Testing for Yield Persistency: Is It Skill or is It Luck?

This study uses corn yield data from McLean County, Illinois to test whether farmer skill influences yields. This analysis is conducted by performing persistency tests on unadjusted, soil productivity adjusted (PA), and productivity and input intensity adjusted (PIA) yields. Correlation analysis and winner/loser tables indicate that unadjusted, PA, and PIA yields exhibit persistency across time. PIA yields exhibiting persistency is consistent with farmer skill influencing yield. Hence, our results support the hypothesis that farmer skill influences yields.Crop Production/Industries,

An evaluation of undergraduate student nurses' gameful experience whilst playing a digital escape room as part of a FIRST year module: a cross-sectional study

The circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the use of digital teaching and learning in health professions education. Digital gamification-based teaching and learning activities are innovative and versatile tools for the acquisition of professional competencies in higher education, which can be used on a range of topics and can be supplemental to other teaching methods

The TELE-DD project on treatment nonadherence in the population with type 2 diabetes and comorbid depression

Diabetic patients have increased depression rates, diminished quality of life, and higher death rates due to depression comorbidity or diabetes complications. Treatment adherence (TA) and the maintenance of an adequate and competent self-care are crucial factors to reach optimal glycaemic control and stable quality of life in these patients. In this report, we present the baseline population analyses in phase I of the TELE-DD project, a three-phased population-based study in 23 Health Centres from the Aragonian Health Service Sector II in Zaragoza, Spain. The objectives of the present report are: (1) to determine the point prevalence of T2D and clinical depression comorbidity and treatment nonadherence; (2) to test if HbA1c and LDL-C, as primary DM outcomes, are related to TA in this population; and (3) to test if these DM primary outcomes are associated with TA independently of shared risk factors for DM and depression, and patients’ health behaviours. A population of 7,271 patients with type-2 diabetes and comorbid clinical depression was investigated for inclusion. Individuals with confirmed diagnoses and drug treatment for both illnesses (n = 3340) were included in the current phase I. A point prevalence of 1.9% was found for the T2D-depression comorbidity. The prevalence of patients nonadherent to treatment for these diseases was 35.4%. Multivariate analyses confirmed that lower diabetes duration, increased yearly PCS visits, HbA1c and LDL-C levels were independently related to treatment nonadherence. These findings informed the development of a telephonic monitoring platform for treatment of nonadherence for people with diabetes and comorbid depression and further trial, cost-effectiveness, and prognostic studies (phases II and III)

Fabricación de matrices de corte con aceros rápidos para herramientas mediante metalurgia de polvos

Se describen las características de la fabricación de herramientas por medio de la metalurgia de polvos (PM)

Diagnostic ability of Humphrey perimetry, Octopus perimetry, and optical coherence tomography for glaucomatous optic neuropathy

PurposeTo evaluate and compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA), Octopus perimetry, and Cirrus OCT for glaucomatous optic neuropathy.MethodsEighty-eight healthy individuals and 150 open-angle glaucoma patients were consecutive and prospectively selected. Eligibility criteria for the glaucoma group were intraocular pressure ≥21 mm Hg and glaucomatous optic nerve head morphology. All subjects underwent a reliable standard automated perimetry with the HFA and Octopus perimeter, and were imaged with the Cirrus OCT. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted for the threshold values and main indices of the HFA and Octopus, the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thicknesses, and the optic nerve head parameters. Sensitivities at 85 and 95% fixed-specificities were also calculated. The best areas under the ROC curves (AUCs) were compared using the DeLong method.ResultsIn the glaucoma group, mean deviation (MD) was -5.42±4.6 dB for HFA and 3.90±3.6 dB for Octopus. The MD of the HFA (0.966; P<0.001), mean sensitivity of the Octopus (0.941; P<0.001), and average cup-to-disc (C/D) ratio measured by the Cirrus OCT (0.958; P<0.001) had the largest AUCs for each test studied. There were no significant differences among them. Sensitivities at 95% fixed-specificity were 82% for pattern standard deviation of the HFA, 81.3% for average C/D ratio of OCT, and 80% for the MD of the Octopus.ConclusionsHFA, Octopus, and Cirrus OCT demonstrated similar diagnostic accuracies for glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Visual field and OCT provide supplementary information and thus these tests are not interchangeable

Diagnostic ability of Humphrey perimetry, Octopus perimetry, and optical coherence tomography for glaucomatous optic neuropathy

PurposeTo evaluate and compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA), Octopus perimetry, and Cirrus OCT for glaucomatous optic neuropathy.MethodsEighty-eight healthy individuals and 150 open-angle glaucoma patients were consecutive and prospectively selected. Eligibility criteria for the glaucoma group were intraocular pressure ≥21 mm Hg and glaucomatous optic nerve head morphology. All subjects underwent a reliable standard automated perimetry with the HFA and Octopus perimeter, and were imaged with the Cirrus OCT. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted for the threshold values and main indices of the HFA and Octopus, the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thicknesses, and the optic nerve head parameters. Sensitivities at 85 and 95% fixed-specificities were also calculated. The best areas under the ROC curves (AUCs) were compared using the DeLong method.ResultsIn the glaucoma group, mean deviation (MD) was -5.42±4.6 dB for HFA and 3.90±3.6 dB for Octopus. The MD of the HFA (0.966; P<0.001), mean sensitivity of the Octopus (0.941; P<0.001), and average cup-to-disc (C/D) ratio measured by the Cirrus OCT (0.958; P<0.001) had the largest AUCs for each test studied. There were no significant differences among them. Sensitivities at 95% fixed-specificity were 82% for pattern standard deviation of the HFA, 81.3% for average C/D ratio of OCT, and 80% for the MD of the Octopus.ConclusionsHFA, Octopus, and Cirrus OCT demonstrated similar diagnostic accuracies for glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Visual field and OCT provide supplementary information and thus these tests are not interchangeable.Eye advance online publication, 11 November 2016; doi:10.1038/eye.2016.251