Magna Suzana Alexandre Moreira

Antileishmanial Phenylpropanoids from the Leaves of Hyptis pectinata (L.) Poit

Hyptis pectinata, popularly known in Brazil as “sambacaitá” or “canudinho,” is an aromatic shrub largely grown in the northeast of Brazil. The leaves and bark are used in an infusion for the treatment of throat and skin inflammations, bacterial infections, pain, and cancer. Analogues of rosmarinic acid and flavonoids were obtained from the leaves of Hyptis pectinata and consisted of two new compounds, sambacaitaric acid (1) and 3-O-methyl-sambacaitaric acid (2), and nine known compounds, rosmarinic acid (3), 3-O-methyl-rosmarinic acid (4), ethyl caffeate (5), nepetoidin A (6), nepetoidin B (7), cirsiliol (8), circimaritin (9), 7-O-methylluteolin (10), and genkwanin (11). The structures of these compounds were determined by spectroscopic methods. Compounds 1–5, and 7 were evaluated in vitro against the promastigote form of L. braziliensis, and the ethanol extract. The hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol-water fractions were also evaluated. The EtOH extract, the hexane extract, EtOAc, MeOH:H2O fractions; and compounds 1, 2 and 4 exhibited antileishmanial activity, and compound 1 was as potent as pentamidine. In contrast, compounds 3, 5, and 7 did not present activity against the promastigote form of L. braziliensis below 100 µM. To our knowledge, compounds 1 and 2 are being described for the first time.

Usual normalization strategies for gene expression studies impair the detection and analysis of circadian patterns

ABSTRACT Recent studies have shown that transcriptomes from different tissues present circadian oscillations. Therefore, the endogenous variation of total RNA should be considered as a potential bias in circadian studies of gene expression. However, normalization strategies generally include the equalization of total RNA concentration between samples prior to cDNA synthesis. Moreover, endogenous housekeeping genes (HKGs) frequently used for data normalization may exhibit circadian variation and distort experimental results if not detected or considered. In this study, we controlled experimental conditions from the amount of initial brain tissue samples through extraction steps, cDNA synthesis, and quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) to demonstrate a circadian oscillation of total RNA concentration. We also identified that the normalization of the RNA’s yield affected the rhythmic profiles of different genes, including Per1-2 and Bmal1. Five widely used HKGs (Actb, Eif2a, Gapdh, Hprt1, and B2m) also presented rhythmic variations not detected by geNorm algorithm. In addition, the analysis of exogenous microRNAs (Cel-miR-54 and Cel-miR-39) spiked during RNA extraction suggests that the yield was affected by total RNA concentration, which may impact circadian studies of small RNAs. The results indicate that the approach of tissue normalization without total RNA equalization prior to cDNA synthesis can avoid bias from endogenous broad variations in transcript levels. Also, the circadian analysis of 2−Cycle threshold (Ct) data, without HKGs, may be an alternative for chronobiological studies under controlled experimental conditions.

Antinociceptive and Anti-inflammatory Effects of Caulerpa kempfii (Caulerpaceae)

Marine organisms are a rich source of new prototype drugs, and among them, the seaweeds are a very diverse group with different morphological, structural and metabolic features. The present work was designed to evaluate the antiinflammatory and antinociceptive properties of the hexane (HE), ethyl acetate (EA) and hydroalcoholic (HA) fractions of Caulerpa kempfii in mice. The acetic acid-induced writhing, hot plate and formalin-induced nociception tests were carried out to evaluate the antinociceptive potential of these fractions, while the carrageenan-induced peritonitis test was used to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of C. kempfii. In the acetic acid-induced writhing test, HE, EA, HA and dipyrone reduced the number of writhings by 76.7, 83.9, 90.8 and 89.3%, respectively. In the hot plate test, C. kempfii fractions did not increase the latency time of the animals in the time evaluated. In the neurogenic phase of the formalin test, the fractions significantly inhibited the pain response by 28.0% (HE), 37.4% (EA), and 35.9% (HA). While in the inflammatory phase, the inhibition was 55.1% (HE), 44.5% (EA) and 54.9% (HA), and indomethacin caused a 62.6% decrease in response. Moreover, in the carrageenan-induced peritonitis test, a reduction in cell migration was seen with all fractions evaluated. The results of this study suggest that HE, EA and HA fractions of C. kempfii have anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive properties. Further studies should be conducted to ensure the safety of C. kempfii as a natural medicine.

Epidemiologic profile of puerperals submitted to unnecessary caesarean section

Objective: to analyze the epidemiological profile of puerperals subjected to unnecessary cesarean section. Method: a cross-sectional and observational study with quantitative approach performed from dissertation extract “Epidemiologic profile of puerperals submitted to unnecessary caesarean section”. The survey was conducted from August 2009 to June 2010 in nine maternity hospitals in the city of Maceió/AL, Brazil: five public, two philanthropic and two private. The sample accounted for 855 puerperals, calculated considering the number of cesarean sections performed in the city of Maceió/AL in 2008 (15.923), and even the occurrence of loss at 5% for not impairing the study, CI = 95%. The selection criterion and approach of the puerperals was not random, they were addressed in the rooming hospitals on average 12 hours after cesarean section. A form with the following variables was used: identification data, socioeconomic data, data on obstetric and prenatal care received by the pregnant women; also it was used clinical, obstetric and pharmacological data collected from medical records and processed by the software Epi Info version 3.2.2, and transported to a computerized database using the Microsoft Excel program. Data were presented and described in absolute numbers and percentages using figures. Data collection was performed after approval of the research project by the Research Ethics Committee (REC) of the Federal University of Alagoas/UFAL under the protocol no. 007929/2009-57 and signing the consent form. Results: it was found that most maternity hospitals performed a quantitative of cesareans higher than that recommended (57.2%) by the World Health Organization and often this choice of parturition is induced by external factors that do not take into account the severity of an unnecessary cesarean section. Conclusion: in order to transform this reality, there must be change in the current practices in the country and women need to be informed about the risk of performing unnecessary cesarean parturition. Descriptors: cesarean; health care; nursing; womans health.