A Case Report on the Effectiveness of Diet and Lifestyle Changes Based on the Principles of Iranian Traditional Medicine with the Focus on Cellular Energy in Treatment of Liver Cirrhosis: Health Triangle

Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) is a school of medicine that has been a source of medical care since ancient times. Based on the teachings of ITM, a balance between six essential principles governing a person’s body can lead to health and cure disease. The current paper reports of a case of liver cirrhosis managed according to these principles in an approach known as the triangle of health. A combination of dietary, medicinal, and therapies was prescribed for a patient with a definitive diagnosis of autoimmune-induced liver cirrhosis. Adherence to the prescribed regimen has led to the improvement of the patient’s condition over the last few months.

Treatment of Lupus Nephritis from Iranian Traditional Medicine and Modern Medicine Points of View: A Comparative Study

Objective. Nephritis or kidney inflammation is characterized as one of the most common renal disorders leading to serious damage to the kidneys. Nephritis, especially lupus nephritis (LN), has remained as the main cause of chronic renal failure which needs serious therapeutic approaches such as dialysis and kidney transplant. Heredity, infection, high blood pressure, inflammatory diseases such as lupus erythematosus and inflammatory bowel disease, and drug-related side effects are known as the main causes of the disease. According to Iranian traditional medicine (ITM), infectious diseases and fever are the main reasons of nephritis, which is called “Varam-e-Kolye” (VK). Results. There are various plant-based remedies recommended by ITM for the treatment of nephritis, as discussed herein, comparing with those available in the modern medicine. There is no definite cure for the treatment of nephritis, and immunosuppressive drugs such as corticosteroids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, diuretics, analgesics, and finally dialysis and kidney transplantation are usually used. Based on the efficacy of medicinal plants, jujube (Ziziphus jujuba), almond (Prunus amygdalus), pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo), purslane (Portulaca oleracea), and fig (Ficus carica) were found to be effective for the treatment of kidney inflammation in ITM. Conclusion. Considering the fact that there is no efficient strategy for the treatment of nephritis, use of herbal medicine, particularly based on the fruits or nuts that have been safely used for several years can be considered as a versatile supplement along with other therapeutic methods.

Role of Jundi-Shapur in Streamlining of ILM-E-TIBB (Medicine)

People have always felt the need to seek the knowledge from time immemorial. Be it the knowledge of religion or science or philosophy or astronomy. The knowledge of medicine was confined to cultures till 4th century AD. Every subcontinent and every civilization was having its own traditions to treat the diseases, e.g. Ayurved in India, Egyptian traditional medicine in Egypt, Chinese traditional medicine in China, Iranian Traditional medicine in Iran etc etc. It was during the 5th century AD when Roman Empire cracked down on its seminaries and the intellectuals were forced to leave the country. Those intellectuals were given refuge by Persian Empire where in a city was established with ultimate autonomy under Khusro, Jundi-Shapur became a prosperous metropolis, refuge, and melting pot for intellectuals from many regions. Shapur II (309-379 A.D.) is credited for conceiving and establishing the nucleus of the university in the latter part of the fourth century. The closing of the Athenian school by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (AD 539) also drove many leaned Greek physicians to Jundi-Shapur. This was the start of the integration of different traditional medicine of different civilizations. This formed the basis of what we see today as modern medicine. In this way JundiShapur has important role in the development of Medical knowledge and it remained in the leading role until 9th Century AD.

COVID-19 Telephone Consultation by Iranian Traditional Medicine as an Integrative medicine: Benefits and Challenges

The COVID-19 disease started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and spread across the world, including the Islamic Republic of Iran. Due to the high prevalence of this disease, it resulted in worry in many people and has led to several unnecessary visits to medical centers which may have increased the risk of infection. Preventive measures are necessary to control outbreaks and decrease disease burdens. Telemedicine such as telephone consultation is an efficient and safe platform to control disease in times of infectious epidemics by reducing the communication between people and the presence of non-infected people in medical centers. Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) as integrated medicine, is a collection of scientific principles and methods for the prevention and treatment of disease. The Nobaan’s telephone consultation system was set up by ITM specialists to provide consultations for COVID-19. A total of 43 ITM physicians have been consulting health seekers every day from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. based on national guidelines for COVID-19 and a specialized guide from academic resources of ITM. From 18 March to 17 April 2020, the doctors received a total of 2778 calls and provided a total of 11221 minutes of consultation. In total, 50% of physicians answered more than 90% of the calls and the average length of each call was 4.5 minutes. Finally, it seems except few limitations compared with face to face patient visit, this newly consultation by ITM specialist may provide considerable help to prevent and manage COVID-19 outbreak in Iran.

Effect of Hydroalcoholic Extract of Hyssop on Acute Pain in Male Rats Using Tail Flick Test

Background: Iranian traditional medicine uses hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) as an effective medicinal plant to reduce pain and inflammation in different diseases. Although the anti-inflammatory effect of this plant is proved, there is no study into its analgesic effects. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the analgesic effect of the hydroalcoholic extract from hyssop flowers and upper branches. Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 66 male rats that were divided into several groups including a saline control group, the groups of different doses of hyssop extract, morphine positive control group, the groups of hyssop extract plus morphine, and the most effective dose of the hyssop extract plus naloxone. All injections were administered intraperitoneally, and the pain was measured through the tail flick test. Results: Based on the results, 600 mg/kg was the most effective analgesic hyssop extract dose, and the most analgesic effect was observed at 45 minutes after administration. In addition, the administration of the most effective extract dose (600 mg/kg) plus morphine significantly improved the analgesic effects of morphine (P<0.001). Finally, the administration of naloxone plus the most effective extract dose (600 mg/kg) significantly reduced the analgesic effect of the extract (P<0.05). Conclusion: Overall, the hydroalcoholic extract of hyssop has analgesic effects that are probably applied through opioid receptors.

Hyperlipidemia and the Role of Blood Lipids According to Iranian Traditional Medicine

Objective: The first and most common cause of death in the world is due to cardiovascular diseases, and hyperlipidemia is one of the important and a critical controllable risk factors for these diseases. The connection between fat metabolism and a wide range of diseases, side effects of chemical drugs, and the increasing attention to the use of natural remedies reveal the necessity of further attention to the viewpoints of other schools of medicine, including complementary medicine. This review study aims to interpret hyperlipidemia from the perspective of Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM). Methods: This is review study conducted based on a library method using the keywords related to hyperlipidemia to collect data through searching in online databases and ITM books. The data were analyzed based on the content analysis method. Results: Hyperlipidemia is mainly diagnosed by laboratory findings and often have no clear clinical symptoms. According to ITM, for diagnosing hyperlipidemia, attention should be paid to the role of liver, heart, and stomach along with the health principles and quadruple digestion. Conclusion: Hyperlipidemia is a condition that can be either pathological or physiological. According to ITM, it occurs due to the imbalance of humors inside the arteries and leads to higher blood concentration and. In some cases, it can be due to a disease and in some cases, it can be caused by the body’s compensatory response. Paying attention to the views of ITM can be effective in preventing disease and improving therapeutic interventions.

IrGO: Iranian traditional medicine General Ontology and knowledge base

Background Iranian traditional medicine, also known as Persian Medicine, is a holistic school of medicine with a long prolific history. It describes numerous concepts and the relationships between them. However, no unified language system has been proposed for the concepts of this medicine up to the present time. Considering the extensive terminology in the numerous textbooks written by the scholars over centuries, comprehending the totality of concepts is obviously a very challenging task. To resolve this issue, overcome the obstacles, and code the concepts in a reusable manner, constructing an ontology of the concepts of Iranian traditional medicine seems a necessity. Construction and content Makhzan al-Advieh, an encyclopedia of materia medica compiled by Mohammad Hossein Aghili Khorasani, was selected as the resource to create an ontology of the concepts used to describe medicinal substances. The steps followed to accomplish this task included (1) compiling the list of classes via examination of textbooks, and text mining the resource followed by manual review to ensure comprehensiveness of extracted terms; (2) arranging the classes in a taxonomy; (3) determining object and data properties; (4) specifying annotation properties including ID, labels (English and Persian), alternative terms, and definitions (English and Persian); (5) ontology evaluation. The ontology was created using Protégé with adherence to the principles of ontology development provided by the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontology (OBO) foundry. Utility and discussion The ontology was finalized with inclusion of 3521 classes, 15 properties, and 20,903 axioms in the Iranian traditional medicine General Ontology (IrGO) database, freely available at http://ir-go.net/. An indented list and an interactive graph view using WebVOWL were used to visualize the ontology. All classes were linked to their instances in UNaProd database to create a knowledge base of ITM materia medica. Conclusion We constructed an ontology-based knowledge base of ITM concepts in the domain of materia medica to help offer a shared and common understanding of this concept, enable reuse of the knowledge, and make the assumptions explicit. This ontology will aid Persian medicine practitioners in clinical decision-making to select drugs. Extending IrGO will bridge the gap between traditional and conventional schools of medicine, helping guide future research in the process of drug discovery.