Avoid taking valerian at the same time as medication that can cause drowsiness, as the effects could be additive, adds Massachusetts General's Dr. Ulbricht.

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In 1960, the post of president was abolished in East Germany following the death of President Wilhelm Pieck and Walter Ulbricht became head of an all-powerful new Council of State.

CNN: Friday,

As for whether it works for sharpening the brain or minimizing damage from a stroke "the jury is out, " says Catherine Ulbricht, co-founder of Natural Standard Research Collaboration, a Cambridge, Mass.

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Preparations of the herb, including the amount of valerenic acid, vary widely from study to study, making it hard to draw firm conclusions, says Catherine Ulbricht, co-founder of Natural Standard and a pharmacist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

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Not so Karin, who knew people who had found themselves locked in a communist empire simply because they happened to be on the wrong side of the Wall the night the East German leader, Walter Ulbricht, ordered its erection.

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When Castro's name is reviled in his homeland like those of Ceaucescu, Ulbricht, and Stalin in theirs, schoolchildren in Cuba will be learning about their country's long fight for democracy and about the role of a man named Jorge Mas.

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