Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28953960›Full record

SynthesisPloS one2017

Why do people use exotic plants in their local medical systems? A systematic review based on Brazilian local communities.

Patrícia Muniz de Medeiros, Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior, Marcelo Alves Ramos, Taline Cristina da Silva, Ana Haydée Ladio, Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Patrícia Muniz de MedeirosLaboratory of Biocultural Ecology, Conservation and Evolution (LECEB). Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Alagoas, Brazil.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3835-5232
Washington Soares Ferreira JúniorUniversidade de Pernambuco, Campus Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Marcelo Alves RamosUniversidade de Pernambuco, Campus Mata Norte, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Taline Cristina da SilvaUniversidade Estadual de Alagoas, Campus Santana do Ipanema, Alagoas, Brazil.
Ana Haydée LadioLaboratorio Ecotono, Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medio Ambiente (INIBIOMA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue), San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.
Ulysses Paulino AlbuquerqueLaboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Social-ecological Systems (LEA). Departamento de Botânica, Centro de Biociências. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Pernambuco, Brazil.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Efforts have been made to understand the processes that lead to the introduction of exotic species into local pharmacopoeias. Among those efforts, the diversification hypothesis predicts that exotic plants are introduced in local medical systems to amplify the repertoire of knowledge related to the treatment of diseases, filling blanks that were not occupied by native species. Based on such hypothesis, this study aimed to contribute to this discussion using the context of local Brazilian populations. We performed a systematic review of Brazilian studies up to 2011 involving medicinal plants, excluding those studies that presented a high risk of bias (because of sampling or plant identification problems). An analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) was conducted in different scales to test for differences in the repertoire of therapeutic indications treated using native and exotic species. We have found that although there is some overlap between native and exotic plants regarding their therapeutic indications and the body systems (BSs) that they treat, there are clear gaps present, that is, there are therapeutic indications and BSs treated that are exclusive to exotic species. This scenario enables the postulation of two alternative unfoldings of the diversification hypothesis, namely, (1) exotic species are initially introduced to fill gaps and undergo subsequent expansion of their use for medical purposes already addressed using native species and (2) exotic species are initially introduced to address problems already addressed using native species to diversify the repertoire of medicinal plants and to increase the resilience of medical systems. The reasons why exotic species may have a competitive advantage over the native ones, the implications of the introduction of exotic species for the resilience of medical systems, and the contexts in which autochthonous plants can gain strength to remain in pharmacopoeias are also discussed.

Indexed as

Introduced SpeciesBrazilEthnobotanyPlants, MedicinalSpecies Specificity

Identifiers

PMID28953960
PMCPMC5617200

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.