Traditional medicine forms

Species belonging to the family Amaryllidaceae are used in different parts of the world for the treatment of various ailments and diseases. In Africa, the use of the amaryllidaceous plants in traditional medicine is largely centred in southern Africa for two reasons. Firstly, most African Amaryllidaceae tribes have their centre of variation in southern Africa. Secondly, traditional medicine forms an integral part of southern African culture (40, 41). The uses of different members of the African Amaryllidaceae are summarized below ... 

No amplification step occurs, and the next step requires intervention by the chemist, in the form of synthesizing a new set of compounds (part of what we view as traditional medicinal chemistry). 

Mother Nature still continues to be a resource of novel chemotypes and pharmacophores, and an impressive number of modem drugs have been isolated from natural sources, many based on their uses in traditional medicine systems. " To a large extent, the use of natural products in drug design represents the natural evolution of this old tradition. It has been extensively documented that the traditional medicine systems of many cultures worldwide are based on plants,for example in countries like China and India where plants have formed the basis for traditional systems of medicines. According to Kim and Park, natural... 

The search for chemical compounds that will cure disease, alleviate pain, or otherwise extend human life and make it more comfortable and pleasurable has been a part of human culture as far back as we know. Those who practice forms of traditional medicine have, over the centuries, developed extensive and sophisticated pharmacopoeias that contain many such compounds extracted from plants, animals, and minerals in their surrounding environments. Modern medical researchers have developed their own treasure chests of drugs, many of which have been derived from traditional medicines, and many others of which have been synthesized from basic materials, often by way of complex chemical reactions. Even after thousands of years of drug research, however, healers are not completely satisfied with the armory of chemicals available for their use. People are constantly searching for new compounds that will act more efficiently and more safely than existing pharmaceuticals and for substances with which to combat new forms of disease. 

TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USES Algeria. Hot water extract of the seed, mixed with Euphorbia species and a beetle, is taken orally to facilitate childbirth° °. Arabic countries. The dried seeds are used as an abortifacient in the form of a pessary in Unani medicine° . 

TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USES Arabic countries. Dried seeds are used externally in the form of a plaster as a contraceptive in Unani medicine. The seed oil is applied on the glans penis before coitus to prevent conception . 

This volume of the series Medicinal Plants of the World Chemical Constituents, Modern and Traditional Medicinal Uses contains information on 16 plant species and follows the same format as volumes 1 and 2. Some of the plants discussed in volume 3 may be considered controversial in their classification as medicinal. However, the Paracelsian dictum that sola dosis fecit venenum has been appreciated since ancient times, and throughout the ages many highly toxic materials used for lethal purposes have also found applications in modern medicine. It has been recognized that plants contain substances that are either harmful or toxic. However, it is wrong to think that there are plant toxins that are known or that are likely to have adverse effects on any and every form of life. A common feature of most toxic plants is that they are also known for their curative properties, and although they may provide the cure for an individual s disease at one dose, they may cause the death of the same individual at another. 

Oceans are the Earth s most valuable natural resources, which provide majority of the food in the form of fish and shellfish (about 200billion pounds are caught each year). Oceans are the richest resource for numerous biomedically important chemical as well as the protein molecules, which are ranging from the general medication purposes to the specific therapeutic applications (Jimeno, 2002 Vo and Kim, 2010). While the use of floristic resources in traditional medicine has been widely explored, there is a paucity of information regarding the utilization of faunistic resources (Alves and Rosa, 2006), and as such, the medical value of animal species has not been included in the calculations of economic value of biodiversity by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) (Alves et al., 2009 Pearce and Moran, 1994). 

The shrub Baeckea frutescens (Myrtaceae) has long been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of rheumatism and snake bites, and a recent examination of a dichloromethane extract of the aerial parts revealed the presence of a number of structurally unique compounds. The major component of the extract was shown to have structure 1. Another constituent of the mixture was shown to have structure 2, and it was tentatively suggested that 2 might be a degradation product of 1, formed either during the extraction process or during chromatographic separation of the crude plant extract. 

Throughout the ages, humans have relied on Nature to cater for their basic needs—not the least of which are medicines for the treatment of a wide spectrum of diseases. Plants, in particular, have formed the basis of sophisticated traditional medicine systems, with the earliest records, dating from around 2900-2600 BCE,1 documenting the uses of approximately 1000 plant-derived... 

The commercial value of traditional medicines has highlighted the need to protect traditional knowledge from biopiracy . Some would have traditional medicine protected under new or existing forms of intellectual property rights whereas others object to that concept on ethical, economic or other reasons including, as mentioned above, that protection may limit access at a time when increased levels of healthcare are needed. 

Complementary Medicines Evaluation Committee (CMEC). The CMEC was established in 1997 a Traditional Medicines Evaluation Committee (TMEC) had been established by the Minister to provide expertise for the evaluation of non-prescription traditional medicines and advice on their registration. Whereas ADEC and MEC had a long history prior to the enactment of the Therapeutic Goods Act, 1989, there was no committee to handle traditional and alternative medicines which came under regulation for the first time with this Act. Although the TMEC was not a statutory committee, its role was to advise on quality and manufacture of traditional and alternative medicines, their pharmacognosy and toxicology and their clinical use. In practice, the committee formed a broad advisory role rather than a substance-by-substance evaluation role. 

For proprietary medicinal products bcised on traditional medicinal plants known for their hcirmlessness used under the form tisane and/or under other galenic forms, as well as for homeopathic preparations figuring in a pharmacopoeia, the manufacturer should submit ... 

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