Despite sustainable wine tourism being one of the hottest topics of the moment, there is still a considerable knowledge gap. If managed with due care and consideration of the region’s carrying capacity, wine tourism can be an essential regional development tool for improving business performance, environmental awareness, and community values. On the other hand, it can be responsible for negative environmental impacts, creating local resentment. This paper explored and contextualized wine tourism and sustainable winegrowing practices in the Portuguese Douro wine region. The aim was to offer practical recommendations and directives for such a unique landscape. From the adoption of regenerative agriculture and natural-based solutions at the field level to engaging in sustainability wine programs or certification schemes integrating both sectors, it is indispensable to develop frameworks to assess sustainability performance, tourism development, and the impact on the local population. Nevertheless, to accomplish business success and territorial development, a win–win relationship between all stakeholders is foremost needed. The Douro region must therefore start by investing in stronger collaboration networks between local actors through careful and integrated planning so that the needs of all interested parties, including its residents, are considered and incorporated in future sustainable tourism initiatives.
No question remains regarding our need to change toward sustainable agriculture. When ranking the industries that have more prevalent environmental impacts, agriculture holds a considerable share of responsibility. However, as sustainability is an ambiguous concept surrounded by controversy and debate, rather than attempt to describe its meaning through a single universal definition, we instead stressed the need to delineate a set of fundamental principles. With the goal of putting the sustainable-agriculture concept into practice, an inductive qualitative content analysis was employed based on multivariate methods on hundreds of different definitions, theories, notions and sustainability indicators gathered through a deep-structured literature review. Through this novel approach, we were able to identify four fundamental principles for sustainable agriculture (integrated management, dynamic balance, regenerative design, and social development), and concluded that in order to shift our current agricultural systems into more efficient and sustainable ones, we need to start making better use of natural and human resources. This work provides guidelines for reference that can be used by anyone whenever they make a decision regarding sustainable agriculture or apply a methodology to assess a particular behavior, process or situation.
O potencial produtivo do setor da construção civil traz como consequência a elevada geração de resíduos, que muitas vezes não possuem um descarte correto. Uma alternativa para o problema é o emprego destes Resíduos de Construção Civil (RCC) em concretos. Alguns estudos mostram resultados favoráveis a esta aplicação. Porém, há de se atentar a algumas limitações do material, como baixa resistência mecânica. Uma possível maneira de melhorar suas características é a aplicação da técnica de dopagem, que consiste em impregnar o agregado com uma calda de alto desempenho, contendo cimento, sílica ativa e aditivo superplastificante, de forma a alterar sua estrutura superficial. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar as características mecânicas de concretos produzidos com agregados graúdos provenientes de RCC otimizados pela técnica de dopagem. A análise da eficiência se deu pela comparação das misturas com agregado dopado e misturas controle (elaboradas com agregados não dopados), mediante ensaios de compressão axial, tração por compressão diametral, absorção de água e determinação do módulo de elasticidade. Os resultados mostram que a técnica de dopagem no agregado não trouxe benefícios aos concretos.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Social disparities in chronic kidney disease (CKD) are a reality. Low socioeconomic status is associated with an increased incidence of CKD and overall worse outcomes. In Portugal, similarly to many European countries, a National Health System (NHS) was established to provide equity in healthcare access, but its impact in specialized CKD care is unclear. This study aims to compare the effects of economic insufficiency in referral and overall specialized kidney care in a Portuguese centre.
METHOD
Retrospective cohort study evaluating maintenance haemodialysis patients of a Public Portuguese Nephrology Centre from 2017 through 2021. Medical records were compared for the presence of Low-Income status (LIs), with primary outcome as baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at nephrology referral and secondary outcomes as presence of kidney replacement therapy options appointment (KRTOa), timely vascular access assessment and time to dialysis from referral.
RESULTS
A total of 212 participants were evaluated, 96 with LIs. This group presented higher sCr and lower eGFR at referral (2.35 versus 3.29 mg/dL, P < .001; 27.63 versus 18.47 mL/min/1.73 m2 P <.001, respectively). LIs associated with absence of KRTOa {OR: 2.7, [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.44–5.08]; P = .003} and late vascular access evaluation (OR: 2.77, 95% CI: 1.55–4.98; P = .001). Dialysis-free survival analysis revealed shorter time to dialysis in the LIs group (15.77 versus 20.71 months; P < .001) with a higher cumulative incidence in dialysis at 24 months (HR: 2.11, 95% CI: 1.39–3.21; P < .001), a difference that was not verified after adjusting for eGFR at referral (HR: 1.16, 95% CI: 0.74–1.80; P = .53).
CONCLUSION
Low-Income CKD Portuguese patients are at risk of late nephrology referral, an established factor for adverse outcomes. Shorter time to dialysis appears significative in reducing adequate kidney care access, which can be attenuated through education of primary care providers and general population for CKD.
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