The results suggest that pre-operative education is a safe and effective method of reducing length of stay for knee arthroplasty patients.

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This short review summarises research and key debates in the conservation and management of wildlife, biodiversity and valued environments in Africa. It is broadly grounded in a political ecology approach, and indicates the importance of considering ways in which power and meanings conferred on the landscape play out in the realm of conservation. The review highlights the paradigm shift that has occurred in thinking about African environments and shows how this has shaped approaches to conservation. It considers factors that influenced the origin of conservation initiatives in Africa, including the preservation of game for hunting and the establishment of national parks in the United States. The shift from an early fortress conservation model to later community conservation approaches is traced and a summary of the critique of community conservation with a analysis of the CAMPFIRE programme in Zimbabwe, is presented. More recently the conservation agenda seems to have turned towards transfrontier conservation. The conclusion cautions that despite the weight of critical analyses of community conservation, its abandonment would be somewhat premature and potentially detrimental to desirable conservation and development outcomes.

BackgroundPelvic osteoporotic fractures (POFs) are often associated with considerable morbidity and mortality mainly as a result of infections and cardiovascular events. Patients usually need prolonged institutionalization, rehabilitation, and follow-up, with a high rate of dependency and cost. The most common sites of POFs include the pubic rami, sacrum, ilium, and acetabulum. Combined pubic rami (PROFs) and sacral osteoporotic fractures (SOFs) have been reported, mostly in retrospective studies, describing the mechanism of injury and incidence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between PROFs and SOFs and to assess the effect of combined PROFs and SOFs on patients’ mobility, discharge destination, and length of stay.Materials and methodsWe prospectively studied 67 patients with low-impact PROFs and/or SOFs. There were 54 (80.4%) female and 13 (19.6%) male patients, and the average age was 87.5 (range 65–96) years. All patients were assessed by the fracture liaison service. Patients had magnetic resonance imaging or bone scan when there was history of low back pain following the injury or lumbosacral tenderness on clinical examination.ResultsThe mean length of stay for all patients was 45 (±35) days. Mortality rate was 10.4%. A significant relationship was found between low back pain and a positive finding of sacral fracture. Patients with combined PROFs and SOFs showed significantly longer length of stay than those with isolated PROFs.ConclusionsThe presence of low back pain and tenderness in patients who had low-impact pelvic injuries was highly suggestive of the presence of an associated SOF. There was a high association between sacral and PROFs. The length of stay of patients with PROFs associated with sacral osteoporotic fractures was significantly longer than that of patients with PROFs only. Therefore, we recommend considering the high association between SOFs and PROFs in planning the management and rehabilitation of patients with POFs.