Browsing by Author "B.S. Prasad"

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Research orientation in Ayurveda educational institutions: Challenges and the way forward
(Elsevier B.V., 2019) Kishor Patwardhan; B.S. Prasad; Anam Aftab; Varsha Raghunath More; Shriram S. Savrikar
This paper examines the scenario of research orientation in Ayurveda educational institutions of India. We demonstrate through the data obtained by searching the SCOPUS that the actual research output by these institutions is not very significant in terms of number of publications. While a lack of research expertise and infrastructure is one contributing factor to this status, a lack of questioning attitude is more crucial one. Mushrooming of new colleges, laxity in regulations, corruption, lack of atmosphere for ethical and quality research make the problem more complex. We show, with the help of SCOPUS Data, that the recent trend of establishing stand-alone institutions of Ayurveda may not help in invigorating research activities since the research contributions from such institutions have always been very poor. Instead, we suggest that existing stand-alone institutions of Ayurveda be merged with other established Central/State universities or other Medical colleges. The data demonstrates that the research output has been always significant when an institution has many experts working in different streams of science within, than when the institutions have only Ayurveda experts. We also take up the question of designing the clinical trials that are suitable for Ayurveda and propose an algorithm that may be considered for research in educational institutions, at least at doctoral level. We further enlist a set of recommendations that could potentially change the scenario. Evidence-informed policy making, inducting clinicians into the education system, making the curricula more attractive by including recent advances, introducing efficient faculty training programs, and rigorous implementation of the existing regulations - are some of the key recommendations we have made. © 2018 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation
Safety assessment on chronic administration of Swarna Bindu Prashan— a popular ayurvedic preparation of incinerated gold ash used as immune booster to children in southern India
(National Institute of Science Communication, 2017) Vinamra Sharma; Rudramma R. Hiremath; P.A. Patil; B.S. Prasad
Swarna Bindu Prashan (SBP) is an Ayurvedic proprietary preparation of incinerated gold ash (Swarna Bhasma) administered frequently with ghee and honey to children as immune booster in southern-India. In this study, we assessed the safety parameters of SBP and its vehicle’s effect on chronic administration. The groups of Wistar strain male albino rats were identified as control, vehicle group of ghee, honey and both ghee-honey and group of SBP, respectively. In SBP group, Swarna Bhasma was administered in dose of 5.625 mg/ kg body wt. alongwith 0.4 mL of each ghee and honey. Vehicles group also received same dose of 0.4 mL/kg of each substance in graded quantities by oral route for 90 days. During the course of study, no mortality and no significant behavioral changes were noticed in any group studied. The effect on food and water consumption and fecal and urine output remained unaffected. No major alterations were observed in hematology and serum biochemistry. Histopathology of vital organs also supported the nontoxic effect of SBP. It is concluded that the chronic use of SBP is safe and non-toxic at this tested dose level when compared to other vehicle groups. © 2017, National Institute of Science Communication. All rights reserved.