Lind, John

Thanks to Lenny Newman for the invitation to participate in the Measurement Challenges in Atmospheric Chemistry symposium at the American Chemical Society meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, April 1990. Thanks also to Fred Fehsenfeld, Dave Parrish, and Marty Buhr of the National Oceanic and Aviation Administration Aeronomy Lab for renewing our interest in the chemical amplifier technique in the late 1980s. Finally, a big thank you to Geoffrey Tyndall, John Lind, John Orlando, Selena Slyter, and Steve Massie for assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. 

St John s wort is a yellow flowering plant that was first used medicinally by the ancient Greeks as a diuretic and a treatment for wounds and menstrual disorders. This herbal remedy is widely prescribed in Germany, where it has been studied extensively in clinical trials as a treatment for depression. In most countries, including the UK, it is available over the counter. In Ireland it is available only by prescription. Recently, a team of German scientists led by Klaus Linde at the University of Munich published a comprehensive review of 29 clinical trials of St John s wort, involving more than 5,000 depressed patients. They concluded that it is more effective than placebos and as effective as standard antidepressants in the treatment of major depression. 

Lickey ME, Gordon B. (1991). Medicine and Mental Illness. New York W. H. Freeman and Company. Linde K, Ramirez G, Mulrow CD, Pauls A, Weidenhammer W, Melchart D. (1996). St. John s wort for depression—an overview and meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. BMJ. 313(7052) 253-58. Lingjaerde 0, Foreland AR, Magnusson A. (1999). Can winter depression be prevented by Ginkgo biloba extract A placebo-controlled trial. Acta Psychlatr Scand. 100(1) 62-66. 

Linde C, Abraham WT, Gold MR, St John Sutton M, Ghio S, Daubert C. Randomized trial of cardiac resynchronization in mildly symptomatic heart failure patients and in asymptomatic patients with left ventricular dysfunction and previous heart failure symptoms. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2008 52 1834-A3. 

Linde, K., Ramirez, G., Mulrow, C.D., Pauls, A., Weidenhammer, W, and Melchart, D. (1996) St. John s wort for depression an overview and meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. BMJ 313 253-258. 

Linde K, Ramirez G, Mulrow CD, et al. St John s wort for depression — an overview and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. BMJ 1996 313 258-261. 

Linde et al St. John s wort for depression—meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Br J Psychiatry 2005 186 99. [PMID 15684231]... 

Hauri, P., and S. Linde. No More Sleepless Nights. New York John Wiley, 1996. 

The authors of the Handbook-II have many acknowledgments to make for help. We particularly thank Charles Rees, Eric Scriven and John Zoltewicz who have read the work in its entirety. We are most grateful for the technical assistance from Ms. Hong Wu, Dr. Olga V. Denisko, Dr. O. V. Dyablo, Dr. A. V. Gulevskaya, Mr. S. Kakasyev and Ms. V. N. Stepanova and to Dr. Linde Katritzky for her constant support. 

Glocker, G. and Lind, S.C. (1939) The Electrochemistry of Gases and Other Dielectrics, John Wiley Sons, Inc., New York, p. 193. 

Rnuppel L, Linde K. Adverse effects of St. John s Wort a systematic review. J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 65 1470-1479. 

Linde K, Mulrow CD, Berner M, Egger M. St John s wort for depression. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Online), 2005 (2) CD000448. 

Johnson, John E, "The Economics of Liquid Hydrogen Supply for Air Transportation", Union Carbide Coiporation, Linde Division, New York, N.Y. (Presented at the Cryogenic Engineering Conference, August 10,1973 Atlanta, Georgia)... 

This work has been supported by Grant 938-COS191 from the John Templeton Foundation. I am grateful to Andrei Linde, Heinz Oberhummer, and Keith Olive for their helpful comments. 

Many studies have been done comparing St. John s wort to placebo or to tricyclic antidepressants (Linde et al., 1996). However, problems with inclusion criteria, diagnostic criteria, antidepressant dosing, and study duration do not permit definitive conclusions about the safety and efficacy of St. John s wort for treatment of depression. 

Eugene 0. Briinm Linde Company George H. Cady University of Washington Francis P. Dwyer John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University Henry F. Holtzclaw, Jr, University of Nebraska William L. Jolly University of California (Berkeley)... 

Linde, K. el al St. John s Wort for Depression An Overview and Meta-analysis of Randomised Clinical Trials, BMJ, Vol 313 253-8, Aug, 1996. 

Linde, K., et al, St. John s Wort for Depression—An Overview and Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials, Aug., 1996, BMJ, pp. 253-258. 

A systematic review of clinical trials indicated that St. John s wort has been well tolerated in trials, with no serious adverse effects reported. Patient dropout rates and adverse effects reports were similar to those of placebo (Knuppel and Linde 2004). 

A systematic review of adverse events reported in clinical trials of St. John s wort indicated that data from 35 doubleblind randomized trials showed that dropout and adverse event rates in patients receiving St. John s wort extracts were similar to placebo, lower than with older antidepressants, and somewhat lower than with SSRI antidepressants. Dropout rates due to adverse events ranged from 0 to 5.7% in 17 observational studies that included 35,562 patients. No serious adverse events were reported in any of the studies (Knuppel and Linde 2004). 

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