Commuting flows and long-distance travel are important spreading factors of viruses and particularly airborne ones. Therefore, it is relevant to examine the association among diverse mobility ...scenarios and the spatial dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 cases. We intended to analyze the patterns of virus spreading linked to different mobility scenarios, in order to better comprehend the effect of the lockdown measures, and how such measures can be better informed. We simulated the effects of mobility restrictions in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 amongst the municipalities of two metropolitan areas, Lisbon (LMA) and Porto (PMA). Based on an adapted SEIR (Suscetible-Exposed-Infected-Removed) model, we estimated the number of new daily infections during one year, according to different mobility scenarios: restricted to essential activities, industrial activities, public transport use, and a scenario with unrestricted mobility including all transport modes. The trends of new daily infections were further explored using time-series clustering analysis, using dynamic time warping. Mobility restrictions resulted in lower numbers of new daily infections when compared to the unrestricted mobility scenario, in both metropolitan areas. Between March and September 2020, the official number of new infections followed overall a similar timeline to the one simulated considering only essential activities. At the municipal level, trends differ amongst the two metropolitan areas. The analysis of the effects of mobility in virus spread within different municipalities and regions could help tailoring future strategies and increase the public acceptance of eventual restrictions.
•COVID-9 lockdowns are associated with worsening mental health and well-being.•Exposure to nature might alleviate the negative mental health effects of lockdowns.•In Portugal exposure to public ...natural spaces was related with better mental health.•In Spain, under a stricter lockdown, private greenery was more beneficial.•Safe and controlled opportunities for exposure to nature should be guaranteed.
To control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, countries around the world implemented lockdowns with varying intensities. Lockdowns, however, have been associated with a deterioration of mental health, including post-traumatic stress symptoms, anger and anxiety. Exposure to nature might reduce stress and provide relaxation opportunities.
Firstly, we aimed to determine which sociodemographic, housing and lockdown-related characteristics were associated with changes in exposure to nature during the COVID-19 lockdown in Portugal and Spain. Secondly, we sought to estimate the associations of these changes with mental health, and test whether these associations differed according to sociodemographic characteristics and between the two countries, which experienced different restrictions and epidemiological situations.
A cross-sectional study was conducted between March 27 and May 6, 2020, using an online questionnaire to measure changes in exposure to nature (including private green space and other greenery, views of nature from home and public natural spaces); sociodemographic, housing and lockdown-related characteristics; stress levels (visual stress scale); psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire − 12 items) and somatization (somatization scale). Adjusted regression models were fitted to estimate associations.
This study included 3157 participants (1638 from Portugal, 1519 from Spain). In Portugal, maintaining/increasing the use of public natural spaces during the lockdown was associated with lower levels of stress (adjusted beta −0.29; 95%CI −0.49, −0.08) and maintaining/increasing the frequency of viewing nature from home was associated with reduced psychological distress (0.27; −0.51, −0.03), somatization (−0.79; −1.39, −0.20), and stress levels (−0.48; −0.74, −0.23). In Spain, maintaining/increasing contact with private green space and greenery was associated with lower stress levels: for contact with indoor plants (−0.52; −0.96, −0.07) and for use of private community green spaces (−0.82; −1.61, −0.03).
Exposure to nature was associated with better mental health outcomes during lockdowns, but the natural features associated with improved mental health differed between the two countries. Nature should be incorporated into urban planning interventions and housing design and exposure to nature should be promoted during lockdowns.
There is considerable literature on the psychological and behavioural benefits of green space. However, less is known about its health-promoting effects, as expressed on biological markers. ...Additionally, incorporating biomarkers into pediatric research may help elucidate the links between exposures to environmental stressors and lifelong health.
To measure the association between geographical accessibility to green spaces and allostatic load (AL), a measure of biological multi-system dysregulation.
We used data from 3108 7-year old children enrolled in Generation XXI, a population-based birth cohort from the Porto Metropolitan Area (Portugal). We computed an AL index based on seven biomarkers representing four regulatory systems: immune/inflammatory system (high sensitivity C-reactive protein); metabolic system (high density lipoprotein; total cholesterol; glycated hemoglobin; waist-hip ratio) and cardiovascular system (systolic and diastolic blood pressure). Accessibility to green spaces was calculated using a Geographic Information System and crude and adjusted associations were estimated using mixed-effects regression models.
Among the 3108 children (51.7% male; mean age 87.3 months), the mean AL index was 0.00 (standard deviation 2.94). Adjusted models showed that having a green space within 400 m and 800 m from the child's school was inversely associated with AL (400 m: beta −0.29 95% CI −0.54 to −0.02; 800 m: −0.29 95% CI −0.51 to −0.07). Also, there was a 12% (0%; 23%) increase in the AL index for every 1 km increase in distance to the nearest green space. No significant associations with AL were observed with residential accessibility to green space or with the presence of a garden at home.
We found a cross-sectional negative association between accessibility to green space near schools and AL in children, suggesting that the provision of green space may contribute to improvements in population health beginning early in life.
•Little is known about the health-promoting effects of green space on biomarkers.•We studied the association between green space accessibility and allostatic load.•Green space around schools lowers allostatic load in urban children.
Socioeconomic inequalities are major health determinants. To monitor and understand them at local level, ecological indexes of socioeconomic deprivation constitute essential tools. In this study, we ...describe the development of the updated version of the European Deprivation Index for Portuguese small-areas (EDI-PT), describe its spatial distribution and evaluate its association with a general health indicator-all-cause mortality in the period 2009-2012. Using data from the 2011 European Union-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions Survey (EU-SILC), we obtained an indicator of individual deprivation. After identifying variables that were common to both the EU-SILC and the census, we used the indicator of individual deprivation to test if these variables were associated with individual-level deprivation, and to compute weights. Accordingly, eight variables were included. The EDI-PT was produced for the smallest area unit possible (n = 18084 census block groups, mean/area = 584 inhabitants) and resulted from the weighted sum of the eight selected variables. It was then categorized into quintiles (Q1-least deprived to Q5-most deprived). To estimate the association with mortality we fitted Bayesian spatial models. The EDI-PT was unevenly distributed across Portugal-most deprived areas concentrated in the South and in the inner North and Centre of the country, and the least deprived in the coastal North and Centre. The EDI-PT was positively and significantly associated with overall mortality, and this relation followed a rather clear dose-response relation of increasing mortality as deprivation increases (Relative Risk Q2 = 1.012, 95% Credible Interval 0.991-1.033; Q3 = 1.026, 1.004-1.048; Q4 = 1.053, 1.029-1.077; Q5 = 1.068, 1.042-1.095). Summing up, we updated the index of socioeconomic deprivation for Portuguese small-areas, and we showed that the EDI-PT constitutes a sensitive measure to capture health inequalities, since it was consistently associated with a key measure of population health/development, all-cause mortality. We strongly believe this updated version will be widely employed by social and medical researchers and regional planners.
Depositing nanoparticles in textiles have been a promising strategy to achieve multifunctional materials. Particularly, antimicrobial properties are highly valuable due to the emergence of new ...pathogens and the spread of existing ones. Several methods have been used to functionalize textile materials with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Therefore, this review highlighted the most used methods for AuNPs preparation and the current studies on the topic in order to obtain AuNPs with suitable properties for antimicrobial applications and minimize the environmental concerns in their production. Reporting the detailed information on the functionalization of fabrics, yarns, and fibers with AuNPs by different methods to improve the antimicrobial properties was the central objective. The studies combining AuNPs and textile materials have opened valuable opportunities to develop antimicrobial materials for health and hygiene products, as infection control and barrier material, with improved properties. Future studies are needed to amplify the antimicrobial effect of AuNPs onto textiles and minimize the concerns related to the synthesis.
To assess the relationship between socioeconomic deprivation and health-related quality of life in urban neighbourhoods, using a multilevel approach.
Of the population-based cohort EPIPorto, 1154 ...georeferenced participants completed the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. Neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation classes were estimated using latent-class analysis. Multilevel models measured clustering and contextual effects of neighbourhood deprivation on physical and mental HRQoL.
Residents from the least deprived neighbourhoods had higher physical HRQoL. Neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation together with individual-level variables (age, gender and education) and health-related factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentariness and chronic diseases) explained 98% of the total between-neighbourhood variance. Neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation was significantly associated with physical health when comparing least and most deprived neighbourhoods (class 2-beta coefficient: -0.60; 95% confidence interval:-1.76;-0.56; class 3 -beta coefficient: -2.28; 95% confidence interval:-3.96;-0.60), and as neighbourhood deprivation increases, a decrease in all values of physical health dimensions (physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain and general health) was also observed. Regarding the mental health dimension, no neighbourhood clustering or contextual effects were found. However, as neighbourhood deprivation increases, the values of vitality and role emotional dimensions significantly decreased.
Neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation is associated with HRQoL, affecting particularly physical health. This study suggests that to improve HRQoL, people and places should be targeted simultaneously.
Commuting flows and long-distance travel are important spreading factors of viruses and particularly airborne ones. Therefore, it is relevant to examine the association among diverse mobility ...scenarios and the spatial dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 cases. We intended to analyze the patterns of virus spreading linked to different mobility scenarios, in order to better comprehend the effect of the lockdown measures, and how such measures can be better informed. We simulated the effects of mobility restrictions in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 amongst the municipalities of two metropolitan areas, Lisbon (LMA) and Porto (PMA). Based on an adapted SEIR (Suscetible-Exposed-Infected-Removed) model, we estimated the number of new daily infections during one year, according to different mobility scenarios: restricted to essential activities, industrial activities, public transport use, and a scenario with unrestricted mobility including all transport modes. The trends of new daily infections were further explored using time-series clustering analysis, using dynamic time warping. Mobility restrictions resulted in lower numbers of new daily infections when compared to the unrestricted mobility scenario, in both metropolitan areas. Between March and September 2020, the official number of new infections followed overall a similar timeline to the one simulated considering only essential activities. At the municipal level, trends differ amongst the two metropolitan areas. The analysis of the effects of mobility in virus spread within different municipalities and regions could help tailoring future strategies and increase the public acceptance of eventual restrictions.
Diabetes poses a substantial disease burden, prompting preventive interventions. Physical inactivity, a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, can potentially be mitigated by enhancing area-level ...walkability. Despite this, limited population-based studies have investigated the link between walkability and objective diabetes measures. Our study aims to estimate the association between area-level walkability and individual glycated haemoglobin levels in the Portuguese adult population without the diagnosis of diabetes. Data from the 2011 census and an updated street map were obtained to construct a walkability index based on residential density, land-use mix, and street connectivity. Individual health data were sourced from The National Health Examination Survey (INSEF) 2015, a representative survey of the Portuguese adult population. Gamma regression was employed for estimation of the main associations, revealing that residing in moderately walkable areas significantly reduced average glycated haemoglobin levels (Exp(β) = 0.906; 95% CI: 0.821, 0.999) compared to the least walkable areas. The association was less pronounced and not statistically significant for the third tertile of walkability (Exp(β) = 0.919; 95% CI: 0.822, 1.028). Our findings highlight a nonlinear protective association between walkability and glycated haemoglobin, emphasizing the potential policy implications for urban planning, diabetes prevention, and health promotion.
The syntheses of Ag-based nanoparticles (NPs) with the assistance of plant extracts have been shown to be environmentally benign and cost-effective alternatives to conventional chemical syntheses. ...This study discusses the application of
,
,
, and
leaf extracts for in situ synthesis of Ag-based NPs on cotton fabric modified with citric acid. The presence of NPs with an average size ranging from 57 to 99 nm on the fiber surface was confirmed by FESEM. XPS analysis indicated that metallic (Ag
) and/or ionic silver (Ag
O and AgO) appeared on the surface of the modified cotton. The chemical composition, size, shape, and amounts of synthesized NPs were strongly dependent on the applied plant extract. All fabricated nanocomposites exhibited excellent antifungal activity against yeast
. Antibacterial activity was significantly stronger against Gram-positive bacteria
than Gram-negative bacteria
. In addition, 99% of silver was retained on the samples after 24 h of contact with physiological saline solution, implying a high stability of nanoparticles. Cytotoxic activity towards HaCaT and MRC5 cells was only observed for the sample synthetized in the presence of
extract. Excellent antimicrobial activity and non-cytotoxicity make the developed composites efficient candidates for medicinal applications.
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