Carbamate insecticide screens often include aldicarb and its oxidative metabolites, aldicarb sulfoxide (ASX), and aldicarb sulfone (ASN). The rapid hydrolysis and thermal cleavage of the C-N bond within the carbamate functional group of these compounds produces nitrile transformation products. Nitriles are primary transformation products from aldicarb, its sulfoxide, or its sulfone. However, these nitriles are infrequently monitored. The method reported used acetonitrile/water extraction and HPLC postcolumn derivitization to determine aldicarb, ASX, and ASN from avian excreta and from gastrointestinal (GI) tissue. Recoveries of aldicarb, ASX and ASN from excreta were of 79% +/- 5.4, 120% +/- 7.7, and 93% +/- 6.2, respectively. Recoveries from tissue were 70% +/- 5.0, 80% +/- 12.1, and 85% +/- 6.7, respectively. The same extraction procedure and a GC-FPD analysis were used to determine nitrile metabolites from the same tissues. Aldicarb nitrile, ASX nitrile, and ASN nitrile recoveries from excreta were 42% +/- 2.3, 65% +/- 3.6, and 79% +/- 3.3, respectively. Overall recoveries from tissue were 29% +/- 3.4, 72% +/- 8.3, and 83% +/- 11.4, respectively. Since aldicarb, ASX, and ASN are normally detectable in organ tissues for 1-2 days following exposure, determining the presence of nitrile cleavage products provides an important forensic tool for evaluating aldicarb exposures.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the genome of Nandina mosaic virus (NaMV), which has tentatively been assigned to the genus Potexvirus, is reported. The sequence is 6066 nt in length, excluding the poly(A) tail, and contains ORFs coding for proteins of 155, 25, 12, 13, and 21 kDa (ORFs 1-4 and the CP), respectively. The genomic organization of the virus and the signature motifs in the putative protein products are similar to the data reported for potexviruses for which complete sequences are known. Phylogenetic comparisons indicated that NaMV is most closely related to Plantago asiatica mosaic virus (PlAMV). Pairwise comparisons of the sequence data for these two viruses indicate that, based on criteria recently proposed for genera within the family Flexiviridae, NaMV and PlAMV should be considered to be strains/ isolates of the same viral species. Both NaMV and PlAMV were first reported in 1976 but, as PlAMV was sequenced first, this name should take precedence with the name NaMV being relegated to a synonym.

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