Vascular Plant Species Inventory of Mexico's Revillagigedo National Park: Awareness of Alien Invaders as a Sine Qua Non Prerequisite for Island Conservation.

The Revillagigedo Archipelago, located in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, stands out for its unique biological richness and endemism. These islands remained uninhabited until the second half of the twentieth century, allowing a better conservation status than on other oceanic islands. However, the continuous introduction of potentially invasive alien plant species, and the lack of adequate control or eradication actions, jeopardize the conservation and restoration of these islands' fragile ecosystems. We present the most complete vascular plant species inventory and an updated list of alien plant species of the Revillagigedo Archipelago, which was compiled through an extensive review of national and international plant collections and other sources. Our 272 species list includes 106 alien plant species (39.3%; 104 in Socorro, and 16 in Clarion): 67 (24.8%) are naturalized, 14 (5.2%) are casual aliens, and 25 (9.3%) subsist under cultivation. The documented alien species belong to 73 families. Annual and perennial herbs are the prevailing life forms in the alien flora, while naturalized species are primarily native to North America. The number of introduced species has increased significantly since the islands became inhabited. Many of the recently introduced species pose a major invasion risk like on other islands of the world.

Lactancia en mujeres del Cauca: conocimientos, prácticas y redes de apoyo / Breastfeeding in Cauca women: knowledge, practices and support networks

Fundamentos: En la lactancia materna exclusiva (LME) durante los primeros seis meses de vida influyen losconocimientos, prácticas y la red de apoyo a las madres y a familias lactantes. El objetivo fue describir losconocimientos, las prácticas y la configuración de redes de apoyo para la promoción de lactancia materna demadres usuarias de una Institución Prestadora de Salud (IPS) del municipio de Santander de Quilichao.Métodos: Estudio cualitativo, de diseño hermenéutico, se utilizó un guion de entrevista semiestructurada. Lamuestra fue propositiva de casos homogéneos, hasta alcanzar saturación teórica de los datos. Se realizóanálisis de contenido cualitativo, a partir de un proceso de categorización y codificación.Resultados: Se entrevistaron 26 madres mostrando conocimientos acerca de la leche materna como el mejoralimento para un recién nacido, pero tenían poca definición del tiempo de exclusividad que deberíabrindarse.Conclusiones: Las madres conocen qué métodos existen para aumentar la producción de leche materna,sin embargo, son insuficientes, debido a que aún ignoran unos de los pilares más importantes que vanrelacionados a la producción de leche como la adecuada alimentación de la madre y succión frecuentedel bebé. La población demostró conocimientos sobre conceptos básicos acerca de la lactancia materna (LM),característica que se debe aprovechar para impulsarla y reforzarla aún más. (AU)

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) during the first six months of life influences knowledge, practicesand the support network for breastfeeding mothers and families. The objective was to describe theknowledge, practices and the configuration of support networks for the promotion of breastfeeding bymothers who use an Health Provider Institution in the municipality of Santander de Quilichao.Methods: Qualitative study, hermeneutical design, a semi-structured interview script was used. The samplewas propositional of homogeneous cases, until reaching theoretical saturation of the data. Qualitativecontent analysis was carried out, based on a categorization and coding process.Results: 26 mothers were interviewed showing knowledge about breast milk as the best food for a newborn,but they have little definition of the time of exclusivity that should be provided.Conclusions: Mothers know what methods exist to increase breast milk production; however, they areinsufficient, because they still ignore one of the most important pillars that are related to milkproduction, such as adequate mother feeding and the frequent of baby sucking. The populationdemonstrated knowledge of basic concepts about breastfeeding (BF), a characteristic that should be used topromote and reinforce it even more. (AU)

Intermittent hypoxemia and sleep fragmentation: associations with daytime alertness in obese sleep apnea patients living at moderate altitude.

BACKGROUND: Although obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has long been associated with daytime sleepiness, far less is known about its association with the ability to remain awake. The aim of this study was to examine the relative importance of inter-correlated measures of OSA severity (eg, various indices of oxygen saturation and sleep fragmentation) in the ability to stay alert as measured objectively by the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT), defined by a mean sleep latency of ≥12 min. METHODS: Seventy-eight obese women and men of similar age and body mass index living at altitude (Mexico City) underwent standard polysomnography, MWT, and completed validated sleep-related questionnaires. RESULTS: Men had more severe sleep apnea than women (p = 0.002) and were also less alert on MWT (p = 0.022). Logistic regression models indicated that measures of desaturation consistently predicted MWT-defined alertness, whereas varied measures of sleep fragmentation did not. Nearly a third of the variance (r(2) = 0.304) in MWT-defined alertness was accounted for by the number of desaturations per hour of sleep (p = 0.003), which is considerably higher than other studies have reported in different populations. CONCLUSION: The ability to remain awake in obese patients is best accounted for by hypoxemia rather than sleep fragmentation. Whether the size of this effect reflects differences in the population under study (eg, extent of obesity, racial background, residence at moderate altitude) and/or is a function of the measurement of alertness with the MWT remains uncertain.