Telomeres, DNA Damage and Ageing: Potential Leads from Ayurvedic Rasayana (Anti-Ageing) Drugs
Authors: Rohit Sharma
Natália Martins
Journal: Journal of clinical medicine (2020)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: Ageing; age-related disorders; cancer; cataract; osteoporosis
Affiliations: Department of Rasashastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana, Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221005, India., Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Alameda Prof. Hernani Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal., Institute for research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal., Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.

Abstract:  Ageing, while a relentless, unidirectional and pleiotropic phenomenon of life, is a key trigger for several age-related disorders, such as cancer, cataract, osteoporosis, hypertension, cardiovascular (CV), metabolic and even neurodegenerative ailments, including Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's (PD) disease [1] [...]. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Special Issue  Bioactive Phytochemicals in Health and Disease ![file] i am impressed with this speed of review and publication of this editorial piece (Received Aug 4, 2020, Accepted Aug 5, 2020, Published Aug 6, 2020). This editorial is full of speculations on Rasayana (Ayurvedic Anti Ageing Drugs) on their effects on telomeres, DNA damage and Ageing as depicted in the cartoon with the title  Potential anti-ageing Ayurveda medicines with telomer protective and DNA repair effects with no data whatsoever...unbelievably true. Good job, MDPI and Cancers. Both authors email addresses are directed to the first author s emails one institutional and the other one private...this is worrying. dhanvantari86@gmail.com , I wonder why Natalia Martins email is not provided! When i was searching for the email address of one of the authors, Natalia Martins - it took me to ResearchGate and ORCID profiles. She is one of the guest editors with no email address can be found. This is very disturbing. Majority of her publications are in MDPI journals. Only one of the guest editors has an official webpage (email: marcello.iriti@unimi.it). Other guest editor has a web page with no email contact available (at least i could not find) https: www.rodriguescf.pt about-me. , 
 The second author email points to the first author s gmail address. This is ethically not correct - as both email addresses belong to the first author. Pubpeer, please let me know if this is correct. The manuscript was submitted on August 4, accepted on August 5th and published online on August 06, 2020. Scientifically, this is a highly speculative editorial published which ends with the following statement  ...thus can be used to discover and develop new anti-ageing drug candidates with potent telomerase activator, telomer protective and DNA repair properties.). There are no data provided to prove that ayurvedic rasayana has been shown to have any effect of telomere dynamics. Speculations were made based on earlier reviews by the same authors or other researchers working on the same field. ,