Schedule-Induced Polydipsia:Searching for the Endophenotype of Compulsive Behavior

The development of excessive and persistent drinking under intermittent food-reinforcement schedules, known Schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP), has been proposed as a successful animal model to study compulsive behaviors. On the last decade, we have been working in our laboratory on the stratification of the compulsive rats on SIP in order to know whether differences in the acquisition of compulsive drinking behavior could predict alterations in other behavioral measures as well as in the neurochemical function typically associated with compulsive spectrum disorders. The aim of this review is to collate the main findings relevant to the characterization and use of the high compulsive drinking rats (HD) in SIP as a possible compulsive endophenotype. The review of the genetic, behavioral and neurochemical differences found in the selection allows us to conclude that HD rats could be a valid model for studying the compulsive phenotype and modelling psychopathology common to a variety of compulsivity spectrum disorders such as obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia and alcohol abuse.

Remediation of amide pesticide-polluted soils by combined solarization and ozonation treatment

Agriculture has a close relationship with nature,but it can also be the source of negative and permanent environmental effects.The use of pesticides in modern agriculture is a common practice,but their side effects on the environment cannot be disregarded.In this study,we evaluated a combination of solarization and ozonation techniques for the elimination of six amide pesticides(boscalid,chlorantraniliprole,cyflufenamid,fluopyram,napropamide,and propyzamide)in soil.Initial experiments were performed with four different soils to assess the efficiency of this methodology at different soil temperatures and ozone dosages under laboratory conditions,and then a greenhouse pot experiment was conducted under controlled conditions during summer.Fifty days after the onset of the experiments,higher degradation percentages of amide pesticides were observed in ozonized soils than in other treated soils,particularly when ozone was applied at 10 cm soil depth.The results show that the utilization of ozonation,along with solarization,represents a valid method for degrading residues of the studied pesticides and suggest that this combined technology may be a promising tool for remediating pesticide-polluted soils.

Minimization of methabenzthiazuron residues in leaching water using amended soils and photocatalytic treatment with TiO_2 and ZnO

In the present work, potential groundwater pollution by methabenzthiazuron （MTBU） and the effect of three different amendments （composted sheep manure, composted pine bark and spent coffee grounds） on its mobility were investigated under laboratory conditions. The efficiency of ZnO and TiO2 suspensions in the photocatalytic degradation of MTBU in leaching water was also investigated. The relative and cumulative breakthrough curves were obtained from disturbed soil columns. The presence and/or addition of organic matter drastically reduced the movement of the herbicide. On other hand, photocatalytic experiments showed that the addition of ZnO and TiO2 strongly enhances the degradation rate of this herbicide compared with the results of photolytic experiments under artificial light. ZnO appeared to be more effective in MTBU oxidation than TiO2. The results obtained point to the interest of using organic wastes and heterogeneous photocatalysis for reducing the pollution of groundwater by pesticide drainage.