Brazilian preschool children attending day care centers show an inadequate micronutrient intake through 24-h duplicate diet.

Inadequate micronutrient intake in childhood harms growth and development, and it is related to increased rates of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to evaluate the dietary intake and prevalence of inadequate micronutrient intake in preschool children (1-4 years old) attending two-day care centers. To assess children's dietary micronutrient intake, 24-h duplicate diets (n = 64) were collected for one week-day, including everything the children ate and drank both at home and in kindergarten. Anthropometric measurements were carried out to evaluate the children's nutritional status. The micronutrients copper, iron, calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc, potassium, sodium, and manganese were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry or graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Calcium and selenium were found with high inadequate intake rates: 50% and 42%, respectively, for children aged 1-3 years old, and 93% and 90% for children aged 4 years. Potassium was consumed in very low amounts, 13% and 5% of children aged 1-3 and 4 years old, respectively, achieved the adequate intake for the nutrient. Sodium intakes were excessive: 23% of the 1-3-year old and 42% of the 4-year-old children, respectively, had an intake higher than the tolerable upper levels. Regarding the nutritional status, overweight and obesity prevalence was 17%. Therefore, considering the damaging health effects for children of micronutrient deficiency and overweight and obesity status, it is necessary that government authorities be aware and update public policies and educational programs in order to promote healthy eating habits in early childhood.

Arsenic volatilization by Aspergillus sp. and Penicillium sp. isolated from rice rhizosphere as a promising eco-safe tool for arsenic mitigation.

Arsenic (As) is a non-threshold human carcinogenic. This element can be volatilized either by nature or anthropogenic sources. In the present study, the analytical performance of an As volatile species trapping system was evaluated to assess the As volatilization promoted by Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus sp., both isolated from rice rhizosphere, and Aspergillus niger sp. considered as a reference. The study was conducted for 60 days (sampling of volatile As species from 1st to 30th day and from 31st to 60th day). The efficiency of As-volatilization was associated with the fungal growth. The highest As volatilization occurred from 31st to 60th day. Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp. and A. niger were capable of producing 57.8, 46.4, and 5.2% of volatile arsenic species, respectively. The speciation analysis has shown trimethylarsine (TMAs) as the main volatilized As-form, followed by mono- and dimethylarsine (MMAs and DMAs). The results are following the "Challenger pathway". Therefore, the tested fungi isolated from rice rhizosphere have shown promising properties concerning bio-volatilization with potential use for As-mitigation in paddy soils.

Home-based and informal work exposes the families to high levels of potentially toxic elements.

The city of Limeira presents a relevant productive chain of jewelry and fashion jewelry, including a scenario of outsourcing informal home practices. It is highly complex to understand the potentially toxic elements (PTE: Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Sn, Sb, Hg, and Pb) exposures of the workers because this productive chain encompasses households. This study aimed to investigate the associations between blood PTE levels and informal work in the home environment. Fifty-two families divided into Exposed group (n = 112) and Control group (n = 53) were included. Families' blood (n = 165) and welder's breathing zone air samples (n = 9) were collected and PTEs concentrations were determined by ICP-MS. Questionnaires were applied to collect sociodemographic information and workplace details. Principal component analysis, Mann-Whitney test, cluster and a logistic regression analysis based on environment-wide association studies (EWAS) were carried out. Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb concentrations in the air samples were higher than occupational guidelines. Eighty percent of the workers were female, and 43.5% of those females then worked as welder. A significant difference was found for Pb concentration between the exposed and control group (p < 0.0001) and between sexes (p = 0.0046). For Cu (p < 0.0001) and Sb (p = 0.0434), differences were found between the sexes. The receiver operating characteristic of the EWAS was 0.80, providing evidence of a potential model to associate exposure levels and occupational factors. PTEs concentrations in the air samples raised concerns, particularly for children, who were in the same exposure scenario. Inadequate work conditions were observed in the houses, revealing the need of public actions to protect these families.

Lead exposure from households and school settings: influence of diet on blood lead levels.

Lead is known as a potent toxicant to human health, particularly for children while their central nervous system is developing. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between blood lead levels (BLLs) and lead exposure in the children's diet, home, and school environments. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 153 children aged 1-4 years, in four day care centers (DCCs), where a high prevalence of lead exposure was previously found. Lead determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS) was performed for venous blood, drinking water collected in the DCCs, and the 24-h diet (n = 64). Environmental screenings were conducted to evaluate lead concentrations in the tableware, buildings, and playground items in all DCCs and children's homes (n = 18) by using a field-portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer (FP-XRF). The BLL mean was 2.71 µg dL-1. Means for 24-h lead concentrations in the diet were 1.61 and 2.24 µg kg-1 of body weight (BW) in two DCCs. Lead concentrations in the water supply were lower than 2 µg L-1. More than 11% of the DCCs' environmental analyses presented lead concentrations higher than or equal to 1 mg cm-2, as defined by the USEPA. The diet was not found to be a risk factor for lead exposure, but households and DCC settings raised concern. Children's exposure to lead in DCC environments, where they spend the most part of their weekdays, appeared to be relevant. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Lead, Cadmium, and Arsenic Bioaccessibility of 24 h Duplicate Diet Ingested by Preschool Children Attending Day Care Centers in Brazil.

Lead, known as a metal with high neurotoxicity to children, cadmium, which is a carcinogenic and bioaccumulative contaminant, and arsenic, a class 1 carcinogenic according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, are toxic elements (TEs) whose relevant route of exposure may be diet. We determined the bio-accessible fraction of lead, cadmium, and arsenic from the diet of preschool children from two day care centers (DCC). A cross-sectional study was conducted with 64 one⁻four-year-old children from two DCCs where the 24-h duplicate diet samples were collected. The diet samples were analyzed by ICP-MS for lead, cadmium, and arsenic total concentrations (n = 64) and their bio-accessibility were analyzed for a subsample (n = 10). The dietary intake (DI) mean for lead, cadmium, and arsenic were 0.18 ± 0.11 µg kg-1 bw, 0.08 ± 0.04 µg kg-1 bw, and 0.61 ± 0.41 µg kg-1 bw, respectively. All DI calculated for TEs, considering total intake, were found lower than the tolerable limits (TL) (European Union, or World Health Organization, WHO, when applicable) except for one child's Pb intake. Bio-accessibilities ranged between 0% to 93%, 0% to 103%, and 0% to 69%, for lead, cadmium, and arsenic, respectively. Although DI for TEs has been found lower than TL, these reference values have been recently decreased or withdrawn since it was for lead and arsenic whose TL were withdrawn by WHO.

Auditory behavior and auditory temporal resolution in children with sleep-disordered breathing.

OBJECTIVE: Intermittent hypoxia caused by obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) may lead to damage in brain areas associated to auditory processing. The aim of this study was to compare children with OSAS or primary snoring (PS) to children without sleep-disordered breathing with regard to their performance on the Gaps-in-Noise (GIN) test and the Scale of Auditory Behaviors (SAB) questionnaire. METHODS: Thirty-seven children (6-12 years old) were submitted to sleep anamnesis and in-lab night-long polysomnography. Three groups were organized according to clinical criteria: OSAS group (13 children), PS group (13 children), and control group (11 children). They were submitted to the GIN test and parents answered SAB questionnaire. The Kruskal-Wallis statistical test was used to compare the groups; p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The OSAS group performed significantly worse than PS (p = 0.011) and Control (p = 0.029) groups on gap detection percentage, while PS and Control groups showed no significant differences. The three groups showed similar gap detection thresholds. Regarding SAB questionnaire, PS group had significantly worse scores when compared to Control (p = 0.011), but not to OSAS (p = 0.101) groups. No statistical difference between OSAS and Control groups were found. CONCLUSION: Children with OSAS showed worse performance on GIN test in comparison to children with PS and children without sleep-disordered breathing. PS negatively affected auditory behavior in children. These findings suggest that sleep-disordered breathing may lead to auditory behavior impairment.

Potential risks of the residue from Samarco's mine dam burst (Bento Rodrigues, Brazil).

On November 5th, 2015, Samarco's iron mine dam - called Fundão - spilled 50-60 million m3 of mud into Gualaxo do Norte, a river that belongs to Rio Doce Basin. Approximately 15 km2 were flooded along the rivers Gualaxo do Norte, Carmo and Doce, reaching the Atlantic Ocean on November 22nd, 2015. Six days after, our group collected mud, soil and water samples in Bento Rodrigues (Minas Gerais, Brazil), which was the first impacted area. Overall, the results, water samples - potable and surface water from river - presented chemical elements concentration according to Brazilian environmental legislations, except silver concentration in surface water that ranged from 1.5 to 1087 µg L-1. In addition, water mud-containing presented Fe and Mn concentrations approximately 4-fold higher than the maximum limit for water bodies quality assessment, according to Brazilian laws. Mud particle size ranged from 1 to 200 µm. SEM-EDS spot provided us some semi quantitative data. Leaching/extraction tests suggested that Ba, Pb, As, Sr, Fe, Mn and Al have high potential mobilization from mud to water. Low microbial diversity in mud samples compared to background soil samples. Toxicological bioassays (HepG2 and Allium cepa) indicated potential risks of cytotoxicity and DNA damage in mud and soil samples used in both assays. The present study provides preliminary information aiming to collaborate to the development of future works for monitoring and risk assessment.

A avaliação nos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental: um retrato da prática dos professores de educação física na rede pública municipal de Cuiabá / Evaluation of early elementary school: a picture of the practice from physical education teachers in municiapl public schools of Cuiabá-MT, Brazil

Esta pesquisa do tipo descritiva com abordagem qualitativa buscou investigar a compreensão dos professores de Educação Física da rede pública municipal de Cuiabá em relação à avaliação da aprendizagem. Ocorreu em 52 escolas, com a participação de 92 professores dos anos iniciais doEnsino Fundamental. A partir do questionário adotado identificamos que embora 66% dos professores entendam o ato de avaliar como algo fácil e 75% reconheçam que os conhecimentosadquiridos durante a graduação foram suficientes ou parcialmente suficientes, há equívocos em relação ao conceito e função atribuídos a avaliação. Constatamos um engessamento por parte da Secretaria de Educação de Cuiabá em relação aos descritores de avaliação, culminando apenas nocumprimento de uma tarefa burocrática.

This descriptive and qualitative research aimed to investigate the comprehension of Physical Education teachers of the municipal public school in Cuiabá about learning evaluation. The study was carried out in 52 schools, with the participation of 92 early elementary school teachers. From the applied questionnaire we realized that, although 66% of the teachers understand the act of evaluating anything as easy and 75% recognize that the knowledge acquired during their graduation was sufficient or partly sufficient, there are misconceptions about the concept and function assigned to evaluation. We found an inflexibility on the part of the Cuiabá Education Department regardingthe evaluation descriptors, which culminates only in fulfilling a bureaucratic task.

Esta investigación del tipo descriptiva cualitativa investigó la comprensión de los profesores de Educación Física de la red pública municipal de Cuiabá en relación a la evaluación del aprendizaje.Ocurrió en 52 escuelas, con la participación de 92 profesores de los años iniciales de la EnseñanzaFundamental. A partir de este cuestionario adoptado identificamos que aunque 66% de los profesores entiendan el acto de evaluar como algo fácil y 75% reconozcan que los conocimientos adquiridos durante la graduación fueron suficientes o parcialmente suficientes, hay equívocos con relación al concepto y función atribuidos a la evaluación. Constatamos un enyesamiento por parte de la Secretaria de Educación de Cuiabá con relación a los descriptores de evaluación, culminando en el cumplimiento de una tarea burocrática.