Nitrogen deposition is projected to increase rapidly in tropical ecosystems, but changes in soil-N-cycling processes in tropical ecosystems under elevated N input are less well understood. We used N-addition experiments to achieve N-enriched conditions in mixed-species, lowland and montane forests in Panama. Our objectives were to (1) assess changes in soil mineral N production (gross rates of ...

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that dust exposure causes airway inflammation among cement factory workers. However, there is limited information on the mechanisms of this effect. We explored any associations between total dust exposure and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) as a marker of airway eosinophilic inflammation among cement production workers in Tanzania. We also examined possib...

Some bacteria utilize (semi)conductive iron-oxide minerals as conduits for extracellular electron transfer (EET) to distant, insoluble electron acceptors. A previous study demonstrated that microbe/mineral conductive networks are constructed in soil ecosystems, in which Geobacter spp. share dominant populations. In order to examine how (semi)conductive iron-oxide minerals affect EET paths of Ge...

Introduction: In order to achieve sustainable development in mining, waste management is an essential requirement. The current study aimed to examine industrial solid waste produced in Golgohar Mining and Industrial Company, which is a well-known iron ore extraction and processing complex. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in two phases from March, 2016 through Ma...

BioAggregate is a new product that was formulated for root-end filling, perforation repair, and pulp capping. This study examined the chemical differences between white mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and BioAggregate in both powder and set forms using X-ray diffraction. The results showed that white MTA and BioAggregate have a similar chemical composition with some differences: BioAggregate c...

A scalable technique for making silica coatings with embedded two-dimensional arrays of iron oxide nanoparticles is presented. The iron oxide nanoparticle arrays were formed by depositing quasi-crystalline ferritin layers, an iron storage protein with an iron oxide mineral core, on solid substrates by a spread-coating technique based on evaporation-induced convective assembly. The layer of prot...

Zinc (Zn) as a micro mineral is essential for growth, skeletal development, and immune competence in chickens (Hudson et al., 2004). Inorganic Zn salts, such as sulphate and oxide, are generally supplemented in diets to meet the Zn requirement of chickens (Cao et al., 2002). However, in the recent past Inorganic trace minerals (ITMs) have been replaced by organic trace minerals (OTMs) because o...