ABSTRACT
History of medicine is a treasure of interesting experiences of humankind to treat diseases. Traditional medicine is a major part of this long history. World Health Organization [WHO] encourages all countries to extend their complementary and traditional medicines and support trained practitioners in this field. This strategy can lead to finding new treatments and opening new horizons to the herbal medicine researchers. Nowadays, a movement toward the integration of traditional and complementary medicine into mainstream medicine is evident. Iranian Traditional Medicine [ITM] remedies, similar to other branches of complementary and alternative medicine, have been documented to offer the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. According to the principles of ITM, the production of abnormal "Humours" in human body can trigger a process through which a disease occurs. Heartburn is known as "Horqat" in ITM. Phlegmatic Horqat occurs due to the presence of abnormal "Phlegm" in the stomach. Phlegm creates heartburn usually after a meal and at the beginning of gastric digestion. There are several single and compound herbal treatments for Horqat in ITM. In this article, a novel treatment of GERD in Greek and Iranian traditional medicines called Jovarish-e Jalinus [Galen's digestive] has been introduced
ABSTRACT
Dietary notifications have been introduced recently for Alzheimer Disease [AD]. In Iranian old medical manuscripts, there are some nutritional recommendations related to Nesyan [AD equivalent]. The aim of this article was to compare dietary recommendations of Iranian traditional medicine [ITM] with novel medical outcomes. 1] Searching for dietary recommendations and abstinences described in ITM credible manuscripts; 2] Extracting fatty components of ITM diet according to the database of the Department of Agriculture of the USA; 3] Statistical analysis of fatty elements of traditionally recommended foods via Mann-Whitney Test in comparison with elements of the abstinent ones; 4] Searching for AD dietary recommendations and abstinences which currently published in medical journals; 5] Comparing traditional and new dietary suggestions with each other. 1] Traditionally recommended foods are fattier than abstinent ones [P<0.001]. There are meaningful differences between unsaturated fatty acids [UFAs] [P<0.001], saturated fatty acids [P<0.001], and cholesterol [P<0.05] of recommended foods and abstinent ones. 2] Traditionally recommended diet is also fattier than the abstinent diet [4.5 times]; UFAs of the recommended diet is 11 times more than that of the abstinent one; it is the same story for cholesterol [1.4 times]; 3] Recent studies show that diets with high amounts of UFAs have positive effects on AD; a considerable number of papers emphasizes on probable positive role of cholesterol on AD; 4] Traditional recommended diet is in agreement with recent studies. ITM recommended diet which is full of unsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol can be utilized for complementary treatment of AD
ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of any drug supply systems in providing a trustworthy supply of essential drugs is a critical issue. To evaluate this effectiveness, it is necessary to watch over the status of the essential medicines in any country impartially and continuously. Some countries and also the World Health Organization [WHO] have codified a list of minimum medicines needed for a basic health care system and published them in assortments as a list of essential medicines. The aim of this study was to give an evaluation of the shortages status in Iran and identify the strengths and weaknesses of policies made in Ministry of Health during the years 2005 to 2008 in providing the essential drugs based on the WHO list of essential medicines. The reports used in this retrospective study were collected from the central purchasing unit of one of the main chain drugstores in the country [13-Aban Pharmacy] every 2 to 3 weeks. In these reports, a drug is added to the list of shortages when the requested drug is not delivered. The reports were studied and the results were analyzed based on the WHO list of essential medicines and the national drug list of Iran. The shortages always included 20 to 40 medicines from the list of essential drugs compiled by WHO. Based on this finding, the Ministry of Health and particularly Food and Drug Organization can compile a National List of Essential Medicines and try to always supply them and prevent their shortage