Knisely, Ralph F. (U.S. Army Biological Laboratories, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Md.), Lois M. Swaney, and Harold Friedlander. Selective media for the isolation of Pasteurella pestis. J. Bacteriol. 88:491-496. 1964.-Several selective media are described that were successfully used to isolate virulent and avirulent strains of Pasteurella pestis from material heavily contaminated with other organis...

Pollutants in the form of non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs), such as petroleum products, pose a serious threat to the soil and groundwater. A mathematical model was derived to study the unsteady pollutant concentrations through water saturated contaminated soil under air sparging conditions for different NAPLs and soil properties. The comparison between the numerical model results and the publi...

Rotavirus is a leading cause of gastrointestinal illness worldwide. Rotavirus transmission occurs fecal-orally, and becomes a critical water quality issue when soil and water resources are contaminated with feces. Transport of pathogens to surface water sources depends on their survival in the soil, especially considering the fact that large amounts of fecal material are often applied to agricu...

Many bacterial species use flagella for self-propulsion in aqueous media. In the soil, which is a complex and structured environment, water is found in microscopic channels where viscosity and water potential depend on the composition of the soil solution and the degree of soil water saturation. Therefore, the motility of soil bacteria might have special requirements. An important soil bacteria...

Metam sodium (metam) is a widely used soil fumigant. Combined application of metam and other available fumigants is intended to produce synergic pesticidal effects for a broad spectrum of pest control in soil fumigation. This study aimed to test the compatibility of metam with the halogenated fumigants 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D), chloropicrin, methyl bromide, methyl iodide and propargyl bromid...

Transpiration, a process by which plants extract water from soil and transmit it to the atmosphere, is a vital (yet least quantified) component of the hydrological cycle. We propose a root-scale model of water uptake, which is based on first principles, i.e. employs the generally accepted Richards equation to describe water flow in partially saturated porous media (both in a root and the ambien...

An agar plate method has been developed for the rapid, preliminary screening of large numbers of rhizobia for tolerance to acidity and aluminum (acid-Al). Media containing pH indicators are used, and distinguish true tolerance from cases where growth depends on a previous pH shift. Strains which were highly tolerant or sensitive to acid Al on agar behaved similarly in defined liquid media. Stra...

Root architectural traits are important for the selection of crops and cultivars that are most efficient in the acquisition of nutrients and water from soil. Increasingly laboratory-based methods are being used to screen large numbers of plants and to measure selected architectural traits. Our research with temperate cereals demonstrates that while such methods may allow numbers of root axes an...

Due to the difficulty in dispersing some engineered nanomaterials in exposure media, realizing homogeneous distributions of nanoparticles (NP) in soil may pose major challenges. The present study investigated the distribution of zinc oxide (ZnO) NP (30 nm) and non-nano ZnO (200 nm) in natural soil using two different spiking procedures, i.e. as dry powder and as suspension in soil extract. Both...

BACKGROUND Human waste is used as an agricultural fertilizer in China and elsewhere. Because the eggs of many helminth species can survive in environmental media, reuse of untreated or partially treated human waste, commonly called night soil, may promote transmission of human helminthiases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We conducted an open cohort study in 36 villages to evaluate the associ...