10 research outputs found

    Ecotoxicological evaluation of caffeine and its derivatives from a simulated chlorination step

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    Caffeine is ubiquitous in surface and ground waters and it has been proposed as a marker of the anthropogenic pressure on the environment. Sewage treatment plants based on active sludges seem to be not very efficient in its complete removal from effluents while addnl. disinfection treatments by chlorination are able to do it. In a simulation of the chlorination step herein we report that caffeine is transformed in six byproducts: 8-???chlorocaffeine, 1,???3-???dimethyl-???5-???azabarbituric acid, N,???N'-???dimethylparabanic acid, N,???N'-???dimethyloxalamide, N-???methylurea and N,???N'-???dimethylurea. The ecotoxicity of caffeine and identified compds. was evaluated on the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus and the alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata to assess acute and chronic toxicity, while SOS Chromotest and Ames Test were used to detect the genotoxic potential of the investigated compds. Moreover, we assessed the possible antigenotoxic effect of the selected compds. using SOS Chromotest after co-???incubation with the std. genotoxin, 4-???nitroquinoline 1-???oxide. Chronic exposure to these compds. caused inhibition of growth population on the rotifer while the algae seemed to be unaffected. Results indicated that caffeine (1)???, N,???N'-???dimethyloxamide (4) and N,???N'-???dimethylparabanic acid (5) reduced ??-???galactosidase activity in comparison with pos. control, both at 1 and 5 mg???/L of 4-???NQNO with a good dose-???response

    Photochemical Fate and Eco-genotoxicity Assessment of the Drug Etodolac.

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    International audienceThe photochemical behavior of etodolac was investigated under various irradiation conditions. Kinetic data were obtained after irradiation of 10− 4 M aqueous solutions by UVB, UVA and direct exposure to sunlight. The Xenon lamp irradiation was used in order to determine the photodegradation quantum yield under sun-simulated condition (ϕsun). The value was determined to be = 0.10 ± 0.01. In order to obtain photoproducts and for mechanistic purposes, experiments were carried out on more concentrated solutions by exposure to sunlight and to UVA and UVB lamps. The drug underwent photooxidative processes following an initial oxygen addition to the double bond of the five membered ring and was mainly converted into a spiro compound and a macrolactam. Ecotoxicity tests were performed on etodolac, its photostable spiro derivative and its sunlight irradiation mixture on two different aquatic trophic levels, plants (algae) and invertebrates (rotifers and crustaceans). Mutagenesis and genotoxicity were detected on bacterial strains. The results showed that only etodolac had long term effects on rotifers although at concentrations far from environmental detection values. A mutagenic and genotoxic potential was found for its derivative

    Are adolescents with anorexia nervosa better at reading minds?

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    ntroduction: The present study aimed to investigate mindreading abilities in female adolescent patients with AN compared to healthy controls (HCs), analysing differences for emotional valence of facial stimuli. Methods: The Eating Disorder Inventory) for evaluating psychological traits associated with eating disorders and the Children’s version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test for evaluating mindreading abilities were administered to 40 Italian female patients (mean age = 14.93; SD= 1.48) with restrictive diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN) and 40 healthy females (mean age = 14.88; SD= 0.56). Results: No significant differences between the AN group and HCs for the Eyes Total score were found. Even when analysing emotional valence of the items, the two groups were equally successful in the facial recognition of positive, negative and neutral emotions. A significant difference was revealed for the percentage of correct responses of item 10 and item 15, where the AN group was less able to correctly identify the target descriptor (Not believing) over the foils than HCs. A significant difference was revealed in discriminating for affective emotions versus cognitive states; only for affective but not for cognitive states, patients with AN were found to perform better than controls on the mindreading task. Conclusions: Our study highlighted the importance of analysing and discriminating for different valences of facial stimuli when assessing mindreading abilities in adolescents with AN, so that more precise and specific treatment approaches could be developed for female adolescents with A

    CHLORPROPHAM AND PHENISOPHAM: PHOTOTRANSFORMATION AND ECOTOXICITY OF CARBAMATES IN THE AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT

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    In this study, a comparison of two carbamic pesticides, chlorpropham and phenisopham, was carried out in terms of both photodegradability and ecotoxicity. The photochemical behaviour of the two pesticides was investigated under environmental-like conditions (aqueous media, UVB or solar irradiation). The photochemical kinetic parameters were calculated by irradiating 5 105 M solutions (H2O–CH3CN, 9 : 1 v/v) using UVB lamps. For chlorpropham and phenisopham similar half-life times (39.0 and 55.0 min) were determined. Irradiation by sunlight leads to longer degradation half-life times (about 3 months), while it is possible to observe the formation of the same photoproducts. The well-known dechlorination reaction to a hydroxyphenylcarbamate was observed for chlorpropham. Phenisopham undergoes photo-Fries reaction to give rearranged products (hydroxybenzamides) and fragmentation products (hydroxyphenylcarbamate and N-ethylaniline). Acute and chronic toxicity tests of pesticides and their photoproducts were performed on organisms from two levels of the freshwater aquatic chain, the anostraca crustacean Thamnocephalus platyurus, the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus and the alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. The acute results showed that chlorpropham had median lethal concentrations for the crustacean T. platyurus and the rotifer B. calyciflorus of 10.16 and 35.19 mg L1, respectively, and phenisopham did not show any acute toxicity as the derivatives up to 10 mg L1. The only exception was N-ethylaniline which exhibited an acute LC50 value of 0.46 mg L1. Phenisopham was the most toxic in the long term exposure while its five derivatives showed lower chronic potential for rotifers and algae. The same trend was observed for chlorpropham except for rotifers

    Sildenafil and tadalafil in simulated chlorination conditions: Ecotoxicity of drugs and their derivatives

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    Chlorination experiments on two drugs (sildenafil and tadalafil) were performed mimicking the conditions of a typical wastewater treatment process. The main transformation products were isolated by chromatographic techniques (Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC), Column Chromatography (CC), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)) and fully characterized employing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Mass Spectrometry (MS) analyses. The environmental effects of the parent compounds and transformation products were evaluated using an overall toxicity approach that considered aquatic acute and chronic toxicity on Brachionus calyciflorus and Ceriodaphnia dubia as well as mutagenesis and genotoxicity on bacterial strains. The results revealed that both parent drugs did not show high acute and chronic toxicity for the organisms utilized in the bioassays while, chronic exposure to chlorine derivatives caused inhibition of growth population on rotifers and crustaceans. A mutagenic potential was found for all the compounds investigate
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