PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S A Clay

Publications and source records attributed to S A Clay.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Herbicide movement and dissipation at four Midwestern sites.

This study was conducted to evaluate atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropyl-1,3,5-triazine) and alachlor (2-chloro-N-(methoxymethyl)acetamide) dissipation and movement to shallow aquifers across the Northern Sand Plains region of the United States. Sites were located at Minnesota on a Zimmerman fine sand, North Dakota on Hecla sandy loam, South Dakota on a Brandt silty clay loam, and Wisconsin on a Sparta sand. Herbicide concentrations were determined in soil samples taken to 90 cm four times during the growing season and water samples taken from the top one m of aquifer at least once every three months. Herbicides were detected to a depth of 30 cm in Sparta sand and 90 cm in all other soils. Some aquifer samples from each site contained atrazine with the highest concentration in the aquifer beneath the Sparta sand (1.28 microg L(-1)). Alachlor was detected only once in the aquifer at the SD site. The time to 50% atrazine dissipation (DT50) in the top 15 cm of soil averaged about 21 d in Sparta and Zimmerman sands and more than 45 d for Brandt and Hecla soils. Atrazine DT50 was correlated positively with % clay and organic carbon (OC), and negatively with % fine sand. Alachlor DT50 ranged from 12 to 32 d for Zimmerman and Brandt soils, respectively, and was correlated negatively with % clay and OC and positively with % sand.

Acetamides↗

Atrazine, alachlor, and total inorganic nitrogen concentrations of winter wind-eroded sediment samples.

The objective of this study was to determine if atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropyl-1,3,5-triazine), alachlor [2-chloro-N-(2,6-diethylphenyl-N-(methoxymethyl)acetamide], or inorganic nitrogen was present on wind-eroded sediments collected from road ditch areas in mid to late winter. Sediment samples that had been deposited in ditches on top of snow were collected during the winters of 1994, 1995, and 1996 at randomly selected sites in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. Atrazine, atrazine metabolites [deethylatrazine (DEA)(6-chloro-N-1-methylethyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine], and deisopropylatrazine (DIA) (6-chloro-N-ethyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine), and alachlor were determined by gas chromatography. Total inorganic N (NO(3-) + NH4+) concentration was determined with a nitrogen analyzer. In all years, atrazine was detected in at least 72% of the samples, with a mean concentration of 8.9 ug kg-1 and, while DEA was detected in at least 18% of the samples. Alachlor was detected in at least 27% of the soil samples for all three years with mean sediment concentration of > 5 ug kg-1. Inorganic N concentration of all samples averaged 33 mg kg-1. These data suggest that deposition of wind-eroded sediment contributes to nonpoint source contamination of nontarget areas by agrichemicals.

Acetamides↗

Factors affecting atrazine fate in north central U.S. soils.

Atrazine persistence and fate are influenced by many factors, the interactions of which are difficult to predict. Several models, such as LEACHP (Wagenet and Hutson 1989), have been used as tools to estimate losses and identify variables that will impact the magnitude of loss. The LEACHP model was evaluated for predicting atrazine movement in sandy loam, silt loam, and clay loam soils during three consecutive years (two dry and one wet) in Minnesota (Khakural et al. 1995). Considering the broad range in soil properties and climatic conditions used in testing, the model performed well. However, these are only estimates, and additional field studies need to be conducted to verify model results. In a report by Fausey et al. (1995), the amount of atrazine found in groundwater throughout the Midwestern region was reported to be much below the MCL. However, specific sites in the Midwest may struggle with atrazine problems from both point and nonpoint sources of contamination. Some states, such as South Dakota, have created groundwater protection areas that alert growers and the public to sensitive areas where contamination may occur because of soil type, depth to groundwater, and distance to public wellheads. Wisconsin has developed a tiered managerial strategy, or zoning approach, in which restrictions are matched to pollution detections (Wolf and Nowak 1996). The USEPA has mandates for states to implement generic management plans to prevent pesticide contamination of groundwater. Chemical-specific plans by states will be required for at least five pesticides, one of which will be atrazine. Best management practices have been and are continuing to be developed to aid the grower in lessening the adverse impacts of atrazine. With continuing research into understanding the problem and developing solutions, and with adaptation of these recommendations by growers, the use of effective, inexpensive herbicides may continue with minimal off-site environmental effects.

Agriculture↗

Osteomyelitis as a cause of brachial plexus neuropathy.

Two infants, younger than 2 months of age, had brachial plexus involvement and true paralysis secondary to osteomyelitis of the proximal humerus. To date, no previous cases of this association have been reported. Electromyography (EMG) demonstrated significant denervation in muscles innervated by the upper trunk, with scattered involvement of other muscles. Nerve conduction velocities were normal in both patients. Both patients had significant residual weakness after appropriate antibiotic therapy. One patient, 12 months after therapy for osteomyelitis, continued to demonstrate both clinical and EMG evidence of a lower motor neuron neuropathy. The pathophysiologic cause was thought to be ischemic nerve damage secondary to occlusion of vasa nervorum.

Brachial Plexus↗

Triosephosphate isomerase deficiency. A case report with neuropathological findings.

A 12-year-old girl had chronic nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia due to triosephosphate isomerase deficiency. Developmental and motor delay and muscular weakness were followed by cerebellar dysfunction and finally spasticity with hyperreflexia. Abnormal histopathological findings were hyaline cell bodies and axonal "spheroids" in the hypothalamus and cerebellar cortex, severe neuronal loss in the dentate and olivary nuclei, and partial loss of cerebellar Purkinje's and granular layer cells (olivocerebellar atrophy).

Brain↗

Infant botulism. Epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory aspects.

Clostridium botulinum organisms and toxin were identified in the feces of six infants, aged 5 to 20 weeks, who had illnesses clinically consistent with botulism. Five of the infants lived in California and became ill within a six-month period in 1976; one infant became ill in New Jersey in 1975. Three cases were type A botulism, and three were type B. No source of ingested botulinal toxin could be found in any case. However, one infant with type B botulism had ingested a food containing C botulinum type B organisms, and no toxin was found in it. The clinical findings in these cases include constipation, weak sucking and crying ability, pooled oral secretions, cranial nerve deficits, generalized weakness, and, on occasion, sudden apnea. A characteristic electromyographic pattern termed "brief, small, abundant, motor-unit action potentials" (BSAP) was observed. The sources of C botulinum toxin for these six infants is thought to have been in vivo (gastrointestinal) production following ingestion of C botulinum organisms. Studies are underway to determine the full clinical spectrum, incidence, and potential public health importance of this infectious disease newly recognized in infants.

Age Factors↗

Acute infantile motor unit disorder. Infantile botulism?

Eight infants with an acute reversible motor unit disorder are described, including two infants from whom Clostridum botulinum type A was isolated from stool specimens. The clinical spectrum includes constipation, cranial nerve deficits, pupillary involvement, and generalized hypotonic weakness. There were no deaths, and all infants have had complete clinical recovery. A characteristic electromyographic (EMG) pattern was present in part until clinical recovery. This distinctive pattern consisted of brief, small, abundant for power exerted motor unit potentials. This EMG pattern in the context of the clinical syndrome may well be diagnostic for acute infantile motor unit disorder.

Acute Disease↗

The orbicularis oculi reflex: pathologic studies in childhood.

The orbicularis oculi reflex was studied in 12 children with intrinsic brain stem gliomas and in six children with other posterior fossa pathology. The results were compared with previously established childhood normal values. Seventy-eight percent of the children demonstrated a pathologic alteration of the reflex comparable to reported results in adult patients. The orgicularis oculi reflex test in childhood in a relatively simple and risk-free procedure in the evaluation of brain stem disease in childhood.

Adolescent↗

The orbicularis oculi reflex in infancy and childhood. Establishment of normal values.

The orbicularis oculi reflex and direct facial nerve conduction were studied in 38 normal children ranging in age from 1 month to 9 years. Direct facial nerve conduction in all groups was within adult normal values. The early response of the orbicularis oculi reflex obtains normal adult values by age 24 months. Both ipsilateral and contralateral delayed responses are absent under 20 months, are widely variable between 21 and 56 months, and obtain adult normal values beginning at age 6 years. The expression of the orbicularis oculi reflex is an age-related phenomenon presumably reflecting brain stem anatomic and functional maturation.

Age Factors↗

Bromide and nitrate movement through undisturbed soil columns.

Field experiments often assume that Br-, 14NO3(-)-N, and 15NO3(-)-N have similar leaching kinetics. This study tested this assumption. Twenty-four undisturbed soil columns (15-cm diameter) were collected from summit-shoulder, backslope, and footslope positions of a no-tillage field with a corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation. Each of the landscape positions had a different soil series. After conditioning the columns with 4 L of 0.01 M CaCl2 (2 pore volumes), 15N-labeled Ca(NO3)2 and KBr were applied to the soil surface and leached with 4 L of 0.01 M CaCl2. Leachate was collected, weighed, and analyzed for NO3(-)-N, NH4(+)-N, 15N, 14N, and Br-. The total amount of 15NO3(-)-N and 14NO3(-)-N collected in 1000, 2000, and 3000 mL of leachate was similar. These data suggest that 15N discrimination during leaching did not occur. Bromide leached faster through the columns than NO3(-)-N. The more rapid transport of Br- than NO3(-)-N was attributed to lower Br- (0.002 +/- 0.036 mg kg(-1)) than NO3(-)-N (0.17 +/- 0.03 mg kg(-1)) sorption. Results from this study suggest that (i) if Br- is used to estimate NO3(-)-N leaching loss, then NO3(-)-N leaching losses may be overestimated by 25%; (ii) the potential exists for landscape position to influence anion retention and movement in soil; and (iii) 15N discrimination was not detected during the leaching process.

Bromides↗