Current trends suggest most Asian countries are unlikely to meet future biodiversity targets on protected areas.

Aichi Target 11 committed governments to protect ≥17% of their terrestrial environments by 2020, yet it was rarely achieved, raising questions about the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework goal to protect 30% by 2030. Asia is a challenging continent for such targets, combining high biodiversity with dense human populations. Here, we evaluated achievements in Asia against Aichi Target 11. We found that Asia was the most underperforming continent globally, with just 13.2% of terrestrial protected area (PA) coverage, averaging 14.1 ± SE 1.8% per country in 2020. 73.1% of terrestrial ecoregions had <17% representation and only 7% of PAs even had an assessment of management effectiveness. We found that a higher agricultural land in 2015 was associated with lower PA coverage today. Asian countries also showed a remarkably slow average annual pace of 0.4 ± SE 0.1% increase of PA extent. These combined lines of evidence suggest that the ambitious 2030 targets are unlikely to be achieved in Asia unless the PA coverage to increase 2.4-5.9 times faster. We provided three recommendations to support Asian countries to meet their post-2020 biodiversity targets: complete reporting and the wider adoption "other effective area-based conservation measures"; restoring disturbed landscapes; and bolstering transboundary PAs.

Dentoalveolar Heights in Vertical and Sagittal Facial Patterns.

OBJECTIVE: To determine and compare the mean dentoalveolar heights (mm) in different vertical and sagittal facial patterns. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Orthodontics Clinic, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from September to November 2013. METHODOLOGY: Subjects, aged 15 - 20 years, having fully erupted first permanent molars and central incisors were included in the study from orthodontic records. The pretreatment cephalographs of subjects were traced manually over an illuminator. The various parameters like angles and dentoalveolar heights were measured and recorded on data collection form. Mean value ± SD for the variables were generated. ANOVAwas used to compare the means of dentoalveolar heights among the vertical and sagittal facial patterns. Post Hoc Bonferroni test was applied to show difference among the three vertical and three sagittal facial patterns. P-value equal to or less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean age of subjects was 15.8 ±3.2 years in vertical group and 16.3 ±2.9 years in sagittal group. There was statistically significant difference (p=0.008) for the upper anterior dentoalveolar height (UADH) among vertical groups, with statistically significant difference for UADH between hyperdivergent and normodivergent (p=0.04) and hyperdivergent and hypodivergent (p=0.01) facial patterns. CONCLUSION: The UADH were significantly greater in the hyperdivergent group as compared to both the normodivergent and hypodivergent groups. The sagittal groups showed no statistically significant difference for dentoalveolar heights.

Plaque index in multi-bracket fixed appliances.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the plaque index in patients receiving multi-bracket fixed orthodontic treatment for various factors like age, gender, socio-economic status, brushing practices, meal habits, types of brackets, types of ligations, use of mouthwash and duration of treatment. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Orthodontics Clinic, The Aga Khan University Hospital, from September to November 2011. METHODOLOGY: Socio-demographic and clinical modalities were defined and recorded for 131 patients having multi-bracket fixed appliances. The plaque index of subjects were recorded according to the Silness and Loe plaque index method. Independent sample t-test was used to see difference in plaque index in factors having two variables. One way ANOVA and Post-Hoc Tukey tests were used to see difference in plaque index in factors having three variables. Kappa statistics was used to assess inter examiner reliability. P-value of ≤ 0.05 was taken to be significant. RESULTS: The sample comprised of 37% males (n = 48) and 63% females (n = 83). The plaque index had statistically significant association with practice of brushing i.e., timing of brushing (p=0.001), method of brushing (p=0.08), type of ligatures (p=0.05) and frequency of visits (p=0.01). CONCLUSION: The plaque accumulation is significantly decreased in subjects who brush the teeth twice or more than twice a day and those who brush their teeth after breakfast. The use of interdental brush and stainless steel ligatures had significantly low plaque. Subjects presenting with more frequent appointments of short-period had significantly less plaque.