Analysis of the Yield of Radish (Raphanus Sativus L.) Fertilized with Compost Based on Organic Waste from Markets and its Relationship with its Stomatal Density

For higher yields in vegetable cultivation, the availability of soil nutrients must be improved. Therefore, the aim of this research was to establish the relationship between stomatal density and the yield of the radish crop fertilized with compost made from organic market waste. A completely randomized block design was used, which consisted of 3 blocks and 5 treatments, which were T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 with 00, 10, 15, 15, 20 and 25 g compost/plant respectively. The physical characteristics of the plants were evaluated from sowing to harvest and the data obtained were processed by analysis of variance and Duncan's test. Chemical analysis of the compost and soil was carried out, as well as a foliar analysis to determine the nutrient concentration by treatment. The results determined that the treatment (T4) stood out in plant length with 28.96 cm, plant weight with 43.33 g, yield of 10.82 t/ha and bulb diameter of 3.92 cm; likewise, in the concentration of nutrients in the leaves, the treatment (T5) highlighted in N with 5.94%, Ca 4.84%, Mg 1.29%, Zn 64.58 ppm and a stomatal density of 642 stomas/mm2. It is concluded that, at an adequate dose of compost, the concentration of nutrients increases, as well as the stomatal density, resulting in higher yields

Stomatal Density and its Relationship with Yield of Radish (Raphanus Sativus L.) Fertilized with Biol Produced from Sugar Cane Residues

The impact of agro-industrial waste can be reduced by using it in crop fertilization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the stomatal density and yield of radish (Raphanus Sativus L.) fertilized with biol at different concentrations, produced from sugar cane residues. A completely randomized blocks design statistical model was used, which consisted of 5 tests with 3 repetitions for each one, being T1 the control trial, and T2, T3, T4 and T5 the treatments using 2, 3, 4 and 5 L of biol in 200 L of water respectively. In terms of crop physical characteristics, the T5 treatment excelled in plant length, equatorial diameter, plant weight, as well as yield with 12.71 t/ha. Likewise, in the chemical analysis of the radish leaves, the T5 treatment showed an increase in K, Ca, Zn and MN, while the T2 did it in N, P and Cu, the T3 in Fe and the T4 in Mg. In terms of stomatal density, T5 stood out with 122 stomatal/mm2. Based on this, it is concluded that the increase in the dose of biol influences the increase in nutrient and stomatal density and hence the yield of the radish crop

Detection of pathogens of acute febrile illness using polymerase chain reaction from dried blood spots

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) of dried blood spots (DBS) for pathogen detection is a potentially convenient method for infectious disease diagnosis. This study tested 115 DBS samples paired with whole blood specimens of children and adolescent from Burkina Faso, Sudan, and Madagascar by qPCR for a wide range of pathogens, including protozoans, helminths, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Plasmodium spp. was consistently detected from DBS but yielded a mean cycle threshold (Ct) 5.7 +/- 1.6 higher than that from whole blood samples. A DBS qPCR Ct cutoff of 27 yielded 94.1% sensitivity and 95.1% specificity against the whole blood qPCR cutoff of 21 that has been previously suggested for malaria diagnosis. For other pathogens investigated, DBS testing yielded a sensitivity of only 8.5% but a specificity of 98.6% compared with whole blood qPCR. In sum, direct PCR of DBS had reasonable performance for Plasmodium but requires further investigation for the other pathogens assessed in this study

Pathogens that cause acute febrile illness among children and adolescents in Burkina Faso, Madagascar and Sudan

BACKGROUND: The etiology and optimal clinical management of acute febrile illness (AFI) is poorly understood. METHODS: Blood samples taken from study participants with acute fever (>/=37.5 degrees C) or a history of fever and recruited into the previous Typhoid-Fever-Surveillance-in-Africa (TSAP) study were evaluated using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based TaqMan-Array Card designed to detect a panel of bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens. Clinical metadata were also assessed. RESULTS: A total of 615 blood samples available for analysis originated from Burkina Faso (n=53), Madagascar (n=364) and Sudan (n=198) and were taken from participants ranging from 0-19 years of age. Most individuals [86.4% (531/615)] presenting at healthcare facilities were outpatient adolescents (11-19 years-old). Leading clinical diagnoses were respiratory tract infections [45.9% (282/615)], malaria [27.3% (168/615)], and gastrointestinal tract infections [10.7% (66/615)]. Through the TaqMan-Array Card, at least one pathogen was detected in 62% (33/53), 24% (86/364), and 60% (118/198) of specimens, from Burkina Faso, Madagascar and Sudan, respectively. The leading identified pathogen overall was Plasmodium spp., accounting for 47% (25/53), 2.2% (8/364) and 45% (90/198) of AFI at respective sites. In Madagascar, dengue virus was the most prevalent pathogen (10.2%). Overall, 69% (357/516) of patients with clinical diagnoses of malaria, respiratory, or gastrointestinal infections were prescribed a WHO-guideline-recommended empiric antibiotic,whereas only 45% (106/237) of patients with pathogens detected were treated with an antibiotic exerting likely activity. CONCLUSIONS: A PCR-approach for identifying multiple bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens in whole blood unveiled a diversity of previously undetected pathogens in AFI cases and carries implications for the appropriate management of this common syndrome

Sustentabilidad socio territorial del cultivo de maíz (Zea mays L.) en una comunidad rural

Objetivo: evaluar la sustentabilidad económica del cultivo de maíz criollo en el municipio de Acambay Diseño/metodología/aproximación: El área de estudio fue el municipio de Acambay, ubicado en la zona norte del estado de México (19°97’67’’N y 99°88’49’’O). Se aplicó un cuestionario a 50 productores de maíz pertenecientes a comunidades agrarias y ejidos de la Soledad, Pueblo Nuevo, Loma Linda, Dateje, San Pedro de los Metales, Dongú y Tixmadeje. El cuestionario se basó en el método de Indicadores de Sustentabilidad de Explotaciones Agropecuarias (IDEA) para evaluar la sustentabilidad socioterritorial. La selección de cada uno de los productores encuestados se realizó mediante el muestreo tipo bola de nieve, escogiendo el primer encuestado al azar. Resultados: El 90% de los productores alcanzan el nivel básico de estudio, en comunidades como Dateje y Dongú todos los integrantes de la familia trabajan cultivando maíz (niños y adultos) y ellos mismos se emplean en trabajos temporales como la cosecha con otros productores. La sustentabilidad socioterritorial de los productores encuestados fue 8% en el componente calidad de los productos y del territorio, 19% en el componente empleo y servicios, y 25% en el componente ética y desarrollo. Limitaciones del estudio/implicaciones: los resultados presentados son avances de un análisis con más encuestados, por lo tanto, se sugiere tomar con cautela los resultados. Hallazgos/conclusiones: La dimensión socioterritorial tuvo 52% de sustentabilidad esto resultados reflejan la estrecha relación que existe entre productore

Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin®) for diabetic retinopathy at 24-months: The 2008 Juan Verdaguer-planas lecture

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) remains the major threat to sight in the working age population. Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a manifestation of DR that produces loss of central vision. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is a major cause of visual loss in diabetic patients. In PDR, the growth of new vessels is thought to occur as a result of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) release into the vitreous cavity as a response to ischemia. Furthermore, VEGF increases vessel permeability leading to deposition of proteins in the interstitium that facilitate the process of angiogenesis and macular edema. This review demonstrates multiple benefits of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) on DR including DME and PDR at 24 months of follow up. The results indicate that IVB injections may have a beneficial effect on macular thickness and visual acuity (VA) in diffuse diabetic macular edema. Therefore, in the future this new therapy could replace or complement focal/grid laser photocoagulation in DME. In PDR, this new option could be an adjuvant agent to pan-retina photocoagulation so that more selective therapy may be applied. In addition, we report a series of patients in which tractional retinal detachment developed or progressed after adjuvant preoperative IVB in severe PDR. © 2010 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd

Guidelines for clinical trial protocols for interventions involving artificial intelligence: the SPIRIT-AI extension

The SPIRIT 2013 statement aims to improve the completeness of clinical trial protocol reporting by providing evidence-based recommendations for the minimum set of items to be addressed. This guidance has been instrumental in promoting transparent evaluation of new interventions. More recently, there has been a growing recognition that interventions involving artificial intelligence (AI) need to undergo rigorous, prospective evaluation to demonstrate their impact on health outcomes. The SPIRIT-AI (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials-Artificial Intelligence) extension is a new reporting guideline for clinical trial protocols evaluating interventions with an AI component. It was developed in parallel with its companion statement for trial reports: CONSORT-AI (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials-Artificial Intelligence). Both guidelines were developed through a staged consensus process involving literature review and expert consultation to generate 26 candidate items, which were consulted upon by an international multi-stakeholder group in a two-stage Delphi survey (103 stakeholders), agreed upon in a consensus meeting (31 stakeholders) and refined through a checklist pilot (34 participants). The SPIRIT-AI extension includes 15 new items that were considered sufficiently important for clinical trial protocols of AI interventions. These new items should be routinely reported in addition to the core SPIRIT 2013 items. SPIRIT-AI recommends that investigators provide clear descriptions of the AI intervention, including instructions and skills required for use, the setting in which the AI intervention will be integrated, considerations for the handling of input and output data, the human–AI interaction and analysis of error cases. SPIRIT-AI will help promote transparency and completeness for clinical trial protocols for AI interventions. Its use will assist editors and peer reviewers, as well as the general readership, to understand, interpret, and critically appraise the design and risk of bias for a planned clinical trial

New ultracool subdwarfs identified in large-scale surveys using Virtual Observatory tools: Part I: UKIDSS LAS DR5 vs SDSS DR7

The aim of the project is to improve our knowledge on the low-mass and low-metallicity population to investigate the influence of metallicity of the stellar (and substellar) mass function. We present the results of a photometric and proper motion search aimed at unearthing ultracool subdwarfs in large-scale surveys. We employed and combined the UKIDSS LAS DR5 and the SDSS DR7 complemented with ancillary data from 2MASS, DENIS and SuperCOSMOS. The SDSS DR7 vs UKIDSS LAS DR5 search returned a total of 32 ultracool subdwarf candidates, only two being recognised as a subdwarf in the literature. Twenty-seven candidates were followed-up spectroscopically in the optical between 600 and 1000 nm. We confirmed 20 candidates as subdwarfs, extreme subdwarfs or ultra-subdwarfs with spectral types later than M5; this represents a success rate of ~60%. Among those 20 new subdwarfs, we identified 2 early-L subdwarfs very likely located within 100 pc that we propose as templates for future searches because they are the first examples of their subclass. Another 7 sources are solar-metallicity M dwarfs with spectral types between M4 and M7 without Halpha emission, suggesting that they are old M dwarfs. The remaining 5 candidates do not have spectroscopic follow-up yet; only 1 remains as a bona-fide ultracool subdwarf after revision of their proper motions. We assigned spectral types based on the current classification schemes and, when possible, we measured their radial velocities. Using the limited number of subdwarfs with trigonometric parallaxes, we estimated distances between 90 and 600 for the new subdwarfs. We provide mid-infrared photometry from WISE for two subdwarfs and discuss their colours. Finally, we estimate a lower limit of the surface density of ultracool subdwarfs of the order of 5000-5700 times lower than that of solar-metallicity late-M dwarfs (Shortened).Comment: Accepted by A&A, 18 pages, 11 figures, 2 figures in Appendix, 7 tables. Paper not yet corrected by A&A language edito