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Objective: To investigate the association between serum unmetabolized folic acid (UMFA) concentrations and folic acid from fortified foods and nutrients known as dietary methyl-group donors (folate, methionine, choline, betaine and vitamins B2, B6 and B12) in participants exposed to mandatory fortification of wheat and maize flours with folic acid.Methods: Cross-sectional study carried out with 144 healthy Brazilian participants, both sexes, supplement nonusers. Serum folate, UMFA, vitamin B12 and total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) were biochemically measured. Dietary intake was assessed by 2 non-consecutive 24-hour dietary recalls (24-HRs) and deattenuated energy-adjusted nutrient data were used for statistical analysis.Results: Ninety eight (68.1%) participants were women. Median (interquartile range) age was 35.5 (28.0-52.0) years. Elevated serum folate concentrations (>45 nmol/L) were found in 17 (11.8%), while folate deficiency (<7 nmol/L) in 10 (6.9%) participants. No one had vitamin B12 deficiency (<148 pmol/L). An elevated serum UMFA concentration was defined as > 1 nmol/L (90th percentile). UMFA concentrations were positively correlated with folic acid intake and negatively correlated to choline, methionine and vitamin B6 intakes. Participants in the lowest quartile of UMFA concentrations had lower dietary intake of total folate (DFEs) and folic acid, and higher dietary intake of methionine, choline and vitamin B6 than participants in the highest quartile of UMFA. Folic acid intake (OR [95% CI] = 1.02 [1.01-1.04)] and being a male (OR [95% CI] = 0.40 [0.19-0.87) were associated with increased and reduced odds for UMFA concentrations > 0.55 nmol/L (median values), respectively.Conclusion: UMFA concentrations were directly influenced by folic acid intake from fortified foods in a healthy convenience sample of adult Brazilians exposed to mandatory flour fortification with folic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A Brazilian agrochemical company agreed to conduct an initiative to further evaluate the environmental impact caused by its product SC50. This agrochemical is obtained from thiophanate-methyl, an active ingredient produced in Brazil as well as in Japan, where another industrial plant of the same corporation is located. The initiative evaluated the environmental performance of the SC50 life cycle so as to provide the company's private management with information to influence stakeholders in the sector. Methods: The working method comprised five steps. Step 1 established the impact profile associated to the SC50 life cycle. The diagnosis was obtained by LCA from a 'cradle-to-grave' approach. Step 2 identified the stages causing significant environmental impacts throughout the entire life cycle. In Step 3, improvement actions were proposed in order to mitigate, reduce, or even minimize the effects detected. Step 4 comprised the modeling, in which specific scenarios and their environmental impacts were analyzed. The synergistic effect was checked by successive additions of improvement actions, characterizing each scenario. Step 5 analyzed the results, comparing impact profiles of each scenario with the original diagnosis (as a baseline scenario) and verifying the individual effect of each action. Results and discussion: The results indicate relevant contributions of the dispersion from the SC50 life cycle in terms of global warming, terrestrial ecotoxicity, human toxicity, and eutrophication. Regarding to the manufacture, the use of diesel has great influence in the impacts of SC50, and its performance as eutrophication is conditioned to the low efficiency of the wastewater treatment. While the company decided not to implement improvements in the dispersion stage fearing market losses, five alternatives based on cleaner production principles were proposed to improve performance: to review the instrumentation systems in the plant, to adjust wastewater treatment, to stop importing thiophanate-methyl from Japan, to install an energy cogeneration system, and to substitute renewable glycerin with a fossil counterpart. All scenarios led to improvements from baseline. Conclusions: The use of LCA determined the impact profile associated to SC50 in soybean pest control. Because of strategic reasons, the company decided not to propose improvements in the most significant stage of this life cycle. Among the improvements, we highlight the replacement of imported thiophanate-methyl by a Brazilian equivalent and the installation of a combined cycle for energy recovery. For both these cases, however, the appropriate organizational measures must be taken before implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the physical and chemical characteristics of methyl and ethyl esters (biodiesel) produced by transesterification of pequi oil ( Caryocar brasiliensis Camb.) in the presence of potassium hydroxide. The oil extracted from pequi seed comprises 60% of the fruit content. Such characteristics as density, acidity, viscosity, and carbon residue of the biodiesel meet ANP (Brazilian National Petroleum Agency) standards. Our tests demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing pequi oil for biodiesel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]