BACKGROUND Soil is increasingly recognized as an important source in the transmission of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of T. gondii in the soil and to grasp the relationships between the contamination of soil and chicken infections. METHODS PCR method based on T. gondii-conserved gene internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) as target gene a...

the aim of this study was to assess the effects of heavy metal tolerant soil microbes inoculation on growth and metal uptake of pearl millet (pennisetum glaucum), couch grass (triticum repens) and alfalfa (medicago sativa) in a soil spiked (and subsequently aged) with increasing concentrations of pb. a soil sample (soil 1) was spiked with increasing (0 to 1500 mg/kg) concentrations of pb and in...

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of spent oil contamination on the strength of lime stabilized soil. Laterite soil was stabilized with lime in percentages of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8% of the dry weight of soil. Specimens were prepared for UCS and CBR. The specimens for UCS were cured for 7, 14 and 28 days; while the specimens for CBR were cured for 4 days. Contamination of the specime...

With 110-d incubation experiment in laboratory, the responses of microbial quantity, soil enzymatic activity, and bacterial community structure to different amounts of diesel fuel amendments were studied to reveal whether certain biological and biochemical characteristics could serve as reliable indicators of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in meadow-brown soil, and use these indicators to ...

In this study, concentrations of heavy metals in soils around a Zn-smelter in Qeshm island, Iran, are investigated. Calculated geoaccumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (Cf), and contamination degree (Cdeg) values indicate surface soil contamination by toxic metals (As, Cd, Pb, and Zn). The results also indicate that most contaminated areas are located in the vicinity of the smelter an...

Methods Efficacy studies were conducted according to ASTM E1174 or with modifications to the hand contamination procedure as follows: For ASTM E2755 studies, hands were contaminated with 0.2 ml of a concentrated challenge suspension to reduce soil load and eliminate post contamination hand wetness commonly associated with testing per E1174. For the “contact contamination” procedure hands were c...

The contamination of soil with petroleum products is a major environmental problem. Petroleum products are common soil contaminants as a result of human activities, and they are causing substantial changes in the biological (particularly microbiological) processes, chemical composition, structure and physical properties of soil. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of soil ...

Rapid industrialization in the 1960s caused heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) to severely pollute soil in Japan. The Agricultural Land Soil Pollution Prevention Law was enacted in 1970 to cope with the heavy metal pollution. Cd, in particular, has been recognized as one of the most detrimental elements in Japan because of the so-called “itai-itai” disease caused through Cd uptake. Recently, the...

BACKGROUND In the U.S., tomatoes have become the most implicated vehicle for produce-associated Salmonellosis with 12 outbreaks since 1998. Although unconfirmed, trace backs suggest pre-harvest contamination with Salmonella enterica. Routes of tomato crop contamination by S. enterica in the absence of direct artificial inoculation have not been investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Thi...

To understand how microbial communities and functional genes respond to arsenic contamination in the rhizosphere of Pteris vittata, five soil samples with different arsenic contamination levels were collected from the rhizosphere of P. vittata and nonrhizosphere areas and investigated by Biolog, geochemical, and functional gene microarray (GeoChip 3.0) analyses. Biolog analysis revealed that th...