Central Peruvian Highlands Research Articles

Spatial analysis and risk mapping of Fasciola hepatica infection in dairy cattle at the Peruvian central highlands

This study aimed to develop maps for Fasciola hepatica infection occurrence in dairy cattle in the districts of Matahuasi and Baños in the Peruvian central highlands. For this, a model based on the correlation between environmental variables and the prevalence of infection was constructed. Flukefinder® coprological test were performed in samples from dairy cattle from 8 herds, during both the rainy and wet season. Grazing plots were geo-referenced to obtain information on environmental variables. Monthly temperature, monthly rainfall, elevation, slope, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), distance to rivers, urban areas and roads were obtained by using remote sensor images and ArcGIS®. Multilayer perceptron Artificial Neural Networks modeling were applied to construct a predictive model for the occurrence of fasciolosis, based on the relationship between environmental variables and level of infection. Kappa coefficient (k > 0.6) was used to evaluate concordance between observed and forecasted risk by the model. Coprological results demonstrated an average prevalence from 20% to 100%, in Matahuasi, and between 0 and 87.5%, in Baños. A model with a high level of concordance between predicted and observed infection risk (k = 0.77) was obtained, having as major predicting variables: slope, NDWI, NDVI and EVI. Fasciolosis risk was categorized as low (p < 20%), medium (20% < p < 50%) and high (p ≥ 50%) level. Using ArcGIS 10.4.1, risk maps were developed for each risk level of fasciolosis. Maps of fasciolosis occurrence showed that 87.2% of Matahuasi area presented a high risk for bovine fasciolosis during the dry season, and 76.6% in the wet season. In contrast, 21.9% of Baños area had a high risk of infection during the dry season and 12.1% during the wet season. In conclusion, our model showed areas with high risk for fasciolosis occurrence in both districts during both dry and rainy periods. Slope, NDWI, NDVI and EVI were the major predictors for fasciolosis occurrence.

Detection and Isolation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Beef from Food Markets and Fecal Samples of Dairy Calves in the Peruvian Central Highlands.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 is a food and waterborne pathogen with severe public health implications. We report the first-time isolation of this pathogen in the Central Highlands of Peru through standardized culture procedures and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Escherichia coli strains were cultured from rectal-anal swabs from dairy calves and beef from food markets. The latex agglutination test was used to detect O157 and H7 antigens, and multiplex real-time PCR was carried out to detect virulence-related genes. The STEC O157:H7 strains were isolated from 3.5% (1/28) of beef samples and from 6.0% (3/50) of dairy calves that also carried both eaeA and stx1 genes. Therefore, this pathogen is a potential cause of food/waterborne disease in the region, and its surveillance in both livestock and their products should be improved to characterize the impact of its zoonotic transmission. From 2010 to 2020, E. coli was suspected in 10 outbreaks reported to the Peruvian Ministry of Health. Isolates from future outbreaks should be characterized to assess the burden posed by STEC O157:H7 in Peru.

País de Jauja by Edgardo Rivera Martínez

Reviewed by: País de Jauja by Edgardo Rivera Martínez César Ferreira EDGARDO RIVERA MARTÍNEZ País de Jauja Lima. Alfaguara. 2022. 640 pages. EDGARDO RIVERA MARTÍNEZ'S first novel, País de Jauja, received immediate critical acclaim when it was published in Peru in 1993. Some thirty years later, it is considered a canonical work in Peruvian letters. This edición definitiva of País de Jauja not only underscores the author's artistic excellence; it is also a tribute to his many contributions to the topic of mestizaje in contemporary Peruvian culture. País de Jauja is set in 1947 and takes place in the town of Jauja in the Peruvian central highlands. The novel follows Claudio, a teenager from a middle-class family, over several weeks of summer vacation. During this time, Claudio's life is marked by a series of events that serve as a rite of passage to a higher level of intellectual and affective maturity, including his discovery of sexuality. The protagonist's mother, who encourages his musical vocation, plays an important role in his life, as does his older brother, who promotes Claudio's literary interests. With his mother's guidance, Claudio records lyrics to Andean music that will be played on the piano. In addition, he is fascinated by Homer's Iliad, which he reads over the summer, as well as the Andean oral legends he hears from an elderly housekeeper. Thus, the boy who began his summer playing with his classmates quickly reaches a degree of maturity as he realizes his artistic vocation and, more importantly, becomes aware of his multicultural heritage. In this coming-of-age story, the town of Jauja itself is the real center of the novel. Jauja serves as a symbiotic, utopian space promoting the intermingling of cultures in a genuine process of mestizaje. Moreover, it is a mediating space between the experience of modernity rooted in Lima, Peru's capital, and the remote Andean world. In Jauja, the Apus—the tutelary gods of the mountains—and the mythical Amarus—winged serpents inhabiting the sacred mountains—still exert their influence over the lives of its inhabitants. In short, Jauja is not only a version of paradise where people from all over the world migrate for the curative power of its climate, but it is also a symbol of the felicitous union of Western and Andean values that have traditionally been considered incompatible in Peru's cultural history. Edgardo Rivera Martínez is a key name in contemporary Peruvian letters. As País de Jauja clearly demonstrates, he is a gifted storyteller who presents mestizaje in a positive light—a complex but all-inclusive process in which Peru can see itself as a diverse, multicultural nation. [End Page 81] César Ferreira University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Copyright © 2023 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Comparison of the therapeutic efficacy of five anthelmintics against natural Fasciola hepatica infections in dairy cattle from the Mantaro Valley, Peru.

The intensive use of anthelmintic drugs to control Fasciola hepatica infections in dairy cattle has resulted in the emergence of anthelmintic resistance. Cases of resistance to triclabendazole (TCBZ) have been reported worldwide. The main goal of this research was to evaluate the main five fasciolicides to control fasciolosis in dairy cattle in the Mantaro Valley, Peru. Two fecal egg count reduction tests were performed. In a first study, 24 naturally F. hepatica infected cattle were randomly grouped into three experimental groups (n=8). Groups were treated with either TCBZ, nitroxynil (NTX) or closantel (CLOS). In a second experiment, 55 naturally infected cows were grouped into three experimental groups and treated with either TCBZ (n=18), rafoxanide (RFX)+albendazole (ABZ) (n=19) or clorsulon (CLN)+ivermectin (IVM) (n=18). Therapeutic efficacy was determined following the WAAVP guidelines by measuring reduction in fluke egg output at days 15 and 30 post-treatment. Bootstrapping method was used to obtain the 95% confidence intervals. The efficacy of TCBZ was inadequate in both studies (≤80.8%). Closantel showed high efficacy (≥ 90%) at both days, while NTX showed 92.9% (83-100) and 82.1% (53.6-100), efficacy, at days 15 and 30, respectively. Efficacy for RFX were 92.1% (79.6-98.9) and 97.4% (94.1-99.4); and for CLN, 98.8% (97.6-100) and 80.1% (44.7-99.4), at days 15 and 30, respectively. The outcome of this study indicates reduced therapeutic efficacy of TCBZ against F. hepatica in an important dairy area of the Peruvian central highlands but also demonstrates the validity of four alternatives.

Development of a Spatial Model to Map the Risk of &lt;i&gt;Fasciola Hepatica&lt;/i&gt; Infection in Dairy Cattle at the Peruvian Central Highlands

Development of a Spatial Model to Map the Risk of &lt;i&gt;Fasciola Hepatica&lt;/i&gt; Infection in Dairy Cattle at the Peruvian Central Highlands

Animating Idolatry: Making Ancestral Kin and Personhood in Ancient Peru

Historical and archaeological records help shed light on the production, ritual practices, and personhood of cult objects characterizing the central Peruvian highlands after ca. AD 200. Colonial accounts indicate that descendant groups made and venerated stone images of esteemed forebears as part of small-scale local funerary cults. Prayers and supplications help illuminate how different artifact forms were seen as honored family members (forebears, elders, parents, siblings). Archaeology, meanwhile, shows the close associations between carved monoliths, tomb repositories, and restricted cult spaces. The converging lines of evidence are consistent with the hypothesis that production of stone images was the purview of family/lineage groups. As the cynosures of cult activity and devotion, the physical forms of ancestor effigies enabled continued physical engagements, which vitalized both the idol and descendant group.

Tinkuqchaka: A Suspension Bridge over the Upper Pampas River, Ayacucho, Peru

Andean geography has posed diverse challenges to human activity. High mountains, rugged terrains, deep canyons, and torrential rivers were significant obstacles that effectively would have isolated settlements and entire regions. However, the desire to reach out to adjacent communities and distant lands pushed to the limit the ingenuity and imagination of past Indigenous Andean societies. By the time the Inka Empire flourished, the peoples of the Andes had already mastered the difficult geography, not only by building agricultural terraces over rugged terrain but also by building across the challenging landscape a road system described by the Spaniards as “the longest and grandest in the world.” However, the road system would have been ineffective without its most important component, the suspension bridges built over deep canyons and rapid currents. The suspension bridges, some of them as long as 50 m, made the interaction between distant peoples possible. Although it remains uncertain when suspension bridges were first built in the region, they likely antedated the Inka Empire by several centuries. Suspension bridges, so critical in the past, have largely been abandoned. One exception is Tinkuqchaka, a suspension bridge that continues to be renewed over the upper Pampas River, in the Peruvian central highlands. Tinkuqchaka is built by the inhabitants of Sarhua, one of the few Andean communities to maintain ancient technology. We assert that the survival of this technology initially was due to the marginal location of Sarhua that until just over a decade ago was reachable only by foot.

Development of a spatial model and risk mapping of Fasciola hepatica infection in dairy cattle herds from two district of the Peruvian central highlands

Development of a spatial model and risk mapping of Fasciola hepatica infection in dairy cattle herds from two district of the Peruvian central highlands

The Rise and Irrelevance of the State: Political Views from a Peasant Community of the 2016 Peruvian Presidential Election

AbstractThis case study of a peasant community in the Peruvian central highlands examines how vibrant political engagement in the 1970s became indifference during the 2016 Peruvian presidential election. It focuses on changing livelihood activities over the past three decades. Thirty years ago, community incomes were based on farming and wage labor, and community members were activists in worker–peasant organizations to achieve better market and work conditions. Now, small‐scale agriculture and formal employment have declined and livelihoods are precarious. The state addresses this through decentralized spending and cash transfers. Despite this unprecedented state support, the community had no interest in the 2016 national election. Instead, their attention was focused on the municipality, which delivers the new funds in Peru's decentralized government system. Rather than leveraging job and income creation, these funds condemn the people to ongoing precarity because the state has avoided the structural changes that would create viable jobs and markets for their products. These concerns find no organized political expression, as recent analysis of Peruvian politics reveals a weak party system and fragmented civil society. This situation poses significant challenges to political organizations that would seek more equitable structural transformations.

Chawin and Chavín: evidence of interregional interaction involving the Peruvian central highlands during the late Initial Period

This article introduces the archaeological site of Chawin Punta, located in the Chaupihuaranga Basin of Pasco, Peru. Surface investigations there have identified a late Initial Period civic-ceremonial center with large-scale public architecture and carved stone art that show stylistic links to Chavín de Huántar, Pacopampa, and Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke. Surface ceramics from the nearby site of Condorai reveal additional connections to Kotosh and San Blas. The evidence for interregional interaction involving the Chaupihuaranga Basin challenges long-held assumptions that the Peruvian central highlands were marginal to the development of social complexity during the second and first millennia BC.

Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in Oncorhynchus mykiss for export at production centers in the Peruvian Central Highlands

The bioaccumulation of the heavy metals Cu, Zn, Fe and Pb was determined in the livers, kidneys and muscles of Oncorhynchus mykiss trout at seven production centers in the province of Yauli, Junín-Peru. The determination and quantification of total heavy metals in water samples collected monthly from the production sites and in 28 trout that averaged 250 g and 27 cm was performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, according to the methodology recommended by FAO. Levels of Zn, Fe and Pb were found to exceed the environmental quality standards established by the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment for the rivers of the coast and highlands, as well as the quality standards of the European Union for the cultivation of trout, while levels of Cu conformed with those standards. Concentration of Cu, Zn, Fe and Pb in the livers, kidneys and muscles exceeded the maximum permissible limits established by the European Union for fish meat and by the Mexican official standard, NOM-027-SSA1-1993, for fresh, refrigerated and frozen fishery products, in the case of Pb. The correlation between the concentrations of copper, zinc, iron and lead in the water and the concentrations of these metals in the livers, kidneys and muscles is low and not significant, except for copper, which had a significant correlation.

Effect of butanolic fraction of yellow and black maca (Lepidium meyenii) on the sperm count of adult mice.

Lepidium meyenii, known as maca, is a popular nutraceutical food which is grown over 4,000m above sea level in the Peruvian central highlands. Maca contains alkaloids, but there are no studies on their biological effects. The butanol fraction obtained from methanol extract of maca hypocotyls contains alkaloids. The effects of butanol/aqueous fractions partitioned from methanol extract of yellow and black maca were examined. Total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity by 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl were used to evaluate maca fractions in vitro. Daily sperm production and sperm count in epididymis and vas deferens in mice were determined as biological effect of maca extracts in vivo. Yellow maca (21.7%±0.69) had better antioxidant capacity than black maca (18.2%±0.12; p<.01). Antioxidant activity was better in the methanolic fraction than in the aqueous fraction of yellow or black maca. TPC is higher in the aqueous fraction than in the methanolic extract of yellow or black maca. Black maca administration resulted in higher concentration of sperm count in epididymis and vas deferens compared to yellow maca. A higher biological effect was observed in methanolic extract and in aqueous extract than in the butanol fraction of maca. In conclusion, better biological effect was observed in the methanolic extract of maca than in its partitioned fractions.

Pro-poor? Inclusion and exclusion in native potato value chains in the central highlands of Peru

Including smallholding farmers in high value markets has emerged as a pro-poor development strategy. Through a case study of a project that intended to incorporate native potato growers in the central Peruvian highlands into corporate potato chip value chains, this study investigates social differentiation among participants and nonparticipants, as well as reasons for households’ inclusion or exclusion. Household surveys and semi-structured interviews in one of the communities where the project was implemented provided the data. Results suggest that value chain participants generally have higher economic status and actively exclude lower-resource households in the community. However, non-participation is not necessarily viewed negatively by all non-participating households. Some deliberately choose not to participate to pursue other livelihood strategies or because of risks involved in participating. These findings indicate that participation in value chains is not necessarily beneficial. For such programs to have broad social benefits, policies and other institutional arrangements are needed to minimize risks of participation in such value chains and to provide support for other market outlets.

The Incas, Second Edition by Terence N. D’Altroy (review)

Reviewed by: The Incas, Second Edition by Terence N. D’Altroy Gregory Knapp The Incas, Second Edition. Terence N. D’Altroy, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015, xiii + 547 pages, US$ 36.95 paper. ISBN: 978-1-4443-3115-8. In the pursuit of sustainable development, societies around the world look for parallels and reference points in past transformations in human environment relationships. This is nowhere more apparent than in the Andes, where indigenous concepts and terms have been incorporated in modern constitutions, and ecotourism is increasingly married with cultural and historical tourism. Inca culture looms large in this context, and Terence D’Altroy’s overview of the Inca Empire provides a superb and up to date overview of this influential civilization. This is a substantially revised and expanded (40 per cent longer) version of his book, which became the standard text when first published in 2002. It takes full advantage of the recent, renewed waves of research on Andean archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography, while building on the accomplishments of previous generations of researchers. Thus it can serve both as an introduction to the topic for novices, as well as an overview of recent findings for those familiar with the classics. D’Altroy is a UCLA-trained professor of archaeology and anthropology at Colombia University who has specialized in the comparative study of empires; his archaeological research in the central Peruvian highlands and in northwest Argentina are touched on in this book, but most of the volume attempts to synthesize and make accessible a wide range of information about the Inca Empire. The Inca state itself receives the bulk of the attention: its antecedents, formation, urban design, ideology, politics, military, expansion, and methods of territorial rule. D’Altroy does however also devote attention to aspects of Inca life beyond the state, including the natural setting, methods of farming, and local community life, and local variations in policy and practices. This edition places more emphasis on contributions from ethnography than the first edition did. A new chapter on “Thinking Inca” explores the concepts of vitality and the unity of space and time in Andean thought, and the discussions of material culture place greater stress on the animate character of objects. The respect for natural materials and settings, and the avoidance of representational art (including representations of rulers) brings to mind the aesthetics and spirituality of Shinto traditions in Japan, for example. Recent research on khipu knot-records by Salomon and Urton is detailed, and conflicting alternative narratives of events and processes are laid out. For the Inca, narratives of history and genealogy served social goals in particular contexts, and thus it may never be possible to arrive at precise chronologies of imperial events. D’Altroy situates the empire in its broader context of pre-existing empires and chiefdoms, and stresses its brevity. There is no effort to discuss competing theories of state formation (whether Carneiro or Wittfogel), perhaps in part because this is not a pristine civilization, and in part because D’Altroy is an empiricist (in the good sense of the [End Page 205] term). The Inca were able to build on the legacies of the Tiahuanaco, Wari, and Chimu states, as well as large-scale chiefdoms and proto-states. The Inca state itself expanded through the strategic exertion of overwhelming force, combined in many cases with enticements and rewards for collaboration. This expansion was made easier by the previous demise of the Tiahuanaco and Wari; other authors have (problematically) suggested climatic reasons for the demise of these states and for the rise of the Inca associated with, for example, warming, cooling and/or drying trends. D’Altroy, perhaps wisely, avoids discussing these climate scenarios and hypothetical discussions of collapse. He is also skeptical about the role of the Moray terrace site as an agricultural microclimate research station or macroclimate early warning device, and is generally positive about the ability of farmers in the empire to locally adapt to environmental conditions and changes. The book discusses the widespread relocations of individuals and groups of people in the empire, drawing upon new evidence from archaeology and analysis of human remains as well as from ethnographic sources. These relocations and the suppression of inter...

Ancient Use of Coca Leaves in the Peruvian Central Highlands

Coca, of the genus Erythroxylum, is a stimulant and painkiller that played key roles within the Inka state. As reported by the early Spanish chroniclers, coca was the most important plant offering during public rituals. Likewise, important landmarks within the Inka domain regularly received offerings of this precious leaf. Its high value is indicated by the fact that not only the living chewed the leaves on a regular basis, but also the dead carried coca leaves in their mouths. We still do not know when coca leaves were first used in the Peruvian central highlands. This uncertainty is largely due to the lack of coca leaves recovered from highland archaeological sites. Several leaves recently found at Convento in the northern part of the Ayacucho Valley are the first direct evidence from an archaeological context that, based on ceramic stylistic grounds, dates to sometime between the end of the Early Intermediate Period (ca. 1–550 ce) and the beginning of the Middle Horizon Period (ca. 550–1100 ce). The bo...

Laparoscopia quirúrgica en cáncer de cuello uterino, en el Hospital IV Huancayo EsSalud

Introducción: El cáncer de cérvix es la causa más frecuente de muerte en la sierra central peruana. El tratamiento quirúrgico (histerectomía total laparoscópica e histerectomía radical más linfadenectomía pélvica laparoscópica) es el recurso terapéutico mayormente curativo en los estadios iníciales (Ia1, Ia2 y Ib1). Hace un año en el Servicio de Ginecología del Hospital IV Huancayo iniciamos el tratamiento quirúrgico laparoscópico en estos estadios. Objetivos: Revisar los resultados de histerectomía laparoscópica en cáncer microinvasivo de cuello uterino. Diseño: Estudio retrospectivo. Institución: Servicio de Ginecología, Hospital IV Huancayo, EsSalud, Junín, Perú. Pacientes: Doce mujeres sometidas a histerectomía laparoscópica por carcinoma microinvasivo de cérvix. Intervenciones: En seis mujeres con diagnóstico preoperatorio de cáncer de cérvix por conización cervical y estadio clínico Ia1 se les realizó histerectomía laparoscópica, con un tiempo operatorio de 59,16 minutos y tiempo de estancia hospitalaria de 4,1 días. A otras seis mujeres con estadio clínico Ia2-Ib1 se les realizó histerectomía radical más linfadenectomía pélvica laparoscópica, con un tiempo operatorio de 3 horas 58 minutos y tiempo de estancia hospitalaria de 10,1 días. Principales medidas de resultados: Curación clínica. Resultados: Todos los diagnósticos fueron confirmados con la pieza operatoria, y todas las pacientes estaban teóricamente curadas (márgenes libres, ganglios negativos); una paciente presentó complicaciones, requiriendo estancia prolongada (8,3%). Conclusiones: La histerectomía total laparoscópica y la histerectomía radical más linfadenectomía pélvica laparoscópica pueden ser realizadas de manera más rápida y radical con respecto a la histerectomía convencional por laparotomía. Ambas son intervenciones factibles y seguras, que pueden garantizar la curación en el carcinoma microinvasivo de cuello uterino.

Molle Beer Production In A Peruvian Central Highland Valley

Early accounts left by the Spaniards acknowledge that fermented beverages produced from a variety of products were consumed at the time the Inka Empire flourished in the Andean region. One of these beverages, called molle aqa (molle beer), was made from the berries of the molle tree. However, molle beer is seldom included in scholarly discussions concerning the production and consumption of fermented beverages. In contrast to the attention given to maize beer production, there are no substantial ethnographic accounts reporting the processes that involve the making of molle beer. Likewise, archaeologically, it is uncertain how far back in time this beverage was produced and consumed, although it is frequently asserted that maize beer consumption predated the Inka Empire. Here I report on the production of molle beer in the Peruvian central highlands valley of Ayacucho and discuss the implications for the identification of molle beer production in archaeological contexts. This analysis illustrates that the archaeological signature of molle beer production overlaps significantly with that of maize beer, a situation that has likely prevented the identification of molle beer in archaeological contexts. A detailed description of the process of molle beer making has the potential to provide scholars with the necessary tools to identify fermented beverages other than maize beer.

Economic evaluation of current and alternative dual-purpose cattle systems for smallholder farms in the central Peruvian highlands

In four communities in the Peruvian Andes, 56 farmers were interviewed every three months over a period of one year. Information linked to milk and cattle production such as activities, inputs (labour, means of production, capital) and outputs (milk, cheese, animals) were recorded using a closed-ended questionnaire. The communities were divided into two groups with low (LC) and high (HC) level of dependence on income from milk and animal sales. The survey results showed that cattle production on the LC farms was based on less land and a smaller herd (3.32 ha/farm, 1.06 lactating cows) than on HC farms (10.28 ha/farm, 4.19 lactating cows). The data from the survey and the results of the nutritional analyses of 74 feed samples were introduced into a model that applied linear programming techniques in order to estimate the farm household income under the current production systems and evaluate the economic impact of improved forage varieties for hay production. Furthermore, the economic viability of other changes in fodder and herd management was tested. Both groups were characterised by a dual-purpose system generating a gross income from the sale of both, milk and live animals in the amount of -21 (LC) and +1057 US$/farm and year (HC). Due to higher production costs for forages and better access to markets, LC communities were characterised by an integrated crop–livestock system whereas in the HC group income was mainly based on livestock. Introduction of improved and fertilized barley for hay production, was estimated to increase the annual farm income to 127 and 1257 US$ for LC and HC, respectively. This increase was accompanied by an increment of the animal number. Maintaining the animal number but increasing the milk production/cow by feeding additional forage was a less profitable option generating 50 and 1221 US$ of income per farm and year for LC and HC, respectively. The production of hay was limited by high costs (external labour) in LC communities and the restricted availability of family labour in the HC group. A scenario based on the use of improved cow genotypes led to the highest estimated annual farm income for HC communities (1280 US$) but was less favourable for LC. The modelling results showed that the best development strategy depends on various factors such as production costs, access to the markets and to irrigation and availability of different feed resources.

The complexity of simple tillage systems

SUMMARYIn the Central Peruvian highlands, potatoes are commonly cultivated by smallholder farmers in fields between 3500 and 4300 m asl. Severe climatic conditions, marginal soils and limited access to inputs and infrastructure define these challenging agro-ecological environments. To prepare an adequate seed bed for the potato and mitigate climatic, topographic and labour constraints, Andean farmers have developed distinct footplough-based tillage systems: barbecho, chiwa and chacmeo. A series of field experiments was conducted in 2005/06 and 2006/07 at four different locations to investigate the effect of three different tillage systems on potato tuber yield, varying factors such as cultivars and types and amounts of fertilizer applied. The objective was to improve understanding of the effect of these factors on potato yield and study the potential advantages and disadvantages of each tillage system.The study showed that the type of tillage influenced a great variety of factors. Farmers often use a combination of tillage systems as a strategy to diversify possible risks, considering trade-offs regarding productivity v. yield stability, internal v. external resource use, labour requirement during peak times v. more uniform distribution or extensive v. intensive production. The chiwa and to some extent the chacmeo tillage systems resulted in relatively constant and stable yields for different environments and genetic materials, whereas the more intensive barbecho system sought to optimize growth conditions for the potato crop but was more liable to stress and required external resources. Currently, farmers often use the barbecho system to produce commercial cultivars for the urban markets investing the greatest share of internal and external resources. They use the chiwa and chacmeo systems to produce diverse native cultivars for their home consumption, valorizing their taste, cooking qualities and lower resource requirements.

Diagnosis of Cystic Echinococcosis, Central Peruvian Highlands

We evaluated prevalence of cystic echinococcosis (CE) in a central Peruvian Highland district by using 4 diagnostic methods: ultrasonography for 949 persons, radiography for 829, and 2 serologic tests for 929 (2 immunoblot formats using bovine hydatid cyst fluid [IBCF] and recombinant EpC1 glutathione S-transferase [rEpC1-GST] antigens). For the IBCF and rEpC1-GST testing, prevalence of liver and pulmonary CE was 4.7% and 1.1% and seropositivity was 8.9% and 19.7%, respectively. Frequency of seropositive results for IBCF and rEpC1-GST testing was 35.7% and 16.7% (all hepatic cysts), 47.1% and 29.4% (hepatic calcifications excluded), and 22.2% and 33.3% (lung cysts), respectively. Weak immune response against lung cysts, calcified cysts, small cysts, and cysts in sites other than lung and liver might explain the poor performance of the serodiagnostic tests. We confirm that CE is highly endemic to Peru and emphasize the limited performance of available serologic assays in the field.