Evaluation of antimycobacterium activity of the essential oils of cumin (Cuminum cyminum), clove (Eugenia caryophyllata), cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), laurel (Laurus nobilis) and anis (Pimpinella anisum) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis

<p>In this study Essential oils were used with cumin, cloves, cinnamon, laurel and anis to determine Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. The MICs were determined on M. tuberculosis H37Rv sensitive to all five first- line antituberculosis drugs (streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and pirazinamide).</p

Rational design of new leishmanicidal agents: In silico and In vitro evaluation.

<p>Leishmaniasis is a public health problem caused by protozoan of the genus Leishmania. This parasitic vector-borne disease, presents different clinical manifestations including cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. The lack of an effective and nontoxic antiparasitic treatment highlights the need to develop new leishmanicidal agents. To address this challenge, the use of bioinformatics and molecular modelling will help on the identification of specific biological targets and to determine the structural and molecular properties that confer biological activity to specific compounds. On the other hand, biological evaluation is a critical aspect in the discovery of new chemical structures with chemotherapeutic properties, and flow cytometry has emerged as a potent tool for the realization of biological assays. The conjunction of in silico and in vitro studies provide valuable information to direct the selection of molecules for in vivo experiments, reducing costs, time and the excessive use of experimental animals. This chapter aims to discuss theoretical techniques and in vitro evaluation tools available for a rational design of new, effective and low cost leishmanicidal agents.</p

Estudios QSAR de compuestos encontrados en diversos aceites esenciales con actividad antiparasitaria, antifungica y antibacteriana.

<p>Essential oils have biological properties such as cicatrizer, pollinator and antimicrobial; the later has been used to control microorganisms in different environments. Few is known on the mechanisms of action of the essential oil or its chemical constituents, or the study of their molecular properties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to demonstrate the molecular and structural properties of 25 constituents of diverse essential oils, that are responsible for their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. The antimicrobial activity of 25 constituents of essential oils (including terpenes and phenilpropanes) were tested against 6 bacteria, 2 mycobacteria, 4 fungi, 4 yeast strains, 3 protozooa and the cytotoxic effect was tested against a cellular line of macrophages. Biological activities were correlated with molecular descriptors (obtained by theoretical chemistry and molecular modeling) by QSAR studies. Results demonstrated that terpenes are good antimicrobials vs. procariotic cells, especially timol and carvacrol (CMI 0.78 and 2.02 μg/mL vs. M. tuberculosis H37Rv). Phenilpropanes were important as antimicrobial vs. eucariotic cells. Cinammaldehide presented a CI50 of 4.45 μg/mL vs T. cruzi and 2.66 μg/mL vs L. mexicana; also, the compound had a CMI of 75.0 and 41.6 μg/mL vs A. niger and A. alternata respectively. Cinamic acid was the best vs. Candida (CMI 8.33 and 3.33 μg/mL vs C. albicans and C. tropicalis). QSAR studies showed the differences on the molecular descriptors and functional groups that are related to antibacterial activity (phenolic groups, lipophilicity, molar volume, absolute total charge among others) and against protozoa, fungi and yeasts (bencene substituents, non aromatic conjugated carbon atoms, absolute total charge, molar volume, saturation, among others) The compounds studied presented low toxicity; the best selectivity index were for antimicobacterial activity (a¿timol and carvacrol, 619 an 444 respectively). For anticandida, cinamic acid had the best selectivity index, while geraniol had the best values against giardia and tripanosoma. Essential oil constituents had antimicrobial activity, with best results of terpenes for procariotic cells and phenilpropanes for eucariotes. Results herein presented are an important contribution to the elucidation of molecular and structural properties of essential oil constituents that are responsible for the antimicrobial activity. Evenmore, QSAR studies are potent guides for the search and design of new molecules with therapeutic potential.</p

Caminabilidad y accesibilidad restringida en México

<div>En temas de gestión, educación, legislación, infraestructura y protección, los peatones y las personas con discapacidad son, en México, los actores más vulnerados. Su derecho a la movilidad, la accesibilidad y al disfrute de la ciudad se encuentran en un panorama adverso y en condiciones precarias. La circulación libre de los peatones y la accesibilidad universal en México se antepone ante un panorama antidemocrático, violento y caótico que prioriza el tránsito libre de vehículos particulares.</div> <br

Ciclismo urbano: un promotor en la rehumanización de las ciudades.

<p>En un mundo cada vez más acelerado, las comunidades urbanas se han visto afectadas por la congestión del tráfico, el cambio climático y las consecuencias perjudiciales de los estilos de vida sedentarios. En base esto, varios movimientos sociales han sumado esfuerzos para fomentar la bicicleta como modo de transporte, promoviendo a la bicicleta como un medio potencial para aumentar la sostenibilidad del transporte y mejorar la salud pública. Sin embargo, sigue siendo escasa la investigación sobre la interacción entre el uso de la tierra, los destinos, la infraestructura y la voluntad de ciclo, así como los beneficios ambientales, de salud y cohesión social que ofrece el ciclismo como medio de transporte. Por otro lado la comprensión de los factores que influyen en la decisión de utilizar el ciclismo como medio de transporte es limitada y poca es la información en los países en vías de desarrollo sustentada por evidencia científica respecto a los beneficios que ofrece el ciclismo. La siguiente revisión tiene como objetivo conglomerar la evidencia científica que evidencie al ciclismo urbano como un promotor en los aspectos sociales, ambientales y de salud en las comunidades urbanas</p

Enfermedades Transmitidas por Vectores y Cambio Climático

<div>Los cambios socioeconómicos y las intervenciones</div><div>sanitarias han mejorado la salud de la población</div><div>mundial en las últimas décadas. Sin embargo,</div><div>han empezado a presentarse modificaciones en</div><div>la distribución de ciertas enfermedades debidas,</div><div>principalmente, a lo que se conoce como cambio</div><div>climático y que es una consecuencia más del</div><div>deterioro del medio ambiente.</div><div><br></div><div>Una de las preocupaciones derivadas de lo</div><div>anterior es la redistribución o nueva geolocalización</div><div>de las enfermedades transmitidas por vectores</div><div>(ETV), ya que los vectores que las transmiten están</div><div>encontrando nuevos nichos ecológicos en los cuales</div><div>establecerse y multiplicarse. El objetivo de la presente</div><div>revisión fue conjuntar la evidencia científica en torno</div><div>al cambio climático y sus efectos en las ETV.</div

Aceites esenciales y sus componentes como una alternativa en el control de mosquitos vectores de enfermedades

<div>Más de la mitad de la población humana está expuesta a contraer infecciones transmitidas por mosquitos. El cambio climático y la aparición de cepas resistentes a los insecticidas tradicionalmente utilizados han motivado la búsqueda de nuevos agentes capaces de controlar las poblaciones de mosquitos. Los aceites esenciales han resultado ser eficaces agentes repelentes y larvicidas.</div><div>El objetivo de este trabajo fue revisar las investigaciones llevadas a cabo en los últimos años sobre la actividad larvicida de los aceites esenciales y sus componentes contra mosquitos de los géneros Aedes, Anopheles y Culex, así como los últimos reportes sobre su posible mecanismo de acción.</div

Quantitative structure-activity relationship of molecules constituent of different essential oils with antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis.

<p>Background</p> <p>Essential oils and their constituents are commonly known for their antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic activity, and there are also reports on the antimycobacterial properties, but more experimental data are needed for the description of the mechanism of action or structural (and molecular) properties related to the antimicrobial activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty-five constituents of essential oils were evaluated against Mycobacterium tuberculosisH37Rv and Mycobacterium bovis AN5 by the Alamar Blue technique. Twenty compounds were modeled using in silico techniques descriptor generation and subsequent QSAR model building using genetic algorithms. The p-cymene, menthol, carvacrol and thymol were studied at the quantum mechanical level through the mapping of HOMO and LUMO orbitals. The cytotoxic activity against macrophages (J774A) was also evaluated for these four compounds using the Alamar Blue technique.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All compounds tested showed to be active antimicrobials against M. tuberculosis. Carvacrol and thymol were the most active terpenes, with MIC values of 2.02 and 0.78 μg/mL respectively. Cinnamaldehyde and cinnamic acid were the most active phenylpropanes with MIC values of 3.12 and 8.16 μg/mL respectively. The QSAR models included the octanol-water partition (LogP) ratio as the molecular property that contributes the most to the antimycobacterial activity and the phenolic group (nArOH) as the major structural element.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The description of the molecular properties and the structural characteristics responsible for antimycobacterial activity of the compounds tested, were used for the development of mathematical models that describe structure-activity relationship. The identification of molecular and structural descriptors provide insight into the mechanisms of action of the active molecules, and all this information can be used for the design of new structures that could be synthetized as potential new antimycobacterial agents.</p> <p> </p