Autoimmune diseases are common and often associated with considerable morbidity or - in diseases such as IDDM, myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis - mortality. In this volume, experts of international stature in basic science and clinical medicine with a common interest in understanding the normal and aberrant immune response present their experiences. It was their intention to fur- ther the understanding of potential clinical application of scientific observations and to help to comprehend the huge amount of results in autoimmunity research.

The major cause of death in the Western world is some form of vascular disease; and principal among these forms is atherosclerotic heart disease (ASHD). Although much is known about the etiology and treatment of ASHD, there is, as yet, no specific means of prognosis of an impending coronary episode. There are, however, several indications of susceptibility to coronary disease, generally known as risk factors, the foremost of which is hyperlipidemia. Hyperlipidemia is more commonly designated as hypercholesteremia or triglyceridemia, depending upon which moiety is elevated, but since lipids are transported in the blood as members of a lipoprotein complex, the most descriptive general term would be hyperlipoproteinemia. This volume represents an effort to elucidate the origins and metabolic behavior of lipoproteins and their components, to describe aspects of the morphology, biochemistry and experimental induction of ASHD, and to describe modalities of treatment. The contributions to this book include descriptions of cholesterol synthesis and metabolism, as well as the metabolism of bile acids, the principal products of cholesterol metabolism. There are also chapters on the mechanisms of hyperlipidemia and on lipoprotein metabolism. The induction of experimental atherosclerosis and the aortic structural changes caused by this disease are discussed.

This work is the first monograph devoted solely to "Bombax ceiba," popularly known as the Red Silk Cotton Tree. Consisting of seven chapters, it covers all relevant aspects of this plant, from its historical and spiritual importance, to its botanical characterization, pharmacognostical details and ethnobiological uses, to its scientific validation in various animal and human studies. Each part of the tree is of medicinal value and possesses many novel chemical constituents such as shamimicin, bombasin, bombamalone, bombamaloside etc. along with other bioactive secondary metabolites. The book presents the chemical structures of the most important constituents and highlights various pharmacological activities, predominantly antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, hepatoprotective and fibrinolytic, which may prove to be a source for the development of a novel phyto-pharmaceutical agent to treat diabetes, heart disease and cancer. In addition, separate chapters deal with the commercial and ecological significance of "B. ceiba," as well as a case study on its conservation. Numerous color illustrations are included to identify the plant and to justify its nickname, the Little Bird s Cafeteria . "

It was a great honor for us to organize ChiCat, a symposium devoted to Chiral Reactions in Heterogeneous Catalysis and to be the hostsofmore than 120 scientists coming from everywhere in the industrialized world, to celebrate together one century of existence ofInstitut Meurice. This school was established in 1892when an industrial chemist, named Albert Meurice, decided to educate practical chemists according to the perceived needs ofthe industry ofthat time. This is exactly what we are still trying to do. It is the reason why, thirty years ago, we started a research activity in catalysis, and why we progressively devote this research to the applications of catalysis in the field of fine chemicals. In this respect, we are very close to another initiative of Albert Meurice, who started the first production of synthetic pharmaceuticals in Belgium during World War I. This business later on became a part ofthe Belgian corporation DCB, still very active in pharmaceuticals today. The school created by Albert Meurice merged in the fifties with another school that had been created to meet the same needs in the field of the food industries, mainly distilleries and breweries. This merger was done in the frame of the establishment of CERIA. For people in catalysis, ceria stands for cerium oxide, but for those who engineered the concept, CERIA stood for Center of Education and Research for the Food and Chemical Industries.

One of the surprising things about the natural world is that animals are dying around us all the time and yet we rarely see any evidence of it. This is a testimony to the efficiency of the large variety of organisms which decompose animal corpses. Whilst bacteria and fungi are the main groups involved in decomposition processes, the larger insects additionally provide an important physical disruption of body tissues, which aids the penetration of micro organisms and speeds the collapse of the body structure. A human corpse is treated no differently and the same groups of organisms are involved. From a forensic science viewpoint the universality of the decay process provides two major advantages. Information based on the decomposition of animals is of considerable value when considering human cases and the successional pattern of decay is broadly equivalent wherever the process is being studied. Historically, the usefulness of insects in solving crime can be traced back in the literature to the 13th century. McKnight 1, 2] translated a Chinese text of this period which contains an account of how a law officer dealt with a case of murder in the rice fields. Death had been caused by a sickle and the official ordered all the field workers to line up and lay their sickles on the ground in front of them. Flies began to be attracted to one of the sickles whereupon its owner confessed to the crime."

The Fourth International Workshop on "In Vitro Effects of Mineral Dusts on Cells" was held on September 20 - 23, 1988 in Auberge Estrimont, Orford, Quebec, Canada. The emphasis of the N. A. T. O. Advanced Research Workshop was the use of cell and organ culture and lavage cell populations obtained from man and laboratory animals to elucidate cellular and molecular events occur ring after their interaction with fibrous and nonfibrous particulates, including metal compounds. In seven sessions, an international representation of scientists from 17 countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Federal Republic of Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Union of South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Yugoslavia) presented recent research findings in the following areas: Epithelial cell injury and proliferation by minerals. Physico-chemical properties of minerals in relation to their biologic effects. Mechanisms of dust-induced pneumoconioses. Clinical and experimental studies. Mechanisms of cytotoxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. Oxidants, cytotoxicity and disease. Mechanisms of mineral-induced inflammation. Mechanisms of carcinogenesis. A session on "Questions, risk and public policy" provided a lively discussion on the relevance of in vitro experiments to carcinogenicity studies in man and their implications in the formation of regulatory policies. VI The organizing committee for this workshop was: Co-Chairs: B. T. Mossman (USA) and R. Begin (Canada) E. G. Beck (FRG) A. Lange (Poland) A. Brody (USA) P. Nettesheim (USA) R. C. Brown (UK) Q. Rahman (India) J. Bignon (France) K. Robock (FRG) Fisher G.

Volume 47 of "Progress in Drug Research" contains eight reviews and the various indexes which facilitate its use and establish the connection with the previous volumes. The articles in this volume deal with inotropic steroids, with chemokines and their involvement in a wide range of inflam matory diseases, with the subclassification and nomenclature of ul- and Uz-adrenoceptors, with Chinese traditional medicine, with drug targets in the molecular pathogenesis of asthma, with cytokines and their therapeutic application in immunosuppression and immunostimulation, with alter native medicine and with the potential use of calcium blockers in psy chiatry. These reviews and the quotations of original articles provide the reader with valuable information on several new developments in the world-wide search for new and better medicines. In 1959, when the Editor started this series of monographs, it was his intention to help disseminate informa tion on the vast and fast growing domain of drug research. Already at that time, it was not possible to follow the major individual publications in this field, and the reader was thereby provided with a tool to keep abreast of the latest developments and trends. This goal remained unchanged over the last 37 years, and I believe that the reviews in PDR are useful to the non-specialist who can obtain an overview of a particular field of drug research in a relatively short time."

I have been privileged to witness and participate in the great growth of knowledge on chemical carcinogenesis and mutagenesis since 1939 when I entered graduate school in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin Madison. I immediately started to work with the carcinogenic aminoazo dyes un der the direction of Professor CARL BAUMANN. In 1942 I joined a fellow graduate student, ELIZABETH CA VERT, in marriage and we soon commenced a joyous part nership in research on chemical carcinogenesis at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research in the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison. This collaboration lasted 45 years. I am very grateful that this volume is dedi cated to the memory of Elizabeth. The important and varied topics that are reviewed here attest to the continued growth of the fields of chemical car cinogenesis and mutagenesis, including their recent and fruitful union with viral oncology. I feel very optimistic about the application of knowledge in these fields to the eventual solution of numerous problems, including the detection and estimation of the risks to humans of environmental chemical carcinogens and re lated factors.

Uric acid has attracted the attention of scientists from a broad spectrum of disciplines, and in recent years dramatic progress has occurred within many of these disciplines. This volume is designed to fill void in the field. Major works in the past five years have provided comprehensive reviews of disorders of uric acid metabolism for the clinical (1-3) as well as short reports of recent progress for the interested scholar (4, 5). In Uric Acid the reader will find extensive reviews of relevant topics selected largely by virtue of recent progress in the field and written by those who, to a considerable extent, qre responsible for that progress. Seven chapters are dedicated to a description of uric acid synthesis, its control, diseases resulting from aberrations in the pathway, and effects of intermediates and end products of this pathway on other metabolic processes. The next five chapters describe our current understanding of the mechanisms by which uric acid is elimi nated by the organism. Then seven chapters review the factors responsible for the human "disease" produced by uric acid in the joints and kidneys. The final four chapters provide a summary of therapeutic approaches to control gout, the most important disease caused per se by uric acid."

Roots of the theory and practice of ocular pharmacology may be traced to the ancient Mesopotamian code of Hammurabi and then to several papyri reflecting the clinical interests of the Egyptians. The evolution of its art and science was irregularly paced until the nineteenth century when Kohler, in 1884, proved the anesthetic effect of cocaine on the cornea, and when Fraser, Laquer, Schmiedeberg, Meyer, and others studied the pharmacology of the autonomic nervous system by way of observations of the pupil. Advances in the past few decades have been nothing short of explosive. How can the student, physician, or basic research scientist stay in touch with these electrifying studies? To help with the answer to this question, the authors set as their goal the development of increased understanding so that the student, research scientist, and ophthalmologist can cope with the latest discoveries. The authors want to narrow what appears to be an ever-increasing gap between basic science and ophthalmology. The basic aspects of pharmacology have been presented in light of the natural physiology. In this regard, while distinctions among endogenous mechanisms, drug effects, and the pathogenesis of disease are to be separately recognized, appreciation must be given to the concept that both the desirable and unwanted manifestations or functions caused by either disease or drugs must very often represent a quantitative change in normal metabolic pathways.

Calcium Entry Blockers (CEBs) are a new class of drugs which have been pushing back the frontiers of science and medicine for almost two decades. This report reviews some of the wealth of chemical, biological and clinical data describing the discovery and development of these compounds. The scientific importance, therapeutic benefit and marketing potential of these compounds have caused an explosion of scientific literature describing their effects in many preclinical and clinical settings. The definitional characteristics of these compounds suggest a certain predictability of their biological profile but their therapeutic usefulness varies widely dependent upon their physical properties, net hemodynamic effects, duration of action and incidence of side effects. CEBs appear uniquely suited to the treatment of the underlying complexity of cardiovascular disease. The CEBs of the future may live up to the expectations of pathophysiologically based therapeutics and allow the heart and blood vessels to outlive the cells which they support. The development of CEBs is an evolving story of epic proportions and represents the cooperative efforts of individuals in all areas of science.

Eleven years have elapsed since the appearance of the first Volume and it is with great pleasure that the Editor is now able to present Volume 14. During these eleven years various fields of drug research have undergone important, partly revolutionary, changes. A number of these have already been dealt with, so that the series PROGRESS IN DRUG RESEARCH contains a comprehensive review of a substantial part of our current knowledge. The Editor is particularly grateful for the opportunity of transmitting to those connected with the development of drugs the extensive knowledge of the Authors, who, without exception, are themselves actively engaged in research. Drug research is currently in a state of transformation: reconsideration in the light of the past and reorientation with a view to the future. To a large extent this is due to the tumultuous developments in the last 20 years, developments which are unparalleled in the history of medicine and the consequences of which cannot yet be completely evaluated. Unfortunately, however, the current situation is not devoid of its unpleasant and even tragic aspects, aspects which fall outside the research worker's sphere or influence. Those connected with drug research, be they in industry, in universities or in clinics, are aware of these problems, and, as a result of this awareness, are all the more in need of an aid which will assist them in ascertaining the current position and in fixing future goals.

Like the previous nine volumes published between 1988 and 1996, "Medicinal" "and" "Aromatic" "Plants X" is unique in its approach. It comprises 22 chapters dealing with the distribution, importance, conventional propagation, micropropagation, tissue culture studies, and the in vitro production of important medicinal and pharmaceutical compounds in various species of "Actinidia," "Alkanna," "Arnebia," "Campanula," "Catharanthus," "Centella," "Chenopodium," "Cornus," "Cynara," "Ephedra," "Euglena," "Haplophyllum," "Morus," "Oenothera," "Otacanthus," "Oxalis," "Polypodium," "Rosmarinus," "Sesamum," "Solanum," "Taxus," and "Tephrosia." This book is tailored to the needs of advanced students, teachers, and research scientists in the field of pharmacy, plant tissue culture, phytochemistry, biochemical engineering and plant biotechnology.

Natural product chemistry has undergone an explosive growth during the latter half of the current century. This has been brought about by a number of factors. One of these has been the growing number of sub stances from natural sources which display interesting pharmacological activities. These include antibiotics, anti-tumor agents, immunostimu lants, drugs affecting the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, analgesics etc. Another factor has been the improvements made in the technology of isolation processes which includes the development of such techniques as high pressure liquid chromatography which has al lowed the rapid isolation of substances which were previously diffi cult to obtain by classical procedures. The most important factor has been the development of new spectrosopic techniques which have opened up whole new vistas in this exciting field. Prominent in these advan ces has been the advent of powerful superconducting magnets with very stable magnetic fields, and pulse NMR in which the duration, direction and phases of pulses can be accurately controlled by means of mini computers. These have heralded the advent of two-dimensional NMR spec troscopy which has now come to be routinely employed in unravelling complex structures. No less important, though somewhat less dramatic, have been the advances made in the field of mass spectroscopy where new ionization techniques such as positive and negative fast atom bom bardment, field desorption, chemical ionization etc. have allowed the mass spectra of larger non-volatile substances to be recorded. The field of organic synthesis has seen equally rapid advances."

Cyclic nucleotides are intimately involved in the consequences of either stimulation or blockade of receptors; therefore, an understanding of the biochemistry of cyclic nucleotides ought to be important for pharmacologists. Pharmacology is a science that among other things investigates chemical compounds that affect the physiology of cells, tissues and organs. Frequently pharmacologists account for the effect of low concentrations of a drug upon a tissue by invoking the presence of a receptor upon the surface of the cell. Traditional pharmacologists excelled at identifying and classifying the properties of receptors. A. J. CLARK'S monograph in the earlier series of the Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology (CLARK 1937) summarized the mathematics underlying the traditional pharmacological approach towards receptors. By its nature, however, classic pharmacology provided little useful information about the intracellular events occurring as a consequence of occupying a receptor; for example, ALQUIST (1948) identified the beta-adrenocep tor, but he did not provide any insight into how stimulation of the receptor produces tissue-specific physiological responses. The discovery of cyclic AMP by RALL and SUTHERLAND (see RALL, Vol. I) led to biochemical investigations of many different receptors (including ALQUIST'S beta-adrenoceptor) that share a cyclic nucleotide as a common factor in the biochemical mechanisms that translate the occupancy of receptors into physiological effects. Ten years ago, in the introduction to their monograph on cyclic nucleotides, ROBISON et al. (1971) commented on the rapid growth of interest in cyclic nucleotides over the preceding years."

Wenn uber Fortschritte der Chemie der Gallotannine berichtet werden soll, so muss ein Ausgangspunkt gewahlt werden, von dem aus die neu gewonnenen Erkenntnisse geschildert werden. Das ist in unserem Falle nicht schwer. EMIL FISCHER hatte fur das chinesische Gallotannin (aus den Blattgallen von Rhus semialata) und das turkische Gallotannin (aus den Zweiggallen von Quercus infectoria) das bekannte Bauprinzip der polygalloylierten Glucosen herausgearbeitet. Aber weder ihm noch KARRER (43, 44) ist es moglich gewesen, aus dem Gemisch von Substanzen, die sie untersuchten, einzelne Individuen zu isolieren, deren exakte Konstitution man hatte aufklaren und angeben konnen. Auch mit den modernen Methoden der Gegenstromverteilung und Verteilungschromato graphie ist eine Auf trennung dieser Gemische offenbar bis heute noch nicht gelungen. Ahnlich liegen die Verhaltnisse beim Sumach-Gerbstoff (aus Rhus coriaria), von dem MUNz (58) gezeigt hat, dass der Hauptteil der Substanz aus einer Pentagalloyl-glucose besteht. Erwahnt man noch das Glucogallin und Tetrarin, die GILSON (30, 30a) aus chinesischem Rhabarber isoliert hat, und das Acertannin, ein Digalloyl-anhydrohexit aus koreanischem Acer ginnale, von PERKIN und UYEDA (65), so hat man die im Jahre 1929 bekannten Forschungsergebnisse zusammengestellt, mit Ausnahme des Hamameli-tannins und der Chebulinsaure, die aber im nachstehenden Bericht noch ausfuhrlicher behandelt werden. Somit kann also das Jahr 1929 als Ausgangspunkt fur die vorliegende Berichterstattung gewahlt werden. 11. Gallotannine: Ellagsaure-freie Gerbstoffe. I. Hamameli-tannin."

The scientific collaboration between the United States and Japan in the field of cancer goes back many years. In this successful international collaboration cancer chemotherapy has been one of the most productive areas. Pioneers such as YOSHIDA, UMEZAWA, SHEAR, and GOLDIN established firm links of mutual trust and respect in the period after the Second Great War. Japanese drugs, such as mitomycin C and bleomycin have become mainstays of clinical oncology in the U. S. and throughout the world. Many drugs developed in the U. S. have become established in Japanese cancer therapy. Within the cancer chemotherapy field the antitumor antibiotics rank as one of the most important groups. In the U . S. -J apanese collaboration this group of drugs has taken the paramount role. The Japanese, under the leadership of U mezawa, are considered to be among the most innovative and productive in this area which has also had great emphasis in the United States as part of the National Cancer Institute's drug development program and in the pharmaceutical industry. This extended collaboration in general oncology, and chemotherapy in particular, has received increased impetus by and support from the official U . S. -J apan Joint Agreement on cancer research, which was established in 1974 between the National Cancer Institute and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. One of the subsections of this agreement is cancer therapy with emphasis on chemotherapy.

The development of a new antiarrhythmic drug involves many people with disparate skills. The organic chemist who makes it is guided not only by the structure-action relations of previous compounds, but by anticipation of a requirement for a particular type of action. In fact several of the best-known antiarrhythmics, including lidocaine, mexiletine, amiodarone and verapamil, were originally synthesized for other purposes. Physicians have to determine whether the new drug works, and pharma cologists how it works. For some years I have believed that there was room for a work which could be understood by all these groups and which could enlighten each about the point of view of the others. Thus when I was invited by Springer-Verlag to prepare a volume in their series Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, I already had a firm conception of what its form should be. In any multi-author work there are two objectives which cannot always readily be reconciled. The first is to select topics which would relate to each other in a coherent manner. to give a logical and orderly shape to the volume as a whole. The second is to offer authors the greatest possible freedom to express themselves as they wish. When the general design was complete, prospective contributors were invited to write specific chapters, being provided with a complete list of their coauthors and chosen topics, so that they could avoid overlap."

The first three chapters of Vol. 3 of Bio-organic Marine Chemistry deal with the chemistry and function of peptides. Chapter 1 by Ireland and coworkers serves as an introduction to marine-derived peptides. It is arranged phyletically and encompasses the entire range from dipeptides to a compound with 95 amino acid residues. Peptides involved in primary metabolism and hence belonging to the realm of macromolecular biochemistry are excluded. However, it might be mentioned in passing that the dividing line between large and small molecule chemistry is continually becoming less distinct. Not only are more compounds of intermediate size, from 1,000 to 10,000 dalton, being discovered, but instruments and techniques, particularly in mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance have been developed for their structural elucidation by what is considered small molecule methodology. Two groups of peptides are discussed in separate chapters. Biologists who have observed and described the mating behavior of diverse species of marine invertebrates have long surmised that a chemical mechanism might be operating in many cases of individual as well as mass fertilization. The chemical activators of sea urchin sperm prove to be a series of peptides, whose structures and activity are discussed by Suzuki.

From a logical point of view, cell division is regulated by the environment and by the ability of the cell to respond to the environmental signals. The terminology of the cell cycle, the elaborate mathematical models, and the kinetic analyses are all convenient notations and descriptions of the behavior of populations of cells. However, they tell us very little about the fundamental molecular mechanisms that control cell proliferation. Stated in other terms, what controls cell reproduction are growth factors in the environment and genes and gene products inside the cell or at its surface. This book examines the aforementioned growth factors, the study of which has made very rapid progress in the past few years. The selection of topics has been influenced by logistic considerations, but the book, as a whole, gives a broad survey of the state of the art of this exciting field. For this, thanks are due to the contributors, who have given much time to the preparation of the manuscripts and have met the deadline with a punctuality that is uncommon among biomedical scientists. I would also like to thank Ms. NORA PERRETT and the staff of Springer-Verlag for their help in editing the manuscripts and in preparing the production of the book.

The present 18th volume differs from previous volumes insofar as, with the exception of two contributions, it is exclusively concerned with problems of a single field, namely Tropical Medicine. This was occasioned by the Internatio nal Symposium on the investigation and treatment of infectious tropical diseases held in Bombay in January 1974 and organized by the editor in collaboration with the Minister of Health of the State of Maharashtra, Dr. Rafiq Zakaria, the Director of the Hafl'kine Institute, Dr. B. Gaitonde, and with Dr. J. N. Banerjee, Dr. S. K. Bhattacharya and Mr. P. D'Souza. The Hafl'kine Institute celebrated on this occasion the 75th year of its existence and everyone entrusted with the organisation of the Symposium considered themselves fortunate to have been able to help in strengthening the contacts between Indian and foreign research workers, in the hope of, in this way, making a contribution to the fight against infectious tropical diseases. The editor hopes that the present 18th volume will represent comprehensive information on the topics treated at the Symposium; the 19th volume, which will soon appear, is concerned with the same area, so that the two volumes together should give a good picture of the many still unsolved problems. The editor would also like to take this opportunity of expressing his gratitude to his collaborator, Dr. A. Niif, who, as usual, performed valuable services in working over the manuscripts."

Volume 28 of 'Progress in Drug Research' contains 8 articles, a subject index for this volume, an alphabetic subject index for volumes 1-28, and an author and subject index for all the volumes which have so far been published. The contributions of volume 28 are particularly con cerned with biogenic amines, with immunology and the pharmacology of the immune system, with antiviral agents, with amino-quinoline an timalarials, with the axoplasmic transport, with drug treatment of asthma and with the role of adipose tissue in the distribution and stor age of drugs. The authors have tried, and I think they have succeded, not only to summarize the current status of particular fields of drug research, but also to provide leads for future research activity. The articles of this volume will be of special value to those actively engaged in drug re search, and to those who wish to keep abrest ofthe latest developments influencing modern therapy. In addition, it is believed that the 28 volu mes of 'Progress in Drug Research' now available represent a useful reference work of encyclopedic character. l The editor would like to take the bccasion of the publication of this volume to express his gratitude both to, the authors and to the readers."

Volume 26 of 'Progress in Drug Research' contains 10 articles, a subject index for this volume, an alphabetic subject index for volumes 1-26, and an author and subject index for all the volumes which have so far been published. The contributions of volume 26 cover a wide field of drug research and therapy, and some are directed towards tropical deseases. As in previous volumes, the authors have also tried not only to summa rise the current status of particular fields of drug research, but also to provide leads for future research activity. The articles in this volume will be of special value not only to those actively engaged in resolving the diverse problems in drug research, but also to those who wish to keep abrest of the latest developments influencing modern therapy. In addition, it is believed that the 26 volumes of "Progress in Drug Research" now available represent a useful reference work of an encyclo paedic character."

The "First International Conference on Traditional Chinese Medicine: Science, Regulation and Globalization" was held from August 30 to September 2, 2000 at the University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland. There were approximately 250 participants from the Peoples Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States. This objective of this conference was to promote international collaboration for the modernization of Traditional Chinese herbal medicines (TCM) and their introduction into the global health care system. It was mainly sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China and the NllI National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). It was organized by Dr. William Tai, then director of the Institute of Global Chinese Affairs at the University of Maryland and Dr. Yuan Lin, president of Marco Polo Technologies, Bethesda, MD. This conference was conceived by Dr. Tai two years earlier recognizing that this was an appropriate time and also the unique location of the University of Maryland. Today, there is a growing recognition of the of alternative medicine in modem societies and the rapid loss of importance knowledge about traditional methods for the treatment of the multitude of human illnesses found throughout the world. TCM has been in common use in China for thousands of years; and many of its formulations are well defined.