Field deployable Reverse Transcriptase–Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RT-RPA) for detection of Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV)

Margaret Redinbaugh Suresh L.M. (2022, [Artículo])

Maize Lethal Necrosis Diagnostics Recombinase Polymerase Amplification CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA MAIZE MAIZE CHLOROTIC MOTTLE VIRUS DISEASES DETECTION

Perfil epidemiológico y características clínicas de la escleritis en una población del noreste de México

YOLANDA MACIAS RODRIGUEZ (2022, [Artículo])

La epiescleritis (ESC) y escleritis (SC) son enfermedades que se caracterizan por causar inflamación de la capa externa fibrosa del globo ocular, la esclera y epiesclera. Estos padecimientos fueron descritos desde el siglo XIX y el Dr. Watson proporcionó la clasificación clínica que se usa para ordenarlas en sus diferentes subtipos. La etiología de las ESC y SC puede ser idiopática o asociada a causas específicas, como enfermedades autoinmunes, traumatismos, cirugías o infecciones. En diversas poblaciones del mundo se han reportado previamente las características de las ESC y SC. Sin embargo, en la población mexicana solo existen reportes de casos de presentaciones inusuales de ESC y SC y una sola serie reportando las características de la SC. Por lo anterior, se decidió llevar a cabo el presente estudio para expandir el conocimiento acerca de las características de la ESC y SC en la población mexicana. Se realizó un estudio retrospectivo y observacional. El diseño metodológico corresponde a una serie de casos. Se incluyeron pacientes con diagnóstico de ESC y SC, que hubieran firmado el consentimiento informado para participación en investigación clínica. Se analizaron los expedientes físicos y electrónicos de los pacientes que cumplieran con los criterios de inclusión, se tomó la información correspondiente a las variables previamente establecidas y se vació en una hoja de Microsoft Excel y posteriormente se analizaron estadísticamente con el programa SPSS (IBM). Se encontraron y analizaron 55 casos de ESC y 130 casos de SC. En ambos grupos hubo una predominancia del sexo femenino y la edad media fue mayor en pacientes con SC que en ESC (52.26 vs. 44.78 años). El tipo más común de ESC fue la simple y en SC la anterior difusa. La SC posterior fue el subtipo menos frecuente. La etiología más frecuente en ESC y SC fue la idiopática, y la segunda en frecuencia fue la espondiloartropatía asociada al haplotipo HLA B27 y la artritis reumatoide respectivamente. Los motivos de consulta más frecuente fueron ojo rojo solamente y ojo rojo doloroso. Los síntomas más comúnmente descritos por los pacientes con ESC y SC fueron ojo rojo, sensación de cuerpo extraño, dolor, lagrimeo y visión borrosa. Asimismo, los datos clínicos más comúnmente encontrados en pacientes con ESC y SC fueron la ingurgitción de los plexos conjuntivales y epiesclerales, queratopatía punteada superficial y queratitis ulcerativa periférica. La agudeza visual promedio fue buena tanto en ESC como en SC, siendo de 20/25 y 20/30 respectivamente. Para el análisis de tratamiento y recurrencias, se consideraron a los pacientes con un seguimiento mayor a una consulta, consistiendo estos últimos en 35 ESC y 108 SC. En la ESC, 91.4% de los pacientes fueron tratados con un AINE oral, 57.1% con esteroide tópico y 5.7% con AINE tópico. En SC, 76.9% usaron un AINE oral, 62% un esteroide oral, 50% un esteroide tópico y 52.7% un agente imnunosupresor. 29.6% de los pacientes con SC tuvieron una recurrencia. Al comparar la presente serie con las series de ESC y SC reportadas previamente en la literatura se encontró una considerable cantidad de similitudes, como la predominancia del sexo femenino, la media de edad, la incidencia estimada, los síntomas y signos, el tratamiento empleado y la cantidad de recurrencias y su asociación a una edad menor. Debido a todos lo anterior, se concluyó que la presentación de las ESC y SC en la población mexicana es similar a la presentación en otras poblaciones del mundo, previamente reportadas.

Especialidad en Oftalmología

MEDICINA Y CIENCIAS DE LA SALUD CIENCIAS MÉDICAS CIENCIAS CLÍNICAS OFTALMOLOGÍA

Manicaland inception meeting: Feed the future mechanization and extension a ctivity (October 2022 to September 2024)

Md Abdul Matin (2023, [Objeto de congreso])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SMALLHOLDERS ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Pathways from information to the adoption of conservation agriculture practices in Malawi and Tanzania

Paswel Marenya Dil Bahadur Rahut (2023, [Artículo])

To reduce agriculture's carbon, land and water footprint, the diffusion of conservation farming methods is one commonly cited proposition. Yet the process of translating available information on new conservation farming methods into farmers' practices is often a black box in many studies. This understanding is critical to inform strategies for scaling these complex, knowledge-intensive, but necessary practices for improving agriculture's resource and climate balance sheet. By implementing a series of mediation analysis using data from 700 households in Malawi and 930 households in Tanzania, this study examines how an improved understanding of conservation agriculture (CA) principles is an important mediator in the pathway from extension contact to the adoption of two of the CA practices examined. For the adoption of conservation tillage, the share of the mediated treatment effect was in the 31.5–34.4% range, while it was 31.6–46.9% for the adoption of soil cover (mulching). Our results suggest that unless learning from external sources strongly correlates with improved farmers' technical understanding of new farming practices, private learning by doing must be a critical adjunct to other avenues of learning. Beyond the basic promotional goals, improving farmers' technical know-how needs to be the centerpiece of holistic efforts in support of conservation farming and similar knowledge-intensive practices necessary for agriculture's sustinability goals.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE SMALLHOLDERS AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES FIELD EXPERIMENTATION

Value chain research and development: The quest for impact

Jason Donovan (2023, [Artículo])

Motivation: For decades, governments, donors, and practitioners have promoted market-based development approaches (MBDA), most recently in the form of value chain development (VCD), to spur economic growth and reduce poverty. Changes in approaches have been shaped by funders, practitioners and researchers in ways that are incompletely appreciated. Purpose: We address the following questions: (1) how have researchers and practitioners shaped discussions on MBDA?; and (2) how has research stimulated practice, and how has practice informed research? We hypothesize that stronger exchange between researchers and practitioners increases the relevance and impact of value chain research and development. Methods and approach: We adopt Downs' (1972) concept of issue-attention cycles, which posits that attention to a particular issue follows a pattern where, first, excitement builds over potential solutions; followed by disenchantment as the inherent complexity, trade-offs, and resources required to solve it become apparent; and consequently attention moves on to a new issue. We review the literature on MBDA to see how far this framing applies. Findings: We identify five cycles of approaches to market-based development over the last 40 or more years: (1) non-traditional agricultural exports; (2) small and medium enterprise development; (3) value chains with a globalization perspective; (4) value chains with an agri-business perspective; and (5) value chain development. The shaping and sequencing of these cycles reflect researchers' tendency to analyse and criticize MBDA, while providing limited guidance on workable improvements; practitioners' reluctance to engage in critical reflection on their programmes; and an institutional and funding environment that encourages new approaches. Policy implications: Future MBDA will benefit from stronger engagement between researchers, practitioners, and funders. Before shifting attention to new concepts and approaches, achievements and failures in previous cycles need to be scrutinized. Evidence-based practice should extend for the length of the issue-attention cycle; preferably it should arrest the cycling of attention. Funders can help by requiring grantees to critically reflect on past action, by providing “safe spaces” for sharing such reflections, and by engaging in joint learning with practitioners and researchers.

Agri-Food Value Chains Issue-Attention Cycles Market-Based Development Approaches CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA VALUE CHAINS PRIVATE SECTOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT SMALLHOLDERS

Mapping crop and livestock value chain actors in Mbire and Murehwa districts in Zimbabwe

Hambulo Ngoma Moti Jaleta Frédéric Baudron (2023, [Documento de trabajo])

We conducted a preliminary value chain actors mapping for major crops grown and livestock kept by smallholder farmers in Mbire and Murehwa districts of Zimbabwe. Accordingly, in this report we mapped value chain actors for 11 crops and livestock commodities: namely, sorghum, cotton, sesame, maize, groundnut, sweet-potato, vegetables (tomato and onion), cattle, goats, poultry, and honey/beekeeping. Except sesame from Mbire, most of the crop and livestock commodities are channeled to the main markets in Harare and Marondera for Murehwa. Sesame is smuggled to Mozambique and the market is mainly dependent on middlemen. The Grain Market Board (GMB) is the major actor in sorghum and maize marketing in both districts. Groundnut is sold to both rural and urban consumers after processing it to peanut butter locally within the production zones. Goats and cattle are mostly supplied to the Harare market by middlemen collecting these livestock from village markets and moving door-to-door to buy enough quantity to transport to Harare. Honey production and marketing is still at its initial stage through the support of HELP from Germany and the Zimbabwe Apiculture Trust projects. Long dry season is a challenge in honey production. The Pfumvudza program supported by the Presidential free input scheme helped in introducing and scaling conservation agriculture practices in Zimbabwe. Though there is strong integration of crop-livestock systems at both districts, the level of manure use is gradually decreasing because farmers receive chemical fertilizer support from the Pfumvudza program and applying manure to crop fields is labor-intensive. The input supply system is more competitive in Murehwa district where there are quite several input suppliers in town. The possible interventions that favor agroecological transitions are: (1) honey processing plants and supply of beehives to potential areas, (2) encouraging manure use in crop production, possibly linking it to the basins preparation requirement to be eligible for the presidential input subsidy scheme, (3) support the organic vegetable production initiatives and explore market segments in Harare paying premium prices for certified organic products, (4) Expedite payment systems in sorghum and maize marketing with GMB, and (5) sesame production with agroecologically friendly agronomy and improve markets.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA VALUE CHAINS CROPS LIVESTOCK SMALLHOLDERS SUPPLY CHAINS

Using Sentinel-2 to track field-level tillage practices at regional scales in smallholder systems

Preeti Rao ML JAT Balwinder-Singh Deepak Bijarniya Urs Schulthess Rajbir Singh Meha Jain (2021, [Artículo])

Sentinel-2 Random Forest Google Earth Engine CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SATELLITES ZERO TILLAGE CONVENTIONAL TILLAGE SMALLHOLDERS

Using microsatellite data to estimate the persistence of field-level yield gaps and their drivers in smallholder systems

Balwinder-Singh Meha Jain (2023, [Artículo])

One way to meet growing food demand is to increase yields in regions that have large yield gaps, including smallholder systems. To do this, it is important to quantify yield gaps, their persistence, and their drivers at large spatio-temporal scales. Here we use microsatellite data to map field-level yields from 2014 to 2018 in Bihar, India and use these data to assess the magnitude, persistence, and drivers of yield gaps at the landscape scale. We find that overall yield gaps are large (33% of mean yields), but only 17% of yields are persistent across time. We find that sowing date, plot area, and weather are the factors that most explain variation in yield gaps across our study region, with earlier sowing associated with significantly higher yield values. Simulations suggest that if all farmers were able to adopt ideal management strategies, including earlier sowing and more irrigation use, yield gaps could be closed by up to 42%. These results highlight the ability of micro-satellite data to understand yield gaps and their drivers, and can be used to help identify ways to increase production in smallholder systems across the globe.

Yield Drivers Yield Mapping CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA MICROSATELLITES YIELD GAP SMALLHOLDERS FOOD PRODUCTION YIELD INCREASES

Impacto de COVID-19 sobre el consumo eléctrico de las PYMES de la Zona Metropolitana de Aguascalientes

Alonso Darío Pizarro Lagunas (2021, [Tesis de maestría])

La irrupción de COVID-19 en el escenario mundial no sólo se convirtió en una crisis de salud pública sino una crisis económica que tuvo efectos heterogéneos en muchos países en el mundo. En particular, muchas economías experimentaron una fuerte contracción en su producto interno bruto debido en gran parte a las medidas de distanciamiento social y restricción de actividades no esenciales que los países adoptaron para proteger la salud de sus habitantes. Esto afectó al sector eléctrico, ya que muchas industrias disminuyeron su consumo energético. En México, las pequeñas y medianas empresas representan una parte importante del consumo eléctrico de la industria. En este sentido, tomando una muestra representativa de pequeños y medianos establecimientos de la Zona Metropolitana de Aguascalientes estudiamos el comportamiento del consumo eléctrico de estas empresas notando que hubo caídas significativas del consumo eléctrico cuando irrumpió la pandemia en marzo de 2020 en la ZMA. Además, notamos que la caída en consumo eléctrico fue más pronunciada para establecimientos en el sector de servicios que establecimientos en el sector de comercios durante la pandemia. Además, se concluye que las disminuciones en la jornada laboral jugaron un papel importante en esta contracción, mientras que las medidas como digitalización y reducción de empleados no estuvieron relacionadas con la variación de consumo eléctrico en estos pequeños y medianos establecimientos.

Small business -- Energy consumption -- Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- on -- Aguascalientes (Mexico) -- Econometric models. COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- -- Aguascalientes (Mexico) -- Economic aspects. CIENCIAS SOCIALES CIENCIAS SOCIALES

Impacts of climate change on agriculture and household welfare in Zambia: an economy-wide analysis

Hambulo Ngoma (2023, [Objeto de congreso])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CLIMATE CHANGE SMALLHOLDERS ECONOMIC ANALYSIS