The aim of this research was to understand the importance of native and exotic plants in local medical systems in the Caatinga of the Brazilian northeast, and the influence of socio-economic factors ...on the acquisition of knowledge about these resources. The data presented in this study showed the importance of exotic species in the region studied and demonstrated that plant knowledge can be perceived as a way to diversify options for medical treatment in the area.
The aim of this research was to understand the importance of native and exotic plants in local medical systems in the Caatinga of the Brazilian northeast, and the influence of socio-economic factors on the acquisition of knowledge about these resources.
A total of 55 people were interviewed in three rural communities using free list and semi-structured interviewes.
A total of 108 ethnospecies were reported, 99 of which were identified; 43 of these were preferred by informants. Most of the plants cited were exotic (51) but the difference in diversity among these plants and native plants (48) was not considered significant (
p
>
0.05). The exotic plants were predominantly herbaceous and used to cure diseases that native plants did not seem to treat. There were no differences between men's and women's knowledge of the plants (
p
>
0.05). However, for some communities, factors such as age and income were correlated with the number of citations and indications for plants, which suggested that older people and those with higher income levels had more knowledge about these properties.
The data presented in this study showed the importance of exotic species in the region studied and demonstrated that plant knowledge can be perceived as a way to diversify options for medical treatment in the area.
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes meningoencephalitis as the most frequent clinical presentation in immunocompromised patients, mainly in people infected by HIV. ...This fungus is an environmental encapsulated yeast, commonly found in soil enriched with avian droppings and plant material. A total of 290 samples of pigeon and the other avian droppings, soil, ornamental trees and vegetable material associated with Eucalyptus trees were collected to study environmental sources of Cryptococcus species in Goiânia, Goiás State. The determination of varieties, serotypes and the susceptibility in vitro to fluconazole, itraconazole and amphotericin B of C. neoformans isolates were performed. C. neoformans var. grubii (serotype A) was found in 20.3% (36/177) of pigeon dropping samples and in 14.3% (5/35) of samples of Eucalyptus. None of the environmental isolates of C. neoformans showed in vitro resistance to three antifungal agents. The knowledge of major route for human cryptococcal infection (inhalation of infectious particles from saprophytic sources) and a total of 60 C. neoformans isolates obtained from AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis between October 2001 and April 2002 justify the study of the habitats of these yeasts as probable sources of cryptococcosis in this city.
Myomectomy is a surgical procedure not usually performed during caesarean section because associated with high risk of haemorrhage and other complications. The goal of our study is to evaluate the ...feasibility of myomectomy during caesarean section, the outcome, and try to establish the favourable conditions to perform a myomectomy during the same surgical event. Electro-cautery of intramural-subserous myomas was performed on two different patients. Only the myomas of little or middle size were treated. Both patients had multiple fibroids, a firm contraindication for myomectomy during caesarean section. After 10 and 13 months since myoma electro-cautery, all uterine fibroids treated were completely reabsorbed. These preliminary results regard the fibroids of middle size. It could be interesting evaluating the electro-cautery on bigger fibroids.
Tc13Tul antigen is expressed in the mammalian stages of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas’ disease. Here, we designed and validated an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using the ...recombinant Tc13Tul (Tc13Tul-ELISA) and found that it had 82.5% sensitivity and 97.05% of specificity.
To evaluate whether the decrease in antibodies against Tc13Tul may be used as an early marker of the effect of chemotherapy with benznidazole, sera from 30 T. cruzi-infected children were evaluated by Tc13Tul-ELISA before and after benznidazole treatment. While in Group A (6 months-4 years old, n = 16) the decrease of more than 30% of Tc13Tul-ELISA values showed a sensitivity similar to that of conventional serology (CS); in Group B, (5–12 years old, n = 14) the decrease of Tc13Tul-ELISA values was a better parameter than negativization of CS to monitor the impact of treatment. Therefore, the dosage of anti-Tc13Tul antibodies may be useful as a methodology complementary to CS to evaluate chagasic patients undergoing chemotherapy with benznidazole.
The nucleotide sequence of the rDNA 18S region isolated from diploid and tetraploid species of the amphibian Odontophrynus americanus was determined and used to predict the secondary structure of the ...corresponding 18S rRNA molecules. Comparison of the primary and secondary structures for the 2n and 4n species confirmed that these species are very closely related. Only three nucleotide substitutions were observed, accounting for 99% identity between the 18S sequences, whereas several changes were detected by comparison with the Xenopus laevis 18S sequence (96% identity). Most changes were located in highly variable regions of the molecule. A noticeable feature of the Odontophrynus 18S rRNA was the presence of unusual extra sequences in the V2 region, between helices 9 and 11. These extra sequences do not fit the model for secondary structure predicted for vertebrate 18S rRNA.Key words: Odontophrynus americanus, Amphibia, polyploidy, 18S ribosomal DNA, molecular evolution.
This paper describes the synthesis and anti-inflammatory activity of new
N-phenyl-phthalimide sulfonamides (
3a–
e) and the isosters
N-phenyl-phthalimide amides (
4a–
e), designed as hybrids of ...thalidomide (
1) and aryl sulfonamide phosphodiesterase inhibitor (
2). In these series, compound
3e (LASSBio 468), having a sulfonyl-thiomorpholine moiety, showed potent inhibitory activity on LPS-induced neutrophil recruitment with ED
50=2.5
mg kg
−1, which was correlated with its inhibitory effect on TNF-α level.
The synthesis and anti-inflammatory activity of new
N-phenyl-phthalimide sulfonamides (
3a–
e) and
N-phenyl-phthalimide amides (
4a–
e) are reported. Compound
3e (LASSBio-468), having a sulfonyl-thiomorpholine unit, showed potent inhibitory activity on neutrophil recruitment with ED
50 2.5
mg kg
–1, which was correlated with its inhibitory effect on TNF-α level.
Direct measurements of the spectral purity in terahertz femtosecond-demodulation sources are reported and compared to theory. Because these sources operate at very high harmonics (/spl sim/102-10/sup ...4/) of the mode-lock frequency, a high spectral purity source is very dependent on a low-jitter femtosecond laser. Conversely, the spectral content of the terahertz sources provides detailed information about timing jitter and stringent tests of models used to describe the jitter. We find that both the behavior of the central core, and the noise skirts of the power spectrum of our sources, can be quantitatively related to measured ripple and continuum amplitude noise on the Ar/sup +/ pump laser by use of modulation theory.
Tinha do couro cabeludo em crianças de Goiânia, Brasil Dias, Tatiana; Fernandes, Orionalda de Fátima Lisboa; Soares, Ailton José ...
Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical,
12/2003, Volume:
36, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Durante o período de janeiro de 1999 a julho de 2002 um total de 164 casos de tinha do couro cabeludo foram diagnosticados através de exames micológicos, realizados no Instituto de Patologia Tropical ...e Saúde Pública da Universidade Federal de Goiás. Destes pacientes, 94 (57,3%) pertenciam ao sexo masculino, com idades variando de 3 meses a 13 anos. O diagnóstico e identificação dos agentes de dermatofitoses do couro cabeludo foram feitos utilizando-se exame direto com KOH a 20% e cultivo em ágar Mycobiotic e em ágar Sabouraud dextrose acrescido de cloranfenicol. As seguintes espécies foram identificadas: Microsporum canis (71,3%), Trichophyton tonsurans (11%), Trichophyton mentagrophytes (7,9%), Trichophyton rubrum (6,7%) and Microsporum gypseum (3%). Nossos estudos mostraram que o fungo de habitat natural no animal (zoofílico), Microsporum canis foi o agente mais comum de lesões no couro cabeludo em humanos.
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