American palm ethnomedicine: A meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many recent papers have documented the phytochemical and pharmacological bases for the use of palms (<it>Arecaceae</it>) in ethnomedicine. Early publications were based almost entirely on interviews that solicited local knowledge. More recently, ethnobotanically guided searches for new medicinal plants have proven more successful than random sampling for identifying plants that contain biodynamic ingredients. However, limited laboratory time and the high cost of clinical trials make it difficult to test all potential medicinal plants in the search for new drug candidates. The purpose of this study was to summarize and analyze previous studies on the medicinal uses of American palms in order to narrow down the search for new palm-derived medicines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Relevant literature was surveyed and data was extracted and organized into medicinal use categories. We focused on more recent literature than that considered in a review published 25 years ago. We included phytochemical and pharmacological research that explored the importance of American palms in ethnomedicine.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 730 species of American palms, we found evidence that 106 species had known medicinal uses, ranging from treatments for diabetes and leishmaniasis to prostatic hyperplasia. Thus, the number of American palm species with known uses had increased from 48 to 106 over the last quarter of a century. Furthermore, the pharmacological bases for many of the effects are now understood.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Palms are important in American ethnomedicine. Some, like <it>Serenoa repens </it>and <it>Roystonea regia</it>, are the sources of drugs that have been approved for medicinal uses. In contrast, recent ethnopharmacological studies suggested that many of the reported uses of several other palms do not appear to have a strong physiological basis. This study has provided a useful assessment of the ethnobotanical and pharmacological data available on palms.</p

International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

MICROFILTRACIÓN APICAL.

Los mecanismos de penetración de marcadores están basados en la acción capilar y difusión. Cuando los pequeños vacíos que pueden existir entre el material obturante y la pared del conducto radicular están secos la acción capilar puede ocurrir, mientras que la difusión del marcador puede ocurrir cuando los vacíos están llenos de líquido. La profundidad de la penetración del marcador por acción capilar depende del diámetro del vacio, de la hidrofobicidad de la dentina y los materiales obturantes 0 Brien et al., 1968 de la concentración y coeficiente de difusión de la solución mareadora.os mecanismos de penetración de marcadores están basados en la acción capilar y difusión. Cuando los pequeños vacíos que pueden existir entre el material obturante y la pared del conducto radicular están secos la acción capilar puede ocurrir, mientras que la difusión del marcador puede ocurrir cuando los vacíos están llenos de líquido. La profundidad de la penetración del marcador por acción capilar depende del diámetro del vacio, de la hidrofobicidad de la dentina y los materiales obturantes 0 Brien et al., 1968 de la concentración y coeficiente de difusión de la solución mareadora

Microbiota composition in the lower respiratory tract is associated with severity in patients with acute respiratory distress by influenza

Abstract Several factors are associated with the severity of the respiratory disease caused by the influenza virus. Although viral factors are one of the most studied, in recent years the role of the microbiota and co-infections in severe and fatal outcomes has been recognized. However, most of the work has focused on the microbiota of the upper respiratory tract (URT), hindering potential insights from the lower respiratory tract (LRT) that may help to understand the role of the microbiota in Influenza disease. In this work, we characterized the microbiota of the LRT of patients with Influenza A using 16S rRNA sequencing. We tested if patients with different outcomes (deceased/recovered) and use of antibiotics differ in their microbial community composition. We found important differences in the diversity and composition of the microbiota between deceased and recovered patients. In particular, we detected a high abundance of opportunistic pathogens such as Granulicatella, in patients either deceased or with antibiotic treatment. Also, we found antibiotic treatment correlated with lower diversity of microbial communities and with lower probability of survival in Influenza A patients. Altogether, the loss of microbial diversity could generate a disequilibrium in the community, potentially compromising the immune response increasing viral infectivity, promoting the growth of potentially pathogenic bacteria that, together with altered biochemical parameters, can be leading to severe forms of the disease. Overall, the present study gives one of the first characterizations of the diversity and composition of microbial communities in the LRT of Influenza patients and its relationship with clinical variables and disease severity

Lima Bean

According to the taxonomy, the bean belongs to the genus Phaseolus, which includes approximately 35 species of which 4 are cultivated: P. vulgaris L.; P. lunatus L.; P. coccineus L., and P. acutifolius L. (Arias-Restrepo et al. 2007). Phaseolus lunatus L. belongs to the Fabaceae family, and there are two domesticated genetic stocks from two different wild forms with two seed morphologies, small and large (Debouk 2019). The small seeds are known as ib., patashete and futuna (Yucatan, Chiapas, and Jalapa, Mexico, respectively), caballero bean (Cuba), ixtapacal (Guatemala), chilipuca (El Salvador), haba (Puerto Rico and Panama), sieva and comba (Colombia), and guaracaro (Venezuela), among others. The large seeds are known as lima, layo and pallar (Peru), torta (Colombia), palato (Bolivia), and manteotto (Argentina) (Debouk 2019). It is proposed that P. lunatus could have originated in the Neotropical region of America, ranging from Mexico to Chile, passing through the Andean region of Peru. It is believed that its origin is found in Guatemala since in this area the wild progenitor of this species was found; on the other hand, molecular studies propose that its origin is found in the Andean zone and that its distribution throughout the Americas was given by domestication (FAO 2018)

A Coffee Berry Borer (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Bibliography

Native to Africa, the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), has gradually invaded most coffee-growing areas worldwide. Adult females colonize the coffee berry and oviposit within galleries in the coffee seeds. Larvae and adults consume the seeds, resulting in drastic reductions in yields and quality, negatively affecting the income of approximately 20 million coffee-growing families (~100 million people) in ~80 countries, with losses surpassing more than $500 million annually (Vega et al. 2015). It has become evident that the coffee berry borer scientific community could greatly benefit from having access to a bibliography of the literature related to the insect. Such an information source would allow scientists to find out what research areas have been explored throughout the many coffee berry borer-infested countries after more than 100 years of research on the topic. It could also help to direct lead future research efforts into novel areas, and away from topics and ideas that have been thoroughly investigated in the past