OBJECTIVE To survey the extent of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among women for the alleviation of menopausal symptoms. DESIGN A total of 1,296 eligible women aged 45 to 65 years were recruited from three Sydney menopause clinics, general practice clinics, and government agencies between July 2003 and July 2004. Volunteers were invited to complete a 19-item questionnaire co...

Many women with PMS use alternative therapies, although there has been little research to demonstrate their efficacy. This systematic review provides a comprehensive discussion of dietary supplements and herbal remedies commonly used for premenstrual syndrome (PMS), including calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, evening primrose oil, Vitex agnus castus, ginkgo biloba and St John’s Wort. Randomized c...

BACKGROUND Many persons use botanicals and dietary supplements for chronic conditions that do not respond to traditional Western medications. Tricyclic antidepressants, a common treatment option for diabetic neuropathy, can have many side effects and are a poor choice in certain populations (eg, the elderly). As such, patients might turn to botanicals and dietary supplements, not realizing that...

Callus induction responses and regeneration through callus-mediated SE were studied from evening primrose (Oenothera biennis L.) as an important medicinal plant of Onagraceae mainly known for its gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) content. The effects of cytokinins, 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and N-(2-furfurylamino)1-H-purine-6-amine [Kinetin (Kin)] and their concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/l) in ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different penetration enhancers, containing essential fatty acids (EFAs), on the transdermal delivery of flurbiprofen. Evening primrose oil (EPO), vitamin F, and Pheroid technology all contain fatty acids and were compared using a cream-based formulation. This selection was to ascertain whether EFAs solely, or EFAs in a Pheroid delivery sys...

This study explored genetic variation and co-variation in multiple functional plant traits. Our goal was to characterize selection, heritabilities and genetic correlations among different types of traits to gain insight into the evolutionary ecology of plant populations and their interactions with insect herbivores. In a field experiment, we detected significant heritable variation for each of ...

During the last ten years the number of distinct mutant types of Oenothera Lamarckiana has increased considerably. One of us has determined the chromosome numbers for most of them, including those older ones, for which these figures had not as yet been ascertained. Moreover the fact that some mutant types are repeatedly produced by others has become very prominent, indicating some kind of gen...

The extent to which evolutionary change occurs in a predictable manner under field conditions and how evolutionary changes feed back to influence ecological dynamics are fundamental, yet unresolved, questions. To address these issues, we established eight replicate populations of native common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis). Each population was planted with 18 genotypes in identical frequ...

Many of the features of the premenstrual syndrome are similar to the effects produced by the injection of prolactin. Some women with the premenstrual syndrome have elevated prolactin levels, but in most the prolactin concentrations are normal. It is possible that women with the syndrome are abnormally sensitive to normal amounts of prolactin. There is evidence that prostaglandin E1, derived fro...