Baccharis dracunculifolia DC (Asteraceae) is a Brazilian native bush tree, and its leaf essential oil has been reported to possess some biological activities, but the antimicrobial activity of its aerial part essential oil at the flowering period is unknown or little studied, mainly against agents that cause foodborne diseases. Thus, this study aimed to determine the chemical composition and evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of B. dracunculifolia aerial part at flowering period. This essential oil was obtained by hydro distillation and its chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration, and minimum fungicidal concentration of the essential oil were evaluated against eight bacteria and eight fungi using 96-well microtiter plates. The essential oil yield was 1.8 ± 0.07%, and spathulenol (27%) and trans-nerolidol (23%), both oxygenated sesquiterpenes, were the major compounds found among 30 chemical constituents identified. The essential oil presented bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities, mainly against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and also fungistatic and fungicidal activities. However, its antibacterial activity was more effective than the antifungal one by using the essential oil at lower concentrations. Essential oil of B. dracunculifolia may be a potential alternative for food applications in order to reduce synthetic chemicals in a more sustainable food industry.

Baccharis dracunculifolia, native to Brazil and the main source of “green propolis”, has been reported with several biological activities, and may be a source of bovine tick control substituting synthetic acaricides. Objective: to evaluate the in vitro and ex situ acaricidal activity of B. dracunculifolia leaf and flower essential oils against Rhipicephalus microplus. Methodology: the essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by a gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry; the acaricidal activity of the essential oil was evaluated in vitro against adult females and against the egg hatchability; moreover, the acaricidal activity against tick larvae was evaluated in vitro and ex situ. Results: the major class of the essential oils was oxygenated sesquiterpene (55.1% leaves 50.4% flowers) and the main compounds were (21.5% leaves; 20.6% flowers) and spathulenol (21.8% leaves; 20.3% flowers). The essential oil at 500 mg/mL was effective to control egg hatchability with a reduction of egg laying capacity and decrease of number of adult ticks and larvae. The larvicidal activity of the essential oil had LC99.9 from 35 to 37 mg/mL by probit analysis, and the essential oil from 11 to 14 mg/mL presented 85 to 95% of treatment efficiency in the ex situ test. Conclusion: B. dracunculifolia leaf and flower essential oils are stable and have application potential to control bovine ticks.

Prostate cancer (PC) is reported as an important neoplasm worldwide, caused by the uncontrolled multiplication of cells in the prostate. The main risk factors are age over 50 years, family history, genetic susceptibility, hormonal disorders, obesity and environmental factors. Active surveillance of low-risk PC defers aggressive treatment until disease progression and is an increasingly recommended treatment strategy. This strategy aims to reduce costs and decrease treatment-related morbidity without affecting survival. Medicinal Biomagnetism (BM) is based on the distortion of the limit of homeostasis towards hyperacidity and hyperalkalinity of two specific points for each pathogenic microorganism or glandular dysfunction. The induction of loads that are in a vibrational and energetic relationship, by means of medium intensity magnets, greater than 1000 Gauss, corrects or prevents the distortion of the pH of the organs or tissues of the human body. In this way, the neutralization of pathogenic bioenergetic distortions promotes health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of BM in the treatment of prostatic adenocarcinoma, prognostic group 1. After three sessions of BM, the levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decreased and the prostate adenocarcinoma regressed to discrete chronic inflammation. This study represents the first in the evaluation of BM for the treatment of CP and may stimulate further studies in this field that are likely to yield important discoveries.