مجله طب سنتی اسلام و ایران
سال یازدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 43، پاییز 1399)

Background and Purpose:

The use of medicinal plants in the prevention and treatment of various diseases has a long history. Due to this, the purpose of this study was to investigate the use of herbs and natural medicines during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran and its relationship with demographic factors.
 

This web-based cross-sectional study was performed on 298 individuals in Iran between April14 to 19, 2020. Data were collected via online questionnaires in social media including WhatsApp and Telegram. Simple and multiple logistic regression models were used for statistical analysis, and the results of these methods were shown as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).
 

The prevalence rate for use of medicinal plants and natural medicines was 50.3%. The results showed that individuals whose family members, friends, and/or relatives were infected with COVID-19 (OR=1.72, %95 CI: 1.01 - 2.96), were more likely to use medicinal plants and natural medicines than others. The highest rates of use belonged to thyme, ginger, cinnamon, chamomile and oregano, respectively.
 

This study indicated the trust and interest of at least half of the population in using medicinal plants and related products, especially in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19. It is therefore necessary to adopt policies to provide accurate information on usage, possible side effects and interactions, and ways to obtain valid information about medicinal plants and natural medicines during the COVID-19 outbreak in order to promote rational use of these drugs in the community.

Background and Purpose:

Nowadays, hair loss is a prevalent and universal problem. Using traditional medicine resources to find appropriate remedies for hair care is a good approach to produce effective natural products. Persian medicine contains a vast knowledge, which is not only helpful in diagnosing, preventing and treating disease, but also includes valuable experiences and studies about using different herbs in cosmetic applications, such as healthiness of hair and curing its disorders. This article introduces materia medica mentioned in Islamic and Persian medicine as a hair loss treatment.

This is a library study based on the review of traditional Persian medicine books. We extracted effective drugs for hair loss treatment mentioned in Al Qanun-fi al-Tibb, and then searched in four authoritative reference books of traditional medicine (Al-Abnyia 'an Haqa'iq al-Adwiya, Tadhkirat Ulil al-Albab, Tuhfat ul-Momineen, and Makhzan al-Adwiya). The research steps included finding keywords, searching in the resources, generating unitized lists, finding synonyms, and finally, summarizing, scoring, and prioritizing.

 In this study, the 24 materia medica -derived from plants, animals or mineral resources- were found as hair loss cure. Based on the obtained scores, Myrtus communis L., both Adiantum capillus-veneris L.and Ziziphus spina-christi L.; and Ladan, both Trigonella foenum-graecum L. and Lepus earned the highest score respectively in the table. 

The list of drugs collected in this study can be considered as a basis in further basic and clinical studies to design and produce effective herbal drugs in treating hair loss.

Background and Purpose:

Epilepsy is an abnormal disorder of nerve cells that is second in prevalence of diseases of the central nervous system after stroke. The purpose of this study is to review the perspective of Traditional Iranian Medicine on pediatric epilepsy and the medicinal plants used in its treatment.
 

This research is a library study. Keywords such as medicinal plants, epilepsy, seizure, neonate, baby, infant and child were queried in Noor software, and selected Iranian medicine textbooks were studied and reviewed. Finally, a search was conducted in databases such as Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar by the mentioned keywords and related articles were studied.
 

Persian Medicine resources have introduced epilepsy as a disturbance of the sense and movement of organs that occurs suddenly and may be associated with prodromal symptoms such as weakness, feeling of pressure or pain in the stomach, numbness in the tongue, headache and forgetfulness. Avoidance of factors such as looking at fast-moving, rotating, shiny objects; standing in high places; being exposed to the wind; studying; and running for a long time are advised. In infants with epilepsy, improving breastfeeding and feeding with soft foods are recommended. Persian scholars believed that most cases of epilepsy improve prior to puberty with growing age and lifestyle changes. Patients should be banned from dairy products, Juglans, Apium graveolens, and vegetables other than Mentha pulegium, Melissa officinalis, Lactuca sativa and Cichorium intybus. Some medicinal herbs mentioned for treatment of this condition include Cinnamomum verum, Pimpinella anisum, Lavandula angustifolia, Echium amoenum, Melissa officinalis, Nigella sativa, Nardostachys jatamansi, Origanum majorana and Zingiber officinale, a number of which have been studied in laboratory and clinical studies.
 

The treatment of epilepsy is based on eliminating the cause of the disease in Persian Medicine, and depends on the type of epilepsy in modern medicine. Iranian physicians did not consider the cause of epilepsy to be specific to the brain. Studies are needed to assess the interaction among the mother and fetus and also neonatal factors that help eliminate the occurrence of epilepsy and seizures. Recommendations and mentioned herbs are proposed for future research.

Background and Purpose:

Science and medicine can be developed through convergence of useful theories, experiences, new data and methods. It seems unreasonable to ignore the vast treasure trove of medical knowledge that has evolved over the centuries in different cultures and civilizations.
 

This is a review and science policy study. Initially, keywords in Persian and English languages were searched in national scientific databases such as SID, MagIran, and Irandoc and international scientific search databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed. The time period to include the articles in the study comprised years 1995 to 2020. Only original and review research documents could participate in the present study. Finally, the results were summarized based on modern biological science output.
 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments to pay attention to the use of traditional medicine since 1977, and launched a program in 2002 to integrate traditional medicine with modern medicine, which eventually led to the development of integrative medicine. China has been at the forefront, taking great strides in integrating its traditional medicine with the views of modern medicine. Iran has a brilliant history in medicine with wise scholars such as Avicenna who is a world-renowned polymath. Therefore, it is expected that Iranian medicine will include all the knowledge of medicine from the old to the new and to be a leader in integrative medicine at national and international levels. One of the most important ways to converge old medicine with modern medicine is to explore molecular and biomolecular integrative research on prescriptions of traditional medicine. The present article has been prepared as a message for medical, health and hygiene authorities to draw their attention to the need for basic research in the field of traditional medicine in order to update it based on scientific evidence. Recent approaches by scientists in these studies include systems biology, proteomics, metabolomics and other network analysis.
 

The human being is a much unknown being; so human health should be considered in accordance with his nature. It is therefore appropriate to follow natural models, a healthy lifestyle, and the wisdom and knowledge based on man’s nature and also modern medicine to prevent and treat disease.

Background and Purpose:

Medicine of metals (Tibb al-Ajsad), is a notion Islamic alchemists used to understand and treat metal disease. Metals were assumed to have a temperament (Mizaj) similar to the human body, which could be determined by the science of balance. Any deviation in balance was eliminated by Alchemical modifications like compositions (Tarkib). Before this and in the Islamic era, the science of elixir has been a field showing the relation between alchemy and medicine. In this article, we describe the main notion and method in medicine of metals and suppose this category helps reviewing the relation between medicine and alchemy.
 

In this library research, we reviewed several alchemical manuscripts belonging to Jabir Ibn Hayyan, Moayyedoddin al-Tughrai and Aydamor al-Jaldaki, three famous and effective Islamic alchemists. Subsequently, retrieved content was analyzed in terms of metal diseases and remedies.
 

A significant part of the studied text belonged to medicine of metals that describes disease causations and methods of eliminating or modifying them by human, mineral or planet materials based on composition, similar to what Physicians (Atibba) do. According to this similarity, Islamic Alchemists explain how body parts work and how we can fix them.
 

Due to a shared notion and method, the medicine of metals can help the historiographer to review the relations between medicine and alchemy from a new point of view and expand this perspective.

Background and Purpose:

Abdullah Khan Ahmadieh is one of the prominent professors who have been trained in Dar al-Fonun in the field of integrated medicine (modern medicine and traditional medicine). He graduated from the Academy of Arts in 1294 AH. What this eminent contemporary physician has brought to the attention of the schools of traditional medicine today, is his method of history taking and dealing in a step-by-step manner clinically to treat patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how Dr. Ahmadieh reported and treated disease.

This study was conducted using the library method, via examining available notes of Dr. Ahmadieh. Some of these copies and notes have been collected in a computer file by Professor Esfahani, while some have been published in a book, “The Secret to cure”.

Dr. Abdullah Khan Ahmadieh paid close attention to the patient's face, tongue and digestion in routine history taking. What is very noticeable in his notes is the accuracy of patient history, daily communication with the patient, good manners, spending considerable time to examine and consult patients, and integrated prescriptions. As needed, he prescribed both conventional medicines and herbs for a patient. Prominent in his valuable method of treatment was aiming to improve the patients’ digestive function and defecation to accelerate the healing process.

It seems that reviewing Dr. Ahmadieh's prescriptions and treatment methods in the schools of traditional medicine by students and in morning report sessions can be helpful in promoting integrated treatment. His valuable notes are not only a daily diary of the disease process, but also a fundamental thought in the field of integrated therapy, which is an important aspect of the health and treatment system in most developed countries.

Background and Purpose:

Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), named “Kāsni” in Persian, has been used as a medicinal plant for hepatoprotective, thirst quenching, body heat reducing, bile reducing and activities by traditional Iranian scholars for many centuries. Although chicory is a common plant in traditional medicine, it is attributed to several plant species with different morphologies.

Herein, plant species attributed to chicory in traditional manuscripts were studied and compared with new botanical references. They included Cichorium endivia, Cichorium intybus, Cichorium pumilum, Taraxacum officinale (syn: Taraxacum camphylodes) and Chondrilla juncea. In this survey, morphological features and therapeutic characteristics mentioned both in traditional and conventional medicine resources were reviewed.

The results of morphological assessments showed that Cichorium intybus and Cichorium endivia are Kāsni barri and Kāsni bostāni, respectively. Other species were different in terms of botanical features in comparison with two principal species. 

Due to the importance of accurate identification of medicinal plants for research purposes, we identified Cichorium intybus and Cichorium endiva as Kāsni barri and Kāsni bostāni respectively for the plant chicory among the species listed in Persian medicine references.