Treating epilepsy in Italy between XIX and XX century

Tagarelli, Giuseppe; Tagarelli, Antonio; Liguori, Maria; Piro, Anna

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2012.11.043

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In nine of the most important European herbals of the 16th and 17th centuries, 221 plants from 53 plant families were described for their use as remedies for treating epilepsy . By evaluating the prophylactic and therapeutic remedies used by folk medicine to cure epilepsy in Italy between the late 19th and mid‐20th century, the potential role of 12 plants in the treatment of epilepsy was identified . Their antiepileptic effects can be explained by direct or indirect pharmacologic mechanisms, that is, the ability to interact with central nervous system (CNS) receptors like γ‐aminobutyric acid receptor type A (GABA A ), anxiolytic or sedative properties, and the intervention of neurotrophic factors in the recovery of the physiologic excitability of neurons membrane after seizure.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Medicinal compounds with antiepileptic/anticonvulsant activities

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SUMMARYObjective: Epilepsy is a serious neural disease that affects around 50 million people all over the world. Although for the majority patients with epilepsy, seizures are well controlled by currently available antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), there are still >30% of patients suffered from medically refractory epilepsy and approximately 30-40% of all epileptic patients affected by numerous side effects and seizure resistance to the current AEDs. Therefore, many researchers try to develop novel approaches to treat epilepsy, for example, to discover new antiepileptic constituents from herbal medicines. Although there are already several reviews on phytotherapy in epilepsy, most of them placed emphasis on the plant crude extracts or their isolated fractions, not pure active compounds derived from herbal medicines. This article aims to review components in herbal medicines that have shown antiepileptic or anticonvulsant properties. Methods: We searched online databases and identified articles using the preset searching syntax and inclusion criteria. The active medicinal compounds that have shown anticonvulsant or antiepileptic activity were included and classified according to structural types. Results: We have reviewed herein the active constituents including alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, and coumarins. The screening models, the seizures-inducing factors and response, the effective dose, the potential mechanisms, as well as the structure-activity relationships in some of these active components have also been discussed. Significance: The in vitro and in vivo experimental data reviewed in this paper would supply the basic science evidence for research and development of novel AEDs from medicinal plants.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Medicinal compounds with antiepileptic/anticonvulsant activities

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Other objects, however, even if they weren’t associated with the saints, were used in its name in to fight certain illnesses (Table 1). The key of Saint Valentine or those of Saint Donato were put in the hand of an epileptic during paroxysm [23, 46, 47] giving the healing power of iron, which was capable of driving away the evil spirits in the sufferer [48]. Another example is the use of the Rose of Jericho, that in Italian folklore was known as the Rose of Mary or Saint Anna [27, 45, 47, 49].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies conducted on Italian folk medicine, between the end of XIX and the middle of XX century, to heal malaria [68] and epilepsy [48] have shown, together with a vast body of remedies based on the use of plants and animal parts, a large repertoire of religious practices. The sick entrusted God with prayers or acts of devotion, with the conviction that only God would be able to provide recovery from the above mentioned diseases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Disease to Holiness: Religious-based health remedies of Italian folk medicine (XIX-XX century)

Romeo

Gallo

Tagarelli

2015

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThe relationship between spirituality, religion and medicine has been recognized since antiquity. Despite large differences in their history, society, economy and cultures human communities shared a common belief that spirituality and religion played an important role in the healing of diseases.MethodsThe study of religious remedies used by Italian folk medicine in order to treat diseases was based on a review of literature sources compiled between the late nineteenth century and the early to mid twentieth century.ResultsThis approach lead to the unearthing of heterogeneous healing methods that have been divided into different categories: Saints, Pilgrimages, Holy Water/Blessed Oil, Blessings, Religious Objects, Contact, Signs, Formulas and The Religious Calendar.Some of these practices, partly still performed in Italy, are a part of the landscape of the official Catholic Church, others come out of a process of syncretism between the Catholic Religion, the magic world and pre-Christian rituals.ConclusionsThe vastus corpus of religious remedies, highlighted in the present work, shows the need for spirituality of the sick and represent a symbolic framework, that works as a filter, mediates, containing the pain that constantly fills everyone’s lives in remote ages even in the third millennium. All of this confirms how important the health-workers know and interpret these existential needs from anthropological and psychological points of view.

show abstract

“…An additional source of information may be historical written works on the use of botanicals (examples specifically for epilepsy are in [11][12][13]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A model on how to obtain data from botanical practitioners

Elsas

2015

Epilepsy & Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Treating epilepsy in Italy between XIX and XX century

Cited by 15 publications

References 21 publications

Medicinal compounds with antiepileptic/anticonvulsant activities

Medicinal compounds with antiepileptic/anticonvulsant activities

From Disease to Holiness: Religious-based health remedies of Italian folk medicine (XIX-XX century)

A model on how to obtain data from botanical practitioners

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About