فصلنامه طب مکمل
سال هشتم شماره 2 (پیاپی 27، تابستان 1397)

The benefits of plants in different fields have been addressed in the works of traditional medicine scholars. Mango is one of those plants, which have been used for thousands of years in medicine due to its preventive and therapeutic properties. This study aims to investigate the benefits of Mangifera indica L. (Mango) products from Iranian traditional medicine perspective and to compare it with modern medicine findings.

This review-research study collected the data on mango benefits by investigating the traditional medicine reference books such as Makhzan Aladviyeh by Aghili Khorasani, Tohfe- al- Momenin by Hakim Momen, Gharabadin Kabir, Exsir-e-A’zam etc. Then, the data were compared to the findings of modern medicine extracted from databases such as Pubmed, Google Scholar and home academic databases.

Findings:

Those parts of mango which can be used include fruit, leaf, flower, kernel, skin and roots. All kinds of unripe mango have a cold, dry and astringent nature. All kinds of ripe mango have hot and dry nature, function as laxatives and enhance the function of heart, brain and gastrointestinal system. Mango is effective in improving shortness of breath, enhancing sexual power, nourishing hair and strengthening gums and teeth. According to the findings of modern medicine, mango has cytotoxic, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial effects due to its main components such as Polyphenols.

According to the experiences of traditional medicine scholars and findings of modern researchers as well as investigating the various benefits of Mango while considering its adverse effects, it seems that caution should be exercised when using this non-native and black bile-producing fruit in some conditions.

One of the common regimens in treating human brucellosis is a combination of rifampicin and doxycycline. Based on several studies, administration of gentamicin in addition to these two agents for 5 to 7 days leads to clinical improvement. This study aimed to use Ginseng instead of gentamicin in combination with rifampin and doxycycline in treatment of acute brucellosis.

In this clinical trial, conducted from April 2014 to August 2015, patients with acute brucellosis referred to Vali-e-Asr Hospital and Imam Reza Clinic in the city of Arak and undergoing treatment with standard doxycycline and rifampin were randomly assigned to one of the two adjuvant treatment groups of gentamicin and ginseng after obtaining informed consents. All the patients were evaluated for clinical response at days 0, 3, 7 and 14 and were followed for recurrence till 9 months after the treatment initiation.

61 patients completed the study. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of demographic characteristics of the patients. The most prevalent symptoms were fever (in 55 patients = 90.2%), sweating (in 47 patients = 77.1%), constitutional symptoms (in 45 patients = 73.8%) and arthritis and arthralgia (in 43 patients = 70.5%). The functions of the ginseng and gentamicin groups in reducing fever (P-value=0.883), sweating (P-value=0.701), constitutional symptoms (P-value=0.825), arthritis and arthralgia (P-value=0.890) and CRP (P-value=0.980) were almost the same during the treatment and there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of relapse rate in the following nine months (P-value=0.693).

Ginseng may alleviate clinical symptoms of patients and increase patients’ compliance with the treatment. Additionally, it has no serious side effects compared to gentamicin.

Introduction: Episiotomy is one of the most important causes of postpartum pain, limiting the mothers' movement and ability to care the infant. This study aimed to investigate the effect of Chamomile-Marigold ointment on episiotomy pain in nulliparous women.

This single-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on 99 eligible women who referred to Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital in Tehran. After obtaining written informed consents, the participants were randomly assigned to intervention, placebo and control groups. 4 hours after delivery, the participants in the intervention group had to rub the ointment (in the size of knuckle) on the stitches and repeat it every 8 hours for ten days. The severity of episiotomy pain was evaluated before the intervention and on the 1st, 5th and 10th days after delivery using a 10-point Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The data were analysed using Chi-square, ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests at significance level of <0.05.

There was no statistically significant difference among the three groups before the intervention (p-value = 0.108). The mean pain intensity in the first, fifth and tenth days after delivery in the intervention group was 3.24 ± 1.20, 2.33 ± 1.65 and 1.33 ± 2.65, respectively, which was significantly lower than those in the two other groups (P-value =0.001).

Given its anti-inflammatory effects, Chamomile-Marigold ointment can be used to relieve episiotomy pain and patients’ need for analgesics.

Scientometric studies can help the researchers to trace the dynamics and life of a scientific filed and contribution and position of each country and see the whole picture of the structure of that scientific filed. This study aimed to investigate the trend of scientific productions on traditional medicine in the world and contribution of Iran to this area in Scopus database.

This study was conducted through scientometric method. The research population was all scientific documents published on traditional medicine in Scopus database in a ten-year period as of 2007 to 2016. The documents in Scopus were searched by an appropriate search strategy using title, abstracts and keywords. Retrieved information was analyzed by Excel software.

23260 documents on traditional medicine have been indexed in Scopus during the time period studied here. 159 countries have contributed to the science production in this area and Iran was ranked sixth with 1253 documents (%38.5). The number of articles published from Iran has been increasing and has increased from 27 titles in 2007 to 264 titles in 2016. The position of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in science production was significant and this university was one of the top universities and institutes producing science in this area. The articles on traditional medicine from Iran have been published in 159 journals. Only 21 journals have published more than 10 titles from Iran, out of which 3 journals are among the 20 top journals.

This study showed that Iran’s contribution to the world scientific productions on traditional medicine has dramatically grown in an increasing trend in recent 10 years. However, what is important is addressing the quality of these documents. Publishing articles in the top journals on this area and international cooperation with researchers from other countries can increase the chances for receiving a citation, which is one of the most important indicators of quality.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of endurance training and Gallic acid on Annexin-5 and caspase-3 of cardiac tissue in male Wistar rats undergoing Boldenone.

In this experimental study, 42 male Wistar rats aged 8-12 weeks (weight: 195±7.94g) were randomly divided into six groups of control, boldenone (5mg/kg), Gallic acid-boldenone, endurance training, endurance training-boldenone and endurance training-Gallic acid-boldenone. Moderate endurance training program was conducted for eight weeks and five sessions per week. Oral Gallic acid was taken by rats at a dose of 5 mg/100g of rat’s weight for 8 weeks (7 days a week). Boldenone was injected deep into the quadratus femoris muscle of rats once a week on a predetermined day. After anesthesia, autopsy was performed and the cardiac tissue was isolated. The data were analyzed by paired samples t-test, one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc test at significance level of P<0.05.

The results showed differences among the groups in terms of mean amount of Annexin-5 and caspase-3 in cardiac tissues (P=0/001). The mean value of anxin-5 gene expression in the boldenone group was 1.27 ± 0.27, which significantly increased compared to those in Gallic acid-boldenone (0.40 ± 0.21), endurance training (0.38 (0.07), endurance Training-boldenone (0.766 ± 0.24) and endurance Training-Gallic acid-boldenone (0.71 ± 0.27) groups. Also, the mean value of Caspase-3 gene expression in the boldenone group was 2.14 ± 0.16, which significantly increased compared to those in acid-boldenone (0.92 ± 0.77), endurance training (0.59 ± 0.35) endurance Training-boldenone (1.19 ± 0.42) and endurance Training-Gallic acid-boldenone (0.94 ± 0.60) groups.

According the findings, it seems that boldenone causes apoptosis of cardiac tissues and endurance training and Gallic acid may reduce the apoptosis of cardiac tissues.

Poor quality of sleep is a common problem among patients in the coronary care unit. The use of earplugs, as an uncomplicated non-pharmacological method, can improve quality of sleep in patients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of using earplugs on the quality of sleep in patients hospitalized in coronary care unit.

This study was a randomized clinical trial conducted in the coronary care unit of the hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. 72 acute coronary syndrome patients having the inclusion criteria participated in this study and written consents were obtained. Through simple random sampling, the participants were assigned to two groups of intervention and control. In the intervention group, earplugs were used for the first three nights after hospitalization for 45 minutes in the beginning of sleep. The quality of sleep was measured upon hospitalization and three days later using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16 using descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, independent samples t- test).

The mean ± standard deviation of quality of sleep for the intervention group using earplugs decreased from 8.11±3.00 (before the intervention) to 6.00±2.30 (after the intervention). It increased from 6.33±3.08 to 8.80±2.45 for the control group. The results of independent samples t- test showed a statistically significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of average change in the sleep quality score before and after the intervention (p=0.001).

It is recommended that nurses employ earplugs as a non-pharmacological intervention for improving the quality of sleep of patients in the cardiac care unit.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of resistance and aerobic exercises with different intensities on BDNF & TrkB receptor gene expression in ovariectomized mice. Sixty 6 to 8-month old mice with average weight of 230 ±10 g were randomly divided into six 10-member groups: ovariectomized + high-intensity resistance exercises, ovariectomized + low-intensity resistance exercises, ovariectomized + high-intensity swimming exercises, ovariectomized + low-intensity swimming exercises, control and sham. The animals in the exercise groups performed low- and high-intensity exercises for 8 weeks, one session a day, 3 days a week. After the training protocol, the animals' hippocampus tissues were removed. Quantitative Real-time RT-PCR was used to determine the changes occurred in BDNF and TrkB gene expression. The data were analyzed by SPSS 23 using ANOVA at the significant level of α = 0.05. BDNF gene expression significantly increased in the high-intensity resistance exercise group (P<0.036), but the difference was not significant in the low-intensity resistance exercise (P<0.975), high-intensity swimming exercise (P<0.141) and low-intensity swimming groups (P = 0.998) compared to the control group. TrkB receptor gene expression increased in the high-intensity resistance exercise (P<0.036) and swimming exercise groups (P<0.002), but the difference was not significant in the low-intensity resistance exercise (P<0.442) and swimming exercise groups (P<0.688). High-intensity swimming exercise increased BDNF and TrkB receptor gene expression. However, high-intensity resistance exercise is likely to offer better results.

Exercise-related stress changes the amount of cytokines produced. Dietary supplements can accelerate the muscle recovery process. Q10 is one of the most effective and nutritional supplements that is prescribed to reduce the inflammatory-oxidative damage. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of Q10 supplementation and recovery in water on serum levels of IL-6 and IL-1Beta in active girls following eccentric exercises.

In this quasi-experimental study, 32 active female students aged 19-21 years old were randomly assigned to four groups of 8 people: placebo, exercise + recovery, exercise + Q10 and exercise + recovery + Q10. The protocol was 60-minutes sessions of eccentric exercises three days a week for 3 weeks. Blood samples were taken at three points during the study: before the intervention, after eccentric exercises and after recovery.

The use of Q10 supplementation and recovery in water following eccentric exercises caused a significant difference in serum levels of IL-6 in the exercise + recovery, exercise + Q10 and exercise + recovery + Q10 groups compared to the placebo group (P=0.035). However, no significant change was observed in the levels of interleukin-1 beta in the exercise + recovery, exercise + Q10 and exercise + recovery + Q10 compared to the placebo group (P= 0.349).

Q10 supplementation along with a vigorous eccentric exercise program had beneficial effects on interleukin-6 inflammatory factor. Therefore, due to its antioxidant properties, Q10 supplementation is recommended as a non-pharmacological approach to helping muscle soreness in active individuals. However, this supplement does not result in reduction of some inflammatory factors, including interleukin-1 beta.