Japanese medicine

Insufficient natural light can lead to depression, tiredness, or overeating. In the winter, especially in colder countries, the level of indoor light produces only about a tenth of the illumination of a full day of natural light. A form of winter blues that can result from this is known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It affects around 1% of the population (more women than men) but can be successfully treated with special full spectrum light units fitted in the home or office (Thomas, 1997 and General References). 

Massage is one of the oldest forms of remedial therapy which was probably first practiced in a structured way in China and Mesopotamia more than 5000 years ago. The art of massage was already well known to the physicians of ancient Greece when Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote in the 5th century b.c. that the way to health is a scented bath and an oiled massage every day.  

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Nanba, T. Genshoku Wakanyaku Zukan (Colored Illustrations of Shino-Japanese Medicines), Hoikusha Publishing Co. Osaka, 1980 Vol. 2, pp. 154 - 155. 

Takahashi, S. Kampo-yaku to Sono Hattenshi (History and Development of Shino-Japanese Medicines), Kougensha Toyama (Japan), 1976. 

Otsuka, K. Yakazu, D. Shimizu, T. Kampo Shinryo Iten (Dictionary of Medical Examination and Treatment using with Shino-Japanese Medicines), Nanzandou Publishing Co. Tokyo, 2001 p. 71 and p. 285. 

Namba T. In The Encyclopedia of Wakcm-Yaku (Traditional Sino-Japanese Medicines) with Color Pictures Hoikusha Tokyo 1994 Vol. I, pp. 284-285. 

Polygonum cuspidatum, a weed used in Chinese and Japanese medicine, is one of the first plants identified to extract resveratrol and is one of the richest... 

The bark of Phellodendron amurense (Rutaceae) is known as an important Japanese medicine for stomach and intestinal diseases. The bark is yellowish in color and contains two major alkaloids, berberine and palmatine. Yellow alkaloids do not usually have distinguishing characteristics in tissues when observed microscopically. The bark was soaked in 5% nitric acid solution for 3 days and sectioned for microscopical studies (1). The alkaloids were crystallized as nitrate salts in the phloem, medullary rays, and cortex. Crystals were removed by... 

Kanno H, Kawakami Z, Iizuka S, Tabuchi M, Mizoguchi K, Ikarashi Y et al (2013) Glycyrrhiza and Uncaria Hook contribute to protective effect of traditional Japanese medicine yokukansan against amyloid p oligomer-induced neuronal death. J Ethnopharmacol 149 360-370... 

Japan Traditional Japanese medicine, called kampo, is similar to and historically derived from Chinese medicine but includes traditional medicines... 

Kampo or Kanpo medicine is the traditional Japanese medicine which is attracting increased attention as a therapy and also from Japanese pharmaceutical companies. Herbs can be classified into three classes with the lower class taken only during illness because they are considered to be the most toxic. Middle class drugs would be used to maintain health and used daily for intermittent periods of time. The highest class of drugs, the upper class, are mainly tonics and adaptogens and should be taken every day to enhance longevity. 

Sympathetic-magic-based traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine is usually worse than useless, as illustrated by the 100% infant mortality (n = 9) inflicted on the family of Emperor Meiji, until its practitioners were displaced by Western-trained doctors in the 1880s (D. Keane, Emperor of Japan Meiji and His World, 1852-1912, Columbia University Press, 2002). 

The Japanese pharmaceutical industry traditionally was largely domestic. Japanese firms did little innovative R D and thus did not produce many new drugs for potential introduction into other countries, nor did foreign companies market their own drugs in Japan. This situation, now changing, reflected Japanese trade policies, the organization of Japanese medicine, and principles governing Japan s clinical research requirements. 

The 70% methanol extract from the dried fruit of Forsythia suspensa VAHL, a Chinese medicine, and Rengyo in Japanese medicine, showed anti-inflammatory activity. Even though the active was not identified, it was partitioned into the hexane fraction and, therefore, the active is believed to be one of the essential oil components. The anti-inflammatory activities of the hexane fraction on acetic acid-induced vascular permeability, writhing symptoms in mice, carrageenin-induced edema, and the cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation in rats, as well as analgesic activity, were also at approximately the same level activity as indomethacin [108]. 

Scientists examined the crude alkaloidal fractions derived from Shin-I (a traditional Sino-Japanese medicine) for the presence of neuromuscular blocking activity [41]. From the dried buds of M. salicifolia, three alkaloids, d-coclaurine (17), d-reticulin (18), and yuzirine (19) were found to reduce acetylcholine induced twitching of frog skeletal muscle. The active component of the purported antiallergy activity of Shin-I was identified as magnosalicin (20) [3]. Magnosalicin, a neolignan, was found in the chloroform extract of M salicifolia buds. 

Ganoderic acids, for example S, are found in the above- and under-ground parts of the fungus Ganoderma lucidum which is used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine for tonic preparations to increase vitality. 27-Norlanostanes, for example (-)-17,23-epoxy-28-hydroxy-27-norlanost-8-ene-3,24-dione, are isolated from the bulbs of some Mediterranean grape hyacinths such as Muscari comosum and Scilla scilloides (Liliaceae). 

Namba, T. Genshoku Hyatuka, Sekai No Yakuyou Shokubutu (The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism original book edited by Stuart, M., London Orbis, 1979, Notes of Traditional Shino-Japanese Medicine were added by Namba, T.), VoL 2, p. 212, Tokyo Enterprise, 1988. 

Resveratrol (3,5,4 -trihydroxystilbene C14H12O3, molecular weight 228.25 g/mol) is a non-flavonoid polyphenolic compound abundant in grapes, peanuts, and other foods that are commonly consumed as part of the human diet [29]. The compound was first isolated from the root of Polygonum cuspidatum, a plant used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine [30]. Resveratrol (Fig. Ic) exists as two structural isomers cis- Z) and trans- E). The traws-isomer is biologically more active than the cis-isomer, probably due to its non-planar conformation [31, 32]. Despite its poor water solubility, resveratrol exhibits high membrane permeability and can be... 

Other biological products with reported antiviral activity include phagicin, a virus protein from X-lnfected E. coli cells with tissue culture and Hi vivo activity against vaccinia and herpes simplex aqueous extracts of giant puffballs and the black Japanese forest mushroom with activity against influenza A2/japan/305/57 infections of calf kidney cells and influenza A/PR8 infections of mice and hot water extracts of the bark of the Japanese medicinal plant Sambucus sieboldlana which reduced mortality of mice infected with Columbia SK and LCM virus ... 

An appreciation of the life and work of the great Japanese medicinal chemist Hamao Umezawa has appeared. ... 

The herbal supplements market in Japan has been strongly influenced by the practice of Kampo. Kampo (or Kanpo) is the adaptation of Chinese herb formulas to Japanese medicine. Approximately 25 years ago, the Japanese Ministry of Health formally recognized that certain traditional Chinese herb formulas (and a few formulas of similar nature developed in Japan) were suitable for coverage by national health insurance. These formulas are prepared in factories under strict conditions. 

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