Farmer preference for macadamia varieties and constraints to production in Malawi.

Macadamia nuts constitute a vital component of both nutrition and livelihoods for smallholder producers in Malawi. We conducted a comprehensive mixed-methods study, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses, to explore varietal preferences and production challenges among these farmers. Leveraging cross-sectional data from 144 members of the Highlands Macadamia Cooperative Union Limited, our study underscores several significant findings.

Insufficient Representation of Patients With Obesity in Randomized Controlled Trials Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Antimicrobials for Treatment of Skin and Skin Structure Infections: A Scoping Review.

Persons with obesity (PwO) represent approximately 50% of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) in the United States (US). There are currently insufficient data in PwO for drugs used for ABSSSIs. We conducted a scoping review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2000 and 2022 to describe how frequently body size measures were reported.

The genesis, development and implementation of an interdisciplinary university Cross-School Research Group.

This article examines the genesis, development and implementation of an interdisciplinary university cross-school research group (three individual schools) at Federation University in Australia. This CSRG is a consequence of both local and national calls for interdisciplinarity in university research and a direct response to the revised Strategic Goals and Policy document at Federation University. Using a conceptual framework based on a treatise by Jürgen Habermas (The theory of communicative action, Beacon Press, 1987) incorporating three socio-political levels (Lifeworld, Steering Media and Systems), we examined the ideals, processes and challenges in setting up an interdisciplinary research group within a traditional disciplinary-based university environment.

New local electrical diagnostic tool for dielectric barrier discharge (DBD).

A new diagnostic tool to study dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) at atmospheric pressure by local electrical measurements is introduced. The square ground electrode is divided into 64 square segments (3.44 mm side length) so as to measure the discharge currents and gas voltages with spatial resolutions, which allows a 2D mapping.

The need for ICU admission in intoxicated patients: a prediction model.

Context: Intoxicated patients are frequently admitted from the emergency room to the ICU for observational reasons. The question is whether these admissions are indeed necessary.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a model that predicts the need of ICU treatment (receiving mechanical ventilation and/or vasopressors <24 h of the ICU admission and/or in-hospital mortality).

Seasonal Flight Activity of the Sugarcane Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in North Carolina Using Black Light Traps.

Seasonal flight activity, adult beetle sex count, and egg production were examined in sugarcane beetles Euetheola rugiceps (LeConte) caught in light traps in North Carolina from the fall of 2009 through the summer of 2014. A regression model using variable environmental conditions as predictive parameters was developed to examine the impact of these conditions on flight activity. Depending on flight trap location and sampling years, beetles exhibited an inconsistent flight pattern, with the majority of adults flying in the spring (April-June) and intermittently in the fall (September-October).

Overwintering, Oviposition, and Larval Survival of Hunting Billbugs (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Implications for Adult Damage in North Carolina Turfgrass.

The hunting billbug, Sphenophorus venatus vestitus Chittenden, is one of the most widely recognized billbug turfgrass pests. Since 2000, damage to warm-season turfgrass caused by hunting bill bugs has increased and a need for information on hunting billbug biology is necessary for the development of management plans. Field and laboratory studies were conducted to collect data on overwintering, oviposition behavior, larval survival at various levels of soil moisture, and adult damage.

Impact of Location, Cropping History, Tillage, and Chlorpyrifos on Soil Arthropods in Peanut.

Demand for agricultural production systems that are both economically viable and environmentally conscious continues to increase. In recent years, reduced tillage systems, and grass and pasture rotations have been investigated to help maintain or improve soil quality, increase crop yield, and decrease labor requirements for production. However, documentation of the effects of reduced tillage, fescue rotation systems as well as other management practices, including pesticides, on pest damage and soil arthropod activity in peanut production for the Mid-Atlantic US region is still limited.

St. Augustine grass germplasm resistant to Blissus insularis (Hemiptera: Blissidae).

St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walter) Kuntze) is an economically important turfgrass in the southeastern United States. However, this turf species is prone to southern chinch bug, Blissus insularis Barber (Heteroptera: Blissidae) outbreaks.

In-hospital mortality and long-term survival of patients with acute intoxication admitted to the ICU.

Objective: To assess in-hospital and long-term mortality of Dutch ICU patients admitted with an acute intoxication.

Design: Cohort of ICU admissions from a national ICU registry linked to records from an insurance claims database.

Setting: Eighty-one ICUs (85% of all Dutch ICUs).

Hunting billbug (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) life cycle and damaging life stage in North Carolina, with notes on other billbug species abundance.

In the southeastern United States, hunting billbug, Sphenophorus venatus vestitus Chittenden, adults are often observed in turfgrass, but our knowledge of their biology and ecology is limited. Field surveys and experiments were conducted to determine the species composition, life cycle, damaging life stage, and distribution of billbugs within the soil profile in turfgrass in North Carolina. Linear pitfall trapping revealed six species of billbug, with the hunting billbug making up 99.

High-resolution measurements of the electric field at the streamer arrival to the cathode: a unification of the streamer-initiated gas-breakdown mechanism.

A time-correlated single-photon counting technique was used to verify the formation of a cathode-directed streamer inside the narrow cathode region following the interpulse phase of regular negative corona Trichel pulses in ambient air. A purely experimental approach was used to determine the spatiotemporal development of the electric field during the Trichel pulse rise with an extremely high resolution of 10 μm and tens of picoseconds. The results confirm the positive-streamer mechanism for Trichel pulse formation and provide supportive evidence for the hypothesis that the formation of a primary cathode-directed streamer occurs always in any streamer-initiated breakdown and prebreakdown phenomena associated with cathode spot formation.

The simplest equivalent circuit of a pulsed dielectric barrier discharge and the determination of the gas gap charge transfer.

The concept of the simplest equivalent circuit for a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is critically reviewed. It is shown that the approach is consistent with experimental data measured either in large-scale sinusoidal-voltage driven or miniature pulse-voltage driven DBDs. An expression for the charge transferred through the gas gap q(t) is obtained with an accurate account for the displacement current and the values of DBD reactor capacitance.

Experimental determination of dielectric barrier discharge capacitance.

The determination of electrical parameters (such as instantaneous power, transferred charge, and gas gap voltage) in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors relies on estimates of key capacitance values. In the classic large-scale sinusoidal-voltage driven DBD, also known as silent or ozonizer discharge, capacitance values can be determined from charge-voltage (Q-V) plot, also called Lissajous figure. For miniature laboratory reactors driven by fast pulsed voltage waveforms with sub-microsecond rise time, the capacitance of the dielectric barriers cannot be evaluated from a single Q-V plot because of the limited applicability of the classical theory.

Skin decontamination by low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma jet and dielectric barrier discharge plasma.

Background: Over the past few years, plasma medicine has become an important field in medical science. Cold plasma has proven anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antineoplastic effects.

Aim: To test the decontamination power of two cold plasma sources [low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and dielectric barrier discharge plasma (DBD)] in vivo on human fingertips.

Cold plasma is well-tolerated and does not disturb skin barrier or reduce skin moisture.

Background: Cold plasma, a new treatment principle in dermatology based on ionic discharge delivering reactive molecular species and UV-light, exhibits strong antimicrobial efficacy in vitro and in vivo. Before implementing plasma as new medical treatment tool, its safety must be proven, as well as assessing skin tolerance and patient acceptance.

Patients And Methods: We investigated the plasma effects of three different plasma sources (pulsed, non-pulsed atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD)) on the transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and skin moisture after treating the fingertips of four healthy male volunteers.

Striated microdischarges in an asymmetric barrier discharge in argon at atmospheric pressure.

The investigation of striated microdischarges in barrier discharges in argon at atmospheric pressure is reported. Microdischarges were investigated by means of electrical measurements correlated with intensified CCD camera imaging. The scaling law theory known from low-pressure glow discharge diagnostics was applied in order to describe and explain this phenomenon.

Prevalence of unruptured intracranial aneurysms, with emphasis on sex, age, comorbidity, country, and time period: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) are increasingly detected and are an important health-care burden. We aimed to assess the prevalence of UIAs according to family history, comorbidity, sex, age, country, and time period.

Methods: Through searches of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science we updated our 1998 systematic review up to March, 2011.

Are laptop ventilation-blowers a potential source of nosocomial infections for patients?

Inadequately performed hand hygiene and non-disinfected surfaces are two reasons why the keys and mouse-buttons of laptops could be sources of microbial contamination resulting consequently in indirect transmission of potential pathogens and nosocomial infections. Until now the question has not been addressed whether the ventilation-blowers in laptops are actually responsible for the spreading of nosocomial pathogens. Therefore, an investigational experimental model was developed which was capable of differentiating between the microorganisms originating from the external surfaces of the laptop, and from those being blown out via the ventilation-blower duct.

Potential of Leguminous Cover Crops in Management of a Mixed Population of Root-knot Nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.).

Root-knot nematode is an important pest in agricultural production worldwide. Crop rotation is the only management strategy in some production systems, especially for resource poor farmers in developing countries. A series of experiments was conducted in the laboratory with several leguminous cover crops to investigate their potential for managing a mixture of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne arenaria, M.

PLASMOSE - antimicrobial effects of modular atmospheric plasma sources.

The technological potential of non-thermal plasmas for the antimicrobial treatment of heat sensitive materials is well known and has been documented in a great number of research activities, but the realisation of industrial plasma-based decontamination processes remains a great challenge. One of the reasons for this situation is the fact that an antimicrobial treatment process needs to consider all properties of the product to be treated as well as the requirements of the complete procedure, e.g.

Role of insecticides in reducing thrips injury to plants and incidence of tomato spotted wilt virus in Virginia market-type peanut.

Tomato spotted wilt virus (family Bunyaviridae, genus Tospovirus, TSWV), transmitted by many thrips species, is a devastating pathogen of peanut, Arachis hypogaea L. TSWV has become a serious problem in the Virginia/Carolina peanut-growing region of the United States. During 2002, TSWV was present in 47% of the North Carolina hectarage and caused a 5% yield reduction in Virginia.