[Lipid profile among school children in Campinas, Brazil]. / Perfil lipídico em escolares de Campinas, SP, Brasil.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the lipid profile and the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia among schoolchildren aged 7 to 14 years in Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil. METHODS: Plasma cholesterol levels, fractions, ratios and triglycerides were determined according to age and gender in a total of 1,600 schoolchildren. Hypercholesterolemia was considered borderline for 170 mg/dl/=200 mg/dl. RESULTS: Schoolchildren presented a cholesterol mean of 160 mg/dl, HDL-cholesterol mean of 49 mg/dl, LDL-cholesterol mean of 96 mg/dl, VLDL-cholesterol mean of 16 mg/dl, triglycerides mean of 79 mg/dl, cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol mean of 3.5 and LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol mean of 2.1. In general, females had higher cholesterol and triglycerides values than males. The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia was 35.0%: 15.6% was borderline high, 9.8% moderate and 9.5% severe. Females presented higher prevalence of hypercholesterolemia than males. CONCLUSIONS: The results pointed to the emergence of hypercholesterolemia as a public health problem in Brazil.

[Evaluating the impact of a hematinic iron-rich nutritional supplement]. / Avaliação do impacto de um suplemento nutricional rico em ferro hematínico.

A quasi-experimental epidemiological study was performed to evaluate the effect of a nutritional supplement made from bovine blood on human blood parameters. Healthy women who were neither pregnant nor breast-feeding were allocated to two groups: study (n=32) and control (n=17). Women in the study group received 0.5 mg of iron per day, while controls received placebo. Food intake frequency and side effects related to ferrous sulfate were recorded. A 24-hour dietary recall was performed every two weeks, and blood samples were collected to determine biochemical parameters. Compared to controls, the study group showed higher serum iron and iron retention capacity, lower calorie, protein, and vitamin C intake, and lower consumption of dairy products and fruit. Adjusted mean blood parameters were calculated using ANOVA. The output showed increased serum iron (p=0.009) and decreased iron retention capacity (p=0.031) at the end of the study. The results favor use of the product to treat iron deficiency anemia.

[Concentration of hemoglobin and hematocrit in schoolchildren, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil]. / Concentração de hemoglobina e hematócrito em escolares da primeira série de uma escola pública de Campinas, São Paulo, Brasil.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe the distribution of hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, and to correlate the hemoglobin levels with age, sex, income per capita, intestinal parasites, maternal and parenteral education. METHODS: One hundred and forty-six schoolchildren were studied. They were 48.5% female and 51.5% male. The children were 7.3 +/- 0.6 years old and presented 1.1 +/- 1.8 Brazilian minimum salary per capita. About 31% of them presented intestinal parasites. The schooling of their mothers was 5.2 +/- 3.0 years and that of their fathers was 5.6 +/- 3.4 years. The cyanomethemoglobin method was used to determine hemoglobin concentration. Anemia was considered when the hemoglobin was below World Health Organization recommendations (<11 g/dl). RESULTS: The results showed no anemia among the schoolchildren. Most of them displayed hemoglobin concentration between 13 and 14 g/dl. Using the 25th percentile of the hemoglobin distribution (12.7 g/dl) to study the correlation between hemoglobin and the other variables, a positive association between hemoglobin and parenteral schooling (t=2.25, p=0.03) was detected. CONCLUSIONS: This correlation indicates the importance of education level for better life and health quality because education allows more information and understanding.

[Prevalence of intestinal parasitosis in schoolchildren]. / Prevalência de parasitose intestinal em escolares da primeira série de uma escola pública.

OBJECTIVE: Aiming to identify the prevalence and the social risk factors of the intestinal parasitosis in first grade school children of Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study based in personal and social data obtained by interview and feces analysis of 146 children to investigate Ancylostomatidae, Ascaris lumbricoides, Endolimax nana, Entamoeba coli, Entamoeba histolytica, Enterobius vermicularis, Giardia lamblia, Hymenolepis nana, Iodamoeba bütschlii, Schistosoma mansoni, Strongyloides stercoralis, Taenia sp and Trichuris trichiura. RESULTS: The prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides was 12.3% and of Giardia lamblia was 8.2%. The prevalence of intestinal parasitosis, in general, was 30.8%. The social risk factors for intestinal parasitosis were low maternal (OR=2.3) and paternal education (OR=3.9), small house (OR=3.0), large household (OR=2.7) and proletarian group (p=0.02). After adjusting for social variables, intestinal parasitosis was predicted by paternal education (p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The role of health education is important for disease prevention and the school is a natural place to reach the community living next to it.

[Intrauterine malnutrition in rats. I. Impact on weight gain, length of pregnancy and number of offspring]. / Desnutricão intrauterina em ratos. I. Repercussões no ganho de peso, tempo de gestação e no número de recém--nascidos.

Rats were submitted to protein-caloric deprivation during different periods of gestation. Maternal body weight gain, duration of pregnancy and number of offspring were evaluated. Rats of the control group (C) were fed ad libitum (protein 21%), and rats of the experimental groups were fed during all gestational period (D), during the first half (D1) or second half of pregnancy (D2) with a diet containing 1% of protein, and the intake was reduced to 50%. We concluded that malnutrition during pregnancy induced lower maternal weight (C greater than D1 greater than D2 greater than D) and lower number of offspring ( [C = D1] greater than D2 greater than D). No differences were observed in the duration of pregnancy in all groups studied.

Desnutricao intrauterina em ratos. I.Repercussoes no ganho de peso, tempo de gestacao e no numero de recem-nascidos. / Intrauterine malnutrition in rats: I. Repercussions in Weight gain, lenght of pregnancy and number of offsprings

Os autores verificaram a influencia da desnutricao proteico-calorica, em ratas, durante determinados periodos da gestacao, no que se refere a ganho de peso na gravidez, tempo de gestacao e numero de recemnascidos. Para tanto, foram constituidos quatro grupos experimentais: controle (C), receberam, a vontade, racao com 21% de proteinas; desnutrido toda gestacao (D), (D1), desnutrido na segunda metade da gestacao (D2). As ratas dos grupos desnutridos receberam racao com l% de proteina e em quantidade igual a metade da oferecida ao grupo C. Foram observadas diferencas significativas no ganho de peso entre os grupos estudados (C > D1 > D2 > D), sendo que o grupo D, em media, perdeu peso. Nao foram constatadas diferencas significativas quanto a duracao da gestacao e sim quanto ao numero de recem-nascidos (C=D1) > D2 > D

[Influence of previous cooking on the biological value of sardine protein concentrates, obtained by extraction with ethanol]. / Influência da cocção prévia no valor biológico de concentrados proteicos de sardinha, obtidos por extração com etanol.

The authors studied the effect of previous cooking on the residual content of lipids and on the biological value of the fish protein concentrates (FPC) from Sardinella aurita. The extraction of lipids was done with ethanol at 95%. It was observed that previous cooking facilitates the extraction, decreasing the residual content of lipids at a level of 0.72% in the FPC submitted to previous cooking, and at a level of 1.05% in the FPC not submitted to previous cooking (P greater than 0.05). The aminogram indicated that threonine was the primary limiting amino acid in relation to the FAO reference protein. The biological test of the protein of FCP in 21 day-old weanling male rats of the Wistar strain, was studied through the food and protein efficiency ratio (FER and PER), apparent digestibility (Dap), and net protein utilization (NPU). The biological value obtained was between 46 and 44%, respectively, for the fish protein concentrate, with and without previous cooking (P greater than 0.005).

The nutritive value and some biochemical aspects of single cell protein obtained from "Saccharomyces, sp.", in rat feeding.

The authors have studied the biological value (BV) of Single Cell Protein (SCP) obtained from "Saccharomyces, sp." and the probable alterations among the values of uric acid, urea, total protein (Pt) and albumin (Ab) in the serum, and among hepatic content of DNA, RNA, Pt and total lipids in Wistar male rats. The animals were fed "ad libitum" with an experimental diet containing 25% of protein of SCP (EG-25), and a control diet containing 25% protein of casein (CG-25) during 9 weeks from weaning (28 days old). The BV was significantly smaller in EG-25. The serum and urine values of uric acid were higher in the EG-25 and these data suggest homeostasis. The urea contents were higher in CG-25. The Pt and Ab did not differ. The hepatic variables: the total lipids, the cell weight, the relation protein/nucleus and the liver weight in relation to the body weight were higher in EG-25. The DNA, RNA and number of hepatic cells were lower to EG-25 as compared to CG-25 (p less than 0.05). The results also indicated that the BV of SCP at 25% was inferior to that of casein. The biochemical hepatic results may be attributed to a deficiency in total-S-amino acids in SCP. The protein synthesis in the liver doesn't seem to have suffered any alterations by the ingestion of amino acids present in the casein and in the SCP. Hepatic hypertrophy may have occurred during the acute stage of growth. The protein of SCP may have influenced the speed of cell division.