Observations on the therapeutic practices of riverine communities of the Unini River, AM, Brazil

Abstract

The geographic isolation and limited access to medical care in these communities resulted in unique, rich and consistent therapeutic system. There was a high degree of agreement among interviewees regarding the use of the same resources especially in the categories: psychoactive, cultural syndromes, pregnancy and childbirth, and inflammatory processes, suggesting a high degree of repetition and intercommunication. Further pharmacological and phytochemical investigations may search for new bioactive compounds among the described resources.

Plants used during maternity, menstrual cycle and other women's health conditions among Brazilian cultures

“…Stapf, Eryngium foetidum L., Pectis elongata Kunth, Zingiber officinale Roscoe and Senna alata (L.) Roxb. are contraindicated during pregnancy as they are used to ease delivery by caboclo river-dwellers (Rodrigues, 2006;Santos et al, 2012), Strychnos pseudoquina A.…”

A New Prenylisoflavone from the Antifungal Extract of Leaves of Vatairea guianensis Aubl.

“…(Fabaceae), a plant native to the Amazon, popularly known as "fava de impingem" (ringworm bean) is used in folk medicine for treating mycoses. 4,5 The genus Candida has at least 15 distinct species that cause human disease, such as C. kefyr, C. tropicalis, C. lusitaniae, C. dubliniensis, C. guilliermondii and C. rugosa, but the five most common pathogens are:…”

Pasteurização do leite-do-amapá in natura para controle do escurecimento enzimático

“…Em estudos recentes, o látex do amapazeiro, por apresentar atividade antioxidante, também pode ser considerado potencialmente um alimento nutracêutico com aplicação em diversos processos industriais (PALHETA et al, 2009). Na medicina popular regional, é muitas vezes utilizado como medicamento, devendo ser administrado em pequenas doses (PINTO et al, 2000), em tratamentos para infl amação do útero (LOUREIRO & MACEDO, 1999), doenças respiratórias (SANTOS et al, 2012), gastrite, anemia e problemas musculares (GALUPPO et al, 2003;RODRIGUES, 2006). Após a extração do látex, observa-se uma rápida mudança de cor, com um escurecimento característico do branco para rosado, quando o leite-do-amapá é exposto ao ar livre, devido à presença de enzimas oxidativas como a polifenoloxidase (MATTIETTO et al, 2009).…”