BACKGROUND Recent study results demonstrate possible clinical benefit from adjuvant treatment with a standardized mistletoe (Viscum album) extract in patients with malignant melanoma. PATIENT AND METHOD We present a male patient, currently 68 years of age, with one malignant melanoma at the upper part of the right arm since 1992, and another nodular melanoma at the left shoulder, first diagno...

ROBERT E SCHARPF is project leader, forest disease research, with headquarters in Berkeley, Calif. He earned a bachelor's degree in forestry (1953) at the University of Missouri, and a master's degree in forestry (1957) and a doctorate in plant pathology (1963) at the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Forest Service in 1960 and has been with the Station's staff since then. He ea...

BACKGROUND Mistletoe preparations are among the most widely used unconventional cancer therapies in Central Europe. Their clinical effectiveness, however, is controversial. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether prospective controlled clinical trials provide evidence for efficacy of mistletoe therapy in cancer. DESIGN Systematic review. MATERIAL AND METHODS Search of 11 electronic databases, re...

In the end stage cancer patients where in the cure is an obligate failure necessitates the palliation approach which focuses on creating an easy and comfort life to the patient rather than treating them as an experimental model for the research [1]. Palliation approach would help in the quality improvement of the end stage life whose recovery cannot be expected. Various palliation therapies hav...

Dwarf mistletoes, obligate, parasitic plants with diminutive aerial shoots, have long-term effects on host tree water relations, hydraulic architecture and photosynthetic gas exchange and can eventually induce tree death. To investigate the long-term (1886-2010) impacts of dwarf mistletoe on the growth and gas exchange characteristics of host western hemlock, we compared the diameter growth and...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of approximately 22 nucleotides single-stranded non-coding RNA molecules that play crucial roles in gene expression. It has been reported that the plant miRNAs might enter mammalian bloodstream and have a functional role in human metabolism, indicating that miRNAs might be one of the hidden bioactive ingredients in medicinal plants. Viscum album L. (Loranthaceae, ...

Aginanthus brunneus is a specie of Africa mistletoe and is hemiparasitic in nature growing on many trees. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of carbohydrates, Alkaloids, Tannins and flavonoids. The ethanolic and aqueous extracts inhibited growth of Klesiella aerogenes, Proteus spp Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Gentamycin and Cloxacillin did not exhibit any activity against ...

[4] Bock PR, Friedel WE, Hanisch J, Karasmann M, Schneider B: Efficacy and safety of long-term complementary treatment with standardized European mistletoe extract (Viscum album L.) in addition to the conventional adjuvant oncologic therapy in patients with primary nonmetastasized mammary carcinoma. Results of a multi-center, comparative, epidemiological cohort study in Germany and Switzerland....