Top PDF The chemical composition and pharmacological activities of geopropolis produced by Melipona fasciculata Smith in northeast Brazil

anticancer agents. This drug has a similar spectrum of activity to cisplatin but with fewer side effects [24,25]. However, in our study, the concentrations of 100 and 200 µmol/L recommended in the literature [14] exerted no effect on HEp-2 cells. Thus, higher concentrations of carboplatin were investigated. Concentrations of 400 and 500 µmol/L exhibited only a slight inhibitory effect, suggesting that HEp-2 cells were either resistant or had low sensitivity toward this drug. Cinegaglia et al. observed no carboplatin effects (100 and 200 µmol/L) on canine osteosarcoma cells [21]. The effectiveness of platinum agents against neoplastic cells may be due to the formation of DNA-platinum adducts, resulting in a conformational change in the structure of DNA that results in the inhibition of replication and/or DNA repair mechanisms [26,27]. Cells with a higher capacity for repair mechanisms are resistant to platinum compounds [26]. Clinically, restricted blood flow to the tumor can also restrict the availability of carboplatin, resulting in lower drug availability and lower sensitivity to platinum agents. Our data demonstrated that HEp-2 cells were not sensitive to carboplatin, suggesting resistance or low susceptibility to this chemotherapeutic agent, even at very high concentrations. There is little data in literature regarding the immunomodulatory action of geopropolis produced by stingless bees. Only the highest concentration of Geo showed cytotoxic effects toward monocytes, and the non-cytotoxic concentrations increased TNF-α and IL-10 production by these cells. TNF-α is a pro- inflammatory cytokine produced by macrophages, monocytes, and other cells, and is the main mediator of acute inflammatory response to Gram-negative bacteria and other infectious agents. One of the physiological functions of TNF-α is to stimulate the recruitment of neutrophils and monocytes to infection sites and to activate these cells to kill microorganisms [29]. IL-10 is secreted by T cells, monocytes and macrophages to regulate both innate and adaptive immunity [30]. In our study, both TNF-α and IL-10 production were elevated after incubation with geopropolis, suggesting its activator profile.

The chemical composition of propolis is very complex and closely related to its biological activity (Bankova et al. 2000, Sforcin and Bankova 2011, Cunha et al. 2016). Phenolic compounds, terpenes, and aromatic acids are considered the main bioactive constituents of propolis (Bankova et al. 2000, Souza et al. 2013, Dutra et al. 2014). The total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities of geopropolis samples produced by M. mondury are shown in Table I. BFGP contained the highest amount of phenolic (303.1 ± 0.1 µg GAE / mg), which differed significantly from that in the other fractions (p < 0.05). HFGP contained a low concentration of phenolics (GAE 40.1 ± 0.4 µg/mg), as expected. In our study, the amount of reducing compounds was much higher than that found by Souza et al. (2013) in M. subnitida geopropolis from Paraiba state, Brazil (ranging from 25.6 ± 0.5 to 115.8 ± 0.8 µg GAE/mg). This suggests that the

Abstract: Geopropolis is a resin mixed with mud, produced only by stingless bees. Despite being popularly known for its medicinal properties, few scientific studies have proven its biological activities. In this context, the objective of this study was to determine the chemical composition and antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic and antimicrobial activities of the Melipona orbignyi geopropolis. The hydroalcoholic extract of geopropolis (HEGP) was prepared and its chemical composition determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to diode array detector and mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS). The antioxidant activity was determined by the capture of free radicals and inhibition of lipid peroxidation in human erythrocytes. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by the inhibition of the hyaluronidase enzyme and the antimutagenic action was investigated in Saccharomyces cerevisiae colonies. The antimicrobial activities were determined against bacteria and yeasts, isolated from reference strains and hospital origin. The chemical composition of HEGP included flavonoids, derivatives of glycosylated phenolic acids and terpenoids. HEGP showed high antioxidant activity, it inhibited the activity of the inflammatory enzyme hyaluronidase and reduced the mutagenic effects in S. cerevisiae. In relation to the antimicrobial activity, it promoted the death of all microorganisms evaluated. In conclusion, this study reveals for the first time the chemical composition of the HEGP of M. orbignyi and demonstrates its pharmacological properties.

QUALITY OF HONEY PRODUCED BY Meipona fasciculata SMITH OF CERRADO REGION FROM MARANHAO STATE, BRAZIL. The honey of Melipona fasciculata is few known in terms of composition, and therefore generally associated with the characteristics of the honey of Apis mellifera. This study contributes to the knowledge of the physico-chemical characteristics of honey of M. fasciculata of the municipalities of Barra do Corda, Jenipapo dos Vieiras, Fernando Falcão, Carolina and Riachão, in cerrado region from Maranhão. The parameters studied were: moisture, pH, acidity, reducing sugars, apparent sucrose, hydroxymethylfurfural, diastase activity, insoluble solids, ash and color. Some of the observed patterns may conform to the established for A. mellifera, but others must be accompanied by a specific legislation.

ABSTRACT: “Pharmacognostic evaluation of geopropolis of Melipona fasciculata Smith from Baixada Maranhense, Brazil”. Melipona fasciculata Smith is a native, social, stingless bee species that produces wax, honey and geopropolis. This work aimed to do a pharmacological evaluation of Melipona fasciculata geopropolis, collected in beehives in the municipal districts of Arari, São Bento and São João Batista, in Baixada maranhense, in the state of Maranhão, Brazil, seeking to obtain basis for the quality control and standardization of the product. The methodology used included the accomplishment of sensorial analyses, chemical approach, chromatographic profi les and determination of the fl avonoids contents. The results demonstrate that the geopropolis have organoleptic characteristics similar to the ones found for the propolis of Apis mellifera, presence of phenolic compounds in larger concentration, besides substances of the class of the terpenes and saponins and absence of alkaloids. The chromatographic profi les indicated that the composition and concentration of the chemical substances are different among the samples. The fl avonoids contents ranged between 0.17 - 2.6%. The content for most of the samples presented values above the minimum demanded by the Brazilian legislation for propolis of Apis mellifera. The found data suggest that the qualitative and quantitative variations of fl avonoids and other chemical substances in geopropolis are strongly affected for the fl ora visited by the bees, geographical area and environmental factors.

Geopropolis and its subproducts are used by the population for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, fatigue, hemorrhoids, gastritis, and cough (Kerr 1987). Several studies have demonstrated the biological properties of geopropolis, such as antimicrobial, cytotoxic, antitumor, antioxidant, antinociceptive, anti- inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and gastroprotective (Libério et al. 2011; Souza et al. 2014; Araújo et al. 2015). The chemical composition of geopropolis is complex. It has been reported the presence of polyphenolic compounds (phenolic acids, flavonoids, and tannins) (Silva et al. 2013; Souza et al. 2013; Dutra et al. 2014), terpenes (monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, and triterpenes), fatty acids, steroids, and saponins (Dutra et al. 2008; Cunha et al. 2009; Araújo et al. 2015). However, its chemical composition varies according to the flora visited by stingless bees, the region, and the time of collection (Bankova 2009; Ribeiro et al. 2013; Barth and Freitas 2015).

www.ijstr.org can support the management of coastal areas, so it can be arranged on the setting, management, utilization, preservation and protection and security of marine areas and determination of Indonesia‘s borders area. To be comprehend the existence of territory of a country that called as maritime country in which it consists of securing a territorial waters, leading islands and natural resources outcomes such as fishing become rights and obligations of all government and relevant agencies to handle the management of coastal areas and leading small islands of various foreign ships or parties that violate a cross-border waters the other party‘s interests that can threaten the state‘s sovereignty.

Abstract: The study examined the male and female level of access and ownership to land for cassava production in Abia state. The objectives of the study were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, determine the differences in quantity of cassava produced by both male and female farmers. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used select 218 respondents. Questionnaire was used for data collection while frequency counts, mean, percentages and Z-test were used in analyzing the data generated. The result shows that the mean age for male and the female were 52.7 and 46.2 years respectively. 94.5% of the male and 97.2% of the female had one form of formal education. The mean household size of the male and the female were 8 and 7 persons per house. The mean farming experiences of the male and female were 16.54 years and 13.26 years respectively. Mean income generated from cassava stand to be (#) 54882.57 and (#) 126082.60 respectively for both male and female. The Z- test analysis result shows that mean farm sizes of the respondents were 2.91 hectares and 2.45 hectares respectively for both male and female. The analysis also showed that there was significant difference between access to farmland of male and the female farmers at t = -2.613 at 5% significant level and cassava output of male and the female at t = -4.764 at 1% significant level. It was therefore recommended that a micro- credit scheme be established by government and nongovernmental organization target mainly on female cassava farmers for purchase of resources for cassava production.

BASTOS, C.C.C.; ÁVILA, P.H.M.; SANTOS FILHO, E.X.; ÁVILA, R.I.; BATISTA, A.C.; FONSECA, S.G.; LIMA, E.M.; MARRETO, R.N.; MENDONÇA, E.F.; VALADARES, M.C. Use ofBidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae) andCurcuma longaL.(Zingiberaceae) totreat intestinal mucositis in mice:Toxico-pharmacologicalevaluations. Toxicol. Reports,2016 3, 279–287. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.toxrep.2015.10.0132214-7500/.

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to evaluate the yield and physiological quality of bean seeds in two agricultural crops, and the chemical composition of seedlings submitted to adverse temperatures during germination. For the field experiment, a randomized block design was used, using five genotypes, BRS Embaixador, IPR Tuiuiú, Guabiju, Carioquinha and Mouro, arranged in four replicates. The experimental units were composed of five lines with five meters in length, where 25 plants were randomly collected per experimental unit to measure the characters of interest. For laboratory testing the seeds produced were submitted to three temperatures (15, 25 and 35°C) during germination under controlled conditions. The evaluated characters were: grain yield, mass of a thousand seeds, germination, first germination count, starch content, soluble sugar, soluble protein and total amino acids. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and later compared by the Tukey test. Yield per plant revealed changes between the agricultural crops, as well as among the genotypes tested. Germination and the first germination count revealed higher magnitudes in seeds produced by BRS Embaixador, IPR Tuiuiu and Carioquinha genotypes. Yield, seed physiological quality and chemical composition of seedlings are influenced by the crop and genotypes tested.

The fatty acid profiles of the microalgae examined here are presented in Tables 5 and 6. Fatty acids with carbon chains varying from C8 to C24, both saturated and unsaturated (with 1 to 6 unsaturated bonds), were identified. The most frequent fatty acids were: myristic (C14:0), palmitic (C16:0), palmitoleic (C16:1), stearic (C18:0), oleic (C18:1, ω-9), linoleic (AL, C18:2 ω-6), α-linolenic (ALA, C18:3 ω-3), and stearidonic (STD, C18:4 ω-3). Among those, palmitic acid stood out as the principal saturated fatty acid (SFA), with the microalgae examined producing that fatty acid at concentrations varying from 11.3% (Chlorococcum sp. (cf. hypnosporum) D65Z) to 38.0% (S. nidulans D112Z) of all fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) produced. The same pattern of palmitic acid predominance was reported by Nakanishi et al. (2014) for Chlamydomonas sp., by Ambrozova et al. (2014) for eight microalgae, and by Campos et al. (2010) for 10 species of marine microalgae.

Relative advantage is defined as the extent to which a person views an innovation as offering an advantage over previous ways of performing the same task (Roger, 1983; Agarwal & Prasad, 1997). Because Internet banking services allow customers to access their banking account from any location 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, it provides an enormous advantage and convenience to users (Tan & Teo, 2000). It also gives customers greater control over managing their finances, as they are able to check their accounts easily. Besides, a customer’s Internet experience, his or her banking needs can affect his adoption. As there are more financial products and services, it is expected that individuals with many financial accounts and who subscribe to many banking services will be more inclined to adopt Internet banking. Tan and Teo (2000) has reported that potential adopters of Internet banking services are likely to own multiple banking accounts and subscribe to various banking services. Rogers argues that potential adapters, who are allowed to experiment with an innovation will feel more comfortable with the innovation and are more likely to adopt it. Thus, if customers have the opportunity to try the innovation, certain fears of the unknown may be minimized. Government policy could also aid or hinder Internet diffusion (Mbarika, 2002). This is consistent with the national systems of innovation theory that posits that government policies may encourage or mandate technology development and adoption (King et. al., 1994; Wolcott et. al., 2001). Tan and Teo (2000) suggest that the greater the extent of government support for Internet commerce, the more likely Internet banking will be adopted, thus, confirming Goh’s (1995) suggestion that governments can play an interventionist and leading role in the diffusion of innovation. Potential users in turn would view new applications such as Internet banking services more favorably and hence be more like to use them. Thus, the second alternative hypothesis is:

The essence of social economy is the inclusive function of the labor market through which the different forms of social economy that exist in the member states can play a role in the overcoming the crisis, especially in the creating of jobs, including in social services field Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the post‐ 2010 Lisbon Strategy 9, p. .

O triterpeno lupeol (2), isolado da fração hexânica, não foi cita- do na literatura como sendo constituinte da alcachofra, sendo este o primeiro relato, podendo ser o composto responsável pelos efeitos citotóxicos e diuréticos encontrados neste estudo. No entanto, as in- vestigações devem ser estendidas para confirmar tal hipótese. Os resultados obtidos permitiram concluir que, embora a cinarina seja o principal constituinte citado na literatura para a planta cultivada em outros países, especialmente na Europa, encontra-se em pouquíssima quantidade na alcachofra cultivada no Brasil. No entanto, novos es- tudos experimentais são necessários para confirmar tal observação, levando em consideração a sazonalidade, fatores ambientais e pro- cessos de preparação dos extratos. Por outro lado, é importante res- saltar a presença da lactona sesquiterpênica cinaropicrina (3) como componente majoritário e do flavonóide cinarosídio (4). O compos- to 3, embora não tenha exibido ação citotóxica no modelo da A. salina, é considerado neurotóxico e pode comprometer o uso da al- cachofra no Brasil. Isto é altamente preocupante e estimula novos estudos visando um controle de qualidade mais efetivo de fitoterápicos produzidos no país à base de alcachofra.

Ramalho et al. (1990), em sua revisão sobre espécies vegetais importantes, como fornecedoras de pólen e néctar para meliponíneos e abelhas africanizadas, ainda não haviam registrado nenhum representante de Pontederiaceae como sendo importante fornecedor desses recursos, o que pode ser justificado devido à maioria dos estudos realizados ter ocorrido em áreas sem influência de alagamentos. Já Pott e Pott (1986), apontaram Pontederia cordata e P. rotundifolia como importantes plantas aquáticas apícolas no Pantanal do Mato Grosso do Sul, tanto pela alta frequência com que ocorrem na região quanto pela grande visitação das abelhas em suas flores, principalmente, na época de plena floração (de abril a agosto), no entanto, não avaliaram se são poliníferas ou/e nectaríferas. Em publicação com base em informações de herbário e levantamentos bibliográficos Salis et. al. (2009), incluíram várias espécies de Pontederia como importantes para Apis mellifera no Pantanal, inclusive P. parviflora florindo abundantemente de abril a maio e de agosto a setembro. Em nossos resultados as principais épocas de contribuição em néctar dessa espécie para o mel foram o inverno e a primavera (de junho a outubro), coincidindo com o período seco em Palmeirândia, o que demonstra que não depende das chuvas para florescer e que por isso se configura como uma constante fonte de recursos para Melipona fasciculata, disponível quase o ano todo.

Stingless bees in Brazil are indigenous and found all over the country. Bee pollen is used for its nutritional value in the human diet. It is made up of natural flower pollen mixed with nectar and bee secretions. In order to evaluate the chemical composition, free radical scavenging activity, and botanical origin, sample of pollen loads from stingless bee, Melipona rufiventris (Uruçu amarela) was studied. The EtOAc extract of pollen of Melipona rufiventris yielded the following compounds: p-hydroxycinnamic acid, dihydroquercetin, isorhamnetin, isorhamnetin-3-O-(6"-O-E- p- coumaroyl)-β- D -glucopyranoside, luteolin, and quercetin. This is the first report of the isolation of isorhamnetin-3-O- (6"-O-E- p-coumaroyl)-β- D -glucopyranoside from pollen. The free radical-scavenging activities of different solvent

ABSTRACT - Irrigation using produced water, which is generated during crude oil and gas recovery and treated by the exploration industry, could be an option for irrigated agriculture in semiarid regions. To determine the viability of this option, the effects of this treated water on the nutritional status of plants should be assessed. For this purpose, we examined the nutritional changes in sunflowers after they were irrigated with oil-produced water and the effects of this water on plant biomass and seed production. The sunflower cultivar BRS 321 was grown for three crop cycles in areas irrigated with filtered produced water (FPW), reverse osmosis-treated produced water (OPW), or ground water (GW). At the end of each cycle, roots, shoots, and seeds were collected to examine their nutrient concentrations. Produced water irrigation affected nutrient accumulation in the sunflower plants. OPW irrigation promoted the accumulation of Ca, Na, N, P, and Mg. FPW irrigation favored the accumulation of Na in both roots and shoots, and biomass and seed production were negatively affected. The Na in the shoots of plants irrigated with FPW increased throughout the three crop cycles. Under controlled conditions, it is possible to reuse reverse osmosis-treated produced water in agriculture. However, more long-term research is needed to understand its cumulative effects on the chemical and biological properties of the soil and crop production.

household, the program caused an increase of more than 11 percentage points in the probability of attending school. One possible reason for this increase in the estimated impact is the fact that his/her family is only receiving any transfers from the Bolsa Familia program because he/she is attending school. The fear of losing access to the program, which means that it may take time to come back to it in case of harder times ahead, may stimulate parents to monitor their kids’ school attendance more strongly. When these two features were combined — i.e. male youngsters who were the youngest child — the probability of attending school increased by 16.2 percentage points and it is statistically significant at the 1 per cent level.

Em 1993 a regional foi responsável pela realização do I Encontro de Química do Nordeste, oferecendo oportunidade para intercâmbio entre profissionais da área, divulgação e ava- liação da[r]

Many essential oils (EOs) of different plant species possess interesting antimicrobial effects on buccal bacteria and antioxidant properties. Eugenia klotzschiana Berg (pêra-do-cerrado, in Portuguese) is a species of Myrtaceae with restricted distribution in the Cerrado. The essential oils were extracted through the hydrodistillation technique using a modified Clevenger apparatus (2 hours) and chemically characterized by GC-MS. The major compounds were α-copaene (10.6 %) found in oil from leaves in natura, β-bisabolene (17.4 %) in the essential oil from dry leaves and α-(E)-bergamotene (29.9 %) in oil from flowers. The antioxidant activity of essential oils showed similarities in both methods under analysis (DPPH and ABTS ˙+ ) and the results suggested moderate to high antioxidant activity. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by determining minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs), using the microdilution method. MIC values below 400 µg/mL were obtained against Streptococcus salivarius (200 µg/mL), S. mutans (50 µg/mL), S. mitis (200 µg/mL) and Prevotella nigrescens (50 µg/mL). This is the first report of the chemical composition and antibacterial and antioxidant activities of the essential oils of E. klotzschiana. These results suggest that E. klotzschiana, a Brazilian plant, provide initial evidence of a new and alternative source of substances with medicinal interest.