meysam shirzad

Persian Medicine (PM) is an ancient and holistic healthcare approach that has been practiced for thousands of years. While PM is often considered to be a traditional or alternative form of medicine, it has a rich history and a wealth of knowledge that can be of great value in contemporary medical practice. It encompasses a wide range of medical practices, including herbal medicine, dietary therapy, manual intervention, and lifestyle modification. Despite its long history and widespread use, there is a lack of standardized terminology in PM, which can lead to confusion and miscommunication among practitioners and patients. The Persian Medicine standard terminology provides a framework for understanding Persian medical concepts and terminology and can serve as a bridge between traditional and modern medicine. Therefore, to systematize the use of Persian medicine standard terminology, a working group was formed in the Persian Medicine Office of the Iranian Ministry of Health. After gathering opinions from experts in Persian medicine and the English language, a set of commonly used words was identified for the project. The first step of the project includes 100 standardized terms which are presented in this paper.

Background and Purpose:

Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), named “Kāsni” in Persian, has been used as a medicinal plant for hepatoprotective, thirst quenching, body heat reducing, bile reducing and activities by traditional Iranian scholars for many centuries. Although chicory is a common plant in traditional medicine, it is attributed to several plant species with different morphologies.

Herein, plant species attributed to chicory in traditional manuscripts were studied and compared with new botanical references. They included Cichorium endivia, Cichorium intybus, Cichorium pumilum, Taraxacum officinale (syn: Taraxacum camphylodes) and Chondrilla juncea. In this survey, morphological features and therapeutic characteristics mentioned both in traditional and conventional medicine resources were reviewed.

The results of morphological assessments showed that Cichorium intybus and Cichorium endivia are Kāsni barri and Kāsni bostāni, respectively. Other species were different in terms of botanical features in comparison with two principal species. 

Due to the importance of accurate identification of medicinal plants for research purposes, we identified Cichorium intybus and Cichorium endiva as Kāsni barri and Kāsni bostāni respectively for the plant chicory among the species listed in Persian medicine references.

Background and Purpose:

“Shoneez” known as “Siyahdaneh”, “Habbato saudā” and “Kalonji”, is one of the most ancient known plants with hot and dry temperament at the third degree which is used for treatment of various diseases. Black seed is an herbaceous annual herb, and its flowering time is from late May to July. The seeds of this plant are black, triangular and fragrant. Their pleasant odor is smelled when they are crushed. The aim of this study was adaptation of the botanical descriptions of “Shoneez” according to Traditional Persian Medicine resources to the black seed according to modern literatures to specify its scientific name. Therapeutic and pharmacological effects were also explored.

The characterization and properties of plants were extracted from Traditional Persian Medicine texts and also recent studies and were compared to each other.

There are similarities in botanical description of the plants’ leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. “Shoneez” has been used in a wide range of gastrointestinal, urinary, respiratory and skin diseases. Also, black seed is one of the most important plants in the world and extensive studies have been carried out regarding its efficacy and active ingredients (especially thymoquinone) on various diseases. Several effects including antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, cholesterol-lowering, anti-tumor and positive effects on the function of the gastrointestinal and respiratory protective activity have been reported from the seeds.

Reviewing the ancient and current literatures demonstrated that the scientific name of “Shoneez” is Nigella sativa L. and both traditional and conventional medicine suggests the effectiveness of black seed on respiratory and gastrointestinal systems.

The tongue is a meaty organ that receives vessels and nerves much more than primarily expected. Since the texture of the tongue is porous and it is exposed to high amount of vapor coming from lower organs, especially stomach, changes in body temperament and appearing disorders in other organs can affect the tongue easily. So its color is one of the important signs that help the physician's approach, meantime, the effect of brain, stomach, and liver disorders on this organ are stronger. The aim of this study was a review on Persian Medicine (PM) manuscripts to find out the way Persian sage physicians approached to tongue diseases, categorized it and treated it.

The most valuable textbooks of PM such as Exir-e-Azam, Tebe Akbari, Kholasatal tajareb were studied. We reviewed and analyzed the disease under the title of "tongue" and studied different effects of diseases on the tongue.

The most important organs reflect their diseases on tongue are brain, stomach and liver. Any significant injury in these organs can change the color, taste, form and the moisture on the tongue. For instance, color of the tongue in brain diseases changes to white in dementia, yellow and black in qarānīṭos (hot inflammation of the brain) and yellow and green in epilepsy. Furthermore, thickness or narrowing of the tongue reflects preponderance of wetness or dryness, respectively.

It was concluded from the study that attention to the tongue as an auxiliary diagnostic tool can open new ways to improve the process of diagnosis and treatment in the field of PM.

Ulcerative colitis is the most common form of inflammatory bowel disease worldwide, which presents with superficial ulcers in the rectum and colon. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of rose oil soft capsules over placebo on the clinical outcomes in moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.

This study was a pilot randomized, double-blind clinical trial, and the 40 patients were assigned into rose oil and placebo groups (n=20 per group). All patients were instructed to use their prescribed two soft capsules three times daily for two months. The clinical symptoms, quality of life the patients, and calprotectin level were evaluated via partial Mayo clinic score, irritable bowel disease questionnaire (IBDQ-9), and calprotectin kit as primary outcome measures.

The mean age of the participants was 41±10 years. Most of them (53.6%) were male, and the remaining (46.4%) were female. The demographic and baseline data showed no differences between the two groups. Partial Mayo clinic scores decreased in both groups after the treatment, but the difference between the rose oil and placebo groups was not statistically significant (P=0.99). IBDQ-9 score also increased in both interventions before and after the treatment (P=0.012), though the differences between these two groups were not statistically significant (P=0.61). There were no significant differences between the two study groups either in terms of calprotectin level (P=0.219).

This study showed that rose oil might improve ulcerative colitis clinical outcomes, but for a better evaluation, it is imperative to conduct experiments with a large sample size and longer follow-up observation.

Premature ejaculation (PE) is one of the main sexual problems among the male population. There is a folk treatment for this ailment in a small town near Kashan, Iran. The treatment contains hydro-alcoholic extracts of Tribulus terrestris L., Rosa × damascena Herrm, Zingiber officinale Roscoe, and Crocus sativus L. in honey. The aim of this preliminary study was to evaluate the effect of the syrup on premature ejaculation. The study population was 17 outpatients visited by a traditional healer. Each patient was diagnosed clinically based on the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool (PEDT). Inclusion criteria included male participants between 20 to 60 years old, PE more than 6 months, PEDT score more than 11, IELT more than 1 minute, no severe organic disease. Exclusion criteria included taking any chemical drug during the intervention, and sexual contacts less than twice in 3 weeks. 17 male patients aged between 26-65 years old were eligible for the study according to the inclusion criteria. The patients enrolled in the study, filled out the written consent form and conditions of the research were explained. The medication (Bastibaj syrup) was administered for the patients 5 milliliters 3 times daily for 3 sequential weeks. The intravaginal ejaculatory latency time was recorded in all coitus. After the course of the intervention, the mean of IELTs before and after the intervention was compared via paired T-test. Results show that the mean IELT before the intervention (33.2 seconds) in comparison to after it (129.3 seconds) has been improved significantly (P<0.01). According to the results, the study revealed that the traditional remedy prescribed in this study, i.e. Bastibaj, can be effective in patients with premature ejaculation, and can prolong the IELT significantly

Lavender is a medicinal plant that has a long history of consumption in Persian medicine. The most prominent medicinal use has been for neurological disorders in a way that it has been called "the brain scavenger". There are different opinions about its botanical description in Persian medicine sources that implied to the use of various plants as lavender in different ages.

In this paper, three species belonging to the Lamiaceae family including Lavandula stoechas L, Lavandula angustifolia Mill., and Nepeta menthoides Boiss. were investigated and their botanical descriptions were compared with what has said about the identity of lavender in Persian medicine literature.

The investigations revealed that the definition of Lavender (Ustukhuddus) in Persian medicine mainly corresponds to the characteristics of Lavandula stoechas. It should be noted that from the middle of the 20th century, Nepeta menthoides has been introduced to the Iranian medicinal plant market as lavender and replaced the Roman lavender.

The results of this work could be the research source of medicinal plants scientists to work on each of these species.

Persian Medicine (PM) references contain valuable information which can be useful for health preservation, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and can promote health in society. Introducing this school of medicine to the medical community requires a set of valid English equivalents to communicate PM’s fundamental concepts. This study gathers the most frequent words in PM in three forms: Persian name, English or Latin name and Persian name with English spelling, and finally a uniform English and Persian name is suggested for every word. “Iranian Scientometric Information Database – ISID” were used to find those researchers in PM and Persian pharmacy who have a PhD degree and an H-Index equal or more than 4. Then all of their review articles about PM indexed in Scopus were analysed to pinpoint the frequent words of basic principles in PM. An expert panel of five including PM and Persian pharmacy specialists, and an English language specialist decided about the best word as the final suggestion for each concept. There were 17 researches with 478 articles 77 of which were review articles. Totally 62 words were taken out of these articles. In addition, the experts decided to add 18 more words to the list. This study provides a fairly exhaustive list of words of basic principles in PM. Using these words in future studies can contribute to the uniformity of the key vocabulary in PM articles.

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.

Undoubtedly, the problem of “fact-value” gap should be considered as one of the most important issues in moral philosophy. Drawing the problem of “fact-value” gap has been ascribed to the skeptic empiricist Scottish philosopher, David Hume. Hume claimed that it is impossible to derive the ethical propositions containing “ought/ought not” from the ethical propositions containing “is/is not”. The moral philosophers have regarded the Humean doctrine as the "is/ought” fallacy. After Hume, the English analytic philosopher, George Edward Moore, revived the Humean doctrine. Moore claimed that the concept of “Good” cannot be defined in terms of non-moral concepts/natural properties. He challenged the philosophers who defined this concept in terms of the non-moral concepts/natural properties to committing the “Naturalistic Fallacy”. Some of the moral philosophers have tried to confirm the fallacies proposed by Hume and Moore, while some others have attempted to refute those fallacies. The American neo-Aristotelian philosopher, Alasdair MacIntyre is among those who have tried to offer a specific explanation of how the theories of disseminating the “fact-value” gap have emerged. He has made some arguments to show the invalidity of that gap. In this paper, we will consider the doctrines of Hume and Moore on the “fact-value” gap, and then will examine MacIntyre’s considerations on the gap.

Strychnos nux-vomica is a well-known poisonous plant, which is detoxified by different methods in traditional medicines. Most of traditional medical schools introduce general detoxification methods that can be substituted with each other. The main goal of these methods is to reduce the total alkaloids. In contrast, Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) has suggested three non-general, non-substitutable methods, which have specific medical indications: 1, boiling the seeds in water until all the water evaporates (prescribed for diarrhea treatment); 2, soaking the seeds in cow’s milk for seven days, followed by peeling the seeds (for addiction treatment); 3, soaking the seeds in cow’s milk for seven days, peeling the seeds, and boiling them in milk (for arthralgia and paralysis).
The aim of this study was to clarify the therapeutic rationale for each method.
Nux-vomica seeds were divided into four groups: three groups were detoxified via ITM methods, and one group was kept intact as a control. All samples were powdered, and their alkaloids and total phenolic compounds were determined by HPLC and spectrophotometery, respectively.
The first ITM method reduced the strychnine level from 1.083 to 0.577 and brucine from 0.739 to 0.361. For the second and third ITM methods, the levels of strychnine reached 0.838 and 0.812, and the levels of brucine reached 0.522 and 0.568, respectively.
Clinically, these results are logical because the required dose of alkaloids for treatment of diarrhea is lesser than the needed doses to treat addiction, arthralgia, and paralysis.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with a high prevalence in recent years. Dramatic growth in AD prevalence has increased the importance of more researches on AD treatment. History has shown that traditional medicine can be a source of inspiration to find new therapies.. This study tried to codify the recommendations of Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) by studying the main medical manuscripts. The second purpose was to compare these findings with new medical information.. Cardinal traditional medical and pharmacological texts from 10th to 18th century were searched for traditional terms of dementia (Nesyan, Fisad-uz-Zekr, Faramooshkari) focused on treatment methods. The findings were classified into three groups: lifestyle recommendations, dietary approaches, and drug therapies. These findings were compared with new medical findings.. ITM has dietary recommendations for dementia such as increasing consumption of nuts, poultry and eggs, milk, and grape products (like raisin and currant). These compounds are full of unsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol, and polyphenolic compounds. New findings suggest that these substances can help in prevention and treatment of AD. ITM has some lifestyle considerations like increasing physical and mental activities, listening to music, attending musical feasts, and smelling specific perfumes. New medical findings confirm nearly all of these recommendations. Along with the aforementioned items, treatment with natural medicines is in the first line of traditional treatment of dementia. New investigations show that many of these herbs have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory factors and acetylcholine esterase inhibitory effects. A few of them also have N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) blocking activity. When these herbs are put together in traditional formulations, they can comprehensively fight against the disease.. More ethnopharmacological and ethnomedical studies on ITM antidementia therapy can be followed by fruitful results..

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 Jovārish-e Jālīnūs (Galen’s digestive) has been introduced.