Folk Medicine Practices Research Articles

Diuretic activity of some Smilax canariensis fractions

Ethnopharmacological relevanceSmilax canariensis is an endemic species of the Canary Islands, popularly known as “Zarzaparrilla sin espinas”. The rhizome, leaves and stem of this species has wide use in folk medicine practice on the islands, where they are habitually employed as diuretic. Aim of the studyIn this paper we report on the diuretic activity in experimental animals of several fractions of the methanol extract of this species. Materials and methodsFour fractions of the methanol extract of the rhizomes, leaves and stem of Smilax canariensis (50 and 100mg/kg), Furosemide and Hydrochlorotiazide (10mg/kg), were orally administered to laboratory animals to evaluate their diuretic activity. Water excretion rate, pH, conductivity, and content of Na+, K+ and Cl− were measured in the urine of saline-loaded mice. ResultsAll the studied extracts showed an interesting increase of the diuresis, although the n-buthanol (27%; p<0.05) and ethyl acetate extract (35%; p<0.01), at 100mg/kg p.o., showed the most interesting diuretic activity, which suggested that this diuretic effect is associated with the compounds contained in the fractions of intermediate polarity (ethyl acetate and n-butanol), decreasing in the most extreme apolar and polar sub-extracts (dichloromethane and methanol: water respectively). The increase in diuresis produced by these two extracts was very close to the values of Hydrochlorothiazide (32%) or Furosemide (39%), used as reference diuretics. ConclusionsThese data, together with previous results on the aqueous and methanol extracts, reaffirm assertions made regarding the effectiveness of the extracts of this plant against urinary pathologies in the Canary Islands folk medicine.

An ethnomedicinal survey of cucurbitaceae family plants used in the folk medicinal practices of Bangladesh1

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Eski Türklerin Dini

Shamanism which is a religion of the Turks, or the idea that is the oldest religion of the Turks, is an incorrect assumption that has engaged the academic circles for a long time. Yet, the belief system which is known as Shamanism, is a system that has not yet occurred BC. As can be understood in the studies, shamanism applied in their regions of Turks and surrounding communities, in Central Asia only after 11th century, and it is a belief system held by therapeutic-the clergy called Shaman or Cam. Shamanism that is the whole folk medicine practices based on a kind of magic and spell, tried to be reflected in the form of the oldest religion of Turks as a result of intentional attributions and over time with wrong perceptions. In contrast to conjecture of some scientists, shamanism; is not a religion such as Christianity and Islam. At this point, Through the studies from the first half of the 20.century; has started to become clear differences between shamanism and Sky God Religious that is the religion of the ancient Turkish. It is known that what shamanism is, and what percentage meld with the religion of Sky God over time. Of course, studies are not enough. Nevertheless, the idea that Shamanism is not an ancient religious of Turks now has gained prevalence through these studies. In addition, Sky God religion also examined in all its aspects, and has been reached a comprehensive knowledge about. In this context, the root Tengri religious come to the fore as the oldest religion of Turks. Shamanism has been identified as an improvement that is formed around a type applications called the shaman, relate with the realm of the spirits, a belief that formed within the framework of implementation of trance and ecstasy techniques.

Folk Medicinal Practices in Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh, Western Himalaya

The importance of folk knowledge in improving livelihood and biodiversity conservation is now well recognized (Alcorn 1993; Gadgil et al. 2000). Of the various sectors that have benefited from folk knowledge, healthcare is the most important (Patwardhan 2007; Chadwick and Marsh 2007). Considering the growing acceptance of herbal medicine, almost 25% of prescribed drugs available in the market are plant based (Farnsworth et al. 1985), and novel plant based cures are being sought. In this regard, observations of folk medicinal practices are of great significance (Fabricant and Farnsworth 2001). In India, utilization of plants for medicinal purposes has been documented in ancient texts (Charak and Drdhbala 1996; Tulsidas 1631) and more than 40% of the Indian flora is reported to be used for medicinal purposes (Pushpangadan 1995). In the interior of the country such as the Himalayan region, dependence on plants for healthcare is much higher. No wonder it is said “folk medicine is the mother of the healing systems of India” (Valiathan 2006). However, now concerns are being raised about the erosion of this knowledge (Uniyal et al. 2003). Keeping this in view, the present study was conducted in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh where dependency on medicinal plants is high (Brij Lal et al. 1996; Chauhan 2003; Kapur 1993; Sharma and Chauhan 2000; Singh and Kumar 2000; Uniyal et al. 2006), yet detailed information on the plants used for treating different diseases by the local people and the techniques of treatments is lacking.

Diuretic activity of Smilax canariensis, an endemic Canary Island species

Ethnopharmacological relevance Smilax canariensis is an endemic species of the Canary Islands, popularly known as “Zarzaparrilla sin espinas”. This species has wide use in folk-medicine practice on the islands, especially as diuretic. So the aim of our study is to evaluate the diuretic activity of an aqueous and a methanol extract of this species. Material and methods Three infusions doses (250, 500 and 750 mg/kg) and two methanol extract doses (100 and 200 mg/kg) were orally administered to laboratory rats. Water excretion rate, pH, density, conductivity, and content of Na + and K + were measured in the urine of saline-loaded rats. Results Water excretion rates were significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner by both hot water infusions and the alcohol extract. The electrolytic excretion was also dose-dependent, although potassium excretion was markedly reduced when using the alcohol extract compared with that observed for the infusion. Conclusions Smilax canariensis presents a notable diuretic effect which appeared to be related both to its potassium content and to the presence of polar organic compounds. The present results provide a quantitative basis explaining the traditional folk-medicine use of Smilax canariensis as a diuretic agent by the Canary Island population.

Cure or No Cure: Nursing Practices of Profession, Self-Help, and Naturopathy in Late-Nineteenth-Century and Early-Twentieth-Century Reference Books

Historians of nursing as it was practiced in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland1 have dedicated much research to the question of how-in the period from the second half of the nineteenth century until the eve of World War I-the work of nursing was reformed, actually constituted, and implemented as a female profession. Th us, we know that the medical knowledge expected of a trained nurse was limited to what was considered appropriate to the job of a doctor's sensible and reliable assistant. The nurse's apprenticeship promoted practical skills and submission to medical authority. No scientific ballast was allowed to hinder the nurse's emotional identification with the patient. The nursing sister's religious calling and obedience to the motherhouse of the nursing orders or congregations and the secular nurse's morals and character during and after working hours both came under constant scrutiny-a scrutiny designed to save the nurse from giving herself airs or overestimating herself. Beyond this, the purpose of the apprenticeship was to distance her from pseudo-knowledge and quackery and to save her from deciding, on her own initiative, how to treat or cure the patient. During the years when this concept of the nursing profession2 dominated the development of the education, duties, and identity of nurses in secular as well as in religious institutions, such half-knowledge and quackery were, in the eyes of the medical profession, widespread. The practice of folk and popular medicine,3 as well as of medicine that would nowadays be dubbed alternative, unconventional, or complementary,4 was making important contributions to health care and to the treatment of illnesses. The quest for health was central to bourgeois society, and individual responsibility-and especially self-help-were highly prized in the overall scheme of personal and public hygiene. The universal obligation to acquire the basics of health maintenance and thereby build up resistance to disease and premature decay was not questioned by physicians. Indeed, they were the source of a constantly flowing and broadening stream of knowledge about the body, translated into popular terms, which the general public was intended to take to heart.5 When it came to the actual treatment of illness, however, self-help movements, unregulated therapists, popular medical traditions, self-acquired knowledge, and alternative medicine all equally provoked opposition and controversy. Self-Help, Naturopathy, and an Inquiry into the History of Nursing Practice From the mid-nineteenth century onward, alternative medicine in the German Empire and in the Swiss Confederation played a dynamic role in the organization and institutionalization of medical self-help.6 Founder figures and their medical concepts, associations and alliances of devotees, spas offering cold water cures and other such treatments, and above all, mass-produced booklets and journals all disseminated their lore of natural healing, graphically affirming that their conception of a medical alternative, entailing self-help and the services of lay therapists and unorthodox physicians, was a resource as important as, or even superior to, orthodox medical science, including the services of a doctor. Self-help was held to be indispensable-certainly in cases of emergency, when a physician was too far away or when his prescription could not help. Many efforts were made to inform the public about the benefits of nature cures, homoeopathy, and other healing methods, as well as to warn it about critical aspects of physicians' treatments, such as surgery, vaccinations, or the administration of drugs. This barrage of information included pointed comment on the negative aspects of competing unconventional methods. On the eve of World War I, behind the biggest organization of medical alternatives stood naturopathy. The Deutsche Bund der Vereine fur naturgemase Lebens-und Heilweise counted almost 150,000 members and 890 local associations. …

Anti-Inflammatory Bioactivities in Plant Extracts

The medical ethnobotanical knowledge propagated over generations in the coastal regions of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Lebanon, is one that has built on several ancient cultures and civilizations of these regions. Recent interest in medical ethnobotany and the use of medicinal herbs in treating or preventing ailments has rejuvenated interest in folk medicine practices, especially those transcendent across generations. According to Eastern Mediterranean folk medicine practices, herbal remedies that treat many inflammation-related ailments were typically based on plant bioactive water extracts or decoctions. Studies have shown that active anti-inflammatory ingredients in water extracts include many natural chemicals such as phenols, alkaloids, glycosides, and carbohydrates. The intent of this manuscript is twofold: first, to review the literature that describes anti-inflammatory bioactivities in plant extracts of different plant genera; and second, to evaluate indigenous folk remedies used by folk doctors to treat inflammatory ailments in this region of the world. For this aim, the reported literature of five plant genera assumed to possess anti-inflammatory bioactivities and typically prescribed by folk doctors to treat inflammation-related ailments is reviewed.

Re-examining hypotheses concerning the use and knowledge of medicinal plants: a study in the Caatinga vegetation of NE Brazil.

BackgroundThe Caatinga (dry land vegetation) is one of the most characteristic vegetation types in northeastern Brazil. It occupies a large percentage of the semi-arid region there, and generally supports two major types of economic activity: seasonal agriculture and the harvesting of plant products. However, very little information is available concerning the interaction of people with the plants of the Caatinga.MethodsA study was undertaken with the participation of 31 adults from a rural community in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, in order to analyze the patterns of use of medicinal plant resources, and to test a number of hypotheses concerning their use and local knowledge about them. The sources of medicinal plants used by the local community, the differences in oral information concerning the use of plants with their effective uses, and the role of exotic plants in local folk medicine practices were examined.ResultsForty-eight plant species were cited as having medicinal uses, of which 56.25% are native to the Caatinga region. The patterns of harvesting and the importance of these trees and shrubs as medicinal plants seem to be compatible with a hypothesis based on the seasonal availability of plant resources. There is no direct correlation between known medicinal plants and those used by the local population, which agrees with observations made in different tropical regions. However, this observation was not interpreted in terms of the idea of "erosion" of knowledge (commonly used to explain this lack of correlation), but rather to propose two new concepts: "mass knowledge" and "stock knowledge".ConclusionNative plants are a very significant component of locally used medicinal plants, although exotic plants are important for treating specific health problems – which leads the proposal of a hypothesis of diversification.

Antidiabetic plants used by Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalayan tribes, India

Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalayan region is characterized by a rich floral diversity and an equally rich ethnomedicinal tradition. Herbal medicine is the dominant system of medicine practiced by the local tribes of this region for the treatment of diabetes. During the course of the present studies it was found that 37 species of plants belonging to 28 families are used as antidiabetic agents in the folk medicinal practices in the region and 81% of these plants are hitherto unreported as hypoglycemic agents. This finding may lead to serious research towards developing new and efficient drugs for diabetes.

Folk medicine in southern Appalachia

In the first comprehensive exploration of the history and practice of folk medicine in the Appalachian region, Anthony Cavender melds folklore, medical anthropology, and Appalachian history and draws extensively on oral histories and archival sources from the nineteenth century to the present. He provides a complete tour of ailments and folk treatments organized by body systems, as well as information on medicinal plants, patent medicines, and magico-religious beliefs and practices. He investigates folk healers and their methods, profiling three living practitioners: an herbalist, a faith healer, and a Native American healer. The book also includes an appendix of botanicals and a glossary of folk medical terms.Demonstrating the ongoing interplay between mainstream scientific medicine and folk medicine, Cavender challenges the conventional view of southern Appalachia as an exceptional region isolated from outside contact. His thorough and accessible study reveals how Appalachian folk medicine encompasses such diverse and important influences as European and Native American culture and America's changing medical and health-care environment. In doing so, he offers a compelling representation of the cultural history of the region as seen through its health practices.

Hepatology highlights

Hepatology highlights

Mātes latviešu mītiskajā pasaulē

Female spirits mates (Mothers, plural form; singu lar - mate) are significant in Latvian folklore. There are more than a hundred names of different mates, even until the present preserved in various folklore texts (folksongs, magic formulae, fairy tales, leg ends, folk medicine practices etc.). The most com mon are Vėją mate (Mother of Wind), Meža mate (Mother of Forest), Veju mate (Mother of Shades), Žemes mate (Earth Mother), Velna mate (Devil's Moth er). Although not as frequently, yet in semantically and formally curious contexts some Mothers - Lazdų (Hazel), Ogu (Berries), Senu (Mushrooms), Kapa (Grave), Smilšu (Sand), Pieną (Milk), Uguns (Fire), Ūdens (Water) mate - are mentioned; the same goes for mates, the meaning of whose names is difficult to translate into any other language: those are Ceru (Tuft?), Rišu, Rūšu, Sekšu, Jodu (Black Devils), Mėšlu (Dung) mates, being related to death and rebirth, as well as to the increasing of fertility and fruitfulness. Mates - patronesses of various essential and im portant spheres of the ancient man's life - have been so characteristic in folkloric worldview of many peoples during certain periods of their develop ment when matricentric tendences prevailed. Mates - female spirits have survived longer in the mythic consciousness, where the patricentric ideology as a base for state formations was meagre, and those patricentrically organized civilizations emerged comparatively much later or did not es tablish themselves at all (in Latvian, Estonian, Livo nian, Keltic traditions). On the other hand, Ger mans, Slavs and Baltic Lithuanians experienced the formation of such patricentrically organized civili zations much earlier, and the female spirits and deities were forgotten party in folkloric tradition, and expelled from mythic consciousness, or their functions were transferred to male deities.

Past and present hepatitis G virus infections in areas where hepatitis C is highly endemic and those where it is not endemic.

We reported previously on an area in Japan where over 30% of the inhabitants were positive for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody. In the present study, clinical features of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection in this area of high endemicity were compared to those in an area where HCV is not endemic. A total of 400 individuals were selected randomly from those who were medically screened for liver disease in 1993; 200 were from the high-endemicity area, and the other 200 were from the no-endemicity area. HGV RNA was measured by reverse transcription and PCR with primers in the 5' noncoding region. Antibody to HGV envelope protein E2 was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Prevalence of any HGV marker in the high-endemicity area (32%) was significantly (P < 0.0001) higher than that in the no-endemicity area (6%); similar differences, 32% versus 3% (P < 0.0001), had been observed for HCV markers (HCV RNA and HCV antibody). In areas of both high and no endemicity, HCV markers were significantly more prevalent in individuals with any HGV marker than in those without HGV markers, and age-specific prevalence of HGV markers was distributed similarly to that of any HCV marker. Among possible routes of HGV transmission that were analyzed, folk medicine was significant in the high-endemicity area, but blood transfusion was the major route in the no-endemicity area. The rate of accompanying viremia in HGV infection (15%) was significantly lower than that in HCV infection (78%) (P < 0.0001). In conclusion, HGV infection was highly prevalent in the area of high HCV endemicity and was closely associated with HCV infection. HGV seemed to be transmitted via the practice of folk medicine as well as blood transfusion. HGV resulted in a chronic carrier state less frequently than did HCV.

FOLK MEDICINE AND HEALTH CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

Folk medicine comprises "unofficial health beliefs and practices" which rely heavily (but not exclusively) on oral transmission. It is one form of alternative medicine, and a major source for many other forms such as phytotherapy and mind/body medicine. While many folk medicine ideas and practices are associated with particular ethnic groups, many others are widely distributed throughout American society. Folk medicine is not dying out in the modern world. Because it has both medical benefits and risks, effective medical care with folk medicine requires awareness and discussion of its influence.

Frog skin opioid peptides: a case for environmental mimicry.

Naturally occurring environmental substances often mimic endogenous substances found in mammals and are capable of interacting with specific proteins, such as receptors, with a high degree of fidelity and selectivity. Narcotic alkaloids and amphibian skin secretions, introduced into human society through close association with plants and animals through folk medicine and religious divination practices, were incorporated into the armamentarium of the early pharmacopoeia. These skin secretions contain a myriad of potent bioactive substances, including alkaloids, biogenic amines, peptides, enzymes, mucus, and toxins (noxious compounds notwithstanding); each class exhibits a broad range of characteristic properties. One specific group of peptides, the opioids, containing the dermorphins (dermal morphinelike substances) and the deltorphins (delta-selective opioids), display remarkable analgesic properties and include an amino acid with the rare (in a mammalian context) D-enantiomer in lieu of the normal L-isomer. Synthesis of numerous stereospecific analogues and conformational analyses of these peptides provided essential insights into the tertiary composition and microenvironment of the receptor "pocket" and the optimal interactions between receptor and ligand that trigger a biological response; new advances in the synthesis and receptor-binding properties of the deltorphins are discussed in detail. These receptor-specific opioid peptides act as more than mimics of endogenous opioids: their high selectivity for either the mu or delta receptor makes them formidable environmentally derived agents in the search for new antagonists for treating opiate addiction and in the treatment of a wide variety of human disorders.

Encountering the Irrational: Some Reflections on Folk Healers

IN 1985 I had the opportunity to make several visits to a small village in the district of Cloppenburg in Lower Saxony. This place has about 2,000 inhabitants. Low German is still ordinarily spoken, and the majority of the population are Roman Catholics. Only the ancient medieval gothic church would indicate to a stranger that this community has existed for hundreds of years, since the village was practically razed to the ground at the end of World War II. Post-war reconstruction and eager modernization during the 1970s were responsible for destroying the few buildings which the bombing had spared, thus giving the village a totally new appearance. Originally the population consisted chiefly of farming families, but now less than a third of those of working age are on the land. There are two textile factories, employing maybe a hundred workers between them. A high proportion of the villagers work in a small town a few kilometeres away, where they are employed in factories or in the service industries. However, work is not always easy to find; the region has, at present, the highest percentage of unemployment in the German Federal Republic. A further problem is alcoholism, which affects a good many men, both old and young. The work of the village farmers has seen many great changes during the last twenty years. Present-day agriculture is rationalized and mechanized; the new methods ensure higher profits on the crops, but at the same time the many-sidedness of old-style farming has been sharply curtailed, for the sake of increased productivity. Nobody now makes butter from his own milk, for instance; it is all sent to the dairies. Slaughtering pigs, and preparing pig-meat products is no longer a domestic activity. It is increasingly rare for farmers to keep rabbits or hens for home consumption. There is still, however, one thing which stands out in sharp contrast to this modern picture of farm life: the practice of old traditional folk medicine. As soon as one of the farm animals falls sick, one immediately sends for a healer who, by the help of special prayers, restores it to health. In this German village, modern life has not been able to drive out the age-old practice of folk medicine, even though many of the old beliefs associated with it have quite disappeared. Thus, for instance, supernatural forces are not nowadays considered a valid explanation of the origins of illnesses. Yet many of the younger villagers have seen how their grandparents would place a broom across the door of the house to protect them from the Evil Eye and the illnesses it could inflict. It is only a few years ago that an old woman died in the village who, it was said, could put the Evil Eye on people. As soon as I made enquiries from some villagers about traditional healing methods, I was told that I ought to ask the 'Treschen' family.' The head of this family, Herr H., a farmer aged fifty-six, is always sent for by the other farmers when they have any trouble with their livestock. Everyone knows he can heal them, with the help of certain prayers. He was described to me as being rather difficult to approach, but as I already knew Maria, one of his daughters, I asked her to ask her father if he would be willing

Influence of folk medicine on the family practitioner.

The practice of folk medicine in the United States is increasing. Awareness by the family practitioner is essential in order to effectively communicate and successfully recommend medical treatment to those patients who hold belief in these traditional practices. Root medicine is particularly thriving in the southeastern United States. The influx of refugees into the southern coastal states has introduced new concepts into traditional medical practices. Interaction with patients who are involved with traditional health care providers and the modern medical community occurs more frequently than may be appreciated by the physicians. This article is intended to increase physicians' knowledge of some of the basic philosophies and practices of folk medicine, particularly root medicine, and to provide some insight into the reasons why the practitioners of folk medicine can be strongly influential in the medical and psychologic concerns of patients who believe in the power of the supernatural.

Folk medicine practices: Women as keepers and carriers of knowledge

Historically, women have played crucial roles in the care of sick family members, and this pattern continues today. Women's involvement in folk medicine is particularly noteworthy, yet there has been very little study of this topic. Discussions of folk medicine frequently overlook and/or downplay women's contributions. Only recently have researchers focused on women and examined the complexity and extensiveness of female healers' knowledge and practices. Studies of three areas in the United States where folk medicine has flourished—the Ozarks, Appalachia, and the South—provide valuable insights about the major roles women have played as midwives, herbalists and spiritual healers. Intergenerational networking by women, especially within kin groups, has proven to be the most important mechanism for transmission of folk healing knowledge and beliefs in these locales. Information from studies in the U.S. highlights both the limitations and the horizons existing in the exploration of women's roles as keepers and carriers of folk medicine traditions.

The use of unorthodox therapies and marginal practitioners

This study examines the extent of utilization of unorthodox therapies and marginal practitioners among patients with one broad category of chronic disease, rheumatic disorders. Almost all respondents (94%) had tried some unorthodox remedy or practitioner, and several had used 13 different unorthodox remedies or practitioners. There was no relationship between age, sex, race, geographic location and magnitude of usage of treatments. There was no statistically significant relationship between education and income and amount of usage, although there was some variation by income group in which unorthodox remedies were employed. Thus, this study provides evidence that some elements of folk medicine practice continue to exist among most segments of the American population and this issue deserves further research. An important role for medical sociologists is to examine disease and disease treatment from the perspectives of the lay culture, as well as that of the medical community.

Pseudobattering of Vietnamese Children (Cao Gio)

The case of a Vietnamese child who was subjected to the folk medicine practice of cao gio by his father after a routine dental extraction is described. The practice and the clinical appearance are discussed to distinguish it from child abuse.