Pellucidin A promotes antinociceptive activity by peripheral mechanisms inhibiting COX-2 and NOS: In vivo and in silico study.

Peperomia pellucida (PP) belongs to the Peperomia genus, which has a pantropic distribution. PP is used to treat a wide range of symptoms and diseases, such as pain, inflammation, and hypertension. Intriguingly, PP extract is used by different tropical countries for its anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects. In fact, these outcomes have been shown in animal models, though the exact bioactive products of PP that exert such results are yet to be discovered. To determine and elucidate the mechanism of action of one of these compounds, we evaluated the antinociceptive effect of the novel dimeric ArC2 compound, Pellucidin A by using in vivo and in silico models. Animals were then subjected to chemical, biphasic and thermal models of pain. Pellucidin A induced an antinociceptive effect against chemical-induced pain in mice, demonstrated by the decrease of the number of writhes, reaching a reduction of 43% and 65% in animals treated with 1 and 5 mg/kg of Pellucidin A, respectively. In the biphasic response (central and peripheral), animals treated with Pellucidin A showed a significant reduction of the licking time exclusively during the second phase (inflammatory phase). In the hot-plate test, Pellucidin A did not have any impact on the latency time of the treated animals. Moreover, in vivo and in silico results show that Pellucidin A's mechanism of action in the inflammatory pain occurs most likely through interaction with the nitric oxide (NO) pathway. Our results demonstrate that the antinociceptive activities of Pellucidin A operate under mechanism(s) of peripheral action, involving inflammatory mediators. This work provides insightful novel evidence of the biological properties of Pellucidin A, and leads to a better understanding of its mechanism of action, pointing to potential pharmacological use.

Letramento funcional em saúde: experiência dos estudantes e percepção dos usuários da atenção primária / Functional health literacy: experience of students and perception in users of primary care

Resumo: Introdução: A participação social na prática de ações promotoras da saúde é uma das diretrizes do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). A partir disso, surge o letramento funcional em saúde (LFS) que se compreende como a capacidade do indivíduo de entender, interpretar e aplicar as informações escritas ou faladas sobre saúde. Nesse contexto, a extensão universitária torna-se uma estratégia que transmite informações sobre prevenção em saúde e permite o seu empoderamento pelos usuários. Objetivo: Este estudo teve como objetivo relatar a experiência de um projeto de extensão que possibilita a interação de acadêmicos e usuários da atenção primária, a fim de estimular o LFS e avaliar a percepção dos usuários sobre as ações desenvolvidas pelos discentes. Método: As intervenções do projeto priorizavam temas e doenças prevalentes na população local e/ou que estão no calendário nacional de conscientização do Ministério da Saúde. No final das intervenções, realizaram-se dinâmicas que simularam situações reais, e alguns usuários foram convidados a participar delas e, partir disso, estimular o LFS. Ademais, a avaliação da percepção dos usuários sobre a participação dos discentes foi realizada por meio de uma entrevista, na qual se utilizou uma pergunta norteadora, e, em seguida, aplicou-se o método de análise do conteúdo de Bardin. Resultado: No decorrer da execução do projeto, foi perceptível que as intervenções tiveram rendimento satisfatório em relação aos conteúdos trabalhados, pois ocorreram inúmeros questionamentos e relatos dos usuários. Constatou-se que as práticas educativas foram muito construtivas no contexto da estimulação do LFS, pois proporcionaram a participação ativa dos indivíduos. Além disso, os relatos positivos dos usuários corroborou a percepção dos alunos quanto às ações. Justificativas como a carência de ações em educação em saúde, a falta de informação sobre o processo saúde-doença, a importância da prevenção e a troca de conhecimento foram abordadas pelos usuários. Conclusão: Por meio dos relatos dos usuários e pela experiência dos autores, conclui-se que as ações em educação em saúde desenvolvidas sempre buscando tornar os usuários protagonistas da própria saúde possibilitam a troca de saberes entre acadêmicos e comunidade, promovendo a multiplicação de conhecimento acerca dos temas abordados no projeto.

Abstract: Introduction: Social participation in the practice of health-promoting actions is one of the guidelines of the Unified Health System (SUS). From this comes Functional Health Literacy (LFS), which is understood as the individual's ability to understand, interpret and apply written or spoken information about health. In this context, the university community outreach program comes to represent a strategy that transmits information about health prevention and allows user empowerment. Objective: To report the experience of a community outreach project that works by enabling interaction between academics and primary care users in order to stimulate LFS and assess the users' views on the actions developed by students. Method: The project's interventions prioritized themes and diseases prevalent in the local population and/or feature in the Ministry of Health's national awareness calendar. At the end of the interventions, role plays were performed to simulate real life situations, where some users were invited to participate and, hence, stimulate LFS. Furthermore, the users' views on the students' participation were assessed through an interview using a guiding question followed by the application of Bardin's method of content analysis. Result: During the project, the interventions produced noticeably satisfactory results in relation to the content, as the users presented several questions and accounts of experiences. It was noteworthy how constructive the educational practices were in the context of LFS stimulation, as they provided for the active participation of individuals. In addition, the users' positive reports corroborated the students' perception of the actions. Users addressed justifications such as lack of actions in health education, lack of information about the health-disease process, the importance of prevention and exchange of knowledge. Conclusion: Through the users' accounts and the authors' experience, the conclusion can be drawn that health education actions always developed to place the user as the protagonist of their own health enable an exchange of knowledge between academics and the community, promoting the multiplication of knowledge about the topics covered in the project.