|
herbal medicine
herbal medicine use of natural plant substances (botanicals) to treat and prevent illness. The practice has existed since prehistoric times and flourishes today as the primary form of medicine for perhaps as much as 80% of the world's population. Over 80,000 species of plants are in use throughout ...
Read more
|
|
optometry
optometry , eye-care specialty concerned with eye examination, determination of visual abilities, diagnosis of eye diseases and conditions, and the prescription of lenses and other corrective measures. In most states optometrists may prescribe drugs for the treatment of eye diseases. The principal c...
Read more
|
|
opiate drug
opiate drug any of a group of drugs derived from opium . Used medicinally to relieve pain and induce sleep, they include codeine , morphine , the morphine derivative heroin , and, formerly, laudanum . Sometimes included in the group are certain synthetic drugs that have morphinelike pharmacolo...
Read more
|
|
echinacea
echinacea , popular herbal remedy, or botanical, believed to benefit the immune system. It is used especially to alleviate common colds and the flu. Several controlled studies using it as a cold medicine have failed to find any benefit from its use, but a 2007 review of 14 different studies said tha...
Read more
|
|
|
herb
herb , name for any plant that is used medicinally or as a spice and for the useful product of such a plant. Herbs as condiments and seasonings are still important in culinary art; the use of medicinal herbs, however, has waned since the advent of prescription and synthetic medicines, although plant...
Read more
|
|
naproxen
naproxen and naproxen sodium, potent nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) used to alleviate the minor pain of arthritis, menstruation, headaches, and the like, and to reduce fever. Along with ibuprofen and ketoprofen , they belong to the propionic acid class of NSAIDs. They have been...
Read more
|
|
Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments or Decalogue [Gr.,=ten words], in the Bible, the summary of divine law given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. They have a paramount place in the ethical system in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Listed in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, the commandments are divided into dut...
Read more
|
|
|
quassia
quassia , name for several tropical trees and for a bitter extract from their bark. The extract containing complex terpenoid compounds called quassinoids is used medicinally as a bitter tonic and a pinworm remedy; it is also used in insecticides, e.g., in flypaper and against aphids. Surinam quassia...
Read more
|
|
thalidomide
thalidomide , sleep-inducing drug found to produce skeletal defects in developing fetuses. The drug was marketed in Europe, especially in West Germany and Britain, from 1957 to 1961, and was thought to be so safe that it was sold without prescription. In 1961 an extremely high incidence of European ...
Read more
|
|
|
Tom Daschle
Tom Daschle (Thomas Andrew Daschle) , 1947-, U.S. senator from South Dakota (1987-2005), b. Aberdeen, S.Dak. A Democrat, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, where he served four terms; he was first elected to the Senate in 1986. A low-key centrist with a reputation as a sk...
Read more
|
