Influence of cover crops with allelopathic potential and their reduction of herbicide use for soybean productivity.

The allelophaty expressed by soil cover crops over weed varies according to species, quality and quantity of material produced. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of cover crops and in the management of weeds and their effects on soybean yield. The experiment was laid in tri-factorial randomized block design with four replication. Factor A was cover crops (oats, forage chicory, quinoa and fallow), factor B was application of paraquat 400 g i.a ha-1, glyphosate 1200 g i.a ha-1 and mowing and factor C was one and two applications of post-emergent herbicide (glyphosate). For cover crops, the percentage of soil cover was evaluated at 53 DAE (days after emergence) of soybean. Weed species and their densities at 53 DAE of soybean were identified. At the end of the experiment, soybean yield was evaluated. The data were analyzed by the F test and comparison between means by the Tukey test (P ≤ 0.05). Oats are the best option for weed inhibition and early soybean development. Quinoa and forage chicory were slow to cover the soil, but weed inhibition occurred. There were no large variations in post-emergence herbicide applications, which made possible to reduce an application without compromising the expected result.

Impact of continuous quality improvement initiatives on clinical outcomes in peritoneal dialysis / 医学研究生学报

Objective We evaluated the role of a quality improvement initiative in improving clinical outcomes in peritoneal di-alysis ( PD) . Methods In a retrospective analysis of 6 years of data from a hospital registry, the period between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2008 ( control group) provided baseline data from before implementation of systemic outcomes monitoring, and the period between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2011 [continuous quality improvement (CQI) group] represented the time when a CQI program was in place.Per-itonitis incidence, patient and technique survival, cardiovascular status, causes of death, and drop-out were compared between the groups. Results In the 370 patients of the CQI group and the 249 patients of the control group, the predominant underlying kidney diseases were chronic glomerulonephritis and diabetic nephropathy.After implementation of the CQI initiative, the peritonitis rate de-clined to 1 episode in 77.3 patient-months from 1 episode in 22.6 patient-months.In the CQI group, the complicance of blood pressure was more significantly improved than the control group ( 67.8% vs 47.4%,P<0.05).During the 3 years of follow-up,cardiothoracic ratio and IVST were significantly increased in the control group [0.55 ± 0.08 vs 0.51 ±0.05,P<0.05,11.07 ±1.66 mm vs 10.25 ±1.38 mm, P<0.05〗.The difference of LVID between the two groups was signifi-cant at the 2nd and 3rd year of follow-up(P<0.05).Patient survival at 1, 2, and 3 years was significantly higher in the CQI group (97.3%, 96.3%, and 96.3%respectively) than in the control group (92.6%, 82.4%, and 67.3%respectively, P<0.001).Imple-mentation of the CQI initiative also appeared to significantly improve technique survival rates:95.6%, 92.6%, and 92.6%in the CQI group compared with 89.6%, 79.2%, and 76.8%in the control group (P<0.001) after 1, 2, and 3 years respectively. Conclusion Integration of a CQI process into a PD program can significantly improve the quality of therapy and its outcomes.