Anemia em gestantes de municípios das regiões Sul e Centro-Oeste do Brasil

Objetivou-se analisar a distribuição da anemia em gestantes da rede básica de saúde de dois municípios, na região Sul e Centro-Oeste do Brasil. Estudo transversal retrospectivo e descritivo desenvolvido a partir de dados de prontuários de 954 e 781 gestantes em Cuiabá-MT e Maringá-PR, respectivamente. Coletaram-se dados de caracterização sociodemográfica, de pré-natal e indicadores sociais. Foram consideradas anêmicas, as mulheres com hemoglobina inferior a 11g/dL. A desigualdade social existente entre os municípios foi evidente. Gestantes atendidas em Cuiabá-MT apresentavam características sociodemográficas significativamente mais precárias. A prevalência de anemia era significativamente maior e valores médios de hemoglobina menores em Cuiabá-MT, independentemente da idade gestacional. Encontrou-se associação dos níveis de hemoglobina com a idade, situação conjugal, número de gestações anteriores, estado nutricional e trimestre gestacional. As diferenças regionais na ocorrência da anemia gestacional são socialmente determinadas, o que deve ser considerado nas propostas de intervenção em saúde coletiva.

Hemoglobin curves during pregnancy before and after fortification of flours with iron

Objective: To assess the level of hemoglobin-Hb during pregnancy before and after fortification of flours with iron. Method: A cross-sectional study with data from 12,119 pregnant women attended at a public prenatal from five macro regions of Brazil. The sample was divided into two groups: Before-fortification (birth before June/2004) and After-fortification (last menstruation after June/2005). Hb curves were compared with national and international references. Polynomial regression models were built, with a significance level of 5%. Results: Although the higher levels of Hb in all gestational months after-fortification, the polynomial regression did not show the fortification effect (p=0.3). Curves in the two groups were above the references in the first trimester, with following decrease and stabilization at the end of pregnancy. Conclusion: Although the fortification effect was not confirmed, the study presents variation of Hb levels during pregnancy, which is important for assistencial practice and evaluation of public policies.


In the context of a daycare center: nursing and their representations of child care as an educational act

This study aimed to analyze the social representations in the professionals of technical staff, who work with children at USP daycare centers. Eight professionals of the nursing field underwent a semi-structured interview. The interviews were recorded and transcribed in their entirety and the content of the discourse was subjected to thematic-categorical analysis. The categories were transformed into variables and processed by the software Classification Hiérarchique Classificatoire et Cohésitive (CHIC®) and analyzed by the hierarchical similarity tree. The results indicate that actions to promote health are reported as educational and transformative, in which health care gains new meaning through contextualized conceptions in the field of child education. We conclude that professionals attribute new meanings to their practices in the health care environment of daycare centers as their representations shifts from the logic of the biomedical field to a logic of educational care. In this sense, they perceive themselves as being challenged to establish an interaction with the children in terms of their activities related to the promotion of health and in an educational act.

Phytoplankton flora of two rivers in Southeast Brazil: Paraibuna and Pomba Rivers, Minas Gerais

This work is a survey of the phytoplankton communities of the Paraibuna and Pomba Rivers. It aims is to contribute to the existing albeit scarce knowledge of the phytoplankton of Minas Gerais and of lotic phytoplankton in general. The results are based on 32 samples collected from Paraibuna and Pomba Rivers, in Minas Gerais State, during the dry (July and August, 2001) and rainy seasons (February 2002). Forty-eight taxa were identified, 20 from Paraibuna River and 28 from Pomba River, thirty-eight of which are new records for Minas Gerais State. The phytoplankton community of Paraibuna River was strongly influenced by a reservoir close to its source, thus the occurrence of lentic species of cyanobacteria and desmids. However, the phytoplankton community of Pomba River was typical of lotic environments, with great number of diatoms and desmids.