Plantas medicinais da Península de Setúbal. Contribuição para o conhecimento da sua relevância Etnobotânica

A Península de Setúbal engloba ambientes muito distintos, na medida em que, por um lado, alberga cidades de grande/média e pequena dimensão, intimamente relacionadas com a capital, e por outro, áreas bem preservadas que integram parques naturais ou reservas/zonas protegidas. Assim sendo, os principais objectivos deste estudo prenderam-se com: 1) a caracterização dos remédios vegetais usados por populações distintas (as de áreas urbanas e as de áreas rurais); 2) a comparação e compreensão destas práticas (modo de aquisição e transmissão) e 3) a avaliação da influência da flora envolvente e da disponibilidade das plantas na sua persistência nestas populações. Os dados foram obtidos através de entrevistas semi-estruturadas a 121 pessoas, maioritariamente idosos, e permitiram recolher informações relativas ao nome vernáculo das plantas, à sua utilização terapêutica, ao seu modo de obtenção, aos procedimentos de colheita, à parte utilizada, ao seu modo de utilização, conservação e administração, a precauções/contraindicações do tratamento e ao modo de avaliação da sua eficácia, à fonte deste conhecimento e a outras utilizações das plantas. Foram referidos 186 usos medicinais distintos para os 253 taxa tentativamente catalogados, correspondendo a [Lavatera cretica L., Malva spp. (M. nicaeensis All.; M. sylvestris L.; M. tournefortiana L.); Pelargonium graveolens L' Her.] (“malvas”) o maior número de usos (31), enquanto que o taxon mais citado foi Aloysia triphylla (L'Hérit.) Britt. (“doce-lima”) (60 entrevistas). O grupo terapêutico com maior número de usos atribuído foi “Sistema digestivo” e o uso mais citado foi “Estômago” (45 taxa). Para averiguar de que modo as plantas eram caracterizadas pelos usos e os informantes pelas características identitárias (idade, sexo, local de nascimento, local de residência, escolaridade e actividade profissional) e plantas usadas (espécies, modo de aquisição, objectivo e regularidade do uso), recorreu-se à Análise das Correspondências seguida de Classificação Automática. Verificou-se que apesar de muitas das plantas terem várias aplicações terapêuticas, eram frequentemente utilizadas em afecções fisiologicamente relacionáveis. Constatou-se também que os informantes residentes em áreas mais urbanas apresentavam características distintas daqueles que residiam em áreas mais rurais, sendo que a sua área de residência tinha influência nas plantas que usavam. Para muitos dos parâmetros analisados a percentagem de esquecimento/desconhecimento foi importante, revelando que muitos dos informantes já não têm bem presentes os conhecimentos da medicina tradicional, o que confere urgência a uma recolha mais exaustiva destes conhecimentos, antes que desapareçam por completo

The use of herbal remedies in urban and rural areas of the Setúbal Peninsula (Portugal): A study among elders

The Setúbal Peninsula is a highly diverse area where some large-medium and small cities are concentrated and where well preserved areas integrating a natural park or reserved and protected zones can also be found. The main goals of this study were the characterization of the herbal remedies used by different populations, namely that of urban and rural areas, to compare and understand these practices, namely how they were acquired and transmitted, and to evaluate the influence of the involving flora and plant availability on its persistence. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews to 121 persons, mainly elders. Information concerning plant’s common name, therapeutic utility, form of acquisition, harvesting procedures, parts used, way of utilization, conservation and administration, precautions or side-effects if any, evaluation of treatments efficiency, source of knowledge and other uses of the plants were recorded. Multivariate analysis of correspondences was used to characterize plants by their uses and informants by age, sex, birth-place, residence, education level, professional activity, form of plant acquisition, usage aim and regularity, and by the plants they use. Discriminant analysis was used to assess the influence of urban and rural (mountain or coastal) residence area on plants used by the informants. 186 different medicinal uses were indicated for the 253 taxa tentatively catalogued. Although many plants had various therapeutic applications, they were frequently used in physiologically related problems. Informants living in rural areas had different characteristics of those living in urban areas, their residence areas influencing the plants used

The Determination Of Total Calcium In Urine: A Comparison Between The Atomic Absorption And The Ortho-cresolphtalein Complexone Methods [análise Do Cálcio Na Urina: Uma Comparação Entre Os Métodos De Absorção Atômica E Ortocresolftaleína Complexona]

Atomic absorption spectrometry has been recommended as the reference method for the analysis of total calcium in body fluids and the ortho-cresolphtalein complexone (o-CPC) method has been widely used as the field method. We evaluated the performance of the Mega-Bayer, a fully automatic selective analyser, in determining total calcium in urine utilizing the o-CPC method. We assayed native urines with low, normal and high calcium concentrations. The two methods agreed well, according to least-squares analysis and the F-test, with Mega-Bayer having the upper limit of linearity two times higher (10 mmol/L) than that of the atomic absorption. The present method achieved excellent analytical goals and sistematic errors bellow half of the allowed limit goals recommended by the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments. Final Rule. Laboratory Requirements (CLIA). We concluded that o-CPC in the Mega-Bayer equipment can confidently perform the total calcium urinary analysis with the advantage of being a fully automatized biochemical procedure and of allowing a wider linear analytical range.374235238Baginski, E.S., Direct microdetermination of serum calcium (1973) Clin. Chim. Acta, 46, pp. 46-54Ashood, E.R., Final Rule. Laboratory Requirements (1999) Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry. 3. Ed., pp. 322-323. , Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments of 1988 Burtis, C.A. SaundersConnerty, H.V., Briggs, A.R., Determination of serum calcium by means of ortho-cresolphthalein complexone (1966) Am. J. Clin. Pathol., 45, pp. 290-296Cowley, D.M., Improved linearity of calcium - Cresolphthalein complexone reaction with sodium acetate (1986) Clin. Chem., 32, pp. 894-895Dito, W.R., Microdetermination of serum calcium by parallel fast analyzer (1976) Am. J. Clin. Pathol., 65, pp. 1016-1021Endres, D.B., Rude, R.K., Mineral and bone metabolism (1999) Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry. 3. Ed., pp. 1397-1400. , Burtis, C.A. & Ashood, E.R. SaundersFirst, M.R., Renal Function (1991) Clinical Chemistry: Theory, Analysis, and Correlation. 3. Ed., pp. 549-550. , Kaplan, L. & Pesce, A.JGitelman, H.J., An improved automatic procedure for the determination of calcium in biologic specimens (1967) Anal. Biochem., 18, pp. 521-531Gowans, E.M.S., Fraser, C.G., Biological variation in analyte concentrations in urine of apparently healthy men and women (1987) Clin. Chem., 33, pp. 847-850Lorentz, K., Improved determination of serum calcium with 2-cresolphthalein complexone (1982) Clin. Chim. Acta, 126, pp. 327-334Minerals and trace elements (1995) Clinical Chemistry Interpretation and Techniques. 3. Ed., p. 353. , Kaplan, A. Williams and WilkinsMoorehead, W.R., Biggs, H.G., 2-amino-2 methyl-1 propanol as the alkalizing agent in an improved continuous flow cresolphthalein complexone procedure for calcium in serum (1974) Clin. Chem., 20, pp. 1458-1460Morin, L.G., Direct colorimetric determination of serum calcium with o-cresolphthalein complexone (1974) Am. J. Clin. Pathol., 61, pp. 114-117Sarkar, B.C.R., Chauhan, U.S.P., A new method for determining micro quantities of calcium in biological materials (1967) Anal. Biochem., 20, pp. 155-166Shephard, M.D.S., Analytical goals for quantitative urine analysis: A clinical view (1981) Clin. Chem., 27, pp. 1939-1940Tietz, N.W., A model for a comprehensive measurement system in clinical chemistry (1979) Clin. Chem., 25, pp. 833-83

Bioassays against pinewood nematode: assessment of a suitable dilution agent and screening for bioactive essential oils

Acetone was investigated and found to be an appropriate alternative to Triton X-100 as a solvent of essential oils in bioassays aimed to investigate their effects on pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) mortality. Therefore it was used as dilution agent to screen the effectiveness of fifty two essential oils against this pest. Thirteen essential oils were highly effective, resulting in more than 90% pinewood nematode mortality at 2 mg/mL, with six of them resulting in 100% mortality. LC100 values ranged between 0.50 mg/mL and 0.83 mg/mL for the essential oils of Origanum vulgare and Satureja montana, respectively. Essential oils were submitted to gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis and their chemical composition established. Data from essential oils with 100% mortality at 2 mg/mL and other essential oils previously found to have LC100 ≤ 2 mg/mL was combined, their chemical profiles investigated by correspondences analysis plus automatic classification

Perfil de salud bucal de niños que concurrieron a Servicios Odontológicos Universitarios en Porto Alegre (Brasil) y Córdoba (Argentina)

OBJETIVO: Comparar las condiciones de salud bucal de niños en relación con aspectos socio-demográficos-culturales maternos y perinatales. MÉTODOS: Se realizó examen clínico odontológico a 92 niños ≤3 años, concurrentes a la Clínica Odontológica de la Facultad de Odontología, UNC Córdoba-Argentina (n=32) y a la Clínica del Bebé, Facultad Odontología, UFRG Porto Alegre-Brasil (n=60). Las madres dieron consentimiento informado por escrito. Se aplicó una entrevista semiestructurada diseñada adhoc, a las madres o acompañantes del niño, para indagar aspectos socio-demográficos-culturales, hábitos de higiene bucal, gestación dieta, tipo de parto y lactancia. Se aplicó Chi2 de Pearson y Fisher para evaluar la significación (p<0,05) de las diferencias entre cohortes. La importancia de diversos factores en relación a experiencia de caries y cohorte, se evaluó aplicando regresión logística binaria. RESULTADOS: El motivo de consulta resultó significativamente diferente entre cohortes, 100% preventivo en Argentina frente 8,3% en Brasil (p<0,001), igualmente al considerar la experiencia de caries (p<0,05). El modelo de regresión logística binaria mostró que las variables cohorte y libre de caries resultaron los factores más significativamente asociados a la experiencia de caries. Nivel de estudios de la madre bajo, dieta cariogénica del bebé y tipo de parto indicaron mayor riesgo cariogénico. Respecto a las cohortes se destacaron como estadísticamente significativos, higiene, edad, dieta del bebé y tipo de parto. CONCLUSIÓN: El nivel de instrucción de la madre y la dieta cariogénica del bebé muestran mayor riesgo de actividad de caries para ambas cohortes. Higiene bucal, dieta del bebé y tipo de parto se diferencian significativamente entre las cohortes

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe