Alternative & Integrative Medicine

Nigella sativa (N. sativa) seed, commonly known as ‘Black Seed’ in English and ‘Al-Habba Al-Sauda’ in Arabic, had been frequently used as a folk medicine for a large number of diseases since ancient times. N. sativa seed, its oil, various extracts and active components are reported to possess very useful pharmacological effects to include: immune stimulation, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, hypoglycemic, antihypertensive, anti-asthmatic, antimicrobial and anti-parasitic, etc. Some authors have reviewed these pharmacological activities in general but their neuropsychiatric effects are not separately and adequately described. The literature search has revealed a lot of publications pertaining to the actions of N. sativa in neurological and psychiatric problems, e.g., the control of pain, epilepsy, Parkinsonism, anxiety and drug dependence, as well as improvement of learning and memory, alertness, elevation of mood and feeling of good health, etc. Besides, because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other useful actions, was shown to provide neuro-protection from spinal cord injury and prevent damage to brain cells from various nerve toxins in experimental animal models. Moreover, black seed showed promising prophylactic and therapeutic effects on murine toxoplasmosis and demonstrated excellent antimalarial activity against various Plasmodium species in in vivo experiments, including Plasmodium falciparum strains notorious for causing cerebral malaria. The present article is intended to briefly review the valuable efforts of scientists to investigate the pharmacological activities and therapeutic potential of this precious natural herb pertaining to the neuropsychiatric diseases. It is hoped that the present manuscript would be of particular interest to the neurologists and psychiatrists, and the information provided would also benefit general physicians, medical students and the community.

The purpose of the present study was to document the medicinal plants of a Unani folk medicinal practitioner in Lalmohan Thana that located in Bhola district in Bangladesh. There is very narrow information about plants used by traditional healers and general people in Bhola District in Bangladesh, for treating general ailments. An ethnomedicinal survey conducted among folk medicinal herbalists of one village in Bhola district resulted in the finding of 146 plants distributed into 64 families used by the herbalists. The various plants were used for treatment of ailments like Urinary Disorders, Contraceptive, Diuretics, Fever, Constipation, Menoxenia, Jaundice, Respiratory Disorders (Coughs, Mucus), Leprosy, Tuberculosis, Sexual disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders (Dysentery, Diarrhea, Indigestion, Constipation), Vomiting, Helminthiasis, Jaundice, Infections, Heart Disorders, Skin Disorders, Gonorrhea, Urinary Problems, Edema, Typhoid, Liver Disorders, Blood Poisoning, Eye Disorders, Memory Loss, Ovarian Problems, Vaginitis, and Hypertension. This study could play an important role for future phytochemical and pharmacological investigation.

Unani system of medicine is one of the oldest systems of medicine and existence of this system till now itself is an evidence of validity of its principles. However, the essence of any science is progress based on a continuous quest for new knowledge through research, development and newer applications. Unani medicine too should not be exception to this. With the same objective, Government of India established a Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine to develop this system in its own theoretical framework. But researches undertaken to revive the system have not been very rewarding except for the translations of some classical texts; which at least made the literature accessible to academicians and researchers. The past as well as the current trends have failed to reap desired results primarily due to use of inappropriate protocol designs for scientific research. Ironically, ongoing research is in line of modern medicine protocol without taking into consideration, the contrasting epistemology and principles of the systems. Thus, there is a need for a paradigm shift in the research methodology for evaluating Unani medicine. In this article, author advocates the need to adopt epistemologically sensitive methods to evaluate the Unani system of medicine.

Background: Management of people’s health problems should be performed by qualified health professionals. However, an increasing number of individuals claim the ability to manage diseases despite not having received medical training. This study sought to identify the sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics of people seeking health-related assistance from nonprofessionals, their reasons for seeking help and sources of health information available to the public. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from September 2014 to March 2015. The sample size was 195 Saudi adults. An online survey consisting of a well-structured questionnaire was created using Google forms and distributed via a link to a website. Result: A total of 269 participants met our criteria and completed the questionnaire. One hundred ninety-one participants (71%) were female and 152 (56.5%) were 30 years old or younger. The majority were unmarried 164 (61%) and 191 (71%) had a university education or higher. More than half of the participants (143; 53%) consulted a medical doctor (MD) and 100 (37%) relied on self-help or consulted relatives. The older the patient, the more likely he or she was to consult a physician rather than depend on self-help or advice from relatives. The majority of married participants consulted a physician (69; 65.7%); many of the unmarried participants (72; 43.9%) preferred self-help and consultation with relatives. Approximately half of the participants who preferred self-help and relatives' advice perceived a benefit; the other half did not notice a difference. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that help-seeking behavior in the Saudi community requires improvement. Approximately half of the participants sought non-medical help. We hope this study will motivate investigators to research variety of help-seeking behaviors and their effects, such as the influence of the Internet on self-care.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Polyherbal Unani formulations (PHUFs) with placebo in Warmeunqur-rahm (Cervicitis). Methods: A Randomized single-blind placebo controlled trial was designed to compare the efficacy of Unaniformulations against placebo in diagnosed cases of cervicitis in the Department of Gynaecology of Ayurvedic &Unani Tibbia College, Delhi. Sixty married female participants with age group of 18-40 years having symptoms of cervicitis with no systemic illness and sexually transmitted diseases and not using oral or intrauterine contraceptives were randomly allocated to receive either test drug (n = 30) or placebo (n = 30) for three months. In the test group, sufoofe sailan (PHUF) 5 gm orally was given twice daily and intravaginally humul (pessary) of isapghol (Isapgol: Plantago ovata Forsk) and alsi (Linseed: Linum usitatissimum L.) soaked in arqe gulab (rose water) was kept at mid-cycle for 10 days for three consecutive cycles and the placebo was given for same protocol. On the basis of improvement in subjective and objective parameters the response of treatment was graded ascured, improved and not cured. Results were analyzed by Chi-square/Fisher Exact test and Student t test. Results: There was a significant improvement in the subjective and objective parameters in test group aftertreatment with P < 0.001. Cervical discharge, cervical erythema and cervical oedema were significantly reduced (P <0.001) after three months of treatment. Interpretation and conclusion: Study revealed that test drug formulations were effective and safe in the management of cervicitis. Besides, the trial should be conducted on large sample sizefor effectiveness of drug.