Even as AIDS spreads throughout the world, Australians are determined to get their share of the profits from the use of a shrub that halts replication of HIV

Anybody wanting information about Indian medicinal plants will soon be able to get it at the push of a button. Work on a multidisciplinary, computerised databank, Inmedplan (Indian Medicinal Plants

There has recently been a flurry of international activity centred around the versatile neem.

C M Ketkar Neem Mission 471 Shanwar Peth Pune 411 030 The Editor Neem Newsletter Division of Agricultural Chemicals Indian Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi 110 012

THE CREDIT for spreading the message of the wondrous properties of the neem goes to Chandrashekhar Mahadeo Ketkar, whose interest in the tree was piqued when he visited the quality control laboratory

health Cracking the capsule Every year a million people, mostly aids and transplant patients, are killed by a disease called cryptococcosis, symptoms of which include chest pain, dry cough, abdominal swelling, headache and blurred vision. This disease is caused by the deadly fungus Cryptococcus neoformans which attacks immune systems that are already infected. Researchers have