Analysis of microbial community composition and diversity in the rhizosphere of Salvia miltiorrhiza at different growth stages.

Salvia miltiorrhiza is a kind of medicinal plant with various pharmacological activities. Few studies on the composition and diversity of rhizosphere microbial communities at different growth stages have been conducted on Salvia miltiorrhiz; in particular, salviorrhiza grows in soil that has been continuously planted for 3 years. The purpose of this study was to understand the changes of soil physicochemical properties of Salvia miltiorrhiza at different growth stages, and to study the composition and diversity of rhizosphere microbial community at different growth stages. Illumina NovaSeq sequencing technology was used to analyze the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and the fungal ITS region in the rhizosphere soil of Salvia miltiorrhiza at different growth stages. The results showed that the dominant bacterial phyla in the Salvia miltiorrhiza rhizosphere were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Chloroflexi. The dominant fungal phyla were Ascomycota, Mortierellomycota, Basidiomycota, and Rozellomycota. During the growth of Salvia miltiorrhiza, the physical and chemical properties of soil changed. As the Salvia miltiorrhiza grew, the content of available phosphorus, available potassium, pH, nitrate nitrogen, and ammonium nitrogen significantly decreased. Ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen had a greater impact on the bacterial community structure in the rhizosphere than on the fungal community structure. The work was to reveal differences in the rhizosphere bacterial and fungal community structure during different growth stages of Salvia miltiorrhiza, further understand the changes of rhizosphere microbial ecological characteristics and soil physicochemical properties during the cultivation of Salvia miltiorrhiza.

Theoretical analysis of a white-light LED array based on a GaN nanorod structure.

Based on the experimentally demonstrated In content distribution in the InGaN/GaN quantum wells on a two-section GaN nanorod (NR) sidewall, a white-light light-emitting diode (LED) without phosphor is designed and simulated. Following the dependencies of the In diffusion length and incorporation ratio on NR geometric variables of a theoretical model, the height, radius, and tapering section geometry of the GaN NR are designed for controlling the relative intensities of a blue and a yellow emission component to mix into white light. The higher-In upper section of the NR is first excited to emit a relatively stronger yellow component when injection current is low. As the injection current increases, more current spreads into the lower-In lower section, eventually leading to a stronger blue emission component. The proposed NR LED structure provides an alternative solution for phosphor-free white-light generation.

Data on soil microbial carbon source utilization under different carbon input treatments in broadleaf and coniferous plantations.

This article presents soil microbial carbon metabolism data under different detritus input and removal treatments (DIRT) in broadleaf and coniferous plantations in the Tashan Forests in Feixian County, Shandong Province, China (35°10'-36°00'N, 117°35'-118°20'E). The local annual air temperature is 13 °C, and the annual precipitation is 700 mm. The soil belongs to Phaeozems. The effects of DIRT on soil microbial carbon (C) metabolism in oak (Quercus variabilis Bl.) plantations and pine (Pinus thunbergii Parl.) plantations were assessed. There were five treatments for each plantation type, including: a control; doubling aboveground litter input; no aboveground litter input; no roots; and no detritus inputs. Soils were sampled after one year and nine months of DIRT. Soil microbial C metabolism was measured by EcoPlate™, which contained 31 different C substrates. The absorbance was measured with a micro-plate reader (Synergy H1, Biotek, Vermont, USA) at 590 nm every 12 h for 240 h. The data are based on 50 samples (two forest types × five C input treatments × five replicates); three replicates of the samples were taken. Interpretation of the data can be found in "Carbon input manipulations affecting microbial carbon metabolism in temperate forest soils - a comparative study between broadleaf and coniferous plantations" (Wang et al., 2019). The data can be used for studying the roles of aboveground and belowground inputs to soil C stabilization.

Concave urinary crystallines: direct evidence of calcium oxalate crystals dissolution by citrate in vivo.

The changes in urinary crystal properties in patients with calcium oxalate (CaOx) calculi after oral administration of potassium citrate (K3cit) were investigated via atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), and zeta potential analyzer. The AFM and SEM results showed that the surface of urinary crystals became concave, the edges and corners of crystals became blunt, the average size of urinary crystallines decreased significantly, and aggregation of urinary crystals was reduced. These changes were attributed to the significant increase in concentration of excreted citrate to 492 ± 118 mg/L after K3cit intake from 289 ± 83 mg/L before K3cit intake. After the amount of urinary citrate was increased, it complexed with Ca(2+) ions on urinary crystals, which dissolved these crystals. Thus, the appearance of concave urinary crystals was a direct evidence of CaOx dissolution by citrate in vivo. The XRD results showed that the quantities and species of urinary crystals decreased after K3cit intake. The mechanism of inhibition of formation of CaOx stones by K3cit was possibly due to the complexation of Ca(2+) with citrate, increase in urine pH, concentration of urinary inhibitor glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and the absolute value of zeta potential after K3cit intake.

Property changes of urinary nanocrystallites and urine of uric acid stone formers after taking potassium citrate.

The property changes of urinary nanocrystallites in 20 cases of uric acid (UA) stone formers after 1 week of potassium citrate (K3cit) intake were comparatively studied by X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nanoparticle size analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. Before K3cit intake, the urinary crystallites mainly contained UA and calcium oxalate. After K3cit intake, the components changed to urate and UA; the qualities, species, and amounts of aggregated crystallites decreased; urine pH, citrate, and glycosaminoglycan excretions increased; and UA excretion, Zeta potential, and crystallite size decreased. The stability of crystallites followed the order: controls>patients after taking K3cit>patients before taking K3cit. Therefore, the components of urinary stones were closely related to the components of urinary crystallites.

Changes in urinary nanocrystallites in calcium oxalate stone formers before and after potassium citrate intake.

The property changes of urinary nanocrystallites in 13 patients with calcium oxalate (CaOx) stones were studied before and after ingestion of potassium citrate (K3cit), a therapeutic drug for stones. The analytical techniques included nanoparticle size analysis, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The studied properties included the components, morphologies, zeta potentials, particle size distributions, light intensity autocorrelation curves, and polydispersity indices (PDIs) of the nanocrystallites. The main components of the urinary nanocrystallites before K3cit intake included uric acid, ß-calcium phosphate, and calcium oxalate monohydrate. After K3cit intake, the quantities, species, and percentages of aggregated crystals decreased, whereas the percentages of monosodium urate and calcium oxalate dehydrate increased, and some crystallites became blunt. Moreover, the urinary pH increased from 5.96 ± 0.43 to 6.46 ± 0.50, the crystallite size decreased from 524 ± 320 nm to 354 ± 173 nm, and the zeta potential decreased from -4.85 ± 2.87 mV to -8.77 ± 3.03 mV. The autocorrelation curves became smooth, the decay time decreased from 11.4 ± 3.2 ms to 4.3 ± 1.7 ms, and the PDI decreased from 0.67 ± 0.14 to 0.53 ± 0.19. These changes helped inhibit CaOx calculus formation.

[Variations of IR-spectra of three coating materials before and after spraying on urea fertilizer].

Coated fertilizer is a hot spot in the domain of fertilizer research. Related researches mainly focused on the action mechanisms of coating materials in controlling the nutrient release from coated fertilizers, but less information is available on the structural variation of the coating materials before and after spraying on fertilizers, which is the key to whether we can directly use coating materials to extrapolate its mechanisms in controlling coated fertilizers' nutrient release. With polylactic acid (PLA), poly (butynelenes succinate) (PBS), and polycarbonate (PC) as test materials, the variations of their IR spectra before and after spraying on urea fertilizer were determined, which was aimed to supply theoretical basis for further studying the action mechanisms of coating materials in controlling coated fertilizers nutrient release. The results showed that PLA and PC had less variation in their IR spectra before and after spraying on urea fertilizer, while PBS acted in reverse, suggesting that the former two coating materials could be directly used for studying the patterns of nutrient release from coated fertilizers.