Positive changes in breastfeeding and complementary feeding indicators in Brazil are associated with favorable nurturing care environments.

Objectives: To analyze trends in breastfeeding and complementary feeding indicators for infants and young children receiving primary health care (PHC) services in Brazil, considering the contextual aspects of local nurturing care (NC) environments.

Study Design: Ecological time-series study.

Methods: Ten feeding indicators were extracted from 1,055,907 food intake records of children aged <2 years reported by PHC facilities from 2015 to 2019.

Optimizing multifunctional agroecosystems in irrigated dryland agriculture to restore soil carbon - Experiments and modelling.

Irrigated dryland agroecosystems could become more sustainable if crop and soil management enhanced soil organic carbon (SOC). We hypothesized that combining high inputs from cover crops with no-tillage will increase long-term SOC stocks. Caatinga shrublands had been cleared in 1972 for arable crops and palm plantations before implementing field experiments on Mango and Melon systems (established in 2009 and 2012, respectively).

Preparation, functionalization and characterization of rice husk silica for lipase immobilization via adsorption.

Silica has been extracted from rice husks via a simple hydrothermal process and functionalized with triethoxy(octyl)silane -OCTES (Octyl-SiO) and (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane - 3-APTES (Amino-SiO), with the aim of using it as support to immobilize lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus (TLL) via adsorption. The supports have been characterized by particle size distribution and elemental analyses, XRD, TGA, SEM, AFM and N physisorption so as to confirm their functionalization. Effect of pH, temperature, initial protein loading and contact time on the adsorption process has been systematically evaluated.

Potentialities and limitations of agricultural use in soils of semi-arid region of the state of Bahia.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potentialities and limitations of the agricultural use of representative classes of semi-arid regions of the state of Bahia, based on the pedological and evaluation of their soil characteristics. Five areas were selected where trenches were opened to collect samples for the analyses: Eutric Haplustept which presents vulnerability to physical and chemical degradation due to poor drainage with risks of erosion, waterlogging, salinization and compaction but having good natural fertility; Abrupt Kandiustalf with high vulnerability to physical degradation due to the presence of gravel and pebbles which may limit the development of deep rooting plants and mechanization but also with good natural fertility; Typic quartzipsaments and Typic Eutrustalf with no limitations related to drainage as low risk of compaction but featuring limitation of low moisture-holding capacity and nutrients; and Arenic Haplustulf wose characteristics are high vulnerability to degradation due to the drainage limitation related to the Btx horizon cementing in addition to low natural fertility and therefore is not recommended to agricultural use. However, in general, they feature no serious impediments for agricultural use.

Preparation of ion-exchange supports via activation of epoxy-SiO with glycine to immobilize microbial lipase - Use of biocatalysts in hydrolysis and esterification reactions.

Ion-exchange supports have been prepared via sequential functionalization of silica-based materials with (3‑Glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPTMS) (Epx-SiO) and activation with glycine (Gly-Epx-SiO) in order to immobilize lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus (TLL) via adsorption. Rice husk silica (RHS) was selected as support with the aim of comparing its performance with commercial silica (Immobead S60S). Sequential functionalization/activation of SiO-based supports has been confirmed by AFM, SEM and N adsorption-desorption analyses.