ROLE OF NIDANA PANCHAKA IN VARIOUS AYURVEDIC ASPECTS

Ayurveda, the Indian system of medicine, has its own branch of specialty for understanding the disease process and proper diagnosis of a disease. Caraka has stated that the diagnosis is very important and essential before proceeding to medicine prescription. Ayurvedic way of diagnosis has 2 basic components namely Rogapariksha and Rogipariksha, which refers to Examination of disease and Examination of patient respectively. Among them Rogapariksha gives us the detailed knowledge about a disease starting from the etiological aspects to the actual manifestation of disease. The five basic components of Rogapariksha are Nidana, Purvarupa, Rupa, Upasaya and Samprapti, which are collectively known as Nidana Panchaka. Apart from diagnosing a disease, they also play a key role in planning the treatment of that disease. Nidana, the foremost component of Nidana Panchaka, not only gives the knowledge of causative factors of a disease but also helps in treatment by avoiding them. Purvarupa refers to Premonitory signs & symptoms and represents the 4th stage of disease formation. If physician is able recognize them as early as possible and treat accordingly, then the further progression of disease is ceased. In the same way, every component of Nidana Panchaka helps the physician for the better understanding of disease process and treating the disease at an earliest possible stage. The details of Nidana Panchaka and its role in diagnosis & treatment are explained elaborately in full paper

ENLIGHTENING THE ROLE OF SAMANYA AND VISESA SIDDHANTA IN CHIKITSA ASPECT

Ayurveda is a science of life. It says, one has to strictly follow the regimens and dietary habits advocated in Samhitas, the classical Ayurvedic texts, to achieve long and healthy life. Any sort of deviation from these principles will lead to the manifestation of disease. According to Ayurveda, the basis for disease manifestation is either Vriddhi or Kshaya of Doshas, and bringing back to normalcy of these Doshas leads to the restoration of health. This process of bringing normalcy is known as Chikitsa and the basic principle of the Chikitsa is Samanya and Visesa siddhanta. According to this Siddhanta, intake of medicine or food having similar properties to that of our body tissues, will results in the increase and those with opposite properties will results in the decrease of our body tissues. Thus, if a disease is manifested due to the Vriddhi of a Dosha, then to pacify that Vriddha dosha, Dravyas having opposite Guna or Karma should be administered. If a disease is manifested due to the Kshaya of a Dosha, then to nourish that Ksheena dosha, Dravyas having similar Guna or Karma should be administered. This Samanya and Visesa Siddhanta should be followed in a rational way while describing the medicine or diet based on the quantitative and qualitative knowledge of Vriddhi or Kshaya of Doshas. Thus, the Samanya and Visesa Siddhanta plays a crucial role in treating diseases and has become the fundamental principle for Ayurvedic management. He details of this Siddhanta are explained elaborately in full paper

Microbiome diversity in African American, European American, and Egyptian colorectal cancer patients

Purpose: Although there is an established role for microbiome dysbiosis in the pathobiology of colorectal cancer (CRC), CRC patients of various race/ethnicities demonstrate distinct clinical behaviors. Thus, we investigated microbiome dysbiosis in Egyptian, African American (AA), and European American (EA) CRC patients. Patients and methods: CRCs and their corresponding normal tissues from Egyptian (n = 17) patients of the Alexandria University Hospital, Egypt, and tissues from AA (n = 18) and EA (n = 19) patients at the University of Alabama at Birmingham were collected. DNA was isolated from frozen tissues, and the microbiome composition was analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. Differential microbial abundance, diversity, and metabolic pathways were identified using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size analyses. Additionally, we compared these profiles with our previously published microbiome data derived from Kenyan CRC patients. Results: Differential microbiome analysis of CRCs across all racial/ethnic groups showed dysbiosis. There were high abundances of Herbaspirillum and Staphylococcus in CRCs of Egyptians, Leptotrichia in CRCs of AAs, Flexspiria and Streptococcus in CRCs of EAs, and Akkermansia muciniphila and Prevotella nigrescens in CRCs of Kenyans (LDA score >4, adj. p-value <0.05). Functional analyses showed distinct microbial metabolic pathways in CRCs compared to normal tissues within the racial/ethnic groups. Egyptian CRCs, compared to normal tissues, showed lower l-methionine biosynthesis and higher galactose degradation pathways. Conclusions: Our findings showed altered mucosa-associated microbiome profiles of CRCs and their metabolic pathways across racial/ethnic groups. These findings provide a basis for future studies to link racial/ethnic microbiome differences with distinct clinical behaviors in CRC