Objective: According to our best knowledge, this is the first and also a relatively comprehensive review on the cold and hot (or warm) nature of common Iranian traditional herbal medicines, based on the evidence-based and directly collected from the user and native-healers, instead of reviewing the classical texts of Iranian traditional medicine. This column resulted from a wide field study on the common Iranian traditional herbal medicine for their so-called effects of cold, hot and also balanced natures, used currently among ethno-pharmacologists, herbal-drug sellers and rural native-healers. Methods: The junior medical students were grouped into several groups for data collection. The information gathered from ethno-pharmacologists, herbal-drug sellers and rural native-healers, from different regions of Iran, especially Northwest, Southwest, Central and Northern provinces. For each repeated report of a certain indication, we added “a point” to the specification of that plant. If the number of every reported indication was, more than 5-20 times we reported that indication or pharmacological effect in our final report in this article.Results:The data recorded for every plant included: scientific name, family names, English name, Persian name, therapeutic nature (cold, hot or balanced), suggested actions and pharmacology, indication and usage, used parts/preparation, mode of administration. The plants were grouped into 25 families. Of a total 61 plants 16 were with cold (26%) and 43 were with hot nature (70%) and the rest were with balanced nature (4%). Conclusions: Almost of them have been long used as the components of the ancient receipts, hence, they may be more readily tried as suitable candidates in the future modern pharmacological investigations. Nevertheless, almost of them have been already evaluated in pharmacological laboratories, and their efficient properties have been confirmed. Considering the pharmacological properties of these plants, for finding a clear correlation of the pharmacological activities with the hot or cold nature, more detailed studies need to be conducted. Here we presented 61 plants currently used in Iranian traditional herbal medicine.

The gold standard method for diagnosis of tuberculosis is the isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis through culture, but there is a probability of cross-contamination in simultaneous cultures of samples causing false-positives. This can result in delayed treatment of the underlying disease and drug side effects. In this paper, we reviewed studies on falsepositive cultures of M. tuberculosis . Rate of occurrence, effective factors, and extent of false-positives were analyzed. Ways to identify and reduce the false-positives and management of them are critical for all laboratories. In most cases, falsepositive is occurring in cases with only one positive culture but negative direct smear. The three most crucial factors in this regard are inappropriate technician function, contamination of reagents, and aerosol production. Thus, to reduce false-positives, good laboratory practice, as well as use of whole-genome sequencing or genotyping of all positive culture samples with a robust, extra pure method and rapid response, are essential for minimizing the rate of false-positives. Indeed, molecular approaches and epidemiological surveillance can provide a valuable tool besides culture to identify possible false positives.

Objective To investigate the healing effects of two herbal preparations. Methods For this purpose, 106 wistar rats were divided into 9 groups including a control, eucerine, phenytoin, Urtica dioica (U. dioica) (2%), U. dioica (5%), Sambucus ebulus (S. ebulus) (2%), S. ebulus (5%), combination (2%), and combination (5%) groups. The control group remained untreated, the eucerin and phenytoin groups were considered as the negative and positive controls respectively, and the remaining groups received different concentrations of the ointments. Full thickness wounds were made. The healing process of the wounds was investigated on day 7, 14 and 21 of the experiment. Several factors including the number of fibroblasts, new vessel formation (angiogenesis), thickness of the granulomatous tissues (GT), and the overlying epithelium were analyzed. Results Among the studied groups, all of the treatment groups were significantly different from the control, eucerin, and phenytoin groups in a positive manner with regard to all studied factors (P ≤ 0.05). However, the best results were observed with the S. ebulus (2%) and the combination 2% groups (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusions Topical ointments prepared from the extracts of U. dioica and S. ebulus and their combination possess strong wound healing properties. It is postulated that a synergistic effect may exist between the two extracts since the combination 2% showed better results than the sole extracts.