Aim of study: The objective was to determine the effect of organic fertilizer, composted chicken manure, on improving nutrition in cocoa crops for good vegetative development. Area of study: The study was carried out in 2019-2020 in Almirante, Bocas del Toro province, Republic of Panama. Material and methods: The study was carried out with 126 fine aroma cocoa plants in a 2,000 m2 agroforestry system. The statistical design was completely randomized blocks with 7 different doses of composted chicken manure (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 Mg ha-1) 3 repetitions. The composted chicken manure was incorporated into the soil 15 cm from the tree. Leaf, plant and soil samples were taken one year after the doses were applied, at depths of 0 to 5, 5 to 15 and 15 to 30 cm. Main results: It was shown that the application of composted chicken manure increased the concentration of soil organic carbon, the pH and bioavailability of N, P, K and other essential elements, decreasing the concentration of aluminum in the soil. This leads to the balance of nutrients in the soil, resulting in a greater tree biomass. Research highlights: Composted chicken manure with doses higher than 20 Mg ha-1 contributed to the nutrition and growth of the cocoa crop, improving its tree development in a greater productive capacity.

Nitrogen fertilizers are vital for global food production, but their overuse can degrade ecosystems and compromise agricultural productivity. Although fertilizer use is increasing in Latin America, research on the drivers of nitrogen application remains limited, particularly at subnational scales where management decisions are made. Using the Republic of Panama as a model system, this study integrates census data, government records, Landsat imagery, and interviews with farmers to identify the factors shaping nitrogen application across districts. Nitrogen inputs varied widely among crops, with bananas and pineapples exhibiting the highest mean application rates at 278 and 189kgha-1 yr-1, while coffee, oranges, and pigeon pea received far lower amounts (<40kgha-1 yr-1). Agronomic factors were particularly influential, and both crop type and farm size emerged as significant predictors of nitrogen use. Notable, larger farms applied more nitrogen per hectare, as indicated by the positive elasticity of farm size where a 1% increase in farm size corresponded to a 0.35% increase in nitrogen application, likely reflecting greater resource availability and the use of more input-intensive production systems. In contrast, districts with greater adoption of conservation practices applied less nitrogen overall, underscoring the role of sustainable management in reducing fertilizer inputs. For example, model predictions indicate that increasing conservation adoption from 15% to 25% at the district level is associated with a 39% reduction in nitrogen application. We also generated the first district-level nitrogen fertilizer application map for Panama, revealing substantial spatial variation ranging from 10.34 to 1032.60kgha-1 yr-1, with central and western districts showing the highest values. These findings underscore the complexity of fertilizer use across Panama and emphasize the need to consider farm structure, crop composition, and conservation practices when designing strategies for sustainable nutrient management, providing an essential baseline for future policy and decision making.

Understanding why people adopt or ignore vector-borne disease (VBD) preventive measures is key to better risk assessment and control. However, little is known about why some households adopt preventive practices while others do not, which is particularly striking in this era of One Health's attention to human, environmental, and animal health. We examined what household factors are linked to practices that may reduce exposure to disease vectors, with a focus on Chagas disease (CD) and American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) vectors. We surveyed 204 households in 12 rural communities in Coclé Province, Republic of Panama, between March 2022 and December 2023. We used logistic regression models to explore the association between household contextual elements, such as respondents' sex, wealth (consumer goods and agricultural), knowledge about ACL and CD, feelings about insects, and perceptions of control over health outcomes, and personal (use of repellents, and hand protection before touching a CD vector) and property-based behaviors (use of insecticides in the house, use of windows/doors screens, and cleaning peridomestic debris) that may reduce exposure to disease vectors. We found mixed associations between protective behaviors and the contextual household elements. Participants who reported feeling bothered by insects were more likely to use repellents (Odds Ratio [OR]: 2.97 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]: 1.47-6.20), whereas those who reported being in control of their health were less likely to use protection before touching a CD vector (OR = 0.8, CI: 0.67-0.95). Window/door screens were associated with more household consumer goods wealth (OR: 1.44; CI: 1.23-1.71), while households with a history of ACL cases were more likely to have peridomestic debris accumulation (OR: 2.33; CI: 1.17-4.75). Additionally, householders bothered by insects were less likely to have peridomestic debris (OR: 0.42; CI: 0.20-0.84), as well as those who believe health outcomes happen by chance (OR: 0.89; CI: 0.82-0.98). Our findings emphasize the importance of considering a more comprehensive household background and attention to cultural values to foster context-sensitive strategies for vector-borne pathogen prevention and control.

The objective of this research was to determine the suitability of soils for coffee cultivation in the province of Herrera, Republic of Panama. Planting robusta coffee is gaining greater interest among Panamanian farmers as an alternative for soil conservation. On 19 farms in the province of Herrera, samples were taken (0-20 cm) to determine their properties and initiate a sustainable fertilization program that contributes to improving productivity. Digital maps were created using the Q-GIS v.3.32.1 program. The soils of the province of Herrera presented a high percentage of aluminum saturation, with low porosity problems, pH acid, low levels of organic matter and phosphorus, and low in potassium. Low average calcium content and medium magnesium content. A negative and statistically significant correlation was found between organic matter and % Al saturation, Ca and Mg, indicating that the organic matter was still in the process of mineralization. According to the principal component analysis, the soils of Las Minas district are highly influenced by the percentage of Al saturation, Mn, Cu and organic matter. The soils of Los Pozos district by pH, CEC, Ca and Mg. The results of this characterization study and the maps prepared for each soil property are expected to contribute to decision makers, technicians, scientists and producers having a baseline knowledge of the productive coffee soils in the province of Herrera and to allow the development of plans to achieve sustainable coffee production.

A rapid diagnosis was conducted in the Platanilla rural community, located in the province of Darién (Republic of Panama), focusing on water, sanitation, and hygiene, and considering water resources as a cross-cutting axis. Mixed methods were applied, including surveys, interviews, and documentary review, in order to build an understanding of water management and its limitations. Findings revealed low population participation and commitment, political instability, and lack of territorial planning, all of which limits water management and governance, regardless of its recognized importance to the community and its land-based accessibility. Social and institutional relearning is required to ensure sustainable territorial transformations in water management and governance, in addition to investments in water supply infrastructure and water treatment and distribution.

It is impractical to rear tree-feeding Hemiptera in the laboratory, but host-associations can be discovered if adults and immatures are found feeding together on their plant. However, solitary tree-feeding nymphs must be observed closely in the field to capture the adult upon emergence and thus learn the species identity. A spittle bug, Sphodroscarta Stål, 1869 belonging to the gigas group (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea: Aphrophoridae) was reared in the field by monitoring a nymph in a spittle nest on Ficus maxima Miller, 1768 (Moraceae) and obtaining the adult in Arraiján, Republic of Panama. Dates, a 132-day timeline, and photographs are provided.

Caloglossa fluviatilis is one of the least known freshwater algal species of its genus, having been reported from its type locality in Pedro Miguel, Republic of Panama, and Chalakkudy and Periyar Rivers in the State of Kerala, India. This study presents a new locality record of the species from Bataan province on the island of Luzon, Philippines. C. fluviatilis is characterised by having (1) a thallus having a width at the internode region narrower than 1.0 mm, (2) moderate development of adventitious secondary branches at the node, and (3) fewer than eight rhizoidal filaments arising from pericentral cells at the node. Indeed, this Philippine population of C. fluviatilis has helped fill the gaps and extended the distribution of the species to the western Pacific region. Further studies and reassessment of freshwater Caloglossa specimens will contribute to further understanding of these little-known genus members.

Introduction: Quantifying Cadmium (Cd), helps to know the excess of this element harmful to human health.&#x0D; Objectives: Determine the concentrations of Cd and its relationship with the management and properties of the soil, leaf tissue, fruit and cocoa beans grown organically in small farms of producers in the district of Almirante, and to study the dynamics of this element in a Creole cocoa genotype AS-CP 26-61 (mulatto).&#x0D; Places and Duration of the Study: The research was carried out during the years 2019 to 2021, in 16 sites of farms of cocoa producers, organically grown, in Almirante, province of Bocas del Toro and the second, was in a house of vegetation, located in the facilities of the Institute of Agricultural Innovation of Panama, in the town of Divisa, corregimiento of Los Canelos, district of Santa María, province of Herrera, Republic of Panama.&#x0D; Methodologies: The samples were carried out in the16 farm sites in a systematic way selecting points at uniform distances in an area of 300 m2 with replicas (15 subsamples at depths of 0.30 m), within these areas the samples of leaves and fruits were taken. In the dynamics of the Cd, which was carried out in the creole cocoa genotype AS-CP 26-61 (mulatto), the soil was transferred from a representative area of the Almirante district to a depth of 0.30 m, filling pots with a capacity of 15 kg of dry soil. A completely random design was used, with six (6) treatments and three (3) repetitions. The treatments were (0, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 mgCdkg-1) inoculated the soils with cadmium sulfate. Soil samples were taken at two depths (0 to 0.15 m and 0.15 to 0.30 m); followed for plants (roots, stems and leaves), all extracted six (6) months after applying the treatments. Total and bioavailable Cd, Ca, Mg, soil texture, pH, soil organic matter, total foliar Cd, fruits and grains were measured. The analysis of the data was by the Infostat statistician. Soil organic matter was determined by Walkley and Black and total concentrations by USEPA method 3051 A; instead, the bioavailable Cd and K were determined by Mehlich 3; Ca and Mg per KCl; texture by Boyoucos.&#x0D; Results: As results in the 16 sites, the total and bioavailable Cd in the soil did not exceed the toxic levels for agricultural soils. On the other hand, the average levels of total Cd in the fruits and grains, did not present absorptions greater than 0.6 mgkg-1. While for the dynamics of Cd in the Creole cocoa genotype AS-CP 26-61 the maximum absorption form is presented by the leaves &gt; roots &gt; stem.&#x0D; Conclusion: By increasing the organic matter of the soil, it helps to block the concentrations of Cd in the leaves, fruits and grains; the levels of concentrations of Cd in the grain, do not exceed the maximum limits allowed according to the E.U. The use of the Creole genotype AS-CP 26-61 helped us to know in which part of the plant the concentrations of Cd are most concentrated.

203 Background: Anti-EGFR treatment of RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in Latin America includes cetuximab or panitumumab, added to chemotherapy (cet+CT and pan+CT, respectively). Adverse event (AE) profiles for each regimen may influence the treatment decision. This study aimed to estimate the associated financial impact of AE management in three countries: Argentina (AR), Brazil (BR) and Panama (PA) from a healthcare payer perspective. Methods: We revised a published Microsoft Excel-based economic model to calculate average patient- and population-level costs from a payer perspective of mCRC AE management for first-line cet+CT and pan+CT treatment, using AE frequency and severity data derived from the authorization relevant FDA prescribing information (PI), multiplied by the country-specific unit costs of managing AEs. Costs of AE management were obtained from publicly available sources in each country and converted to US dollars (USD). Country-specific market research data were applied to calculate costs at the eligible mCRC population level. The model structure and input parameters were endorsed by local practising oncologists. Results: A 17.5% (all-grade) and 31.6% (grade 3-4) lower average per patient AE frequency were estimated from the PI, for cet+CT vs pan+CT. Cost results are presented in the table. Projected AE management costs of cet+CT for the eligible mCRC population are $297,643 (AR), $124,981 (BR) and $65,895 (PA), annually, reducing current annual estimated AE costs by $42,181 (AR), $8,548 (BR) and $4,691 (PA). Conclusions: According to the average estimated AE frequencies, patients treated with cet+CT are expected to experience fewer AEs than with pan+CT. According to our analyses, the lower frequency rates could result in lower overall and severe AEs’ management costs, resulting in 12.4% (AR), 6.4% (BR) and 6.6% (PA) lower costs of AE management for cet+CT versus pan+CT.[Table: see text]

352State immunity — Jurisdictional immunity — Action for damages against ship classification and certification company acting upon delegation from Republic of Panama — Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Article 2(1) — Whether Italian court having jurisdiction under Regulation — Article 1(1) — Scope of civil and commercial matters — Operations of ship classification and certification societies — Public powers — Whether classification and certification operations conducted in exercise of public powers — Immunity from jurisdiction — Whether customary international law principle of jurisdictional immunity of States precluding court from exercising jurisdiction under Regulation — The law of the European Union

The aim of this study was to analyze the chemical components and evaluate the biological activity of the extracts from the leaves Kalanchoe pinnata and Kalanchoe daigremontiana, which are cultivated in the province of Chiriqui, Republic of Panama. Phytochemicals components, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were studied. The composition of the obtained petroleum ether, ethanol and aqueous extracts was analyzed by phytochemical screening. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was studied using three in vitro model systems (DPPH radical scavenging assay, nitric oxide radical scavenging assay, and superoxide radical scavenging activity). The anti-inflammatory activity of these species was studied using an in vivo model (ʎ-carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats). Phytochemical analysis of the extracts showed the presence of alkaloids, steroids, triterpenes, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, saponins and glycosides. The greatest radical inhibitory effect was observed in the DPPH model where the ethanolic extracts of both species developed a concentration-dependent inhibitory effect, the K. pinnata extract reached a maximum inhibitory effect of 49.5 ± 5.6% (2000

This dissertation examines the right of Free, Prior, and Informed Consultation and Consent (FPIC) in western Panama, where Ngäbe Indigenous communities have long fought to protect their land from copper mines, hydroelectric projects, and other forms of development. Drawing on sixteen months of ethnographic and legal research between 2013 and 2016, I demonstrate that, like other forms of multicultural recognition, FPIC can be used by states to manage Indigenous dissent and rights-wash contentious projects. This management can take place through careful attention to the wording or procedural details of FPIC policies; or, it can occur through the ways in which consent-seekers and consent-givers exploit or circumvent conflict-prone community decision-making processes. However, while FPIC can be used to limit Indigenous rights, I also show how various groups of Ngäbe still defy and work within these constraints. More broadly, I show that the Western liberal conception of consent as autonomous free choice obscures ways in which consent embeds subjects in relations of power. By framing consent not as a sign of freedom but as a sign of power relations, I underscore how FPIC and other forms of multicultural recognition join together Indigenous peoples and states to collaboratively create the multicultural state.

I report the first encounter in Central America of an individual of Caecilia guntheri Dunn, 1942 (Gymnophiona, Caeciliidae). The individual was observed and collected in a primary evergreen submontane forest in Cerro Pirre, Darien Province, Republic of Panama. It was identified mainly by the low counts of secondary and primary folds. The encounter of this individual of C. guntheri highlights the disjunct populations and apparently the results of dispersion of this species from South to Central America by biotic exchange as result of the closure of the Isthmus of Panama.

Abstract Lutz creek is a small (9.69 ha) catchment located on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), a 1500‐ha island in Lake Gatún, the principal freshwater reservoir (425 ha, 26 m above sea level) of the Panama Canal watershed in central Panama. In 1972, a concrete V‐notch weir was installed on the creek, located at 9°09′42.8358″N, 79°50′15.6699″W, and hydrological record keeping began. The island was first established as a research station in 1923 and precipitation data collection was initiated in 1925. A meteorological tower, installed in 1972 and located a few meters from the weir, is currently instrumented to collect air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, evapotranspiration and solar radiation. In addition, since 1972, gravimetric soil moisture has been measured at least biweekly at 10 sites located throughout the Lutz Catchment above the location of the weir. Data collection and the administration of BCI are the responsibility of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI; https://stri.si.edu) which funds the data collection and storage. Data are in the public domain, entitled ‘Lutz Watershed And Meteorological Tower’ and are available at the STRI Physical monitoring website https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/physical_monitoring/.

This is a useful dataset to train and test Machine Learning forecasting algorithms and compare results with the official forecast from weekly pre-dispatch reports. The following considerations should be kept to compare forecasting results with the weekly pre-dispatch forecast: 1. Saturday is the first day of each weekly forecast; for instance, Friday is the last day. 2. A 72 hours gap of unseen records should be considered before the first day to forecast. In other words, next week forecast should be done with records until each Tuesday last hour. Data sources provide hourly records. The data composition is the following: 1. Historical electricity load, available on daily post-dispatch reports, from the grid operator (CND). 2. Historical weekly forecasts available on weekly pre-dispatch reports, both from CND. 3. Calendar information related to school periods, from Panama's Ministery of Education. 4. Calendar information related to holidays, from "When on Earth?" website. 5. Weather variables, such as temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and wind speed, for three main cities in Panama, from Earthdata. The original data sources provide the post-dispatch electricity load in individual Excel files on a daily basis and weekly pre-dispatch electricity load forecast data in individual Excel files on a weekly basis, both with hourly granularity. Holidays and school periods data is sparse, along with websites and PDF files. Weather data is available on daily NetCDF files. For simplicity, the published datasets are already pre-processed by merging all data sources on the date-time index: 1. A CSV file containing all records in a single continuous dataset with all variables. 2. A CSV file containing the load forecast from weekly pre-dispatch reports. 3. Two Excel files containing suggested regressors and 14 training/testing datasets pairs as described in the PDF file.

The purpose of this research is to identify which electricity production sources have a significant effect on the marginal cost of electricity in Panama. Panama, like most Central American countries, bases its electricity production on hydroelectric power, thermoelectric power, and electricity purchases. Only secondary data provided by official entities was used in order to assure that the numbers used for the research were consistent. The results of the research suggest that it is necessary to switch to less oil-dependent electricity production alternatives in order to achieve lower electricity production cost for the Panamanian market.

Billions of people world-wide rely on plant-based food for their daily energy intake. As global warming and the spread of diseases (such as the banana Panama disease) is substantially hindering the cultivation of plants, the need to develop temperature- and/or disease-resistant varieties is getting more and more pressing. The field of plant breeding has been revolutionized by the use of molecular biology methods, such as DNA and RNA sequencing, which substantially accelerated the finding of genes that are likely to influence a trait of interest. The outcome of such experiments is typically a long list of candidate genes whose involvement in the trait needs to be experimentally validated. Prioritizing these experiments, i.e. testing the most promising genes first, can save a lot of time, effort and money, but is often hindered by the fact that the cellular roles (functions) of plant genes and the corresponding proteins is often unknown. Experimentally discovering the functions of genes is equally time-consuming and costly, so it is crucial to have computer algorithms that can automatically predict gene or protein functionswith high accuracy. After decades of research on this field, considerable progress has been made, but we are still far from a widely-acceptable and accurate solution to the problem. This thesis explores different research directions to improve protein function prediction, by developing new machine learning algorithms. These directions include new ways to represent proteins, exploiting semantic relationships among functions, and function-specific feature selection. The thesis also deals with the problem of missing protein interaction data for non-model species and quantifies its effect on protein function prediction. All in all, it provides novel insights to the problem that future work can build upon to lead to new breakthroughs.

Book Review| February 01 2021 Modern Panama: From Occupation to Crossroads of the Americas Modern Panama: From Occupation to Crossroads of the Americas. By Conniff, Michael L. and Bigler, Gene E.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Photographs. Maps. Figures. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xix, 346 pp. Paper, $32.99. Orlando J. Pérez Orlando J. Pérez University of North Texas at Dallas Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Hispanic American Historical Review (2021) 101 (1): 179–181. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-8796792 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Orlando J. Pérez; Modern Panama: From Occupation to Crossroads of the Americas. Hispanic American Historical Review 1 February 2021; 101 (1): 179–181. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-8796792 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsHispanic American Historical Review Search Advanced Search Modern Panama: From Occupation to Crossroads of the Americas examines Panama's political and economic changes after the US military intervention of December 1989. Michael L. Conniff and Gene E. Bigler bring to bear their extensive knowledge of the country from years of scholarly work and, in the case of Bigler, diplomatic and policy experience. The book focuses particular attention on the Panama Canal's management after the waterway's return to Panamanian control in 2000. The book describes election outcomes throughout the postinvasion period and chronologically examines each of the presidential administrations, beginning with Guillermo Endara (1989–94), the first postinvasion president, and proceeding through the term of Juan Carlos Varela (2014–19).Modern Panama is a welcome addition to the limited bibliography on postinvasion Panamanian politics. While substantial efforts have been expended in analyzing the run-up to the US military intervention, mostly from the perspective... Copyright © 2021 by Duke University Press2021 Issue Section: Twentieth–Twenty-First Centuries You do not currently have access to this content.

ObjectiveTo explore the applicability of the Salmonella serotyping kit in the surveillance of multiple intestinal pathogens, expand the laboratory's method for the serotyping of Salmonella, improve the laboratory capacity for the rapid and better response to diarrhea epidemic caused by Salmonella. MethodsUsing multiple fluorescence PCR serotyping kit and traditional slide agglutination test, the serotyping of 95 Salmonella strains was conducted, which were isolated from multiple intestinal pathogens surveillance in Fengtai district of Beijing from 2013 to 2018, and the results were compared. ResultsThe slide agglutination test result indicated that 95 strains of Salmonella belonged to 21 serotypes. The serotyping kit test indicated that 85 strains of Salmonella belonged to 17 serotypes, the remaining 10 strains were unspecified, including S. Goldcoast, S. London, S. Senftenberg, S. Thompson, S. Panama and S. Othmarsche. Among the 85 Salmonella strains, 83 shared same serotype in serotyping kit test and slide agglutination test, showing the consistent rate of 97.65%. ConclusionTraditional laboratory slide agglutination method has a good performance in the serotyping of Salmonella. The serotyping kit test has very high consistency with slide agglutination test, but the identification of uncommon serotypes of Salmonella needs to be improved. The combination of the two methods would improve the efficiency and accuracy of Salmonella serotyping.

Intermittent water supply (IWS) is a common practice in low- and middle-income countries around the world, and has been shown to degrade water quality. In this study, we characterized water quality and bacterial communities in a section of the drinking water distribution network in Arraiján, Panama with IWS, in which service alternated between several days with and without supply. We sampled at two locations in this zone, one near the entrance to the IWS zone (with continuous supply) and one at a downstream location (with IWS). 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing was used to characterize bacterial communities in the bulk water.