Evaluation of the genotoxic and antigenotoxic potential of Melissa officinalis in mice

Melissa officinalis (L.) (Lamiaceae), a plant known as the lemon balm, is native to the east Mediterranean region and west Asia. Also found in tropical countries, such as Brazil, where it is popularly known as “erva-cidreira” or “melissa”, it is widely used in aqueous- or alcoholic-extract form in the treatment of various disorders. The aim was to investigate in vivo its antigenotoxicity and antimutagenicity, as well as its genotoxic/mutagenic potential through comet and micronucleus assaying. CF-1 male mice were treated with ethanolic (Mo-EE) (250 or 500 mg/kg) or aqueous (Mo-AE) (100 mg/kg) solutions of an M. officinalis extract for 2 weeks, prior to treatment with saline or Methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) doses by intraperitoneal injection. Irrespective of the doses, no genotoxic or mutagenic effects were observed in blood and bone-marrow samples. Although Mo-EE exerted an antigenotoxic effect on the blood cells of mice treated with the alkylating agent (MMS) in all the doses, this was not so with Mo-AE. Micronucleus testing revealed the protector effect of Mo-EE, but only when administered at the highest dose. The implication that an ethanolic extract of M. officinalis has antigenotoxic/antimutagenic properties is an indication of its medicinal relevance

Assistência de Enfermagem no período de recuperação anestésica: revisão de literatura La asistencia de enfermería en el período de recuperación anestésica: revisión de literatura Recovery room: a review of nursing care literature

Após constatação de que os pacientes submetidos aos mais diversos procedimentos cirúrgicos, ao serem admitidos na unidade de recuperação anestésica, apresentavam seus prontuários com dados relevantes mal registrados, de forma desorganizada e incompletos, foi realizado um levantamento bibliográfico nacional no período 1990 à 2002 para identificar e analisar como a assistência de enfermagem em sala de recuperação anestésica é documentada. Utilizou-se o sistema informatizado de busca LILACS (Literatura Latino Americana de Ciências da Saúde), PERIENF (Acervo de Periódicos da Escola de Enfermagem da Universidade de São Paulo) e BDENF (Biblioteca J. Baeta Viana da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais). Os indexadores foram: assistência de enfermagem, recuperação anestésica e período pós-operatório imediato. Encontrou-se 16 artigos referentes a este tema, apesar da importância dada a continuidade do cuidado ao paciente neste período.<br>Después de constatarse que los pacientes sometidos a los más diversos procedimientos quirúrgicos, al ser admitidos en la unidad de recuperación anestésica, tenían historias clínicas con los datos relevantes mal registrados, de forma desorganizada y incompletos, fue que se realizó una revisión bibliográfica nacional en el período de 1990 al 2002 para identificar y analizar cómo es documentada la asistencia de enfermería en sala de recuperación anestésica. Se utilizó el sistema informatizado de búsqueda LILACS (Literatura Latino Americana de Ciencias de la Salud) PERIENF (Acervo de Periódicos de la Escuela de Enfermería de la Universidad de São Paulo) y BDENF (Biblioteca J. Baeta Viana de la Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais). Los indexadores fueron: asistencia de enfermería, recuperación anestésica y período post operatorio inmediato. Se encontraron 16 artículos referentes a este tema, a pesar de la importancia dada a la continuidad del cuidado al paciente en este período.<br>The present study was undertaken after it was observed that patients submitted to surgical procedures arrived in recovery room with incomplete records, thus complicating continuing nursing care. The goal of the present study is to analyze bibliographic data from 1990 to 2002 on recovery room nursing care. The data was obtained from LILACS (Latin America Literature about Health Science), PERIENF (Nursing School Library of the University of São Paulo) and BDENF (Library of Federal University of Minas Gerais). The key words were nursing care, recovery room and immediate post-operative period. Only 16 articles were found, indicating a shortage of literature on this topic. The recovery room period is an important period of hospitalization and the data are essential for continuous care