HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DRB1 haplotype frequencies in Piauí's volunteer bone marrow donors enrolled at the Brazilian registry.

This study aimed to report the antigen and haplotype frequencies (HFs) of volunteer bone marrow donors (VBMDs) from the state of Piauí who were enrolled in the National Volunteer Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDOME). The research subjects were 21,943 volunteer bone marrow donors, predominantly young adult women (53.3%). The most frequent allelic group was HLA-A2, followed by -DRB1*13, -DRB1*04, -DRB1*07, -B*15, -B∗35, -B*44, -A*24 and -A*03. Of the 2,704 haplotypes observed, the three most frequent haplotypes were A*29 B*44 DRB1*07 (1.45%), A*01 B*08 DRB1*03 (1.4%) and A*03 B*07 DRB1*15 (0.92%). These three haplotypes were in linkage disequilibrium. PCA showed that 98% of the VBMDs have HLA allele frequencies that are very similar to those from Teresina, the capital city of Piauí. According to the PCA results, these municipalities are distributed with a close proximity to Teresina, which in turn has a close genetic proximity to the Hispanic ethnicity, intermediate proximity to Caucasians and Africans and a distant kinship to Amerindians. The hierarchical proximity of the population of Piauí to the Portuguese and Hispanic populations to shows the strong influence of the latter on the former.

Plantas medicinais utilizadas em comunidades rurais de Oeiras, semiárido piauiense / Medicinal plants used in rural communities from Oeiras Municipality, in the semi-arid region of Piauí State (PI), Brazil

O estudo foi realizado no período de fevereiro de 2007 a maio de 2008, em vinte e uma comunidades rurais do município de Oeiras (07º00'54''S e 42º08'06''W), localizadas em área de transição vegetacional Caatinga/Cerrado, onde predomina a Caatinga. Objetivou-se conhecer as plantas tradicionalmente utilizadas pela população com fins terapêuticos. As coletas botânicas seguiram metodologia usual e os exemplares identificados foram incorporados ao acervo do Herbário Graziela Barroso (TEPB). Como procedimento metodológico realizou-se entrevistas semi-estruturadas com formulários padronizados a 20 moradores indicados por líderes comunitários locais como pessoas de reconhecido saber, que acompanharam as coletas. As espécies citadas foram agrupadas em de17 categorias de acordo com a Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS). Os dados quantitativos foram obtidos através do cálculo da Importância Relativa (IR) para cada espécie e do Fator de Consenso dos Informantes (FCI). Assim, identificou-se 167 etnoespécies, distribuídas em 59 famílias botânicas e 143 gêneros, sendo 65,86 por cento nativas. As famílias com maior representatividade em número de espécies foram a Leguminosae (28) e a Euphorbiaceae (18). Os gêneros mais representativos foram Croton L. (9), Senna Mill. (5), Jatropha L. e Solanum L. (4). Caesalpinia ferrea Mart., Ximenia americana L., Myracrodruon urundeuva Allem. e Lippia alba L., obtiveram os maiores valores de IR de 1,79; 1,86; 1,21; 1,14; respectivamente. Salienta-se a elevada frequência de usos terapêuticos destas espécies, concentradas no tratamento dos transtornos do sistema respiratório (56 espécies) e das doenças infecciosas intestinais, hepáticas e helmintíases (65), sendo gripe e diarréia as doenças mais citadas. A folha é a parte do vegetal mais utilizada na medicina caseira local (31,5 por cento dos casos) e as formas de preparo mais utilizadas são a decocção (32,2 por cento dos casos) seguida por infusão (23,8 por cento). Estes dados possibilitam ...

This study was performed between February 2007 and May 2008 in twenty-one rural communities from Oeiras Municipality (07º00'54''S and 42º08'06''W) located in a transition area of Caatinga/Cerrado vegetation, where Caatinga predominates. The aim was to know the plants traditionally used for therapeutic purposes by the population. The botanical harvests followed the usual methodology and the identified specimens were incorporated into the collection from the Herbarium Graziela Barroso (TEPB). As methodological procedure, semi-structured interviews by using standardized forms were done with 20 dwellers indicated by local community leaders as people presenting notorious knowledge and who accompanied the harvests. The cited species were grouped into 17 categories, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Quantitative data were obtained by calculating the relative importance (RI) for each species and the informant consensus factor (ICF). We identified 167 ethnospecies, distributed into 59 botanical families and 143 genera, from which 65.86 percent were native. The most representative families in number of species were Leguminosae (28) and Euphorbiaceae (18). The most representative genera were Croton L. (9), Senna Mill. (5), Jatropha L. and Solanum L. (4). Caesalpinia ferrea Mart., Ximenia americana L., Myracrodruon urundeuva Allem. and Lippia alba L. had the highest RI values: 1.79, 1.86, 1.21 and 1.14, respectively. It must be emphasized the high therapeutic use of these species, mainly for the treatment of respiratory system disorders (56 species) and intestinal, hepatic and helminthic infectious diseases (65), from which flu and diarrhea were the most cited. The leaf is the most used plant part in the local folk medicine (31.5 percent of cases). The most frequently used preparation procedures are decoction (32.2 percent of cases) and infusion (23.8 percent). These data allow inferring that dwellers of rural communities have knowledge about the plants ...

Effects of immature cashew nut-shell liquid (Anacardium occidentale) against oxidative damage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity.

The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) represents one of the major cheapest sources of non-isoprenoid phenolic lipids, which have a variety of biological properties: they can act as molluscicides, insecticides, fungicides, have anti-termite properties, have medicinal applications, and demonstrate antioxidant activity in vitro. Immature cashew nut-shell liquid (iCNSL) is a unique natural source of unsaturated long-chain phenols. Their use has stimulated much research in order to prepare drug analogues for application in several fields. The objective of the present study was to determine whether iCNSL has antioxidant properties when used in strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and to measure the inhibitory activity of acetylcholinesterase. The constituents were identified using thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and (1)H and (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance. The iCNSL contains anacardic acid, cardanol, cardol, and 2-methyl cardol. Immature cashew nut oil contains triacylglycerols, fatty acids, alkyl-substituted phenols, and cholesterol. The main constituents of the free fatty acids are palmitic (C(16:0)) and oleic acid (C(18:1)). iCNSL has excellent protective activities in strains of S. cerevisiae against oxidative damage induced by hydrogen peroxide and inhibits acetylcholinesterase activity. iCNSL may have an important role in protecting DNA against damage induced by reactive oxygen species, as well as hydrogen peroxide, generated by intra- and extracellular mechanisms.