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The paper describes quantitative and qualitative dimensions of nanomedicine research studies in India. The study is based on research publications data in nanomedicine research (1491 publications) as covered in Scopus data base for the period 2002-20. The study finds that nanomedicine research in India registered a high 73.7% growth with an average of 22.93 citations per paper. The nano-oncology subfield accounted for the highest share (48.49% share) in the national output, followed by seven other nanomedicine subfields. Jamia Hamdard University, Delhi, Panjab University, Chandigarh and Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi lead as the most productive organizations in the country. The paper also lists the most productive authors in nanomedicine research. The most productive research journals that reported nanomedicine research in India include Nanomedicine, International Journal of Nanomedicine and Current Pharmaceutical Design. In addition, International Journal of Pharmaceutics, International Journal of Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery Today topped in the list of most cited research journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicine and engineering are two of the most sought after professions in India. However, despite the popularity of these two professions and structural issues in the tertiary education system, not much is known about the correlates of working as a doctor or an engineer. In this paper, we use unit-level data from a nationally representative sample to provide estimates of determinants of being employed as a doctor or an engineer. We use instrumental variable probit model to address endogeneity of own education of those working as doctors and engineers. Parental education is significantly associated with an individual being employed as a doctor or an engineer; the marginal effect for both being 25%. Females are significantly less likely to work as engineers vis-à-vis males, while it is not so in the case of doctors. There are significant caste- and religion-based variations as well as rural-urban differences. Our findings provide novel evidence on influence of parental education on career outcomes in the developing world and offer a contrast in the discourse of glaring gender gap in STEM (science, technology, engineering, medicine) fields.

Introduction: The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) chat programs has opened two distinct paths, one enhancing interaction and another potentially replacing personal understanding. Ethical and legal concerns arise due to the rapid development of these programs. This paper investigates academic discussions on AI in medicine, analyzing the context, frequency, and reasons behind these conversations. Methods: The study collected data from the Web of Science database on articles containing the keyword "ChatGPT" published from January to September 2023, resulting in 786 medically related journal articles. The inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed articles in English related to medicine. Results: The United States led in publications (38.1%), followed by India (15.5%) and China (7.0%). Keywords such as "patient" (16.7%), "research" (12%), and "performance" (10.6%) were prevalent. The Cureus Journal of Medical Science (11.8%) had the most publications, followed by the Annals of Biomedical Engineering (8.3%). August 2023 had the highest number of publications (29.3%), with significant growth between February to March and April to May. Medical General Internal (21.0%) was the most common category, followed by Surgery (15.4%) and Radiology (7.9%). Discussion: The prominence of India in ChatGPT research, despite lower research funding, indicates the platform's popularity and highlights the importance of monitoring its use for potential medical misinformation. China's interest in ChatGPT research suggests a focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP) AI applications, despite public bans on the platform. Cureus' success in publishing ChatGPT articles can be attributed to its open-access, rapid publication model. The study identifies research trends in plastic surgery, radiology, and obstetric gynecology, emphasizing the need for ethical considerations and reliability assessments in the application of ChatGPT in medical practice. Conclusion: ChatGPT's presence in medical literature is growing rapidly across various specialties, but concerns related to safety, privacy, and accuracy persist. More research is needed to assess its suitability for patient care and implications for non-medical use. Skepticism and thorough review of research are essential, as current studies may face retraction as more information emerges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a study conducted to analyse the effect of mobile device intervention for student support services and to gauge its use for enhancing teaching--learning process as a future study in the context of offer of Distance Education programmes. The study was conducted with the learners of the coveted Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Cardiology programme of Indira Gandhi National Open University. In order to illustrate the issues involved primarily in student support services and the mobile learning as a future course of action, it is proposed to apply the Koole's FRAME model. Questionnaire and interview methods are used to obtain a feedback. The findings are discussed and future direction of study is also indicated. (Contains 2 figures and 4 tables.)

Diversity, flexibility, easy accessibility, broad continuing acceptance in developing countries and increasing popularity in developed countries, relative low cost, low levels of technological input, relative low side effects, and growing economic importance are some of the positive features of traditional medicine. In rural India, traditional medicine continues to be the only available form of care. Many communities continue to treat patients using their old methods, unaffected by contemporary medical advancements. Due to their accessibility, affordability, and ease of use, tribal tribes prefer to utilize and consult their own traditional healers. These are likewise thought to be highly effective and without any adverse effects. This paper aims to identify various traditional medicines used for treating illness and infirmities, by taking accounts from the residents of Chungtlang village, Mamit District, Mizoram. The objective here lies in discovering traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and their uses for various infirmities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to a special section brings together three papers first presented at a panel, 'Medical Professions in South Asia: Historical and Contemporary Analyses', at the 26th European Conference on South Asian Studies, held in Vienna, Austria and online, in July 2021. All three papers deal with aspects of the professionalisation of biomedical doctors in India since its independence in 1947. The authors bring together historical and sociological approaches to illuminate the growth of specialisms, patterns of practitioner–patient interactions and efforts to maintain occupational closure and maintain status in the face of growing challenges. The introduction concludes with a discussion of the relevance of these papers for the sociology of health and illness in India and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healing of chronic lower extremity wounds is a global problem, especially in the developing world where it is often only folk and traditional medicine that can be afforded. In the structured health services of the developed world, there are usually a wider range of possible therapies. In India, traditional medicines flourish in parallel with Western systems, and those who treat wounds may use the expertise of more than one system. Ayurveda is a traditional system that has evolved in India over centuries using especially native plant sources as remedies. Like many Asian systems, its theoretical basis concerns balance and energy in the individual. In this perspective paper, the author advocates awareness of plant products available for wound healing and a study of the extent of their utilization. They must be developed for safe use and their efficacy reviewed, taking into account cure well-being and patient satisfaction as well as cost. Developing a list of products and classifying them appropriately is a beginning for such studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare systems worldwide are grappling with the challenge of providing high-quality healthcare in the face of evolving disease patterns. India, like many other countries, faces a significant treatment gap for various curable impairments, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). To address their healthcare needs, individuals often relocate in search of better treatment options. However, no studies were conducted to understand the spatial mobility. This paper explores the determinants of spatial mobility for treatment in India using data from NSS 75th round (2017-2018). A total of 64,779 individual medical cases of different diseases were taken into consideration for our analysis. Fixed effect and multinomial regression models were used to understand diseases specific mobility for treatment. It was found that those with CVDs, NCDs, and disabilities are more prone to travel outside their district for medical care. Rural and economically disadvantaged individuals also tend to travel further for treatment. The key factors impacting treatment-seeking mobility include insurance coverage, hospital quality, cost of medicine, and cost of X-rays/surgeries. The study highlights the need for improved policies to address the gap between healthcare needs and infrastructure in India, with a focus on prioritizing the development of local healthcare facilities for disabilities, NCDs, and CVDs., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The paper discusses a comparative study of h and g indices of prominent scientists from India in five selected subject fields viz. Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Engineering and Medicine. It throws light on various indices proposed by different scientists from 2006 to 2015. The analysis of the present study is based on publications and citations data extracted from the Web of Science for the time span 1999-2014. It is evident from the study that almost all authors' g-index is higher than that of h-index. The average g/h of all subjects' authors is around 1.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern world, modern medicine and complementary systems dominate the healthcare worldwide. Many developing countries which suffer with resources can improvise the healthcare at their retention by leveraging the extent of traditional medicine. A traditional Indian Atharva Veda implemented system of medicine called the Ayurveda, has gigantic benefits to human kind. This way of medicine deals majorly with naturally available herbs and methodologies to treat human health and promotes healthy practices for a better lifestyle. Ayurveda works on the idea of balancing biological systems. Ayurveda is primarily accomplished in India and being recognized internationally due to the effectiveness and use of naturally available herbs and associated methodologies to cure the diseases. Ayurveda as a system is successful, yet not widely practiced, there are range of reasons that has limited Ayurveda to reach its potential, such as less importance is given to Ayurvedic education and its practices, very few or no advancement is seen, resources limitations due to funds, limited technical support, and unstructured database. Therefore there is a constant need of improvising the field with technology and effectively creating knowledge based systems to improvise the practice of Ayurveda and to optimize its benefits. In this paper, a survey on the benefits of Ayurveda for women hormonal imbalance, Ayurveda for Skin and Hair health is done along with the Artificial intelligence technology advancements in the field of Ayurveda. The intend of the paper is to layout the benefits this 5000 years old approach towards medicine has to offer and the use of Artificial Intelligence to promote and influence its growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colonial medical education and public health policies emerged from an intriguing discourse of negotiation between the government and the people. These 'structured conflicts', rooted in the politics and the debates of the colonial institutions not only provided opportunities for creative thinking about public health but also for imposing constraints. The colonial and post-colonial India medical legislative debates revealing a new language of protest, assumed greater significance with the growing nationalist movement and the general (though variegated) intellectual polarisation – western and indigenous systems of medicine. Problematising the historiographic assertion of medical modernisation in colonial India to be a part of 'civilising mission', this paper argues that legislature emerged as a platform of activism and protest against the colonial and post-colonial State's appropriation of modernity. While some members appealed for extending the benefit of 'modern' western medicine to the general Indian population, some debated in favour of introducing the indigenous medical systems to the terms of modern professionalisation. The post-colonial policies reveal the true significance of the legislative debates in reviving the position of indigenous systems of medicine in the context of professional modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015 Dhruv Raina published Needham's Indian Network: The Search for a Home for the History of Science in India (1950-1970), bringing to light the long-range networks that institutionalized the disciplinary history of science in post-colonial India, and demonstrating the intellectual and infrastructural contributions of Joseph Needham (1900-1995) in this endeavour. This paper takes a different approach and turns to the way that Needham perceived Indian vis-à-vis Chinese civilization, and the role India played in Needham's historiography of science. It turns out that Needham's most sustained engagement with India could be found in his histories of medicine, bodily practices and alchemical traditions. In the first section of the paper, I outline the key concepts of 'Grand Titration' and 'oecumenical science' that animated Needham's historiography, which clarifies why Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, occupies a privileged status. The second section elaborates on Needham's scholarship and vision of acupuncture, involving the verification of acupuncture's reality and efficacy via Western biomedicine. He thought acupuncture would be China's unique contribution to a new 'universal medicine' in the modern age, but by contrast Needham saw little worth refurbishing in Indian medicine, arguing via an investigation in yoga that Indian practices were generally less 'materialist' and less 'proto-scientific'. In the third section, I turn my attention to Needham's preoccupation with the history of alchemy around the world, and discuss his theorization on transmission and circulation of scientific knowledge. I comment on Needham's commitment to the thesis that European alchemy was a melting pot of Chinese, Indian, Persian, Arabic, Greek, Egyptian and Roman ideas and practices. While Needham reserved his 'deepest love' and 'profoundest desire' for Chinese civilization, India on the other hand often occupied a secondary status in his historical accounts, and in the conclusion I move from a critique of Needham's preconceptions to reflect on the writing of the history of non-Western science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicine is one of the most critical contributors to life expectance. However, essential medicine is the foremost cause of death and disability in developing countries that can be prevented, cured, and improved with cost-effective essential medication. Besides this, thousands of people don't have access to essential medicine. The majority of the people spent their huge share of income on medicine, which traps them into a vicious circle of poverty. The huge prescription of medication is a leading cause of treatment delay. Further, essential medicines save lives and enhance the health of the population but only when they are accessible at an inexpensive, reasonable, and affordable cost and used properly. Despite certain policy measures and programs, a huge chunk of the population doesn't have access to essential medicine, and this remains the pivotal public health issue in India. The availability of harmless, effective, affordable, and quality medicines for all is one of the most important targets for sustainable development goals. For acquiring universal health coverage, access to safe, effective, and affordable essential medicine is a paramount aspect. The main aim of this paper is to examine the significance and factors of irrational prescription. It also analyzes the trends of the burden of medical cost and its socio-economic impact on households. This paper is based on a secondary date. It is estimated that by improving access to existing essential medicines and vaccines, about 10 million lives per year could be saved. The studies revealed that as much as 25%-70% of overall health expenditure in developing countries is spent on medicines whereas, around 10% of health expenditure in most high-income countries is consumed by medicines. In India, medicines consumed a higher share of total health expenditure, over 43%. However, several studies depict that more than three lakh crore rupees that households spent on health, and about 42% of the total out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP) went in the procurement of medicines. Moreover, households spent around 28% of the OOP spending in private hospitals, and this constitutes 62.6% of the total OOP health spending in India, both government and private sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Regulation is a critical function in the governance of health workforces. In many countries, regulatory councils for health professionals guide the development and implementation of health workforce policy, but struggle to perform their responsibilities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Few studies have analyzed the influence of colonialism on modern-day regulatory policy for health workforces in LMICs. Drawing on the example of regulatory policy from India, the goals of this paper is to uncover and highlight the colonial legacies of persistent challenges in medical education and practice within the country, and provide lessons for regulatory policy in India and other LMICs., Main Body: Drawing on peer-reviewed and gray literature, this paper explores the colonial origins of the regulation of medical education and practice in India. We describe three major aspects: (1) Evolution of the structure of the apex regulatory council for doctors-the Medical Council of India (MCI); (2) Reciprocity of medical qualifications between the MCI and the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK following independence from Britain; (3) Regulatory imbalances between doctors and other cadres, and between biomedicine and Indian systems of medicine., Conclusions: Challenges in medical education and professional regulation remain a major obstacle to improve the availability, retention and quality of health workers in India and many other LMICs. We conclude that the colonial origins of regulatory policy in India provide critical insight into contemporary debates regarding reform. From a policy perspective, we need to carefully interrogate why our existing policies are framed in particular ways, and consider whether that framing continues to suit our needs in the twenty-first century., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

E-Pharmacy is one of the essential services that can bring out transparency and ease of buying medicines to the customers. Though the application of internet in the areas of healthcare is intensifying and the online pharmacies serve a good cause, it has not been used as extensively in India. In this study we have focused in detail about the reasons why online pharmacy is not used - from a sample size of 100 respondents and have found that it was because of the high risk of misuse of drugs especially where there are no governing online pharmacy laws, lack of awareness and poor logistics, we have also analysed the other challenges that are faced by the society while using the existing e-pharm apps. Based on our constructs from the inferential and descriptive analysis, which was validated with a sample size of 100, we have put forth a set of suggestions that can make significant improvements in the e-pharmacy sectors and boost its usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnographic inquiry into Ayurvedic commodification in Kerala revealed the prevalence of a distinct regional pharmaceutical market dominated by physician-manufacturers, oriented towards supplying classical medicines to Ayurvedic doctors. This stands in sharp contrast to mainstream Ayurveda that is observed to have undergone biomedicalization and pharmaceuticalization. This paper argues that Kerala's classical-medicine-centric pharmaceutical market constitutes an alternative modernity because it provided Kerala Ayurveda with a different route to modernization impervious to the biomedical regime, as well as endowing it with the institutional power to safeguard its regional identity. Although physician-entrepreneurs are its key architects, it is sustained by value regimes shaped by a unique regional medico-cultural milieu. Even when industrially produced, classical medicines remain embedded within Ayurveda's socio-technical network; unlike proprietary drugs sold as individual product-identities through non-Ayurvedic channels, they travel together as a pharmacopeia, distributed through exclusive doctor-mediated agencies. This clinic-centric distribution format is best conceptualized as an open-source business model as it made low-margin generics viable by packaging them with therapies and services. Besides ensuring better access and affordability, it provided resistance to pharmaceuticalization and intellectual property concentration. By keeping the doctor in the loop, it prevented medicines from degenerating into de-contextualized commodities; the service component of Ayurveda therein preserved went on become the unique selling point in the health-tourism market. The tourism-inspired proliferation of Brand Kerala eventually triggered a paradigm shift in mainstream Ayurveda – shifting focus from ‘pharmaceuticals’ to ‘services’ and from ‘illness’ to ‘wellness’. Furthermore, interacting with hybrid Ayurvedas in transnational markets, Kerala Ayurveda co-produces new alterities countervailing the structurally dominant biomedical paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite decades of research on India's plural health care market, the practices of many local health traditions outside the allopathic and codified traditions are under-studied. Drawing on interview and observational data, this paper explores the space in which indigenous traditional Khasi healers in Meghalaya state, northeast India, practice. Khasi indigenous healers describe themselves as doktor sla, plant doctors, to distinguish themselves from doktor kot, or book doctors. This distinction operates as a rhetorical resource, utilised to carve a distinct sphere of expertise in relation to the allopathic sector, and to mark claims for the specifically local appropriateness of traditional practices within a shifting market of state-sponsored provision. Khasi healers are a heterogeneous group who treat a wide variety of conditions, including physical ailments which have no obvious correlates in biomedical systems, and musculoskeletal disorders, with which they have recognised expertise. In addition to claiming these discrete strengths, healers also present themselves as accommodating deficiencies in biomedicine, including inherent generic weaknesses of allopathic care as well as specific local gaps in rural health care provision. Thus, the expertise niches of traditional healers have evolved through their interactions with, and the needs of, the community, but also through managing a shifting boundary with biomedical practitioners, who are explicitly sceptical of their efficacy, but tacitly accepting of the ways in which they manage the gaps in biomedical provision. While codified non-biomedical traditions in India have engaged in universalising professionalising projects, in this setting at least, non-codified practitioners have instead utilised discourses of localism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Role of vaginal sex in heterosexual transmission of HIV has been investigated but that of heterosexual anal sex (HAS) is not fully understood. This paper examines practice of HAS among Female Sex Workers (FSWs) and its correlates in India where the HIV epidemic is being primarily driven by core groups like FSWs. Methods: Data for this paper are drawn from Round I survey of 9667 FSWs in the Integrated Biological and Behavioral Assessment (IBBA) from 23 districts of 4 high HIV prevalent states of India. Bivariate and multivariate analysis identified factors associated with HAS. Results: Ever having anal sex was reported by 11.9% FSWs (95% CI: 11.3%–12.6%). Typology (AOR 2.20, 95% CI 1.64–2.95) and literacy (AOR 1.28, 95% CI 1.10–1.49) were positively associated with practice of HAS. Longer duration in sex trade (AOR 1.69, 95% CI 1.44–1.99), entertaining larger number of clients the previous week (AOR 1.78, 95% CI 1.47–2.15), alcohol consumption (AOR 1.21, 95% CI 1.03–1.42) and inability to negotiate condom use (AOR 1.53, 95% CI 1.28–1.83) were also correlated with HAS. Self-risk perception for HIV (AOR 1.46, 95% CI 1.25–1.71) did not impede HAS. Although symptoms of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the last 12 months were associated with anal sex (AOR 1.39, 95% CI 1.13–1.72) there was no significant association between laboratory confirmed HIV and other STIs with HAS. Conclusion: Practice of HAS by FSWs might significantly contribute to HIV transmission in India. This study also shows that despite self-risk perception for HIV, even literate FSWs with longer duration in sex work report HAS. General messages on condom use may not influence safe HAS. FSWs need to be targeted with specific messages on HIV transmission during anal sex. Women controlled prevention methods, such as rectal microbicides and vaginal microbicides are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author traces two parallel movements of institutionalized Ayurvedic psychiatry, an emergent field of specialization in Kerala, India: the ‘work of purification’ and the ‘work of translation’ that Latour has described as characteristic of the ‘modern constitution.’ The author delineates these processes in terms of the relationship of Ayurvedic psychiatry to (1) allopathic psychiatry, (2) bhutavidya, a branch of textual Ayurveda dealing with spirits, and (3) occult violence. The aim is to offer a model of these open and hidden processes and of Ayurvedic psychiatry's positioning within a hierarchical mental health field characterized simultaneously by biopsychiatric hegemony and a persistent vernacular healing tradition. Through these processes, Ayurvedic psychiatry emerges as a relevant actor. It demarcates itself from both allopathic and vernacular epistemologies and ontologies while simultaneously drawing upon aspects of each, and, in this way, shows itself to be both deeply modern and highly pragmatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious-spiritual (R/S) education helps medical students cope with caregiving stress and gain skills in interpersonal empathy needed for clinical care. Such R/S education has been introduced into K-12 and college curricula in some developed nations and has been found to positively impact student’s mental health. Such a move has not yet been seen in the Indian education system. This paper aimed to examine perspectives of teachers and parents in India on appropriateness, benefits, and challenges of including R/S education into the school curriculum and also to gather their impressions on how a R/S curriculum might promote students’ health. A cross-sectional study of religiously stratified sample of teachers and parents was initiated in three preselected schools in India and the required sample size (N = 300) was reached through snowballing technique. A semi-structured questionnaire, with questions crafted from “Religion and Spirituality in Medicine, Physicians Perspective” (RSMPP) and “American Academy of Religion’s (AAR) Guidelines for Religious Literacy,” was used to determine participants’ perspectives. Findings revealed that teachers’ and parents’ “comfort in integrating R/S into school curriculum” was associated with their gender (OR 1.68), education status (OR 1.05), and intrinsic religiosity (OR 1.05). Intrinsic religiosity was significantly (p = 0.025) high among parents while “intrinsic spirituality” was high (p = 0.020) among teachers. How participants’ R/S characteristics influence their support of R/S education in school is discussed. In conclusion, participants believe R/S education will fosters students’ emotional health and interpersonal skills needed for social leadership. A curriculum that incorporates R/S education, which is based on AAR guidelines and clinically validated interpersonal spiritual care tools would be acceptable to both teachers and parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper readdresses the assertion found in much secondary literature that Greek medicine was adopted in Tibet in the seventh and eighth centuries. I discuss some of the traces of Galenic medical knowledge in early Tibetan medicine, and raise the question of why Tibetan medical histories who mention Galen give Galenic medicine a much more significant place than is evidenced in the Tibetan medical literature itself. I discuss some historiographical considerations and argue that the centrality given to Galenic medicine is more indicative of the period in which these sources are written than of the period which they presumably describe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The branding of ayurveda as a market strategy for the health consumer has become an important factor in the creation of 'New Age orientalist desire'. Using Vedic Village as a case, this paper shows how new age orientalism has been spread in modern India to middle class professionals, entrepreneurs and overseas health tourists. With this representation, ayurveda has become a wellness therapy instead of a means to restore health, and affluent people can now buy a package of 'ayurvedic healthy life' without changing their lifestyles. In addition to Euro-American health tourists, emerging middle class professionals and entrepreneurs in modern India have also become an integral part of the process of 'new age orientalization'. This paper concludes that the commodijied version of ayurveda, which has been developed in the West as part of 'wellness and spa culture', has become popular among the affluent middle class in India and abroad today, and through this the West has claimed and justifies authority over Eastern medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among practitioners of biomedicine, to speak of people as ‘marginalized’ often amounts to saying that they do not have access to medical substances. Thus conceived, the best way to remove marginality seems to be to give medicines to those deprived of them. The peculiar relationship between marginality and pharmaceuticals is especially poignant in the case of antidepressant drugs, as these drugs appear to bring the patient ‘back into society’, but not any society, but middle-class consumer society. What is now special about antidepressants is that there is nothing special about them: antidepressants are like consumer items among thousands of other consumer items. This paper explores the relations between medicines and marginality with reference to the marketing of antidepressant drugs in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Kolkata metropolitan area from July 1999 to December 2000 and in August/September 2003, this paper examines how people with depression are constituted as ‘marginal’ in the sense of ‘being deprived of medication’, and how the biomedical promise of an effective pharmacological treatment becomes a promise of ‘pharmaceutical citizenship’. In view of Bengali notions of mental health as a state of detachment, the paper asks if pharmacological demarginalization holds the same promise in the Indian context that it holds in the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cannabis sativa L. is one of the oldest food, fibre, medicinal, psychoactive and oil plants known. It has been used by innumerable ethnic societies in Asia. Uttaranchal (India) is an ethnic region where the plant is a part of the local culture. In this paper the indigenous uses and ethnobotany of its seed, seed oil, stems, fibre, leaves, inflorescences and resin along with various recipes of seeds are described. Atheory of its introduction to Uttaranchal by ethnic races is also given. It is concluded that in the light of the present commercial and industrial uses of Cannabis its cultivation should be promoted in Uttaranchal and other parts of the Himalayan regions of India, where it grows naturally and is cultivated for folk uses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The 'discovery' of torture and its prevalence in the extraction of confessions produced a dilemma for the colonial state in India. Especially with the publication of the two-volume Report of the Commissioners for the Investigation of Alleged Cases of Torture in the Madras Presidency in 1855, colonial administrators became uncomfortably aware of the contrived nature of the 'truth' produced before magistrates and the police. This paper traces the significance of colonial efforts to contain such practices by examining in detail a case of torture that scandalized the Bombay government in 1855, on the heels of the publication of the Madras Report. Attempts to define the practice of excessive violence as 'torture' in order to discipline and reform the police encountered the simultaneous denial of these practices as specifically 'colonial'. Excessive violence was instead attributed to precolonial penal regimes regularly used excessive violence, thereby blurring the boundaries between law and brutal violence. Torture came to be viewed as a remnant or relic of oppressive 'native' practices of punishment. This paper explores the anxieties about legitimating colonial governance that underwrote the logic of 'discovery' and 'refusal', and suggests that attempts to contain torture were double-edged. On the one hand, they were significant in the constitution of transhistorical notions of pain, suffering, and 'the human' that accompanied the moral discourse of the horrific experience of torture. Medical discourses that measured the extent of injury and violation were important for the 'scientific'validation of such claims. On the other hand, the colonial government in Bombay refused to consider the possibility that novel demands for proof, motive, and intention in the commision of crime might have, paradoxically, produced a police force that understood torture as 'legitimate' in the production of juridical truth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is home to some of the oldest civilizations, during which period the local communities domesticated indigenous plant species for food and agriculture and medicinal uses. In this process, they also bio-prospected and/or absorbed potentially valuable exotic plant species, making them integral part of Indian culture, including the traditional medicinal system, the Ayurveda. The present paper discusses the absorption of 26 plant species of exotic origin, before 8th century, as evidenced by archaeological sculptural or botanical remains and documentation of such plants in Sanskrit, the Vedic language. Occurrence and/or introduction of such plants at such distant places in ancient times is visualized as a result of geographical continental fragmentation followed by drift, natural or man-made transoceanic movement, and cultural and trade exchange of plant material over time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This is an invited paper for a special issue with the objective to provide information on neuropsychology in India.Method: Information was gathered from a literature search and personal communication with professionals working in the field of neuropsychology.Results: Neuropsychology as a specialization started in India approximately 40 years ago. The early years witnessed the use of Western tools for assessing patients with organic brain damage. Subsequent years saw the development of indigenous tools for use with the vast majority of the Indian population and also a few Western tests adapted to suit the needs of the unique Indian clientele. The starting of the Neuropsychology unit at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore in 1975 resulted in changing of the course of training and practice of Neuropsychology. The field of assessments has witnessed indigenous tests being developed, while rehabilitation programs have brought about a decline in cognitive deficits in several clinical conditions. Currently, work within the field of neuropsychology has focused on child, geriatric, acquired brain injury, and forensic populations with a development of unique rehabilitations to suit needs of several clinical conditions. However, there are very few neuropsychologists in the country, and only one nodal training center, which limits the availability of training to the large population of the country.Conclusion: Despite the shortcomings, the field of neuropsychology has received much attention in the recent years with the number of referrals and professionals increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the Health and Child Welfare Exhibition held in colonial Calcutta in 1920. Despite a few scholarly references, however, there has been no detailed study till date. The vicereines of India launched child welfare exhibitions motivated by the transnational exhibitory baby health week propaganda initiative to curb infant mortality. These exhibitions were also locally organised and collaborative in nature with an urgent nationalist appeal. The study critically engages with select Exhibition lectures about so-called 'clean' midwifery and 'scientific' motherhood given by famous Bengali medical practitioners and other prominent professionals, predominantly men and a few women. These drew intimate sociobiological connections between the problems of 'dirty' midwifery, ritual pollution, improper confinement, insanitary childbirth, insufficient lactation and the excessive maternal and infant deaths in Calcutta. The central argument is that these public lectures primarily focused on the very making of the 'ideal' Indian nursing mother, often imagined as the traditional yet modern bhadramahila mother figure, for rejuvenating community and national health and vigour. Correspondingly, it highlights the transnational resonance of famous Frederic Truby King's 'mothercraft' popularised as childcare by the clock. The paper is, therefore, guided by the twin purposes of filling the gap in our knowledge about child welfare exhibitions in colonial India and illuminating extant scholarship on the global infant welfare movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the early phases of Covid-19, social media platforms became a significant source of misinformation, and India emerged as a global hotspot. Studies show that 'miracle cure' for preventing and treating Covid-19 infection has been a prominent topic of misinformation. This study explores the extent to which beliefs in cure for Covid-19 in three prominent medical traditions popular in India are associated with the exposure to and trust in various sources from which the public access information. We conducted an online structured questionnaire survey of 500 respondents in August 2020 in four major cities of India. Despite the scientific consensus at that time that there was no cure for Covid-19, close to three-quarters of our respondents believe that there was a cure in at least one of the three popular medical traditions in India: Allopathy, Homeopathy, and Ayurveda. We find that exposure to and trust in WhatsApp are associated with false beliefs regarding the existence of a cure for Covid-19 (p = 0.001 and p = 0.014, respectively). While trust in science is associated with correct beliefs (p = 0.025), there is evidence that trust in government information may foster incorrect beliefs (p = 0.031). The high trust in scientific research and its potential ability to instill correct beliefs could be exploited to combat Covid-19 misinformation in India. Potential interventions such as awareness campaigns to increase digital media literacy, regulating social media platforms, and voluntary content regulation by social media platforms – might help policymakers tackle Covid-19 related misinformation effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the variability in the standards and settings of medical education in India. Topics discussed include the quality of scientific and medical writing across medical schools, failure to empower young physicians, and impact of the absence of a strong academic environment and lack of formal training in medical writing in the country.

Stem cell research as a radical innovation in the medical field holds promises for good health and development as its treatment is curable to many diseases as well as in business. The objectives of this paper is to explore the challenges and scope for establishing platform for business holders, new entrepreneurs &Stem Cell Research as one of the affordable branch of medicine in India and to examine whether Stem cell research would face the same ethical and religious hostility in the Indian context as faced by it in other parts of the globe. The methodology would involve the use of secondary data sources in order to understand the scenario of stem cell research in India, with respect to the business objectives. It is still an emerging field in India, which needs proper funding and good policies for implementation by government authorities and organizations like DST, DBT and ICMR. Several research institutions and biotech companies have been formed with the mandate on bringing stem cell research outcomes from bench to bedside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the many forms and representations ofcyavanaprāsh, Ayurveda's best-selling medicine, already mentioned in Caraka's Compendium (c. 200 CE). The medicine's compositions, applications, and meanings, change over time and from locality to locality. Cyavanaprāshis, for example, a patriotic formula, a booster of the immune system, a modern geriatric drug, and one of the elements in canonical Ayurvedic treatments. In the beginning of the 19th centurycyavanaprāshwas a patriotic formula for fortifying Indian bodies and the nascent Indian nation. Nowadays the medicine is a Fast Moving Consumer Good (FMCG) and a money maker for Dabur India Ltd., the world largest Ayurvedic manufacturer. Instead of vitalising the nation its consumption now promises to make urban middle class consumers effectively modern. Branding and modern science must make Dabur Chyawanprash attractive in the eyes of these consumers. Ayurveda and cyavanaprāshare also part of a global counter culture marked by neo-Orientalism and Ayurvedic medicines as facilitators of spirituality. The marketing ofcyavanaprāshby India's largest Ayurvedic manufacturer is used as a case study for discussing the proliferation of Ayurvedic brands and its critics. The imaging of Ayurvedic brands such as Dabur Chyawanprash threatens to obscure the fact that Ayurveda represents a unique way of looking upon health, disease and the human body. The proliferation of brands also makes Ayurvedic medicines more expensive and puts pressure on the natural environment as the main supplier of Ayurvedic ingredients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health and Wellness as a concept has been practiced in India since time immemorial. India has a long history of wellness practices with distinction of being the birthplace of alternate therapies such as Ayurveda which has entered in to the domain of spas. This paper presents an exploratory qualitative study to understand the perception of people at Manipal about Health and Wellness and to establish the feasibility so as to propose a comprehensive model for the development of Health and Wellness destination at Manipal. The study was done by getting the feedback from the tourists, pilgrimages, students and the people visiting the Marena-an indoor physical fitness and sports complex center of the Manipal University, through questionnaires. A factor analysis using principal component method was done and the results have shown that stress relief and relaxation were loaded on the first component signifying that these are the most important motivational factors. The detail study of factor analysis has indicated the sustainability of health and wellness destination at Manipal. A statement questionnaire was developed to understand the various factors that would contribute to the development of a health and wellness destination. In order to get a detail understanding of the various factors to be considered for developing the model the various factors were combined under five dependent variables-quality, facility, marketing, location and potential clients. The set of five statements were included under each dependent variables thus encompassing a questionnaire of twenty statements and were distributed among the students, parents, relatives delegates tourists visited Manipal in the month of August and September, 2012. The Health Consciousness and Wellness Awareness were considered as the independent variables. and studied using the questionnaire I, framed on the factors such as concept of exercise, frequency of exercise, concept of health, smoking habit, drinking habit, concept of wellness centre, wellness treatments, relaxation techniques, factors to stay healthy, etc. Having established the Independent variables and Dependent variables statistical analysis was done to understand the relationship of the dependent variable to the independent variable. The results show that Health Consciousness is more correlated to marketing quality and location which explains that marketing is a very important factor that can create Health Consciousness which will lead to the need for a Wellness destination. Wellness Awareness has facility, quality and Potential clients as the more correlating elements which again emphasis the need for the development of Wellness destination. The fact that location and potential clients are correlated to both Health Consciousness and Wellness Awareness strongly supports the development of a Wellness destination at Manipal. With these factors a model was proposed based on the study conducted by Ritchie, J, R. B and G. I. Crouch (2002) for a health and Wellness destination at Manipal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: In this paper from Basu and colleagues, a simulation of tobacco control and pharmacological interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease mortality in India predicted that Smokefree laws and increased tobacco taxation are likely to be the most effective measures to avert future cardiovascular deaths in India. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Though the cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality in India, little is known about the human and economic loss attributed to the disease. The aim of this paper is to account the age and sex pattern of mortality, hospitalisation and the cost of hospitalisation for cardiovascular diseases in India. Data and Methods: Data for the present study has been drawn from multiple sources; 52nd and 60th rounds of the National Sample Survey, Special Survey of Death, 2001–03 and the Sample Registration System 2004–2010. Under the changing demographics and constant assumptions of mortality, hospitalisation and cost of hospitalisation, we have estimated the deaths, hospitalisation and cost of hospitalisation for cardiovascular diseases in India during 2004 to 2021. Descriptive analyses and multivariate techniques were used to understand the socio-economic differentials in cost of hospitalisation for cardiovascular diseases in India. Findings: In India, the cardiovascular diseases accounted for an estimated 1.4 million deaths in 2004 and it is likely to be 2.1 million in 2021. An estimated 6.7 million people were hospitalised for cardiovascular diseases in 2004, and projected to be 10.9 million by 2021. Unlike mortality, majority of the hospitalisation due to cardiovascular diseases will be in the prime working age group (25–59). The estimated cost of hospitalisation for cardiovascular diseases was 94/− billion rupees in 2004 and expected to be 152/− billion rupees by 2021, at 2004 prices. The cost of hospitalisation for cardiovascular diseases was significantly high in private health centres, high fertility states and among high socio-economic groups. Conclusion: The cardiovascular mortality and hospitalisation will be largely concentrated in the prime working age group and the cost of hospitalisation is expected to increase substantially in coming years. This calls for mobilising resources, increasing access to health insurance and devising strategies for the prevention, control and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents taxonomy, habitat, distribution, threat status, conservation strategies and usage pattern of Stemona tuberosa Lour. (Family Stemonaceae), a lesser known liana species. A less known medicinal use of this species recorded from Indian Himalaya is reported. The methodology for use from roots and tubers are provided along with photographs of the plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Varmakkalai, 'the art of the vital spots', combines therapeutic and martial techniques: Varmam spots are of combative relevance, but also applicable in curing ailments. This paper depicts how far this South Indian practice figures simultaneously in the kaḷari, the training ground where combat techniques called varma aṭi, 'hitting the vital spots', are taught, and in the vaittiyacdlai, the dispensary for varma maruttuvam, 'vital spot treatments'. Injuries incurred in the kaḷari are addressed in the vaittiyacāai, and apprentices' learning progress in one surrounding can be measured by their prowess in the other. Both physical and mental skills acquired combine in a kind of psycho-somatic intuition--the medical and martial competence of practitioners. Such intersections of medicine and martial practices are not normally recognised by 'Western' taxonomies or educational models, which tend to segregate such aspects, labelling one as 'arts' or 'sports' and the other as 'science'. However, this paper describes the very combination of medically and martially relevant aspects of varmam as not only complementary, but as the most decisive feature of varmakkalai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1798 and 1805 the novel practice of vaccination spread rapidly around the globe, and its first introduction into India needs to be seen as the initiative of Edward Jenner and his followers rather than imperial policy. Against a background of military and imperial expansion, however, the British in India and Ceylon supported vaccination with resources and energy lacking at home. This paper examines the technical problems associated with the establishment of vaccination, the promotional and organisational strategies deployed, and the varied responses of the local population. The results were spectacular, with a million vaccinations - more than in Europe - by 1807, but the initial momentum was hard to maintain, not least because many Indians found the procedure intrusive and religiously offensive. Vaccination created new tensions in Anglo-Indian relations that anticipated and merged with the issues of imperial medicine that later became so salient in India. Nevertheless, the early campaigns established the practice firmly in parts of India and provided lessons, and inspiration for the vaccination cause worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Men''s pre- and extra-marital sexual behavior has been identified as the primary factor in the growing HIV/STI epidemic among both males and females in India. One major barrier to reaching men has been their underutilization of public health services, which has severely limited programs geared to prevention and early case identification. A significant number of men in India have strong culturally-based sexual health concerns, much of which are derived from “semen-loss” and deficiencies in sexual performance. This paper reports on an ongoing Indo-US project that has focused on men''s concerns about sexual health problems and assesses the services provided by non-allopaths in three low-income communities in Mumbai. Findings indicate that the primary health resources for these men are private, community-based non-allopaths, who identify themselves as ayurvedic, unani and homeopathic providers. The paper suggests that the combination of strong culturally-based sexual health concerns and the presence of private non-allopaths who manage these problems present a window of opportunity for intervention programs to address the challenge of HIV/STI prevention and early case identification in India. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The basic premise of the paper is that Western medicine''s co-opting of specific technologies and materials from other (indigenous) medical traditions, stripped of the original theories underlying their use, has problematic consequences for the practitioners and patients of both source and recipient traditions. The paper begins by illustrating the historical continuity of this process by way of an example from India''s colonial era. The fact that specific practices or materials are regarded as biomedically useful because they ‘work’ (are efficacious) does not mean that the ‘traditional’ theories underlying them are seen as correct. The knowledge contained in these traditions is not counted as legitimate, as the emphasis in biomedicine (the legitimate canon) on an identifiable concrete location in the body for the source of health problems creates difficulties—both for patients when their problems are not provided with a cause that matches their subjective awareness, and for the practitioners of other traditions whose patients have been exposed to biomedicine. The paper goes on to demonstrate, using case examples from extended ethnographic fieldwork in southern India, how this is played out in a setting in which an educated Indian patient population accepts this form of knowledge as legitimate but espouses ayurvedic therapy. Notions of ‘evidence’ are shown to be central to the interplay between biomedical and other medical traditions, since objective tests and measures in biomedicine are accepted as the only legitimate ‘evidence’ of cure, but these do not necessarily accord either with the premises of these other traditions or with patients’ subjective perceptions of well-being. Returning to an acceptance and practice of other traditions, consequently, requires nothing less than a fundamental cognitive shift in the grounds for what constitutes ‘evidence.’ [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper looks at the process through which ayurveda is historicized as the classical tradition of Kerala (and India), at the cost of a variety of practices or ayurvedas. By the twentieth century, medical practice gained a respectful status and became an earning profession. The negotiation and competition to control a commonly shared public space of medicine led to various public interventions. Individual body became a social body and an object of knowledge around which a variety of debates begin to occur. These formations, along with print culture, changing economic relations, new associations and institutional frameworks emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth century India acted as an umbrella space for the intermingling of a range of practices in their renegotiation with knowledge and power. In these processes ayurveda attained the role of a professional classical tradition with various kinds of validations or accepted conditions to become a knowledge system while adhering to its own tenets. Some others such as nattuvaidyam got pushed to the margin as folk medical practices. The analysis is done by reading the first indigenous health magazine, Dhanwantari published from the British Malabar from 1903 onwards for a span of twenty three years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (API) is a unique book of standards describing the quality, purity and strength of selected drugs that are manufactured, distributed, and sold by the licensed manufacturers in pan India. It is developed in two parts; the part one comprises of mono-monographs of medicinal substances of natural origin and part two includes selected compound formulations sourced from the schedule – I books under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 comprising of popular Ayurvedic classics of different period of times. The first part of the Ayurvedic Formulary of India was published in 1978 and thereafter, the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (mono-monograph) Part-I, Vol. I was published in the year 1989 and subsequently, the other volumes were published with their legalized status under Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Aim of the study The study was aimed to bring out the existing knowledge on the Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia with its chronological development reviewed from the ancient Vedic Compendia with its continuum in Ayurvedic classics of different period of time till recent past. Materials and methods A literary search based on the ancient origin of Ayurveda was carried out. The drug making from the natural resources and utility of the knowledge exist in classical Ayurvedic works of different period of time till composition of the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India and its importance as official documents of Govt. of India for Standards of Ayurvedic Drugs and its perspectives have been discussed. Results The present paper reviews on the systemic development and different aspects of drug-making (Pharmacopoeia) with evidence lying in the 5000 years old work of India. During the systematic review of the various works of different period of times (ancient, medieval and modern), it was found that the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India has its development during 20th Century as an official document of Govt. of India comprising of single drugs monograph and compound formulations. Conclusion In India, the development of the Indian Pharmacopoeia started in 20th Century on the recommendation of the Col. R.N. Chopra Committee and in 1978 the first part of the Ayurvedic formulary of India was published. Subsequently, the amendment in the drugs and cosmetics Act 1940 was brought in 1964 for regulation of the drugs in Indian Systems of Medicine (Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha). Later on the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (Mono-Monograph) Part-I, Volume I, was published in the year 1989 and the other volumes were published subsequently in different years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the processes of interpretation and integration of the Indian ophthalmic technique known as‘couching for cataract’ into Chinese medicine from the sixth to the twelfth centuryad. The Indian medical knowledge of this procedure was eventually accepted because it could be reconstructed following Chinese medical concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The concept of listing essential medicines can lead to improved supply and access, more rational prescribing, and lower costs of drugs. However, these benefits hinge on the prescription of drugs from an Essential Medicines List (EML). Several studies have highlighted the problem of underutilization of EMLs by prescribers. Therefore, as part of prescription research by the Indian Council of Medical Research-Rational Use of Medicines Centres Network, we evaluated the extent of prescription of drugs not listed in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prescriptions of outpatients from participating centers were included after obtaining verbal/written informed consent as approved by the Ethics Committee, and evaluated for prescription of drugs from the NLEM 2015. RESULTS: Analysis of 4838 prescriptions from 13 tertiary health-care institutes revealed that 2677 (55.33%) prescriptions had at least one non-NLEM drug prescribed. In all, 5215 (31.12%) of the total 16,758 drugs prescribed were not in NLEM. Of these, 2722 (16.24%) were single drugs and 2493 (14.88%) were fixed-dose combinations (FDCs). These comprised 700 different drug products – 346 single drugs and 354 FDCs. The average number of non-NLEM drugs prescribed per prescription was 1.08, while the average number of all drugs prescribed was 3.35 per prescription. It was also found that some of the non-NLEM drugs prescribed had the potential to result in increased cost (for example, levocetirizine), increased adverse effects (dextromethorphan), and less effectiveness (losartan) when compared to their NLEM counterparts. Nonavailability of an essential drug (oral hydroxocobalamin) was another important finding of our study. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the extent and pattern of drugs prescribed from outside the NLEM at the tertiary health-care level and the need for training and enhanced awareness among prescribers for greater utilization of the NLEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the translation and circulation of yogis' learning in Persian medical and alchemical texts produced in South Asia. I suggest that looking at the non-religious environment allows for a more accurate understanding of the overall circulation of yogic knowledge and techniques in the Muslim society of South Asia. Furthermore, I suggest that the assimilation of yogis' learning in Persian sources concerned not only Yoga but also other types of knowledge associated with yogis. Muslim physicians' interest in yogis' knowledge focused on one specific aspect: rasaśāstra "alchemy" and the mastery over the production of mercurial and metallic drugs. The technical and pragmatic focus of Persian medico-alchemical writings contributed to give views of yogis beyond the exotic and foreignizing category of the wonders of India. Medical writings helped to develop views of yogis as a socio-economic group involved in the transmission of a specific body of knowledge. This was an important shift away from the perspective of the 'ajā'ib al-hind "wonders of India" as well as from the ways in which yogis were perceived in Sufi texts. New perspectives on yogis emerged when Persian-speaking scholars and readers in India needed more pragmatic representations of local groups, such as the physicians who were in the process of appropriating alchemical notions that were closely associated with the yogis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Piper (Family Piperaceae), consisting of more than 2000 species worldwide, is one of the most speciose genera of flowering plants that belong to the broad category known as basal angiosperms. Piper is known for the several medicinally and economically important species that have been used throughout their native range. Interestingly, this genus is also one of the most taxonomically challenging genera among the angiosperms. The presence of taxonomically complex as well as ecologically and economically important species makes Piper an excellent study system to address the evolution of tropical biodiversity. Being an early-diverging angiosperm genus, understanding Piper systematics and divergence patterns holds vital clues to plant evolution in the tropics. However, research on this plant group is still in a nascent stage, with the primary focus being on its medicinal importance and natural product chemistry. Its distribution, natural history, ecology, evolution and systematics remain less explored. Lack of such knowledge will impede the ongoing conservation effort and may affect the sustainable utilization of this valuable plant resource. The Indian subcontinent is an important center of Piper diversity harboring ca. 100 species, including several economically and medicinally important species such as Black pepper. Piper species in India have a high potential for future utilization; however, their conservation status and needs have not been widely reviewed. Here, we review the taxonomy, ecology and evolution, of Piper species, the threats they face, and further discuss future research directions and suggest ways forward in conserving and effectively utilizing this important plant group in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human from ancient times have been used plants and their products to various ailments because plant products cause minimal or no side effects. In the present paper we review five traditional Indian medicinal plants used for ethanomedicinal and pharmacological in India traditional medicinal system (Ayurveda), several researchers of have been explored different activities of these plants includes Citrullus colocynthis, Delonix regia, Kiglia pinnata, Martynia annua and Pongamia pinnata. These plants have been used for several medicinal and pharmacological activities like as anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antibacterial, antioxidant, analgesic or anti-proliferative, antifertility and abortion etc in different parts around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder linked to type II diabetes and the leading cause of female infertility worldwide. Despite being considered a “lifestyle” disease, PCOS has received scant attention in the social science literature. In India, media accounts citing prominent doctors have expressed concern that the syndrome affects a growing number of urban middle-class Indian women. The general public, doctors, and afflicted women all attribute the condition to stress, lifestyle changes, “Westernization,” modernization, and disrupted circadian rhythms. These factors are associated with changes in diets, gender roles, and aspirations since 1991, when the introduction of neoliberal reforms opened up the country to processes of globalization. Women with PCOS have come to be seen as living embodiments of the biosocial stresses associated with modern urban middle-class living, and discourse about PCOS serves as commentary indexing anxieties about social and political–economic shifts in the country. In this paper, based on ethnographic fieldwork in Mumbai, India, with 141 participants from 2012 to 2014, we point to local understanding of PCOS as corresponding to an ecosocial perspective that highlights the structural vulnerabilities of urban middle-class women. Whereas most research on structural vulnerabilities and health has centered on economically and otherwise disadvantaged groups, we use PCOS as a case study to draw attention to the rise of lifestyle disorders linked to the impact of globalization and the pressures of “modern” identities and aspirations among middle-class populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive psychology is a recent branch psychology primarily concerned with using the psychological theory, research and intervention techniques to understand the positive, adaptive, creative and emotionally fulfilling aspects of human behaviour. Mental health in India has become a priority for the people, community, and the state in the last two decades. In place of focusing and concentrating on the negative aspect of a person, a trend is developing to promote positive aspect of one's personality. This paper explores the possibility of application of positive psychology in the area of mental health, specifically in the Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persons with mental illnesses in India and rest of developing world continue to consult religious/spiritual (R/S) healers or traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) professionals prior to seeking psychiatric services that are devoid of spiritual components of care. We aim to understand TCAM and allopathic professionals' perspectives on patients' R/S needs within mental health services, cross-sectional study was conducted at five TCAM and two allopathic tertiary care hospitals in three different Indian states; 393 participants completed RSMPP, a self-administered, semi-structured survey questionnaire. Perspectives of TCAM and allopathic health professionals on role of spirituality in mental health care were compared. Substantial percentage, 43.7 % TCAM and 41.3 % allopathic, of participants believe that their patients approach R/S or TCAM practitioners for severe mental illness; 91.2 % of TCAM and 69.7 % of allopaths were satisfied with R/S healers ( p = 0.0019). Furthermore, 91.1 % TCAM and 73.1 % allopaths ( p = 0.000) believe that mental health stigma can be minimized by integrating with spiritual care services. Overall, 87 % of TCAM and 73 % of allopaths agreed to primary criterion variable: 'spiritual healing is beneficial and complementary to psychiatric care.' A quarter of allopaths (24.4 %) and 38 % of TCAM physicians reportedly cross-refer their grieving patients to religious/TCAM healer and psychiatrist/psychologist, respectively; on logistic regression, significant ( p < 0.05) predictors were clinical interactions/references to r/s healers. Providing spiritual care within the setup of psychiatric institution will not only complement psychiatric care but also alleviate stigma against mental health services. Implications on developing spiritual care services like clinical chaplaincy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]