Journal of

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Itching is a mental feeling that elicits desire to scratch and results from stimulation of itch, pain or palpation receptors in the skin. In Iranian medicine, itching is referred as hekka. Several factors can cause this symptom. Various drugs are used to treat itching. They are sometimes costly and not readily available and have side effects. Given the time-consuming and cost-effective processes for the discovery of effective drugs, new strategies are needed to reduce processes time and costs. One of these strategies could be the use of previous experiences on medicinal plants and spices used in traditional medicine schools.
In this review, we searched the keyword "itching, pruritus" in three reference books of pharmacology of Iranian medicine, including The Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanon fi al-Tibb), Tohfe Momenin, and Makhzan- Al' Advieh and ened up with a list of 60 multifaceted plants effective in improvement of pruritus. The efficacy of each of them was categorized based of available evidence. Therefore, it is recommended to use the rich experience of Iranian traditional medicine in the production of new drugs for pruritus.

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Background and Aim: Pruritus is one of the most common problems of chronic kidney diseases. Different treatment modalities, while extending the life span of patients, can lead to changes in their lifestyle, health status and ultimately change their quality of life (QOL). Understanding the different aspects of patients' QOL leads to better services provided by health care teams to improve the patients' QOL. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of hemodialysis patients with uremic pruritus in Mashhad in 1396 with a view to Iranian Medicine.

Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 52 patients. Data collection was done by the World Health Organization QOL and researcher-made demographic Questionnaire and SPSS 16 software was used for data analysis.

Results: The mean age of patients was 51.73 years and mean duration of dialysis was 41.42 months. Total score of life quality was 56. The lowest and highest scores were seen in physical and environmental dimensions. There was an inverse significant relationship between some aspects of QOL with hemoglobin and creatinine and a direct significant relationship with age, diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia (P<0.005).

Conclusion: Hemodialysis patients' QOL is lower than others and several factors can improve it. Special attention to the individual characteristics of hemodialysis patients can be helpful in predicting their basic needs.

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Urticaria is a relatively common skin disease characterized by red or white itchy and transient swellings. In more severe cases, it can reduce level of consciousness and be life-threatening due to swelling of tongue or throat and airway obstruction
In conventional medicine, this disease is treated symptomatic and mainly by antihistamines. Studies have indicated that urticaria is similar to "shara" (a type of skin disease mentioned in Persian medicine) in terms of etiology, description, clinical symptoms and diagnosis. In Persian medicine (Iranian traditional medicine) litrature, efficacy of several medicinal plants for the treatment of "shara" has been explaind.

This study is a review on the effective herbal remedies in the treatment of urticaria based on search in Iranian medicine resources, and conventional medicine litrature. Data were extracted from Iranian medicine textbooks and scientific databases including Google scholar, Pub Med, Web of Science and Scopus. It was found that Iranian medicine scholars have used 48 different medicinal plants to treat and reduce the complications of urticaria and the recent scientific studies have proven antiinflammatory, antioxidant and immune-regulating properties in 45 of these plants.

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Putting Khadab and promoting this act can be effective in improving mental and physical health. Therefore, putting Khadab and its effect on the health of the human body and the herbs used in it need further investigation, as this research can be used to enhance the knowledge of the experts of traditional medicine.