Sustainable Management Of Natural Forests In Pantanal Region, Brazil

A regi\ue3o do Pantanal no Brasil apresenta uma \ue1rea de cerca de 140.000 km2, com aproximadamente 30 % de florestas naturais, distribu\ueddas como florestas dec\uedduas, semidec\uedduas e savanas florestadas. A subregi\ue3o da Nhecol\ue2ndia representa 19 % dessa \ue1rea. Existe uma preocupa\ue7\ue3o constante em rela\ue7\ue3o a sustentabilidade dessas florestas, pois a demanda de madeira para manuten\ue7\ue3o das propriedades \ue9 constante, principalmente para moir\uf5es de cerca. O objetivo desse artigo \ue9 indicar pr\ue1ticas de manejo florestal sustent\ue1vel para a regi\ue3o da Nhecol\ue2ndia. A metodologia dessa primeira abordagem desse tema consistiu na recupera\ue7\ue3o e organiza\ue7\ue3o da informa\ue7\ue3o dispon\uedvel e no c\ue1lculo da taxa de corte sustent\ue1vel por hectare, considerando o ciclo de corte, o estoque de madeira, o incremento peri\uf3dico anual (IPA), em volume percentual, das esp\ue9cies comerciais ou de interesse, e a estrutura do talh\ue3o. Para savanas florestadas, o di\ue2metro a altura do peito (DAP) de 529 \ue1rvores por hectare foram estimados como segue: DAP menor que 10 cm (28 %), de 10 a 20 (36 %), de 20 a 30 (21 %), de 30 a 40 (10 %), e apenas 4 % acima de 40 cm. O volume total estimado por hectare foi 84,2 m3 e a \ue1rea basal estimada foi 18,6 m2. As \ue1reas florestadas da regi\ue3o do Pantanal apresentam potencial para o uso sustent\ue1vel. Entretanto, devido as caracter\uedsticas da regi\ue3o e a falta de informa\ue7\ue3o dispon\uedvel, recomenda-se que pesquisas sejam incrementadas para se estabelecer um plano de uso que garanta a sua perpetua\ue7\ue3o para gera\ue7\uf5es futuras.The Pantanal region in Brazil has an area of 140,000 km2, with approximately 30 % of natural forests distributed as deciduous, semideciduous, and forested savannas. The subregion of Nhecolandia represents 19 % of this area. There is constant concern about the sustainability of these forested areas, as there is a constant demand for wood for farm maintenance, mainly for making fence poles. The objective of this article is to indicate sustainable forest management practices in the Pantanal region of Nhecolandia. The methodology of this novel approach consisted of the recovery and organization of the available information to calculate the sustainable allowable cut per hectare, considering: cutting cycle, wood stock, periodic annual increment (PAI) in percentage of volume from the commercial or interesting species and the stand structure. For forested savannas, the diameter at breast height (DBH) of 529 trees per hectare were estimated as follows: 28 % with a DBH lower than 10 cm, 36 % from 10 to 20 cm, 21 % from 20 to 30 cm, 10 % from 30 to 40 cm and only 4 % greater than 40 cm. The estimated total volume per hectare was 84.2 m3 and the estimated basal area was 18.6 m2. The forested areas of the Pantanal region present potential for sustainable use. However, due to regional characteristics and the lack of available information, an enhancement in research is recommended to establish a basic management guide to ensure its perpetuation for future generations

Quality assurance of the international computerised 24 h dietary recall method (EPIC-Soft)

The interview-administered 24h dietary recall (24-HDR) EPIC-Soft((R)) has a series of controls to guarantee the quality of dietary data across countries. These comprise all steps that are part of fieldwork preparation, data collection and data management; however, a complete characterisation of these quality controls is still lacking. The present paper describes in detail the quality controls applied in EPIC-Soft, which are, to a large extent, built on the basis of the EPIC-Soft error model and are present in three phases: (1) before, (2) during and (3) after the 24-HDR interviews. Quality controls for consistency and harmonisation are implemented before the interviews while preparing the seventy databases constituting an EPIC-Soft version (e.g. pre-defined and coded foods and recipes). During the interviews, EPIC-Soft uses a cognitive approach by helping the respondent to recall the dietary intake information in a stepwise manner and includes controls for consistency (e.g. probing questions) as well as for completeness of the collected data (e.g. system calculation for some unknown amounts). After the interviews, a series of controls can be applied by dietitians and data managers to further guarantee data quality. For example, the interview-specific note files' that were created to track any problems or missing information during the interviews can be checked to clarify the information initially provided. Overall, the quality controls employed in the EPIC-Soft methodology are not always perceivable, but prove to be of assistance for its overall standardisation and possibly for the accuracy of the collected data

Comparison of the ISU, NCI, MSM, and SPADE Methods for Estimating Usual Intake: A Simulation Study of Nutrients Consumed Daily

Various methods are available for estimating usual dietary intake distributions. Hence, there is a need for simulation studies to compare them. The methods Iowa State University (ISU), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Multiple Source Method (MSM) and Statistical Program to Assess Dietary Exposure (SPADE) were previously compared in another study, but some results were inconclusive due to the small number of replications used in the simulation. Seeking to overcome this limitation, the present study used 1000 simulated samples for 12 different scenarios to compare the accuracy of estimates yielded by the aforementioned methods. The focus is on scenarios that exhibited the most uncertainty in the conclusions of the mentioned study above, i.e., scenarios with small sample sizes, skewed intake distributions, and large ratios of the between- and within-person variances. Bias was used as a measure of accuracy. For scenarios with small sample sizes (n = 150), the ISU, MSM and SPADE methods generally achieved more accurate estimates than the NCI method, particularly for the 10th and 90th percentiles. The differences between methods became smaller with larger sample sizes (n = 300 and n = 500). With few exceptions, the methods were found to perform similarly

Method for the development of wish, a globally applicable index for healthy diets from sustainable food systems

Promoting both a healthy diet and at the same time considering the environmental sustain-ability aspects of production and consumption of the diet are urgent global issues. We developed the WISH (World Index for Sustainability and Health) to evaluate diets for healthiness and sustainability. The WISH seeks to measure two complex multidimensional concepts, diet quality and environmental sustainability, in one scoring system. The WISH is based on the EAT-Lancet recommendations for a healthy and sustainable diet in the general population with global applicability across multiple settings. Thirteen food groups are scored between 0 and 10, based on their association with disease and impact on environmental indicators. The scoring system was applied using a dataset of duplicate 24 h dietary recalls from 396 urban Vietnamese men and women. Out of a maximum score of 130, the mean total WISH score was 46 (SD 11), and scores for the healthy and high-environmental impact sub-scores were mean 25 (11) (out of 100) and mean 26 (8) (out of 70) respectively. A higher score was observed for the less-healthy (mean 20 (2) out of 30) sub-score. Our initial analysis shows that the WISH is able to differentiate between the healthiness and the environmental sustainability of a Vietnamese diet.</p

Improving Pregnant Women&rsquo;s Iodine Intake Estimates and Its Prevalence of Inadequacy through the Use of Salt and Seasoning Covariates

(1) Measuring usual iodine intake is a complex task due to the food consumption variability and its natural concentration in food. Therefore, the use of covariates to adjust statistical methods to estimate usual intake could improve the estimates obtained through dietary surveys. This study aims to evaluate the influence of salt and seasoning usage covariates on the estimates of usual iodine intake and the prevalence of its inadequacy. (2) A cross-sectional study was conducted with Brazilian pregnant women&rsquo;s food consumption data obtained with 24-h recall (n = 2247). The usual iodine intake was adjusted for intraindividual variability, supplement use, temporal effects, data collection methods, and sociodemographic characteristics with the tool UCD/NCI SIMPLE in the SAS software. Then, salt and seasoning usage covariates were used to adjust the distribution. The harmonized intake reference values for populations were used to assess intake adequacy. (3) The adjustments for salt and seasoning usage yielded a higher mean of usual iodine intakes. The only exception was the adjustment for the &ldquo;habit of adding salt to meals after preparing/cooking&rdquo;, which produced a lower mean of usual intake and increased the prevalence of insufficient intake. (4) Salt and seasoning usage covariates affect the estimates evaluated. However, more studies are necessary to evaluate the influence observed

Subjects’ Perception in Quantifying Printed and Digital Photos of Food Portions

Although digital photos have the potential to improve the precision of reported portions in dietary assessment, there are few studies investigating its accuracy in comparison to printed photos. The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of adults in quantifying food portion sizes using printed and digital photos, displayed on computer-screens and tablets. In total, 1165 evaluations were performed for 60 photos of portion sizes in Brazil. Each participant (n = 58) attended two sessions in the study center, with an interval of at least one week. In each session, twelve food portions were prepared and randomly evaluated by each participant in its printed and digital forms. The mean error (difference between the estimated and true portions) was not significantly different between the printed photos (2.1 g &#177; 47.2) and the digital ones (&#8722;6.4 g &#177; 53.7). The agreement on using the printed and digital photos was 91% and 90%, respectively. Furthermore, the use of the tablet was more prone to underestimation when compared to printed and computer-screen photos (p &lt; 0.001). Overall, participants did not present major difficulties in perceiving the portion sizes using the printed and digital photos, but the use of tablets led to less accurate results, indicating that this needs to be further evaluated

Comparison of two food record-based dietary assessment methods for a pan-European food consumption survey among infants, toddlers, and children using data quality indicators

We aimed (1) to describe and evaluate the "EPIC-Soft DataEntry" application developed as a user-friendly data entry tool for pan-European and national food consumption surveys among infants and children, and (2) to compare two food record-based dietary assessment methods in terms of food description and quantification using data quality indicators. EPIC-Soft DataEntry was used for both methods. Two pilot studies were performed in both Belgium and Czech Republic in a total of 376 children (3 months to 10 year olds): one using a consecutive 3-day food diary; and the second with two non-consecutive 1-day food diaries with data entry during a completion interview. The collected dietary data were compared between the two dietary assessment methods by country and by age groups: (i) 3-10 years. Overall, 70 % of the interviewers evaluated the work with EPIC-Soft DataEntry as easy. With both dietary assessment methods, an equally high proportion of specific food names (e.g., "yoghurt, strawberry") were reported, where only between 5 and 15 % of foods were non-specified (e.g., "yoghurt, n.s."). The two 1-day food diaries yielded a higher proportion of foods with detailed description. For example, in the age category of 1-3 year olds in Belgium, for 7 out of 16 systematic questions on food description (e.g., "preservation method,") specific answers were significantly higher (all P < 0.03). The proportion of missing quantities of consumed foods was comparable between the two methods. The EPIC-Soft DataEntry application was positively evaluated by the majority of the interviewers. Two non-consecutive 1-day food diaries with data entry during a completion interview provide a more detailed description of consumed foods as compared with a 3-day food diary