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Obesity, typically quantified in terms of Body Mass Index (BMI) exceeding threshold values, is considered a leading cause of premature death worldwide. For given body size (BMI), it is recognized that risk is also affected by body shape, particularly as a marker of abdominal fat deposits. Waist circumference (WC) is used as a risk indicator supplementary to BMI, but the high correlation of WC with BMI makes it hard to isolate the added value of WC. We considered a USA population sample of 14,105 non-pregnant adults (age ≥ 18) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004 with follow-up for mortality averaging 5 yr (828 deaths). We developed A Body Shape Index (ABSI) based on WC adjusted for height and weight: ABSI ≡ WC/(BMI(2/3)height(1/2)). ABSI had little correlation with height, weight, or BMI. Death rates increased approximately exponentially with above average baseline ABSI (overall regression coefficient of +33% per standard deviation of ABSI [95% confidence interval: +20%-+48%), whereas elevated death rates were found for both high and low values of BMI and WC. 22% (8%-41%) of the population mortality hazard was attributable to high ABSI, compared to 15% (3%-30%) for BMI and 15% (4%-29%) for WC. The association of death rate with ABSI held even when adjusted for other known risk factors including smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, and serum cholesterol. ABSI correlation with mortality hazard held across the range of age, sex, and BMI, and for both white and black ethnicities (but not for Mexican ethnicity), and was not weakened by excluding deaths from the first 3 yr of follow-up. Body shape, as measured by ABSI, appears to be a substantial risk factor for premature mortality in the general population derivable from basic clinical measurements. ABSI expresses the excess risk from high WC in a convenient form that is complementary to BMI and to other known risk factors.

Global warming is expected to intensify the Earth's hydrological cycle and increase flood and drought risks. Changes over the 21st century under two warming scenarios in different percentiles of the probability distribution of streamflow, and particularly of high and low streamflow extremes (95th and 5th percentiles), are analyzed using an ensemble of bias-corrected global climate model (GCM) fields fed into different global hydrological models (GHMs) provided by the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP) to understand the changes in streamflow distribution and simultaneous vulnerability to different types of hydrological risk in different regions. In the multi-model mean under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario, 37 % of global land areas experience an increase in magnitude of extremely high streamflow (with an average increase of 24.5 %), potentially increasing the chance of flooding in those regions. On the other hand, 43 % of global land areas show a decrease in the magnitude of extremely low streamflow (average decrease of 51.5 %), potentially increasing the chance of drought in those regions. About 10 % of the global land area is projected to face simultaneously increasing high extreme streamflow and decreasing low extreme streamflow, reflecting the potentially worsening hazard of both flood and drought; further, these regions tend to be highly populated parts of the globe, currently holding around 30 % of the world's population (over 2.1 billion people). In a world more than 4° warmer by the end of the 21st century compared to the pre-industrial era (RCP8.5 scenario), changes in magnitude of streamflow extremes are projected to be about twice as large as in a 2° warmer world (RCP2.6 scenario). Results also show that inter-GHM uncertainty in streamflow changes, due to representation of terrestrial hydrology, is greater than the inter-GCM uncertainty due to simulation of climate change. Under both forcing scenarios, there is high model agreement for increases in streamflow of the regions near and above the Arctic Circle, and consequent increases in the freshwater inflow to the Arctic Ocean, while subtropical arid areas experience a reduction in streamflow.

A Body Shape Index (ABSI) had been derived from a study of the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004 mortality data to quantify the risk associated with abdominal obesity (as indicated by a wide waist relative to height and body mass index). A national survey with longer follow-up, the British Health and Lifestyle Survey (HALS), provides another opportunity to assess the predictive power for mortality of ABSI. HALS also includes repeat observations, allowing estimation of the implications of changes in ABSI. We evaluate ABSI z score relative to population normals as a predictor of all-cause mortality over 24 years of follow-up to HALS. We found that ABSI is a strong indicator of mortality hazard in this population, with death rates increasing by a factor of 1.13 (95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.16) per standard deviation increase in ABSI and a hazard ratio of 1.61 (1.40-1.86) for those with ABSI in the top 20% of the population compared to those with ABSI in the bottom 20%. Using the NHANES normals to compute ABSI z scores gave similar results to using z scores derived specifically from the HALS sample. ABSI outperformed as a predictor of mortality hazard other measures of abdominal obesity such as waist circumference, waist to height ratio, and waist to hip ratio. Moreover, it was a consistent predictor of mortality hazard over at least 20 years of follow-up. Change in ABSI between two HALS examinations 7 years apart also predicted mortality hazard: individuals with a given initial ABSI who had rising ABSI were at greater risk than those with falling ABSI. ABSI is a readily computed dynamic indicator of health whose correlation with lifestyle and with other risk factors and health outcomes warrants further investigation.

A Body Shape Index (ABSI) was specifically developed as a transformation of waist circumference (WC), statistically independent of BMI to better evaluate the relative contribution of WC to central obesity and clinical outcomes. Previous studies have found ABSI is associated with total mortality and cardiovascular events. However, no study has specifically evaluated the joint contribution of ABSI and BMI to cardio-metabolic outcomes (high triglycerides, low HDL, high fasting glucose and high blood pressure). With this aim, we performed a retrospective study on 6081 Caucasian adults. Subjects underwent a medical interview, anthropometric measurements, blood sampling, measurement of blood pressure, and measurement of visceral abdominal fat thickness (VAT) by ultrasound. Generalized linear models (GLM) were used to evaluate the sex and age adjusted association of ABSI with binary and continuous cardio-metabolic risk factors. Four pre-specified GLM were evaluated for each outcome: M1 = ABSI, BMI and ABSI*BMI interaction, M2 = ABSI and BMI, M3 = ABSI alone and M4 = BMI alone. Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) was calculated and used to identify the best predictive model. ABSI and BMI contributed independently to all outcomes. Compared to BMI alone, the joint use of BMI and ABSI yielded significantly improved associations for having high triglycerides (BIC = 5261 vs. 5286), low HDL (BIC = 5371 vs. 5381), high fasting glucose (BIC = 6328 vs. 6337) but not high blood pressure (BIC = 6580 vs. 6580). The joint use of BMI and ABSI was also more strongly associated with VAT than BMI alone (BIC = 22930 vs. 23479). In conclusion, ABSI is a useful index for evaluating the independent contribution of WC, in addition to that of BMI, as a surrogate for central obesity on cardio-metabolic risk.

Most studies of irrigation as an anthropogenic climate forcing focus on its cooling effects. However, irrigation also increases humidity, and so may not ameliorate humid heat and its extremes. We analyzed global climate model results over hot locations and seasons at high temporal resolution to estimate the impact of irrigation on humid heat extremes, quantified as different percentiles of wet-bulb temperature ( Tw), under contemporary conditions. We found that although irrigation reduced temperature, the median and higher percentiles of Tw  on average did not decrease. Increases in Tw  percentile values and increases in frequency of dangerous Tw  of several days per year due to irrigation were found in some densely populated regions, including the central United States and the Middle East, while the Ganges basin saw reduced Tw. Changes in Tw  were partly associated with the differential regional impacts of irrigation on moisture transport. These results underline the importance of considering impacts of climate forcings on humidity as well as temperature in evaluating associated effects on heat extremes.

Body mass index (BMI) can be considered an application of a power law model to express body weight independently of height. Based on the same power law principle, we previously introduced a body shape index (ABSI) to be independent of BMI and height. Here, we develop a new hip index (HI) whose normalized value is independent of height, BMI, and ABSI. Similar to BMI, HI demonstrates a U-shaped relationship to mortality in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) population. We further develop a new anthropometric risk index (ARI) by adding log hazard ratios from separate nonlinear regressions of the four indicators, height, BMI, ABSI, and HI, against NHANES III mortality hazard. ARI far outperforms any of the individual indicators as a linear mortality predictor in NHANES III. The superior performance of ARI also holds for predicting mortality hazard in the independent Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort. Thus, HI, along with BMI and ABSI, can capture the risk profile associated with body size and shape. These can be combined in a risk indicator that utilizes complementary information from height, weight, and waist and hip circumference. The combined ARI is promising for further research and clinical applications.

A Body Shape Index (ABSI) and normalized hip circumference (Hip Index, HI) have been recently shown to be strong risk factors for mortality and for cardiovascular disease in adults. We conducted an observational cross-sectional study to evaluate the relationship between ABSI, HI and cardiometabolic risk factors and obesity-related comorbidities in overweight and obese children and adolescents aged 2-18 years. We performed multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses with BMI, ABSI, and HI age and sex normalized z scores as predictors to examine the association with cardiometabolic risk markers (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose and insulin, total cholesterol and its components, transaminases, fat mass % detected by bioelectrical impedance analysis) and obesity-related conditions (including hepatic steatosis and metabolic syndrome). We recruited 217 patients (114 males), mean age 11.3 years. Multivariate linear regression showed a significant association of ABSI z score with 10 out of 15 risk markers expressed as continuous variables, while BMI z score showed a significant correlation with 9 and HI only with 1. In multivariate logistic regression to predict occurrence of obesity-related conditions and above-threshold values of risk factors, BMI z score was significantly correlated to 7 out of 12, ABSI to 5, and HI to 1. Overall, ABSI is an independent anthropometric index that was significantly associated with cardiometabolic risk markers in a pediatric population affected by overweight and obesity.

Drought is a severe threat, especially in the arid regions of Pakistan, such as the Balochistan Province. The aim of this study is to analyze drought trends in Balochistan using Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) at the 3-month accumulation timescale. The monthly rainfall data of 10 stations were collected from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) for 37 years (1980–2017). Drought trends were analyzed at each station using the Mann-Kendall test. The SPI identified extreme drought events in 1996, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009, and 2014. Barkhan was the station that most frequently experienced extreme to severe drought events, as defined using SPI. A statistically significant decreasing precipitation trend was found in four stations (Dalbandin, Jiwani, Quetta, and Zhob). The analysis of drought characteristics showed Barkhan faced the most prolonged drought, of 22 months from 1999 to 2001. The findings from the present study can give guidance on how strategies of water management should be adjusted based on the changing patterns of droughts in the Balochistan Province.

Climate change vulnerability depends upon various factors and differs between places, sectors and communities. People in developing countries whose subsistence livelihood depends mainly upon agriculture and livestock production are identified as particularly vulnerable. Nepal, where the majority of people are in a mixed agro-livestock system, is identified as the world’s fourth most vulnerable country to climate change. However, there is limited knowledge on how vulnerable mixed agro-livestock smallholders are and how their vulnerability differs across different ecological regions in Nepal. This study aims to test two vulnerability assessment indices, livelihood vulnerability index and IPCC vulnerability index, around the Gandaki River Basin of central Nepal. A total of 543 households practicing mixed agro-livestock were surveyed from three districts, namely Dhading, Syangja and Kapilvastu representing three major ecological zones: mountain, mid-hill and Terai (lowland). Data on socio-demographics, livelihood determinants, social networks, health, food and water security, natural disasters and climate variability were collected and combined into the indices. Both indices differed for mixed agro-livestock smallholders across the three districts, with Dhading scoring as the most vulnerable and Syangja the least. Substantial variation across the districts was observed in components, sub-components and three dimensions (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) of vulnerability. The findings help in designing site-specific intervention strategies to reduce vulnerability of mixed agro-livestock smallholders to climate change.

Exploring the relationship between cereal yield and the remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is of great importance to decision-makers and agricultural stakeholders. In this study, an approach based on the Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression is carried out to reveal the relationship between cereal yield and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI data in the Fez-Meknes region of Morocco. The results obtained show strong correlations reaching 0.70 to 0.89 between the NDVI and grain yield. The linear regression model explains 58 to 79% of the variability in yield in regional provinces marked by the importance of cereal cultivation, and 51 to 53% in the mountainous provinces with less agricultural land devoted to major cereals. The regression slopes indicate that a 0.1 increase in the NDVI results in an expected increase in grain yield of 4.9 to 8.7 quintals (q) per ha, with an average of 6.8 q/ha throughout the Fez-Meknes region. The RMSE ranges from 2.12 to 4.96 q/ha. These results are promising in terms of early yield forecasting based on MODIS-NDVI data, and consequently, in terms of grain import planning, especially since the national grain production does not cover the demand. Such remote sensing data are therefore essential for administrations that are in charge of food security decisions.