The Effect of Flaxseed Enriched Yogurt on the Glycemic Status and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Randomized, Open-labeled, Controlled Study

Flaxseed is one of the rich sources of α-linolenic acid and lignan. Flaxseed and its components have antioxidant, hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic effects. The study aimed to investigate the effect of flaxseed enriched yogurt on glycemic control, lipid profiles and blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes. A randomized, open-labeled, controlled clinical trial was conducted on 57 patients with type 2 diabetes. Participants were assigned to receive 200 g 2.5% fat yogurt containing 30-g flaxseed or plain yogurt daily for 8 weeks. Anthropometrics and biochemical parameters were evaluated at the beginning and end of the study. After 8 weeks of supplementation, Hemoglobin A1c was significantly decreased in the intervention group compared to control (p = 0.007). Also, at the end of the study, significant differences were seen between the flaxseed enriched yogurt and control groups in triglycerides and total cholesterol concentrations (p = 0.04 and p = 0.01), systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.02 and p = 0.002, respectively). However, we did not find any difference between 2 groups in low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, body weight and waist circumference (p > 0.05). Our results showed that the addition of flaxseed to yogurt can be effective in the management of type 2 diabetes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02436369

[Evaluation and reconstruction of Alzahrawi's puncturing instruments]

Abu al-Qasim Khalaf Ibn-e-Abbas Zahrawi [936-1013 A.D.], known as Albucasis in west, was one of the greatest physicians in the Islamic world. To many historians, he was considered as the father of modern surgery. His book, Al-Tasrif, e.g., written in 30 chapters, was, in fact, a medical encyclopedia of that era. It was used as one of the main references in medical academic centers for centuries. The 30th chapter of this weighty book was dedicated to surgery. In this chapter, Zahrawidescribed many surgical procedures and introduced about 200 instruments invented for those procedures. In addition to drawing some of the instruments, he explained their size, shape, and application, as well. In the second section of this chapter, named "surgery and instruments", he explained about the functions of various surgical instruments, used for spliting, piercing and phlebotomizing, including Gamaneh, surgical blade, Makhda', Nishtar and experiment rod, all of which were available for the surgeon to choose from as needed. The aim of this study, was to describe, design and evaluate the functional quality of a hypothetical module of the instrument "experiment rod", used for piercing, as presented in Al-Tasrif

Haly Abbas' [? 930-994 AD] pulsology

Abu l-Hasan Ali ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi Ahvazi [? 930-994 AD], best known as Haly Abbas in the West, was a 10th century Persian physician whose lifetime coincided with the flourishing of medical science in the Near East, the Islamic Medicine Golden Age, an era extending from the 9th to the 12th centuries AD. Haly Abbas, in his extant book Kamil al-Sina'ah al-Tibbiyah [The Perfect Book of the Art of Medicine], provided a detailed description of the pulse and its features. He practiced the evaluation of the pulse cycles to distinguish between the state of well-being and various diseases. These 10th century views on the pulse are explored in this text through a discussion of Haly Abbas' surviving book, the Kamil al-Sina'ah al-Tibbiyah [The Perfect Book of the Art of Medicine]

Avicenna's concept of cardiovascular drug targeting in medicamenta cordialia

Avicenna [980 - 1037 AD] known as the prince of physicians in the west was one of the most prominent Persian thinkers, philosophers, and physicians. Owing to his interests in cardiology, he authored considerable works on different aspects of cardiology. "Resaley-e-Ragshenasi" [Book on Pulsology] and "Kitab al-Adviyt- ol-Qalbiye" [the book on drugs for cardiovascular diseases] are Avicenna's great dedication to the field of cardiology. In the field of drug therapy, an important concept which Avicenna touched on was the approach of drug achievement to the site of action in an easier and more efficient way. The mentioned concept is now recognized as "drug targeting" in current medicinal sciences and is an important challenge and field of research in pharmacy. Drug targeting has its starting point just a few decades ago. Whereas Avicenna considered the strategy 1000 year ago

[Design and performance evaluation of dry cupping tools described in the book Al-Tasreef]

Dry cupping is one of the main procedures in many traditional medicine systems all around the world with its root in antiquity. Traditional method of dry cupping is depended on practitioner proficiency and can lead to skin burn if the practitioner is a beginner. On the other hand, Zahrawi [11th century AD], the Muslim physician from Andulus [current Spain] presented two novel forms of cup for cupping to improve and correct cupping problems. In this regards, based on the model described in Al-Tasreef, we tried to redesign and manufacture the tools. These tools were made from galvanized iron owing to its nonconductivity of heat. Zahrawi models were compared with traditional model [with the same material and size] by negative pressure of mercury as well as qualitative test performed by a traditional practitioner. The results showed the superiority of Zahrawi's models [9792Pa and 10200Pa] over the traditional model, displaying a better and more stable vacuum pressure [mean: 8704 Pa with variation in repeat the test]. Furthermore, the introduced models are user friendly; i.e., every practitioner, even the beginner without specialized skill, may work with them easily. Therefore, the new model is suggested for dry cupping

[Avicenna's contribution to contraception]

Throughout history, there have always been different opinions about the necessity and methods of contraception in different cultures. Persian medical scientists in the medieval era illustrated different contraceptive methods in their manuscripts. Avicenna, for example, discussed different types of contraceptive methods in Canon, one of the most important medical books written in the 10th century AD. In this paper, we describe the indications as well as two types of contraceptive methods derived from canon of Medicine: Physical and psychological methods and pharmacological Methods [Materia Medica]. Reviewing such issues can not only present Avicenna's professional and scientific knowledge but also help researchers in modern medicine to conduct experiments to find newer and more efficient prevention methods with fewer side effects

[What is the real cause of glaucoma?]

The term glaucoma refers to a group of diseases that have a characteristic optic neuropathy with associated visual field loss in common. Intraocular pressure has been considered to be the only causal factor for glaucoma and the only factor that can be manipulated to alter the course of the disease. But considering high intraocular pressure as the only factor responsible for glaucoma confronts us with two problems. First, measurement methods of intraocular pressure are based on superficial pressure of the cornea, therefore, some factors such as corneal thickness and geometrical errors of measurement are included. Second, risk of glaucoma damage changes by changing sclera thickness and size of the eye globe even with equal intraocular pressures. So, there should be some other factors than pressure, which are responsible for glaucoma. Here, this hypothesis is proposed: stress is responsible for glaucoma and intraocular pressure is just one of the determinants of stress, whereas stress is also dependent on other factors including radius and thickness of sclera. Stress causes strain and obstruction of retinal vessels. In fact, a series of factors together determine whether an individual will be affected with glaucoma or not. These factors include intraocular pressure, sclera thickness, radius of the eye globe, and optic nerve head compliance against increased stress. Our hypothesis can explain the existence of normal-pressure glaucoma. It presents a better method for screening of glaucoma and new modalities for glaucoma treatment