Efeitos terapêuticos de Anacardium occidentale: uma revisão da literatura

Anacardium occidentale is characterized as a medicinal plant, member of the Anacardiaceae family. Different parts of the plant have multiple pharmaceutical properties, which are related to their derivatives and high levels of secondary metabolites. Thus, the aim of the study is to identify evidence available in the literature about the herbal properties of A. occidentale in articles published in the last ten years. This is an integrative literature review using descriptors in the Virtual Health Library (VHL) used in the PubMed and SciELO databases. In such a way, the research resulted in 603 articles and, after employing the inclusion and exclusion criteria, totaled 51 publications for the full analysis. 97 different properties of A. occidentale were found: anti-inflammatory; antioxidant; antimicrobial; antidiabetic; healing; analgesic; effects on the digestive tract; in the autonomic nervous, respiratory and blood system; hypotensive and cardio inhibitory effects; protective against male sexual dysfunction; antimutagenic, antimetastatic and clastogenic; odontological use; toxic and non-toxic effect and others. The antimicrobial effect was the main one to be reported, however, its applicability in phytotherapy is diverse, having a significant capacity to act in pharmacological treatments if there is adequate contribution to research and development of new drugs.Anacardium occidentale Linn is a medicinal plant, member of the family Anacardiaceae. Several parts of the plant have therapeutic properties, enabling its use as an herbal medicine. Thus, this review identified the available literature data on the herbal properties of A. occidentale, considering articles published in the last twelve years. This is an integrative literature review using descriptors of the Virtual Health Library (VHL), considering the PubMed and SciELO databases. The search resulted in 694 articles and, after employing the inclusion and exclusion criteria, totaled 66 publications for full analysis. We found 98 different properties of A. occidentale: anti-inflammatory; antioxidant; antimicrobial; antidiabetic; healing; analgesic; effects on the digestive tract and on the autonomic nervous, respiratory, and blood systems; hypotensive and cardioinhibitory effects; protective against male sexual dysfunction; antimutagenic, antimetastatic, and clastogenic; odontological use; toxic and nontoxic effects; and others. The main effects were antioxidant and antimicrobial. However, the phytotherapeutic use of A. occidentale is wide, requiring further contributions to herbal medicine research and development for promoting and integrating traditional medicine

AVALIAÇÃO DA FUNÇÃO RENAL EM PACIENTES PORTADORES DE DOENÇAS CRÔNICAS NÃO TRANSMISSÍVEIS

A Doença Renal Crônica (DRC) consiste na lesão, perda progressiva e irreversível da função dos rins. A nefropatia é a principal causa de Insuficiência Renal Terminal (IRT) em países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento, representando, dessa forma, um custo elevado para o sistema de saúde, é dividida em estágios evolutivos de acordo com os valores de Excreção Urinária de Albumina (EUA) e de função renal. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a função renal em portadores de Diabetes Mellitus (DM) e/ou Hipertensão Arterial Sistêmica (HAS) através da microalbuminúria. Tratou-se de um estudo do tipo transversal, documental, descritiva e analítica realizado no período de dezembro de 2011 a abril de 2012 no Serviço Municipal de Saúde, Campina Grande – PB, cujos dados foram tratados através de programas estatísticos: SPSS 16.0 e Epi.Info 3.5.1. A amostra foi composta por 46 pessoas, sendo a maioria mulheres (n=33). Com relação à presença de microalbuminúria, 67% foi registrado no gênero feminino, a faixa etária prevalente correspondeu a 60-69 e 70-79 anos. Dentre os Fatores de Risco (FR) para Nefropatia Diabética (ND), o mais frequente foi a dislipidemia (78%) apresentando principalmente os tipos 2 e 4 (50%) nos pacientes microalbuminúricos. Diante do exposto, verificou-se quão é importante a detecção precoce da lesão renal, através da microalbuminúria, evitando uma progressão para a Insuficiência Renal Crônica (IRC), importante problema de saúde pública que acomete milhões de pessoas no Brasil e no mundo

Needle visualization during ultrasound-guided puncture: image optimization

Abstract Background Obtaining an adequate image of the needle by ultrasound reduces complications resulting from punctures, increasing patient safety and reducing hospitalization costs. Objectives To verify human perception in relation to number of pixels, while also identifying the best puncture angle and which needle should be used, and to evaluate whether there is a difference if needle visualization software is used. Methods 20 images were analyzed by 103 students who classified them as being sufficient or insufficient and were compared with the quality observed using photoshop. We evaluated whether there were differences between puncture angles of less than 45º and more than 45º, between IV catheter and introducer needles, and between images obtained with and without visualization software. Results There was a higher percentage of sufficient ratings for images those that had more than 60 pixels and when the puncture angle was less than 45º, with significant associations between students’ evaluations and each of these groups (p < 0.001). The percentages of images classified as sufficient were higher for images in which a IV catheter was used and also higher for those using the needle visualization software, with significant associations between the results for students’ classifications and each of these groups (p < 0.001). Conclusions The human eye classifies an image as sufficient according to higher numbers of pixels. Images of punctures at angles smaller than 45º in relation to the surface, of punctures performed with a IV catheter, and when using specific visualization software are also better detected by the human eye