A group of still-hypothetical drugs that may serve to rejuvenate the body's cellular energy system and thus eliminate the diseases of aging could have the effect of removing a huge burden from the U.S. health care system and state and federal budgets. It could also promote closer, more intimately involved three-generational families that are free of the woes, tensions and anxieties revolving around chronic diseases of the aged. (Read more about Elimination of Long Dying Process Could Alter Society)

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Like Narcissus in the Roman legend, modern Western humanity, critics say, has become so infatuated with our own technological and pharmaceutical prowess that we've lost sight of the host of simple and natural things that could handle many of today's problems effectively.

Lest we become like Narcissus, who became so enamored of his own handsomeness reflected in a pool of water that he stayed there without eating or drinking until he died, the critics continue, let's not neglect valuable homespun remedies from generations past that are still endorsed by many modern medical experts. Here are some of them: (Read more about Yet More Natural Cures for Workaday Woes)

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Modern medicine is coming to agree that the new ways are not always necessarily the best ways. It's reaching the conclusion that the latest pharmaceuticals are not always necessarily the only way to assault an ailment, that homespun remedies can often be the most helpful and least expensive approaches to a variety of illnesses.

Here are a few remedies, most of them readily available in your refrigerator or pantry, that many mainstream medical experts today have come to swear by. (Read more about More Natural Cures for Workaday Woes)

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Having a medical problem doesn't always involve getting cancer or having a heart attack. In fact, it's usually something simple and uncomplicated, like indigestion or a slight fever.

And many are the people nowadays who cringe at the thought of dealing with minor medical problems by taking synthetic chemicals from the drugstore that more often than not have uncomfortable side effects. For those people, here are a few natural cures that are safe, effective, inexpensive and recommended by experts. (Read more about Natural Cures for Workaday Woes)

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A relatively new massage technique gets at stubborn scar tissue buried deep in muscles and joints, returning people to a delightfully pain-free and flexible condition.

The technique, called Graston therapy, is usually performed by a massage therapist or chiropractor, and involves the use of specialized tools that look like handlebars, a boomerang and a thick metal tongue depressor. Specialists at Ball State University developed these and other deep-massage tools and the treatments themselves in the early 1990s. (Read more about Graston Massage Breaks Up Deep Scar Tissue)

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In 2005, a study found that one in five hospitals provided their patients with the option of alternative medicine, but by 2007 that number had risen to one in three.

"The largest hospitals in the U.S. are doing it," said Laurel Anderson, former director of health policy at the Minnesota Hospital Association, now with the Center for the Evolution of Health Care, an organization that promotes the availability of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in hospitals. "Minnesota is a leader in this area. The Minnesota Holistic Nursing Association has the most active association in the country." (Read more about One-Third of Hospitals Provide Alternative-Medicine Option)

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The widespread popularity of nanosilver products as a cure for everything from colds to conjunctivitis is being questioned by a number of scientists, who say the products could lead to serious toxic reactions and disease.

Nanosilver drinks, eyedrops and tablets are made with ultra-tiny particles of silver metal - so tiny that 800 of them fitted side by side could span the width of a human hair. Since silver is toxic to most living things, the particles are said to be able to kill harmful bacteria - hence the alleged health benefits. (Read more about Nanosilver Seen as a "Serious" Health Risk)

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The herb ginkgo biloba's reputation as a fountain of mental acuity has been tarnished by a recent six-year study, which showed it has no effect on the onset or progression of dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

The research, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was performed on 3,069 people between the ages of 75 and 96. Of those, 1,545 took a red pill containing 120 milligrams twice a day of the ginkgo extract EGb 761, the same used in Ginkgold products sold by Nature's Way. The other 1,524 participants took a red pill containing only placebos. Neither group knew what they were taking. All the pills were came from Schwabe Pharmaceuticals, a large German maker of supplements. (Read more about Study Finds Ginkgo Biloba Ineffective)

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Women with breast cancer, who frequently take the anti-cancer drug tamoxifen, are often at the age when they're also experiencing the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause - hot flashes and night sweats. So they need relief. But they can' take estrogen, which is the centerpiece of traditional anti-hot-flash hormone replacement therapy, because it has been shown to fan the fire of breast cancer.

So to get relief, women often turn to the herbal supplement black cohosh. But the extent of chemical interplay in the body between black cohosh and tamoxifen isn't known, so a new study will determine whether, and what sort of, interactive effect there is between the two. (Read more about Study Will Examine Black Cohosh and Tamoxifen)

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Oil of oregano has been touted as curing everything from diarrhea to rheumatism.

Various authorities have praised its supposed ability to relieve intestinal gas, sore throat, sinusitis, breathing difficulties, dandruff, diaper rash, bee stings and venomous bites. And experts have lauded it for its apparent power to reduce fever, relieve cramps, mitigate the effects of measles and mumps, and benefit indigestion, nervous tension, toothache, earache and coughs due to whooping cough and bronchitis. (Read more about A Cure-all Oil?)

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