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Ethnopharmacological relevance Ilex paraguariensis St. Hil. (Aquifoliaceae) is a medicinal plant widely used by South American populations for centuries and is popularly attributed to stimulating and detoxifying properties. Nowadays, their consume traditionally occurs through three different beverages: chimarrao, terere and mate-tea. Aim of the study Although its composition and properties are well studied, literature lacks work comparing the potential of their extracts obtained by a legitimate preparation mode of their popular beverages. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate changes in chemical composition, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory efficacy and anxiolytic effect from lyophilized aqueous extracts obtained simulating the legitimate popular preparation mode of chimarrao, terere and mate-tea. Materials and methods In this work, were investigated differences related to preparation technology and dry material used through chemical composition analysis, with the lyophilized aqueous extracts obtained simulating the chimarrao, terere and mate-tea preparation. The chemical composition analysis comprises the total soluble phenolics content, chemical profiles by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS, and quantitative component detection by HPLC-UV/DAD. Moreover, evaluations of comparative antioxidant activity of the extracts (DPPH and ORACFL assays), anti-inflammatory efficacy and anxiolytic effect were performed in vivo. Results Our results showed that chimarrao extracts presented a richer composition in terms of phenolic compounds and purine alkaloids, and better antioxidant activity when compared to the other extracts. In pleurisy test, all products showed anti-inflammatory properties in the dose of 60 mg/kg. In the anxiolytic evaluation, although all extracts presented some effect, chimarrao and terere were better than mate-tea in general. No sign of toxicity was observed. Conclusions Our findings support that the beverage made as chimarrao has the best composition and the most promising properties overall.

Numerous patients experience anxiety before minor medical procedures [1]. Because patients' experiences are highly individualized, their distress may range from mild to moderate. For a decade, music-based complementary therapy has received increased attention because of the therapeutic and healing environment it creates for patients undergoing invasive procedures [13]. The purpose of this structured literature review is to assess the current evidence regarding the effectiveness of music as an intervention that decreases anxiety for patients undergoing minor medical procedures in outpatient healthcare settings.

In this study, an analytical methodology was developed for the determination of psycho-active drugs in the treated effluent of the University Hospital at the Federal University of Santa Maria, RS – Brazil. Samples were collected from point A (Emergency) and point B (General effluent). The adopted methodology included a pre-concentration procedure involving the use of solid phase extraction and determination by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The limit of detection for bromazepam and lorazepam was 4.9 ± 1.0 ng L −1 and, for carbamazepine, clonazepam and diazepam was 6.1 ± 1.5 ng L −1 . The limit of quantification was 30.0 ± 1.1 ng L −1 , for bromazepam, clonazepam and lorazepam; for carbamazepine was 50.0 ± 1.8 ng L −1 and was 40.0 ± 1.0 ng L −1 for diazepam. The mean concentrations in the Emergency and General effluent treated currents were as follows: for bromazepam, 195 ± 6 ng L −1 and 137 ± 7 ng L −1 ; for carbamazepine, 590 ± 6 ng L −1 and 461 ± 10 ng L −1 ; for diazepam, 645 ± 1 ng L −1 and 571 ± 10 ng L −1 ; for lorazepam, 96 ± 7 ng L −1 and 42 ± 4 ng L −1 ; and for clonazepam, 134 ± 10 ng L −1 and 57 ± 10 ng L −1 . A preliminary risk assessment was conducted: carbamazepine and diazepam require considerable attention owing to their environmental toxicity. The occurrence of these psychoactive-drugs and the environmental risks that they pose demonstrated the need for a more efficient treatment system. As far we are aware, there have been no comparable studies to this on the hazards of hospital effluents in Brazil, and very few that have carried out a risk assessment of psycho-active drugs in hospital effluent in general.

The anti-anxiety effect of diazepam seen after systemic administration can also be evoked by direct intraamygdaloid application of the drug. This action is dose-related and fully reversible. Bilateral injection of 2×25 μg of diazepam exerts quantitatively about the same degree of anti-anxiety effect as does l mg/kg given intraperitoneally. Our previous experiments have shown that the main site of the tranquillizing as well as of the anti-convulsant action of diazepam is the amygdaloid complex. The present findings indicate that, most probably, the amygdaloid nucleus plays a crucial part also in the anti-anxiety effect of diazepam.

The effect of psychotropic agents was studied on the survival of mice subjected to hypoxia. A significant prolongation of the survival time was observed in the animals pretreated with anti-anxiety drugs. However, anti-psychotic drugs or thymoleptics failed to exert such elongation effect under the same condition. The order of potency on anti-hypoxia activity was: Y-6047 = diazepam = nitrazepam > oxazapem > chlordiazepoxide > medazepam, namely in the ratio of 30 : 10 : 3 : 1, approximately. A relationship between anti-anxiety activity and anti-hypoxia activity is also discussed.