Composition and screening of antifungal activity against Cladosporium sphaerospermum and Cladosporium cladosporioides of essential oils of leaves and fruits of Piper species

This study investigated the composition and antifungal activity against Cladosporium sphaerospermum and Cladosporium cladosporioides of essential oils of leaves of Piper cernuum, Piper diospyrifolium, Piper crassinervium, Piper solmsianum and Piper umbelata and fruits of P. cernuum and P. diospyrifolium. The essentials oils were analyzed by GC-MS and submitted of the antifungal activity tests. The essential oils of fruits from P. cernuum and leaves of P. crassinervium and P. solmsianum showed potential antifungal activity against C. sphaerospermum and C. cladosporioides. In addition, this is the first report of the composition of essential oils of fruits of P. cernuum and P. diospyrifolium.Key words: Piperaceae, Piper; essential oil composition, antifungal activity, GC-MS

Enhancement of affective processing induced by bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with major depression

ObjectiveOur aim was to evaluate whether one single section of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a neuromodulatory technique that noninvasively modifies cortical excitability, could induce acute changes in the negative attentional bias in patients with major depression. Subjects and MethodsRandomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel design enrolling 24 age-, gender-matched, drug-free, depressed subjects. Anode and cathode were placed over the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We performed a word Emotional Stroop Task collecting the response times (RTs) for positive-, negative-, and neutral-related words. The emotional Stroop effect for negative vs. neutral and vs. positive words was used as the measure of attentional bias. ResultsAt baseline, RTs were significantly slower for negative vs. positive words. We found that active but not sham tDCS significantly modified the negative attentional bias, abolishing slower RT for negative words. ConclusionActive but not sham tDCS significantly modified the negative attentional bias. These findings add evidence that a single tDCS session transiently induces potent changes in affective processing, which might be one of the mechanisms of tDCS underlying mood changes

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention for labour and birth care in Brazilian private hospitals: a protocol

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: In Brazilian private hospitals, caesarean section (CS) is almost universal (88%) and is integrated into the model of birth care. A quality improvement intervention, “Adequate Birth” (PPA), based on four driving components (governance, participation of women and families, reorganisation of care, and monitoring), has been implemented to help 23 hospitals reduce their CS rate. This is a protocol designed to evaluate the implementation of PPA and its effectiveness at reducing CS as a primary outcome of birth care. Methods: Case study of PPA intervention conducted in 2017/2018. We integrated quantitative and qualitative methods into data collection and analysis. For the quantitative stage, we selected a convenient sample of twelve hospitals. In each of these hospitals, we included 400 women. This resulted in a total sample of 4800 women. We used this sample to detect a 2.5% reduction in CS rate. We interviewed managers and puerperal women, and extracted data from hospital records. In the qualitative stage, we evaluated a subsample of eight hospitals by means of systematic observation and semi-structured interviews with managers, health professionals and women. We used specific forms for each of the four PPA driving components. Forms for managers and professionals addressed the decision-making process, implemented strategies, participatory process in strategy design, and healthcare practice. Forms for women and neonatal care addressed socio-economic, demographic and health condition; prenatal and birth care; tour of the hospital before delivery; labour expectation vs. real experience; and satisfaction with care received. We will estimate the degree of implementation of PPA strategies related to two of the four driving components: “participation of women and families” and “reorganisation of care”. We will then assess its effect on CS rate and secondary outcomes for each of the twelve selected hospitals, and for the total sample. To allow for clinical, socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics in women, we will conduct multivariate analysis. Additionally, we will evaluate the influence of internal context variables (the PPA driving components “governance” and “monitoring”) on the degree of implementation of the components “participation of women and families” and “reorganisation of care”, by means of thematic content analysis. This analysis will include both quantitative and qualitative data. Discussion: The effectiveness of quality improvement interventions that reduce CS rates requires examination. This study will identify strategies that could promote healthier births

Markedly Divergent Tree Assemblage Responses to Tropical Forest Loss and Fragmentation across a Strong Seasonality Gradient

We examine the effects of forest fragmentation on the structure and composition of tree assemblages within three seasonal and aseasonal forest types of southern Brazil, including evergreen, Araucaria, and deciduous forests. We sampled three southernmost Atlantic Forest landscapes, including the largest continuous forest protected areas within each forest type. Tree assemblages in each forest type were sampled within 10 plots of 0.1 ha in both continuous forests and 10 adjacent forest fragments. All trees within each plot were assigned to trait categories describing their regeneration strategy, vertical stratification, seed-dispersal mode, seed size, and wood density. We detected differences among both forest types and landscape contexts in terms of overall tree species richness, and the density and species richness of different functional groups in terms of regeneration strategy, seed dispersal mode and woody density. Overall, evergreen forest fragments exhibited the largest deviations from continuous forest plots in assemblage structure. Evergreen, Araucaria and deciduous forests diverge in the functional composition of tree floras, particularly in relation to regeneration strategy and stress tolerance. By supporting a more diversified light-demanding and stress-tolerant flora with reduced richness and abundance of shade-tolerant, old-growth species, both deciduous and Araucaria forest tree assemblages are more intrinsically resilient to contemporary human-disturbances, including fragmentation-induced edge effects, in terms of species erosion and functional shifts. We suggest that these intrinsic differences in the direction and magnitude of responses to changes in landscape structure between forest types should guide a wide range of conservation strategies in restoring fragmented tropical forest landscapes worldwide