Influência das áreas verdes no microclima local: um estudo do conjunto habitacional Ponta Negra, Natal/RN

Owing to na intense process of urban development, urban uneasiness and discomfort in the daily life of populations have nowadays, especially in the big cities, become increasingly ordinary issues. Population density, degeneration of central areas and pollution are some of the environmental stressors the urban man is subjected to. The existence of open areas in the urban network contributes to a better movement of the air and transforms salubrity conditions. Yet, it has been noticed that parks and squares are disappearing from the heart of the city districts. In their place there are either unused plots of land where garbage has been dumped or nearly all-paved squares with meager or no vegetation at all. Such areas, when handled properly, play an important role in the city because in addition to being zones for rendering a mild climate they perform social, cultural and hygienic functions. Aiming at demonstrating that proper handling of green areas can favorably influence the local microclimate, we have attempted to develop analysis from the point of view of bioclimatizing attributes of urban form and their relationship to the local microclimate found in the eight open areas located in the Ponta Negra Housing Complex in the city of Natal/RN

Avaliação da suplementação com vitamina E, na forma natural ou sintética, em mulheres no pós-parto imediato e sua concentração no colostro

The Vitamin E consists of eight chemically homologous forms, designated alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherols and tocotrienols. Biologically, the alpha-tocopherol (α-TOH) is the most important. Commercially, are found two types of α-TOH a natural (RRR-alpha-tocopherol) and another synthetic (all-rac-alpha-tocopherol). Both forms are absorbed in the intestine, the liver is a preference in favor of forms 2R, due to transfer protein α-TOH. It has higher affinity to these stereoisomers. Newborns are considered high risk for vitamin E deficiency, mainly premature, these have breast milk as a food source for maintenance of serum α-TOH. Clinical signs such as thrombocytosis, hemolytic anemia, retrolental fibroplasia, intraventricular hemorrhage, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and spinocerebellar degeneration can be found in case of a low intake of α-TOH. Thus, maternal supplementation on postpartum with α-TOH can be an efficient way to increase levels of vitamin E in breast milk and thus the consequently increase the supply of micronutrient for the newborn. However, most studies with vitamin E supplementation have been conducted in animals and little is known about the effect of maternal supplementation in humans, as well as on its efficiency to increase levels of α-TOH in human milk, depending on the shape natural or synthetic. The study included 109 women, divided into three groups: control without supplementation (GC) (n=36), supplemented with natural capsule (GNAT) (n=40) and the synthetic capsule (GSINT) (n=33). Blood samples were collected for determination of maternal nutritional status, and colostrums at initial contact and after 24 hours post-supplementation. Analyses were performed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Values of α-TOH in serum below 499.6mg/dL were considered deficient. We used the Kruskal-Wallis test and Tukey test to confirm the increase of alpha-tocopherol in milk and efficiency of administered capsules. Daily consumption of α-TOH was based on daily intake of 500 mL of colostrum by the newborn and compared with the nutritional requirement for children from 0 to 6 months of age, 4 mg / day. The mothers had mean concentration of serum α-TOH in 1016 ± 52, 1236 ± 51 and 1083 ± 61 mg / dL, in CG, GNAT and GSINT respectively. There were no women with deficiiency. The GC did not change the concentrations of α-TOH in colostrum. While women supplemented with natural and synthetic forms increased concentrations of α-TOH colostrum in 57.6% and 39%, respectively. By comparing supplemented groups, it was observed a significant difference (p=0.04), the natural capsule more efficient than the synthetic, approximately 49.6%. Individually, 21.1% of the women provided below 4mg/day of α-TOH, after supplementation for this index declined4.1%. Thus, maternal supplementation postpartum raised the levels of alpha-tocopherol in colostrum, and increased efficiency was observed with the natural form