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Urban agriculture is considered an important solution to food security. Rooftops are a new addition to possible places to grow vegetables due to urban land being limited and expensive. However, urban agriculture can be a risk in the case that vegetables are contaminated with heavy metals via atmospheric deposition because of tra c emissions. Among the vegetables, lettuce stands out as one of the most popular in Brazilian food and it is a very important vegetable for the human diet, but its consumption is the most common route for human exposure to toxic metals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the essential and non-essential elements in lettuce cultivated on a rooftop urban garden developed by Agronomy College within the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. In addition, to assess the human health risks associated with the potentially toxic metals based on the estimated daily intake (EDI) and the target hazard quotient (THQ), and to access the possible sources of heavy metal contamination by multivariate statistical. Instrumental neutron activation analysis, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry were applied to determine the elemental concentration in lettuce leaves. This study demonstrated that lettuces grown on a rooftop are sources of essential macronutrients such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium and have lower concentrations of trace elements. The Cd, Cu, and Pb concentrations did not exceed the Brazilian legislation limit. The Ba, Co, Cr, Ni, and Pb presented low levels compared to oral reference dose (R f D). The results of the cluster analysis showed that Ni, Cr, Co, and Pb may be associated to vehicles emissions. Both EDI and THQ values suggested minimal risk upon consumption of lettuce.

Urban agriculture is considered an important solution to food security. Rooftops are a new addition to possible places to grow vegetables due to urban land being limited and expensive. However, urban agriculture can be a risk in the case that vegetables are contaminated with heavy metals via atmospheric deposition because of traffic emissions. Among the vegetables, lettuce stands out as one of the most popular in Brazilian food and it is a very important vegetable for the human diet, but its consumption is the most common route for human exposure to toxic metals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the essential and non-essential elements in lettuce cultivated on a rooftop urban garden developed by Agronomy College within the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. In addition, to assess the human health risks associated with the potentially toxic metals based on the estimated daily intake (EDI) and the target hazard quotient (THQ), and to access the possible sources of heavy metal contamination by multivariate statistical. Instrumental neutron activation analysis, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry were applied to determine the elemental concentration in lettuce leaves. This study demonstrated that lettuces grown on a rooftop are sources of essential macronutrients such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium and have lower concentrations of trace elements. The Cd, Cu, and Pb concentrations did not exceed the Brazilian legislation limit. The Ba, Co, Cr, Ni, and Pb presented low levels compared to oral reference dose (RfD). The results of the cluster analysis showed that Ni, Cr, Co, and Pb may be associated to vehicles emissions. Both EDI and THQ values suggested minimal risk upon consumption of lettuce.

In recent decades, there has been a great advancement in research in developing drugs from plants. Nevertheless, little significant care exists in the literature about the stable concentration of elements, as well as the activity concentration of 238 U and 232 Th decay products in plants used for this purpose in Brazil. The presence of stable elements and radionuclides in plants constitutes the pathway for their migration to humans, via uptake of tea or remedies made with medicinal herbs. Peperomia pellucida, whose popular name is "erva de jabuti", is a plant known by its medicinal usages, such as healing and analgesic properties plus antibacterial and antifungal activities against food fungi. In this study, the elemental composition of Peperomia pellucida and surrounding soil samples collected in the Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro was determined; the elemental concentration in the alcoholic extract and infusion processes of dry plants was also determined. The elemental concentration of As,

Este trabalho é um estudo interdisciplinar envolvendo o cultivo de ervacidreira (Melissa officinalis L.) e sua caracterização química. O objetivo deste estudo foi fornecer informação sobre a adubação orgânica e convencional, a sazonalidade e os efeitos dos elementos traço na produção dos óleos voláteis de Melissa officinalis. O modelo experimental utilizado foi em canteiros com delineamento inteiramente casualizados (DIC) com quatro repetições. Melissa officinalis foi submetida a diferentes sistemas de adubação e época de colheita. A concentração elementar foi determinada pela análise por ativação neutrônica instrumental (INAA), espectrometria de absorção atômica por forno de grafite (GF AAS) e espectrometria de emissão óptica com fonte de plasma indutivamente acoplado (ICP-OES) nas folhas de Melissa officinalis e nos solos de cultivo. Os óleos voláteis de Melissa officinalis foram extraídos pela técnica de hidrodestilação, utilizando-se o aparelho de Clevenger e os principais metabólitos secundários (citronelal, neral, geranial, citronelol, nerol e geraniol) foram determinados por cromatografia gasosa acoplada ao espectrômetro de massas (GC-MS). Primavera e verão apresentaram os óleos de melhor qualidade por possuírem menores teores de citronelol, nerol e geraniol. A formação de neral e geranial foi favorecida no manejo convencional correlacionado com a presença dos elementos Co, Cr, Mg e Ni presentes no solo, enquanto que a formação do citronelal foi favorecida no manejo orgânico correlacionado com o elemento Mn presente nas folhas de Melissa officinalis.

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