text: Already the first day – hiking an hour through a mountainous landscape uphill to a remote house promised something unusual. Training course “Think Like Nature: Sustainability with Permaculture” in Romania is nothing alike – 24 youth workers from 7 countries (United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, Italy, Poland and Lithuania) had to rediscover themselves and how the world functions through the lenses of permaculture.
  After 14 days of Permaculture (basics, sharing circle, Gaia theory, permacultue principles, biodiversity, yield, ey line & key point, reading the landscape, chaos and order, zoning, personal design exercise, forum, local farm visit, food forest, land regeneration, water consciousness, water retention landscape, hands on, earth connection, soils, soil regeneration, climate strategies, bioconstruction, companion strategies, personal outline design, deep ecology, urban permaculture, design methodologies, group design, bioregions, intentional communities, cooperatives, permaculture and economy, ethic investments, action learning, permaculture path, evaluation circle and celebration) and no other human beings apart our community and a farmer neighbour, it became strange to return to buzzing urban lives.
  Being isolated in the mountains, surrounded by forests, using dry toilet, sleeping in the tents, attending daily morning circles, eating and singing at mostly vegan meals, brought lots of contemplations how the world should look like, but also connected participants and partners of the project more tightly: Rooted (Malta), Lythian Pathfinders (Turkey), Eurohugs (Lithuania), Comitato d’Intesa (Italy), ReCreativity Social Enterprise (Hungary), La Víbria Intercultural (Spain), Romania in Transition (Romania).
  Bhunesh (UK): “I acquired a new perspective in alternative way of life. Learned what permaculture is. Has encouraged me to Re design my garden looking at edible plants.and insight into land planning for putting a building. Looking at sun paths and the elements and how to draw maps to organise land.”
  Beata (Hungary): “Amazing experience, lovely people, great organization and useful/ interesting knowledge gained! Thank you for the opportunity! :)”
  Dario (Italy): “I got the power of the hope that change is possible and it depends from ourself and our behavior in everyday life.”
  Inga (Lithuania): “I feel much more secure and passionate about my path in life, about my choices and consciousness about mother earth. This experience allows me to be myself the way I am, be more confident, fail fast and tweak it. Grateful in every possible way. I is worth more then silver or gold.”
  Dilan (Italy): “What did I get out for myself is a huge care on me, nature, people and earth that I ive with.15 ”
  Stoia (Romania): “new ideas, methods, friends and relaxation. We were learning and doing a lot during this week different games (both serious and funny), different ways of expressing your ideas and feelings. All these activities combined with amazing participants and their stories made it perfect experience. It looks like one should be tired after such intense week, but really I am not. I feel really relaxed and ready to get going forward again.”
  Diana (UK): “I gained knowledge about myself in a personal and professional way, which is invaluable. ”
  Rouven (Germany): “A working group consisting of very different kind of people with different skills, maybe different age, language, background and knowledge can do an amazing work if everyone trusts the others, accepts feedback and brings in his or her gifts.”
  Sara (Italy): “I learned to get out from my comfort zone and to openly express my feelings and my opinions.”
  Modesta (Lithuania): “A lot of inspoiring ideas how to think more like nature. How to be more aware whats happen around me and inside me. How are important to be more connected with nature.”
  Alperen (Turkey): “that I learn more about myself, the nature itself, basic principles of designing a landscape, presentation of a work and team play.”
  Eva (Spain): “I got to know myself better and I got to know people and realities from other countries, always something very welcoming as I felt enriched by all of them”
  Paola (Italy): “I got more confidence with myself and a better relationship with other people and with the Nature.”
  Sofia (Spain): “To find the way that I want to live all my life,the pathway comes more,more clear…This project help me to find the things that I have to heal and to put more energy to make something for our Mother Earth. I found more clear my skills to make this dream real. Thank you, thank you so much.”
  Download infopack here: Think Like Nature: Sustainability with Permaculture – Romania – training course – abroadship.org
  Engage with a educational project in deep connection with nature. Connect with the Romanian emerging permaculture community.
  You are eager to gain new competences for your oragnization in the field of sustainability, design thinking, system thinking, regenerative practices, personal and community development with the help of non-formal method application outdoors;
  This project is based on non-formal education principles. Methodology is a combination of learning by experience, outdoor activities, theoretical input, discussions, case studies and group permaculture design exercises.
  Claudian Doibos (Romania) Entrepreneur, evolutionary mentor and facilitator. Trainer for almost 20 years, he is also a educational journey co-creator. Co-founder of Arise Education, Terra Livre Movement and Permaculture Research Institute of Romania. Member of the Coordination Circle of the European Permaculture Network
  Teodora Radulescu (Romania) is a facilitator and permaculture designer. Her passion as gardening and emerging experiential learning processes. She is Garden Manager at Aurora Garden, Aurora Community and co-creator of the Children in Permaculture learning experience.
  The training course will happen in Aurora Community, which is located in West Romania, in the Carpathian Mountains, more specifically in the Poiana Rusca Mountains, at 900m altitude! Find the map of the location here.
  Aurora Community take cares of 10 hectares with orchards, vegetable gardens, forest, rich wildlife and biodiversity, springs of pure water, a beautiful traditional house, several barns and breath-taking views! Aurora Community is surrounded by ancestral forests, home of many wild animals.
  Allowed to stay in RO days: You are allowed to come max 4 days before the TC or leave after max 4 days after the TC, but the total amount of the days that are not part of the programme is max 4 days (so it can be 2 days before and 2 days after for instance, in total 4 days). If you decide to stay more than 4 days longer than the official programme, you will have to cover the traveling expenses yourself. During these extra days, you have to find your own accommodation and no other expenses are covered
  In August/ September temperature in the area ranges from 6 to 30 degrees, sushine lasts about 6 hours and of course of course of course (not so) beautiful rain is a constant friend and a mandatory discussion object in all conversations
  In order to apply for TC “Think Like Nature: Sustainability with Permaculture, you must be over 18 years old and a citizen of one of the partner countries. Please fill the application form: https://goo.gl/forms/fU5P2h7zGmOp6SiD3. If you have a question in terms of application, please contact partner organisation:
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  Closing the gap in osteoporosis management: implementation and outcome analysis of secondary fracture prevention programs | ECTS-IBMS2015
  Closing the gap in osteoporosis management: implementation and outcome analysis of secondary fracture prevention programs
  We present three analyses relating to Secondary Fracture Prevention programs (SFPP) that have been instituted to address the gap in osteoporosis management: (1) Systematic review and meta-analysis of 42 publications on SFPPs published between 1996 and 2011: Outcome measures extracted included bone mineral density (BMD) testing and osteoporosis treatment initiation rates. Studies were grouped into 4 models from Type A (assessment & treatment) through to type D (patient education only). Meta-analyses demonstrated increased BMD testing (p=0.06) and treatment initiation rates (p=0.03) with increasing intervention intensity. (2) A 2-year RCT of 102 patients initiated on oral bisphosphonate therapy at a SFPP, randomised to 6-monthly follow-up with the SFPP (Group A) or primary care physician follow-up (Group B). Compliance & persistence were measured using claims data and their predictors analysed. At 24-months, medication possession ratio (MPR) and persistence were high and similar in both groups. In the adjusted analysis, patients in group A were not more likely to be compliant or persistent than those in group B, indicating that initiation of therapy within an SFPP is associated with high long-term therapeutic adherence. (3) In a 7-year prospective study, we determined predictors of re-fracture amongst 234 subjects managed by the Concord SFPP. In multivariate analysis, co-morbidity (HR 2.04 if >3, 95%CI 1.10-3.79), corticosteroid use (HR 1.75, 1.12-2.73), total hip BMD (HR 1.36 per 0.1g/cm2 decrease, 1.08-1.70) and a MPR of <50% (HR 3.36, 1.32-8.53) were significantly associated with re-fracture, indicating patients with these criteria are at high re-fracture risk, requiring intensive management. Our results demonstrate that (a) intensive SFPPs (Type A) are effective in raising treatment rates; (b) following treatment initiation by the programme, patients are likely to adhere to therapy outside the SFPP; and (c) therapeutic compliance remains the major determinant of re-fracture.
  Disclosure: The authors declared no competing interests. This work was supported by the ANZAC Research Institute, Sydney, Australia.