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Selected AbstractsSpecies,area relationships of red-listed species in old boreal forests: a large-scale data analysisDIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 5 2009Olli-Pekka Tikkanen Abstract Aim, Species,area relationships are often applied, but not generally approved, to guide practical conservation planning. The specific species group analysed may affect their applicability. We asked if species,area curves constructed from extensive databases of various sectors of natural resource administration can provide insights into large-scale conservation of boreal forest biodiversity if the analyses are restricted only to red-listed species. Location, Finland, northern Europe. Methods, Our data included 12,645 records of 219 red-listed Coleoptera and Fungi from the whole of Finland. The forest data also covered the entire country, 202,761 km2. The units of species,area analyses were 224 municipalities where the red-listed forest species have been observed. We performed a hierarchical partitioning analysis to reveal the relative importance of different potential explanatory variables. Based on the results, for all red-listed species, species associated with coniferous trees and for Fungi, the area of economically over-aged forests explained the best the variation in data. For species associated with deciduous trees and Coleoptera, the forest area explained better variation in data than the area of old forests. In the subsequent log,log species,area regression analyses, we used the best variables as the explanatory variable for each species group. Results, There was a strong relationship between the number of all red-listed species and the area of old forests remaining, with a z -value of 0.45. The area explained better the number of species associated with conifer trees and Fungi than the number of species associated with deciduous trees and Coleoptera. Main conclusions, The high z -values of species,area curves indicate that the remaining old-growth patches constitute a real archipelago for the conifer-associated red-listed species, since lower values had been expected if the surrounding habitat matrix were a suitable habitat for the species analysed. [source] A large carbon pool and small sink in boreal Holocene lake sedimentsGLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 10 2004Pirkko Kortelainen Abstract Model-based estimates suggest that lake sediments may be a significant, long-term sink for organic carbon (C) at regional to global scales. These models have used various approaches to predict sediment storage at broad scales from very limited data sets. Here, we report a large-scale direct assessment of the standing stock and sedimentation rate of C for a representative set of lakes in Finland. The 122 lakes were selected from the statistically selected Nordic Lake Survey database, they cover the entire country and the water quality represents the average lake water quality in Finland. Unlike all prior estimates, these data use sediment cores that comprise the entire sediment record. The data show that within Finland, aquatic ecosystems contain the second largest areal C stocks (19 kg C m,2) after peatlands (72 kg C m,2), and exceed by significant amounts stocks in the forest soil (uppermost 75cm; 7.2 kg C m,2) and woody biomass (3.4 kg C m,2). Kauppi et al. (1997). The Finnish estimate extrapolated over the boreal region gives a total C pool in lakes 19,27 Pg C, significantly lower than the previous model-based estimates. [source] Modelling the burden of stroke in Finland until 2030INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STROKE, Issue 5 2009J. Sivenius Background It is well known that increasing age is the strongest risk factor of stroke. Therefore, it has been a common belief in many countries including Finland that the numbers of stroke patients will increase considerably during the next two decades because the population is rapidly ageing. Methods The FINMONICA and FINSTROKE registers operated in Finland in the Kuopio area and city of Turku from 1983 to 1997. The results showed that the incidence, mortality and case fatality of stroke declined significantly during that period. Importantly, it was established that the trends in incidence and mortality were also declining among the elderly (>74 years). We used these results to create a model for the entire country. The model was based on the trends present in these registers from Turku and Kuopio area and age-specific population projections up to the year 2030 that were obtained from Statistics Finland. Results In the year 2000, the number of new first stroke cases was estimated to be 11 500. If the declining trend were to level off totally after the year 2000, the number of new strokes would be 20 100 in the year 2030 due to the ageing of the population. It would be 12 100 if the trend continued as favourable as during the years 1983,1997. Conclusions Ageing of the population will not inevitably increase the burden of stroke in Finland if the present declining trends are maintained, but the annual number of cases will almost double if the incidence remains at the level of the year 2000. [source] Comparison of Indian reference equations for spirometry interpretationRESPIROLOGY, Issue 5 2007Ashutosh N. AGGARWAL Background and objectives: It would be desirable in a large country such as India that a single set of reference equations be used to interpret lung function tests performed across the entire country. This study compared north, west and south reference equations in interpreting spirometry results in north Indian patients. Methods: Spirometric records of 27383 patients aged 16,65 years were assessed. Spirometric values for FVC, FEV1 and FEV1%FVC values derived from north, west and south Indian reference equations were compared. Differences in the lower limit of normal (LLN) were studied across the age and height range of the study group to determine if there was any clinically significant difference in the three derived values. Results: The north and west Indian equations was discordant in 22.1% instances, and the north and south Indian equations in 12.9% instances, with kappa estimates of agreement being 0.626 and 0.781, respectively. Most of the patients with abnormal spirometry using north Indian equations were erroneously interpreted to have normal spirometry using west or south Indian equations. The south Indian equations underpredicted LLN for FVC and FEV1 for most men and women. The west Indian equations underpredicted LLN for FVC and FEV1 in all men, and in younger and short statured women. Conclusions: North, west and south Indian reference equations do not yield equivalent results for spirometry interpretation in north Indian patients. [source] Rattling the Hesam: International Distractions from Internal Problems in IranASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 1 2009John A. Tures President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began waging a war of words against the state of Israel several months after he won Iran's 2005 election. This article explores the motives for his fiery rhetoric. A series of explanations including ideological zeal, inexperience, international pressure, unifying regional regimes, and inciting a war with Israel are evaluated and critiqued. This article offers a new rationale that examines internal politics as a motive for the Iranian leader's speeches. The diversionary theory of conflict, which claims that leaders try to overcome domestic shortcomings with foreign distractions, is examined in this context. But while this theory has typically been associated with war and unifying the country's political structure, this article contends that President Ahmadinejad's plan may not be full-scale war, but a verbal confrontation and subtle support for terror groups, which can be just as effective in achieving internal aims. Such a policy would also win converts among the rank-and-file Arabs. The resulting regional prestige is also designed to mask his domestic shortcomings in the political and economic arena. Blasting Israel and boosting groups such as Hizballah and Hamas, while receiving cheers from many Arab people for standing up to Israel, in other words, is designed to distract the Iranian people from the sinking economy and President Ahmadinejad's loss of power, blocked appointments, and criticism from even conservatives. In addition, rather than seeking support from the entire country, the president may be trying to outflank his conservative opponents, including many from the clergy, legislature, and ruling elite, who have become disenchanted with his anti-corruption crusades, appointments, and policies. If successful, this plan would pit his country's conservative majority (including young people and the Revolutionary Guard) against the minority moderates and some disaffected conservatives. Finally, this article critiques other theories and suggested strategies responding to the crisis and offers its own diversionary theory, as well as ideas about how to handle President Ahmadinejad's oratories. [source] High-tech rural clinics and hospitals in Japan: a comparison to the Japanese averageAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 5 2004Masatoshi Matsumoto Abstract Context:,Japanese medical facilities are noted for being heavily equipped with high-tech equipment compared to other industrialised countries. Rural facilities are anecdotally said to be better equipped than facilities in other areas due to egalitarian health resource diffusion policies by public sectors whose goal is to secure fair access to modern medical technologies among the entire population. Objectives:,To show the technology status of rural practice and compare it to the national level. Design:,Nationwide postal survey. Setting, Subjects & Interventions:,Questionnaires were sent to the directors of 1362 public hospitals and clinics (of the 1723 municipalities defined as ,rural' by four national laws). Information was collected about the technologies they possessed. The data were compared with figures from a national census of all hospitals and clinics. Results:,A total of 766 facilities responded (an effective response rate of 56%). Rural facilities showed higher possession rates in most comparable technologies than the national level. It is noted that almost all rural hospitals had gastroscopes and colonoscopes and their possession rates of bronchoscopes and dialysis equipment were twice as high as the national level. The discrepancy in possession rates between rural and national was even more remarkable in clinics than in hospitals. Rural clinics owned twice as many abdominal ultrasonographs, and three times as many gastroscopes, colonoscopes, defibrillators and computed tomography scanners as the national level. Conclusions:,Rural facilities are equipped with more technology than urban ones. Government-led, tax based, technology diffusion in the entire country seems to have attained its goal. What is already known on this subject:,As a general tendency in both developing and developed countries, rural medical facilities are technologically less equipped than their urban counterparts. What does this paper add?:,In Japan, rural medical facilities are technologically better equipped than urban facilities. [source] The mobility of optometrists practising in Australia in 2005: Do optometry graduates move to states without schools of optometry?CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL OPTOMETRY, Issue 1 2008Patricia M Kiely BScOptom PhD Background:, Three schools of optometry in the eastern states of Australia provide optometrists for the entire country. Concerns have been expressed about attracting optometrists to practise in the other states. This paper analyses the source of optometric qualification of optometrists practising in each state, to assess the proportion who have chosen to practise in a state different from that in which they qualified and to determine whether there are gender differences in preparedness to move to a different state. Method:, Data on year and school of qualification, primary professional activity and current state or territory of practice were extracted from the Optometrists Association Australia database to determine a profile of place of qualification of optometrists in each state or territory of Australia in 2005. Results:, More than 77 per cent of practising optometrists from Australian schools practised in the state where they graduated. The majority of optometrists for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA) were New South Wales graduates; the majority of Tasmanian optometrists were Victorian graduates. Optometrists from overseas accounted for 17.3, 24.6 and 19.9 per cent of optometrists in practice in SA, Tasmania and WA, respectively, but less than 7.5 per cent elsewhere. The highest number of optometrists who had qualified outside Australia practised in NSW. Female graduates from 2000 and later were more likely to move interstate than their male counterparts. Discussion:, Approximately 14 per cent of practising optometry graduates practised in states without schools, where 21 per cent of the population resided. This indicates some degree of mobility but the market needs to work further to match supply of optometric services to demand at state level. Further analysis is necessary to determine patterns of graduate movement in the years following graduation, to determine whether movement to different states is short- or long-term. [source] | |||||||||||||