ABSTRACT Denitrification could lead to N loss from agricultural soil resulting in a low rate of N availability by crops. We investigated the response of nirK and nirS denitrifiers in a paddy soil to the incorporation of green manure and reduced chemical fertilizer. Soil samples were collected from plots of a short-term fertilization experiment initiated in 2009. The treatments were no chemical fertilizer, no Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus L., CK), chemical fertilizer (NPK), Chinese milk vetch (MV) plus 80% chemical fertilizer (MF80), MV plus 60% chemical fertilizer (MF60) and MV plus 40% chemical fertilizer (MF40). Abundance and community composition of nirK and nirS denitrifiers were analyzed using quantitative PCR and Miseq sequencing. Reduced chemical fertilizer did not reduce content of total N and available N in soils amended with green manure. Abundances of nirK and nirS genes in different treatments were 1.04 ×108 to 4.89×108 and 1.22 ×107 to 7.04 ×107 copies g-1 soil, respectively, which were significantly higher in NPK treatment than those in soils with green manure. NirK abundance was positively correlated with the potential denitrifying activity (PDA) (r2 = 0.827, p < 0.01). Green manure combination with reduced chemical fertilizer significantly changed the community structure of nirK denitrifiers but not nirS denitrifiers relative to soils amended with chemical fertilizer and unfertilized soil. Shifts of community structure of nirK denitrifiers were closely associated with soil organic matter (r2 = 0.623, p = 0.003), available N (r2 = 0.507, p = 0.01), pH (r2 = 0.661, p = 0.006), and PDA (r2 = 0.633, p = 0.005). In conclusion, nirK-type denitrifying community was more sensitive to the incorporation of green manure and reduced chemical fertilizer and they played a more important role in the denitrification process in this study.

Resumo Fundamentos: A antraciclina gera uma disfunção ventricular esquerda progressiva associada a um prognóstico ruim. Objetivos: O propósito deste estudo foi avaliar se a análise layer específico de strain poderia avaliar disfunção ventricular esquerda subclínica após exposição a antraciclina. Métodos: Foram inscritos quarenta e dois sobreviventes tratados com antraciclina por linfoma não Hodgkin de células B grandes, de 55,83 ± 17,92 anos (grupo de quimioterapia) e 27 voluntários saudáveis, de 51,39 ± 13,40 anos (grupo controle). A dose cumulativa de epirrubicina no grupo de quimioterapia foi de 319,67 ± 71,71 mg/m2. O tempo desde a última dose de epirrubicina até o exame ecocardiográfico foi de 52,92 ± 22,32 meses. Analisaram-se o strain longitudinal global (GLS), o circunferencial (GCS) e o strain radial (GRS), os valores das camadas subendocárdica, média e subepicárdica so strain longitudinal (LS-ENDO, LS-MID, LS-EPI) e do strain circunferencial (CS-ENDO, CS-MID, CS-EPI). O gradiente de strain transmural foi calculado como a diferença no strain sistólico pico entre as camadas subendocárdicas e subepicárdicas. Um valor de p < 0,05 foi considerado significativo. Resultados: Os parâmetros convencionais da função sistólica e diastólica não mostraram diferenças significativas entre dois grupos. Comparados aos controles, os pacientes apresentaram GCS e GLS significativamente menores. A análise de speckle tracking multi-layer mostrou uma redução significativa no strain circunferencial da camada subendocárdica, o gradiente transmural CS e o strain longitudinal das três camadas. Em contraste, os dois grupos não diferiram no gradiente de strain longitudinal transmural e de strain radiais. Conclusões: Provou-se a deterioração preferencial do strain subendocárdico em sobreviventes de longa duração após exposição à antraciclina. O ecocardiograma de speckle tracking multi-layer pode facilitar o acompanhamento longitudinal dessa coorte de pacientes em risco. (Arq Bras Cardiol. 2018; 110(3):219-228)

Abstract Background: Anthracycline generates progressive left ventricular dysfunction associated with a poor prognosis. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether layer-specific strain analysis could assess the subclinical left ventricular dysfunction after exposure to anthracycline. Methods: Forty-two anthracycline-treated survivors of large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, aged 55.83 ± 17.92 years (chemotherapy group) and 27 healthy volunteers, aged 51.39 ± 13.40 years (control group) were enrolled. The cumulative dose of epirubicin in chemotherapy group was 319.67 ± 71.71mg/m2. The time from last dose of epirubicin to the echocardiographic examination was 52.92 ± 22.32 months. Global longitudinal (GLS), circumferential (GCS) and radial strain (GRS), subendocardial, mid and subepicardial layer of longitudinal (LS-ENDO, LS-MID, LS-EPI) and circumferential strain (CS-ENDO, CS-MID, CS-EPI) values were analyzed. Transmural strain gradient was calculated as differences in peak systolic strain between the subendocardial and subepicardial layers. A value of p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Conventional parameters of systolic and diastolic function showed no significant difference between two groups. Compared with controls, patients had significantly lower GCS and GLS. Multi-layer speckle tracking analysis showed significant reduction of circumferential strain of subendocardial layer, transmural CS gradient and longitudinal strain of all three layers. In contrast, the two groups did not differ in transmural longitudinal strain gradient and radial strains. Conclusions: It proved the preferential impairment of subendocardial deformation in long-term survivors after exposure to anthracycline. Multi-layer speckle tracking echocardiography might facilitate the longitudinal follow-up of this at-risk patient cohort.

ABSTRACT Cold waterlogged paddy field is a type of low-yield paddy soil, and opening a drainage ditch has been suggested to improve waterlogged paddy soil and to increase the rice yield. However, little has been done on the role of a drainage ditch in ameliorating waterlogged soil. In the present study, rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield, soil physicochemical properties, microbial abundances and community structures in the surface soil of a cold waterlogged paddy field, which has three treatments with different distances from a drainage ditch including 5, 15 and 25 m were investigated. The results showed that opening a drainage ditch had a significant effect on the rice yield and soil physicochemical properties. Sampling sites near the drainage ditch such as 5 m-site had higher yield and soil nutrients, however, 25 m-site had lower values. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene did not exhibit a regular pattern but fungal abundance decreased sharply with increasing distance from the drainage ditch. The most abundant bacterial phyla across all soil samples were Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes and Chloroflexi. Abundant fungal phyla were Ascomycota, Zygomycota and Basidiomycota. Three treatments had similar microbial community compositions but with different relative abundances. The Bray-Curtis distance demonstrated that microbial community structures were divided into two major groups, samples of 5 m- and 15 m-site clustered into one group and samples of 25 m-site was another group. Moreover, redundancy analysis revealed that soil redox potential and total reducing substances were significant factors in shaping microbial community structures. The abundant aerobic bacteria were observed at the 5 m- and 15 m-site, in contrast, abundant anaerobic bacteria were observed at the 25 m-site. In conclusion, opening a drainage ditch in cold waterlogged paddy fields affects rice yield, soil nutrients, microbial abundances and community structures.

ABSTRACT Addition of livestock manures and plant residues is a feasible practice to largely mitigate soil-degradative trends by the soil-dwelling fungi. However, long-term impacts of these fertilization regimes on the fungal community are poorly documented in tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) plantations in subtropical areas. In this study, MiSeq sequencing approach was used to estimate the diversity and composition of fungal communities in soils treated with 10 yr of non-fertilization control (CK), chemical fertilizers only (CF), and integrated use of chicken manure and legume straw with chemical fertilizers (IF), respectively. We found that different fertilization treatments produced little effect on the richness and diversity of soil fungi compared to those of the controls. In addition, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Zygomycota, Glomeromycota, and Chytridiomycota were the five most abundant phyla in soils under different fertilization treatments. Moreover, IF resulted in the prevalence of the genera Fusarium, unclassified Microascaceae, and unclassified Ascomycota, which accounted for 30.04%, 18.77%, and 6.92% of the total fungi, respectively. Additionally, the relative abundance of the phylum Ascomycota was positively correlated with pH, total N (TN), soil organic C (SOC), soil moisture (SM) and silt (SI) contents; however, these soil physicochemical properties were negatively correlated with the relative abundance of the phylum Basidiomycota. Together, these results suggest that the changes of the fungal community structure at the genus and phylum level under IF treatment could be the result of their responses to variations of soil pH, SM, TN, SOC, and SI contents.

Ammonia oxidization is a critical step in the soil N cycle and can be affected by the fertilization regimes. Chinese milk-vetch (Astragalus sinicus L., MV) is a major green manure of rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields in southern China, which is recommended as an important agronomic practice to improve soil fertility. Soil chemical properties, abundance and community structures of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in a MV-rice rotation field under different fertilization regimes were investigated. The field experiment included six treatments: control, without MV and chemical fertilizer (CK); 100% chemical fertilizer (NPK); 18 000 kg MV ha-1 plus 100% chemical fertilizer (NPKM1); 18 000 kg MV ha-1 plus 40% chemical fertilizer (NPKM2); 18 000 kg MV ha-1 alone (MV); and 18 000 kg MV ha-1 plus 40% chemical fertilizer plus straw (NPKMS). Results showed that NPKMS treatment could improve the soil fertility greatly although the application of 60% chemical fertilizer. The abundance of AOB only in the MV treatment had significant difference with the control; AOA were more abundant than AOB in all corresponding treatments. The NPKMS treatment had the highest AOA abundance (1.19 x 10(8) amoA gene copies g-1) and the lowest abundance was recorded in the CK treatment (3.21 x 10(7) amoA gene copies g-1). The abundance of AOA was significantly positively related to total N, available N, NH4+-N, and NO3--N. The community structure of AOA exhibited little variation among different fertilization regimes, whereas the community structure of AOB was highly responsive. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all AOB sequences were affiliated with Nitrosospira or Nitrosomonas and all AOA denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) bands belonged to the soil and sediment lineage. These findings could be fundamental to improve our understanding of AOB and AOA in the N cycle in the paddy soil.

ABSTRACTIn this work, the mixture of alginate and soy protein isolate used as a wall material was developed to encapsulateEnterococcus faecalis HZNU P2 (E. faecalis HZNU P2). The survival ability in the simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and bile salt solution, storage stability at different temperatures and release properties in the simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) of encapsulated cells were assessed. The results showed that encapsulation could offer sufficient protection toE. faecalis HZNU P2. The viability of encapsulatedE. faecalis HZNU P2 did not decrease in SGF at pH 2.5 or 2.0 after 2 h incubation, while free cells were reduced from 11 to 9.85 log CFU/mL in SGF (pH 2.5) at the same exposure time. Only minor viability of encapsulatedE. faecalis HZNU P2 lost in 1.0 or 2.0% bile salt solution for 1 or 2 h exposure, compared with no survival of freeE. faecalis HZNU P2 under the same conditions. EncapsulatedE. faecalis HZNU P2 was completely released from the microspheres in SIF within 1 h. The viability of encapsulatedE. faecalisHZNU P2 stored for two weeks at 4°C was fully retained. Viabilities of encapsulatedE. faecalis HZNU P2, 9.6 and 9.0 Log CFU/g were obtained at 25 and 37°C after 21 days storage, respectively. However, around 1.0 log CFU/mL of free cells was reduced after two weeks storage at 4°C. EncapsulatedE. faecalis HZNU P2 using soy protein isolate and alginate as wall materials could play an important role in food applications.

Background: Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is the most devastating disease in peanut. Planting resistant peanut cultivars is deemed as the sole economically viable means for effective control of the disease. To understand the molecular mechanism underlying resistance and facilitate breeding process, differences in gene expression between seeds of Rihua 1 (a Virginia type peanut variety resistant to bacterial wilt) inoculated with the bacterial pathogen suspension (10(9) cfu ml-1) and seeds of the same cultivar treated with water (control), were studied using the GenefishingTM technology. Results: A total of 25 differentially expressed genes were isolated. Expression of genes encoding cyclophilin and ADP-ribosylation factor, respectively, were further studied by real time RT-PCR, and full length cDNAs of both genes were obtained by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. Conclusions: The study provided candidate genes potentially useful for breeding peanut cultivars with both high yield and bacterial wilt resistance, although confirmation of their functions through transgenic studies is still needed.

The analytic mean field potential (AMFP) approach is applied to the poly-exponential model solid. The analytic expressions for the Helmholtz free energy, internal energy and equation of state (EOS) are derived. The formalism for the case of the double-exponential (DE) model is applied to fcc C84. One set of potential parameters are determined by fitting the experimental compression data of C84 up to 9.24 GPa at ambient temperature (297 K). The equilibrium distance and well depth for C60, C70 and C84 molecules are plotted. The thermophysical properties including the isothermals, thermal expansion, isochoric heat capacity, Helmholtz free energy and internal energy are calculated and analyzed. The theoretical results agree well with the experimental data available of C84. Basing the results of our calculations, we may also predict the behaviors of C84 at extreme conditions.