Does conversion to reduced tillage really increase soil organic carbon stocks in organic arable farming?

Aggravation of weather extremes increases awareness of climate change consequences. Mitigation options are in demand that aim to reduce the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. Amongst others, the conversion from ploughing to reduced tillage is argued to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks as an accumulation of SOC in topsoil layers is commonly reported. Yet, reviews and meta-analyses describe various results from significant increases to just a redistribution of SOC in the soil profile. Reasons can be found in different sampling depths, SOC and bulk density measurement procedure, and stock calculation (equivalent soil mass vs. equal sampling depth). Furthermore, few studies evaluated the impact of organic farming systems. In nine long-term experiments on tillage systems in temperate Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland), a common soil sampling campaign took place in spring and autumn 2017, and spring 2018. All trials represent common mixed organic farming systems of the respective region and contain plots with conventional and reduced tillage practices. While climatic conditions are similar, soil types vary from sandy to clayey soils. We took three undisturbed soil cores with driving hammer probes (8 cm in diameter) in each plot (minimum 3 plots per treatment) to a maximum depth of 100 cm and divided the cores in the increments 0-30, 30-50, 50-70, and 70-100 cm. The topsoil (0-30 cm) was further divided into the different tillage depths of the respective trial. We determined bulk density and organic carbon concentration as main variables and soil texture and pH as co-variates for each sample and collected C-inputs for each plot in all trails on a yearly basis. Multivariate statistics will enable the comprehensive evaluation of tillage effects on SOC stocks up to a depth of 100 cm in organic long-term trials. Texture, trial age, and the co-variate C-input will be decisive for the development of SOC stocks and enable the evaluation of carbon sequestration potentials of agricultural soils through improved tillage practices

Changing practice: the possibilities and limits for reshaping social work practice

Since 2010 the United Kingdom has witnessed a number of initiatives that shift away from reliance on performance management to improve social work with children and families, towards a renewed interest in practice models. This study reports on the evaluation of a local government programme in England to introduce and embed systemic family practice through the roll out of intensive training to social workers and frontline managers. It was anticipated through the programme that child protection social workers would undertake more direct work with families and build more positive relationships, resulting in a fall in the number of child protection plans and children experiencing repeat periods of care. The evaluation adopted a mixed method approach encompassing an online survey of social workers, interviews with team managers and family members, a case audit and statistical analysis of local level metrics. It found limited employment of systemic family practice or improvement due to the programme. Adopting the 7 S framework, this study examines the barriers to and facilitators of successful change and identifies generic considerations for change programmes in child protection social work

Hair analysis for detection of triptans occasionally used or overused by migraine patients-a pilot study

Purpose The aim of this study is to evaluate the detection rate of almotriptan, eletriptan, frovatriptan, sumatriptan, rizatriptan, and zolmitriptan in the hair of migraineurs taking these drugs; the degree of agreement between type of self-reported triptan and triptan found in hair; if the concentrations in hair were related to the reported cumulative doses of triptans; and whether hair analysis was able to distinguish occasional use from the overuse of these drugs. Methods Out of 300 headache patients consecutively enrolled, we included 147 migraine patients who reported to have taken at least one dose of one triptan in the previous 3 months; 51 % of the patients overused triptans. A detailed pharmacological history and a sample of hair were collected for each patient. Hair samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) by a method that we developed. Results All the triptans could be detected in the hair of the patients. The agreement between type of self-reported triptan and type of triptan found in hair was from fair to good for frovatriptan and zolmitriptan and excellent for almotriptan, eletriptan, sumatriptan, and rizatriptan (P < 0.01, Cohen’s kappa). The correlation between the reported quantities of triptan and hair concentrations was statistically significant for almotriptan, eletriptan, rizatriptan, and sumatriptan (P < 0.01, Spearman’ s rank correlation coefficient). The accuracy of hair analysis in distinguishing occasionally users from overusers was high for almotriptan (ROC AUC = 0.9092), eletriptan (ROC AUC = 0.8721), rizatriptan (ROC AUC = 0.9724), and sumatriptan (ROC AUC = 0.9583). Conclusions Hair analysis can be a valuable system to discriminate occasional use from triptan overuse