Degradation of difenoconazole in water and soil: Kinetics, degradation pathways, transformation products identification and ecotoxicity assessment

Difenoconazole is a widely used triazole fungicide that has been frequently detected in the environment, but comprehensive study about its environmental fate and toxicity of potential transformation products (TPs) is still lacking. Here, laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the degradation kinetics, pathways, and toxicity of transformation products of difenoconazole. 12, 4 and 4 TPs generated by photolysis, hydrolysis and soil degradation were identified via UHPLC-QTOF/MS and the UNIFI software. Four intermediates TP295, TP295A, TP354A and TP387A reported for the first time were confirmed by purchase or synthesis of their standards, and they were further quantified using UHPLC-MS/MS in all tested samples. The main transformation reactions observed for difenoconazole were oxidation, dechlorination and hydroxylation in the environment. ECOSAR prediction and laboratory tests showed that the acute toxicities of four novel TPs on Brachydanio rerio, Daphnia magna and Selenastrum capricornutum are substantially lower than that of difenoconazole, while all the TPs except for TP277C were predicted chronically very toxic to fish, which may pose a potential threat to aquatic ecosystems. The results are important for elucidating the environmental fate of difenoconazole and assessing the environmental risks, and further provide guidance for scientific and reasonable use.acceptedVersio

Unidimensionality of the Strengths and Vulnerabilities Scales in the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START)

The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) is a 20-item structured professional judgment instrument for assessing dynamic risk in mental health services. Much of the START research literature examines the relationship between Strengths and Vulnerabilities sub-scale total scores and various adverse outcomes including violence. This assumes that the two sub-scales have the psychometric property of unidimensionality i.e. all the items cluster together as a measure of a single construct. Such assumed unidimensionality is a necessary condition for any analyses based on scale “total score” and the widespread use of scores summated in this way in research studies may obscure more specific clusters of items within each sub-scale. This multinational study examined START assessments (n = 685) conducted in four forensic services in Scandinavia and the UK using principal component analysis. It was found that all but three Strengths items (Substance Use, Social Support and Material Resources) and all but four Vulnerabilities items (Substance Use, Social Support, Material Resources and Self care) loaded >0.5 on the expected component. This indicates a unidimensional structure underlying the START and provides empirical support from a large multinational sample for the widespread use of summated Strengths and Vulnerabilities scores in forensic psychiatric risk research

Health care help seeking behaviour among prisoners in Norway

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prisoners are associated with high health care needs compared with the general population. This study aims to investigate prisoners' use of health service.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study of 29 prisons in central and southern parts of Norway. A questionnaire was distributed to 1, 454 prisoners (90% response rate). Multilevel analyses were employed to analyse help seeking behaviour among the prisoners.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Help seeking was substantially associated with sleep problems and drug problems. There was also a tendency for closed prisons as well as high staffing levels of healthcare professionals to be associated with elevated health care use.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study suggests that sleep problems and drug use are most frequently associated with health service use. The differences in health care use between prisons suggest that the implementation of prison health care standards should be addressed.</p

Assessing the risk of violence in a psychiatric clinic: the Broset Violence Checklist (BVC) Turkish version-validity and reliability study

Purpose This study was conducted for the purpose of adapting the Broset Violence Checklist (BVC) for Turkish patients and testing its validity and reliability in measuring and predicting the risk of violence psychiatric in patients. Design and Methods The BVC and the Overt Aggression Scale (OAS) were used in the study. The BVC was distributed to 126 patients at the psychiatric clinic. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC), the Mann-Whitney U test and chi(2) analysis were carried out. Findings With a BVC total score cutoff of two points, 52% sensitivity and 100% specificity were found. A total of 47 violent episodes were observed in 25 patients. Practice Implications These results support the validity and reliability of the BVC. The Turkish version of the BVC was found to be a reliable and valid tool suitable for use in psychiatric inpatients

Multi-year transport studies of sulfonylurea herbicides from a barley field in Norway, 2007-2010 – including development of LC-MS/MS methods for quantitative analysis of sulfonylurea herbicides and degradation products

The report presents the results from multi-year field studies of transport of the sulfonylurea herbicides tribenuron-methyl and amidosulfuron in a barley field in Norway. A method for sample preparation of water samples and LC-MS/MS analysis of 6 sulfonylurea herbicides tribenuron-methyl, amidosulfuron, metsulfuron-methyl, iodosulfuron-methyl, thifensulfuron-methyl, rimsulfuron) and 5 degradation products (INL5296, INA4098, AEF101630, IN70941, IN70942) is also described.publishedVersio

Overvåking av plantevernmidler i grunnvann i jordbruksområder 2019-2021. Haslemoen, Rimstadmoen, Lærdal, Horpestad, Grødalen og Skogmo.

Etter oppdrag fra Miljødirektoratet har NIBIO etablert fem overvåkingsfelt for jordbruksbelastet grunnvann. Haslemoen i Våler kommune, Rimstadmoen i Larvik kommune, Horpestad i Klepp kommune, Nedre Eri i Lærdal kommune og Skogmo i Overhalla kommune. NGU har etablert et tilsvarende overvåkingsfelt i Grødalen i Sunndal kommune. Gjennom finansieringen fra «Handlingsplan for bærekraftig bruk av plantevernmidler 2019-2021» har det blitt utført flere analyser av plantevernmidler i grunnvann på disse lokalitetene. Det har blitt installert automatisk overvåking av grunnvann og markvann på noen lokaliteter og det har blitt analysert plantevernmidler i ulike jorddyp. Finansieringen har gitt synergi og økt kunnskap om plantevernmidler i grunnvann i jordbruksområder. Alle lokalitetene ligger innenfor nasjonale grunnvannsforekomster, som gitt i Vann-Nett. Rapporten gir oversikt over resultater i perioden 2019-2021.publishedVersio