No Abstract

In  recent  years,  because  of  the  reduction  of  infectious  disease  mortality,  also  changing  age pyramid and the increase in human life expectancy, the elderly population is growing, and their medical and health needs are a more pronounced. Hence, to address this need, the field of geriatric medicine as a specialty is founded. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the comparative literature on traditional medicine and geriatric medicine in Iran. In this study, some credible Iranian traditional medicines books are evaluated including Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine, Hakim Arzani’s Mofareh al Gholoob, Hefz al sehat Naseri, and Baha al Doleh Razi’s Kholasasat al Tajarob and wherever possible a comparison with the conventional medical texts and articles is expressed. In all of the mentioned books, geriatric is included as a chapter and mentioned as “Tadbire mashayekh.” In this chapter a detailed description of geriatric health, nutrition, sleep, wakefulness,  proper  exercise,  and  commonly  seen  diseases,  and  their  way  of  treatment  is mentioned which may indicated to the importance of this period in humans’ lifetime in Iranian traditional medicine. Although the geriatric medicine is often thought to be a scientific result of the new medicine, but by studying the Iranian traditional medicine resources, it is revealed that in all of the listed books, there is a full description of this lifetime period, which can answer at least a part of our needs, nowadays.

Vitiligo as a common depigmenting skin disorder plays a very important role in patient’s quality of life. It can cause serious emotional stress, which necessitates its treatment. Because of lack of desirable efficacy of conventional therapies, considering complementary therapies for the management of vitiligo is increasing. The aim of this article is to describe Iranian traditional medicine  (ITM)  approach  to  vitiligo  mechanism  and  prognosis  as  well  as  medicinal  plants proposed for the management of this disease. ITM believes human body organs consist of four fundamental humors. All of them are composed of very specific quantity and quality and any kind of diseases supposedly, is the result of excess or deficit of these humors. Changes in the quantity of “phlegm humor” and improper function of “expulsive faculty” are two main causes of vitiligo. In  this  paper,  the  vitiligo  prognosis  according  to  ITM  and  recommended  herbal  medicines according to the stage of disease have been explained.

Essential oil obtained from medicinal plants has been shown to have different biological activities and could replace chemical antioxidants to decrease oxidation of toxic chemical constituents and prevent disorders associated with oxidative damages. This study was aimed to evaluate chemical compositions and antioxidant activities of the essential oils obtained from Citrus aurantifolia (lime), Citrus sinensis (orange) peel, and Zataria multiflora aerial parts growing in Iran. The chemical composition and antioxidant activities of essential oils were examined using 2, 2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity and β-carotene bleaching methods. The results were compared with butylated hydroxyl toluene as a synthetic antioxidant. The chemical compositions of essential oils were analyzed with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Limonene (40.33%), β-pinene (9.45%), α-terpineol (10.88%), and γ-terpinolene (8.89%) were identified as the major compounds of the oil from C. aurantifolia peel. The main component in the oil of C. sinensis peel was  limonene (90.492%), and thymol (38.67%), carvacrol  (15.29%), p-cymene (10.23%), and γ-terpinene (9.75%) were the main components in the essential oil obtained from Z. multiflora. Z. multiflora essential oil showed potent antioxidant activity by DPPH (76%) and β-carotene bleaching (73.3%) methods. This study indicated that Z. multiflora essential oil exhibited the highest radical scavenging effect and could be used as an obtainable source of natural antioxidant.

Rose oil (Rowghan-e Gol) is an Iranian traditional medicine used both topical and systemic in gastritis, inflammatory bowel disease, headache, and hemorrhoids. Traditional manuscripts have reported two different methods of preparation for this medicine; the first is macerating rose petals in sesame  oil for  25  days  under  sunlight  (R1),  and  the  second  is  extracting  rose  petals  by squeezing and then boiling the mixture of the extract with sesame oil to evaporate aqueous part (R2). The aim of this article was to study both traditional methods of rose oil preparation in terms of physicochemical factors to evaluate which method is best for industrializing. For this purpose, total phenolics (based on gallic acid), total essential oils (based on citronellol), thin layer chromatography (TLC) profile of the constituents, and oil rancidity indices, i.e., acid and peroxide values were determined through spectrophotometer, gas chromatograph, TLC, and titration, respectively. R1 had greater amounts of total phenolics (0.05% vs. 0.01%). The amount of its essential oil was 15.5 times higher than R2. TLC profiles showed that R1 had one more spots (Rr = 0.04) representing flavonoids (according to natural product indicator). About oil rancidity indices, both samples were in standard ranges but all indices of R1 were greater than R2. It could be due to long exposure of R1 to sunlight. According to the results, R1 had more amounts of flavonoids and essential oils. These compounds are considered as therapeutic agents of rose oil. Therefore, R1 is a more preferable than R2. Appropriate antioxidants should be utilized to protect R1 against sunlight oxidation.

Although hiccups may be a temporary action which need no treatment, sometimes a refractory hiccup would be disturbing to a normal life. In such cases, an underlying etiology is often present, and may be overlooked. One the important etiology claimed in Iranian traditional medicine for intractable hiccups is liver diseases. In this study, management of intractable hiccups by chicory in two cases with the liver obstruction has been presented.

Iranian traditional medicine (TIM) has a long and old history from ancient periods up to now and it  is  used  in  prevention,  diagnosis,  treatment,  and  elimination  of  diseases  in  Persia  and neighboring countries. In Traditional Iranian Medicine,  physiological functions of the human body are based on 7 factors: Elements, Temperament, Humors, Organs, Spirits, Forces or Faculty, Functions. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with 3000-5000 year of history has a unique system to  diagnosis  and  prevention  of  diseases.  TCM with acupuncture  and  Chinese  herbal medicine is one of the most important parts in complementary and alternative medicine. The clinical diagnosis and treatment in TCM are mainly based on the yin-yang and five elements theories. The aim of present study is to assess differences of TCM and TIM in diagnostic aspect for this purpose we searched Iranian databases and 30 years review articles of the Chinese scholar database (CNKI, VIP…) and relevant articles published in Journals inside and outside of China without language restrictions. The results showed that diagnosis in TIM is mostly focused on urine analysis, smelling, and pulse-taking, while a diagnosis of diseases in TCM is mainly focused on tongue observation and pulse taking. It seems that through the time some parts of diagnosis are missed. If practitioners take advantages from traditional medicine and combine it with the science of western medicine, it could be a great help for integrative medicine. Our knowledge about each of the traditional medicine not only should not be against the other types of traditional medicine but also it should be a help for finding information about missed parts.

Zoufa is one of the most consumed herbs in the Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) that has been used to treat many diseases including bronchitis, chronic cough, asthma and colic [1], [2]. The botanical description of these medicinal plants exists in some ITM literatures; however in the herbal market of Iran, two different plants have been sold as Zoufa, one is Hyssopus officinalis and another is Nepeta bracteata. The aim of the present study is to determine the exact scientific name of Zoufa according to its botanical description in ITM literatures. For this purpose, major traditional  Iranian  herbal  literatures  were  searched  to  find  information  about  the  habitat, appearance, and botanical characteristics as well as pharmacological activities and indications of “Zoufa.” The modern botanical  books  were also searched for  the mentioned  items  about  H. officinalis and N. bracteata. The results obtained from TIM literatures were compared with the findings from modern resources. The comparison of botanical description, habitat and pharmacological activity of H. officinalis and N. bracteata with those of Zoufa in ITM showed that Zoufa in ITM is approximately equivalent to H. officinalis; however, the most of samples sold as Zoufa in herbal shops of Iran is N. bracteata.