Issue of Waist Circumference for the Diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome Regarding Arterial Stiffness: Possible Utility of a Body Shape Index in Middle-Aged Nonobese Japanese Urban Residents Receiving Health Screening

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Abdominal obesity as a risk factor for diagnosing metabolic syndrome (MetS) is evaluated using waist circumference (WC), although WC does not necessarily reflect visceral adiposity. This cross-sectional study aimed to clarify whether replacing WC with “A Body Shape Index (ABSI),” an abdominal obesity index, in MetS diagnosis detects individuals with arterial stiffening assessed by cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in 46,872 Japanese urban residents (median age 40 years) who underwent health screening. Exclusion criteria were current treatments and a past history of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The Japanese, International Diabetes Federation, and NCEP-ATPIII criteria were used to diagnose MetS. High CAVI was defined as CAVI ≥9.0. <b><i>Results:</i></b> CAVI correlated positively with ABSI (β = 0.127), but negatively with WC (β = −0.186), independent of age, sex, systolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and high-density lipoprotein--cholesterol. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that ABSI had a stronger contribution to high CAVI (area under the ROC curve [AUC] = 0.730) than WC (AUC = 0.595) and body mass index (AUC = 0.520). ABSI ≥0.080 was defined as abdominal obesity based on the results of ROC analysis for high CAVI and estimated glomerular filtration rate &#x3c;60 mL/min/1.73 m². Logistic regression analysis revealed that replacing high WC with ABSI ≥0.080 in MetS diagnosis enhanced the detection of subjects with high CAVI. <b><i>Discussion/Conclusion:</i></b> Use of ABSI can detect subjects with arterial stiffening, which may lead to efficient stratification of CVD risk. Further studies are needed to confirm whether MetS diagnosis using ABSI predicts CVD morbidity and mortality.

The Effects of Urban Green Space on Depressive Symptoms of Mid-Aged and Elderly Urban Residents in China: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

The aim of this study is to assess the impacts of urban green space on depressive symptoms among Chinese urban residents aged 45 and older. In total, 7397 urban respondents were included in this study. Each respondent participated in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study Wave 3 (2015). Environmental-level variables were retrieved from the National Bureau of Statistics database. Both unadjusted and adjusted methods were used in the multilevel regression analysis. Almost one-third of the sample population suffered from depressive symptoms (31.20%). The multilevel logistic regression model showed that green coverage ratio of city-built districts is negatively associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms among urban mid-aged (OR = 0.79, p < 0.05) and elderly (OR = 0.75, p < 0.05) residents, and the public recreational green space helps to reduce elderly people’s depressive symptoms (OR = 0.77, p < 0.05). This study adds insights about the impact of green space and other environmental factors on depressive symptoms among mid-aged and elderly urban dwellers. It is important to provide enough and accessible overall urban green spaces; additionally, attention should also be paid to specific green space forms such as public recreational green space.

The Pandemic Context and Quality of Life for Youth in Constanta County

The COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on Romanian people. For almost two years the changes in the everyday life of the inhabitants of our country happened with such speed and dramatic consequences, that it raised the question about the perception of Romanian people regarding their perceived quality of life. A sample of 1796 young people, all residents of Constanta County, aged between 18 and 25 years old, was assessed with a survey made by the authors, concerning their perception on the quality of their life in the fields of health, self-esteem, goals and values, financial, professional, leisure, learning, family and social environment, and emotional regulation. Of all the themes we studied, this research tries to identify the differences regarding the quality of life between rural and urban residents. We obtained statistical significant differences regarding goals and values, learning opportunities and emotional regulation. Results are discussed in the end of the paper in the context of the on-going changes still caused by the Covid-19 pandemic

INTERACTION OF TOBACCO ABUSE WITH OTHER CONVENTIONAL RISK FACTORS OF CARDIOVASCULAR RISK - SYNERGISTIC IMPACT OR AN INDEPENDENT MENACE?

Objectives: To determine the prevalence, patterns and behavioural attributes of tobacco abuse in patients of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Furthermore, to assess the interaction of tobacco abuse with other conventional risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methodology: This observational study included 230 consecutive patients with ACS. Data was collected regarding total duration and extent of tobacco consumption, “tobacco addiction” and various behavioural patterns related to it. Risk factors profile was acquired for hypertension, diabetes, obesity, family history of premature CVD and dyslipidemia. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for these risk factors were calculated for tobacco abusers compared to non-abusers. Results: Among the study population, 63(27.4%) were active tobacco users. Urban residents had lesser odds of being tobacco abusers compared to non-urban residents (0.49, [0.27 – 0.89]). Tobacco abusers had a lower prevalence of hypertension compared to non-abusers (0.44 [0.24 – 0.81]). A similar trend was observed for diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia, however, the differences could not reach significance thresholds. Cigarette smoking was the commonest mode of tobacco consumption (90.5%). “Tobacco addiction” could be attributed to 84.1% of abusers. Most (82.5%) were willing to give up tobacco abuse and 63.3% had already made attempts at quitting. Conclusion: About one-third of ACS patients were tobacco abusers with the majority being tobacco addicts. Tobacco abuse was observed to be independently implicated as a risk factor in ACS patients. Furthermore, tobacco abuse was inversely related to hypertension translating into a sub-multiplicative / additive impact of hypertension as a risk factor.

Analysis of Urban Residents’ Willingness to Pay for Forest Ecological Services Based on the Multilayer Linear Model

This study takes 8 cities in Shaanxi province as the research object and uses the multilayer linear model specifically for nested structure data to introduce the urban macroexplanatory variables on the basis of individual level of residents and influence the willingness of urban residents to pay for forest ecological services. The factors are analyzed in multiple layers to find out the prediction effect on ecological payment, and on this basis, corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward. The results show that regional differences have a significant impact on residents’ willingness to pay for forest ecological services; individual characteristics and regional characteristics can independently have a significant impact on residents’ willingness to pay; after introducing macrolevel variables, individual-level environmental awareness and per capita income, five variables, such as education level, place of residence, and age, have significant predictive effects on residents’ willingness to pay; among them, the interaction between consumer price index and environmental awareness is the largest, followed by the interaction between consumer price index and age. Per capita social security is the interaction between expenditure and environmental awareness. Finally, that is the interaction between the per capita social security expenditure and age and the interaction between the average salary of employees and the monthly per capita income.

Building eco-surplus culture among urban inhabitants as a novel strategy to improve finance for conservation in protected areas

The rapidly declining biosphere integrity, representing one of the core planetary boundaries, is alarming. One of the most widely accepted measures to halt the rate of biodiversity loss is to maintain and expand protected areas that are effectively managed. However, it requires substantial finance derived from nature-based tourism, specifically visitors from urban areas. Using the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) on 535 Vietnamese urban residents, the current study examined how their biodiversity loss perceptions can affect their willingness to pay for the entrance fee and conservation in protected areas. We found that perceived environmental degradation, loss of economic growth, loss of nature-based recreation opportunity, and loss of knowledge as consequences of biodiversity loss has indirect effects on paying willingness through the mediation of the attitude towards conservation. Especially, the perceived knowledge loss also has a direct positive influence on the willingness to pay for the entrance fee and conservation. In contrast, perceived loss of health is negatively associated with the attitude towards conservation. Based on these findings, we suggest that building an eco-surplus culture among urban residents can be a promising way to generate more finance from nature-based tourism for conservation in protected areas and ease the domestic government’s and international organizations’ funding allocations problems.

Contemporary Urban Missions and Reflecting Reality in Deprivation of Civil Areas in Indian Cantonments – A Pragmatic View

The contemporary urban schemes were launched around five years ago by the National Government to create more inclusive cities and offer a decent quality of life to urban residents. But in reality, the civilian areas of Cantonments are grossly overlooked from the benefits of such welfare schemes. There are 52 notified civil areas in Indian Cantonments with a population of 2.08 million, according to the 2011 census. The Cantonment Act, 2006 (by repealing the Cantonment Act, 1924) empowered Cantonment Boards to act as ‘deemed to be a municipality ’to receive grants and implement government welfare schemes, including the provision of 24 types of infrastructure and services to its residents. The present research reviews the provisions and coverage of contemporary urban missions, including Smart Cities, and highlights civilian areas of the cantonments as deprived urban areas. Besides the non-implementation of contemporary urban welfare schemes, issues like the age-old colonial infrastructure, revenue crunch through taxes and non-taxes, absence of development plan, lack of inter-jurisdictional coordination etc., need to be addressed. The present research will act as an input for policymakers to understand the problems of civilian areas, nature, and extent of welfare scheme implementation, and also suggest the necessary changes required at the policy level.