Chromium uptake from aqueous effluents by immobilized Baker's yeast

Baker's yeast immobilized in alginate was used to take up chromium from effluents. Chromium in aqueos solutions were in different concentrations. To evaluate the viability and efficiency the baker's yeast for chromium uptake from effluents three experiments done in two differents reactor systems: first in system 1 at 17.5 ml/s and with 10, 20, 25 and 30 mg/l Cr; second in system 2 at 38.7 ml/s with 20 mg/l Cr; third in system 2.1 at 6.65 ml/s and with 20, 30 and 40 mg/l Cr. The efficiency of chromium uptake varied between 86 an 100(per cent).

Maternal-child health in Brazil.

An overview of the social and economic climates and the healthcare delivery systems of Brazil is presented. The Brazilian healthcare system is discussed, with particular attention directed to the status of nursing and to the perinatal health-care delivery system. Examples of Brazilian perinatal health-care practices are provided.

PIP: Many social and economic factors effect the maternal and child health care services in Brazil. The lack of middle class and large amount of poor and uneducated people makes health care more of a problem. The average educational level is 4th grade and lifespan is 50 and 60 for men and women respectively. Some single women have as many as 10 births, even though family planning clinics are common. A nursing program was started in 1923 by 5 American nurses and today nurses are required to have a degree to practice. Brazil has 26,000 nurses and 140,000 doctors; nursing is low paid and has little status, and treatment by doctors is poor. Most women deliver children in hospitals that provide free care, and prenatal care is furnished by an obstetrician or nursing specialist. There are many programs for pregnant women in Brazil supported by the government. These include homes for poor unwed mothers and educational facilities. Prenatal care is provided in rural areas by health care people that commute from the cities. Generally health care facilities are in short supply and 2 women may deliver in the same room at the same time. Only private maternity hospitals have individual labor rooms. Many maternity facilities are old and deficient. The nurses are anxious to increase their knowledge of basic health care, and seek experience and training on neonatal skin and cord care as well as suctioning of the newborn. They operate in a self care philosophy developed by Dorothea Orem and are proud to share this in concept and practice.