Week Of September Research Articles

Seasonal Use of Dairies as Overnight Roosts by Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

The Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is an invasive bird species in North America that can cause damage to dairies. Starlings roost in structures on dairies overnight, defecating on cows, feed, and supplies. To target roosts for effective deterrence, farmers must know what times of the year starling populations are greatest. To test seasonality, two data sets were analyzed. First, birds were counted for 20–30 min at sunrise and sunset on 10 Whatcom County, Washington dairies over four weeks in September and October of 2016. Starling counts were greater in the last week of observations than in weeks one, two, and three. Second, birds were counted at sunset for four weeks during winter 2021 and spring and summer 2022 at two dairies in the Palouse region of Washington State and Idaho. As temperature and minutes of daylight decreased, bird abundance increased. There was also an effect of season, with more birds counted in winter and spring than in summer. These data sets combined suggest a seasonal use of dairies as night roosts by starlings. With this information, farmers in the United States will know to contact wildlife managers in the summer, so a starling deterrence strategy can be developed before roosts are established in the fall.

Artificial intelligence-based prediction of oral mucositis in patients with head-and-neck cancer: A prospective observational study utilizing a thermographic approach

ABSTRACT JOURNAL/crsat/04.03/02201859-202306020-00003/figure1/v/2023-08-03T140821Z/r/image-tiff JOURNAL/crsat/04.03/02201859-202306020-00003/figure2/v/2023-08-03T140821Z/r/image-tiff Background: In patients with locally advanced head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), chemoradiotherapy improves outcomes. Radiotherapy commonly causes mucositis, which can significantly impede treatment and reduce the patient’s quality of life. Patients with severe mucocutaneous toxicity will show significant changes in thermal intensity early on, when compared to identically treated counterparts without toxicity. Objective: We aimed to assess the accuracy of the automated computer-aided deep learning approach in predicting the occurrence of oral mucositis in patients with HNSCC undergoing radiotherapy alone or with concurrent chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted over four weeks in September 2021 in the Department of Radiotherapy at the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital, Sangrur (Punjab, India). We enrolled patients with HNSCC who were planned for radical intent radiotherapy, with or without concurrent chemotherapy. Using an automated deep learning technique, we analyzed the images taken with a FLIR-E60 thermal camera on the same day that patients received radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy. Thermal images were binarily classified into two grades, that is, Grade 0 (absence of mucositis) and Grade I (asymptomatic or mild symptoms of mucositis). The dataset was split into training and testing cohorts, with a split ratio of 0.8. Accuracy was calculated as the ratio of correct predicted or classified instances to the total number of instances in the dataset. Accuracy was categorized as testing accuracy and training accuracy. Results: A total of 386 thermal images from 50 patients were acquired. Of these, 308 images (79.8%) were used for the training set and 78 (20.2%) for the testing set. There were 206 images (53.4%) with Grade 0 mucositis and 180 (46.6%) with Grade I. There was a significant difference in the thermal profile of patients with Grade 0 and Grade I images; P = 0.01. The model achieved promising results with 100% training accuracy and 82% testing accuracy. This led to a significant improvement in the false-negative rate of the proposed model, indicating improved performance. Conclusion: The deep learning approach-based analysis of thermal images can be a useful technique for predicting oral mucositis at an early stage in treatment, thus helping in intensifying supportive care. The model has been tested on a diverse dataset, and its performance in terms of accuracy validates the proposed model.

Evaluation of Garlic Genotypes under Farmer’s Field Condition of Jumla, Nepal

On-farm trial on different garlic genotypes selected from Advance Yield Trial was carried out at Patrashi Rural Municipality of Jumla (2430 masl) for two consecutive years 2017/18 and 2018/19 to evaluate garlic genotypes suitable for the high hills of Karnali region of Nepal. Twelve different garlic genotypes: ARM 01, ARM 02, ARM 03, ARM 04, ARM 05, ARM 07, ARM 09, Mugu Local, Kathmandu Local, Chinese, Holeri and Malikabota were tested on Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Each treatment was replicated three times. Compost was used at 20t/ha at the time of land preparation. There was no use of chemical fertilizer. Selected cloves of garlic were planted with 15 cm x 10 cm spacing of row to row and clove to clove respectively. Planting and harvesting were done on the third week of September and first week of July respectively. Tested genotypes differed significantly for vegetative as well as yield parameters. The genotype ARM01 produced the bulbs with the highest (50.49 mm) diameter followed by ARM 04 (45.14 mm), Kathmandu Local (34.52 mm) and Chinese (33.44 mm) respectively. The highest bulb yield (29.73 t/ha) was recorded from genotype ARM 01 followed by Kathmandu Local (19.4 t/ha), ARM 04 (18.51 t/ha) and Chinese (17.59 t/ha). Based on the average result of both years, genotypes ARM 01, Kathmandu Local, ARM 04, and Chinese showing above mentioned average productivity ranging from 17.59 t/ha to 29.73 t/ha, were identified as the promising genotypes for commercial cultivation in the high hills of Karnali region of Nepal.

Trend during Growth, Development and Quality Attributes of Ber (Zizyphus mauritiana Lamk.) Fruits: A Review

The trends in growth, development and quality attributes of Ber (Zizyphus mauritiana Lamk.) included changes observed during growth and development, namely fruiting behavior, physical properties and biochemical components of the ber fruit at different stages of growth and development. Flowering began in mid-September and ended in mid-November with the peak of the flowering period in mid-October. While the fruit setting was between the third week of September to the first week of December, but the peak fruit initiation period was the last week of September to mid-October. During fruit growth, development and yield attribute the percentage of fruit drop and retention also changes. Ber fruits were harvested in five times collections and the peak yield period was the first week of March. In the physical changes, the study revealed that length, width, weight, volume, pulp weight, and seed weight increased from fruit set to maturity at all stages of growth and development except for specific weight, which first increased in month of mid-November and then decreased when the fruits continued in the harvest phase. The biochemical changes in fruit in terms of total sugars, ascorbic acid, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars and total sugars increased steadily from fruit set to maturity, when titratable acidity showed a trend decreasing during fruit growth and development.

Improving yield and quality of Manfalouty pomegranate growing in newly reclaimed soils by using bagging and some foliar spray treatments

We looked into bagging and spraying as potential methods for increasing the yield and quality of Manfaloty pomegranate trees. During the 2020 and 2021 seasons, 7-year-old trees were used in the investigation. They were grown in calcareous sandy soil at high temperatures. Six treatments were used to examine the effects on fruit yield and quality parameters at harvest time in the first week of September. These treatments included foliar spraying with kaolin and potassium silicate treatments, polypropylene bags and bagging with white and yellow paper. Results indicated that white paper bagging resulted in the lowest percentage of fruit cracking and sunburn compared to the control and other treatments. White paper bagging increased fruit yield, weight, length and diameter. Additionally, compared to the other treatments, the application of kaolin spray increased the biochemical contents of the fruit (TSS, total sugars, vitamin C, anthocyanin, and juice) while lowering acidity and tannins. We concluded that using kaolin spray and white paper bags could help increase the yield and quality of Manfaloty pomegranate grown under challenging conditions.

Spatial and Temporal Monitoring of North African Turtle Doves Streptopelia turtur arenicola (Hartert, EJO, 1894): First Migrants Arrive Early and Select Nesting Trees next to Foraging Resources while Second Breeders’ Wave Breed around Earlier Nests

This study aimed to evaluate the spatial microdistribution and temporal microdistribution of the North African subspecies of the globally threatened Turtle Doves in Morocco. From the end of February to early September, we monitored the migration dates, counting arrival and departure dates, and breeding chronology, to clarify if the breeding season is divided into sub-breeding phases or not. Equally, the spatial distribution of nests following potential breeding phases was surveyed weekly in Beni Mellal province following a map of a selected orange orchard. Doves arrived in Beni Mellal in the third week of March and left in mid-October, according to the results. The first nests occurred in the second week of April, followed by the first eggs in the third week of April and the first chicks in the first week of May. PCA analysis showed that the nesting and laying stages were achieved principally during the last two weeks of April and the first three weeks of May, the hatching stage between the fourth week of May and the second week of July, and fledging between the fourth week of July and the first week of September. Further, the breeding season was divided into two phases: the first breeding phase, from the first week of April to the first week of June, and the second phase, between the second week of June and the second week of August. The DCA analysis and orchard-created map indicated that the first wave of breeders colonized the marginal trees located on the orchard sides, surrounded by foraging cereals and legumes, and the second breeding-phase nests were constructed in flocks next to the nests of the first breeding phase. According to this strategy, the first breeders prospect the orchard and select nesting trees near foraging resources, while the second breeders’ wave colonizes trees near successfully used prospector sites. These findings are of great importance for comparative investigations and habitat-scale conservation management.

Influence of Prevailing Weather Parameters on Population Dynamics of Leafhopper Empoasca kerri and Thrips Scirtothrips dorsalis on Groundnut in Semi Arid Ecosystem of Rajasthan

The field experiment were conducted at Agronomy farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner during Kharif, 2020 and 2021 to know the population dynamics of leafhopper, Empoasca kerri Pruthi and thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood on groundnut. The primary focus of research on the effects of weather variables on insect ecology. The incidence of leafhopper, E. kerri and thrips S. dorsalis appeared in the fifth and fourth week of July in both the years and the population of leafhopper and thrips reached to its peak in the second and first week of September during Kharif, 2020 and 2021 respectively. The correlation studies indicated that the leafhopper and thrips population had significant positive correlation with relative humidity (r= 0.62 and r= 0.60) and (r= 0.77 and r= 0.75) during both the Kharif seasons 2020 and 2021 respectively. Whereas the leafhopper and thrips population had significant positive correlation (r= 0.59 and r= 0.61) respectively at minimum temperature in Kharif 2021.

Abundance estimates of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) in Bahía San Antonio, Patagonia, Argentina

The abundance of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) was estimated by the means of aerial line-transect surveys for the area of Bahía San Antonio, a bay located in the north-western region of the San Matías Gulf (40°50’S 64°50’W), Rio Negro, Patagonia Argentina. In total, seven aerial surveys were conducted in the first week of August and September 2009, September, October and November 2010, and August, September 2011. Survey effort equalled a total flight time of 12.4h, during which 200 whales were counted in 119 whale groups. Half of the encounters were solitary animals and 17% were mating groups. Corrected abundance estimates showed the highest amount of whales present in the bay during the month of September, with 85±71, 207±108 and 117±55 animals in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. In adjacent months, less than half the amount of whales seemed to be present. The correction factor g(0)availability resulted 0.392±0.456. Perception bias was not accounted for. These aerial surveys resulted in the first estimates of southern right whale abundance in this north Patagonian bay and indicated a rather abrupt peak during the month of September. This being the peak month for right whale presence is consistent with data from other regions in the Southwest Atlantic, but data obtained in the other months remained scarce and thus results should be interpreted carefully. The complete absence of whales in the area during November 2010 and August 2011 raises further questions on the predictability of the whale’s presence in the area. Overall, more consistent aerial surveys should be conducted to accurately determine the annual and interannual evolution of southern right whale abundance in the study area.

기혼 보육교사의 일-가정 갈등과 향상이 직장과 가정생활 만족에 미치는 영향

Objectives This study has the purpose of researching the mediating effects of job resources of the effects of married child-care teachers’ work-family conflict and enrichment on the work and family life satisfaction.
 Methods The subjects of this study were 534 married childcare teachers working at daycare centers in 5 cities in Gyeonggi-do, and the data was collected from the 1st week of August to the 2nd week of September 2019 through questionnaires. For data processing, frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation model were performed using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0 programs.
 Results The results of this study are the following. First, the work-family conflict of married childcare teachers was found to have an negative effect on family life satisfaction, and work-family improvement was found to have an positive effect on work and family life satisfaction. Second, In the work-family conflict of married child-care teachers’ effects on work-life satisfaction, the ego-resilience statistically functioned as a mediating role and it did not have any mediating effects on spouse support and social support. In the effects of married child-care teachers’ work-family conflict on family-life satisfaction, ego-resilience and social support have partial mediating effects and spouse support did not have any mediating effects. In the effects of married child-care teachers’ work-family enrichment on work-life satisfaction, ego-resilience, spouse support, and social support do not have any mediating effects. In the effects of married child-care teachers’ work-family enrichment on family-life satisfaction, ego-resilience, spouse support, and social support statistically have mediating effects.
 Conclusions Based on the findings, it was confirmed the importance of a plan to respond appropriately for the satisfaction of work and family life through effective management of work-family conflict of married child-care teachers.

Technology of cultivation of annual Alexandrian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum)

The article discusses the results of research on a new technology we developed for the cultivation of an annual crop of Alexandrian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum), which includes a method of pre-sowing treatment of seeds with different terms and methods of sowing. Recently, along with agrotechnical measures to stabilize crop production, there is a need to cultivate non-traditional crops that are useful for human nutrition and health, and not the least role in this process is played by annual legumes. The short vegetation cycle and the intensive rate of crop formation allow them to be cultivated in repeated crops in places with favorable bio-climatic potential. Annual forage grasses have a variety of uses and purposes. In the zone of sufficient moistening, these are good fallow-grown crops. Annual legumes play an important role in creating a strong fodder base: in the summer, they are the main source of green feed production, they serve for the preparation of hay, haylage, silage, concentrated feed in the form of grass flour, cutting, full-fledged briquettes and pellets; annual legumes can also be used as a concentrated feed in the form of grain. Harvesting grasses in the early phases of the growing season and with multi-crop use with the use of artificial drying makes it possible to obtain a feed that is not inferior in total caloric content to oats and barley, and in protein content is significantly superior to them. Annual grasses are very diverse in terms of their agrobiological characteristics: they are widely used as preliminary crops on indigenous improvement lands and as links in the pasture conveyor. Our research conducted over four years (2017-2020) revealed that pre-sowing treatment of seeds of Alexandrian clover double and triple mixtures of PABA, the krezatsinom and infusion of chicory (against the background of preliminary stratification) provides low-cost, environmentally friendly way of pre-sowing stimulation of seeds of Alexandrian clover with simultaneous northering, adaptation, and selection of the best species for use in a specific region. Sowing clover for seeds is advantageously carried out with a width of 50 cm row spacing and seeding rate of 6 kg/ha. The optimal sowing date is beginning of March and the first week of September.

Interpretation of the 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for the management of hyperbilirubinemia in newborn infants

The American Academy of Pediatrics updated the guidelines for the management of hyperbilirubinemia in the newborn infants with a gestational age of ≥35 weeks in September 2022. Based on the evidence over the past 18 years, the guidelines are updated from the aspects of the prevention, risk assessment, intervention, and follow-up of hyperbilirubinemia in the newborn infants with a gestational age of ≥35 weeks. This article gives an interpretation of the key points in the guidelines, so as to safely reduce the risk of bilirubin encephalopathy and unnecessary intervention.

The long-term quality of life following liver transplantation in a developing country with a free health care system

Ceylon Medical Journal (CMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly by the Sri Lanka Medical Association in the last week of March, June, September and December each year. The mission of the CMJ is to promote the science and art of medicine and betterment of public health. The Journal publishes original papers and commentaries which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. The CMJ is committed to maintaining and conforming to the editorial and ethical standards recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Demographics, pathological characteristics and survival in urothelial bladder cancer in a cohort of Sri Lankan patients.

Bladder cancer has the 9th highest incidence among Sri Lankan males. This study describes the demographic profiles and survival in bladder cancer patients at two tertiary care centres in Sri Lanka. A group of patients with urothelial bladder cancer, presenting for the first time for definitive treatment, were prospectively enrolled from 2013 to 2017. There were sixty-six patients, with median age of 65 years and male to female ratio of 7:1. Histopathologically pTa 24%, pT1 47% and pT2 29%. Of the pT1 tumours 61% were low grade (LG). The majority (71%) of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumour only. For the entire cohort the 5-year overall survival was 59% and cancer specific survival (CSS) was 65%. CSS in NMIBC was 75% and 30% in muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). The 5-year female CSS (22%) was significantly lower than in males (71%). Our cohort has a high male to female ratio. The percentage of MIBC was lower than reported in previous Sri Lankan studies. Of the pT1 tumours there is a higher percentage of pT1 LG patients in comparison to Western reports. There is low utilisation of intravesical mitomycin / bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in the treatment of NMIBC. The 5-year CSS in the Sri Lankan (lower middle-income economy) cohort lies between the values of high-income economies and upper middle-income economies in Asia. The reasons for poor CSS among Sri Lankan women with bladder cancer needs to be further investigated.

Blindness and autonomic instability following Russell’s viper bite - A case report.

Ceylon Medical Journal (CMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly by the Sri Lanka Medical Association in the last week of March, June, September and December each year. The mission of the CMJ is to promote the science and art of medicine and betterment of public health. The Journal publishes original papers and commentaries which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. The CMJ is committed to maintaining and conforming to the editorial and ethical standards recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Awareness, attitude and willingness regards cadaveric organ donation and awaness of brain death among Sarawakians in Kuching, Malaysia.

Ceylon Medical Journal (CMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly by the Sri Lanka Medical Association in the last week of March, June, September and December each year. The mission of the CMJ is to promote the science and art of medicine and betterment of public health. The Journal publishes original papers and commentaries which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. The CMJ is committed to maintaining and conforming to the editorial and ethical standards recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Changing paradigm in the management of type 2 diabetes Changing paradigm in the management of type 2 diabetes Changing paradigm in the management of type 2 diabetes Changing paradigm in the management of type 2 diabetes Changing paradigm in the management of type 2 diabetes

Ceylon Medical Journal (CMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly by the Sri Lanka Medical Association in the last week of March, June, September and December each year. The mission of the CMJ is to promote the science and art of medicine and betterment of public health. The Journal publishes original papers and commentaries which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. The CMJ is committed to maintaining and conforming to the editorial and ethical standards recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Postmortem clots (PMC) of the heart; is it merely an artifact or a predictor of cause of death?

Ceylon Medical Journal (CMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly by the Sri Lanka Medical Association in the last week of March, June, September and December each year. The mission of the CMJ is to promote the science and art of medicine and betterment of public health. The Journal publishes original papers and commentaries which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. The CMJ is committed to maintaining and conforming to the editorial and ethical standards recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

A descriptive study of anaemia in the elderly at a tertiary care institute in Sri Lanka.

Anaemia is a commonly encountered condition among the elderly population which calls for further evaluation to identify the cause and to prevent complications. To determine the prevalence, causes and complications related to anaemia among elderly patients admitted to two medical wards (15/16) of Colombo North (Teaching) Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka. Patients aged over>65 years admitted to the above wards between April -Sep 2020 and who had anaemia were included in the study. Clinical and nutritional data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Laboratory findings were extracted from hospital records. The majority of the patients were females (63.2%; n = 129). The mean age was 72.5 years (65 - 92 years). Most of the patients (62.3%; n = 127) were symptomatic for anaemia at the time of hospital admission. The majority of the participants (75.5%; n = 154) did not demonstrate any complications related to anaemia. The severity of the anaemia was moderate among more than half of the patients (52.5%; n=107). Anaemia of chronic disease (54.4%; n=111) was the commonest etiological category detected. The majority of the cases with anaemia of chronic disease were due to chronic renal insufficiency (73.9%; n=82). The severity of the anaemia increased significantly with the presence of chronic disease (p 0.030). Most patients in the present study had moderate anaemia whilst anaemia of chronic disease was the leading aetiological class contributor. Community-based studies are needed to understand the true burden of anaemia in the ageing population in Sri Lanka.

Effect of Intra-Dialytic Parenteral Nutrition (IDPN) on malnourished maintenance haemodialysis patients - Case Series.

Ceylon Medical Journal (CMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly by the Sri Lanka Medical Association in the last week of March, June, September and December each year. The mission of the CMJ is to promote the science and art of medicine and betterment of public health. The Journal publishes original papers and commentaries which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. The CMJ is committed to maintaining and conforming to the editorial and ethical standards recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Study on 300 t of wheat stored in corrugated steel bin for two years in Canada. Part II – Movement and distribution of Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)

Movement and distribution of Cryptolestes ferrugineus and Tribolium castaneum inside a 10 m diameter corrugated steel bin containing 300 t of wheat (initial moisture content of 12.5 ± 0.1%), were monitored by using Insectors® (electronic traps) installed at 65 locations, from September 6, 2019, to October 31, 2021, in Winnipeg, Canada. The data from only 38 locations were available throughout the experimental period due to the failure of some Insectors®. During the first and second week of September 2019, C. ferrugineus adults (combined insect density of 0.25 A/kg) were introduced on the centre grain surface in two equal batches. During the second week of September 2020, the same number of T. castaneum adults (insect density of 0.25 A/kg) were introduced at the same location in two batches. The temperature inside the bin was higher than 7.8 °C, at least at one location throughout 26 months. At the end of the study, both C. ferrugineus and T. castaneum survived inside the bin. Cryptolestes ferrugineus activity was not recorded near the sidewalls at 0.1 m depth from the grain surface, from February to April 2020, when the temperature dropped below 2.5 °C. Cryptolestes ferrugineus activity was recorded when the temperature increased above 4.5 °C. Tribolium castaneum activity was not recorded near the sidewalls at 0.1 m depth when the temperature dropped below 22 °C (mid-October 2020) and the activity was recorded when the temperature increased above 22 °C (mid-July 2021). Although adult T. castaneum were mainly captured at top grain layer (about 1 m depth from the grain surface), they could be captured at any place in the bin. The insect activity near the sidewalls reduced drastically because of the temperature drop. The insect counts and insect activity increased with increase in temperature. Therefore, highest insect counts were recorded inside and around the hot spot for both insects.