What we expect of integrative medicine case reports?

In recent times, launching of new research Journals has become common and also worrisome. Increasing demands and specializations require new research Journals. Thus while new Journals are welcome, the worry stems from the fact that a majority of the newly launched Journals have unscrupulous commercial interests rather than their being interested in sharing of good new knowledge between peers. Thus we need to ask why is this new Journal required and what we expect from it? When Prof. Akshay Anand, the Editor-in-Chief of this Journal asked me to write an editorial for the first issue, I was a little surprised. I am not trained in Ayurveda, Unani or any of the other traditional or modern healthcare system. The only connection that I have with these alternative medical systems is that one of my research areas relates to basic research in Ayurvedic Biology using the Drosophila model. My other qualification for writing this editorial can be my longterm conviction that Indian academia need to publish good research Journals and that our researchers should take pride in publishing in such Journals also. Ayurveda or the other traditional health-care systems in India have been practiced for several thousand years. Ayurveda practitioners are justifiably grateful to the ancient scholars who compiled remarkably detailed principles, philosophies and treatment regimens thousands of years ago, which have been practiced since then. Therefore, Ayurveda practitioners generally argue that these practices, unlike the recent modern medical practices, do not need any validation, experience having established their usages. Such an argument is flawed and may indeed be a stumbling block for a much wider acceptance of the AYUSH system. The diverse formulations and practices used in Ayurveda on basis of experience indeed need unbiased experimental and clinical validation. Despite antiquity and wide usages, it is to be appreciated that climate, flora, fauna and our own life-styles etc have undergone substantial changes over the past millennia. Since Ayurveda considers the physical human body, its mental state and its relation with abiotic and biotic environment (internal and external) to be intimately linked and therefore, each of them impacts not only health but also the required therapy. Consequently, the various therapeutic approaches prescribed in classical Samhitas may need re-examination in the context of current life styles and the much better understanding of biological systems including human physiology. Ayurveda, Yoga and other traditional medicine practitioners should appreciate that a re-examination and revalidation of old principles and practices is not to question the wisdom of the ancient scholars. Such studies would in fact only be following their dictum that textual narrations must be re-examined and re-validated before being accepted. It has often been felt that the traditional and modern health-care systems should be integrated, taking the best from each so that patients get a more holistic and effective care. In this context, this Journal’s policy to also publish combinatorial effects of modern medicine and traditional approaches as well as admixture of AYUSH, is significant. Many of the published case-studies reports in modern or traditional health-science lack the required levels of unbiased approach, experimental rigor and statistical power. In the traditional medicine systems, it is all the more important that objective of the studies is not to confirm the common beliefs about a given therapy. It should rather be driven by an attitude of unbiased enquiry. While we need to appreciate the ancient wisdom, the recent trend of claiming a ‘know all’ feature of ancient scholars and their creative works can be very counterproductive. It is often claimed that ancient scriptures in India are full of information/concepts that much of the current civilization believes to have been understood only in recent times. Even if this were true, it still does not give any practical advantage unless we learn the mechanistic bases of such claimed concepts/propositions. This necessitates KEY WORDS