[Microscopic analysis of "prato", "mussarela" and "mineiro" cheese sold in street markets of the City of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil]. / Características microscópicas de queijos prato, mussarela e mineiro comercializados em feiras livres da Cidade de São Paulo.

INTRODUCTION: Cheese should be produced from ingredients of good quality and processed under hygienic conditions. Further, cheese should be transported, stored and sold in an appropriate manner in order to avoid, among other things, the incorporation of extraneous materials (filth) of biological origin or otherwise, in contravention of the relevant food legislation. The aim of the study was to evaluate the hygienic conditions of "prato", "mussarela", and "mineiro" cheeses sold at the street food markets in the city of S. Paulo, Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Forty-seven samples of each of the three types of cheese were collected during the period from March, 1993 to February, 1994. The Latin square was used as a statistical model for sampling and random selection of the street markets from which to collect the cheese samples. The samples were analysed for the presence of extraneous matters outside for which purpose the samples were washed and filtered and inside, for which the methodology of enzymathic digestion of the sample with pancreatine, followed by filtering, was used. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Of the 141 samples analysed, 75.9% exhibited at least one sort of extraneous matters. For the "prato" and "mussarela" cheeses, the high number of contaminated samples was due mainly to extraneous matters present inside the cheese, whereas in the "mineiro" cheese, besides the internal filth, 100% of the samples had external filth.

Relationship between acute diarrhoea and low plasma levels of vitamin A and retinol binding protein.

The objective of this study was to assess vitamin A status and association between acute diarrhoea and plasma levels of vitamin A through cross-sectional comparison in children. Plasma vitamin A was measured by colorimetric method of Neeld & Pearson and RBP by radial immunodiffusion technique. Seventy eight children (aged 18-119 months), 26 with current history of diarrhoea and 52 children as controls (outpatient from the Santa Casa de Misericórdia Hospital in metropolitan area of São Paulo City, Brazil) were studied. Children with history of diarrhoea showed significant low levels (mean +/- s.e.) as compared to controls, vitamin A (15.87 +/- 1.4 micrograms/dl vs. 21.14 +/- 1.15 micrograms/dl, p < 0.007) and RBP (1.70 +/- 0.2 mg/dl vs. 2.52 +/- 0.11 mg/dl). Multivariate logistic regression adjusted by sex, age, nutritional status and mother education revealed association between diarrhoea and inadequate levels of vitamin A and RBP.

Vitamin A status in children with pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: To assess vitamin A status in children with pneumonia. INTERVENTIONS: Thirty-four hospitalised patients with pneumonia were randomly allocated into two groups: the study group, besides the routine treatment, received a high dose of aqueous retinyl palmitate oral solution; the control group received only the routine treatment. METHODS: The concentrations of plasma vitamin A and carotenoids were determined by colorimetric method. Retinol binding protein (RBP) was determined by the radial immunodiffusion technique. RESULTS: After 1 week of treatment there was a statistically significant (P < 0.05) increase in the levels (mean +/- s.e.) of vitamin A (study group: 14.1 +/- 1.6 to 26.5 +/- 5.8 micrograms/dl; control group: 16.1 +/- 3.3 to 24.1 +/- 2.3 micrograms/dl) and RBP (study group: 0.8 +/- 0.2 to 2.2 +/- 0.6 mg/dl; control group: 0.6 +/- 0.2 to 3.0 +/- 0.5 mg/dl) in both groups as compared to the baseline. On day 7 of treatment when the average levels of vitamin A (26.5 +/- 5.8 and 24.1 +/- 2.3 micrograms/dl) were compared, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that low levels of circulating plasma vitamin A in child with pneumonia may be a consequence of acute phase of infectious disease.

[Plasma levels of vitamin A, carotenoids and retinol binding protein in children with acute respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases]. / Níveis plasmáticos de vitamina A, carotenóides e proteína ligadora de retinol em crianças com infecções respiratórias agudas e doenças diarréicas.

The present study was carried out in order to assess the plasma levels of vitamin A, carotenoids and retinol binding protein (RBP) of three-hundred and eleven children aged from seven months to eleven years, who had a history of upper respiratory infection (URI), pneumonia and diarrhoea. The children were resident in the urban area of the Municipality of S. Paulo, Brazil, and were seen at the pediatric service of the one school-hospital. The data show that plasma vitamin A (microgram/dl) and RBP (mg/dl) levels in the diarrhoea (15.2 micrograms/dl; 1.7 mg/dl) and pneumonia (15.2 micrograms/dl; 0.7 mg/dl) groups were lower (p < 0.05) than those observed in the control (18.8 micrograms/dl; 2.6 mg/dl) and URI (19.0 micrograms/dl; 2.4 mg/dl) groups. The plasma carotenoid levels were lower in all groups than in the control group (p < 0.05). These findings corroborate the results that show low levels of vitamin A in circulation during period of infection.

[Food taboos in the northern region of Brazil]. / Tabus alimentares em região do Norte do Brasil.

A study was carried out into alimentary taboos in two localities (São Félix and Murumuru) in the county of Marabá, State of Pará, Brazil. Ninety families were studied in São Félix and thirty-five in Murumuru. As regards the feeding taboos found, the most frequent was that prohibiting the simultaneous ingestion of milk and various types of fruit, including especially mango, orange, cashew and pineapple. The ingestion of eggs with fruit was also considered harmful as well as the eating of mammalian flesh at the same time as fish. Restrictions based on taboos were more frequent during breast feeding than during pregnancy, especially those regarding game flesh and fish that abound in the region under study. The most frequently mentioned reasons for the restrictions were: "the combination causes harm", "the combination kills", "the combination causes congestion" and "it causes vomiting".

Hipovitaminose A em comunidades do Estado de Sao Paulo, Brasil. / Hypovitaminosis A in comunities of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Foram realizados inqueritos nutricionais completos (de consumo de alimentos, bioquimico e clinico) referentes a deficiencia de vitamina A em onze comunidades do Estado de Sao Paulo.O inquerito alimentar mostrou consumo muito baixo de alimentos fontes de vitamina A, tanto de origem animal como vegetal. O inquerito bioquimico mostrou alta prevalencia de niveis plasmaticos de vitamina A classificados como deficiente e baixo. O inquerito clinico mostrou baixos coeficientes de prevalencia para lesoes oculares, principalmente as mais graves. Embora nem a cegueira, nem as lesoes oculares graves constituissem um problema de Saude Publica, a maioria dessas populacoes corria o risco de que tais lesoes viessem a se tornar um problema

Hipovitaminose A em pre-escolares internados em uma instituicao na capital do Estado de Sao Paulo, Brasil. / Vitamin A deficiency in institutionalized preschool children of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Estudou-se o estado nutricional, em relacao a vitamina A, de criancas de 2 a 6 anos de idade, internadas em uma instituicao para menores. Foram realizados exames clinicos e bioquimicos. Os exames clinicos revelaram alta prevalencia de xerose cutanea (75,8%) e prevalencia moderada de hiperceratose folicular (18,3%). Exames oftalmologicos realizados sem o auxilio de corante vital revelaram uma prevalencia de 20,7% de xerose conjuntival, enquanto que aqueles realizados com auxilio de colirio de Rosa Bengala a 1%, nas mesmas criancas, revelaram 31,7% de xerose conjuntival.Os exames bioquimicos mostraram que 39,4% dos examinados apresentaram niveis plasmaticos de vitamina A de 10 micro g/100ml ou menos, e 73,9% de 20 micro g/100ml ou menos