Medicinal plants have been used in traditional medicine for several thousand years all over the world. In this sense, information from Brazilian ethnic groups on folk medicine have contributed to the discovery of pharmacological activities from various plant-derived agents potentially leading to the innovative drugs. The Caatinga (semi-arid) vegetation is a highly threatened biome, covering a vast area in northeastern Brazil and has suffered from strong human influence for many decades. Many plants species found in the Caatinga have been widely used in folk medicine and for commercial manufacturing of phytotherapeutic products. Thus, the present review aims to disseminate to the scientific community some known species of medicinal plants found in the Caatinga that have been studied and analyzed in pharmacological scientific assays. Among the species that stood out for their local importance and multiplicity of uses were: Amburana cearensis (umburana-de-cheiro), Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan (angico-branco), Anacardium occidentalis L. (cajueiro), Bauhinia forficata Link (mororó), Cissus sicyoides L. (insulina-vegetal), Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão (aroeira-do-sertão) and Zingiber officinalis L. (gengibre). The present study shows that several herbal constituents from Caatinga plants, whose pharmacological actions have been well characterized, may be relevant candidates for future and innovative therapeutic development.

A procura de novos agentes terapêuticos provenientes de plantas medicinais para doenças psiquiátricas tem progredido significativamente na última década. Isso reflete num grande número de preparações herbárias para as quais o potencial psicoterapêutico tem sido avaliado em diversos modelos animais. O intuito desta revisão é fornecer uma ampla visão das plantas medicinais que apresentam efeitos terapêuticos significantes em modelos animais de doenças psiquiátricas, especificamente os distúrbios da ansiedade. Um considerável número de constituintes herbários cujos efeitos comportamentais e ações farmacológicas têm sido bem caracterizados podem ser bons candidatos para futuras investigações que podem resultar em uso clínico, merecendo, portanto, uma maior atenção em estudos posteriores.

A search for novel pharmacotherapy from medicinal plants for psychiatric illnesses has progressed significantly in the past decade. This is reflected in the large number of herbal preparations for which psychotherapeutic potential has been evaluated in a variety of animal models. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of medicinal plants that have significant therapeutic effects in animal models of psychiatric illnesses, specifically anxiety disorders. A considerable number of herbal constituents whose behavioral effects and pharmacological actions have been well characterized may be good candidates for future investigations that may result in clinical use, thus deserving increased attention in future studies.

How to handle Western blot (WB) seroindeterminate individuals for Human T-lymphotropic Virus 1/2 (HTLV-1/2) constitutes a challenge for blood banks and fam ilies. We made a cross-sectional study of 191 enzyme linked immunoassay (EIA) reactive individuals from the hematological center (HEMOCE) of Fortaleza (Brazil), examining their serological (WB) and molecular (PCR) diagnosis, and demographic profiles, as well as a possible association of their condition with other infectious pathologies and risk factors. Ethical institutional approval and personal consent were obtained. Out of 191 EIA reactive individuals, 118 were WB seroindeterminate and 73 were seropositive for HTLV-1/2. In the PCR analysis of 41 WB seroindeterminate individuals, 9 (22%) were positive and 32 (78%) were negative for HTLV-1/2. The demographic analysis indicated a trend towards a predominance of males among the seroindeterminate individuals and females in the seropositive ones. The seroindeterminate individuals were younger than the seropositive ones. We did not find any association of these conditions with syphilis, Chagas disease or HIV or hepatitis, and with risk factors such as breast-feeding, blood transfusion, STD (syphilis) and IDU.