Complementary and Integrative Oncology in the Cross-Cultural Region of the Middle East and South Asia
1Integrative Oncology Program, The Oncology Service, Lin Medical Center, Clalit Health Services, Haifa, Israel; Complementary and Traditional Medicine Unit, Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
2Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
3Department of Medicine, Center for Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Witten/Herdecke, Witten, Germany
4Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
5Qasemi Research Center, Baka El-Garbiah, Israel; Arab American University, Jenin, Palestine
Complementary and Integrative Oncology in the Cross-Cultural Region of the Middle East and South Asia
Description
The integration of traditional complementary alternative medicine (CAM) and complementary integrative medicine (CIM) in contemporary cancer care is an emergent field of clinical practice and research throughout the world. The use of herbs, nutrition, mind-body, and spiritual practices is deeply rooted in the cross-cultural mosaic of Middle Eastern and South Asian nations. Recent survey conducted by the Middle-Eastern Research Group in Integrative Oncology (MERGIO), operated in conjunction with the Middle-East Cancer Consortium (MECC), located 145 articles on the theme of CAM and cancer care that had been published in 12 Middle-Eastern countries. Other studies verify the role of the Middle-East as a mediator of medical knowledge from India and other South Asian countries to the Mediterranean.
We wish to invite authors to contribute to this special issue with original research, as well as review articles, that will stimulate scientific work and clinical integration of CIM and traditional medicine into cancer care in the Mediterranean, Middle-East, and South Asia. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Herbal medicine, diet, mind-body, and spiritual modalities as practiced in major traditional systems of medicine (Ayurveda, Siddha, Jewish, and Greco-Arab)
- Integration of Western medicine with CIM modalities originated in Middle-Eastern and South Asian systems (Ayurveda and Siddha) of medicine
- Evidence-based perspective focusing on basic science and clinical research
- Studies on genomics, epigenomics, and related risk factors
- Sociological, anthropological, and epidemiological perspectives of CAM use (including understanding of patients' motives for CAM use in cancer care and its ramifications on doctor-patient communication)
- Historical perspectives of Arab-Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Ayurveda, and Siddha practitioners and their contribution to cancer care
- Interdisciplinary collaboration of health care professionals and researchers in integrative oncology settings
- Methodological issues in whole systems and individualization
- Models of CIM and traditional medicine provision
Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: