مطالعات تاریخ پزشکی (journal of research on history of medicine)
سال:1393 | دوره:3 | شماره:1 |تعداد مقالات:7

This is the third volume of the journal of Research on History of Medicine. Started in 2011, the journal is a quarterly, peer-reviewed, trilingual journal on the history of Medicine in the Middle East. At first, publishing such a journal appeared difficult, but with the support of national and international researchers we succeeded in publishing 9 issues consecutively until now. Here, we wish to extend our sincere gratitude to the researchers, authors and reviewers helping us to accomplish this. The journal has so far received indexing from more than 10 international indexing and abstracting databases, leading to its more visibility worldwide.

From the historical and medical point of view, this paper purports to illustrate two motifs of Immaculate Conception in Christian art. The first painting is an altarpiece of unknown author from the 17th or 18th century, known as Our Lady of Conception in the church of St. Antony the Abbot in the city of Rab on the island of the same name in Croatia, and the other is a mural from 1490, Mary’s Annunciation of John from Kastav in the Holy Trinity Church in Hrastovlje, Slovenia. This review ends with the conclusion that Christianity, with the accompanying iconography, other than sending just a religious message, if properly perceived, may also encourage the believer to a series of practical, in this case, biological thoughts on conception, i.e. the beginning of life.

Using Nigella sativa L. (Black cumin), in traditional medicine, dates back to Tutankhamen, the pharaoh of Egypt. There are aboundant historical and religious evidence implying the importance of these curative seeds. Traditionally, they have been used for various therapeutic purposes. Zokam and Nazleh (ZaN) are two nasal diseases used to be treated by these medicinal seeds. Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) classifies each of these diseases into warm and cold types. Comparing symptoms, Warm ZaN resembles Allergic rhinitis and cold ZaN is similar to Rhino sinusitis. Many documents have been found in TPM references that explain different ways for preparing Black cumin seeds for the treatment of cold ZaN, but there is no evidence for treating warm ZaN. In recent years, many original articles have been written to explain the therapeutic qualities of these curative seeds. They exhibit that Black cumin seeds, in addition to increasing the mucociliary clearance, histamine release inhibition and antihistaminic effects, have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antibacterial biofilm formation. Consequently, they confirm the ap plication of Black cumin in the treatment of rhinosinusitis or cold ZaN.

Islamic Golden Age, 9-12 century AD, was the period through which Persian scientists and physicians were most influential in improving medical sciences including cardiovascular knowledge. Although post-Islamic Golden Age witnessed a number of great Persian scholars moving cardiovascular concepts forward, they failed to become as well-known as their predecessors. One of these scholars was Hakim Mohammad Azam Khan belonging to the 19 th century. He authored many books on medical sciences. He wrote all the books in Persian. Some of his most famous works are Eksir Azam (The Greatest Elixir; a comprehensive medical encyclopedia); Romouz Azam (The Greatest Secrets; a general book on medicine) and Qarabadin Azam (Pharmacopeia). In addition, he had a valuable treatise on pulsology, named Naiier Azam. Naiier Azam, one of the important works on cardiology in Persian medicine, which includes three parts: one introduction and two teaching chapters (Taelim).