Mansur ibn Ilyas Shirazi (1380-1422 AD), a pioneer of neuroanatomy.

History of anatomy is as long as the history of medicine itself. Development of this basic science was not possible without the dedicative effort of those physicians and scholars who were committed to discover the mysteries of human anatomy. In this regard, Iranian scholars played an important role in the development of the anatomical sciences despite the religious limitations in their societies. Mansur ibn Ilyas Shirazi is an Iranian physician of fourteenth century who wrote the first color illustrated anatomical book, Mansur's Anatomy. A considerable portion of the book has been dedicated to the central and peripheral nervous system so that he could be considered as one of the pioneers of neuroanatomy.

Breathlessness from the Perspective of the Persian Medicine.

Dyspnea is one of the most complaints in the pulmonary diseases. Shortness of breath as a subjective symptom can decrease the quality of life of patients. Although symptomatic treatment of the patients with chemical drugs is efficient in sign reduction, drugs side effect and allowing the disease to become chronic are risky for patients. Nowadays, traditional medicine is considered as an effective strategy in patients' treatment by World Health Organization. This study discusses the causes of shortness of breath from the view of Iranian traditional medicine and describes some suggestion for treatment of causes of this problem. Persian medicine prioritizes prevention of diseases by offering some strategies. In case of disease occurrence, life style modifications and herbal pharmaceutical therapy are recommended.

Correlation between the age of smoking initiation and maintaining continuous abstinence for 5 years after quitting.

Many factors affect tobacco quit rate. In this study we investigated the abstinence rate after 5 years based on the age of smoking initiation. This pre-post field trial study was conducted on 398 smokers who participated voluntarily in a smoking cessation clinic in 2005. They were followed for 5 years and their success or failure in continuous abstinence was evaluated and recorded in 2010. Three hundred and five participants (76.6%) succeeded at the end of the course. Follow up at the end of 2010 revealed that 111 (27.8%) cases were still maintaining their continuous abstinence after 5 years including 64 men and 47 women. The mean age of smoking initiation in successful and failed subjects was 21.9 and 20.7 years respectively. The age of smoking initiation could be a predictor of maintaining abstinence in the future. Starting smoking at an earlier age could have a negative effect on long-term abstinence.