Environmental factors regulate soil microbial attributes and their response to drought in rangeland ecosystems.

In ecosystems, soil microbial variables characterization are used to determine soil biological health and the response of soils to environmental stress. Although there are strong associations between plants and soil microorganisms, they may respond asynchronously to environmental factors and severe droughts. We aimed to: I) evaluate the special variation of soil microbiome such as microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN), soil basal respiration (SBR) and microbial indexes in eight rangeland sites located across an aridity gradient (distributed from arid to mesic climates); II) analyze the relative importance of main environmental factors (climate, soils, and plants) and their relationships with microbial variables in the rangelands; and III) assess the effect of drought on microbial and plant variables in field-based manipulative experiments.

Overseeding legumes in natural grasslands: Impacts on root biomass and soil organic matter of commercial farms.

Overseeding legumes in natural grasslands coupled with phosphorous fertilization are management practices oriented to increase forage production and quality, and to restore nutrient losses generated by livestock. Several studies show increases in forage due to this practice, but less is known about impacts on soil fertility and carbon sequestration. The objective of this study was to evaluate under real farm conditions changes in root C and N stocks and soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) stocks in two different soil pools, the particulate organic matter (POM) and the mineral associated organic matter (MAOM), after the introduction in natural grasslands of a legume species, Lotus subbiflorus cv.

Pathomorphological characteristics and immunohistochemical features of placentae from hiv-positive pregnant women with fetal growth retardation.

Objective: The aim: To study the pathomorphological characteristics and immunohistochemical features of placentae from human immunodeficiency virus-positive (HIV-positive) pregnant women with FGR.

Patients And Methods: Materials and methods: The study material was 32 placentae, including 12 placentae from HIV-positive pregnant women with FGR (study group), 10 placentae from HIVpositivepregnant women without FGR (comparison group) and 10 placentae from HIV-negative women with physiological pregnancy (control group). An immunohistochemical study was performed using monoclonal antibodies (MCA) against CD31+ and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

[The capacities of autoleukocyte-labelled scintigraphy in the detection of foci of inflammation and suppuration].

The diagnostics of occult inflammation foci up to day remains the major and complicated problem in almost each clinical discipline. Whole-body scintigraphy and SPECT studies with 99mTc-autoleucocytes show silent foci of inflammation and infection. 68 patients (24 females and 44 males) aged 14-59 years with non-localized inflammatory diseases were evaluated.