RESUMO:Este trabalho teve por objetivo identificar as plantas medicinais de uso popular e o perfil socioeconômico de seus usuários em área urbana de Ouro Preto, MG. O levantamento utilizou entrevistas semiestruturadas e amostragem aleatória, perfazendo 10% das residências. O grau de conhecimento sobre plantas medicinais foi medido pelo número de espécies citadas. Analisou-se a relação entre o saber popular sobre as plantas medicinais e características socioeconômicas dos entrevistados (renda, escolaridade, sexo, idade e forma de aquisição do conhecimento). Foram questionadas 6.713 pessoas, onde mais de 90% usam plantas medicinais para se tratarem. Identificou-se 342 espécies, reunidas em 94 famílias. Para cada espécie foram referidos os nomes populares, hábito, procedência, uso medicinal, parte usada, e forma de preparo. As principais moléstias tratadas com plantas foram: diarreia, insônia, gripe, hidropisia, distúrbios hepáticos, renais e do trato respiratório. Há um grande número de espécies nativas utilizadas. Dentre as exóticas, a maioria é de origem europeia. O uso místico de espécies, embora presente na cultura popular do município, foi pouco citado. Algumas espécies identificadas figuram na lista das espécies ameaçadas de extinção. O grau de conhecimento sobre plantas medicinais pela população de Ouro Preto independe, tanto do nível econômico, como da escolaridade ou do sexo. A idade e a forma de aquisição do conhecimento influenciam no saber popular das ervas medicinais. As pessoas com maior saber popular sobre as plantas adquiriram esses conhecimentos principalmente pelo costume familiar, por livros, ou por outras pessoas. Pessoas mais jovens conhecem menos espécies medicinais que as mais idosas, sugerindo risco de perda desse conhecimento tradicional. A grande riqueza de plantas citadas neste trabalho denota a importância de estudos etnobotânicos no resgate do conhecimento tradicional em áreas urbanas, tanto pelo seu valor histórico-cultural, como pela importância científica. Palavras-chave:Conhecimento tradicional, etnobotânica, plantas medicinais, perfil socioeconômico, Ouro Preto -MG.ABSTRACT: Popular use of medicinal plants and the socioeconomic profile of the users: a study in the urban area of Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil. This work aimed to identify the medicinal plants of popular use and the socioeconomic profile of the users in the urban area of Ouro Preto, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The survey was carried out with random sampling and semi-structured interviews, amounting to 10% of households. The degree of knowledge about medicinal plants was measured by the number of species mentioned. The relationship between the popular knowledge about medicinal plants and the socioeconomic characteristics of the users (income, education, gender, age and type of knowledge acquisition) was also studied. In this survey, 6,713 inhabitants were questioned, of whom more than 90% use medicinal plants. A total of 342 species grouped in 94 families were identified. The popular names, growth habit, habitat,...

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We report the case of a healthy 25-year-old man presenting with sudden onset dizziness, strabismus, and cloudy vision that improved when he closed one of his eyes. He denied pain with eye movement or color desaturation, as well as history of recent immunization or febrile illness. He did not present any other neurologic symptom, but he affirmed having had a limited episode of a discrete strabismus four months before. In his first assessment at the emergency room his neurologic examination revealed a 30° exotropia of the right eye on the primary gaze position along with adduction deficit and abduction nystagmus bilaterally on conjugated horizontal eye movement, characterizing an internuclear ophthalmoplegia on both eyes. He also presented with asymmetrical convergence deficit, with inability on completing adduction on his right eye. On the vertical upward gaze there was also a vertical nystagmus. Eye fundus examination did not show retinal and optic nerve alterations. Visual acuity was normal. This set of findings qualified a WEBINO (wall-eyed bilateral internuclear ophthalmoplegia). During investigation, lumbar puncture showed mild hyperproteinrachia, with absence of oligoclonal bands and normal CSF (cerebrospinal fluid GigG (immunoglobulin G) index. He was submitted to a course of pulse therapy with methylprednisolone. Neuroaxis magnetic resonance imaging evidenced a demyelinating periaqueductal lesion, involving medium longitudinal fasciculus, ponto-mesencephalic junction and mesencephalic tegmentum, without gadolinium enhancement. As he remained symptomatic, plasmapheresis was indicated, with complete remission of symptoms afterwards. Following his investigation the tests for both anti-aquaporin-4 and anti-MOG antibodies were negative, and until the conclusion of this report, a diagnosis of clinical isolated syndrome remained as the main hypothesis.

We used seed rain to monitor a conserved forest and a 5-6-year-old forest undergoing natural regeneration after fire. The sampled species were classified according to regionality, life forms, dispersal modes, and successional stage, and the forests were compared. The type of forest and time since disturbance had significant effect on the abundance of seeds -67.3% being produced in the forest under restoration. Biological diversity was higher in the conserved forest. On the other hand, species richness was not affected by the type of forest, and the species composition was similar between forests. In addition, we found similar proportions of life forms, zoochorous species, and non-pioneer species in the forests. Our study shows that natural regenerating forests can recover different attributes of the seed rain in few years when in forest matrices. Thus, to accelerate restoration and create trustworthy forests we should conserve the remaining mature fragments and use them to facilitate ecological restoration.