Why the "sugars" in traditional Unani formulations are a pivotal component: A viewpoint perspective / 中西医结合学报

Traditional medicine systems around the globe, like Unani, Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine, include a number of sugar-based formulations, which contain a large amount of saccharide-containing sweetener, such as honey, sucrose or jaggery. With pervasive lifestyle disorders throughout the world, there have been discussions to consider alternative sweetening agents. Here, from the perspective of Unani medicine, we discuss how the saccharide-based sweeteners may be an essential component of these traditional preparations, like electuaries, which may be deprived of their bioactivities without these saccharides. With contemporary researches, it is known that apart from their own therapeutic effects, saccharides also form deep eutectic solvents which help in enhancing the bioactivity of other ingredients present in crude drugs. In addition, they provide energy for fermentation which is essential for biotransformation of compounds. Interestingly, the sugars also increase the shelf-life of these compound drugs and act as natural preservatives. On the basis of this review, we strongly believe that saccharide-based sweeteners are an essential component of traditional medicines and not merely an excipient.

Diabetes from ancient to modern era

The story of diabetes mellitus, its discovery, description, and treatment is a remarkable chronicle covering around 3, 500 years of medical history. History reveals that diabetes has always been a part of medical research and discussion, although in a very primitive form in the ancient ages. In the Medieval Ages the Unani physicians carried out extensive literary and clinical research into the signs and symptoms and complications of diabetes. Among these works, Maqala fil-Baul of Rufs al-Afsi [2nd century A.D.], Kitab fil-Baul of Hunain Ibn Ishaaq [d. 1188 A.D.] and Kitab Ma'rfa al-Baul of Ishaaq Bin Hunain [828- 911 A.D.], are worth mentioning. Later, in-depth research by numerous scientists led to the discovery of insulin and the role of beta cells of pancreas in the pathology of diabetes

Prevalence and risk factors for infantile colic in district mansehra

Objective: Infantile colic is a common problem among infants age 3 days to 3 months. It may affect parental feelings negatively and the parents may undertake all kinds of actions to stop excessive crying. The objective of this study was to assess the incidence of infantile colic and its risk factors in infants born in District Mansehra. Methods: In this prospective study, all those newborn babies were included who were born at King Abdullah Teaching Hospital Mansehra between January 1st 2008 and March 31, 2008, and those newborn babies who were brought to children OPD for routine check-up and EPI centre for vaccination of this hospital during this time period. For every infant, gender, mode of delivery, gestational age at birth, birth weight, birth order, and mother's reproductive history were collected. These babies were seen at least once in a week up to 12 weeks and history from the mothers about the duration of crying and fussiness behaviour was recorded. At the end of 3 months the infants were again assessed and additional information on infant nutritional source was obtained and any medication used for colic relief was identified. Cases of colic were identified by applying Wessel criteria to recorded data. Chisquare tests were used. Results: From total 512 infants, follow-up was completed for 426 infants. In total, 90 infants [21.77%] satisfied the Wessel criteria for infantile colic. No statistical significance was found between colicky and non-colicky infants according to sex, gestational age at birth, birth weight, type of delivery, and, infant's feeding pattern. However, firstborn infants had higher rate for developing colic [p=0.03]. Conclusion: Prevalence of colic was 21.77% in this infant population of District Mansehra. Except for birth order, no other variable was significantly associated with infantile colic

Clinical presentation of pancytopenia in children under 15 years of age

The aim of the study was to know the clinical presentation and the most common clinical manifestation of Pancytopenia in children up to 15 years of age.This was a hospital based prospective study carried out in the department of Paediatrics, Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar from 1st January 2001 to 31st December 2001. 60 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included in our study. Results; The various clinical presentation were anaemia [87%], fever [50%], petechial haemorrhages [15%], bone pain, hepatospleenomegaly [25%], and bleeding from nose [27%], oral cavity [17%], rectum and urethra [51%]. The most common presentation was progressive pallor followed by fever. the most common clinical presentation is pallor followed by fever and the most common clinical manifestation was anaemia followed by pyrexia, bruises, hepatosplenomegaly and bleeding from mucosal surface

etiology pattern of pancytopenia in children upto 15 years

Pancytopenia is a common finding [I%] in clinical practice. It is not a disease in itself but there are various causes of this clinical triad of anaemia, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. The early diagnosis of the causation of Pancytopenia is important because most of these causes are treatable. This one year descriptive study was done to know the etiological pattern of Pancytopenia in children. The children who were selected for this study were upto the age of 15 years with clinical suspicion of Pancytopenia and special blood smear showing Pancytopenia. A total of 60 patients [0.85% of the total admission in Paediatric ward] were included in this study. Males were 48 [80%] and females were 12 [20%]. Age distribution was 0-5 year 30 cases [M=22, F = 8], > 5-10 years 20 cases [M=17, F=3], > 10 -15 years 10 cases [M-9, F- 1]. Out of these 60 cases of Pancytopenia the cause was identified in 55 [91.57%] cases with the help of bone marrow examination and other supportive tests. In the remaining 5 [8.43%] the cause of Pancytopenia could not be identified. The common cause of Pancytopenia was aplastic anaemia followed by iron deficiency and megaloblastic anaemia. Mylodysplasia, ALL, Leishmaniasis, Malaria and Fanconi's anaemia were found in the descending order