UFP Energy, Environment and Health Research Unit

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Publications

Landscape sustainability: contribution of Mucajaí-RR (Brazil) Region

Publication . Saldanha Veras, Ana Sibelonia; Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Barros, Nelson; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta

Sustainable development should be at the core of countries’ policies, and nature-based solutions are an efficient solution to promote healthy spaces to healthy people. Landscape sustainability consists in a complex and dynamic process of long-term ecosystem services provided by landscape. These services are important to environmental and public health quality improvement, and to maintaining human well-being at local, regional, and international contexts. Due to the contemporary socioenvironmental challenges, landscape sustainability science assumes an important contribution to mediate and interpret the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being. Alongside, landscape sustainability allows developing sustainable awareness and responsible consumption behavior. The recognition of the landscape potential, and its contribution to environmental regeneration and provision, is a path to safeguard and preserve the available resources, aligned with the vision of sustainable development.

2020-05-05Book part

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Year-long rhinovirus infection is influenced by atmospheric conditions, outdoor air virus presence, and immune system-related genetic polymorphisms

Publication . Rodrigues, Ana Filipa; Santos, Ana Mafalda; Ferreira, Ana Maria; Marino, Roberta; Barreira, Maria Esmeralda; Cabeda, José Manuel

Rhinovirus is a common picornavirus with over 150 serotypes and three species, which is responsible for half of the human common cold cases. In people with chronic respiratory conditions and elders, it may also cause life-threatening diseases. Transmission routes are not definitively established but may involve direct human-to-human and indirect transmission (surfaces and aerosols based). In the present study, year-long presence of virus was tested by qPCR in the nostrils of young healthy volunteers and indoor and outdoor air samples. Results were correlated to atmospheric conditions (meteorological and air quality parameters) and voluntaries immune system-related genetic polymorphisms (TOLLIP rs5743899, IL6 rs1800795, IL1B rs16944, TNFA rs1800629) typed by PCR-RFLP. Nasal samples showed increased frequency and viral titers of Rhinovirus in spring and autumn. No indoor air samples tested positive for Rhinovirus, whereas outdoor air samples tested positive in late autumn. Sun radiation, atmospheric SO2, and benzene levels correlated with nostrils Rhinovirus detection. Both IL6 and TOLLIP polymorphisms but not TNFA or IL1B influenced Rhinovirus detection in the nostrils of voluntaries. Taken together, the results indicate that Rhinovirus circulation is determined by environmental conditions (weather, air-borne virus, and air pollution) and genetically encoded individual variation in immunity.

2019Journal article

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Putting people first: a multidimensional approach to health socioeconomic determinants

Publication . Barreira, Maria Esmeralda; Cabeda, José Manuel; Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Pontes, Manuela; Maia, Rui; Oliveira, Gisela; Ferraz, Maria Pia; Calheiros, José

Person Centered Healthcare aims for the involvement of patients to provide quality healthcare services based on committed healthcare professionals. This paradigm implies shared decision-making between healthcare professionals and patients involving various aspects of the patient-healthcare relation. The present work focuses on the importance of analysing healthcare services distribution considering communities’ specificities. To develop appropriate healthcare solutions that fit people needs, public health policies should be designed in a manner that involves health stakeholders, experts and the civil society. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development proposes the Sustainable Development Goal 3 in order to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” which is in alignment with the Person Centered Healthcare aims. The present work proposes a tailored made index SEHVI – Socioeconomic Health Vulnerability Index – applied to Portuguese mainland population. In the scope of the principle of patient-centered healthcare services, SEHVI aggregates seven health outcomes indicators – mortality variables – and twenty-eight health determinants indicators: healthcare resources, social protection, education, water and sanitation, employment and income, air pollution, waste, land use, housing, social participation and safety variables. Data was collected from official statistical databases – INE, PORDATA and APA – and disaggregated at the municipal scale, allowing a diagnose of people’s needs and specificities at a local level. Years 2009, 2015 and 2018 were chosen to evaluate population health status. The country national score was used as the benchmark enabling the identification of vulnerable communities. The majority (72 %) of the mainland population experiences more vulnerable health conditions than the country’s average. SEHVI scores reveal a deterioration of health determinants in the period of study. Populations’ socioeconomic and environmental conditions play an important role in health outcomes, stressing the need to provide adequate healthcare services in the context of a centered healthcare approach.

2019-10-17Education resource

Open access

Rufina beach and sustainable development: the role of women in Mucajaí, RR, Brazil

Publication . Saldanha Veras, Ana Sibelonia; Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Barros, Nelson

The residents around Rufina beach are an unique case of knowledge and experience in a fluvial ecosystem of great ecological relevance in Amazon, vital source to the planet and an important subject for all citizens. Currently, it is also a focus of study in several areas of natural and human sciences, in particular due to the specific role that women play in society. Natural resources, such as forest, soil and water, impose themselves as immediate targets for preservation, particularly by residents who daily experience tourism and withdraw their livelihood from these waters. In line with the goal 14 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by United Nations (UN), a global appeal to sustainability in general, this research aims to describe survival and tourism actions in the sparsely populated region located in Mucajaí, RR, Brazil, addressing the important actions of women in this region. The descriptive methodology is directed to the attitudes of citizens around the Mucajaí River. For a good resource management, an awareness raising meeting has stimulated actions to minimize the aesthetic stress on the aquatic landscape, a negative factor for geotourism, and which has as its principle conservation the inclusion of local citizens. It can be concluded that awareness and ecologically correct attitudes, such as the reduction of river pollution, guarantee social and environmental sustainability for all.

2021-05Book part

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Is MRSA/MSSA a contamination risk on surfaces of the dental equipment?

Publication . Gonçalves, Eva; Carvalhal, Rui; Mesquita, Rita; Azevedo, Joana; Coelho, Maria João; Magalhães, Ricardo; Ferraz, Maria Pia; Manso, M. Conceição; Gavinha, Sandra; Cardoso, Inês Lopes; Pina, Cristina Maria San Román Gomes de

2021-07-10Conference object

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