RESUMO
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Empacho is one of the most recognized cultural-bound syndromes in Argentina. It is a digestive disorder with many causes, being excessive food intake the most frequent. It is easily diagnosed in household medicine and there are different treatments applied for releasing the obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract. Therapeutics includes the use of medicinal plants and abdominal maneuvers, as well as rituals of magical and/or religious nature. The aim of this work is to analyze the compiled literature, considering documents from the XVIIIth century up to present, related to the employed plant species for the treatment of empacho. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The bibliographic and journal collections of several Argentinean and foreign libraries and bookstores were consulted, in addition to the comprehensive review of the specific information found online. RESULTS: Ninety (90) primary sources, spanning three hundred years (from 1710 to 2010) were found; most of them included ethnobotanical studies besides others of medical botany, pharmacobotanical and anthropological origin. A total of 152 plant species used to treat empacho were found in 360 total quotations, being Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin and Clemants; Alternanthera pungens Kunth; Ruta chalepensis L.; Clinopodium gilliesii (Benth.) Kuntze; Aloysia polystachya (Griseb.) Moldenke; Lippia turbinata Griseb., and Pluchea sagittalis (Lam.) Cabrera, the most frequently mentioned. The main therapeutic properties of the medicinal plants cited against empacho are stomachic, purgative, antispasmodic, bitter-tonic, carminative, and cholagogue-choleretic. CONCLUSIONS: The variety of regions - spanning most of the country - from which the information comes, as well as the great variety of therapeutic strategies used, diversity of plant species and knowledge related to the treatment of empacho, is directly associated with the great significance that this disorder has within the system of medical-nosologic representations of the Argentinean popular medicine.
Assuntos
Etnofarmacologia/história , Gastroenteropatias/terapia , Fitoterapia/história , Preparações de Plantas/uso terapêutico , Plantas Medicinais/química , Argentina , Cultura , Digestão/efeitos dos fármacos , Ingestão de Alimentos/efeitos dos fármacos , Etnofarmacologia/métodos , Etnofarmacologia/tendências , História do Século XVIII , História do Século XIX , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , Humanos , Fitoterapia/métodos , Fitoterapia/tendênciasRESUMO
Exclusive hospitals for attention to sick natives were founded in New Spain. The most important of these were established by Franciscan missionaries at the Valley of Mexico and by the Agustinians in Western Mexico. In addition, foundation of the hospitals towns at Michoacan's bishop, designed by Don Vasco de Quiroga, were based on the utopic and humanistic ideas of Thomas More. In this article we offer a revision of their origins, their multiple forms of economic support, the administrative operation, hospital organization with the extraordinary participation of the Indian natives the trust deposited in these institutions by the users, the peak and consolidation in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as decadence and cancellation in the 19th century. Additionally, we carried out the review of the organization and operation with the goal of assessing the degree of realistic achievement in these institutions to render them more accessible to the appropriate social and cultural characteristics of the indigenous patients. The lessons of the past helped us not to similar mistakes again. In this vein, the knowledge and experience of those who preceded us can help us resolve actual problems.