Search

Drought periods in recent Dutch summers are becoming longer and more intense. There is a need for cost-effective drought adaptation by farmers to keep and sustain grass production. A case study was performed on a dairy farm on light sandy soil by building an adaptable weir in a ditch to control the local surface water level. Monitoring tubes were placed to monitor surface and groundwater level. Satellites measured remotely the grass temperature and NDVI on four 0.5 hectare plots to determine crop evapotranspiration and need for irrigation. The surface water level in the ditch before the weir remains higher compared to the level in the surrounding area (control) shortly after rainfall. The famer noticed that after a period of rainfall water infiltrates quickly into the soil but with no increased crop growth or decreased irrigation demand. Remote sensing with the SEBAL-model showed a lower irrigation demand on land adjacent to the ditch with the weir. Due to an insufficient rainfall in the summer season and fast water infiltration the function of the weir could be doubted.

Background: It is essential to refrain from unnecessary isolation measures indicated for patients identified with multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB). Aim: To evaluate whether a pro-active follow-up strategy to discontinue isolation measures of patients identified with MDR-GNB (without carbapenemase production) resulted in reduced isolation days during hospitalization, compared to passive follow-up. Methods: A comparison was made between active and passive follow-up strategies over a two-year period after first MDR-GNB identification. Patients could be declared negative after two consecutive negative screening cultures. Active follow-up patients received a questionnaire for screening cultures within six months of MDR-GNB identification. Of the 2208 patients included, 1424 patients (64.5%) underwent passive follow-up and 784 patients (35.5%) underwent active follow-up. Findings: A significantly higher proportion of active follow-up patients who had sufficient (at least two) screening cultures were declared MDR-GNB negative compared to those with passive follow-up; 66.9% vs 20.6% (P < 0.001) for adult patients and 76.0% vs 17.1% (P < 0.001) for paediatric patients. A comparison between active follow-up patients with sufficient versus those with active follow-up but insufficient cultures revealed a reduction of isolation days for paediatric patients (median 10.6 vs 1.6 days; P = 0.031). Though this difference was not statistically significant for adults (median 5.3 vs 4.2 isolation days), there was a valuable decrease in the number of isolation days for both adult and paediatric patients under active follow-up with sufficient (≥2) cultures, indicating clinical relevance. Conclusion: We recommend an active follow-up strategy for patients identified with an MDR-GNB, to prevent further unneeded infection prevention measures.

Contains fulltext : 234926.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access), The aim of this study was to assess the current state of evidence and methodological quality of studies on implicit and explicit motor learning in both typically developing children and children with developmental disorders. A systematic literature review was conducted on the experimental literature published up to April 2020. A total of 25 studies were included. Studies were evaluated on methodological quality, paradigm used, and level of evidence. The results showed that implicit paradigms are as effective as explicit paradigms in both groups of children. Studies are predominantly experimental in nature involving mostly upper limb aiming tasks. The few studies that were performed outside the lab (n = 5) suggest superior efficacy of the implicit paradigm. Methodological quality varied between studies and was not always of sufficient standard to allow conclusions. In particular, manipulation checks were only performed in 13 studies (52% of all studies), limiting conclusions. Further progress can be made by focussing on improving methodological quality through retention testing by the inclusion of a control group, by the inclusion of a manipulation check, and via assessment of relevant co-variables, such as working memory, age, and motor competence.

INTRODUCTION: Epilepsy is a common neurological condition affecting between 3% and 3.5% of the Australian population at some point in their lifetime. The effective management of chronic and complex conditions such as epilepsy requires person-centred and coordinated care across sectors, from primary to tertiary healthcare. Internationally, epilepsy nurse specialists are frequently identified as playing a vital role in improving the integration of epilepsy care and enhancing patient self-management. This workforce has not been the focus of research in Australia to date. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This multistage mixed-method study examines the role and responsibilities of epilepsy nurses, particularly in primary and community care settings, across Australia, including through the provision of a nurse helpline service. A nationwide sample of 30 epilepsy nurses will be purposively recruited via advertisements distributed by epilepsy organisations and through word-of-mouth snowball sampling. Two stages (1 and 3) consist of a demographic questionnaire and semistructured interviews (individual or group) with epilepsy nurse participants, with the thematic data analysis from this work informing the areas for focus in stage 3. Stage 2 comprises of a retrospective descriptive analysis of phone call data from Epilepsy Action Australia's National Epilepsy Line service to identify types of users, their needs and reasons for using the service, and to characterise the range of activities undertaken by the nurse call takers. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval for this study was granted by Macquarie University (HREC: 52020668117612). Findings of the study will be published through peer-reviewed journal articles and summary reports to key stakeholders, and disseminated through public forums and academic conference presentations. Study findings will also be communicated to people living with epilepsy and families.

The authors investigate the added value of strategically allocating to the Chinese A-shares equity market. Their results indicate a positive contribution to a portfolio that only considers traditional developed and emerging equity markets and bonds. The authors find that a diversified A-shares portfolio based on value, quality, and momentum factors exhibits significantly better risk-adjusted performance than the passive A-shares market portfolio. Consequently, allocating to Chinese A-share factor premiums significantly improves the efficient frontier. The conclusions remain similar when incorporating conservative estimates of trading costs or when constructing value-weighted portfolios, which represent more realistic investor returns.