Towards rational regulation and legislation of herbal medicines

Though modern medicine is well developed in most of the world, large sections of the population in developing countries still rely on heral medicines and other natural products for their primary care. In recent years public interest in Industrialized countries has increased greatly towards the natural therapies with the expanding use of medicinal plants and herbal medicine. Traditional medicinal products have evolved against widely different ethnological, cultural, climatic, geographical and even philosophical backgrounds; nevertheless they face many regulatory challenges in ensuring their safety and efficacy. The efforts of WHO in the development of modern guidelines in this field have been very helpful in recognition of the role of herbal remedies in health care and in supporting their potential use in national health care system in different parts of the world

Antifungal activity of alcoholic extracts of zizyphus vulgaris and acacia concinna

Despite the development in the management of fungal infections with modern drugs, search for the natural antifungal agents is underway. Keeping the above fact in mind, we tested the alcoholic extracts of Z. vulgaris and A. concinna for their antifungal activity by an in vitro trial method. The alcoholic extracts showed significant activity against the tested fungal organisms at the concentration of 2000 micro g/ml which was comparable to the standard, Nystatin at 1000 micro g/ml

Phytochemical and pharmacological investigations on some medicinally important zizyphus species

Species of Zizyphus are regarded as useful plants in indigenous system of medicine. Extensive research has been carried out on this species and mentioned by almost all authors of authentic texts and manuscripts of the sub-continent. Regarded as a medicinal plant in the traditional medicine, it is attributed to exert sedative, anti-histaminic, 'antimicrobial and dental cleansing activities. The authors present a comprehensive review of its utility in the light of contemporary researches