Traditional and Integrative Medicine
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Winter 2021

Sharbat-e-Deenar (SDR) is a compound Unani pharmacopoeial formulation recommended for the treatment of Waram-e-Kabid (hepatitis), Waram-e-Rahem (uterine inflammation/ Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases), Yarqan-e-Suddi (obstructive jaundice), and Istisqa (ascites). The current study was carried out to investigate repeated dose oral toxicity study of SDR for 90 days in Sprague dawley (SD) rats. SDR was orally administered (gavage) at the doses of 4, 10 and 20 mL/kg bw/day. A periodic observation was performed for mortality, morbidity and any clinical sign of toxicity. Changes in body weight and feed consumption were observed weekly throughout study duration. After the treatment duration of three months, animals were anaesthetized and blood samples were subjected to haematological investigation and serum was subjected to different biochemical estimation. Gross necropsy was performed and internal organs/ tissues were processed for histopathological investigation. Treatment with SDR showed no incidence of mortality and no clinical sign of systemic toxicity. Body weight showed pattern of weight gain except significance decrease at mid and high dose at 13th week of study duration. Feed consumption exhibited a significant decrease as compare to control. Haematology and biochemistry profile found normal except certain isolated changes which was considered toxicologically not significant as the values lies in the normal physiological range. There were no changes observed in the gross necropsy and relative organ weight data of control and SDR treated rats. It is reported that few of the animals showed changes in liver at mid (2.5 times of therapeutic equivalent dose) and high dose (5 times of therapeutic equivalent dose) in SDR treated animals that may be attributed to SDR treatment, however, associated liver function parameters like ALT, AST and ALP did not show any alteration of liver function. Based on the results of this study, it may be indicated that liver may be the target organ for toxicity if SDR is used above recommended therapeutic dose for longer duration.

In recent years, the common belief that herbal medications cause no side effects, have led to an increase in the consumption of these medications without prescription. Ginseng is one of the most commonly used herbs in the world and is a native of Eastern Asian countries such as China and Korea. It is also known to have several medicinal purposes. However, unreasonable use of this herb can bear consequences. In the current article, 28-year-old woman has consumed 4 capsules each day, which contained Ginseng roots, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) extract, and Ziziphora  (Ziziphora capitate) extract  without a prescription to gain weight, which has resulted in serious side effects - including hepatotoxicity, psychologic, and gynecologic disorders. However, these symptoms were controlled with Chicory roots, Purslane and Jujube oxymel. PM focuses on the cooperation between food categories, nutritional instructions, food modulators, and medications. Regardless of their several therapeutic effects, medical herbs have been known to cause quite serious side effects if consumed unsystematically and without the surveillance of a doctor.

There has always been a strong human dependency on plants for health purposes and such an important relationship should be sustained. Plants remain a repository of drug leads for discovering new pharmaceutical agents for prevention, treatment and improving the quality of health for many people globally. In the effort to improve healthcare services, Ghana put up the Recommended Essential Herbal Medicine List (REHML) consisting of products that are used in the treatment of both Communicable and non-Communicable diseases. To inspire confidence among prescribers and clients of the products it has become necessary to validate the plants and their products. The aim of the study was to identify the medicinal plants' species in the herbal products in Ghana’s REHML commonly used for treatment, the conditions being treated with them and finding published research for the plants therapeutic use. Medicinal plants on the REHML with chances of getting extinct were also assessed. The REHML of Ghana and the Ghana Herbal Pharmacopoeia were reviewed for the required information. Electronic databases; PubMed and Scopus, as well as online search engines, Google Scholar and Google were used to obtain information on the identified medicinal plants and their families. A total of 167 medicinal plant species were found to be used in 180 products as compiled in the Ghana REHML and these belonged to 63 botanical families. Most of the medicinal plants are collected from the wild making sustainability and bio-conservation a challenge. Decoctions, creams and ointments are the commonest dosage forms. The REHML of Ghana caters for 13 disease areas using 180 finished herbal products. These products are made from 167 medicinal plants, 16 of which are in the group of medicinal plants classified as endangered species. There should be a conscious effort to bio-conserve these endangered medicinal plant species so that there can be continuous supply for use in the preparation of herbal products for healthcare purposes.

Music history is as old as human history and it has been used as a way to reduce human suffering. Persian Medicine (PM) scholars as one of the oldest traditional medicines applied music for health and disease management. This study aims to introduce some of the views and recommendations of PM sages about importance and application of music in disease improvement. Definition and applications of music were collected from main PM medical text books and then databases including Science direct, PubMed, Scopus and Google scholar were searched to evaluation the efficacy of PM recommendations in conventional medicine from 1980-Jan-1 to 2020-Nov-1. PM used music and melody with several instruments to calm and soothe mind and body. Great PM scientists like Rhazes (10th), Farabi (10th) and Qutb o Din (14th), were dominant figures in terms of musical knowledge. They used music for treatment of several conditions including nervous system diseases (headache and epilepsy), sleep disorders, heart weakness and palpitation, digestive system disorders (gastrointestinal ulcer and appetite), sexual dysfunction, and also for pain management. Nowadays, some of their suggested applications are examined in research studies and are used in academic healthcare environments against several diseases. According to PM, to achieve the maximum impact of music effects in mind and body, several points should be considered including coordination of rhythm and melody with physical and mental characteristics and temperaments (Mizaj) of the listener and his/her illness. The duration of listening to the music can also be important. Attention to these points in today’s research may lead to interesting results.

The pandemics of respiratory diseases are the most common ones comparing to other diseases. The latest pandemic is caused by COVID-19, for which no definitive cure has been found. Therefore, at present, strengthening the immune system is the only way to protect humans against this virus. Food is one of the factors assisting the immune system to function properly. Moreover, food plays an important role in strengthening the immune system against various pathogens. However, many popular sources of human food including legumes, eggs, and nuts contain substances called anti-nutritional factors that can adversely affect the human immune system and increase inflammatory factors such as interleukin 4 and interleukin 6. A cytokine storm and increased secretion of interleukin 4 and 6 are among the most frequent causes of death in COVID-19 patients. Consequently, taking the COVID-19 patient's diets into account by considering the foods influencing their immune system can greatly reduce the severity of the disease and its mortality rate.

Rabies is one of the most lethal diseases in human history. From the past, various drugs have been used to prevent the contraction of the disease when being bitten by a rabid animal. An insect called Ḏarārīḥ (Lytta vesicatoria), although poisonous, has in some cases been medically used. Greeks and Romans have used venomousness of this insect to treat skin diseases, but it has not been used to prevent rabies. This is a summative qualitative content analysis that focused on Persian Medicine (PM) texts from 2thto 13th AH centuries. Literature was searched during centuries 4th to 13th AH, by using this key words: ذراریح (Ḏarārīḥ), قنثاریدس (Cantharis/cantharides), and ئشفثLytta vesicatoria and after extracting the data and analyzing them, the results were presented. In TPM texts, this insect was used to prevent rabies. This study has shown that the use of ḏarārīḥ (Lytta vesicatoria) in the prevention of rabies has been one of the innovations of the practitioners of Islamic civilization. The innovation proves that scholars in the period of Islamic civilization were not merely consumers or custodians of Roman, Greek, Indian, and Iranian knowledge, but added to it while preserving that knowledge.