Revival of Complementary and Alternative Herbal Medicines

Herbal medicines, complementary or alternative medicines is a wide term for the therapies that are not part of standard care but it has many theories regarding efficacy based on personal experiences, history and common knowledge. It has long been used since ancient times since the beginning of human civilization. Its use had caught much attention in the early 1800s, with the development in the science of chemistry, a new era in pharmacotherapeutics and the use of active chemical ingredients in plants which were known to produce favorable therapeutic effects, were explored, active compounds were extracted, purified and their structure was revealed. This advancement paved the way towards modern pharmaceutical therapy. The modern drugs are based on these herbal medicines, after extracting the active and pure chemical compounds. Pharmacokinetics and physicochemical properties of the active ingredients was explored. It lead to the better understanding of efficacy and safety profile of these drugs and first choice for treatment of various diseases. At the same time, the herbal medicines were considered as secondarily important. After approximately two centuries, the use of herbal medicines have seen a revival globally both in developing as well as developed countries. In the past few years, the practice of using herbal medicines as an alternative and complementary health medicine has gained more importance. Herbal medicines are common for treatment of various ailments including cancer, digestive disorders, pain related disorders, neuropathic ailments and cardiac arrhythmias etc. Even it has been used by pregnant females and mostly perceived as safe. Its use has gained more attraction due to its ‘natural’ approach and lesser side effects. Their use if often overlooked but physicians should pay attention to these medicines. There is lack of familiarity, standardization of the drug components, unproven therapeutic effects in various diseases, unexplored toxicology, pharmacokinetics, drug-drug interactions, and compatibility in patients with varying medical, genetic and demographic history. There are serious concerns regarding the safety, efficacy and quality of herbal products and nutraceuticals. Accidental contamination and deliberate adulteration are assumed to be the main cause of the side effects. Much of the herbal medical knowledge is scattered in different regions of the world and mostly available at family, community and local level and mostly in any native languages. There is need of coherent sources, knowledge, and exploration of these medicines across the world. The herbal medicine has varying diversity in different geological regions and they should be investigated. There should be a regional or national body to control and approve the herbal medicines. Proper documentations on these medicines and food supplements should also be done.

Impact of Implementation Challenges of Capital Adequacy Ratio of Basel Accord Ii and Iii: Evidence from the Banking Sector of Pakistan.

There are controversies in literature on how impositions of capital adequacy ratio (CAR) affect the bank behavior. In this context, present study analyzed the impact of CAR on the bank behavior in terms of risk taking, lending and profitability in the banking sector of Pakistan. For this purpose, present study used sample of 26 banks due to the availability of data on CAR for the period of 2005-2015. The study contributes in literature by extending Shrieves and Dhal (1992) model in Pakistani banking sector by using 2SLS and 3SLS techniques. The study also used Chami & Cosimano (2005) model and trade-off theory, by employing GMM technique to analyze the impact of CAR on the lending and profitability behavior of Pakistani banks. Results of the study confirm that CAR is effective in limiting risk-taking behavior of Pakistani banks which restrict their lending capacity for private sector in Pakistan. However, higher CAR leads to reduced cost of bankruptcy which improves the profitability position of Pakistani banks. Furthermore, the study also aims to identify the implementation challenges of advance approach of Basel Accord by using survey questionnaire. Results of the survey show key challenges such as lack of resources, credit and operational risk and supervisory review process however, proactive risk management culture positively contributes to the implementation process. The study has policy implications for the banks and regulators by providing them insights on the tradeoff of higher CAR and recommendations to overcome implementation issue of advance approaches of Basel Accord.