Quantitative Analysis of the Migration and Accumulation of Bacillus subtilis in Asparagus officinalis.

Bacillus subtilis B96-II is a broad-spectrum biological control strain. It effectively suppresses soil-borne fungal diseases in vegetables. A green fluorescence protein (GFP) was expressed in B96-II to detect migration of B96-II into the root and stem of asparagus. The GFP-tagged B96-II (B96-II-GFP) strain exhibited bright green fluorescence under a fluorescence microscope. GFP was stable and had no apparent effects on the growth of the strain. Asparagus plants were planted in the soil inoculated with B96-II-GFP. Our results showed that B96-II-GFP was detected in both the root and stem 15, 30, and 45 days after the asparagus seedlings were planted. B96-II-GFP was also detected in leaves but at a lower concentration. The highest concentration was detected in 15 days, and the number of bacteria decreased subsequently irrespective of duration of growth or sampling period. The highest concentration of B96-II-GFP was present in the root base suggesting that the root base served as the hub of bacterial migration from the soil to the stem.

Versatile route to gapless microlens arrays using laser-tunable wet-etched curved surfaces.

This work reveals a cost-efficient and flexible approach to various microlens arrays on polymers, which is essential to micro-optics elements. An 800-nm femtosecond laser is employed to control the hydrofluoric (HF) acid etching process on silica glasses, and concave microstructures with smooth curved surfaces are produced by this method. Then, the micro-structured glass templates can serve as molds for replicating microlenses on polymers. In this paper, a high-ordered microlens array with over 16,000 hexagonal-shaped lenses is fabricated on poly (dimethyl siloxane) [PDMS], and its perfect light-gathering ability and imaging performance are demonstrated. The flexibility of this method is demonstrated by successful preparation of several concave molds with different patterns which are difficult to be obtained by other methods. This technique provides a new route to small-scaled, smooth and curved surfaces which is widely used in micro-optics, biochemical analysis and superhydrophobic interface.

Quantitative Analysis of Panax ginseng by FT-NIR Spectroscopy.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), a rapid and efficient tool, was used to determine the total amount of nine ginsenosides in Panax ginseng. In the study, the regression models were established using multivariate regression methods with the results from conventional chemical analytical methods as reference values. The multivariate regression methods, partial least squares regression (PLSR) and principal component regression (PCR), were discussed and the PLSR was more suitable. Multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), second derivative, and Savitzky-Golay smoothing were utilized together for the spectral preprocessing. When evaluating the final model, factors such as correlation coefficient (R (2)) and the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) were considered. The final optimal results of PLSR model showed that root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) and correlation coefficients (R (2)) in the calibration set were 0.159 and 0.963, respectively. The results demonstrated that the NIRS as a new method can be applied to the quality control of Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma.