AIDS is now said to threaten humanity as a modern-day scourge. However, there is a group of scientists which maintains that this scare is unwarranted. Some arguments in favour of the re-evaluation of the AIDS hypothesis are presented in this article.

The effect of the indigenous drug Picrorhiza kurrooa  Benth was studied on experimental acute inflammation in rats. It was observed that Picrorhiza kurrooa  at a dose of 100 mg/kg b.w. has significant (p<0.01) anti inflammatory effect with respect to control, vehicle and standard drug.

The formulation of polyherbal hair care powders was attempted in our laboratories. There formulation (A-C) were found to be ideal and evaluation of these formulations is reported here.

Nowadays many drug industries are manufacturing a number of oil formulations and which are not assessable to know the specific Pakas (stage) of oil preparation. In Ayurveda five stages have been mentioned for medicated oils, these Ama, Mridu, Madhya Khara and Dadgha Paka, Medicated oils obtained by Mridu, Madhya Khara and Dadgha Paka, are considered to be of therapeutic value and are advocated for clinical usage but those obtained by Ama and Dadgha pakas are not recommended. Most of the pharmacies are marketing the oils only by name but are not mentioning the Paka. In order to standardize these pakas with scientific explanation a oil preparation called Ksheerabala taila  is selected for the study.

Samples of marketed Lauha bhasma  from different manufactures were evaluated chemically. Apart from the 81 -85% iron content, the 15-19% other constituents were determined therein. Ferrous ferric and total iron in a single aliquot were determined spectrophotometrically, Qualitative and chromatographic analysis indicate the presence of sodium, potassium, calcium copper and cobalt in the samples, silicious matter and traces of ascorbic acid were present while tannin was absent in Lauha bhasma . Quantitatively sodium and potassium were determined by flame spectrometry. Upon fractionation, water soluble and acid soluble contents were determined.

The traditional medical system of cuba is an amalgam so the medical knowledge of the Africans, Hispanics and the Amerindians of cuba. An attempt is made is this article to provide a short introduction to this fascinating body of knowledge, which awaits further investigations by scholars of ethnic medicine.

Vitex  genera is reputed for their medicinal properties. Of the 12 species reported to be present in Indian only 8 species are medicinally useful. Of these six species were colled and their pharmacognostic characters were studied and described.

The physical and chemical characteristics differ depending upon the pharmaceutical processing of medicated oils. These changes eventually influence the actions of these medicaments this particular aspect is highlighted in this article.

Plants used for curdling of milk practiced by kollimalayalis, the tribes of kolli, hills, Salem District, Tamil Nadu are discussed.

Our body needs food everyday that supplies all the nutrients in required amount to keep the body healthy. But eating of food sometimes gets affected by socio- cultural factors that condition the dietary habits of the people which contribute significantly to nutritional deprivation in the communities, these faulty feeding habits arising from ignorance, superstitions, and social prejudices have bee so strongly entrenched that it is very difficult to dislodge them from the community in which malnutrition aggravates.

Sodhana is a particular aspect to be followed meticulously in ayurvedic pharmaceutics. Failure to subject certain ingredients to this process of "purification" can have a negative effect on the efficacy of the preparations(s). This aspect is detail in this article.

Callus cultures were induced from leaf segments of Cephaelis ipecacuanha  on modified gamborg medium containing 2,4 - dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2mg/1) Indole acetic acid (1mg/1), kinetin (1mg/1) and sucrose (20g/1). The biogenetic profile for alkaloids was established. The established callus cultures were transferred to modified gamborg medium supplemented with L- DOPA (40 mg/1) and L methionine (3mg/1). After four weeks of their growth, the biomass and medium were extracted for emetine alkaloid and analysed by HPLC. The bioproduction of emetine was found to be extracellular in nature. The emetine content had increased to 0.587% mg FW as compared to control cultured (0.0245% mg FW).

The plant Lippia nodiflora (Family-Verbenaceae) has medicinal properties and particularly used as an antidandruff agent. The essential oil of the plant was tested for its antibacterial activity against both gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. It showed good activity and compared with standard neomycin sulphate. However, it was inactive in the case of shigella flexneri.

The presence of vesicular - arbuscular mycorrhizae in the roots of Kaempferia galangal is reported in the article.