Risk factors for developing clinical infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) amongst hospital patients initially only colonized with MRSA.

In hospital outbreaks of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) many patients are initially colonized without infection. The reasons why some progress to infection while others do not are not known. A cohort of 479 hospital patients, initially only colonized with MRSA, was followed prospectively for the development of MRSA infection. Risk factors for progression to infection were assessed using Cox proportional hazards survival analysis. Fifty-three patients (11.1%) developed 68 MRSA infections. Intensive care setting, administration of three or more antibiotics, ulcers, surgical wounds, nasogastric or endotracheal tubes, drains, and urinary or intravenous catheterization were all associated with increased rates of MRSA infection. Multivariate analysis showed that intensive care patients, compared with medical patients, had a higher rate of developing MRSA infection within the first four days of admission, with a hazard ratio of 26.9 (95% CI 5.7-126). Surgical wounds, pressure ulcers and intravenous catheterization were also independent risk factors, with hazard ratios (and 95% CI) of 2.9 (1.3-6.3); 3.0 (1.6-5.7) and 4.7 (1.4-15.6), respectively. These findings suggest that, during an MRSA outbreak, clinical infection would be reduced if surgical and intensive care patients received priority for the prevention of initial colonization with MRSA. Prevention of pressure ulcers, and strict aseptic care of intravenous catheters and surgical wounds would also reduce the development of MRSA infection. Since early treatment with vancomycin is known to reduce the mortality, patients colonized with MRSA who also have one or more of these risk factors may warrant empirical vancomycin therapy at the earliest suggestion of infection

Erosión en olivar ecológico. Manual de campo: diagnóstico y recomendaciones

Es una guía práctica para el reconocimiento del riesgo de erosión en olivare ecológicos y su prevención. No obstante, gran parte de las mismas, se puede aplicar a casi cualquier tipo de olivares no ecológicos.Peer reviewe

AquaData and AquaGIS: Two computer utilities for temporal and spatial simulations of water-limited yield with AquaCrop.

The crop simulation model AquaCrop, recently developed by FAO can be used for a wide range of purposes. However, in its present form, its use over large areas or for applications that require a large number of simulations runs (e.g., long-term analysis), is not practical without developing software to facilitate such applications. Two tools for managing the inputs and outputs of AquaCrop, named AquaData and AquaGIS, have been developed for this purpose and are presented here. Both software utilities have been programmed in Delphi v. 5 and in addition, AquaGIS requires the Geographic Information System (GIS) programming tool MapObjects. These utilities allow the efficient management of input and output files, along with a GIS module to develop spatial analysis and effect spatial visualization of the results, facilitating knowledge dissemination. A sample of application of the utilities is given here, as an AquaCrop simulation analysis of impact of climate change on wheat yield in Southern Spain, which requires extensive input data preparation and output processing. The use of AquaCrop without the two utilities would have required approximately 1000 h of work, while the utilization of AquaData and AquaGIS reduced that time by more than 99%. Furthermore, the use of GIS, made it possible to perform a spatial analysis of the results, thus providing a new option to extend the use of the AquaCrop model to scales requiring spatial and temporal analyses

La transmisión de virus no persistentes estudiada a través del comportamiento de prueba de pulgones

Cinco años de investigación sobre el comportamiento de prueba del pulgón Myzus persicae Sulzer con la ayuda de un monitor electrónico de comportamiento (técnica EPG) han permitido obtener un mejor conocimiento sobre el mecanismo de transmisión no persistente de virus vegetales, empleando como modelo el virus Y de la patata (PVY). Las breves picaduras intracelulares producidas por el pulgón al inicio de la prueba son registradas en el monitor electrónico como breves caídas de potencial (denominadas pds). La presencia y morfología de este patrón de onda pd ha resultado ser clave en el proceso de tranmisión de PVY. Se ha observado que la presencia de al menos una pd es necesaria para la adquisición del virus, y que una mayor frecuencia de pds aumenta la probabilidad de adquisición. Asimismo, se ha comprobado que el proceso de inoculación del virus también tiene lugar durante la pd, más en concreto en su fase inicial III, mientras que la adquisición es un proceso posterior (fase 113). Esta evidencia pone en duda el mecanismo mayoritariamente aceptado de ingestión-egestión, proponiéndose como hipótesis alternativa un mecanismo de ingestión-salivación. Asimismo, la presencia y morfología de la fase 113 de la pd ha proporcionado una explicación satisfactoria al conocido efecto del ayuno previo (que aumenta la eficiencia de transmisión) y a la distinta capacidad vectorial observada en diferentes especies de pulgone

Método de segmentación de cultivos

Se describe un método de distribución espacial continua de la calidad del fruto dentro de una parcela de cultivo o una finca comercial que permite la segmentación de dicha finca en sectores de distinta calidad, por lo tanto las zonas con mayor precio de mercado pueden ser recolectadas independientemente; permitiendo al agricultor obtener un mapa de calidad completo de sus cultivos previo a la organización de la recolección del fruto.Peer reviewedConsejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasA1 Solicitud de patente con informe sobre el estado de la técnic

Midday measurements of leaf water potential and stomatal conductance are highly correlated with daily water use of Thompson Seedless grapevines

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between midday measurements of vine water status and daily water use of grapevines measured with a weighing lysimeter. Water applications to the vines were terminated on August 24th for 9 days and again on September 14th for 22 days. Daily water use of the vines in the lysimeter (ETLYS) was approximately 40 L vine−1 (5.3 mm) prior to turning the pump off, and it decreased to 22.3 L vine−1 by September 2nd. Pre-dawn leaf water potential (ΨPD) and midday Ψl on August 24th were −0.075 and −0.76 MPa, respectively, with midday Ψl decreasing to −1.28 MPa on September 2nd. Leaf g s decreased from ~500 to ~200 mmol m−2 s−1 during the two dry-down periods. Midday measurements of g s and Ψl were significantly correlated with one another (r = 0.96) and both with ETLYS/ETo (r = ~0.9). The decreases in Ψl, g s, and ETLYS/ETo in this study were also a linear function of the decrease in volumetric soil water content. The results indicate that even modest water stress can greatly reduce grapevine water use and that short-term measures of vine water status taken at midday are a reflection of daily grapevine water us

Provision of ecological infrastructures to increase pollinators and other beneficial organisms in rainfed crops in Central Spain

In sustainable intensive agriculture, the biodiversity of monoculture fields can be increased by managing the field margins to provide ecological infrastructures that serve as refuges and resources for beneficial organisms (pollinators and natural enemies). In the present work we summarize two years of field trials following the goal to increase biodiversity of beneficial fauna in a barley field in Central Spain by sowing different herbaceous mixtures in the field margins. The presence of arthropods visiting flowers on plots sown with different types of seed mixtures and unsown natural flora (control plot) was compared by visual sampling every week between April and June. The results showed that a combination of herbaceous big-size seeds was the most successful mixture emerging under our experimental conditions and achieved a higher number of visits of beneficial arthropods than the unsown natural vegetation

Mejores prácticas de manejo para el uso optimizado del suelo y el agua en la agricultura

Chinese translation: Yun Xie, Lixin Chen, Jie Tang, Zhaoqi Fu, Meng Zhang, Hanlin Dong.English version available at http://dx.doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/13964Spanish version available at http://dx.doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/13985在Shui项目框架下，综合论述了农业系统水土资源优化利用的最佳管理措施BMPs（Best Management Practices）。编写本报告的主要原因如下： （1）为与该项目有关或无关的任何读者，总结以水土资源优化利用为目标的各类最佳管理措施（BMPs）技术。 （2）确定在相关的政策计划中，尤其是共同农业政策，如何界定最佳管理措施（BMPs）及需求，以便指导政策利益相关者进行情景模拟和提出改进建议。 （3）为项目内部和外部使用者提供最佳管理措施（BMPs）的标准化术语定义及通用框架。 （4）与Shui项目课题1、2、5合作，确保选用的各类最佳管理措施（BMPs）已通过试验、田间尺度模型模拟、以及所在区域利益相关者的反馈（WP5）进行了充分的评估与分析。 全文对最佳管理措施的综述均基于Shui项目背景，包括了中欧不同的农业气候区和以下农业系统： （1）雨养经果林 （2）灌溉经果林 （3）雨养谷物轮作 （4）灌溉谷物轮作 本报告的灌溉用水涉及到低质水，包括废水利用和灌溉循环水利用。基于土壤水文学研究平台创新管理欧洲和中国种植系统的水资源短缺问题（SHUI） 欧洲委员会 项目资助号： 773903Peer reviewe

Best management practices for optimized use of soil and water in agriculture

These BMPs have been always reviewed in the context of the SHui project, which covers different agro-climatic regions across Europe and China and these agricultural systems: 1- Rainfed tree crops. 2- Irrigated tree crops. 3- Cereal based rotations under rainfed conditions. 4- Cereal based rotations under irrigation. Regarding use of water for irrigation, this document will also cover the use of low-quality water, including wastewater, and the use of recycled water for irrigation.Spanish version available at http://dx.doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/13985Chinese version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10261/253611This document provides a comprehensive review of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for optimized used soil and water in agricultural systems within the context of the SHui project. This document, which also has been translated into Spanish and Chinese could be use: 1- To provide to any reader an overview of the technical description of available options of BMPs for optimizing soil and water use. 2- To identify how BMPs are defined and requested in relation to large policy instruments, particularly the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), to provide guidance on simulated scenario as well as on recommendations for improvement to policy stakeholders. 3- To provide a common framework, within the project as well for external users, for the definition of BMPs using a standardize terminology, and an appraisal on how some of the most common hydrologic models can be used, or not, to introduce the effect of these BMPs on scenario analysis.Soil Hydrology research platform underpinning innovation to manage water scarcity in European and Chinese cropping systems. SHui. European Commission. Grant Agreement number 773903.Peer reviewe