Black Cumin Seeds as an Alternative to Chemotherapy

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Introduction
Blood cancer is a life-threatening disease that includes: leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma (American Society of Hematology). Leukemia is classified into myeloid and lymphoid leukemia. Each type has acute and chronic phases. Leukemia reduces the ability of white blood cells (WBCs) to fight infection (American Society of Hematology). In addition, leukemia limits the bone marrow’s ability to produce red blood cells (RBCs) (American Society of Hematology). It is one of the most common cancers in the world and can be treated by chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant.
Statement of the problem
Although chemotherapy is an effective treatment for cancer, patients still suffer from side effects such as hair loss. Thus, more studies need to be done to find alternative medications that do not have side effects. Folk medicine is one option used to treat many diseases such as hepatitis B, bacterial infection and parasitic infection (Ahmad et al., 2013). For instance, black seeds (black cumin) showed effects on cardiovascular disease because of the presence of the Thymoquinone component (Ahmad et al., 2013, Khan et al., 2011). Thymoquinone (TQ) has anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties (Ahmad et al., 2013). Therefore, black seeds limit the replication of the abnormal WBCs that contain the leukemia. In previous studies, derivatives of black seeds were used against myeloid leukemia (Khan et al., 2011), but this study is focusing on the effects of black seeds themselves.
This study might take one year to get the desired results and it will help all human beings.
The purpose of this study is to look into the possibility of using black cumin as an alternative medication to chemotherapy for treating leukemi...

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...of TQ (Ahmad et al., 2013). Nigella Sativa has a special chemical component known as thymoquinone (TQ) that acts as an antioxidant (Ahmad et al., 2013). It is the knowledge of these traditional uses that forms the basic conceptual framework for this research study.
From the conceptual framework, the assumptions of this research are made as the following:
1- Using black seeds will reduce the mortality rate from leukemia.
2- There will be no need for administrating of the intensive chemotherapy.
Definitions of Terms
Leukemia: is a blood cancer that results from a rapid replication of atypical white blood cells (WBCs).
Myeloma: is another type of blood cancer that attacks the plasma cells and prevents the antibody production.
Lymphoma: is one type of blood cancer that eliminates the excessive amount of the fluids from the body and resulting in immune cells production.

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