Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:p>The medicinal flora plays a valuable role in improvingthe quality of life; ancestral knowledge that constitutes a legacy inherited by the Andean-Amazonian communities. The research was focused on determining the medicinal use value of the flora used by the Andean Community of Jesús. 96 semi-structured interviews were applied, using the "snowball" technique. The population of the Andean Community employs 84 species of flora, distributed in 80 genera and 45 families; where the Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Rutaceae and Fabaceae were the most representative. Likewise, they suffer from 56 diseases, grouped into 11 categories, being the diseases of the Systems: respiratory (FCI=0.68), digestive and gastrointestinal (FCI=0.57), urinary (FCI=0.57), cardiovascular (FCI=0.56), reproductive (FCI=0.54) and Nervous (FCI=0.53), the most treated. Finally, the Andean Community attributes great importance to 54 species of medicinal flora; Therefore, it is urgent to implement projects and research that promote their sustainability.</jats:p>

<jats:p>This contribution includes the registry of 28 species of medicinal plants and their derived products used to treat respiratory diseases in theMetropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina, introduced by Bolivian and Chinese immigrants. Information on these species (their assigned local uses) was obtained from interviews with local informants and from other sources, such as labels, brochures and catalogs, print and electronic. A bibliographic review was carried out on the biological activity and effects studied in order to evaluate its correspondence with the assigned local uses. The degree of visibility of the treated species was analyzed, according to their circulation in the restricted commercial circuits (Chinese and Bolivian immigrants) and the general commercial circuit. Of the total, 17 species belong to the segment of Chinese immigrants, and the remaining 11 to the Bolivian segment. The most frequently reported respiratory conditions are: "asthma", "cough", "bronchitis", "respiratory tract infections", "lung ailments". The immigrant segments play a fundamental role in the conservation of biocultural diversity in the study area.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Despite access to conventional medical therapies, the use of complementary medicine is increasing in many communities. The present study aimed to evaluate the popular knowledge of medicinal plants used to treat diabetes and its co-morbidities, in four rural communities in the municipality of Vitória de Santo Antão, in the Brazilian State of Pernambuco. The relative importance of a particular medicinal plant was calculated based on the percentage of mentions (IR%). The similarity between the communities was quantified using the Sørensen index (Ss).Interviews were conducted with 141 patients, of these, 83 reported use of medicinal plants as an alternative treatment. Overall there were 186 mentions, covering 61 ethnospecies. In relation to IR%, Mentha × villosa presented the highest value.Knowing the factors that influence selection of medicinal plants sheds light on the mechanisms through which patterns of use develop and this may help to preserve this knowledge.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Aloe verais among the world’s economically most important medicinal plants, but as the growth of this plant and, consequently, the accumulation of metabolites is slow, we tested the hypothesis that root endophytic bacteria isolated from A. veraplants can promote growth and increase the accumulation of aloin in the gel and latex. For this, we inoculate seedlings with four endophytic bacteria and a combination of them. We confirmed the hypothesis and identified two strains with potential for the formulation of inoculants to improve the cultivation of A. vera. The bacterium 149H Paraburkholderiasp. increases the number of leaves and the accumulation of biomass, but on the other hand, 35V Enterobacter ludwigiiinoculation increased the content of aloin in the gel and in the latex. Further research should focus on the association of these two strains in a single inoculant, to both promote growth and increase the synthesis of metabolites.</jats:p>

<jats:p>This study investigated anti-viral, antioxidant activity and anti-pyretic of crude extract from Artemisia afra, Artemisia absinthium and Pittiosporum viridflorum leaves. The crude extracts were prepared by maceration using aqueous, methanol and dichloromethane respectively. Antiviral studies were evaluated with influenza virus using Fluorescence based -Neuraminidase inhibitors. Antioxidant activities determined with DPPH, Nitric oxide, hydroxyl and super oxide anion radicals’ Anti-pyretic activities were evaluated using rats with yeast induced pyrexia. Total phenol, flavonoids, and pro-anthocyanin contents of the plants samples were evaluated using standard protocols. The crude extracts exhibited neuraminidase inhibitory activity against the influenza virus at different thresholds. Artemisia absinthium aqueous extract showed the best activity against A/Sydney/5/97. Whereas Artemisia afra methanol crude extract displayed highest antioxidant potential against the tested antioxidant parameters. All the crude extracts significantly reversed yeast induced pyrexia in rats, similar to paracetamol. Thus, they could serve as natural remedy for respiratory diseases such as Influenza.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Use of herbal, complementary and alternative medicines during pregnancy, labour and delivery is common in Zimbabwe. This study aimed at documenting herbal, complementary and alternative medicines used during pregnancy in Makoni District in Zimbabwe. Snowballing was used to select 66 participants which included herbalists (45.5%), traditional birth attendants (18.2%), traditional healers (15.2%), and assistant traditional healers and herbal medicine vendors (10.6% each). Pregnant women in the study areaused a total of 47 plant species from 27 families, and 14 non-plant products as herbal, complementary and alternative medicines by. A total of 26 medical cases were treated with the majority of medicinal plants and non-plant products,used to dilate or widen the birth canal (55.3%) and to augment labour or speed up the delivery process (46.8%). This study showed that herbal, complementary and alternative medicines play an important role in the provision of basic health care in Zimbabwe.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Lippia graveolens HBK (Verbenaceae) is an aromatic herb of economic importance in Mexico, known as oregano. The leaves are usedas condiments, and people use this species for respiratory and digestive disorders. The aim of this work was to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of ethanolic extracts obtained from free-oil leaves (L9) and stem (S15), against lung cancer cell line SK-LU-1, through tetrazolium salt (MTT) assay. Extracts concentrations of 0.3 to 300 μg/mL were used and HFF-1 as normal control cells. Both L9 and S15 extracts, showed cytotoxic effect, although stem was stronger than leaves and without damage to normal cell control. The phenolic compounds caffeic acid and acacetin werein higher concentration in L9, whereas naringenin, taxifolin, eriodictyol, luteolin, and apigenin had higher concentrations in S15. The ethanolic extracts of L. graveolens have excellent cytotoxic activity, and have a wide possibility of use in lung cancer treatment.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Methanol extract of Muntingia calabura L. leaf (MEMCL) has been shown to exert the antiproliferative activity against the HT-29 (human colon adenocarcinoma) cell line. To further investigate on the medicinal potential of this plant, MEMCL was sequentially partitioned to obtain the petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and aqueous partitions, which was then tested against the HT-29 cell line and also subjected to the in vitro anti-inflammatory study. The most effective partition was also subjected to the phytoconstituents analysis using the UHPLC-ESI-MS. Findings showed that the ethyl acetate partition (EAP) exerts the most effective antiproliferative activity (IC50 = 58.0±12.9 μg/mL) without affecting the 3T3 normal fibroblast cells, exhibits the highest anti-inflammatory effect when assessed using the lipoxygenase (&gt; 95%) and xanthine oxidase (&gt; 70%) assays, and contained various types of polyphenolics. In conclusion, M. calabura exerts apoptotic-mediated antiproliferative activity, partly via the anti-inflammatory action and synergistic action between the polyphenolics.</jats:p>

<jats:p>The present study aimed to document the traditional use of medicinal plants used to treat Diabetes mellitus Type II in Bolivia. Based on the scientific literature were identified 35 medicinal plant species distributed in 21 botanical families, of which 52 % are native to Bolivia and 48 % are introduced. The botanical families with the highest representation of species were Asteraceae (7 species, 19%) and Fabaceae (17%). The most frequented growth forms were herbs (34%) and trees (29%). Leaves (30%) were the most frequently used plant parts, followed by roots (14%), and bark (9%), mostly prepared as an infusion (40%) and decoction (33%). From the available scientific studies, 25 medicinal species were verified for their antidiabetic properties with positive results, but it is necessary provide more biochemical and clinical analysis of medicinal plants to make better use of their potential.</jats:p>