Herbal medicines are one of the oldest forms of medical treatment, and many people believe they provide a more natural and holistic approach towards health care. Consumers often purchase herbal medicines and food supplements to relieve minor symptoms without necessarily consulting a physician, their decisions based on the information available to them which may not be accurate or complete. One of the most popular reasons for taking herbal medicines and food supplements is the menopause. Although a natural event rather than an illness, the hormonal changes that accompany the menopause can produce a range of symptoms which may be considered a suitable condition for self-treatment. Whilst severe symptoms can be managed with hormone replacement therapy (HRT), it is not considered a suitable treatment for most patients due to its inherent risks. Women may explore the use of herbal medicines based on a view that these are more 'natural' and 'safer' than HRT; however, safety is not guaranteed and without access to reliable and comprehensive information, women make decisions based on their own understanding. In other words they rely on 'herbalmedicine- in-the-menopause' heuristics, but this can lead to erroneous judgments. This thesis first examines attitudes towards herbal use among menopausal women as evidenced in the literature. Three main categories capture women's decision making in this area: 1) optimism about herbal medicines; 2) pessimism about HRT and the medical treatment of the menopause; 3) cure-control with herbal medicines. In addition, interviews using vignettes further explore the existence of a heuristic driving the use of herbs in the menopause. A number of dominant categories were found to arise from this work, which encapsulated women's attitudes towards herbal medicines in the menopause, and related specifically to: (i) perception of menopause; (ii) the use of herbal medicine for coping with menopausal symptoms; (iii) wariness towards treatment use during menopause; and (iv) relationships with, and women's expectation from GPs about herbal usage.

Lignans are natural products composed of two β-β linked phenylpropanoid units. Lignans have acquired considerable importance owing to their broad range of biological activities. Indeed, many lignans have antitumor, antiviral, and insecticidal activities. Norway spruce lignans are of particular interest to researchers because they have been shown to play an important role in the prevention of breast, prostate, and colon cancers. The work within the thesis describes the synthetic approach to the development of enantiopure lignans or lignan like structures. The first chapter provides a through introduction about lignans biological activities and synthesis with the emphases on the lignans found in Norway spruce. The second chapter describes methods for extraction and analysis of these lignans using GCIMS analysis. Biological activities on bone cell differentiation were reported in chapter 3. Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 focus on the development of methodology towards the asymmetric synthesis of the lignans that found in the Norway spruce utilizing organocatalytic asymmetric aldol reaction. Enantiopure tetrahydrofuran and lactone rings synthesis utilising oxy-Michael and Michael addition was also described since these are the core structure of these lignans.

The Swat district has very varied vegetation structure due to the great geophysical variation. There is a great potential for the Valley to act as an economic hub for Pakistan in the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) industry. However, the forest ecosystem services of the Valley are under continuous threat from the direct and indirect anthropogenic stresses. This study has revealed that climate change will significantly affect adversely the distribution of some of the most important medicinal, ecological and economically important tree species of the Valley. This change will not only modify the landscape but the whole socio-ecological system of the area. Plants like Abies pindrow, Pinus wallichiana, Cedrus deodara and Pin us roxburghii will be directly affected by the a2a climate change scenario for the year 2080. This study also predicts the trend in altitudinal movement of species as a , consequence of climate change; as the northern parts of the Valley provide high altitudes of significantly colder environment than the southern parts. The ethno- cultural study revealed that the people of the area have a well established ethnomedicinal culture in place and some plants could be at high risk of extinction from the unsustainable practices of plant collection. The core plants of the ethno-culture were Berberis Iyceum in five calculated indices: Salience Index (SI), Relative Importance Index (RII), Cultural Value Index (CVI), Cultural Importance Index (CII), and Ali's Conservation Priority Index (CPI); Skimmia laureola ranked second in the SI, fifth in the RII, seventh in CVI, third in CII, but ninth in CPI, and Mentha longifolia ranked third in the SI, and RII. Detailed biodiversity analysis has revealed that different parts of the Valley have different biodiversity index values. Some locations like location 1 (Landakay, Kota, Aboha.

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Saw palmetto berries (Sereona repens) are used today for symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) which is an age dependent disease leading to lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and impacts negatively sexual functions (SDys). I carried out the first clinical pilot trial to assess if a saw palmetto treatment in patients with BPH symptoms and concomitant SDys is efficacious and safe on both groups of symptons. After 8 weeks of treatment with 320mg saw palmetto extract daily, the BPH symptoms assessed with the International Prostate Symptome Score IPSS were reduced from 14.4 ± 4.7 to 6.9 ± 5.2 (P < 0.0001) . At the same time SDys measured with the brief Sexual Function Inventory bSFI improved from 22.4 ± 7.2 to 31.4 ± 9.2 (P < 0.0001), and with the Urolife BPH QoL-9 questionnaire from 162.7 ± 47.9 to 105.0 ± 56.3 (P < 0.0001). The treatment was very well tolerated and accepted by the patients. Another subject of the thesis was to investigate the quality of products from 8 countries which contained saw palmetto and are sold as treatments of BPH symptoms. For each of the 46 analyzed products the amount of the main active constituent, the fatty acids was determined using gas chromatography. The quantity of fatty acids per daily dosage varied widely between the commodities and also the composition of the samples was very heterogenous. A last aspect of this thesis was to investigate how saw palmetto was historically introduced into the German speaking medical practice. The first recorded mention of saw palmetto in a German medicinal publication was in 1892. From then on saw palmetto grew more and more popular among German homeopathic doctors and was often mentioned in their publications. The homeopathic doctors were ones in the end having made saw palmetto popular as a medicinal treatment in Germany. In conclusion, this thesis shows how saw palmetto made its way into medical practice in Germany, that saw palmetto preparations on the markets differ widely in their content of active constituents and thus higher quality demands from regulatory authorities are warranted, and for the first time that saw palmetto is not only an efficacious and safe treatment for BPH symptoms but also for concomitant SDys.

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