Background and Purpose:

Understanding the experiences of people involved in various phenomena is very important. Twelve years after the establishment of the Persian Medicine Schools, and holding annual exams for the PhD course in Persian Medicine since 2007, the opinions of the exam participants and their motivations can be scientifically studied. The aim of this study was to obtain the experiences of physicians participating in Persian medicine PhD exam to identify this phenomenon.
 

In this qualitative study, sampling was performed through in-depth interviews with 25 physicians volunteering to enter the field of Persian Medicine in the 2019 academic year, who were accepted in the first stage, the written exam, and invited for an oral interview. The interviews were thoroughly recorded. The content of the interviews was written down, and the coding and analysis was done by Granhim and Londman method.

Findings of this study were extracted in 6 main themes including the way participants got acquainted with Persian Medicine,  their motivation to take the test, their pre-test concerns, exam preparation methods, the opinion of other physicians about Persian Medicine and the approach to introduce Persian Medicine. Eighteen sub-themes were also extracted. 

The results of this study can be useful for health policy-makers to guide motivators and reduce the concerns of Persian Medicine PhD exam’s participants and Persian Medicine students. It can also provide appropriate approach for admitting the students and improving the quality of education in this field, so that appropriate steps would be taken.

Background and Purpose:

COVID-19 is a virus belonging to the coronavirus (CoV) family. COVID-19 disease primarily attacks to the respiratory system and then causes severe problems in heart, liver, brain, kidney, blood circulation and immune system. This study aimed to define COVID-19 disease according to the perspective of Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) manuscripts and suggest therapeutic measures based on its evaluation.

In this review study, existing articles on proven pathophysiology of the disease were searched using valid databases with the English keywords ‘SARS-COV-2’ and ‘COVID-19’, among which articles referenced  to clinical manifestations and pathophysiology of the disease were used in this paper.
Also, texts of TPM such as Ibn Sina's Qanun fi al-Tibb, Zakhireye Kharazmshahi about the causes and symptoms of the disease were extracted and adapted to new medical sources.

The coronavirus causes warm and dry distemperament in the upper and lower respiratory tract and lungs. COVID-19 makes some disorders in the body especially in the heart, brain and liver, which are often its consequences, not the proliferation of the virus in these organs. Based on TPM, COVID-19 can be confronted at five levels including one preventive level and four therapeutic levels.

The definition of COVID-19, preventive and therapeutic strategies based on TPM were obtained and presented in a classified and practical manner. Then, evidence of researches has been mentioned to confirm the Pathophysiology of COVID-19. Finally, scientific documents of antiviral, antioxidant, restorative effects and other biological effects of mentioned plants have been presented.

Background and Purpose:

Aromatherapy is one of the most common forms of complementary medicine that was used in ancient times for treatment and has become popular in recent years. It is widely used in gynecology and obstetrics diseases. Due to abundant use of essential oils in midwifery, this study reviews common essential oils and their effects in cases such as child birth, primary dysmenorrhea, menopause and some pregnancy problems.

This study is a narrative review study. Google Scholar, Scopus and PubMed databases and valid Persian articles without time limit were searched for related articles by using “Aromatherapy”, “Dysmenorrhea”, “Menopause”, “Essential oil”, “Pregnancy”, “Nausea and Vomiting”, “Labor” as keywords. Studies related to aromatherapy, essential oils and their use in pregnancy, primary dysmenorrhea, Pregnancy nausea and vomiting, menopause and childbirth were selected. Based on this criterion, 69 articles, all or part of which referred to these cases, were selected and reviewed.

Most studies have shown that aromatherapy is effective in resolving gynecological and obstetric problems. The essential oils studied in midwifery and childbirth includes lavender and chamomile in reducing labor pain, lavender and rosemary to reduce the symptoms of dysmenorrhea and geranium to reduce the depression of postmenopausal women. However, no significant association has been established between pregnancy nausea and aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy is an inexpensive and practical intervention. Given the importance of pregnancy in health of a fetus, further studies are necessary on effective essential oil, its side effects, dosage and the usage pattern in midwifery.

Background and Purpose: Mizaj (Temperament) identification is an important stage of diagnosis in Persian Medicine (PM). This study aimed to evaluate thermal imaging as a reliable tool that can be used instead of subjective assessments. 

This study was conducted in the winter of 2020 at the Behesht Traditional Medicine Health Clinic (Tehran, Iran). The Mizaj (Temperament) of 34 participants was assessed by a PM specialist using Mojahedi Mizaj standardized Questionnaire (MMQ). Also thermal images of the wrist at the radial pulse location, the back of the hand, and their whole face were recorded by a thermography camera model T2 (ULIRVISION Co.) and the temperatures of regions of interest were measured. 

Twelve thermal features were extracted and a classifying algorithm was designed based on a genetic algorithm and an Adaboost classifier. By selecting 7 of the 12 features that had the most impact on the classification, the mean accuracy of 85.6%, sensitivity of 66.7%, and specificity of 91.7% were obtained.

The thermal imaging was significantly consistent with MMQ and can be used as a reliable tool for evaluating dry/wet Mizaj (Temperament).

Background and Purpose:

One of the most important topics in Persian Medicine is the knowledge of temperament identification and many of the instructions for preserving health, diagnosis and treatment of diseases are different based on the individual's temperament. Discovering and recognizing standard methods of temperament determination, is one of the most important research priorities in Persian Medicine. In this research, fuzzy decision tree for data classification and Genetic Algorithm (GA) to optimize the features necessary for the diagnosis of temperament is used.

In this study, two datasets with 52 and 221 samples were used. For datasets, data recognition and modeling Mizaj (Temperament) diagnosis based on fuzzy decision tree with GA was performed. To do this, first, a subset of features was selected using GA and then a fuzzy decision tree was used to make the rules.

For each dataset, two decision trees were generated for warmth/cold and wet/dry and the produced rules by the Persian Medicine specialist were evaluated. The results showed that the produced correct rules in the second dataset are 44% for warm/cold Mizaj and 33% for wet/dry Mizaj. In the first dataset, the generated correct rules by the fuzzy decision tree with the GA for wet/dry Mizaj was 9.5%.

Comparison of the results with the previous research shows that the use of GA and subset selection of features, reduces the computational volume, size of the tree and error percentage so that better results can be achieved. Although, according to Persian Medicine experts’ opinion, the results of this research are not currently applicable, they can be a starting point for further researches in the optimization of intelligent swarm algorithms for the diagnosis of Mizaj.

Background and Purpose:

Plant effective substances (secondary metabolites) are affected by plant growth environment. The properties of the medicinal species are attributed to the presence of secondary metabolites. Identifying medicinal species, recording and revitalizing herbal traditions and educating people on the proper harvesting of these plants will lead to optimal use of their effective ingredients. The aim of this study was to identify the medicinal species of Aleshtar (Lorestan province) and introduce their traditional and modern uses.

Medicinal species were collected and identified in the cold and mountainous regions of the study area. Traditional uses, as well as their applications in modern medicine, achieved through interviews with native people, traditional herbal healers, and investigation of reliable scientific sources. Data were collected by survey method and interviews were conducted with semi-structured questions. Two quantitative methods were used to determine the importance of medicinal species and to show information homogeneity: Use Value (UV) and Informant Consensus Factor (ICF).

In this study, 202 medicinal species were identified that belong to 52 families and 143 genera. Among the species identified, 20 plant species had the highest use value. Azgovāh (Thymus kotschyanus Boiss & Hohen), Bon sor (Allium jesdianum Boiss.) and Mokhalesa (Tanacetum kotschyi Boiss.) had the highest UV. The most ICF was in the Category of Digestive problems followed by the common cold, fever, and influenza. A list of the scientific name, general (Vernacular) name, used parts of plant, UV and IFC values, method of preparation and application in traditional and modern medicine was prepared.

The results of this study indicate the richness of herbal remedies culture in the region and the great potential for providing primary herbal materials. Proper management, cultivation of medicinal plants, and phytochemical testing of high Use Value medicinal plants and prevention of their incorrect collection from natural areas seems to be necessary.

Background and Purpose:

“Shoneez” known as “Siyahdaneh”, “Habbato saudā” and “Kalonji”, is one of the most ancient known plants with hot and dry temperament at the third degree which is used for treatment of various diseases. Black seed is an herbaceous annual herb, and its flowering time is from late May to July. The seeds of this plant are black, triangular and fragrant. Their pleasant odor is smelled when they are crushed. The aim of this study was adaptation of the botanical descriptions of “Shoneez” according to Traditional Persian Medicine resources to the black seed according to modern literatures to specify its scientific name. Therapeutic and pharmacological effects were also explored.

The characterization and properties of plants were extracted from Traditional Persian Medicine texts and also recent studies and were compared to each other.

There are similarities in botanical description of the plants’ leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. “Shoneez” has been used in a wide range of gastrointestinal, urinary, respiratory and skin diseases. Also, black seed is one of the most important plants in the world and extensive studies have been carried out regarding its efficacy and active ingredients (especially thymoquinone) on various diseases. Several effects including antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, cholesterol-lowering, anti-tumor and positive effects on the function of the gastrointestinal and respiratory protective activity have been reported from the seeds.

Reviewing the ancient and current literatures demonstrated that the scientific name of “Shoneez” is Nigella sativa L. and both traditional and conventional medicine suggests the effectiveness of black seed on respiratory and gastrointestinal systems.