BACKGROUND
The health benefits of organic foods are unclear.


PURPOSE
To review evidence comparing the health effects of organic and conventional foods.


DATA SOURCES
MEDLINE (January 1966 to May 2011), EMBASE, CAB Direct, Agricola, TOXNET, Cochrane Library (January 1966 to May 2009), and bibliographies of retrieved articles.


STUDY SELECTION
English-language reports of comparisons of organically and conventionally grown food or of populations consuming these foods.


DATA EXTRACTION
2 independent investigators extracted data on methods, health outcomes, and nutrient and contaminant levels.


DATA SYNTHESIS
17 studies in humans and 223 studies of nutrient and contaminant levels in foods met inclusion criteria. Only 3 of the human studies examined clinical outcomes, finding no significant differences between populations by food type for allergic outcomes (eczema, wheeze, atopic sensitization) or symptomatic Campylobacter infection. Two studies reported significantly lower urinary pesticide levels among children consuming organic versus conventional diets, but studies of biomarker and nutrient levels in serum, urine, breast milk, and semen in adults did not identify clinically meaningful differences. All estimates of differences in nutrient and contaminant levels in foods were highly heterogeneous except for the estimate for phosphorus; phosphorus levels were significantly higher than in conventional produce, although this difference is not clinically significant. The risk for contamination with detectable pesticide residues was lower among organic than conventional produce (risk difference, 30% [CI, -37% to -23%]), but differences in risk for exceeding maximum allowed limits were small. Escherichia coli contamination risk did not differ between organic and conventional produce. Bacterial contamination of retail chicken and pork was common but unrelated to farming method. However, the risk for isolating bacteria resistant to 3 or more antibiotics was higher in conventional than in organic chicken and pork (risk difference, 33% [CI, 21% to 45%]).


LIMITATION
Studies were heterogeneous and limited in number, and publication bias may be present.


CONCLUSION
The published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods. Consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.


PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE
None.

Are organic foods safer or healthier than conventional alternatives? a systematic review

Background The health benefits of organic foods are unclear. Purpose To review evidence comparing the health effects of organic and conventional foods. Data sources MEDLINE (January 1966 to May 2011), EMBASE, CAB Direct, Agricola, TOXNET, Cochrane Library (January 1966 to May 2009), and bibliographies of retrieved articles. Study selection English-language reports of comparisons of organically and conventionally grown food or of populations consuming these foods. Data extraction 2 independent investigators extracted data on methods, health outcomes, and nutrient and contaminant levels. Data synthesis 17 studies in humans and 223 studies of nutrient and contaminant levels in foods met inclusion criteria. Only 3 of the human studies examined clinical outcomes, finding no significant differences between populations by food type for allergic outcomes (eczema, wheeze, atopic sensitization) or symptomatic Campylobacter infection. Two studies reported significantly lower urinary pesticide levels among children consuming organic versus conventional diets, but studies of biomarker and nutrient levels in serum, urine, breast milk, and semen in adults did not identify clinically meaningful differences. All estimates of differences in nutrient and contaminant levels in foods were highly heterogeneous except for the estimate for phosphorus; phosphorus levels were significantly higher than in conventional produce, although this difference is not clinically significant. The risk for contamination with detectable pesticide residues was lower among organic than conventional produce (risk difference, 30% [CI, -37% to -23%]), but differences in risk for exceeding maximum allowed limits were small. Escherichia coli contamination risk did not differ between organic and conventional produce. Bacterial contamination of retail chicken and pork was common but unrelated to farming method. However, the risk for isolating bacteria resistant to 3 or more antibiotics was higher in conventional than in organic chicken and pork (risk difference, 33% [CI, 21% to 45%]). Limitation Studies were heterogeneous and limited in number, and publication bias may be present. Conclusion The published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods. Consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Primary funding source None.

Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier Than Conventional Alternatives?: A Systematic Review

Along with microglia and monocyte-derived macrophages, macrophages in the perivascular space, choroid plexus, and meninges are the principal effector cells in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders. These phagocytes are highly heterogeneous cells displaying spatial- and temporal-dependent identities in the healthy, injured, and inflamed CNS. In the last decade, researchers have debated on whether phagocytes subtypes and phenotypes are pathogenic or protective in CNS pathologies. In the context of this dichotomy, we summarize and discuss the current knowledge on the spatiotemporal physiology of macrophage subsets and microglia in the healthy and diseased CNS, and elaborate on factors regulating their behavior. In addition, the impact of macrophages present in lymphoid organs on CNS pathologies is defined. The prime focus of this review is on multiple sclerosis (MS), which is characterized by inflammation, demyelination, neurodegeneration, and CNS repair, and in which microglia and macrophages have been extensively scrutinized. On one hand, microglia and macrophages promote neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative events in MS by releasing inflammatory mediators and stimulating leukocyte activity and infiltration into the CNS. On the other hand, microglia and macrophages assist in CNS repair through the production of neurotrophic factors and clearance of inhibitory myelin debris. Finally, we define how microglia and macrophage physiology can be harnessed for new therapeutics aimed at suppressing neuroinflammatory and cytodegenerative events, as well as promoting CNS repair. We conclude that microglia and macrophages are highly dynamic cells displaying disease stage and location-specific fates in neurological disorders. Changing the physiology of divergent phagocyte subsets at particular disease stages holds promise for future therapeutics for CNS pathologies.

Macrophage subsets and microglia in multiple sclerosis.

The segregation and limited regenerative capacity of the CNS necessitate a specialized and tightly regulated resident immune system that continuously guards the CNS against invading pathogens and injury. Immunity in the CNS has generally been attributed to neuron-associated microglia in the parenchyma, whose origin and functions have recently been elucidated. However, there are several other specialized macrophage populations at the CNS borders, including dural, leptomeningeal, perivascular and choroid plexus macrophages (collectively known as CNS-associated macrophages (CAMs)), whose origins and roles in health and disease have remained largely uncharted. CAMs are thought to be involved in regulating the fine balance between the proper segregation of the CNS, on the one hand, and the essential exchange between the CNS parenchyma and the periphery, on the other. Recent studies that have been empowered by major technological advances have shed new light on these cells and suggest central roles for CAMs in CNS physiology and in the pathogenesis of diseases.

Macrophages at CNS interfaces: ontogeny and function in health and disease.

The choroid plexus (CP), i.e., the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) interface, is an epithelial boundary exploitable for drug delivery to brain. Agents transported from blood to lateral ventricles are convected by CSF volume transmission (bulk flow) to many periventricular targets. These include the caudate, hippocampus, specialized circumventricular organs, hypothalamus, and the downstream pia-glia and arachnoid membranes. The CSF circulatory system normally provides micronutrients, neurotrophins, hormones, neuropeptides, and growth factors extensively to neuronal networks. Therefore, drugs directed to CSF can modulate a variety of endocrine, immunologic, and behavioral phenomema; and can help to restore brain interstitial and cellular homeostasis disrupted by disease and trauma. This review integrates information from animal models that demonstrates marked physiologic effects of substances introduced into the ventricular system. It also recapitulates how pharmacologic agents administered into the CSF system prevent disease or enhance the brain's ability to recover from chemical and physical insults. In regard to drug distribution in the CNS, the BCSFB interaction with the blood-brain barrier is discussed. With a view toward translational CSF pharmacotherapy, there are several promising innovations in progress: bone marrow cell infusions, CP encapsulation and transplants, neural stem cell augmentation, phage display of peptide ligands for CP epithelium, CSF gene transfer, regulation of leukocyte and cytokine trafficking at the BCSFB, and the purification of neurotoxic CSF in degenerative states. The progressively increasing pharmacological significance of the CP-CSF nexus is analyzed in light of treating AIDS, multiple sclerosis, stroke, hydrocephalus, and Alzheimer's disease.

Enhanced prospects for drug delivery and brain targeting by the choroid plexus-CSF route.

The Brazilian coffee planting presents a great importance in the creation of job opportunities, resources, and exchange value, being very diversified, with local particularities. The Brazilian Savannah covers more than 200 million ha, distributed along the States of Minas Gerais, Goias, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Tocantins, Bahia, Piaui, Maranhao, and Distrito Federal, and has reached a yield of more than 5 million bags per year, mainly for Coffea arabica L. The coffee growing, in that region, stands out for presenting yield above the national average and for using, in a more efficient way, agricultural inputs, irrigation, improved varieties, and mechanization, among other practices. The irrigated coffee crop, in Brazil, covers 240,000 ha, most of these in the Brazilian Savannah, representing 10% of the total planted area and 25% of the total coffee yield. The most used irrigation systems are the sprinkler ones (conventional, net sprinkler, and center pivot) and the located ones (dripping and modified). Its climate favours coffee quality, as it allows harvesting under low air humidity conditions, since rainfall is concentrated in the summer. It is also observed, in the Brazilian Savannah areas, higher insolation rates, mainly in the autumn and winter months, favorable to yield and quality. The most planted varieties are the Catuai and Mundo Novo ones, along with other promising drought and diseases resistant materials.

/pdf/a-moderna-cafeicultura-dos-cerrados-brasileiros-3h1q4fp6xe.pdf

A moderna cafeicultura dos cerrados brasileiros

Liquid swine dejection (LSD) can constitute excellent source of fertilization in pasture, with sprinkler irrigation system, provided the conditions that assure the protection of the environment Although with proved potential for growth without irrigation, for the Cynodon sp cultivar Tifton 85 there is little information on its behavior and production in systems under irrigation and with LSD In order to determine the production of dry matter in irrigated and with LSD fertirrigation, an experiment was carried out in the Farm-School of the University of Uberaba - MG, Brazil, with net-sprinkler irrigation system, applying 0, 50, 100 and 200 m3 ha-1 year-1of LSD There was significant effect among the doses of LSD in the production of dry matter, occurring additions of production with the increasing the doses The supply of 200 m3 ha-1 year-1 of LSD made possible the production of 5,928 kg of the forage dry matter for the cycle of 28 days

https://www.scielo.br/pdf/eagri/v26n2/10.pdf

Produção de matéria seca em pastagem de Tifton 85 irrigada, com diferentes doses de dejeto líquido de suíno

Recent observations have suggested that lentiviruses stimulate the proliferation and activation of microglia. A similar effect within the dense macrophage population of the choroid plexus could have significant implications for trafficking of virus and inflammatory cells into the brain. To explore this possibility, we cultured fetal feline macrophages and examined their response to feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or the T-cell-derived protein, recombinant human CD40-ligand trimer (rhuCD40-L). The rhCD40-L was the most potent stimulus for macrophage proliferation, often inducing a dramatic increase in macrophage density. Exposure to FIV resulted in a small increase in the number of macrophages and macrophage nuclei labeled with bromodeoxyuridine. The increase in macrophage density after FIV infection also correlated with an increase in neurotoxic activity of the macrophage-conditione d medium. Starting at 16–18 weeks postinfection, well after the peak of viremia, a similar toxic activity was detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from FIV-infected cats. Toxicity in the CSF increased over time and was paralleled by strong CD18 staining of macrophages/microglia in the choroid plexus and adjacent parenchyma. These results suggest that lentiviral infection of the choroid plexus can induce a toxic inflammatory response that is fueled by local macrophage proliferation. Together with the observation of increasing toxic activity in the CSF and increased CD18 staining in vivo, these observations suggest that choroid plexus macrophages may contribute to an inflammatory cascade in the brain that progresses independently of systemic and CSF viral load.

/pdf/choroid-plexus-macrophages-proliferate-and-release-toxic-105zzpk43n.pdf

Choroid plexus macrophages proliferate and release toxic factors in response to feline immunodeficiency virus

/pdf/the-modern-coffee-planting-in-the-brazilian-savannah-4484dv6yn8.pdf

The modern coffee planting in the Brazilian savannah

Em alguns municipios, os residuos da construcao civil representam 60% do montante de lixo que e gerado nos centros urbanos. A cidade de Uberaba convive com significativos impactos ambientais provocados pela nao gestao dos residuos construtivos. No municipio, existem areas altamente degradadas pela destinacao inadequada dos Residuos da Construcao e Demolicao (RCD) ou Residuos da Construcao Civil (RCC). A falta de gerenciamento desses residuos afeta a cidade nos aspectos economico, sociais e principalmente ambientais. Neste trabalho, foram levantados os principais impactos ambientais que ocorreram devido a falta de gestao dos RCD na cidade de Uberaba. Foram abordados alguns pontos como: a eficiencia dos "ecopontos", degradacao da area da Pedreira de Lea e riscos para a saude publica da cidade. Ainda foram discutidos os motivos que levam a nao gestao dos RCD e o que tem sido feito para que futuramente esta gestao venha ser implantada. Este trabalho foi composto por revisao bibliografica associada a visitas in loco das areas afetadas pela destinacao inadequada dos RCD. Desta forma, este trabalho propos solucoes para reducao dos impactos ambientais causados pelos RCD gerenciados de maneira inadequada em Uberaba, visando obter melhorias para a saude publica e contribuindo para a sustentabilidade ambiental da cidade.

/pdf/cenario-do-gerenciamento-dos-residuos-da-construcao-e-2r32mudgbo.pdf

André Luís Teixeira Fernandes

Papers

A moderna cafeicultura dos cerrados brasileiros

Produção de matéria seca em pastagem de Tifton 85 irrigada, com diferentes doses de dejeto líquido de suíno

Choroid plexus macrophages proliferate and release toxic factors in response to feline immunodeficiency virus

The modern coffee planting in the Brazilian savannah

Cenário do gerenciamento dos resíduos da construção e demolição (RCD) em Uberaba-MG