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Saudi Quality Initiatives Celebrate the Arabian Leopard

AlUla is considered an ancestral homeland throughout history for the Arabian leopard (Asharq Al-Awsat)
AlUla is considered an ancestral homeland throughout history for the Arabian leopard (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Quality Initiatives Celebrate the Arabian Leopard

AlUla is considered an ancestral homeland throughout history for the Arabian leopard (Asharq Al-Awsat)
AlUla is considered an ancestral homeland throughout history for the Arabian leopard (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia marked the International Arabian Leopard Day on Feb.10 with a series of programs and initiatives aimed at highlighting the importance of conserving this endangered species.

The “Catwalk 2024” event, held in various cities and provinces, saw widespread participation from the community, with people walking seven kilometers to raise awareness about the need to protect big cats, especially the Arabian leopard.

Saudi officials and diplomats joined a march in Riyadh on Friday, while Saudis on social media shared photos, praising the beauty, strength, and rich history of the Arabian leopard.

Several global capitals celebrated Arabian Leopard Day by displaying its images on illuminated screens mounted on famous landmarks overlooking major squares.

Saudi Arabia has launched several initiatives and programs to bring back the Arabian leopard to its natural habitat and protect its existence.

The Kingdom has supported Panthera, an organization focused on preserving big cats, for 10 years.

Efforts include boosting the leopard population in the wild, enhancing vegetation in reserves like AlUla, and creating habitats to ensure the leopard’s conservation.

Saudi Arabia is working to save the Arabian leopard from extinction by restoring ecosystems, as part of Saudi Vision 2030 and the “Saudi Green Initiative.”

The Kingdom is also training locals in AlUla to protect nature reserves.

The Royal Commission For AlUla (RCU) marked the occasion with a new “Leap of Hope” campaign, aiming to enhance global awareness and encourage action for the conservation of critically endangered big cat species.

The Saudi Ministry of Culture held a digital storytelling competition about the Arabian leopard’s conservation, aimed at children, reinforcing its importance in the kingdom.

The Arabian leopard is one of the world’s most endangered animals, with fewer than 200 left due to habitat loss and hunting.

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Blood Tests Allow 30-year Estimates of Women's Cardio Risks, New Study Says

A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Blood Tests Allow 30-year Estimates of Women's Cardio Risks, New Study Says

A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Women’s heart disease risks and their need to start taking preventive medications should be evaluated when they are in their 30s rather than well after menopause as is now the practice, said researchers who published a study on Saturday.

Presenting the findings at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in London, they said the study showed for the first time that simple blood tests make it possible to estimate a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease over the next three decades.

"This is good for patients first and foremost, but it is also important information for (manufacturers of) cholesterol lowering drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, and lipoprotein(a)lowering drugs - the implications for therapy are broad," said study leader Dr. Paul Ridker of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Reuters reported.

Current guidelines “suggest to physicians that women should generally not be considered for preventive therapies until their 60s and 70s. These new data... clearly demonstrate that our guidelines need to change,” Ridker said. “We must move beyond discussions of 5 or 10 year risk."

The 27,939 participants in the long-term Women’s Health Initiative study had blood tests between 1992 and 1995 for low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C or “bad cholesterol”), which are already a part of routine care.

They also had tests for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) - a marker of blood vessel inflammation - and lipoprotein(a), a genetically determined type of fat.

Compared to risks in women with the lowest levels of each marker, risks for major cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes over the next 30 years were 36% higher in women with the highest levels of LDL-C, 70% higher in women with the highest levels of hsCRP, and 33% higher in those with the highest levels of lipoprotein(a).

Women in whom all three markers were in the highest range were 2.6 times more likely to have a major cardiovascular event and 3.7 times more likely to have a stroke over the next three decades, according to a report of the study in The New England Journal of Medicine published to coincide with the presentation at the meeting.

“The three biomarkers are fully independent of each other and tell us about different biologic issues each individual woman faces,” Ridker said.

“The therapies we might use in response to an elevation in each biomarker are markedly different, and physicians can now specifically target the individual person’s biologic problem.”

While drugs that lower LDL-C and hsCRP are widely available - including statins and certain pills for high blood pressure and heart failure - drugs that reduce lipoprotein(a) levels are still in development by companies, including Novartis , Amgen , Eli Lilly and London-based Silence Therapeutics.

In some cases, lifestyle changes such as exercising and quitting smoking can be helpful.

Most of the women in the study were white Americans, but the findings would likely “have even greater impact among Black and Hispanic women for whom there is even a higher prevalence of undetected and untreated inflammation,” Ridker said.

“This is a global problem,” he added. “We need universal screening for hsCRP ... and for lipoprotein(a), just as we already have universal screening for cholesterol.”