I'tikaaf is a worship maintained by very deep hunger in fasting month of Ramadan. Hunger causes different results on the immune system. This is a prospective study. In this study, the changes in the immune system were investigated during the period of the i’tikaf, which is deep hunger worship. In the last 10 days of Ramadan, before and at the end of i’tikaf blood was taken from 46 male volunteers who performed i’tikaf worship and various biochemical and immunological parameters were examined. Comparison of the measures taken before and after i’tikaf indicated a statistically significant decrease in weight, BMI, waist circumference and hip circumference (p<0.001). Of the hematologic parameters, the lymphocyte count increased significantly (p=0.009). Also, a significant increase was observed in the values of IgA, IgM ve Ig G within the hematological parameters (p<0.001). During the period of i’tikaf, feeding with very low calories (1000 calories) caused an increase in the levels of lymphocyte and immunoglobulins and got the immune system stronger.
Immune system ; Ramadan I&rsquo ; tikaf ; weight ; BM ; immune system.

Although the Ministry of Health Malaysia has been encouraging the practice of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM)1, 2, 3, 4 but patients/clients has not been able to apply it for their need of medical treatments and sometimes it leads to negative outcomes due to lack of knowledge on T&CM and its safe applications5,6’7,8 Most of the western-trained physicians are ignorant of risk and benefits of T&CM9,10,11. This study was aimed to determine the gap between knowledge regarding T&CM and perception on education in T&CM among the medical staffs in five selected hospitals in Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey was done at five public hospitals among medical staff in Malaysia by using quantitative methods. A total of 477 medical staffs were involved in this study. The study showed that the overall knowledge of T&CM among the medical staffs were poor (61.2%). Having good knowledge regarding T&CM were significantly higher in Hospital Duchess of Kent (52%, p=0.001), among the non-Malays (44%, p=0.047) and pharmacists (47.2%, p=0.030). Positive perception on health education in T&CM among medical staffs were high (85.3%) especially among females (88.1%, p=0.002) and pharmacists (93.7%, p<0.001). The use of T&CM among the general population is relatively high in Malaysia and many patients increasingly seek the information on T&CM therapies from medical staffs. Knowledge regarding T&CM was poor in this study because most of the medical staffs have not been exposed to T&CM education. This interesting scenario between poor knowledge and high positive perception on health education in T&CM shows the demand of urgent intervention in educating the medical staffs. We recommend that medical staffs must have some basic education and knowledge about T&CM before they could offer advice to their patients. Doctors are of the utmost important in this regard because they play a very important role in patient care. Providing T&CM education to medical staff may help to integrate T&CM into the mainstream medicine.
Medicine, Traditional ; Complementary Therapies

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. It is estimated that around 300 million people in the world currently have asthma. The prevalence of asthma is increasing in most of countries, especially among children. The burden of severe asthma is considerable high in the Middle East courtiers including Iran. This study to investigate the effect of patients’ knowledge about Inhaled Corticosteroids (ICS), attitude and health beliefs toward ICS, and behavioral intention to adhere to prescribed ICS in adult asthmatic patients in Yazd city, Iran. A cross sectional study was conducted from August 2008 to January 2009 in three private allergy and asthma clinics, located in Yazd city of Iran, using Structured face to face interviews using a questionnaire by the researcher. The results showed that the majority of patients (55.5%) were not adherent to their prescribed ICS. Patients’ knowledge toward ICS did not have effect on medication adherence behavior, while patients with positive attitude toward ICS were better adherent with their medication. Linear regression model identifies intention to comply with treatment and positive attitude toward ICS as predictors for adherence behavior. This study shows the relationship between medications beliefs, attitude, behavioral intention, and medication adherence. A better understanding of patient’s medication beliefs, and attitude and their effect on compliance may help health care system to promote adherence.