The Economic Value of the Precision Disease Management System for Anthracnose and Botrytis Fruit Rot for the Florida Strawberry Industry

The objective of this study was to examine the economic benefits associated with precision fungicide application system for Florida strawberry production. Given the weather and disease forecast system developed by the University of Florida researchers (Peres, 2010a , strawberry growers can potentially 1) reduce fungicide application rates during cool and dry conditions without affecting yields, thus reducing production costs; or 2) apply fungicide at the precise time of high disease pressure during warm and wet weather, therefore, decreasing disease development and spread, and increasing the yields and profits.fungicide application reduction, precision disease management system, strawberry, effect on yield, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty,

The efficacy of high-dose cabergoline treatment of prolactinomas resistant to standard doses: a clinical observation

Hyperprolactinemia (HP) is one of the most common neuroendocrine disorders. In 60% of cases, pathological HP is caused by pituitary prolactin-secreting adenoma. Therapy with agonists of dopamine type 2 receptors (D2 receptor agonists) is a method of choice for the treatment of pathological HP which allows to achieve prolactin normalization and reduction of pituitary adenoma in most cases. However, 15-20% of patients are resistant to D2 receptor agonists, and the question of overcoming this resistance is highly relevant. Different approaches are considered to solve this problem, one - is to increase the dose of D2 receptor agonists up to the maximally tolerated. In this article, we present a clinical observation of a patient with a partial resistance to D2 receptor agonists who demonstrated a good response to treatment with high doses of cabergoline

Difficulties in diagnosis of adenomas with mixed prolactin and growth hormone secretion: case presentation

Hyperpolactinemia is a persistent excess of prolactin in the blood serum. The symptom complex of hyperprolactinemia primarily consists of disturbances in function of the reproductive system. The secretion of prolactin is under complex neuroendocrine control, which involves factors of different nature: neurotransmitters, hormones of the peripheral endocrine glands. In most cases, prolactin is secreted by pituitary cells - lactotrophs, but in some cases, hypersecretion of prolactin is combined with an excess production of growth hormone, which is typical for tumors originating from the line of progenitor cells of lactotrophs and somatotrophs of the pituitary gland, mammosomatotrophs. In this case, the symptom complex of hyperprolactinemia is accompanied by clinical manifestations of acromegaly. In patients with acromegaly, the cause of hyperprolactinemia may be pituitary stalk compression or mixed secretion of prolactin and growth hormone. Differentiation of lactotropic and somatotropic pituitary cells is determined by transcription factor Pit-1. These cell lineages are closely connected,  and this may be one of the reasons for formation of tumors with mixed secretion. Reports of late presentation of acromegaly in patients previously diagnosed with prolactinomas have also been described in literature.Clinical manifestations of hyperprolactinemia can cause the patient to seek doctor’s attention before acromegalic changes in appearance develop. Careful attention is needed both to the primary diagnosis and to the clinical course of the disease in patients with hyperprolactinemia and pituitary adenoma: full assessment of hormonal status with mandatory evaluation of IGF-1 is crucial at initial examination, during further observation it may be advised to consider periodic evaluation of IGF-1 in addition to assessment of prolactin and the size of adenoma.  Pituitary adenomas with mixed secretion may have a poorer prognosis

Hormonal regulation of menstrual function in patients of reproductive age with acromegaly

Background: The frequency of menstrual disorders in patients with acromegaly is 40–84% and are caused by three main reasons – the development of normal or hypogonadotropic hypogonadism due to hyperprolactinemia or a mass effect of the tumor and direct effects of GH and IGF-1 on the reproductive system. Nevertheless the exact mechanisms of reproductive dysfunction are not clear now. Hypothalamic structures play significant role in the regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-ovary axis, so it’s important to study key neuropeptides and evaluate their effects to the pathogenesis of ovarian dysfunction during excessive secretion of growth hormone. Aim: The aim of the work is to study the hormonal regulation of menstrual function in patients of reproductive age with acromegaly in the active stage of the disease. Material and methods: The study included patients with a confirmed diagnosis of acromegaly and healthy women, comparable in age and BMI. Blood serum samples were taken in the morning (8–9 hours) on an empty stomach for 3–5 days of the menstrual cycle or on any day with amenorrhea and frozen at -70°C. The hormonal study was carried out by an enzyme immunoassay, in the case of a kisspeptin, with the preliminary extraction of serum samples. Results: The study included 31 patients with acromegaly and 15 healthy women. Between groups there was a statistically significant decrease in levels of LH (p = 0.001), FSH (p = 0.09), inhibin B (p = 0.003), and kisspeptin (p = 0.00005). The frequency of hyperprolactinemia in the cohort of patients was 51.6%. During the correlation analysis, a negative dependence of kisspeptin on the levels of GH and IGF-1 was detected (r = -0.54, p = 0.002 and r = -0.63, p = 0.0002). Conclusions: The severity of the central depression of regulation of menstrual function in patients with acromegaly may be due to the degree of disease activity

Optimal Storage Capacity Allocation in Grain Merchandizing

Grain storage is an important problem for both farmers and grain merchants; however, it is especially central to the success of the grain merchandizing companies because the time, price, and quantity of both the commodity purchases as well as sales determine the company’s profitability over a specific time. Since commodity storage is a finite resource, merchandizers have to dynamically allocate its capacity among competing commodities in face of uncertainty, considering opportunity cost at all times. Important decision making steps can be described as follows: which grain, how much of it, and at what price one should buy in order to sell it profitably in the future while at the same time lining up the capacity for the next commodity’s quantity with a given price. Studies focus on on-site storage for farmers, and many research and extension programs investigate the optimal timing of sales (Musser, 1996; Lai et al., 2003; Kadjo, 2013). However, no studies analyze the storage allocation problem for a grain merchandizing line of business, with such attributes as handling more than one grain and operating under price volatility, various harvesting cycles, and a limited storage capacity. This study incorporates price distributions based on historical data to solve the optimal grain storage problem for a grain merchandizer. An optimal partial selling rule is derived in the model allowing optimal allocation to spread sales out over the storage period

Land Allocation Dynamics in China among Five Top Staple Crops: Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Rice, and Cotton from 1985-2009

The objective of this study is to investigate the dynamics of land allocation in China among the five top staple crops, corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton for the years 1988-2010. Specifically, for this timeframe we investigate how each crop’s relative price change affects the land share allocation of other staple crops. The study estimates the measure of sensitivity of crops’ acreages to their own and other crops price changes in pair-wise crop specific combinations. Background Currently 20% of the world’s population lives in China (Population Reference Bureau 2012). However, the nation’s arable farmland is only 7.8% that of the world’s (FAO 2012). Despite population growth and rising food demand in the past 30 years, total cultivable land in China has not expanded significantly (Ghatak and Seale 2001). In addition, there is a trend of decreased crop-specific growth rates in grains (Zhang 2003). In the meantime, some crops, for example, corn, have been expanding their land share in the same time period. There is a reason to believe that the expansion of land share for some crops may be happening at the expense of land share allocated to other crops. It is important to examine which crops and with what magnitude compete for the already scarce cultivable land in China. The dynamics of competition for scarce cultivatable land among different crops directly influence stability of prices in Chinese and world markets, availability of future crop supply, and grain trade. Data and Methods The unique dataset that only recently became available spans 24 years after the enactment of 1978-79 agricultural policies makes it possible to perform a meaningful econometric analysis. The study is possible because policy changes of 1978-1979 have allowed Chinese agriculture to move away from the government-driven commune system to a more market oriented one (Lin 1992). These changes allowed prices to adjust upwardly (Zhang 2003) and made the study of the behavior of farmers in response to market oriented conditions possible. Data used in this study span from the year 1985 to 2010 and are obtained from the China agricultural and economic database (ERS-USDA). The data set includes the national level prices in Yuan, quantities in kilograms, and acreage in hectares for each of the five crops. Based on the acreage data, land shares are also calculated. The modeling for the Chinese agricultural industry, specifically, for the top staple crops, is performed on a nationwide scale. To find the effects of relative price changes on land allocation amongst these crops in China, we use Rotterdam and Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) parameterizations of the differential model. The analysis applies the differential framework to a problem of land allocation driven by crops’ price changes from a production point of view utilizing a maximization set up. This study is distinct because the differential model allows us to establish a production model without controlling for technological changes occurring during the investigated period. Overall, the methodology allows us to assess crop-specific effects of relative price changes on farm land allocation amongst the top five strategic staple crops in China in the post agricultural reform period. Results Simple analysis indicates that since 1980, while total land expanded only by 3%, the land dedicated to the cultivation of wheat, rice, and cotton has decreased by 17%, 13%, and 6%, respectively. Land allocated to corn and soybeans has increased by 54% and 26%, respectively. In 2002, for the first time in Chinese history land acreage allocated to corn surpasses that of wheat, and more surprisingly in 2008 land acreage under corn has surpassed even that of rice. This is a significant shift given that in China historically rice consistently took up the largest acreage of cultivable land. The results of the differential model indicate that for an additional 1% increase in total land, corn, wheat, and soybeans acreages expanded by 2.04%, 1.17%, 0.91%, respectively, while that of rice actually contracts by 1.44%. These results are significant at the 1% level. The following crops compete for already existing arable land: rice and cotton as well as soybeans and cotton. Soybean and wheat as well as wheat and cotton behave as compliments. Discussion The findings in this study have significance for consumers, producers, and policy makers because the dynamics of competition for land among these staple crops directly influences stability of world prices, availability of future grain supplies, and grain trade. The results offer an interesting suggestive picture as to how grains’ trade may look like for China going forward

The Effects of Panama Canal Expansion on US Dairy Trade Flows: West, East, and Gulf District Regions

In the last two decades, many trends and policy developments impacted the course of the US dairy industry. Since the mid-1990s two important trade agreements, NAFTA and Uruguayn Round have increased international trade for the dairy industry. As of 2015, a major transportation improvement is expected to be achieved by to the expansion of the Panama Canal. The canal is expected to lower transportation costs for many exporters. In this study, we develop a world dairy trade model to analyze dairy product export quantity from the three dairy producing US regions: west coast, gulf coast, and east coast and great lakes combined. We assess the effect of the Panama Canal expansion on the trade of the US regions. We find that the west coast, which includes California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho states, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the expansion. The competitive advantages of this region aid in harnessing the most benefits from the transportation improvements and international demand growth for dairy products

On Positive Externality

This paper fills the gap of modeling positive externality cases when private marginal cost is higher than social marginal cost. Within this unique type of divergence of marginal costs two cases are scrutinized: social marginal benefit being higher than private marginal benefit, and vice versa, social marginal benefit being lower than private marginal benefit. Empirical case in study is commercial shellfish farming firm on the West Coast. The study shows that contrary to popular beliefs correcting for positive externalities does not always result in a positive welfare; however, it does result in a positive welfare for the study case of the particular shellfish farm

U.S. Ethanol Mandate Is a Hidden Subsidy to Corn Producers

Using welfare economics, this study formally shows that the RFS Ethanol mandate is a hidden subsidy to the corn producers. This link is necessary in order to properly assess the effects of the mandate on other industries. The study shows that the mandate increases world prices for corn and is trade altering