Topical gels containing extracts of Schinus terebinthifolius have been used to treat bacterial vaginosis. It has been reported that this species has antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcerogenic properties, which can be attributed to the presence of phenolic compounds. In this work, a sensitive and selective reversed-phase HPLC-UV/DAD method for the simultaneous assay of six polyphenols...

Latin America is a large and diverse region. Therefore it is no surprise that the development and implementation of pharmacoeconomic (PE) guidelines is proceeding at a different pace in different jurisdictions. The first three articles in this special issue of Value in Health focusng on Latin America outline the challenges in the development and mplementation of guidelines in three country clus...

In the last decade, point-of-care tests were developed to provide rapid generation of test results. These tests have increasingly broad applications. In the area of hemostasis, the international normalized ratio, INR point-of-care test (POCT INR), is the main test of this new proposal. This test has great potential benefit in situations where the quick INR results influences clinical decision m...

The author discusses the extreme relevance of research on the presence of endocrine disruptors (EDs) in products of interest to health surveillance (HS). Focusing on EDs, the author highlights the urgency of changes already under way in the direction of HS. The shift should be from product and product-registration approaches to the productive process and its realization in consumption, generati...

BACKGROUND Yellow dye tartrazine is a potential cause of exacerbations of asthma, allergic rhinitis and urticaria in atopic patients. The Brazilian Sanitary Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) published a consultation about the possibility of issuing a label warning addressing these potential effects of food and drugs containing tartrazine. The present study aims to evaluate tartrazine dye safety in a...

Com o aumento da utilização de fitoterápicos, seja povos com menos estrutura, até os maior conhecimento, há a crescente preocupação sua eficácia e riscos, principalmente do uso destes por grupos mais sensíveis medicações, como idosos, crianças gestantes. O medicamentos, geralmente, ocorre sem orientação médica devida, e, no caso das gestantes, pode causar grandes danos ao feto, pois já foi comp...

Montenegro skin test (MST) represents the main complementary diagnostic test for tegumentary leishmaniases (TL) in endemic regions. Most antigen formulations used for the MST contain thimerosal as preservative. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, recommended reducing or eliminating thimerosal from vaccines and other biological reagents and the Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitár...

The eating habits of the Brazilian population have been changing in recent decades and publicity is one of the factors contributing to this situation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the content of food publicity broadcast on television and addressed to children, from the standpoint of regulation. The publicity broadcast on the two major television stations during the school holiday...

Government health authorities approved, in December 2002, the ANVISA (National Sanitary Vigilance Agency) resolution number 344, making the addition of iron and folic acid to all wheat and maize flours industrialized in Brazil obligatory. After a brief review of iron deficiency, iron overload and folic acid deficiency several questions and remarks need to be made about this universal food forti...

In this study, concentrations of trace elements in tissues of shrimp species (Litopenaeus vannamei) from farming and zone natural coastal located in the northeastern Brazil were investigated. The elements determination was performed by optical emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP OES). The following ranges of concentrations in the tissues were obtained in µg g-1 dry weight...