Evidence of an Important Role of Photochemistry in the Attenuation of the Secondary Contaminant 3,4-Dichloroaniline in Paddy Water.

The secondary pollutant 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA) is produced by the biological degradation of several herbicides, including propanil in paddy fields. The enzymatic hydrolysis of propanil yields DCA with almost quantitative yield. DCA undergoes rather fast photodegradation in paddy water, mostly by direct photolysis. An exception might be represented by the cases (rather rare in paddies) of quite high nitrate concentration (around 50 mg of NO3- L-1), when DCA degradation by CO3•- would play a comparable role to that by direct photolysis. The experimentally measured photoreactivity parameters were used as input data for a photochemical model, which predicted a DCA lifetime of 0.5-1 days in sunlit paddy fields in late May, when propanil is usually applied. The model predictions compare remarkably well with the DCA attenuation data reported in field studies, carried out in paddies in temperate regions. Moreover, a consecutive reaction model based on typical biological (propanil) and photochemical (DCA) lifetimes reproduced quite well the time trends of both compounds in paddies, as reported in the literature. These successful comparisons suggest that photodegradation in general, and direct photolysis in particular, may play a key role in DCA attenuation in paddy water.

Metacognitive Interpersonal Therapy for Personality Disorders Swinging from Emotional Over-Regulation to Dysregulation: A Case Study.

Many patients with personality disorders (PD) display emotional inhibition or over-regulation (EOR); others display emotional dysregulation (ED)- heightened sensitivity to emotional stimuli with difficulty toning down arousal. To date, most treatments focus on patients with ED, particularly those with borderline disorders, though some focus on EOR. Patients with complex PD often swing from periods of EOR to ED. In this paper, we describe an adaptation of metacognitive interpersonal therapy (MIT), which has been manualized for treating PD with prominent EOR and is aimed at dealing with patients fluctuating from EOR to ED. We first describe the MIT model of personality pathology and offer a summary of the procedures used in MIT to treat patients with prominent EOR. Then, through the analysis of the case of a patient swinging between EOR and ED, we describe how to adapt these procedures to complex cases.