The history of Ephedra (ma-huang)

Ephedra is a Chinese shrub which has been used in China for medicinal purposes for several thousand years. The pure alkaloid ephedrine was first isolated and characterised by Nagai in 1885. It was then forgotten until it was rediscovered by Chen and Schmidt in the early 1920s. Its actions on the adrenoceptors could be classified into separate alpha and beta effects – a defining moment in the history of autonomic pharmacology. Ephedrine became a highly popular and effective treatment for asthma, particularly because, unlike adrenaline (until then the standard

The history of Ephedra (ma-huang)

Ephedra is a Chinese shrub which has been used in China for medicinal purposes for several thousand years. The pure alkaloid ephedrine was first isolated and characterised by Nagai in 1885. It was then forgotten until it was rediscovered by Chen and Schmidt in the early 1920s. Its actions on the adrenoceptors could be classified into separate alpha and beta effects – a defining moment in the history of autonomic pharmacology.

Occupational lung disease

Occupational medicine represents the interface between work and health. As such, its breadth encompasses issues of clinical medicine, epidemiology, occupational hygiene, toxicology, ethics, and the law. The diagnosis of an occupational lung disease has implications not only for the health of the worker, but also in some circumstances for the health of colleagues and the employer. It is not surprising that many clinicians find this challenging.