The aim of this prospective study (20 months) was to assess HIV patients' use of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) and its effect on ARV adherence at three public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Seven hundred and thirty-five (29.8% male and 70.2% female) patients who consecutively attended three HIV clinics completed assessments prior to ARV initiation, 519 af...

BACKGROUND There are many well-known causes of pericardial effusion, such as cancer metastasis, bacterial or viral pericarditis, and uremic pericarditis; however, no reports exist in the literature demonstrating a pericardial effusion that led to cardiac tamponade following consumption of an herbal remedy. CASE REPORT A 32-year-old male patient was referred to our cardiology outpatient clinic...

Women are the largest consumers of healthcare, and this extends to their utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Researchers have attempted to uncover the reasons why women turn to CAM in general and to botanical medicine in particular. Desire to have personal control over their health has been cited as the strongest motive for women to use herbal medicine. Second was dissa...

Traditional remedies are part of the cultural and religious life of the African people. In this manuscript the nature and range of traditional remedies used for female complaints in relation to gynaecological conditions and disorders is reviewed. A total of 156 medicinal plant species are documented as being used for gynaecological complaints in South Africa. These are presented in a table with...

Why Pharmacokinetics? Herbalists have long studied the effect of herbal medicines on the body, but have hitherto paid less attention to the effects of the body on herbal medicines. This dichotomy expresses the distinction in classical pharmacology between pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. For a given dose of any herbal medicine, its physiological effect (or that of its constituents) will b...

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are found in various plant genera worldwide. Poisoning by PA-containing plants is usually accidental, by the ingestion of grain inadvertently contaminated with seeds of pyrrolizidine-containing weeds, or the consumption of herbal or bush tea, or when taken as herbal infusions for medicinal purposes. In this paper the toxicity of PA-containing plants, with emphasis ...

Herbal remedies and dietary supplements have become an important area of research and clinical practice in orthopaedics and rheumatology. Understanding the risks and benefits of using herbal medicines in the treatment of arthritis, rheumatic diseases, and musculoskeletal complaints is a key priority of physicians and their patients. This review discusses the latest advances in the use of herbal...

Back ground: Failure to thrive (FTT) is a condition of poor weight gain in early childhood. Low appetite which is associated with FTT interacts with increasing caloric intake as the main treatment for FTT. Phytochemicals in herbal remedies could alter appetite more than the expected effects of other nutrients. This review aimed to assess the effective and safe herbal appetizer for children with...

Every human society has its own medical system. It can be called a social institution. Disease and medicine are inseparable in the history of culture. Folk is method practiced by local people. These "hand remedies," "folk "grandmother's "herbal medicine," "home hereditary remedies, pachilai remedies (Medicament with leaves), naturopathy, etc., The Ayurvedic system one oldest systems medicine. w...

Herbal based medicines are used for the treatment of many diseases from ancient times while pharmaceutical chemistry is recently developed. Usually Herbal medicines have been delivered orally in both animals and human. Targeted drug-delivery systems currently more common for the treatment of most life threatening diseases such as cancers. In addition to drug eluting devices many nano based devi...