Objective: To describe and compare measures of maternal depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a Brazilian birth cohort. Methods: All hospital births occurring in the municipality of Rio Grande (southern Brazil) during 2019 were identified. Mothers were invited to complete a standardized questionnaire on sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. Between May and July 2020, we tried to contact all cohort mothers of singletons, living in urban areas, to answer a standardized web-based questionnaire. They completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) in both follow-ups, and the Impact of Event Scale (IES) in the online follow-up. Results: We located 1,136 eligible mothers (n=2,051). Of those, 40.5% had moderate to severe stress due to the current pandemic, 29.3% had depression, and 25.9% had GAD. Mothers reporting loss of income during the pandemic (57.2%) had the highest proportions of mental health problems. Compared to baseline, the prevalence of depression increased 5.7 fold and that of anxiety increased 2.4-fold during the pandemic (both p < 0.001). Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of personal distress due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and a clear rise in both maternal depression and anxiety.

O catalisador nanoestruturado SiO2/ZrO2 foi preparado pelo método sol-gel e apresentou uma área superficial de 131,50 ± 14 m² g-1. As imagens de microscopia eletrônica de varredura mostraram que o catalisador apresentou partículas muito homogêneas de 250 nm de diâmetro. Este material foi aplicado na transesterificação do óleo de soja para a produção de biodiesel. A conversão do óleo em biodiesel teve um rendimento de 96,2 ± 1,4 % em 3 h de reação de transesterificação catalisada pelo material SiO2/ZrO2 (SiZr). O catalisador foi recuperado e reutilizado por seis vezes, mantendo uma eficiência catalítica de 84,1%.

Nanosized SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst with high surface area (131.50 ± 14 m² g-1) was prepared by the sol-gel method. The material presented highly homogeneous particles with an average diameter of 250 nm according to SEM images. It was applied in the transesterification of soybean oil for biodiesel production. The biodiesel conversion reached a yield of 96.2 ± 1.4 % after 3 h of transesterification reaction catalised by SiO2/ZrO2 (SiZr). The catalyst was recovered and reused six times, maintaining a catalytic efficiency of about 84.1 %.