Research into using Chinese herbs to treat or prevent breast cancer is getting a boost, thanks to Syracuse University head basketball coach Jim Boeheim.

A Japanese version of the Compendium of Materia Medica, an ancient Chinese medicine masterpiece, has been found in Northeast China's Jilin Province.

The pleasant spring sounds of chirping birds and children playing can get drowned out by a cacophony of sneezing and coughing for those that suffer from seasonal allergies. While most people try to treat these symptoms with drugstore remedies and shots at the doctor's office, many are finding Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments to be a very effective, even curing in some cases. ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner Alla Milikovsky, Lic.Ac, Dipl.Ac, CH, MS, has found great success treating patients who suffer from allergies of all kinds, from the symptoms straight down to their root cause.

HONG KONG -- We'd been to Hong Kong enough times to know that the denizens of the "City of Life," as they like to call it, are adventurous -- an understatement -- when it comes to food and drink.

HANGZHOU: The hundreds of people attending the first World Buddhist Forum were probably not surprised at what they heard there religious practitioners urging people to refrain from abusing animals or spoiling the environment.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is now booming in Germany with the number of patients increasing drastically in the clinic in Essen, west Germany, partly due to the stationing of Chinese physicians.

Macau's first hospital for Chinese medicine just opened:

"Macau's first traditional Chinese medicine hospital opens Saturday at the Macau University of Science and Technology.

Macau and Hong Kong have vied to become centers of research and commerce for Chinese medicine, but this is the first such hospital in either SAR.

It will be a training hospital for MUST's Faculty of Chinese Medicine and the Institute for Applied Research in Medicine and Health. The faculty, which runs in cooperation with Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has about 300 students pursuing bachelor and doctorate degrees in Chinese medicine and biomedicine. More degree programs are planned.

The purpose of the hospital, MUST vice rector Zhou Li Gao said, "is to show the advantages of Chinese medicine, even as an adjunct to Western practices like surgery."

Until now, MUST sent students to mainland hospitals to gain experience. MUST opened an outpatient clinic three years ago, but the new 60-bed hospital will provide wider scope for treatment and training. MUST plans to recruit about 100 more doctors and nurses for the new facility.

Institute for Applied Research in Medicine and Health director Timothy Chan, former dean of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Southern California, said research will benefit from the support of the Macau government. "People [here] are more inclined to make it work," he said. "We are better able to establish a network, and that's the key to the success of this.""

A group of local business people from Santa Barbara, California, visit a herbalist in Beijing to learn more about the philosophy and practice of Chinese medicine:

"Visiting members of the Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce watched in amazement as pharmacy assistants dug deep into drawers to dispense all manner of roots, herbs, seeds, fruit and plants -- not to mention the antler powder, buffalo horn, snake slough and earthworm.

Piles of what looked like debris from a morning's vigorous gardening apparently contained the answer to all sorts of ailments, from heart pains, stroke and depression, to premature ejaculation, impotence and forgetfulness.

Chamber members had earlier been given an insight into the rationale behind this system of ancient remedies when they attended a lecture in an adjacent part of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Opened in 1955, the academy, located just off Tiananmen Square near the heart of Beijing, is described as a national institute for research and clinical medicine, medical training and education, in traditional Chinese medicine.

Professor Zheren Nie stressed the importance of keeping balance within the body -- the balance of yin and yang -- and explained how certain natural medicines, along with things such as massage, acupuncture and acupressure, can help achieve and maintain that equilibrium.

He spoke of organ function and blood circulation, the 12 meridians that connect the organs and channel the vital essence "qi" through the body, the role of emotions and stress, and the significance of the environment around us and what we eat.

"Eating is a good thing, but it must be reasonable," he said, adding that optimism and a happy disposition will also help keep disease at bay."

Rasberries (and some Chinese herbs) are a good source of some powerful antioxidants:

"Antioxidants are believed to have substantial health benefits and raspberries in particular are a good source. In fact, raspberries may have 10 times more antioxidants than tomatoes or broccoli. Further, raspberries contain some specific antioxidants that are found almost nowhere else.

In a study published in a recent issue of BioFactors, researchers from Plant Research International, Wageningen, The Netherlands, discuss specific compounds found in the berry, some appropriate methods for assaying the antioxidant concentration, and the biochemistry of antioxidant uptake in humans.

“Raspberries contain vitamin C and anthocanines,” says Jules Beekwilder, “but these can also be found in other products. However, approximately 50% of the antioxidant effect of raspberries is caused by ellagitannins. These you find in small doses in strawberries and practically nowhere else.” Some Chinese herbs may also be a source of these compounds."