Effects of Ayurvedic practices on quality of life of health professionals in Brazil: trends from a quasi experimental study.

Integral health encompasses the way individuals live, considering their quality of life. An inadequate lifestyle can harm human health, increasing the risk of developing chronic non-communicable diseases, which represent 71% of the causes of death worldwide and 54.7% in Brazil. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to impacts on quality of life, resulting from lifestyle changes, especially among health professionals. This constitutes an important factor in the health-disease relationship and the core of the healthcare approach embraced by Ayurveda. The present study evaluated the role of daily Ayurvedic practices in improving the quality of life of health professionals working in the Family Health Strategy of SUS in Paty do Alferes/RJ, Brazil. Ayurveda practices based on Trayopastamba were introduced to 30 health professionals through lectures and guided activities from July to October 2021, spanning three months. Quality of life was assessed using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire before and after the intervention. An improvement in perceived quality of life was observed in the physical, psychological, and environmental domains (p > 0.05), while the social domain did not show statistically significant results. The physical domain demonstrated the most substantial score increase (10.95). Conversely, the social domain displayed the smallest rise in scores (5.83). In conclusion, the daily Ayurvedic practices demonstrated the potential to enhance the quality of life in this group, contributing to health promotion in a practical and economically accessible manner.

Investigations on the morpho-anatomy and histochemistry of Aconitum napellus L.

Aconitum napellus L. is a popular medicinal plant extensively used in homeopathy. This article provides detailed morphology and microscopy, including the anatomical and histochemical features of the herb, to aid authentication and quality control. In cross-section, the root in secondary growth shows the phloem surrounded by pericyclic fibers and a well-developed xylem. The stem is irregular in outline, displaying unicellular trichomes and many free collateral vascular bundles encircling the pith. The leaf is dorsiventral, hypostomatic with anomocytic and anisocytic stomata, and shows non-glandular trichomes. The floral parts are characterized by uniseriate epidermises, homogeneous mesophyll, anomocytic stomata on the abaxial surface, trichomes, and oval pollen grains. The tissue fragments in powdered herbs show these characteristics and have numerous starch grains with thimble-shaped, linear or star-shaped hilum. The detailed macroscopic and microscopic analysis provided in this study can help in the authentication and quality control of A. napellus raw materials. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Key anatomical, micromorphological, and microchemical features of Aconitum napellus are described. The results of the study can support the taxonomy of the genus Aconitum. Morphological standardization of the species reported here is helpful in the quality control of this herb.

The importance of home gardens for the conservation of knowledge and practices about medicinal plants in an Environmental Protection Area in the Atlantic Forest of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / La importancia de los huertos familiares para la conservación de conocimientos y prácticas sobre plantas medicinales en un Área de Protección Ambiental en la Mata Atlántica del Estado de Río de Janeiro, Brasil

The Palmares Environmental Protection Area covers almost 90% of Paty do Alferes Atlantic Forest with great biodiversity. This work aimed to research about the knowledge local specialists have about medicinal plants in order to describe the relationship between home gardens and the conservation of biodiversity and local knowledge. 107 ethnospecies were reported belonging to 37 botanical families, Asteraceae the most abundant and a majority of native species. The highest RCF species were Plectranthus barbatus and the highest RI was obtained for Plantago australis/P. guilleminiana. Plants were cited mainly for the treatment of illness related to digestive system and the highest FIC was about the use of plants related to eye diseases. Local experts mainly cited plants for low complexity health problems. Home gardens, as the main collection site, contribute to minimizing anthropic pressure and extractivism, which favours a sustainable relationship within the APA, at least regarding to medicinal plants.

El Área de Protección Ambiental de Palmares cubre casi el 90% de la Mata Atlántica de Paty do Alferes con una gran biodiversidad. Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo investigar el conocimiento que los especialistas locales tienen sobre las plantas medicinales con el fin de describir la relación entre los huertos familiares y la conservación de la biodiversidad y el conocimiento local. Se reportaron 107 etnoespecies pertenecientes a 37 familias botánicas, Asteraceae la más abundante y la mayoría de las especies nativas. Las especies de RCF más altas fueron Plectranthus barbatus y la IR más alta se obtuvo para Plantago australis/P. guilleminiana. Las plantas se citaron principalmente para el tratamiento de enfermedades relacionadas con el sistema digestivo y el FIC más alto fue sobre el uso de plantas relacionadas con enfermedades oculares. Los expertos locales citaron principalmente las plantas por problemas de salud de baja complejidad. Los huertos familiares, como principal sitio de acopio, contribuyen a minimizar la presión antrópica y el extractivismo, lo que favorece una relación sustentable dentro de la APA, al menos en lo que respecta a las plantas medicinales.

Distinct growth and extractive methods of Acmellaoleracea (L.) R.K. Jansen rising different concentrations of spilanthol: An important bioactive compound in human dietary.

Acmella oleracea, commonly known as jambú, is a great source of spilanthol, a secondary metabolite responsible for different kind of biological activities, such as the antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory bioactivities. The purpose of this work was to evaluate spilanthol content in A. oleracea plants obtained from three different cultivation conditions - in vitro, acclimatized and in field - and compare two different extraction techniques: maceration and microwave assisted extraction (MAE). Therefore, A. oleracea nodal segments were cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium. After 30days, developed plants were transferred to ex vitro conditions and successfully acclimatized. From all types of culture, the whole plant as well as the flowers, leaves, stems and roots were used, separately, to obtain ethanolic extract (75%) but only the micropropagated whole plant was used on the factorial design 24-1 on the microwave-assisted extraction. All the samples were quantified by HPLC-DAD and analyzed by CG-MS. Results show that the different acclimatized plant parts are the richest in spilanthol content, followed by the in vitro culture and, finally, field material. The MAE was able to extract the highest amount of spilanthol from in vitro whole plant (3.09%) compared to the classical maceration extract (0.98%) and, furnished good crude extracts yields under an optimized study accurately explained by the mathematical model. The antibacterial assay presented a negative result using in vitro samples and bacteria inhibition with field samples against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228) standard strains.