Hiroshi Watanabe is Director of the Research Institute for Oriental Medicines and Professor of Pharmacology at Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan. His primary research activities focus on natural product pharmacology. Hiroshi Watanabe is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Traditional Medicines and Editor of the Journal of Ethnopharmaco fogy. Takeshi Shibuya is currently President of Tokyo Medical University, where he is also Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology. He holds posts as Visiting Professor at, the University of Illinois College of Medicine, USA; Taipei Medical College; and Chung Shan Medical and Dental University in Taiwan. He is also Honorary Professor at China Medical College, Taiwan. Takeshi Shibuya is well known in the field of neu ropsyco-pharmacology.

• Preface -- Primary Contributors -- 1 Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Asthma /Robert M. Hackman, Judith S. Stern, Seishi Suehiro and M. Eric Gershwin -- 2 Traditional Chinese Medicine and Herbal Medicine: Current Research and Their Clinical Application for the Treatment and Prevention of Cancer /Han Rui -- 3 Rational Use of Medicinal Plants in Primary Health Care /Nuntavan Bunyapraphatsara -- 4 Chinese Herbal Medicines: Neuropsychiatric Disorders and the Dynamics of Cytosolic Ca2+ /Yasuo Watanabe, George F. Lalvlor, Jing Li, Jun Zhang, Li Liu and Takeshi Shibuya -- 5 Pharmacological Study of the Anti-Dementia Effect of Shimotsu-to (Si-Wu-Tang) /Hiroshi Watanabe, Kinzo Matsumoto and Harumi Matsuda -- 6 Experimental Analysis of the Anti-Aging Effect of Panax Ginseng /Nobuyoshi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Saito -- 7 Effects of Vietnamese Ginseng on Psychological Stress-induced Changes in Pharmacological Responses /Nguyen Thi T'hu Huong, Nguyen T'hoi Nham, Kinzo Matsumoto, Kazuo Yamasaki and Hiroshi Watanabe -- 8 Neurodegenerative and Neuroprotective Actions of Glutamate-related Compounds of Natural Origin /Haruhiko Shinozaki -- 9 Pathopharmacological Evaluation of Bakumondo-to (Maimendongtang) as a Curative for Chronic Inflammatory Airway Diseases /Takeshi Miyata, Yoichiro Isohama, Susheng Tai, Hirofumi Kai and Kazuo Takahama -- 10 Effects of Traditional Chinese Medicines on Blood Rheology /Kazuo Toriizuka and Katsutoshi Terasawa -- 11 Pharmacological Properties of Some Structurally Related Indole Alkaloids Contained in the Asian Herbal Medicine, Hirsutine and Mitragynine, with Special Reference to Their Ca2+ Antagonistic and Opioid-like Effects 163 /Kazuo Watanabe, Shingo Yano, Syunji Horie, Leonardo Tomo Yamamoto, Hiromitsu Takayama, Norio Aimi, Shin-ichiro Sasaki, Dhavadee Ponglux, Pavich Tongroach, Jie Shan and Peter K. T. Pang -- 12 The Role of Bioactive Polysaccharides in Kampo Medicines /Haruki Yamada -- 13 Efficacy of Kakkon-to, a Traditional Herbal Medicine, against Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 and Influenza Infection in Mice /Kimiyasu Shiraki, Masahiko Kurokawa, Masami Imakita, Hitoshi Saio, Jun-ichi Yamamura, Zhi-Hong Li and Seiji Kageyama -- 14 Searching for Anti-HIV Agents among the Traditional Medicines /Ines Tomoco Kusumoto and Masao Hattori -- Index.