When Aristolochia plants wilt and decay, aristolochic acids (AAs) are released into the soil, causing soil contamination. It has been demonstrated that aristolochic acid can be accumulated and enriched in crops through plant uptake. However, there is a lack of systematic studies on the migration and accumulation of AAs in a realistic simulated soil environment. In this study, Aristolochia herbal extracts were mixed with soil for growing three typical vegetables: lettuce, celery, and tomato. The contents of AAs in the above-mentioned plants were determined by an established highly sensitive LC-MS/MS method to study the migration and accumulation of AAs. We found that AAs in the soil can be transferred and accumulated in plants. AAs first entered the roots, which were more likely to accumulate AAs, and partially entered the above-ground parts. This further confirms that AAs can enter the food chain through plants and can have serious effects on human health. It was also shown that plants with vigorous growth and a large size absorbed AAs from the soil at a faster rate. The more AAs present in the soil, the more they accumulated in the plant.

This paper studies a quantum particle traveling in a fractal space-time, which can be modelled by a fractional modification of the Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients. The Fourier spectral method is used to reveal the solution properties numerically, and the fractal properties are illustrated graphically by choosing different coefficients and different fractional orders. Some novel isosurface plots of the dynamics of pattern formation in fractional Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients are shown. Keywords: Fractal wave propagation; Multi-dimensional; Schrödinger equation; Fractal symmetry; Fourier spectral method.