored. Experimental studies that describe the potential mechanisms of action of key herbs are summarised. In the final chapter, current evidence of Chinese medicine for IBS-D and IBS-C are synthesised, recommendations for contemporary clinical practice and future research are also offered.The book is a helpful guide for clinicians and students of Chinese and integrative medicine, offering a comprehensive synthesis of both classical and contemporary knowledge that can integrated into their clinical practice for people with irritable bowel syndrome.

In this collection of medical tales, a neurologist reckons with the stories we tell about our brains, and the stories our brains tell us.

A girl believes she has been struck blind for stealing a kiss. A mother watches helplessly as each of her children is replaced by a changeling. A woman is haunted each month by the same four chords of a single song. In neurology, illness is inextricably linked with narrative, the clues to unraveling these mysteries hidden in both the details of a patient's story and the tells of their body.

Stories are etched into the very structure of our brains, coded so deeply that the impulse for storytelling survives and even surges after the most devastating injuries. But our brains are also porous—the stories they concoct shaped by cultural narratives about bodies and illness that permeate the minds of doctors and patients alike. In the history of medicine, some stories are heard, while others—the narratives of women, of Black and brown people, of displaced people, of disempowered people—are too often dismissed.

In The Mind Electric, neurologist Pria Anand reveals—through case study, history, fable, and memoir—all that the medical establishment has overlooked: the complexity and wonder of brains in health and in extremis, and the vast gray area between sanity and insanity, doctor and patient, and illness and wellness, each separated from the next by the thin veneer of a different story.

Moving from the Boston hospital where she treats her patients, to her childhood years in India, to Isla Providencia in the Caribbean and to the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, she demonstrates again and again the compelling paradox at the heart of neurology: that even the most peculiar symptoms can show us something universal about ourselves as humans.

With chapters written by scientists from respected institutes and universities around the world, this book looks at the bioprospecting of medicinal plants for potential health uses and at the pharmacognosy of a selection of medicinal and aromatic plants. The book touches on a diverse selection of topics related to medicinal plants. Chapters look at the use of medicinal plants in healthcare and disease management, such as to treat inflammation, anti-hyperglycemia, and obesity and as immunity boosters. The authors also address the conservation, maintenance, and sustainable utilization of medicinal plants along with postharvest management issues. A chapter discusses the use of synthetic seeds in relation to cryopreservation, and a chapter is devoted to the use of microcomputed tomography and image processing tools in medicinal and aromatic plants. Other topics include consumption, supply chain, marketing, trade, and future directions of research. Some specific plants discussed include fennel, basil, clove, ginger, lavender, turmeric, ginsing, and asparagus in connection with their various therapeutic properties, including anti-rheumatic, anti-asthmatic, anti-diabetic, carminative, diuretic, fever-reducing, and hypotensive. Medicinal Plants: Bioprospecting and Pharmacognosy will prove informative for scientists and researchers in medicinal plants as well as for faculty and students, pharmaceutical researchers, and others.

For centuries, Chinese medicinal materials have been used for therapeutic purposes. Chinese medicinal materials are traditionally identified by their organoleptic characteristics, such as the texture or the odor. With the advancement of DNA technology, a molecular approach has become an important tool to complement organoleptic, morphological, anatomical and chemical techniques for the authentication and quality assurance of Chinese medicinal materials.In 2002, the authors published Authentication of Chinese Medicinal Materials by DNA Technology which is the first international reference in this field. After 20 years, this new edition updates the various useful techniques and describes the new techniques developed for molecular authentication. The procedures of each DNA technique are provided in detail for 'step-by-step' experiments.This book is divided into 5 parts with 18 chapters. Part I reviews the current status of molecular authentication and introduces a wide range of DNA techniques. Part II lists the experimental procedures for molecular authentication. Part III describes the DNA fingerprinting-based techniques. Part IV describes the DNA sequencing-based techniques. Finally, Part V provides an account on the recent advancement in molecular authentication, including guidelines for setting up a proper DNA laboratory and concluding remarks.