Deterioration of extrafloral nectaries and leaf damages caused by air pollution in a Brazilian native species from the Atlantic Forest.

In Brazil, more than 90% of steel mills are located in states that have Atlantic Forest which, together with the pollution of large urban centers, represent risk factors for the environmental quality of this important biome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of urban and industrial air pollution in a city in Minas Gerais that has a steel mill on the symptomatology, on the leaf chemistry, and on the anatomy and micromorphology of extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) of Joannesia princeps Vell. (Euphorbiaceae), a native species of the Atlantic Forest.

Criterion and construct validity of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) to measure depression in patients with cancer: The contribution of somatic items.

Background/objective: Screening for depression in patients with cancer can be difficult due to overlap between symptoms of depression and cancer. We assessed validity of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) in this population.

Method: Data was obtained in an outpatient neuropsychiatry unit treating patients with and without cancer.

Why is Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. a common species in the mining tailings of the Fundão dam in Minas Gerais, Brazil?

Currently, more than five years after the Fundão dam failure in Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. is the main grass in pasturelands affected by the mining tailings. The aim of this study was to investigate the reason for this fact as well as to determine the ecophysiological effects of mining tailings on B.

Analysis of amide compounds in different parts of Piper ovatum Vahl by high-performance liquid chromatographic.

Background: Piper ovatum (Piperaceae) has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammations and as an analgesic. Previous studies have showed important biological activities of the extracts and amides from P. ovatum leaves.

New triterpene glycoside and other chemical constituents from the leaves of Swartzia apetala Raddi var. glabra.

A new triterpene saponin (1) was isolated from a methanol extract of Swartzia apetala Raddi var. glabra, together with the flavonoids mauritianin (2), kaempferol (3) and the triterpene saponin β-D-glucopyranosyl 3β-hydroxy-olean-12-en-28-oate (4). These compounds were characterised on the basis of their spectral data, mainly one-dimension (1D; (1)H, (13)C, APT) and two-dimension (2D; (1)H-(1)H-COSY, HMQC and HMBC) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and HR-ESI-MS, and comparison with values in the literature.

Solvent-free synthesis, DNA-topoisomerase II activity and molecular docking study of new asymmetrically N,N'-substituted ureas.

A new series of asymmetrically N,N'-substituted ureas 20–25 was prepared using solvent free conditions, which is an eco-friendly methodology, starting with Schiff bases derived from cinnamaldehyde and p-substituted anilines, which are subsequently submitted to reduction reactions that afford the corresponding asymmetric secondary amines. All of the intermediates were prepared using solvent free reactions, which were compared to traditional methodologies. All of the reactions required a remarkably short amount of time and provided good yields when solvent free conditions were employed compared to other methodologies.

Structural insights into cholinesterases inhibition by harmane β-carbolinium derivatives: a kinetics-molecular modeling approach.

The natural indole alkaloids, the β-carbolines, are often associated with cholinesterase inhibition, especially their quaternary salts, which frequently have higher activity than the free bases. Due to lack of information explaining this fact in the literature, the cholinesterase inhibition by the natural product harmane and its two β-carbolinium synthetic derivative salts (N-methyl and N-ethyl) was explored, together with a combination of kinetics and a molecular modeling approach. The results, mainly for the β-carbolinium salts, demonstrated a noncompetitive inhibition profile, ruling out previous findings which associated cholinesterase inhibition by β-carbolinium salts to a possible mimicking of the choline moiety of the natural substrate, acetylcholine.

Biological effects of hydrolyzed quinoa extract from seeds of Chenopodium quinoa Willd.

An extract from seeds of Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (quinoa), termed hydrolyzed quinoa (HQ), was obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis from seeds of the quinoa variety BRS-Piabiru. Analysis of the physical and chemical properties of quinoa and HQ showed that the hydrolyzed extract is rich in essential amino acids, particularly those with branched chains (leucine, isoleucine, and valine).

Modeling the impact of global warming on vector-borne infections.

Global warming will certainly affect the abundance and distribution of disease vectors. The effect of global warming, however, depends on the complex interaction between the human host population and the causative infectious agent. In this work we review some mathematical models that were proposed to study the impact of the increase in ambient temperature on the spread and gravity of some insect-transmitted diseases.

Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Properties of Piper ovatum Vahl.

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from the leaves of Piperovatum Vahl by hydrodistillation was analyzed by GC-MS. The main constituents found were delta-amorphene (16.5 %), cis-muurola-4(14),5-diene (14.