LUMINOUS ENVIRONMENT IN OFFICE BUILDINGS: QUALITY OF LIGHTING AND USER'S OPINION

Lighting quality is a concept that allows excellent vision while providing high comfort. In addition to standards, there are diverse methods that can assist in understanding the light quality of an environment and one such mechanism is monitoring protocols. The aim of this paper is to investigate the lighting quality in office buildings with good integrated design and/or daylighting design in Brazilian context, combining monitoring protocol and user opinion. Two office buildings were evaluated: Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) in Brasília and the Support Centre for Technological Development of the University of Brasilia (CDT/UnB). Both case study shows good results to photometry parameters as illuminance average, directionality, quality of view out and melanopic values. The opinions of users, in general, are positive and the aligning with on-site measurements.

THE LIGHT OF AMAZON ARCHITECT SEVERIANO MÁRIO PORTO

The use of passive techniques in architecture is welcome. A renowned Brazilian architect, Severiano Mário Porto, developed over 200 projects and became an icon of Brazilian modernism, specifically in the Amazon, working with this prerogative. This work aims to combine the analysis of the lighting quality in Severiano's projects, corroborating the recognized fame of the "Architect of the Amazon". The research procedures adopted were: documentary survey, selection of case studies, application of a monitoring protocol with photometric analysis and user consultation, and daylight computer simulation. In terms of daylighting, when applied the monitoring protocol on the current state of the building, the lighting values are not satisfactory according to Brazilian standards. As the view outside, the results showed medium and high quality. The questionnaires point to high levels of satisfaction. The computer simulations show the daylighting potential of the original design. There is clear evidence that the actual condition wastes the potential of the original design in terms of daylight use.

Admission criteria in critically ill COVID-19 patients: A physiology-based approach

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic required careful management of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, to reduce ICU overload while facing limitations in resources. We implemented a standardized, physiology-based, ICU admission criteria and analyzed the mortality rate of patients refused from the ICU. Materials and methods In this retrospective observational study, COVID-19 patients proposed for ICU admission were consecutively analyzed; Do-Not-Resuscitate patients were excluded. Patients presenting an oxygen peripheral saturation (SpO2) lower than 85% and/or dyspnea and/or mental confusion resulted eligible for ICU admission; patients not presenting these criteria remained in the ward with an intensive monitoring protocol. Primary outcome was both groups’ survival rate. Secondary outcome was a sub analysis correlating SpO2 cutoff with ICU admission. Results From March 2020 to January 2021, 1623 patients were admitted to our Center; 208 DNR patients were excluded; 97 patients were evaluated. The ICU-admitted group (n = 63) mortality rate resulted 15.9% at 28 days and 27% at 40 days; the ICU-refused group (n = 34) mortality rate resulted 0% at both intervals (p < 0.001). With a SpO2 cut-off of 85%, a significant correlation was found (p = 0.009), but with a 92% a cut-off there was no correlation with ICU admission (p = 0.26). A similar correlation was also found with dyspnea (p = 0.0002). Conclusion In COVID-19 patients, standardized ICU admission criteria appeared to safely reduce ICU overload. In the absence of dyspnea and/or confusion, a SpO2 cutoff up to 85% for ICU admission was not burdened by negative outcomes. In a pandemic context, the SpO2 cutoff of 92%, as a threshold for ICU admission, needs critical re-evaluation.