Summary report of the Caribbean meeting of experts on Implementation of the SIDS Plan of Action

The Caribbean Meeting of Experts on Implementation of the SIDS Programme of Action, held at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 17-19 May 1995 was convened to review progress towards implementation of the SIDS Programme of Action (SIDS-POA), to discuss constraints on the effective implementation of the Programme and to agree on priority areas for action. It was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (ECLAC/CDCC), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme’s Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (UNDP/TCDC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the University of the West Indies Centre for Environment and Development (UWICED), and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). A copy of the programme and a list of documents are attached to this report as Annex I and II respectively.

Ageing in the Caribbean and the human rights of older persons: Twin imperatives for action

This study addresses the ageing of the Caribbean population and the situation with respect to the human rights of older persons. It considers the implications for public policy of these ‘twin imperatives for action’. The first chapter describes and explains the changing age structure of the Caribbean population. Important features of the ageing dynamic, such as differential regional and national trends and the growing number of ‘older old’ persons, are also analysed. The study then describes the progress that has been made in advancing and clarifying the human rights of older persons in international law. The core of the study then consists of an assessment of the current situation of older persons in the Caribbean and the extent to which their human rights are realised in practice. The thematic areas of economic security, health, and enabling environments – which roughly correspond to the three priority areas of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing – are each addressed in individual chapters. These chapters evaluate national policies and programmes for older persons and make public policy recommendations intended to protect and fulfil the human rights of older persons. The report concludes by summarising the priorities for future action both through the establishment of new international human rights instruments as well as national policies and programmes.

Influência antrópica na distribuição espacial da comunidade de mamíferos no Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta, SP

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Integração entre um modelo de simulação hidrológica e Sistema de Informação Geográfica na delimitação de zonas tampão ripárias

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Aplicação do processo hierárquico analítico (AHP) na priorização de áreas de risco geológico para a implantação de intervenções em assentamentos urbanos precários

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Proposta metodológica para planejamento de sistemas de espaços livres: Ribeirão Preto - SP

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Determinação de áreas prioritárias para o restabelecimento da cobertura florestal, apoiada no uso de geotecnologias

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Fisiografia e uso da terra de uma bacia hidrográfica em área de afloramento do sistema aquífero Guarani (SAG): o caso do Ribeirão do Jacú, Tejupá/SP (UGRHI-14)SP

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Irrigação e Drenagem) - FCA

Critérios técnicos e de participação social para a recuperação florestal: quais as diferenças na definição de áreas prioritárias?

The Jararaca River Basin suffers significative environmental impacts caused by inaccurate land use. In Brazil, the areas for permanent preservation are defined and protected by the 2012 Federal Law 12.651. These areas are located in the bank side and other specific places. The objective of this paper was to analyze the results of possible alternatives in function of different procedures used in the proposal elaboration. The methodology used was the elaboration of a priority map for the recovery of these areas using the Geographic Information System with multicriterial analyses and comparing it with the guidelines from the Jararaca River Basin Management Plan. As a result, there were identified differences in the priorities defined by technical issues from the priorities defined by public consultation process.

Aplicação de análise multicriterial para determinação de áreas prioritárias à recomposição florestal

Using the Geographic Information System (GIS) and taking into account its capability to analyze spatial data, a database of updated spatial data from the sub-basin of the Descalvado stream, Botucatu, SP, was developed to provide an evaluation and diagnosis of the area concerning land use and the degradation processes therein. Through GIS, priority areas for forest recovery were defined by Multicriteria Evaluation and using the Ordered Weighted Average method. The latter allows the decision maker to define the area to be recovered, facing limitation of resources, among one of the proposed scenarios, or do it in stages. The study showed that there are accelerated erosion processes in the headwaters of the springs of water bodies; there is also fragmentation of native vegetation, especially in hillside areas, and little presence of native vegetation in riparian areas. The application of the multicriteria analysis using the Ordered Weighted Average was important as it systematized and discriminated scenarios of priority for forest recovery.

Adequação territorial com abordagem multicriterial pela análise da combinação linear ponderada

From the characterization of biophysical attributes of the watershed (slope, soil types, capacity to land use and land cover), this article, used the multi-criteria analysis method – Weighted Linear Combination, defined priority areas for adaptation to the use of land as to its capacity of use. With this methodological approach, were created for the watershed under study, four classes, formed by different combinations of biophysical attributes (discrete data), representing levels of priorities for agricultural land use. The Multicriteria Evaluation in a GIS is suitable for the mapping of priority areas to the suitability of land use in watersheds. The geospatial information on the biophysical environment, generated from the methodological procedures described in this article, has a high positive potential to guide the rational planning of the use of natural resources and territorial occupation, besides serving as a powerful instrument to guide policies and collective processes of decision on the use and land cover.

Oral health and access to dental care services in relation to the Health Necessities Index. Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2008

The Health Department of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has developed a Health Necessities Index (HNI) to identify priority areas for providing health assistance. In 2008, a survey of the status of oral health was conducted. The objective of this ecological study was to analyze the status of oral health in relation to the HNI. The variables, stratified by the age of 5, 12 and 15 years old were: percentage of individuals with difficulty of access to dental care services; DMFT and DMFS; prevalence of the need for tooth extraction and treatment of dental caries. Data were analyzed for the 25 Health Technical Supervision Units (HTS). The Statistical Covariance Test was used as well as the Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression model. A positive correlation was observed between high scores of the HNI and difficulty of access to services. In the HTS with high scores of HNI a higher incidence of dental caries was observed, a greater need for tooth extractions and low caries-free incidence. In order to improve health conditions of the population it is mandatory to prioritize actions in areas of social deprivation.

Factors associated with serum CA19-9 levels among healthy children: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background CA19-9 is a tumor marker mainly used for biliary tract, pancreas and colorectum. Since the marker applies usually for adults, the normal range of serum CA19-9 among children has been rarely reported. This is the first study reporting the distribution of serum CA19-9 levels among cancer-free children as well as their parents, taking into account the Lewis and secretor gene polymorphism and physical growth. Methods Study subjects were 972 apparently healthy Japanese Brazilians including 476 children aged from 1 to 19 years. Results The comparisons in five-year age groups demonstrated that the mean values of serum CA19-9 was lower in the boys than in the girls, and higher in younger age groups; 22.5 U/ml for 1–4 year-old (n=13), 17.4 U/ml for 5–9 year-old (n=36), 15.5 U/ml for 10–14 year-old (n=96) and 10.2 U/ml for 15–19 year-old (n=74) in boys, and 25.3 U/ml (n=11), 27.1 U/ml (n=50), 17.7 U/ml (n=105) and 13.5 U/ml (n=59) in girls, respectively. The difference in those geometric means was statistically significant among four age groups (p=0.006, ANOVA adjusted for sex). After Lewis and secretor genotypes, which are definitive factors of serum CA19-9, were taken into account, geometric mean of serum CA19-9 was associated with any of BMI (p<0.001), height (p<0.001) and weight (p<0.001) among children excluding those with le/le genotype. The associations were still significant when age was adjusted. Conclusions Serum CA19-9 values were higher among children than among adults, and influenced by sex, height, weight, and BMI even after the adjustment for age as well as Le and Se genotypes.

Retention of canopy trees as biological legacies for balancing woody biomass production and biodiversity in managed aspen forests of the Great Lakes Region

Green-tree retention under the conceptual framework of ecological forestry has the potential to provide both biomass feedstock for industry and maintain quality wildlife habitat. I examined the effects of retained canopy trees as biological legacies (“legacy trees”) in aspen (Populus spp.) forests on above-ground live woody biomass, understory plant floristic quality, and bird diversity. Additionally, I evaluated habitat quality for a high conservation priority species, the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera). I selected 27 aspen-dominated forest stands in northern Wisconsin with nine stands in each of three legacy tree retention treatments (conifer retention, hardwood retention, and clearcuts or no retention) across a chronosequence (4-36 years post-harvest). Conifer retention stands had greater legacy tree and all tree species biomass but lower regenerating tree biomass than clearcuts. Coniferous but not hardwood legacy trees appeared to suppress regenerating tree biomass. I evaluated the floristic quality of the understory plant assemblage by estimating the mean coefficient of conservatism (C). Mean C was lower in young stands than in middle-age or old stands; there was a marginally significant (p=0.058) interaction effect between legacy tree retention treatment and stand age. Late-seral plant species were positively associated with stand age and legacy tree diameter or age revealing an important relationship between legacy tree retention and stand development. Bird species richness was greatest in stands with hardwood retention particularly early in stand development. Six conservation priority bird species were indicators of legacy tree retention or clearcuts. Retention of legacy trees in aspen stands provided higher quality nest habitat for the Golden-winged Warbler than clearcuts based on high pairing success and nesting activity. Retention of hardwoods, particularly northern red oak (Quercus rubra), yielded the most consistent positive effects in this study with the highest bird species richness and the highest quality habitat for the Golden-winged Warbler. This treatment maintained stand biomass comparable to clearcuts and did not suppress regenerating tree biomass. In conclusion, legacy tree retention can enhance even-aged management techniques to produce a win-win scenario for the conservation of declining bird species and late-seral understory plants and for production of woody biomass feedstock from naturally regenerating aspen forests.

Detecting spatiotemporal clusters of accidental poisoning mortality among Texas counties, U.S., 1980 – 2001

Background Accidental poisoning is one of the leading causes of injury in the United States, second only to motor vehicle accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rates of accidental poisoning mortality have been increasing in the past fourteen years nationally. In Texas, mortality rates from accidental poisoning have mirrored national trends, increasing linearly from 1981 to 2001. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are spatiotemporal clusters of accidental poisoning mortality among Texas counties, and if so, whether there are variations in clustering and risk according to gender and race/ethnicity. The Spatial Scan Statistic in combination with GIS software was used to identify potential clusters between 1980 and 2001 among Texas counties, and Poisson regression was used to evaluate risk differences. Results Several significant (p < 0.05) accidental poisoning mortality clusters were identified in different regions of Texas. The geographic and temporal persistence of clusters was found to vary by racial group, gender, and race/gender combinations, and most of the clusters persisted into the present decade. Poisson regression revealed significant differences in risk according to race and gender. The Black population was found to be at greatest risk of accidental poisoning mortality relative to other race/ethnic groups (Relative Risk (RR) = 1.25, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.24 – 1.27), and the male population was found to be at elevated risk (RR = 2.47, 95% CI = 2.45 – 2.50) when the female population was used as a reference. Conclusion The findings of the present study provide evidence for the existence of accidental poisoning mortality clusters in Texas, demonstrate the persistence of these clusters into the present decade, and show the spatiotemporal variations in risk and clustering of accidental poisoning deaths by gender and race/ethnicity. By quantifying disparities in accidental poisoning mortality by place, time and person, this study demonstrates the utility of the spatial scan statistic combined with GIS and regression methods in identifying priority areas for public health planning and resource allocation.