Attitude and awareness of medicinal plants in treatment of kidney lithiasis in Eastern Morocco: a retrospective study

Introduction: Kidney stone is a major public health problem. Over 5% of the population is affected by kidney stones, with causes a lifetime risk of transmitting renal lithiasis of about 8 to 10%. Objective: The goal of our study is the attitude and awareness of lithiasis patients regarding the use of medicinal plants in eastern Morocco. Methods: We carried out a study on lithiasis patients to retrospectively identify medicinal plants used in this disease, using a pre-established questionnaire. The study was carried out from 10 December 2017 to 28 February 2018. Results: Our survey describes several medicinal plants used to treat renal lithiasis in eastern Morocco. Most patients used Herniaria hirsuta L., Zea mays L., Urtica dioica L., and Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) Fuss. This preliminary study showed that the first reason to use medicinal plants in half of lithiasis patients is to calm the pain and expel the stones. The primary source of plant use information is oral tradition. However 67% of lithiasis patients are unaware of the harmful and toxic effects that can appear. Conclusion: Medicinal plants must, like medicines, comply with strict requirements and standard rules of use to which only the specialist in herbal medicine can respond and sensitize people to the dangers of irrational consumption of medicinal plants

Definition of a novel symbiovar (sv. retamae) within Bradyrhizobium retamae sp. nov., nodulating Retama sphaerocarpa and Retama monosperma

In this paper we analyze through a polyphasic approach several Bradyrhizobium strains isolated in Spain and Morocco from root nodules of Retama sphaerocarpa and Retama monosperma. All the strains have identical 16S rRNA genes and their closest relative species is Bradyrhizobium lablabi CCBAU 23086T, with 99.41% identity with respect to the strain Ro19T. Despite the closeness of the 16S rRNA genes, the housekeeping genes recA, atpD and glnII were divergent in Ro19T and B. lablabi CCBAU 23086T, with identity values of 95.71%, 93.75% and 93.11%, respectively. These differences were congruent with DNA-DNA hybridization analysis that revealed an average of 35% relatedness between the novel species and B. lablabi CCBAU 23086T. Also, differential phenotypic characteristics of the new species were found with respect to the already described species of Bradyrhizobium. Based on the genotypic and phenotypic data obtained in this study, we propose to classify the group of strains isolated from R. sphaerocarpa and R. monosperma as a novel species named Bradyrhizobium retamae sp. nov. (type strain Ro19T=LMG 27393T=CECT 8261T). The analysis of symbiotic genes revealed that some of these strains constitute a new symbiovar within genus Bradyrhizobium for which we propose the name >retamae>, that mainly contains nodulating strains isolated from Retama species in different continents.The authors acknowledge funding from ERDF-cofinanced grant P09RNM4746 from Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia (Junta de Andalucía), Junta de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla-La Mancha and Comunidad de Madrid (Regional Spanish Governments), MINECO and MCI (Central Spanish Government). BRD was supported by contract of Junta de Comunidades de Castilla La Mancha (Project ref. POII10-0211-5015). MHRB is recipient of a JAE-Doc researcher contract from CSIC. The authors thank S. Fajardo for excellent technical assistance and Dr. J.P. Euzeby for his help with the naming of the novel species

Definition of B. retamae sp. nov., nodulating Retama sphaerocarpa and Retama monosperma in oriental Morocco and Southern Spain

Trabajo presentado en 4th Moroccan Microbiology Association Congress (MMA). 16th African Association for Biological Nitrogen Fixation (AABNF), celebrado en Rabat (Marruecos), del 2 al 7 de noviembre de 201