Background and Methods: Current therapy against leishmaniasis is unsatisfactory. Efficacious and safe new drugs are needed.In this study, we show the leishmanicidal effect of an essential oil from Chenopodiumambrosioides against Leishmania amazonensis. Results: The tested product had a potent inhibitory action against promastigote and amastigote forms, with 50% effective dose values of 3.7 and 4.6 µg/ml, respectively. The essential oil showed a moderate toxicity on macrophages from BALB/c mice. An optimal dose of 30 mg/kg/day was effective when administered during 15 days by intraperitoneal route to BALB/c mice infected experimentally. Conclusion: These studies revealed a potential source for the discovery of novel drugs to combat the leishmaniasis based on the traditional medicine.

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Increased blood pressure is a leading risk factor for death worldwide, and improving the control of hypertension is a major health goal to reduce non‐communicable disease. Thus, in 2016, as part of a regional effort between the Pan American Health Organization and Cuban Ministry of Public Health to reduce cardiovascular risk and disease, a community demonstration project was implemented to enhance hypertension control. The intervention project was in a population of 25 868 people served by the Carlos Verdugo Martínez Polyclinic in Matanzas, Cuba. The project implemented interventions currently recommended in the World Health Organization HEARTS modules, including a standardized clinical training program with certification for blood pressure measurement, routine screening for hypertension in clinics and in the community, a simple directive pharmacologic treatment algorithm, and a registry with performance reporting and feedback. Qualitative and quantitative program monitoring and evaluation was established. In a 2010 national survey, the prevalence of hypertension and the rate of hypertension control were estimated to be 31% and 36%, respectively. Following less than one year of the full implementation of the program, the prevalence of hypertension, proportion of the hypertensive population registered as having hypertension, proportion of those drug‐treated who were controlled, and estimated population rate of control were 30%, 90%, 68%, and 58%, respectively. Based on these positive results, the program has been expanded to include another demonstration program initiated in a second region. In addition, preliminary efforts to disseminate and scale‐up aspects of the program to the full Cuban population have started.

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The in vitro antileishmanial effect of the essential oil from Chenopodium ambrosioides against Leishmania donovani was investigated. The product showed significant activity against promastigotes and amastigotes, with a 50% effective concentration of 4.45 and 5.1 microg/mL, respectively. The essential oil caused an irreversible inhibition of the growth of promastigotes after a treatment with 100 or 10 microg/mL for 1 or 24 h, respectively. The phagocytic activity of the macrophages was preserved at a concentration toxic to the parasite. The essential oil from C. ambrosioides may be a potential candidate drug to development a new agent to combat this parasitic disease.

Sugarcane juice contains a lot of sucrose associated with several monosaccharides, defined as low molecular mass carbohydrates (LMMC), as well as some polysaccharides and glycoproteins, which are defined as mid and high molecular mass carbohydrates (MMMC and HMMC, respectively). These three categories of carbohydrates can be separated by size-exclusion chromatography through Sephadex G-10 and Sephadex G-50 columns, but elution profiles change drastically after juice clarification performed by adjusting the pH value of the juice to 8.0. In addition, polyamines and some phenolics are currently associated with carbohydrate preparations, and the distribution pattern of these conjugates also changes after clarification. Polyamine levels generally decrease after juice clarification. Cadaverine is completely removed from the different carbohydrate preparations, whereas spermidine is the main polyamine occurring in association with sugarcane carbohydrates, as free or acid-soluble form in LMMC preparation or as acid-soluble and -insoluble forms in both MMMC and HMMC preparations. Polyamines, presumably spermidine, conjugate to p-hydroxybenzoic acid in LMMC, mostly to caffeic acid in MMMC, and to syringic acid in HMMC preparations. HMMC-associated polyamines appear in both acid-soluble and -insoluble fractions. Syringic acid also occurs in the LMMC preparation, but juice clarification changes it from acid-soluble to free form, and it coelutes with sucrose.

SUMMARYTo date, there are no vaccines against Leishmania, and chemotherapy remains the mainstay for the control of leishmaniasis. The drugs of choice used for leishmaniasis therapy are significantly toxic, expensive and with a growing frequency of refractory infections. Because of these limitations, a combination therapy is the better hope. This work demonstrates that the essential oil from Chenopodium ambrosioides shows a synergic activity after incubation in conjunction with pentamidine against promastigotes of Leishmania amazonensis. However, an indifferent effect has been found for combinations of meglumine antimoniate or amphotericin B and the essential oil.