Essential Oil Composition of Aloysia gratissima From Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

An essential need: creating opportunities for veterinary students and graduates to gain an appreciation of responsibilities and opportunities in global veterinary issues

Globalisation trends and biorterrorism issues have led to new concerns relating to public health, animal health, international trade and food security. There is an imperative to internationalise and strengthen global public health capacity by renewed emphasis on veterinary public health in veterinary education and increasing opportunities for elective experiential learning in public practice programmes for veterinary students. Recent experience with a US-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program is used as an example of potential ways in which veterinary students can gain an appreciation for global veterinary issues.

Dietary digestible lysine requirement and essential amino acid to lysine ratio for pacu Piaractus mesopotamicus

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ileal and caecal microbial populations in broilers given specific essential oil blends and probiotics in two consecutive grow-outs

Specific essential oil (EO) blends and probiotics used as feed additives have been shown to promote healthy digestive microbials resulting in improved poultry production. Two consecutive experiments were conducted with broilers fed corn-soybean meal diets to determine comparative effects of feed additives on ileal and caecal microbial populations (MP). Ross 708 broilers were placed in 84 pens with previously used litter and treatments maintained in the same pens for both experiments. Eight treatment groups were fed diets containing: Bacitracin methylene disalicylate (BMD) as positive control (PC); no additives as negative control (NC); three probiotics: BC-30; BioPlus 2B (B2B); and Calsporin; and the essential oil blends Crina Poultry Plus (CPP) at 300 or 150 ppm in the first experiment; and CPP at 300 ppm and Crina Poultry AF at 100 ppm in experiment 2. Starter and grower diets contained the ionophore (Coban). Ileal and caecal samples were collected at 43 days of age from male broilers. The DNA of microbial populations was isolated from digesta samples and analysed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis to generate percentage similarity coefficients (%SC) from band pattern dendrograms. Differences were observed in ileal and caecal populations depending on treatment, respectively, and especially between experiments. Broilers fed diets with probiotics had very similar MP. The EO CPP at 300 ppm resulted in ilea! MP similar to those observed in chickens fed probiotics. We concluded that antibiotic treatment affected ileal, but no caecal MP. More pronounced changes in ileal and caecal MP were seen in broilers at 43 days of age following probiotic and essential oil treatments.

Use of Pyrosequencing and Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis to Examine the Effects of Probiotics and Essential Oil Blends on Digestive Microflora in Broilers Under Mixed Eimeria Infection

A protective digestive microflora helps prevent and reduce broiler infection and colonization by enteropathogens. In the current experiment, broilers fed diets supplemented with probiotics and essential oil (EO) blends were infected with a standard mixed Eimeria spp. to determine effects of performance enhancers on ileal and cecal microbial communities (MCs). Eight treatment groups included four controls (uninfected-unmedicated [UU], unmedicated-infected, the antibiotic BMD plus the ionophore Coban as positive control, and the ionophore as negative control), and four treatments (probiotics BC-30 and Calsporin; and EO, Crina Poultry Plus, and Crina PoultryAF). Day-old broilers were raised to 14 days in floor pens on used litter and then were moved to Petersime batteries and inoculated at 15 days with mixed Eimeria spp. Ileal and cecal samples were collected at 14 days and 7 days postinfection. Digesta DNA was subjected to pyrosequencing for sequencing of individual cecal bacteria and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) for determination of changes in ileal and cecal MC according to percentage similarity coefficient (%SC). Pyrosequencing is very sensitive detecting shifts in individual bacterial sequences, whereas DGGE is able to detect gross shifts in entire MC. These combined techniques offer versatility toward identifying feed additive and mild Eimeria infection modulation of broiler MC. Pyrosequencing detected 147 bacterial species sequences. Additionally, pyrosequencing revealed the presence of relatively low levels of the potential human enteropathogens Campylobacter sp. and four Shigella spp. as well as the potential poultry pathogen Clostridiun perfringens. Pre- and postinfection changes in ileal (56%SC) and cecal (78.5%SC) DGGE profiles resulted from the coccidia infection and with increased broiler age. Probiotics and EO changed MC from those seen in UU ilea and ceca. Results potentially reflect the performance enhancement above expectations in comparison to broilers not given the probiotics or the specific EO blends as feed supplements.

Les patients atteints d'hypertension artérielle: approche de leur vécu

The study aims at exploring the experience of the patients suffering from high blood pressure, analysing the difficulties they evoke and trying to generate similarities. It is a qualitative study, based on the phenomenological method. The interviews highlight the fact that the patients are preoccupied only by the symptoms of high blood pressure. They also show that all the patients live through the disease with a lot of emotions, with feelings of frustration, stress, anxiety and helplessness. A better understanding of the patients' experience must enable the nurses to have better targeted actions.

The effect of non-antihypertensive doses of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor on myocardial necrosis and hypertrophy in young rats with renovascular hypertension

In renovascular hypertensive rats, low doses of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have been found to prevent myocardial hypertrophy independent of blood pressure level. This finding would suggest humoral rather than mechanical control of myocyte growth. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of nonantihypertensive doses of ACE inhibitor on myocardial hypertrophy and necrosis in hypertensive rats. Renovascular hypertension (RHT) was induced in four-week-old Wistar rats. Twenty-eight animals were treated for four weeks with three doses of ramipril (0.01, 0.1 or 1.0 mg/kg/day, which are unable to lower blood pressure. Fourteen animals were not treated (RHT group). A sham operated, age/sex-matched group was used as control (n=10). Myocardial histology was analysed in 3 μm thick sections of the ventricle stained with either haematoxylin-eosin, reticulin silver stain or Masson's trichrome. There was a significant correlation between systolic blood pressure and left ventricular to body weight ratio in both sets of animals: untreated plus controls and ramipril-treated rats. ACE inhibition prevented myocyte and perivascular necrosis and fibrosis in a dose-dependent manner. We conclude that myocardial hypertrophy in rats with renovascular hypertension is directly related to arterial pressure, and that this relationship is not affected by nonantihypertensive doses of ACE inhibitor. Myocardial necrosis/fibrosis and coronary artery damage induced by angiotensin II are prevented by ACE inhibitor in a dose-dependent manner, despite the presence of arterial hypertension.

Influence of different drying temperatures on the amount of essential oils and citral content in Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf. - Poaceae

Studies were conducted to show the effect of different temperatures in the drying process on the amount and quality of essential oils of Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf. Leaves were harvested in the experimental field of the Agronomical Sciences College, UNESP, Botucatu, SP, Brazil in September, 1996. Blades of the leaves were cut in small parts (about 1-1,5 cm length), dried for several days at 30°, 50°, 70° and 90°C, until establishment of the weights. In the following process a hydrodistillation, during 2.5 hours, by Clevenger apparatus, was subsidized to extract the essential oils. A higher amount of oil could clearly be collected with the lower drying temperatures, except at 30°C, affected by fungus growing. Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Rhyzopus sp., Cladosporium sp., Trichoderma sp. and Alternaria sp. were observed in the leaves. The analysis of the oil by GC-MS showed the variation of citral concentration of the treatments (86,1 to 95,2%). The results proved it is worthwhile to spend more time and effort in the production process using longer times of careful drying.

Antimicrobial activity of essential oils from plants used in Brazilian popular medicine

Essential oils from, Salvia officinalis L. (SO), Mentha sylvestris L. (MS), Casearia sylvestris Sw. (CS), Mentha piperita L. (MP), Ocimum micrantum Willd. (OM) and Mentha arvensis L. (MA), plants used in Brazilian popular medicine were extracted using method I, as described in the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia, in order to obtain the phytochemical profile and to evaluate their antimicrobial activity against the following microorganisms: Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens, Candida albicans and Aspergilus oryzae. Test was made by means of the disk-plaque diffusion test in liquid medium using 1% essential oil. In the disk-plaque diffusion test, all the essential oils exhibited activity against B. subtilis, but OM showed the greatest inhibition zone and was the only one to show activity against S. aureus. Samples of SO, MS, MP, OM and MA were active against M. luteus, E. coli and S. marcescens, while A. oryzae was sensitive to MS, MP, OM and MA. No sample, however, was active against C. albicans. In the liquid medium test, significant results were observed for OM and MA, which inhibited the growth of all microorganisms for 24 hours, and OM continued active against E. coli and A. oryzae until the last reading.

Biomass production and essential oil yield in Ageratum conyzoides L. - Asteraceae in different stages of development

An experiment was carried out at Sâo Manuel Experimental Farm, FCA-UNESP, Botucatu-SP, in 1994 and 1995, aiming to determine the biomass production and essential oil yield of mentrasto (Ageratum conyzoides L. - Asteraceae) in different stages of development. The statistical design used was a complete randomized block with 8 replications and 3 treatments (pre-flowering, flowering and post-flowering). The spacing was 70 cm between rows and 50 cm between plants, with 70 plants/parcel. The seedlings were transplanted 40 days after sowing. After harvesting, the fragments (roots, stems, leaves, flowers) and whole plants were washed, separated and weighted. The extractions of essential oil were done by hydrodistillation, using Clevenger apparatus, for two hours. There were statistic differences (Tukey 5%) in fresh weight of all vegetal parts w'hen harvested in different development stages. About essential oil yield, statistic differences were not verified among the treatments.

Influence of organic and chemical fertilization on the yield of flowers, contents and composition of essential oil of (Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert)

A field experiment was conducted with chamomile (Chamomilla recutita [L.] Rauschert), in an area of the Olericulture and Medicinal Plants of the Horticulture Department at UNESP - Jaboticabal Campus, with the aim to evaluate the influence of organic and chemical fertilization on the yield of flowers, and content and composition of the essential oil of chamomile. The experimental design for the yield of flowers consisted of randomized blocks with 7 treatments and 4 replications, for the analysis of the contents and composition of the oil, the completely randomized block was used and for analysis of the correlation between harvesting and treatment, the split-plot design into randomized blocks was used. The treatments tested were: no fertilization, green manure (Mucuna aterrima + Crotalaria spectabilis), green manure (plant cocktail), organic fertilizer (farmyard manure), N as urea, N as ammonium sulphate, NPK with N supplement as ammonium sulphate. There was no influence of the treatments on the yield of flowers nor on the essential oil content; on the other hand both characteristics did show significant differences in harvesting times (Tukey 5%). The main yield was 885.90 kg/ha dry flowers and the mean oil content was 0,86%. The green manure treatment (M. aterrima + C. spectabilis) showed a higher percentage of chamazulene content, with a highly significant difference in harvesting times (Tukey 1%). The a-bisabolol percentages did not evidence significant differences between treatments. However, among harvesting times, there was a variation. A negative correlation was verified between the chamazulene and abisabolol percentages; the first increasing - from 21.02 to 36.17% - and the latter decreasing - from 14.12 to 8.72 % - from the first to the sixth harvest. The observed mean content of chamazulene was 14.64 % and a-bisabolol was 16.72 %.

Drying temperature effects in peppermint essential oil content and composition

Studies were conducted to show the effect of different temperatures in the drying process on the amount and quality of essential oils of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) The leaves were harvested in the Demeter Farmer, Botucatu, SP, Brazil in december, 1997. The leaves were dried at 40°C, 60°C and 80°C, until establishment of the weights. The essential oil was extracted by destilation in Clevenger apparatus and analysed by GC-MS. Higher drying temperature sharply decreased the essential oil content (% v/w) from 1.0% (40°C) to 0.14% (60°C) and 0.12% (80°C). Higher drying temperatures also affected the composition, decreasing the contents of 1,8 cineol and citronelal until 80°C, and increasing the contents of menthol and neomenthol until 60°C.