How do newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes in the Waikato get their diabetes education?

Introduction: Education is accepted as the mainstay of management for people with diabetes. However, there are few population-based studies describing what education has been delivered from the patient's perspective. Aim: To ascertain the sources of education for patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes; what education was received and what were the patients' views of group education. delivery of education to Maori was compared with non-Maori. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of patients identified from the Waikato Regional diabetes service database. Patients identified in one calendar year, having a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and being aged between 20 and 89 years were included in the survey. Patients were sent a four-page questionnaire. non-responders were followed up by telephone. Results: 333/667 patients (50%) responded. The principal source of education for Waikato patients was general practice, from the general practitioner and/or the practice nurse. ninety-three percent of patients reported that they had received some education about diabetes at the time of diagnosis. There was no difference between Maori and non-Maori in the reported levels of diabetes education received, but the patient perceived knowledge score was significantly lower for Maori in all aspects studied. Discussion: The overall impression was that patients were receiving appropriate information about diabetes, but there does appear to be room for improvement in some areas, particularly the importance of blood pressure and lipid control. We believe that further research on the educational needs of Maori and ethnic minorities is needed

Spatial aggregation of low resolution satellite data for the monitoring of vegetation response to climatic stresses : analysis of the spatial heterogeneity of aggregated entities.

peer reviewedOur PhD research consists in analysing and modelling the vegetation response or sensitivity to climatic stresses with low satellite imagery. In that framework, the selection of optimal calibration sites is very important. These sites should be characterised by a stable and homogenous land cover over large area. Here we analyse the spatial heterogeneity of the aggregation entities (EU-NUTS 2) used by the MARSFOOD programme for the extraction of regional NDVI-means

Field Testing of a Turnip Growing Protocol on New Zealand Dairy Farms

Summer droughts are a regular occurrence in central North Island districts of New Zealand, which causes pastures to wilt, lose their nutritive value and stop growing. The resulting summer feed gap depresses farm productivity (Clark et al., 1996). Turnips optimally sown mid-late October (more often sown in November or even December) are grown to fill this feed gap. Recorded average yields of 7.4 t dry matter (DM)/ha are below the economic breakeven point of 8-10 t DM/ha (Clark et al., 1996). A turnip growing protocol was developed from published data (Eerens & Lane 2004) and tested on commercial dairy farms

Bulletin agrométéorologique - Situation au 21 juin 2009

Depuis le dernier bulletin publié fin avril, les conditions météorologiques ont été fort proches des normales avec toutefois quelques épisodes orageux qui ont pu causer ça et là des dégâts aux cultures. La végétation semble avoir ralenti davantage sa croissance que ce qui s’observe d’habitude depuis dix ans, cela en particulier dans le Nord et le Nord-Ouest du pays, probablement en raison des conditions pluvieuses rencontrées dans ces zones. Cependant les prévisions de rendements à l’échelle nationale ne semblent pas être affectées. A l’exception du maïs, les rendements s’annoncent meilleurs que la moyenne des quatre dernières années

Image time series processing for agriculture monitoring

AbstractGiven strong year-to-year variability, increasing competition for natural resources, and climate change impacts on agriculture, monitoring global crop and natural vegetation conditions is highly relevant, particularly in food insecure areas. Data from remote sensing image series at high temporal and low spatial resolution can help to assist in this monitoring as they provide key information in near-real time over large areas. The SPIRITS software, presented in this paper, is a stand-alone toolbox developed for environmental monitoring, particularly to produce clear and evidence-based information for crop production analysts and decision makers. It includes a large number of tools with the main aim of extracting vegetation indicators from image time series, estimating the potential impact of anomalies on crop production and sharing this information with different audiences. SPIRITS offers an integrated and flexible analysis environment with a user-friendly graphical interface, which allows sequential tasking and a high level of automation of processing chains. It is freely distributed for non-commercial use and extensively documented

Bulletin agrométéorologique - Situation au 30 avril 2009

Alors que l’on pouvait craindre les conséquences de l’hiver froid que nous avons connu cette année, il apparaît, au niveau de nos indicateurs météorologiques et de nos indicateurs spatiaux dérivés de la télédétection, que les grandes cultures ont dans l’ensemble bien passé l’hiver et elles ont largement rattrapé le retard accumulé au cours des mois d’hiver et du tout début de printemps. Ceci se vérifie également sur le terrain où les stades phénologiques sont très proches de la situation normale. Aucune prévision de rendement n’est faite à ce stade

Bulletin agrométéorologique - Situation au 30 juin 2010

A la fin du mois de juin, les conditions météorologiques peuvent être qualifiées de globalement bonnes sur la plus grande partie du territoire belge. De bons rendements sont annoncés sans toutefois atteindre les rendements exceptionnels comme ceux du blé de l’an dernier. Les analyses spatiales dérivées de la télédétection confirment cette tendance favorable tout en indiquant une hétérogénéité importante dans certaines régions du pays qui peut être mise sur le compte de précipitations orageuses localisées. Les conditions climatiques des prochaines semaines seront déterminantes pour conserver tous les bons potentiels de rendement des cultures et éviter que la situation ne se dégrade pour les zones à plus faible potentiel

Bulletin agrométéorologique - Situation au 30 septembre 2007

Les conditions météorologiques depuis le 20 août dernier, date du dernier bulletin, ont été très proches des conditions normales. Mis à part quelques orages locaux, aucun phénomène météorologique particulier n’est à signaler. Les rendements satisfaisants à bons annoncés dans le dernier bulletin pour les cultures de maïs, betterave et pomme de terre sont confirmés

Survey of Tetraploid and Diploid Perennial Pastures in the Waikato for Number of Spores Produced by the Fungus \u3cem\u3ePithomyces Chartarum\u3c/em\u3e

Facial eczema (FE) is a disease of livestock, caused by a toxin released into the bloodstream after digestion of spores of Pithomyces chartarum, a fungus residing in necrotic plant material in the base of pastures (di Menna & Bailey, 1973). Spore numbers tend to be highest in warm, humid conditions, where high post grazing residuals have lead to a build up of necrotic plant material. Tetraploid perennial ryegrass pastures tend to be more palatable, and with lower post gazing residuals, than equivalent diploid pastures; thus we hypothesised that spore numbers would be lower in tetraploid pastures. A survey of tetraploid and diploid pastures was carried out to investigate the relationship between FE spore numbers, and perennial ryegrass ploidy levels