Educational inequalities and premature mortality: the Cuba Prospective Study.

Background: Although socioeconomic status is a major determinant of premature mortality in many populations, the impact of social inequalities on premature mortality in Cuba, a country with universal education and health care, remains unclear. We aimed to assess the association between educational level and premature adult mortality in Cuba.

Methods: The Cuba Prospective Study (a cohort study) enrolled 146 556 adults aged 30 years and older from the general population in five provinces from Jan 1, 1996, to Nov 24, 2002.

Body-mass index, blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular mortality in Cuba: prospective study of 146,556 participants.

Background: Cardiovascular disease accounts for about one-third of all premature deaths (ie, age < 70) in Cuba. Yet, the relevance of major risk factors, including systolic blood pressure (SBP), diabetes, and body-mass index (BMI), to cardiovascular mortality in this population remains unclear.

Methods: In 1996-2002, 146,556 adults were recruited from the general population in five areas of Cuba.

Alcohol consumption and cause-specific mortality in Cuba: prospective study of 120 623 adults.

Background: The associations of cause-specific mortality with alcohol consumption have been studied mainly in higher-income countries. We relate alcohol consumption to mortality in Cuba.

Methods: In 1996-2002, 146 556 adults were recruited into a prospective study from the general population in five areas of Cuba.

Association of childhood smoking and adult mortality: prospective study of 120 000 Cuban adults.

Background: The average age at which people start smoking has been decreasing in many countries, but insufficient evidence exists on the adult hazards of having started smoking in childhood and, especially, in early childhood. We aimed to investigate the association between smoking habits (focusing on the age when smokers started) and cause-specific premature mortality in a cohort of adults in Cuba.

Methods: For this prospective study, adults were recruited from five provinces in Cuba.

Improving conservation strategies of raptors through landscape ecology analysis: The case of the endemic Cuban Black Hawk.

Raptor species conservation should consider a landscape perspective in order to include habitat requirements associated to large home ranges around nesting sites. Landscape analysis can help to better understand raptor habitat requirements and the degree of tolerance to habitat changes at different scales.We used a landscape ecology perspective to determine the nesting habitat selection of endemic and endangered Cuban Black Hawk, and using ecological niche modeling, we obtained the potential distribution of nests to evaluate the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) for raptor conservation.

[Quality of maternal mortality statistics in Cuba, 2013Qualidade das estatísticas de mortalidade materna em Cuba, 2013].

Objective: Evaluate the degree of integrity of the Cuban statistical registry of maternal deaths and the quality of the classification of the causes of death included in that registry.

Methods: We analyzed the information of all Cuban women who died in fertile age in 2013 according to the continuous mortality registry of the Directorate of Medical Records and Health Statistics of the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba (MINSAP), regardless of the main cause of death informed. Four research groups (national, expert, provincial and health units), each with defined functions, applied four forms to establish if the women had been pregnant in the year prior to death, to reassess whether the cases corresponded to a maternal death and, in that case, to review the classification.

Burden of hypertension and associated risks for cardiovascular mortality in Cuba: a prospective cohort study.

Background: In Cuba, hypertension control in primary care has been prioritised as a cost-effective means of addressing premature death from cardiovascular disease. However, there is little evidence from large-scale studies on the prevalence and management of hypertension in Cuba, and no direct evidence of the expected benefit of such efforts on cardiovascular mortality.

Methods: In a prospective cohort study, adults in the general population identified via local family medical practices were interviewed between Jan 1, 1996, and Nov 24, 2002, in five areas of Cuba, and a subset of participants were resurveyed between July 14, 2006, and Oct 19, 2008, in one area.

Assessment of Hammocks (Petenes) Resilience to Sea Level Rise Due to Climate Change in Mexico.

There is a pressing need to assess resilience of coastal ecosystems against sea level rise. To develop appropriate response strategies against future climate disturbances, it is important to estimate the magnitude of disturbances that these ecosystems can absorb and to better understand their underlying processes. Hammocks (petenes) coastal ecosystems are highly vulnerable to sea level rise linked to climate change; their vulnerability is mainly due to its close relation with the sea through underground drainage in predominantly karstic soils.

CracidMex1: a comprehensive database of global occurrences of cracids (Aves, Galliformes) with distribution in Mexico.

Cracids are among the most vulnerable groups of Neotropical birds. Almost half of the species of this family are included in a conservation risk category. Twelve taxa occur in Mexico, six of which are considered at risk at national level and two are globally endangered.