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The Convention on Biological Diversity recognizes education and public outreach interventions as key tools for biodiversity conservation. Reviewing 85 biodiversity conservation projects supported by the Spanish Biodiversity Foundation, we used multivariate statistical analysis to develop an empirical detailed list of environmental communication, education and participation (CEPA) actions and define the main characteristics of these strategies. We found that one-way dissemination of information to mass audiences was the most frequent intervention. When implementing education strategies, schoolchildren were the most common audiences, although training key stakeholders was the second most frequent education activity. Moreover, these interventions were more likely to use teacher-led instructional formats than lessons that engage learners in exploration. Participation strategies were rare. Finally, we provided some considerations to funders to guide their request for proposals related to CEPA interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation education and outreach programs are a key approach to promote public understanding of the importance of biodiversity conservation. We reviewed 85 biodiversity conservation projects supported by the Spanish Ministry of Environment's Biodiversity Foundation. Through content analysis and descriptive statistics, we examined how the projects carried out communication, education, and public awareness and participation (CEPA) actions. We also used multivariate statistical analysis to develop a typology of 4 classes of biodiversity conservation projects on the basis of CEPA implementation. The classifications were delineated by purpose of CEPA, level of integration of CEPA actions, type of CEPA goals, main CEPA stakeholders, and aim of conservation. Our results confirm the existence of 2 key positions: CEPA has intrinsic value (i.e., they supposed the implementation of any CEPA action indirectly supported conservation) and CEPA is an instrument for achieving conservation goals. We also found that most CEPA actions addressed general audiences and school children, ignored minority groups and women, and did not include evaluation. The characteristics of the 4 types of projects and their frequency of implementation in the sample reflect the need for better integration of different types of actions (communication, education, and participation) and improved fostering of participation of multiple stakeholders in developing policy and implementing management strategies. Tipología de la Divulgación Pública para Proyectos de Conservación de la Biodiversidad en España [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: We aimed to describe and compare the incidence of the first cardiovascular event and its major subtypes, coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular disease, heart failure (HF), or peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to age and sex in a population-based cohort of individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) from a Mediterranean region., Material and Methods: We used linked primary care electronic medical reports, pharmacy-invoicing data, and hospital admission disease registry records from the SIDIAP database, which contains linked data for 74% of the Catalonian population. We selected individuals with T2D aged 30 to 89 years free of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The primary outcome was the first presentation of CVD., Results: The study cohort included 247,751 individuals (48.6% women, 66.8 ± 11.9 years). During a 6.99-year follow-up, the cumulative incidence of the first cardiovascular event was 23.4%. Men were at higher risk for CVD (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.47 95%CI: 1.45-1.50), CHD (HR: 1.52 95%CI: 1.47-1.57), cerebrovascular disease (HR:1.07 95%CI: 1.03-1.10) and PAD (HR: 2.30 95%CI: 2.21-2.39) than women but at a lower risk for HF (HR:0.70 95%CI: 0.68-0.73). CHD and PAD were the most frequent CVD presentations among men (28.1% and 27.5%) and HF (40.1%) in women. CHD predominated among young participants of both sexes, while HF predominated among women older than 65 and men older than 75., Conclusions: In individuals with T2D, the overall risk and the type of first CVD manifestation largely varied by sex and age. This epidemiological evidence should be considered in clinical practice., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Jiménez, Vlacho, Mata-Cases, Real, Mauricio, Franch-Nadal and Ortega.)

Background: Bariatric surgery (BS) in older obese subjects (>60 years of age) has risen in the past decade and will continue to rise in the coming years due to ageing of the population., Aim: To evaluate the short- (12 months) and long-term (60 months) results of laparoscopic sleeve gastroscopy (LSG) in patients older than age 60., Methods: We performed a retrospective review of patients prospectively included in a database from January 2007 to December 2013. All patients >60 [older group (OG)] who had undergone LSG were included. The control group (CG) included patients aged 50 to 59 years who had undergone LSG during the same period., Results: 116 (8.4 % of total surgery) and 145 patients were included in the OG and CG, respectively. BS in patients >60 years increased from 2.4% in 2003 to 14% in the last 2 years of the study. After inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) analysis, all absolute standardized differences were <0.15. A 60-month follow-up was attained in 90% of patients in the OG and 74% in the CG. There were no significant differences in postoperative complications between the two groups. At 12 and 60 months after LSG, both groups achieved a similar body mass index. There was no statistical difference in the percentage of resolution of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and SAHS between the two groups. In both groups, all the nutritional parameters evaluated remained within the normal range throughout the study., Conclusions: LSG provides acceptable outcomes and is safe in older adults indicating that age should not be a limitation to perform BS in this population., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Judith Molero et al.)

Background: Validated equations for body composition analysis using bioelectrical impedance (BIA) in morbidly obese (MO) subjects are scarce. Thus, our aim was todevelop new equations from physical and BIA parameters to estimate whole-body and segmental body composition inMO subjects, with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry(DXA) as the reference method., Methods: A cross-sectional study on 159 Caucasian MO subjects (female 78%, age 43.5 ± 11.8 years, BMI 45.6 ± 4.9 kg/m2) divided in two groups was conducted: model building cohort (n = 110) and model validation cohort (n 0 49). Stepwise regression analysis was used to develop specific fat free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) equations., Results: Gender, body weight, and height2/impedance accounted, respectively, for 89.4% (p < 0.001) and 89.3% (p < 0.001) of the variability of DXA-total FFM in the two cohorts. Using the new equation, the mean difference between the DXA-FFM and BIA-FFM estimates was +0.180 kg (95% CI: -0.34 to +0.7 kg, p 0 NS), and the resulting limits of agreement were +6.76 and −6.40 kg. Similarly, good estimates of DXA truncal-, android-, and gynoid-FM from anthropometric and BIA parameters could be obtained from weight, height2/impedance, and waist and hip circumferences (respectively, R2 adjusted: 0.657, 0.776, and 0.770; p < 0.001)., Conclusions: The new equations derived from physical and BIA parameters provide accurate estimates of body composition in MO subjects.