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Ayurveda – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Ayurveda (Sanskrit: yurveda , "life-knowledge"; English pronunciation //[1]) or Ayurvedic medicine is a system of Hindu traditional medicine[2] native to the Indian subcontinent. Practices derived from Ayurvedic traditions are a type of alternative medicine.[3] Ayurveda is a discipline of the upaveda or "auxiliary knowledge" in Vedic tradition. The origins of Ayurveda are also found in the Atharvaveda,[4][5] which contains 114 hymns and incantations described as magical cures for disease. There are also various legendary accounts of the origin of Ayurveda, e.g., that it was received by Dhanvantari (or Divodasa) from Brahma.[6][7][8] Ayurvedic practices include the use of herbal medicines, mineral or metal supplementation (rasa shastra), surgical techniques, opium, and application of oil by massages.

Originated in prehistoric times,[9] some of the concepts of Ayurveda have been discovered since the times of Indus Valley Civilization and earlier.[10] Ayurveda significantly developed during the Vedic period and later some of the non-Vedic systems such as Buddhism and Jainism also incorporated in the system.[10][11] Balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.[12] Ayurveda names three elemental substances, the doshas (called Vata, Pitta and Kapha), and states that a balance of the doshas results in health, while imbalance results in disease. Ayurveda has eight canonical components, which are derived from classical Sanskrit literature. Some of the oldest known Ayurvedic texts include the Surutha Sahit and Charaka Sahit, which are written in Sanskrit. Ayurvedic practitioners had developed various medicinal preparations and surgical procedures by the medieval period.[13]

Although laboratory experiments suggest it is possible that some substances in Ayurveda might be developed into effective treatments, there is no evidence that any are effective in themselves.[14] Concerns were raised when 20% of Ayurvedic U.S. and Indian-manufactured patent medicines sold through the Internet were found to contain toxic levels of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic.[15][16]

The canonical components of Ayurveda are derived from classical Sanskrit literature, in which Ayurveda was called "the science of eight components" (Sanskrit aga ). The components are:[17][18][19][20][21][22]

The central ideas of Ayurveda are primarily derived from Vedic philosophy, although some concepts were later borrowed from similar non-Vedic systems such as Buddhism and Jainism.[11] Balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.[12] For example, to suppress sneezing is said to potentially give rise to shoulder pain.[26] However, people are also cautioned to stay within the limits of reasonable balance and measure when following nature's urges.[12] For example, emphasis is placed on moderation of food intake,[27] sleep, and sexual intercourse.[12]

Ayurveda names seven basic tissues (dhatu), which are plasma (rasa), blood (rakta), muscles (mmsa), fat (meda), bone (asthi), marrow (majja), and semen (shukra). Like the medicine of classical antiquity, Ayurveda has historically divided bodily substances into five classical elements (Sanskrit [maha]panchabhuta, viz. earth, water, fire, air and ether.[6] There are also twenty gunas (qualities or characteristics) which are considered to be inherent in all substances. These are organized in ten pairs of antonyms: heavy/light, cold/hot, unctuous/dry, dull/sharp, stable/mobile, soft/hard, non-slimy/slimy, smooth/coarse, minute/gross, and viscous/liquid.[28]

Ayurveda also names three elemental substances, the doshas (called Vata, Pitta and Kapha), and states that a balance of the doshas results in health, while imbalance results in disease. One Ayurvedic view is that a the doshas are balanced when they are equal to each other, while another view is that each human possesses a unique combination of the doshas which define this person's temperament and characteristics. In either case, it says that each person should modulate their behavior or environment to increase or decrease the doshas and maintain their natural state.

Ayurvedic doctors regard physical existence, mental existence, and personality as a unit, with each element being able to influence the others.[clarification needed] This is a holistic approach used during diagnosis and therapy, and is a fundamental aspect of Ayurveda. Another part of Ayurvedic treatment says that there are channels (srotas) which transport fluids, and that the channels can be opened up by massage treatment using oils and Swedana (fomentation). Unhealthy channels are thought to cause disease.[29]

Ayurveda has eight ways to diagnose illness, called Nadi (pulse), Mootra (urine), Mala (stool), Jihva (tongue), Shabda (speech), Sparsha (touch), Druk (vision), and Aakruti (appearance).[30] Ayurvedic practitioners approach diagnosis by using the five senses.[31] For example, hearing is used to observe the condition of breathing and speech.[6] The study of the lethal points or marman marma is of special importance.[28]

Two of the eight branches of classical Ayurveda deal with surgery (alya-cikits and lkya-tantra), but contemporary Ayurveda tends to emphasise attaining vitality by building a healthy metabolic system and maintaining good digestion and excretion.[28] Ayurveda also focuses on exercise, yoga, and meditation.[32] One type of prescription is a Sattvic diet.

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Ayurveda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Music Festival Fans Give Kanye West Taste Of His Own Medicine – Video

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Music Festival Fans Give Kanye West Taste Of His Own Medicine
"Kanye West was announced earlier this week as one of the headliners at this summer #39;s Glastonbury music festival, but some music fans aren #39;t happy about it. One festival-goer started a petition...

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Music Festival Fans Give Kanye West Taste Of His Own Medicine - Video

Welcome to Northumberland Institute of Dental Medicine – Video

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Welcome to Northumberland Institute of Dental Medicine
Located in the heart of Ballsbridge in Dublin 4, our dental clinic has been offering quality long-term dental care and specialist dentistry for over 25 years. Our ethos is to provide top quality...

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Welcome to Northumberland Institute of Dental Medicine - Video

Nurse appointed interim CEO of Nebraska Medicine

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Nebraska Medicine's advisory board has selected Rosanna Morris as interim CEO of the health care system.

Morris, a registered nurse, has been with the organization for seven years. During that time, she served as the system chief nursing officer, and in January 2014 added the responsibilities of chief operating officer for the Nebraska Medical Center campus.

Morris replaces Bill Dinsmoor, who retired March 3.

In taking this interim role, she becomes the first female Hispanic CEO of a major health care system in the region. She is also the first nurse to serve as CEO at Nebraska Medicine or any of its affiliated partners.

"The Board saw in Rosanna a strong leader with an excellent reputation for achieving results while keeping the care and safety of our patients at the forefront of all we do," said UNMC Chancellor and Nebraska Medicine Advisory Board Chair Jeffrey P. Gold, MD.

"Nebraska Medicine's legacy, history and commitment to fulfilling its mission day in and day out are through the hands of its people," says Morris. "To be in a role where I represent them and help to make decisions on their behalf, so that we can continue to take care of our patients, their families and serve our community, is no small task but one that I feel privileged and honored to have accepted."

"Ive known and worked with Rosanna for more than seven years," says retiring CEO Bill Dinsmoor. "She is a compassionate leader who has demonstrated her commitment to delivering our brand promise of Serious Medicine. Extraordinary Care. Her skills and experience make her the right person to partner with Dr. Britigan to provide our organization with strong and focused leadership during this time of tremendous change and opportunity."

As a national search for Nebraska Medicine's permanent CEO begins, Morris will work closely with interim President Brad Britigan, MD, who also serves as dean of UNMC's College of Medicine.

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Nurse appointed interim CEO of Nebraska Medicine

Penn Medicine Experts Offer Suggestions for Nudging Children toward Healthier Food Choices

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Newswise PHILADELPHIA Strategies aimed at reducing childhood obesity should acknowledge individuals rational taste preferences and apply insights from behavioral economics to design choice architecture that increases their likelihood of success, say two physician-scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics in an editorial published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Noting that almost one-third of children in the United States are overweight or obese, a level that has not improved over the past decade, the editorial authors outline three strategies for using behavioral economics (which recognizes that individuals behave irrationally when making decisions, but often in predictable manners) and choice architecture (which applies insights from behavioral economics to real-life scenarios) to change behaviors related to food choice. The editorial, co-written by Mitesh S. Patel, MD, MBA, MS, assistant professor, and Kevin G. Volpp, MD, PhD, professor, both of Medicine and Health Care Management at Penn, accompanies an article on a study using a clinical trial to test interventions to change students food choices at school.

The results of this study highlight that the design of food choices can significantly influence behavior, said Patel. Lessons from this intervention in school cafeterias could be applied more broadly in settings that impact both children and adults.

First, school leaders and dieticians should recognize the fact that children (and adults) are behaving rationally when they choose foods that taste better. Accepting this reality, the authors point to efforts to make school-based meals more palatable but still healthy through collaborations with professional chefs, such as First Lady Michelle Obamas Chefs Move to Schools program. They note research findings showing that chef involvement increases the consumption of healthier foods by children.

Next, default (or opt out) options should be used to steer children to healthier food choices and portion sizes. For example, in a cafeteria self-service food line, placing fruit and vegetables at the front of the line when plates are relatively empty was found to increase consumption of these foods. (It is a marketing truism that placing certain guilty pleasure items near the cashier increases impulse buying, but this usually involves cases of immediate gratification, such as candy, and less so foods that lead to longer-term health benefits.)

Third, making food information more appealingly and health benefits more understandable to children may lead to healthier food choices. The authors suggest that nutritional value might better be displayed using a color-coded scheme that is easily relatable, such as that of a traffic light, to help children easily choose which foods to eat and which to avoid. The authors also cite previous research indicating that rewards of as little as 25 cents per day have led to a doubling in consumption of fruits and vegetables, even after the intervention period ended.

Lessons from behavioral economics could be used to develop interventions that help build better eating habits, said Volpp. Default options, information framing and incentives are a few areas that show promise and should continue to be evaluated in future studies. The Penn-authored JAMA Pediatrics editorial is in reference to Effects of choice architecture and chef-enhanced meals on the selection and consumption of healthier school foods: a randomized clinical trial by Cohen et al, also published in the current issue of JAMA Pediatrics.

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Penn Medicine Experts Offer Suggestions for Nudging Children toward Healthier Food Choices

The Cancer Genome Atlas – Dr Seth P. Lerner, Baylor College of Medicine – Video

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The Cancer Genome Atlas - Dr Seth P. Lerner, Baylor College of Medicine
EAU TV hear all the latest from Baylor #39;s Dr. Lerner about the Cancer Genome Atlas project, mapping the many cancer genomes, and making leaps and bounds in our understanding of the many forms...

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Three Steps Critical To The Advance Of Precision Medicine

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Although precision, or personalized, medicine is still new, the ability to use genomics to customize patient treatment has already led to life-saving advances in patient care.

Especially in oncology, there are a number of very precise genomic indicators to determine how a particular patient will respond, says Jonathan Sheldon, global vice president of Oracle Health Sciences. For example, a particular gene mutation occurs in about 50% of melanoma patients, and those with that mutation are responsive to a particular drug from Roche.

That kind of high-potential scenario helps explain why President Obama in January announced the landmark Precision Medicine Initiative, a proposed $215 million investment to be spread across four areas.

While $215 million is a small percentage of the overall investment in biomedical research, its important in that the federal government for the first time is unambiguously supporting personalized medicine, says Edward Abrahams, PhD, president of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a nonprofit education and advocacy group in Washington DC. It pushes us into a new era focused on personalized medicine.

Abrahams and Sheldon will discuss the latest developments in precision medicine at Oracle Industry Connect 2015 in Washington DC on March 25 and 26. The agenda includes several sessions on the topic.

According to Edwards, the real conversation revolves around where the White House wants the money to go. The funding breaks down as follows:

Three of those projects highlight the increasingly intrinsic nature of technology in precision medicine and the issues that come with that, from the need for responsible data sharing to standards-based interoperability in an infrastructure that complies with regulatory requirements. These are the building blocks we need to move the agenda forward, says Edwards.

The systems necessary to support precision medicine widely are not yet in place, says Sheldon. The pressure will grow exponentially as precision medicine expands from its early niches in major research hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to a more mainstream clinical setting, he says.

Sheldon points to three critical developments that must happen before we can extract full value from precision medicine: 1. Set the Scalability Bar High

Although the goal is to build a million-strong national research cohort, thats still a drop in the bucket compared with how fast genomic technologies are being adopted, says Sheldon. Moreover, as testing costs continue to decreasewhat cost $100 million in 2001 is about $1,000 todayand more people can interpret the data, the rate of adoption should further increase, especially at the clinical level. On top of that, Sheldon points out that current cutting-edge genomic techniques are likely just the tip of the iceberg and next-generation techniques will produce even more data per sample. Meanwhile, newer big data technology requires not just genetic data, but also associated clinical, behavioral, physiological, and environmental data. The bottom line, he says, is that it is critical that the infrastructure we build to support this precision medicine initiative can scale far beyond what we can envisage today.

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Three Steps Critical To The Advance Of Precision Medicine


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