title: Determinants of prakriti, the human constitution types of Indian traditional medicine and its correlation with contemporary science.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Constitutional type of an individual or prakriti is the basic clinical denominator in Ayurveda, which defines physical, physiological, and psychological traits of an individual and is the template for individualized diet, lifestyle counseling, and treatment. The large number of phenotype description by prakriti determination is based on the knowledge and experience of the assessor, and hence subject to inherent variations and interpretations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this study we have attempted to relate dominant prakriti attribute to body mass index (BMI) of individuals by assessing an acceptable tool to provide the quantitative measure to the currently qualitative ayurvedic prakriti determination.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study is cross sectional, multicentered, and prakriti assessment of a total of 3416 subjects was undertaken. Healthy male, nonsmoking, nonalcoholic volunteers between the age group of 20-30 were screened for their prakriti after obtaining written consent to participate in the study. The prakriti was determined on the phenotype description of ayurvedic texts and simultaneously by the use of a computer-aided prakriti assessment tool. Kappa statistical analysis was employed to validate the prakriti assessment and Chi-square, Cramer's V test to determine the relatedness in the dominant prakriti to various attributes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found 80% concordance between ayurvedic physician and software in predicting the prakriti of an individual. The kappa value of 0.77 showed moderate agreement in prakriti assessment. We observed a significant correlations of dominant prakriti to place of birth and BMI with Chi-square, P < 0.01 (Cramer's V-value of 0.156 and 0.368, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study attempts to integrate knowledge of traditional ayurvedic concepts with the contemporary science. We have demonstrated analysis of prakriti classification and its association with BMI and place of birth with the implications to one of the ways for human classification.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
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authors.affiliation: Division of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Ritu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raval
authors.affiliation: Department of Shalyatantra/Roganidana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
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authors.affiliation: Division of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Sinhgad College of Engineering, University of Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
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authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Research, Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
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authors.lastname: Bharadwaj
authors.affiliation: Department of Shalyatantra/Roganidana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Balakrishna K
authors.initials: BK
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Sinhgad College of Engineering, University of Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
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authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Dedge
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Sinhgad College of Engineering, University of Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Vikram Ram
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authors.lastname: Dhumal
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Research, Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
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authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Research, Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
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authors.lastname: Girijakumari
authors.affiliation: Division of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Puthiya M
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authors.lastname: Gopinath
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Vet. Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Switzerland, and Centre for Clinical Research, Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Sinhgad College of Engineering, University of Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
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authors.affiliation: Division of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
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authors.lastname: Kabekkodu
authors.affiliation: Department of Shalyatantra/Roganidana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Archana
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authors.lastname: Kamath
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
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authors.lastname: Kondaiah
authors.affiliation: Division of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Harpreet
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authors.lastname: Kukreja
authors.affiliation: Department of Shalyatantra/Roganidana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Sreekumaran
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authors.lastname: Nair
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Research, Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: S N Venugopalan
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authors.lastname: Nair
authors.affiliation: Department of Shalyatantra/Roganidana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Jayakrishna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nayak
authors.affiliation: Department of Shalyatantra/Roganidana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: B V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Prasanna
authors.affiliation: Department of Shalyatantra/Roganidana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: M
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authors.lastname: Rashmishree
authors.affiliation: Department of Shalyatantra/Roganidana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
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authors.lastname: Sharanprasad
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Kumarasamy
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authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, University of Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Bhushan
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authors.lastname: Patwardhan
authors.affiliation: Division of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Kapaettu
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authors.lastname: Satyamoorthy
authors.affiliation: Division of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
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keywords: Ayusoft; Prakriti; body mass index; place of birth