مجله طب سنتی اسلام و ایران
سال دهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 39، پاییز 1398)

Background and Purpose:

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common diseases in the world with prevalence of 21.5% to 31.5% in Iran. No definitive treatment has yet been determined. Trachyspermum ammi (Carum copticum) commonly known as ‘Ajwain’ have long been used in traditional Persian medicine (TPM) as a digestive and liver tonic. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of aqueous extract of C. copticum seeds with placebo in improving dyspepsia and treatment of NAFLD.

Methods and Materials:

Fifty-five patients with NAFLD were randomly divided into two groups: drug (n = 27) and placebo (n = 28). All subjects in both groups received three 500 mg capsules (Drug or placebo) daily for 8 weeks in addition to lifestyle modification education.
Liver enzyme levels, liver steatosis, dyspepsia and its severity and anthropometric indices were determined at the beginning and end of the study. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 21 software.

The majority of patients (72.7%) were in the age group of 30-50 years. Both groups were similar in demographic characteristics. At the end of 8 weeks of intervention, ALT level (p <0.001), hepatic steatosis (RR = 2.49, p = 0.033) and dyspepsia severity (p = 0.025) were significantly improved in the drug group. However, despite a significant decrease in AST enzyme levels in both groups, it was not significant between the two groups (p = 0.098). Weight and body mass index (BMI) were significantly decreased at the end of the study in drug (p = 0.016) and placebo (p = 0.007) groups, but waist-hip ratio )WHR( decreased only in the drug group (p = 0.011).

Since the use of Carum copticum capsules is effective in the relative improvement of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, its use in the treatment of patients can be recommended.

Background and Purpose:

In traditional Persian medicine, mizaj is a qualitative indicator. Regarding the importance of mizaj in body organs and the importance of controlling the body's acidity in anaerobic activities, we compared the response of an exercise session on anaerobic power indexes and fatigue index and body mass index including hot and cold mizaj interference between students of Shiraz University and Army University?

Methods and Materials:

This research was a semi-experimental study. For this purpose, 31 students from Shiraz University and 28 students from Army University were selected according to Morgan table and purposefully available on the basis of mizaj who were studying in the academic year 93-94. They were selected as statistical sample. Then, all of them performed a rast test twice a week to measure the anaerobic power index and fatigue index. In order to analyze the data, MANOVA and SPSS software version 22 were used.

The results showed that there is a significant difference between the mean anaerobic power (p = 0.003), the maximum anaerobic power (p = 0.05), and the total anaerobic power (p= 0.003), regardless of the type of mizaj among the students of the two universities.

According to the results, it can be said that the mizaj alone does not affect anaerobic power index and fatigue index. More researches are needed to make a definitive comment on this issue.

Background and Purpose:

Sexual function is one of the important components of quality of life, and its disorder can cause damage to interpersonal communication, emotional health and self-esteem. Significant prevalence of sexual dysfunction and its complications make it necessary to take advantage of the views of other medical schools. Persian medicine, as a holistic medicine, has its own views on the diagnosis and treatment of sexual dysfunction. The present study addresses the causes of decreased women's libido and their treatment in Persian medicine.

Methods and Materials:

In this narrative review, valid texts of Persian medicine, focusing on the Canon of Medicine, about decreased libido were reviewed and compared the views of conventional medicine in this field.

Persian medicine considers the health of the main organs (heart, brain, liver, and gonads) as a primary and important reason a healthy sexual function. Their reinforcement is also a priority in the treatment.
The etiology of female sexual dysfunction is complicated and multifactorial; it is the result of the interaction of the physiological (biological), psychological and sociological factors. As a primary cause, psychological factors are more important than the other factors. Persian medicine attributes psychological problems to the weakness of the mental and cardiac stamina. It seems that this point may confirm the view of Persian medicine in prioritizing the main organs in diagnosis and treatment of sexual dysfunction.

This study aims to open new windows in dealing with sexual dysfunction by presenting the diagnostic and therapeutic views of Persian medicine in this disorder and pave the way for clinical research in this area in order to provide practical solutions.

Background and Purpose:

The achievements of modern medical schools are linked to the past schools of this science. Understanding the basic sciences of these schools is essential for accurate understanding of them. Understanding the anatomy of the nerves as a part of these basic sciences in traditional Persian medicine and its role in the occurrence and treatment of the diseases is of great importance. In this study, we scrutinized the anatomy of the cranial nerves from Razi and Ibn Sina's point of view and compared it with Gray's Anatomy.

Methods and Materials:

In this comparative study, we reviewed the anatomy of the cerebral nerves in terms of their number and function in Al-Mansouri fi al-Tibb and Al-Qanun fī al- Tibb, two important books of the Islamic civilization, and compared them with the book of Gray's Anatomy.

From the viewpoint of modern medicine including Grey's Anatomy, the number of cranial nerves is twelve pairs, but in the abovementioned books, they are seven pairs. The primary and terminal nerves of the brain are almost similar in terms of naming and function to modern medicine. In the case of the Middle Brain Nerves, while the function of these nerves is similar to modern medicine, but different parts of one nerve may match different parts of several nerve pairs.

The reason for discrepancy with the new anatomy is the difference in the number of cranial nerves which is due to the lack of naming, and naming of some neural branches as one branch due to convergence of exit nerves. However, in describing the function of these nerves, almost all branches have been addressed. Ibn Sina also mentions more detail comparing to Razi's Al-Mansouri book on the cranial nerves.

Background and Purpose:

The first health centers for traditional Persian medicine were set up in 2007 concurrent with launching Ph.D. course of Traditional medicine. Some of them have presented compound medications made by pharmacists who had studied traditional pharmacy but others have outsourced this task. In order to keep the standard quality of products, some requirements should be implemented. Because of increasing number of health centers and resultant need to standardized medications, urgent decisions have to be made. This article has proposed a new solution for producing various traditional medications to fulfill this need.
 
Methods and Materials:

Articles, regulations and official reports were found by using the keywords including micro enterprise and small & medium pharmaceutical enterprise on websites and search engines such as SID, PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar published by December 2019. Furthermore, related legislations of the Ministry of Health, Food & Drug Administration and World Health Organization were extracted. Suggestions about the features of a small manufacturing unit were collected through interviews with traditional pharmacists and then were summarized.
 

The proposed model is a science-based micro- or small enterprise that produces natural products in accordance with trade law accepted by Islamic Republic of Iran (Limited Liability Company or Private Held Co. type.).
 

Micro- and small enterprises that manufacture natural products will reduce the supply of unstandardized products sold by unauthorized producers. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new policy based on the training of production and entrepreneurship skills.

Background and Purpose:

Materia medicas are herbal, animal or mineral substances that are used individually for treatment of disease as well as applying as components of compound drugs.
One of the first manuscripts in Islamic lands which has devoted to the subject of Materia medica is the book “Materia medica” written by Dioscorides in 1 AD. It was translated into Arabic in the 3’rd century and most recently was written as the Mohit Azam by Hakim Azam Khan in the 13th century.
Due to the importance of the subject of Materia medicas, studies have been carried out so far, but no one has introduced a plurality of material medicas during the 3’rd to 13’th centuries in the realm of Islamic lands. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to collect bibliographic and content information on works of abstraction from 3’rd to 13’th century.
 
Methods and Materials:

The present descriptive-analytical research was conducted through a quantitative research method and by searching the catalogs and electronic sources to find out the authored works in the mentioned period. Then the prominent and distinguished works were studied according to specific criteria, selected individually and substantially.

During these 10 centuries, 192 manuscripts have been written in the field of Materia medica. Among them and based on specified aspects, 31 manuscripts were identified as prominent ones, 21 of which were Materia medicas; 6 in Materia medica and Qarabadin together, and 4 in the medical Encyclopedias that have been devoted to Materia medica besides other medical subjects.

Evaluation of these manuscripts demonstrates that political, social, and cultural changes in the realm of Islamic lands have not stopped the process of authorship of Materia medicas books. Although with varying quantities, this process has continued for the past 10 centuries.

Background and Purpose:

Considering the importance of medicinal plants and herbal medicine stores as the main factors in the market of medicinal plants could be a good direction for planners and policy makers of the pharmaceutical industry in the Golestan province, as one of the most important habitats of such plants in the country. Therefore, in this research, the most common purchased medicinal plants in Persian medicine were studied in Gorgan.
 
Methods and Materials:

This research included 43 herbal medicine stores in Gorgan. The required information was collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics of the sellers, howness of the information collection, the characteristics of the most important and best-selling plants as well as the socioeconomic status of buyers. The content validity of the questionnaire was determined by experts and some experienced sellers and the reliability was calculated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Finally, the collected data was analyzed by SPSS software.
 

The study population consisted of 43 herbal medicine sellers. The average age of herbal medicine sellers was 35.09 years and their average working experience was 7.6 years. Only 9.3% of participants possessed related fields of study and 90.6% had studied other fields. Among the best-selling plants, Thyme (22%), Borage (20%) and Flixweed (20%) could be mentioned. The most common reasons for referring to herbal medicine stores in Gorgan were disease related to the liver and kidneys, joint pain and colds.
 

Various consumptions are being used to treat the diseases with medicinal plants in Gorgan. Regarding the high consumption of some plants among low-income people and the acquisition of information through experience and self-study, planning and policy making for the cultivation of medicinal plants and providing training courses for the sellers are recommended.