Introduction The continued use of herbal medicine in the United States and among members of Kaiser Permanente (KP) makes an updated review of this topic timely and important. Many pharmacies at KP facilities in Southern California now carry traditional herbal preparations. These “dietary supplements” are over-the-counter therapy that is not routinely screened for drug interaction by the pharmac...

Since the U.S. Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994, use of herbal products has been growing rapidly worldwide. To ensure consumer health protection, the quality and safety of herbal plants, particularly those used for dietary supplement preparations, must be determined. To date, toxicological data on the identification of genotoxic and tumorigenic ing...

The aim of this study is to evaluate Chinese herbs' efficacy on adhesive properties of Escherichia coli (E. coli). The effects of Chinese herbal solution on the hemagglutination and adhesion by E. coli strain were studied. E. coli C16 was isolated from a patient with urinary tract infection. The MIC value of herbal solution for the E. coli C16 was 0.1g/ml. The MBC value was 0.2g/ml. The effects...

Warfarin is a common anticoagulant agent for cardiovascular diseases, and it is known to interact with several foods and drugs. Several studies report an interaction between warfarin and herbal medicines; however, the influence of herbal medicines on the international normalized ratio (INR) is still controversial. We investigated the influence of herbal formulas on INR of patients taking warfar...

BACKGROUND Increase in resistance of Candida species, to routinely used antifungal agents has necessitated the quest for new drugs. Few studies have revealed that cow's urine can suppress the growth of pathogenic fungi. However there is no published report on antifungal effects of cow's urine on clinical Candida isolates. OBJECTIVE The present study aims at exploring the antifungal potential ...

Traditional herbal medicine plays a significant role in the treatment of epilepsy. Though herbal medicine is widely used in antiepileptic treatment, there is a lack of robust evidence for efficacy and toxicity of most herbs. Besides, the herbal medicine should be subject to evidence-based scrutiny. In this context, we present a review to introduce the effects of herbal medicine on epilepsy. How...

BACKGROUND Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health condition in Australia. In addition, there are many people who experience problematic anxiety symptoms who do not receive an anxiety disorder diagnosis but require treatment. As herbal medicine use is popular in Australia, and little is known about how adults experiencing anxiety are using these medicines, this study aimed to ide...

indicates that this compound exhibits toxicity comparable to these other agents." Conventional toxicity tables (8,9) comparing LD50 values show that the ip LD for sodium chloride is 4 g/kg. Thus, ordinary table salt is more toxic than either CS-D4 or breast implant distillate! To further put this into perspective relative to silicone breast implants, it would take about two 660-pound breast imp...

The use of herbal remedies by African farmers in the treatment of livestock diseases was investigated using a range of methods, including group interviews, structured interviews, semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The study was concerned mainly with the 'why' and 'how' of herbal remedy use among African livestock holders farming on communally-owned land in central Eastern C...