The river siltingis usually solved by dredging the sediment deposited in its bed, employing many techniques. In dealing with a concrete case, the objective is to expose the technical criteria lack for the execution of such intervention, the impacts to the river, aquatic biota and its real need. Here aspects of the dissociation between consecrated understandings in the engineering and their mismatch with the ecological theories are presented. This work aimed to study urban floods, elucidating their causes, to propose measures and new technologies to deal with them, through programs and urban policies. The intention is to detail the causes of urban floods, understanding the factors involved and with that, discuss how the public power should proceed in what refers to the dredging. The main objective of this work is to stimulate the incorporation of urban rivers into ecological studies and to draw public attention to this issue.

Este é um artigo publicado em acesso aberto (Open Access) sob a licença Creative Commons Attribution, que permite uso, distribuição e reprodução em qualquer meio, sem restrições desde que o trabalho original seja corretamente citado. ABSTRACTThe adoption of reference values (guidelines) for metals concentrations support the evaluative studies of areas under anthropic influence as well as in the environmental management. This study aimed at evaluating the quality of sediment from Monjolinho River (São Carlos, SP) employing the geoacumulation index applied to the metals evaluated (Cu, Pb, Cr, Fe, Ni, Mn and Zn) in three sampling stations: spring, medium course and river mouth during the dry and rainy season. Concentrations of Zn, Pb, Ni and Cu showed significantly differences between spring and river mouth. The results demonstrated that the Cd was the only element categorizes in the moderate to strong contamination category. It was possible to verify that diffuse pollution of agricultural and urban areas are the main source of Cd enrichment in sediments.

No abstract

The wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems, although in the Brazil that situation is worse because of an ecological approach lack in the Law of Native Vegetation Protection, what makes necessary the public power action to safeguard those systems. The present research employed an applied ecological approach (limnology, macroinvertebrates, aquatic macrophytes) for Sorocaba River and its wetlands assessment in Sorocaba-SP municipality, the land cover and its influence on limnological variables, as well as the environmental services demand supplied by the municipality wetlands. Two samples were performed during 2017, one during the rainy (February) season and other on the dry season (June). Patronized methods were employed in the present research. The organic pollution and the anthropic areas predominance are the mainly factors responsible for limnological variables alteration. Some environmental services (i.e. water provision, water flow control, erosive process control, nutrient control, water cycling, recreation fishing and biodiversity intrinsic value) provided by the studied wetlands showed a negative balance (i.e. demand superior to the provision capacity). The macrophyte species and macroinvertebrate families found are organic pollution indicators. Finally, stand out the strategic action contribution and the municipality governance role for wetlands ecosystem management.

This study was conducted to describe the health conditions (the psychosocial aspects, sleep quality, and musculoskeletal symptoms) among Brazilian healthcare workers in the context of the pandemic. Workers answered an online questionnaire, including the short version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ II), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The most unfavourable psychosocial factors were work pace (61%; 95% CI: 52–69%), emotional work demands (75%; 95% CI: 67–82%), predictability (47%; 95% CI: 39–56%), work-family conflict (55%; 95% CI: 46–64%), burnout (86%; 95% CI: 78–91%), and stress (81%; 95% CI: 73–87%). Most workers (74%; 95% CI: 66–81%) were classified as poor sleepers. Musculoskeletal symptoms were frequent in the neck (64%; 95% CI: 55–72%), shoulders (62%; 95% CI: 54–70%), upper back (58%; 95% CI: 50–67%), and lower back (61%; 95% CI: 52–69%). Depressive symptoms were also highly prevalent (mild: 22%; 95% CI: 15–30%, moderate: 16%; 95% CI: 11–23%, severe: 8%; 95% CI: 4–14%). Most healthcare workers experience unfavourable psychosocial factors, poor sleep quality, as well as musculoskeletal and depressive symptoms. These findings underscore the urgent need to acknowledge and address psychological and physical distress to improve the personal and professional well-being of this population.