Mechanical damage to annual weeds and carrots by in-row brush weeding

Field experiments were carried out in order to assess the selectivity of in-row brush weeding in carrots with a natural flora of annual weeds, represented by Urtica urens L., Stellaria media (L.) Vill., Chenopodium album L., Senecio vulgaris L., Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Med., Chamomilla suaveolens (L.) Pursh Buch. and Matricaria inodora L. The mechanisms by which the weeds and carrots were controlled (uprooting vs. soil covering) were studied using a portable vacuum-cleaner. Weeds at the two- to four-true-leaf stage proved to be more sensitive to brushing than carrots with two to four true leaves but, for later development stages of the weeds, there were no differences. Weeds at the six- to eight-leaf stage were only killed to an extent of 20–50%. Uprooting generally accounted for 45–90% of the weed mortality at the two- to four-leaf stage, whereas most of the mortality in carrots was the result of soil covering. The vacuum-cleaning method proved to be a simple and rapid way of determining whether plants had been killed by uprooting or soil covering. It was concluded that the major mechanism of weed control obtained by brush weeding is uprooting.     

Assessment of clinical reasoning skills in veterinary students prior to and after the clinical year of training

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of various clinical tracks within the veterinary medical clinical curriculum at Texas A&M University on clinical diagnostic proficiency as determined by pre- and post-training assessment. We expected that the clinical track chosen by the student would impact their measured outcome with bias toward higher scores in their chosen field. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. STUDY POPULATION: 32 students from the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University. PROCEDURES: By use of standardized, written case scenarios, clinical reasoning was assessed twice: once prior to the clinical (fourth) year of the curriculum and again at completion of the clinical year. Students demonstrated their abilities to collect and organize appropriate clinical data (history, physical examination, and laboratory findings), determine clinical diagnoses, and formulate and implement acceptable treatment modalities. Data from clinical assessments were compared for a given cohort and correlated with other measures (eg, grades, standardized test scores, and species-specific curricular track). RESULTS: Differences were detected in clinical diagnostic proficiency among students in different clinical tracks and for different species groups in the case scenarios. Tracking by species group in the clinical veterinary curriculum appeared to affect development of clinical reasoning and resulted in differential proficiency among cases for differing species groups. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Differences in clinical experiences between small animal tracks and all other track opportunities (large animal, mixed animal, and alternative) influenced the development of clinical proficiency in fourth-year veterinary students during their clinical training period.