Percorrer por autor "Ferreira, Quirina"
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- Phosphorous nanofertilizers for Precise application in rice cultivation as an adaptation to climate changePublication . Saraiva, Raquel; Ferreira, Quirina; Rodrigues, Gonçalo C.; Oliveira, MargaridaRice is the staple food of more than half of the world’s population, which is still growing. The great dependence that agriculture, and rice specially, has on fertilizers alongside extreme events that result from climatic change creates an urge for adaptation. Fertilizers are expensive, finite and a potential environmental problem. Their precise application, by the use of slow-release nanofertilizers, thus avoiding losses and consequently reducing the pressure on water resources, is one step forward in this adaptation. It can reduce costs and protect the environment while ensuring food production. Phosphorous is very important for rice, since it is involved in its flowering and root development, and its low availability to the plants constitutes a serious problem. The delivery of phosphorous through the crop cycle in the form of slow-release phosphorus nanofertilizer (Pnf) instead of the conventional annual bulk application reduces the amount of nutrients applied and increases the absorption by the crop. Combining the fertilizing effect with the use of natural stimulant compounds such as chitosan can protect the crop from diseases and increase its resilience to stress. The use of Pnf reduces the pressure on water resources and avoids imbalances in soil nutrients, thus responding to climatic change challenges and abiotic stresses.
- Pregnancy in times of COVID-19 pandemic:quality and safety of health care during pregnancy carePublication . Gens, Felisbela; Ferreira, Quirina; Vivas, CarlaThe current COVID-19 pandemic situation makes the whole health care delivery environment more demanding and uncertain, creating in organizations the need to redefine strategies to meet new challenges and people's needs. In the field of maternal health, specific circuits and procedures have been ensured for all pregnant women in order to prevent or reduce the risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2. This study aims to determine the level of quality of health care during pregnancy and to assess the satisfaction of pregnant women with regard to maternal health care provided in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a quantitative, observational, analytical study, whose sample includes pregnant women aged 36 weeks and over. The information was collected between November and December 2020, through the application of a survey encompassing the Quality of Parental Care Questionnaire (Sword, Heaman and the QPCQ Research Team, 2013 translated and validated for the Portuguese population by Rodrigues, 2017), clinical, socio-demographic and access and security variables related to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The results obtained project a positive relationship between the level of satisfaction of pregnant women and the perception of the level of quality of prenatal care in all dimensions of the instrument. In the specificities related to access and safety in the current COVID-19 pandemic, teleconsultation presents itself as an important tool in prenatal education and accessibility to health care during pregnancy care. A model of pregnancy care that encompasses telehealth becomes indispensable to meet the needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic, improving flexibility, access and proximity to maternal health care.
- The use of nanofertilizers to increase precision in rice productionPublication . Saraiva, Raquel; Rodrigues, Gonçalo; Ferreira, Quirina; Oliveira, MargaridaRice cultivation (Oryza sativa L.) has a widespread use of fertilizers and pesticides since it is necessary to produce larger quantities and also prevent the effect of pests, diseases and weeds, in order to fulfil the food demands of a growing world population. For the use of phosphorus, the limit set by Bertolami & Francisco (2020), at the Planetary Boundaries, has already been exceeded, causing marked disturbances in the earth system, meaning that its delivery, although indispensable, must be carried out precisely and in forms that can be easily assimilated by crops. The scarcity of phosphorus and the consequent increase in its price in recent years also impose the urgency of new forms of application. Nanofertilizers can provide a precise and more sustainable way of application, as the amount of raw material is reduced. Likewise, the pressure on aquatic ecosystems is reduced, since rice is grown in flooded beds and therefore losses to water bodies have to be reduced. The aim of this work is to develop phosphorous nanofertilizer pellets, which use slow release technology to ensure the precise and efficient application of phosphorus to rice crops along the cycle, and to verify their possible effect as a biostimulant. The use of suitable and sustainable supports for nanofertilizers is extremely important as the main challenge for their use is the amount of support required to successfully deliver the active substance (Ekebafe et al., 2011). The proposed pellets will consist of poly-beta-amino-esters (PBAE), graphene oxide (GO), chitosan, poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) and the active substance. Development of the pellets will comprise component integration and design, followed by kinetic tests to assess its stability under different conditions. Ecotoxicology tests, at different trophic levels, will be performed to ensure that there are no ecotoxicity effects from the use of any component and/or combination of components. Finally, when all the preparatory tests are concluded, feedback will be given to the development stage and improvements will be made to optimize the pellets. When the optimization process is complete, the pellets will be tested in pilot rice assays where conventional fertilizer will be used as control. If the pellets prove to be effective and without any harmful effect, its use can be spread to other fertilizer and other crops towards a more sustainable production.