Traditional and Integrative Medicine
Volume:7 Issue: 3, Summer 2022

An individualized viewpoint in Persian Medicine is introduced with the concept of Mizaj (temperament). Accordingly, every individual is placed in a unique point among a spectrum ranging from extreme hotness to extreme coldness. The whole-body Mizaj is mainly determined by three organs of heart, brain, and liver. This study investigates the relationship between whole-body and three main organ Mizajes with some hormonal and biochemical factors. In 324 healthy volunteers between the ages of 20 and 40, whole-body Mizaj and Mizajes of heart, brain, and liver were determined in two sessions with an expert panel method. Any disagreement between experts and the moderate diagnosis was excluded. Finally, 72 healthy volunteers (including 40 hot Mizaj individuals and 32 cold Mizaj) entered the second phase. In this phase, some hormonal and biochemical factors were evaluated. In whole-body Mizaj, FBS, Hgb, Hct, MCHC, WBC, and Monocytes, were higher in people with hot Mizaj than cold Mizaj. Besides, relating to the Mizaj of the liver, FBS, cortisol, TG, Hgb, Hct, MCH, MCHC in hot Mizaj were higher than cold Mizaj. Also, in the heart, MCV and MCH were higher in hot individuals and in the brain FBS, Hgb, Hct, MCV, MCH, lymphocytes were significantly higher in hot Mizaj. It seems that FBS and Hgb as the factors involved in metabolism have the most important role in the whole-body Mizaj. Also, the association between cortisol with the hotness of the liver can be suggested by increasing sympathetic activity as one of the hotness/coldness theories.

Henna plant (Lawsonia inermis L.) has unique properties and has long been used as an herbal remedy. In this study, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers containing henna extract in two different concentrations were studied to prepare a wound dressing using electrospinning. PVA polymer nanofibers using henna extract with two different concentrations of 3% and 6% were prepared by the electrospinning method. Human fibroblasts were cultured on these fibers and the mechanical and survival properties of the cells, as well as the antibacterial properties of henna were compared and evaluated. The results showed that by using of henna extract in PVA nanofibers, cell viability was significantly reduced (P≤0.05). However, the ability of nanofibers to water uptake and mechanical properties of fibers significantly increased with increasing concentrations of henna extract (P≤0.05). Nanofiber wound dressing with antibacterial properties of henna extract provides relatively fast and rapid wound healing ability. The resulting fibers are encouraging candidates for the development of improved bandaging materials.

There are various causes of diseases but retention of morbid matter (mawad-e-fasida) in the body is one of the main causes and these morbid matters must be evacuated from the body to regain health. Concoction (nuḍj) and evacuation (tanqiya) are the two prime methods that ancient physicians described and recommended for the treatment of such diseases. Concoction is a process of moderation and modification in the viscosity of morbid matter to make them suitable for evacuation conveniently from their sites of lodgement. Several indices of concoction can be seen in the pulse, urine, and stool, which help to find out level and stages of concoction. Drugs, which appropriately alter the consistency of morbid matter to render them easily eliminable from the body, are known as concoctive (Munzijat). A total of 125 eligible participants, after getting their written informed consent, were enrolled in the study and 50 participants completed the study. They were advised to take a decoction of phlegmatic concoctive drugs once in the morning before breakfast for 15 days. Three urine samples of each patient were collected: before starting the concoctive therapy, at 5th day and 12th day. The changes in the color intensity of urine were observed by photoelectric colorimeter at a wavelength of 580 nm (yellow filter). The patients were advised to refrain from such diets and drugs which tend to change the color of urine during the entire study period. Statistical analysis was restricted to those patients who completed the study. The Mean ± SD of optical density at 0 day was 0.0872 ± 0.0284; while it was 0.0782 ± 0.0275 at 5th day which was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The Mean ± SD of optical density on 12th day was 0.0484 ± 0.0196 which was found statistically significant (p < 0.01) in comparison to baseline values. Concoction is a continuous process of medicatrix naturae (tabiyat) which is facilitated by humour specified concoctive drugs. The statistically significant change in urine color indicates the effect of concoctive drugs on body humours.

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric condition that affects approximately 1% of the global population. Over the last decade, the efficacy of berberine as a complementary therapy in psychiatric diseases without significant side effects has been demonstrated. Therefore, this study assessed the effect of alkaloid berberine on the positive and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. From December 2020 to March 2021, a total of 86 patients with schizophrenia who were referred to Shiraz Ebne Sina Hospital in South of Iran were divided into two groups; 42 patients with schizophrenia in the placebo group received risperidone at a dosage of 4-6 mg per day, and 44 patients in the treatment group, in addition to risperidone, received berberine at a dosage of 500 mg per day. This treatment regimen was followed for 30 days. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess the patients’ symptoms. According to data analysis, The PANSS score in both groups showed a statistically significant decrease after 30 days (p < 0.05); however, this decreasing trend was not statistically significant between the groups (p > 0.05). The current study showed that complementary use of alkaloid berberine capsule with a dose of 500 mg per day did not show better outcomes compared with the placebo in patients with schizophrenia.

COVID-19 spread rapidly around the world from the end of 2019. Hot footbath is a simple ancient technique, which has been used to alleviate many disorders. We aimed to investigate the effect of hot footbath in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This open-label randomized controlled trial was conducted in Iran with allocation ratio of 1:1, with final sample size of 35 patients in each group. The intervention group received hot footbath (immersion of feet into the hot water at 42 °C, 10 cm above the ankles for 20 minutes, and then kept warm for 5 minutes) once a day for a week, in addition to the conventional therapy. The control group received only the conventional therapy; the primary outcomes evaluated were fever, respiratory rate, cough, fatigue, and myalgia; whereas admission rate, ICU admission, and mortality were assessed as the secondary outcomes. Except for cough intensity, cough frequency and fatigue (p value < 0.05), no significant differences were observed between the two groups in the primary and secondary outcomes. No adverse events were reported. Hot footbath can be used as a non-invasive, highly acceptable, and complementary technique to alleviate COVID-19 patients without any needs to expensive or special equipment; nevertheless, further studies with larger sample sizes are needed so as to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of hot footbath on clinical symptoms of COVID-19.

To develop and validate “Treatment Satisfaction with Traditional Medicines” Questionnaire (TSTMQ), a preliminary 22-item instrument was designed. Content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), Intra-class correlation (ICC), and Cronbach alpha were measured, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA and CFA) were conducted. Data were analyzed using SPSS (17) and LISREL softwares (8.8). Finally, TSTMQ with 14 items and in three domains were confirmed after measuring CVR (> 0.62), CVI (> 0.79) and EFA. ICC for the entire questionnaire was 0.99 (95% CI: 0.95-0.99) (P<0.001), and Cronbach alpha was also 0.87. In CFA, all factor loadings and t-values were greater than 0.3 and 1.96, respectively. Also, χ2/df, RMSE and GFI were 2.6, 0.062, and 0.94, respectively. This study showed that the TSTMQ is a standard tool to measure treatment satisfaction with traditional medicine.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, which has a global prevalence. Also, the plants of the Cupressaceae family have prominent anti-inflammatory and wound healing effects, so they can be considered as promising candidates for the treatment of UC. In this study, the therapeutic effects of extract and essential oil of Cupressus arizonica Greene (C. arizonica) fruits in the animal model of UC were investigated. Total of 35 Wistar male rats were treated with essential oil and hydroalcoholic extract for one week after induction of colitis by acetic acid. The colonic segment cut for macroscopic and histological analysis. The total amount of extract phenol and flavonoid content was assayed by Folin–Ciocalteu and aluminum chloride colorimetric method, respectively. The essential oil was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). The extract at doses of 100 mg/kg and 250 mg/kg and essential oil at doses of 0.5 mg/kg showed significant effects on UC (P < 0.05). The total phenolic content of hydroalcoholic extract in terms of mg of gallic acid/ g of extract was 191.625 ± 7.04 and the amount of total flavonoids in terms of mg of rutin/g of extract was 66.52 ± 6.51. Also, according to the results of GC/MS analysis, α-pinene was the major constituent of essential oil. Our results revealed that the extract and essential oil of C. arizonica fruits had therapeutic effects on UC, and this effect may be related to the presence of polyphenolic and terpene compounds.

The present work documents indigenous knowledge of plants as a natural remedy by the inhabitants of Pushprajgarh tehsil, District Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh, Central India. This study was conducted by following standard ethnobotanical methods. Questionnaires, informal meetings, and group conversations with pre-identified informants were used to collect knowledge on medicinal plants. The present investigation documented 98 plant species belong to 51 families and 90 genera. The Fabaceae family, which includes 10 species, comprises the most of medicinal plants. Habit analysis of medicinal plants uncovered that trees represented the most proportion of 39 plant species (39.79%) and that decoction (boiling) was the most popular technique of preparing traditional medicines from plant material (44.34%). The highest informants' consensus factor (ICF) was accounted for the urinary disorder (0.60), and the highest outcome was recorded for the microbial infection (20.25%). The fidelity level (FL) results for 10 significant plant species were ranged from 40.86% to 75.00%.  Most of the plants have had a use value, ranging between 0.25 to 1, hence a constant use value for the most referred species is one. The frequency of citation (FC) of the selected plant species was found to be in the range of 1.85 to 6.48 and the relative frequency of citation (RFC) was found to be in the range of 0.04 to 0.12. Statistical analysis shows that current knowledge is still viable and facilitates conserving important plant species before much is lost. This study will provide basic information for further phytochemical/ pharmacological research to explore potential lead molecules for new drug development and discovery process from natural products.

Pediculosis is a growing social problem in both developed and undeveloped countries. Resistance to chemical treatments and toxicity of insecticidal compounds are reasons why alternative medications should be proposed for this parasitic infestation. This study attempted to investigate traditional anti-lice treatments, and draw together scientific insights into lice management through the study of Persian Medicine manuscripts. Lice infestation formulations were searched in seven traditional textbooks (al-Manṣuri fi al-ṭibb, al-Qanun fi al-ṭibb, Kamil al-ṣina‘ah al-ṭibbiyah, Qarabadin  Kabir, Qarabadin Salehi, Makhzan al-Adviyeh, Eksir Azam) pertaining to one millennium period, from the 9th to 19th century. Twenty multi-component medications were selected for the study of ingredients and their active compounds. PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus were searched to find pediculicidal or insecticidal evidence. In vitro studies and clinical trials reporting anti-lice and/or insecticidal activities were summarized. Formulations had four kinds of base (oil, vinegar, alcohol, or water). Oils act through occluding the respiratory spiracles of lice. Vinegar loosens the attachment between nits and hair shaft, improving the removal of nits from hair. Essential oil- and tannin-containing plants made up the majority of anti-lice components in the current study. Seventeen out of twenty-seven medicinal plants were reported to have pediculicidal and/or insecticidal activity. Considering the results, further investigation leads to the designing new treatments against pediculosis.

In Persian Medicine (PM), food is considered as a basic concept, the proper understanding of which, will prove beneficial in nutrition of healthy individuals and diet therapy of patients. The objective of this article is to examine the defining attributes of the concept of food in PM. Concept analysis was performed using Walker & Avant's approach, comprising eight stages of 1) selecting a concept; 2) determining the objective of analysis; 3) identifying all uses of the concept; 4) determining the defining attributes of the concept; 5) constructing a model case; 6) constructing borderline, contrary and invented cases; 7) identifying antecedents and consequences; and 8) defining empirical referent. The results showed that, the defining attributes of the concept of food in PM are: 1) replacement of body tissues and organs; 2) resemblance to tissues and organs; 3) adding to body quantity; 4) prerequisites for childbirth; 5) delicious and sweet or tasteless or greasy flavors; and 6) production of blood humors, warmth and moisture. In order to clarify the concept, borderline, contrary and invented cases were also presented. The results of this study can provide an objective and understandable picture of the use of the concept of food for researchers and open new horizons in nutrition and diet therapy.

Abu Reyhan Biruni (973-1048 CE) was a Persian polymath in medieval era. He had more than 100 books and treatises on different subjects like astronomy, culture, history, mathematics and pharmacy. In medical sciences, he was one of the first persons who introduced pharmacy as a separated field from medicine. He was pioneer to define pharmacy and pharmacist similar to current definitions. It was one of the earliest definitions of pharmacy. Biruni can be introduced as a pharmacist, nor physician. He also had a book on pharmacy, Al-Saydana fi al-Tibb (Pharmacy in Medicine). This book is one of the most important works on pharmacy in medieval era. He clarifies the role of pharmacists to serve pharmaceutical services to the patients. It shows the importance of pharmacy as an independent field of medical sciences in Persia and Islamic civilization about a thousand years ago.