Journal of Medicinal Plants
Volume:14 Issue: 57, 2016

Evidence based medicine (EBM) can be found as far back as the 1940s. However, it was in 1972 that the concept first came into play, originated by Professor Archie Cochrane, in his book, Effectiveness & Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services. This was the foundation for evidence based research, and in 1992 a facility was funded by the UK government, with the aim of performing randomly controlled tests on health services.
This is no coincidence since evidence-based medicine suggests a personal responsibility for clinicians to keep abreast of research that would be difficult without the information access that the web provides. Evidence-based medicine is now generally perceived to be the dominant operating system in conventional medicine. The term “evidence-based medicine” first appears in 1991, in a piece by Gordon Guyatt [1]. But EBM came to the attention of a wider audience in 1992 with an article by the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group [2] that boldly proclaimed EBM as a “new paradigm” in medicine. The National Institutes of Health defines “clinical research” as research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator (or colleague) directly interacts with human subjects. Excluded from this definition are in vitro studies that utilize human tissues that cannot be linked to a living individual. Indeed, Clinical trials are important component of evidence based medicine. A clinical trial is a research study that finds new ways to prevent, diagnose or treat disease [3-9]. For example, cancer clinical trials test new treatments in people with cancer. These treatments investigate promising new drugs, drug combinations, new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, and advances in new areas such as gene therapy. Clinical trials are the final step in a long process. There is no doubt that EBM plays an important role in the future of herbal medicine.

Many factors underlie the growing popularity of herbal treatments for a variety of chronic conditions. Interestingly, people who use alternative therapies are not necessarily uninformed. If anything, they are more "culturally creative" (i.e., comfortable with cultural changes) and more highly educated. Many people using herbal medicines find the health care alternatives are more congruent with their own values, beliefs and philosophical orientations toward health and life. Similarly, it seems likely that many people feel that herbal medicines are empowering by allowing them to treat themselves without seeing a physician. (This same attitude may be behind the growing popularity of patient-initiated diagnostic scanning procedures such as whole body scans). The danger is that, many people believe that herbal medicines have no toxicity problems or even side effects. In addition, they are not aware of many possible interactions of herbal medicine with concurrent prescribed medications. In this review we focus on Avicenna's evidence based medicine approaches in herbal medicine.

Eremostachys laciniata is known as "Chelle-Daghi" in Iran and its rhizomes are used as an emollient to relieve rheumatoid arthritis.
A phytochemical study was performed on 15 populations of Eremostachys laciniata to qualify the phytochemical variations.
Plants collected from their natural habitats and dried rhizomes of E. laciniata were milled and then Soxhlet-extracted by MeOH, and then total phenols were determined calorimetrically by the Folin-ciocalteau reagent and iridoid glycosides were measured by TLC method.
The results of MeOH extracts showed that the highest amount with 14.85 gr/plant was obtained in the Areshtanab population. The populations had a significant effect on total phenolic concentrations (P In summary, higher values of the total phenols and iridoids in the Areshtanab, Malek-Kian, and Til populations were considered to indicate higher levels of phytochemical heterogeneity and significant diversity between populations, which could be used to domesticate and develop the breeding programs.

Wound infection is one of the frequent complications in patients with surgical operations. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common cause of surgical wound infections. Origanum vulgare, a common culinary herb, has been shown to have strong antimicrobial activity, especially against Gram-positive pathogens.
This study was designed to investigate the antibacterial effects of O. vulgare on S. aureus in surgical wounds using a rat model.
Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into two groups of treatment and control rats (1:1). A circular incision was made on the dorsal inter-scapular region of each rat. Then, rats were inoculated topically with 1 × 104 CFU of S. aureus at the site of skin wounds. O. vulgare extract was applied to wounds twice a day during the experiment. Animals of the control group were left untreated.
The load of bacteria in untreated rats was 7 × 106 ± 6 CFU/wound while this was 2 × 105 ±1 CFU/wound for the treatment animals, which was significantly lower.
Results have showed that topical application of O. vulgare extract on the infected wounds included significant antibacterial activity against S. aureus.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have the potential to optimize the rhizospheric soil characteristics considerably thereby affecting plant growth.
The aim is to investigate the effects of fungi inoculation (Glomus intraradices) on morphological, physiological and phytochemical traits of Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis L.) under salt stress.
A factorial experiment was conducted on the basis of randomized complete blocks design in three replications at the Institute of Medicinal Plants in the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR). The mycorrihzal fungi in two levels (inoculation and non-inoculation) and saline conditions in five levels (EC of 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 dS.m-1) were the two studied factors. The essential oil content and its components were measured with Clevenger-type apparatus and GC/Mass and GC.
The results showed that the interaction effect of fungi inoculation and salinity was significant (P≤0.01) on morphological and phytochemical traits. The highest number of shoots per plant in fungi inoculation and salinity of 2 dS.m-1, number of leaves per plant in fungi inoculation and salinity of 6 dS.m-1, stem diameter in non-inoculation and salinity of 8 dS.m-1 was recorded, while the maximum leaf width in non-inoculation and salinity of 2 dS.m-1, stems fresh weight in fungi inoculation and control and, roots fresh and dry weight in treatment of fungi inoculation for both traits and salinity of 8 dS.m-1 and 6 dS.m-1 was recorded, respectively. Also, interaction effect of fungi inoculation and salinity significantly increased essential oil content and its components.
The phytochemical and morpho-physiological traits of rosemary were improved due to inoculation of mycorrhizal fungi under saline conditions.

Plants and their phytochemicals have immense potential for the management of different types of wound. Salvia multicaulis Vahl. is an evergreen shrub species, which traditionally used as a wound healing agent.
The aim of the present study is to evaluate phytochemicals and wound healing activity of S. multicaulis in an excision wound model.
Preliminary phytochemical screening tests were performed on the methanol (80%) extract. Total phenolic content was measured using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. Antioxidant activity of the extract was assessed by (DPPH) free radical scavenging test. 2x2 excision wounds were induced in the dorsal area of 30 Wistar rats. Animals were received topical eucerine, 1% phenytoin as well as 5%, 10% and 20% ointments of the plant extract in eucerine base. Wound areas were photographed and wound contraction was calculated as the reduction percentage of wound size compared with zero days. Last day skin samples of wounded area were used for histological evaluations.
Collagen deposition for positive control group and A20% were low fibrils and A10% high fibrils and A5% highest fibrils. Total phenolic content was 262.083 ± 47.15 mg GAE/g extract. IC50 was 54.02 µg/mL. All concentrations of the extract ointments were significantly effective in the animal model of excision wound (P It is concluded that S. multicaulis extract could act as a wound healing agent. This activity is possibly due the high concentrations of phenolic compounds.

Some health-protecting secondary metabolites can be found at a higher concentration in the sprouts compared to other stages of plant growth. In addition, environmental stresses such as salt stress may be resulting in the increase or decrease of specific secondary metabolites in sprouts and plants.
Evaluation the changes of trigonelline, nicotinic acid, and proline content of fenugreek sprouts under saline and non-saline condition in the different harvesting times.
This experiment was conducted on the base of factorial experiment in completely randomized design with three replications. The treatments were included three levels of salinity (0, 75 and 150 mM of NaCl), and three harvesting times of sprouted fenugreek (4, 8 and 12 days after beginning the experiment).
In each level of salinity, the highest trigonelline content of sprouts was obtained on the fourth day, and its content was reduced on the eighth and twelfth days. The nicotinic acid amount under moderate (75 mM of NaCl), and severe (150 mM of NaCl) salinity was gradually reduced from the fourth up to twelfth days. Thus, the highest amount of nicotinic acid was observed on the fourth day, and its lowest was obtained on the twelfth day. The proline content of sprouted fenugreek was increased from the fourth up to twelfth day at different levels of salinity, so that the highest proline content of sprouts was observed on the twelfth day especially under 150 mM salinity.
In general, the trigonelline and nicotinic acid content of sprouted fenugreek was reduced from the fourth up to twelfth days, and the highest content of them was observed under 150 mM salinity on the fourth day.

Camellia sinensis and Zataria multiflora as the potent antioxidants and anti-inflammations are crucial in the management of wound therapy. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used for the proliferative potential on fibroblast cells and induction of inflammatory mediators.
We examined the effects of LPS and herbal extracts combination in order to identify their mechanisms of action in fibroblast proliferation and tissue regeneration.
Human foreskin fibroblasts were treated by Salmonella enterica LPS (100μg) and extracts (5%w/w). Tissues of male Balb/c mice were harvested at 1, 3 and 7 days for biochemical and histopathological evaluations. Effects of LPS and extracts on cell viability, Nitric oxide (NO), Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels were examined respectively by XTT assay and related kits.
Our pathological investigations for Camellia sinensis and LPS co-treated group indicated inflammatory cells on day 1 and fibroblast proliferation through wound area on day 3. After wound modelling the samples features were the same but with the difference in groups treated by LPS and Camellia sinensis extract which dermis and epidermis were seen. The Camellia sinensis extract and LPS co-treated wounds were showed low levels of H2O2 and higher levels of NO compared to extract treated group (P These results suggest that Camellia sinensis extract in combination with LPS may have potential of accelerating inflammatory phase of wound healing process by regulation of COX-2, NO and H2O2 in skin fibroblast.

Physical exercise and herbal treatment with antioxidant property induce a favorable effect on glucose metabolism in diabetic patients.
◦The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of resistance training combined with green tea extract consumption on blood glucose and lipid profile in diabetic rats.
◦Forty male Wistar diabetic rats aged 5 months and weights 290 ± 20 were divided into 4 groups named as: resistance training, resistance training green tea, green tea and control. The resistance training and resistance training green tea groups engaged in exercise for 5 weeks with three times per week moving up the ladder with weight hanging their tail. Green tea extract (100 mg/kg) was gavaged once a day for 5 weeks. Forty eight hours after the last training session and green tea gavages, the fasting blood samples was collected for determination of blood glucose, cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C and triglyceride levels.
◦Fasting blood glucose level significantly decreased in all three groups compared with control group, where as triglyceride, cholesterol and LDL-C level significantly decrease in resistance training green tea group compared to control group.
Green tea extract and resistance training improve hyperglycemia and in combination improve lipid profile in diabetic rats.

L-menthol [(1R,3R,4S)-(-)-menthol] is a flavoring that is the main component of mint herb essential oils, especially of the Mentha piperita and Mentha arvensis species. Its low solubility in aqueous systems makes precise formulation necessary in the final products. Of the methods available for fabrication of nanoparticles for use in pharmaceuticals, electrospraying is easy and requires only one step.
Electrospraying was used to fabricate menthol/PEG micro/nanoparticles. The experiments used menthol concentrations of 10%, 15% and 20% (wt) and PEG concentrations of 5%, 10% and 15% (wt).
The effect of menthol and PEG concentration on the morphology of the fabricated particles was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine the best levels for each parameter under optimal conditions.
SEM results revealed that an increase in PEG and menthol concentrations in solution, increased the particle diameters. RSM showed that particle diameter should be calculated as the square root of a function of the first order and cubic forms of menthol and PEG. Optimization results show that the optimal menthol concentration is 10.7% (wt) and PEG concentration is 7.31% (wt). The optimal modeled particle diameter of 1219 nm approached the real test particle diameters (1136 nm). The results indicate that the modeled conditions were appropriate for menthol/PEG electrospray particles.
The results showed that the maximum PEG concentration effects particle diameter because of its polymeric structure. At high menthol concentrations, the percentage of menthol in a droplet was greater than the PEG concentration and some menthol sublimated during drop formation. At low menthol concentrations, PEG covered the menthol and prevented sublimation, decreasing the effect of menthol concentration.