The aim of this study was to determine the effects of long-term professional golf participation on whole-body and regional bone mass and density. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was performed on 15 male professional golfers and 18 sedentary individuals, matched for sex, race, age (29+/-1 and 25+/-1 years, respectively), body mass (79+/-2 and 74+/-2 kg), height (1.78+/-0.01 and 1.77+/-0.02 m) and percent body fat (20+/-2 and 21+/-2%; mean +/- sx). We found that long-term professional golf participation is not associated with significant increments in regional or whole-body bone mass or density. Neither the lumbar spine nor the femoral neck showed any noticeable enhancement of bone mass in professional golfers compared with controls from the same population. The only effect of professional golf participation on regional body composition was a 9% increase in muscle mass in the dominant arm (P < 0.05).

Abstract. A primary technical requirement of the climate change mitigation mechanism, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), is to calculate emissions factors, that is, the amount of CO 2 emissions or removals per hectare from land use and land-use change. Emissions factors are calculated from baseline estimates of the aboveground biomass (AGB) stored in different vegetation types. Ground-based methods for estimating AGB, such as forest inventories, despite being relatively accurate and necessary for calibrating remotely sensed data such as satellite or airborne Light Detection and Ranging, tend to be expensive and time-consuming. Thus, calls have been made to improve the cost-efficiency of these methods within the context of REDD+. Also as part of REDD+, there have been calls for the legitimate inclusion of indigenous peoples and rural communities in various aspects of the mechanism. To address both of these issues, we devised a participatory, rapid, forest inventorying method and tested it across the heterogeneous forest landscape of Darien, Panama. This effort took place within a project that was administratively and logistically managed entirely by an indigenous organization working in collaboration with indigenous authorities in Darien, with funding from the World Bank. A group of 24 indigenous technicians were trained on forest inventorying methods. They established and measured thirty 1-ha plots under our direct supervision. We tested for various sources of error in tree diameter and height measurements. We also tested the scalability of our tree-level biomass estimates to the plot level by comparing our results with simulations conducted on the Barro Colorado Island 50-ha permanent plot data. Results indicate that our rapid, participatory, forest inventorying method effectively captures plot-level AGB, while guaranteeing the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples. The benefits of our method in terms of cost-efficiency and access to remote forest areas are discussed, as well as those accrued by indigenous peoples.

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En el presente trabajo se estudia a través de diversos análisis SIG y estadísticos la organización de las necrópolis megalíticas del río Gor, tomando como muestra dos conjuntos especialmente destacables dentro de las mismas: Majadillas y Hoyas del Conquín.  A partir de los análisis llevados a cabo podemos observar que existe una planificación en la ubicación de los monumentos, así como ciertas variables que parecen indicar unos patrones de uso cambiantes a lo largo de la horquilla temporal en la que funcionaron los megalitos del río Gor como depósitos funerarios (finales del Neolítico – Edad del Bronce). Entre los resultados cabe destacar la preocupación por dominar visualmente todo el valle a partir de la adición de marcadores sagrados (los dólmenes) que, aun con una visibilidad generalmente reducida desde cada uno de ellos, configuran en su conjunto un sistema totalmente articulado de control visual ritualizado.

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