Influence of Rice Production on the Quality of Water in Tailwater Collection Reservoirs

Since maintaining high water quality standards in the state remains a high priority, monitoring for pesticides in water sources must continue. Determining the type, concentration, and characteristics of any pesticides present in water supplies are essential to the overall assessment of water quality. Five independent locations, implementing contained water management systems and recyclable water, were monitored in 1995 and 1996. Irrigation, runoff, and pond water samples were collected every 10 to 14 days between permanent flood establishment and draining. Water samples were transported to the laboratory and extracted for 16 pesticides using solid phase extraction (SPE) techniques. Quantification and confirmation of pesticide residues were obta1ned by HPLC and GC/MS analysis. The lower limit of quantitation for all pesticides was between 1.0 -1.3 pg L-1 in water. Pesticides selected for monitoring were determined after assessing state recommendations and our analytical capabilities. Pesticides included: benomyl, bensulfuron methyl, carbaryl, carbofuran, 2,4-D, fenoxaprop ethyl, propiconazole, malathion, MCPA, methyl parathion, molinate, pendimethalin, propanil, iprodione, quinclorac, triclopyr, and thiobencarb. Since each field location was independently managed, individual results are site specific. 2,4-D, benomyl, molinate, propanil, quinclorac, thiobencarb, and pendimethalin were the pesticides actually applied during the seasons. These pesticides were detected, usually at trace levels, in tailwaters shortly after application but did not appear to buildup in the reservoirs. Quinclorac residues in the tailwaters were more persistent (up to 8 weeks) than the other detected compounds (less than 2 weeks)

Determining Pesticide and Nitrate Levels in Spring Water in Northwest Arkansas

Occurrences of pesticides in our nations ground water are on the rise. As states become aware of this problem and begin monitoring programs, incidence of contamination will probably increase. Since the problem of pesticides in groundwater is relatively new, little research has centered on the fate of pesticides after they reach the groundwater environment. In Northwest Arkansas efforts to monitor groundwater for pesticides have been small. Twenty-five springs in Northwest Arkansas were sampled in the fall of 1988, and spring of 1989. Analysis for atrazine, alachlor, metolachlor, diuron, and simazine in spring water was preformed using gas liquid chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. No detectable residues of any of the selected pesticides were found. Northwest Arkansas is a leader in poultry production. Much of the manure from poultry houses is spread on the sourounding pastures. As this litter decomposes nitrates and phosphates are released. Nitrate and phosphate concentrations were also determined on water from the spring samples. No spring exceeded the EPA\u27s limit of 45 mg/L for nitrate in drinking water. The highest concentration for phosphate in any spring was 1.05 mg/L

Analyses of Groundwater for Trace Levels of Pesticides

Agricultural production is a major source of revenue in Arkansas. In order to increase productivity, it has been necessary to rely increasingly on the use of pesticides and irrigation water. In the last 15 years several states have reported finding pesticides in groundwater as a result of normal agricultural practices. Since almost half of the population also relies on groundwater as their source of drinking water, it is necessary to conduct research as to ascertain the presence or absence of commonly used pesticides in groundwater. Multi residue analytical techniques were developed for the analysis of acifluorfen, alachlor, atrazine, cyanazine, diuron, fluometuron, linuron, metolachlor and propanil from groundwater, by either GLC or HPLC. Analytical sensitivities ranged from 1 to 5 ppb. Groundwater samples were collected from three areas of southeastern Arkansas that are under heavy agricultural production. Samples were collected directly from irrigation wells just prior to and during the peak of the irrigation season and will be compared to determine whether any temporal differences exist. To-date, over 500 samples have been analyzed. No positive finding for any pesticide has been shown

Water Quality as Affected by Pesticides in Rice Production

Studies were conducted to determine the environmental persistence of the rice pesticides triclopyr, 2,4-D, benomyl and quinclorac. Triclopyr half-lives ranged from \u3c7 d to \u3e100 d depending on depth within the soil profile and clay content. Triclopyr persistence increased as depth within the profile increased and clay content increased. The benomyl metabolite MBC was present at greater than 50% of the initial amount after 9 months in the field. In simulated carryover field studies quinclorac exhibited the greatest potential for injury to subsequent rotational crops. Cotton and soybean growth was reduced when planted at four weeks after quinclorac application. The adsorption of triclopyr to three soils was measured by the batch equilibrium technique. Freundlich isotherms were linear and resulted in Kf values of 1.60, 1.41, and 2.75 for Crowley silt loam soil from depths of 0, 0.2, and 0.6 m, respectively, within soil profile. Soil thin-layer chromatography of triclopyr resulted in Rf values of 0.42, 0.69, and 0.40 for the Crowley silt loam soil from 0, 0.2, and 0.6 m depths. In controlled temperature and water potential degradation studies, triclopyr and 2,4-D degraded more rapidly at 3 0 C than at 15 C. The degradation rates of the two herbicides responded oppositely to water potential. 2,4-D degraded more rapidly under anaerobic conditions, whereas triclopyr degraded more rapidly under aerobic conditions

An assessment of the clinical acceptability of direct acoustic cochlear implantation for adults with advanced otosclerosis in the United Kingdom

Hypothesis: Assess the clinical acceptability of direct acoustic cochlear implantation for patients with advanced otosclerosis and the support for conducting a controlled trial of its effectiveness in the United Kingdom. Background: Emerging evidence supports the efficacy of direct acoustic cochlear implantation in patients with advanced otosclerosis whose needs cannot be managed using the combination of stapes surgery and hearing aids. A controlled trial would provide evidence for its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness to healthcare commissioners. Methods: An online survey of clinical professionals was constructed to characterise current standard of care for patients with advanced otosclerosis and to assess whether clinicians would be willing to refer patients into a trial to evaluate direct acoustic cochlear implantation. A consensus process was conducted to define inclusion criteria for the future trial. Results: No survey respondent considered direct acoustic cochlear implantation to be inappropriate with a majority indicating that they would refer patients into a future trial. The consensus was that there is a lack of available treatment options for those patients with bone conduction thresholds worse than 55 dB HL and who did not meet current criteria for cochlear implantation. Conclusions: The present study confirms that a controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of direct acoustic cochlear implantation would have the support of clinicians in the UK. A feasibility study would be required to determine whether patients who meet the inclusion criteria could be recruited in a timely manner and in sufficient numbers to conduct a formal evaluation of effectiveness

Development and validation of a delayed presenting clubfoot score to predict the response to Ponseti casting for children aged 2–10

The aim of the study was to develop a simple and reliable clinical scoring system for delayed presenting clubfeet and assess how this score predicts the response to Ponseti casting. We measured all elements of the Diméglio and the Pirani scoring systems. To determine which aspects were useful in assessing children with delayed presenting clubfeet, 4 assessors examined 42 feet (28 patients) between the ages of 2-10 years. Selected variables demonstrating good agreement were combined to make a novel score and were assessed prospectively on a separate consecutive cohort of children with clubfeet aged 2-10, comprising 100 clubfeet (64 patients). Inter-observer and intra-observer agreement was found to be greatest using the following clinically measured angles of the deformities. These were plantaris, adductus, varus, equinus of the ankle and rotation around the talar head in the frontal plane (PAVER). Measured angles of 1-20, 21-45 and > 45 degrees scored 1, 2 and 3 points, respectively. The PAVER score was derived from both the sum of points derived from measured angles and a multiplier according to age. The sum of the points was multiplied with 1, 1.5 or 2 for ages 2-4, 5-7 and 8-10, respectively. This demonstrated a good association with the total number of casts to achieve a full correction (tau = 0.71). A score greater than 18 out of 30 indicated a cast-resistant clubfoot. The score could be used clinically for prognosis and treatment, and for research purposes to compare the severity of clubfoot deformities

Investigation of attentional bias in obsessive compulsive disorder with and without depression in visual search

Copyright: © 2013 Morein-Zamir et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedWhether Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is associated with an increased attentional bias to emotive stimuli remains controversial. Additionally, it is unclear whether comorbid depression modulates abnormal emotional processing in OCD. This study examined attentional bias to OC-relevant scenes using a visual search task. Controls, non-depressed and depressed OCD patients searched for their personally selected positive images amongst their negative distractors, and vice versa. Whilst the OCD groups were slower than healthy individuals in rating the images, there were no group differences in the magnitude of negative bias to concern-related scenes. A second experiment employing a common set of images replicated the results on an additional sample of OCD patients. Although there was a larger bias to negative OC-related images without pre-exposure overall, no group differences in attentional bias were observed. However, OCD patients subsequently rated the images more slowly and more negatively, again suggesting post-attentional processing abnormalities. The results argue against a robust attentional bias in OCD patients, regardless of their depression status and speak to generalized difficulties disengaging from negative valence stimuli. Rather, post-attentional processing abnormalities may account for differences in emotional processing in OCD.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Paradoxical effects of Worrisome Thoughts Suppression: the influence of depressive mood

Thought suppression increases the persistence of unwanted idiosyncratic worries thoughts when individuals try to suppress them. The failure of suppression may contribute to the development and maintenance of emotional disorders. Depressive people seem particulary prone to engage in unsuccessful mental control strategies such as thought suppression. Worry has been reported to be elevated in depressed individuals and a dysphoric mood may also contribute for the failure of suppression. No studies examine, however, the suppression of worisome thoughts in individuals with depressive symptoms. To investigate the suppression effects of worrisome thoughts, 46 participants were selected according to the cut-off score of a depressive symptomatology scale and they were divided in two groups (subclinical and nonclinical group). All the individuals took part in an experimental paradigm of thought suppression. The results of the mixed factorial analysis of variance revealed an increased frequency of worrisome thoughts during the suppression phase on depending of the depressive symptoms. These findings confirm that depressive mood can reduce the success of suppression.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Rho Scaffold Integrates the Secretory System with Feedback Mechanisms in Regulation of Auxin Distribution

In plants, auxin distribution and tissue patterning are coordinated via a feedback loop involving the auxin-regulated cell polarity factor ICR1 and the secretory machinery

From START to FINISH : the influence of osmotic stress on the cell cycle

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