Active biomonitoring of heavy metal pollution using Rosa rugosa plants.

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the quality of a rural area near Faenza (Italy) by using an active biomonitoring approach, i.e., by placing homogeneous individuals of the perennial shrub Rosa rugosa in different sites throughout the area.

Extremely low frequency weak magnetic fields enhance resistance of NN tobacco plants to tobacco mosaic virus and elicit stress-related biochemical activities.

Increasing evidence has accumulated concerning the biological effects of extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) in different plant models. In the present study, effects of ELF-MFs in tobacco plants reacting to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) with a hypersensitive response (HR) were evaluated. Plants were exposed for 8 or 24 h (either before or after TMV inoculation) to a static MF, at either -17 or 13 microT, combined with a 10 Hz sinusoidal MF with different intensities (25.

Nonthermal microwave radiations affect the hypersensitive response of tobacco to tobacco mosaic virus.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of nonthermal extremely high-frequency microwave radiations in a plant-based bioassay, represented by tobacco plants reacting to tobacco mosaic virus with a hypersensitive response leading to the appearance of necrotic lesions at the infection sites.

Design: This study was performed blind and different experimental protocols on tobacco plants inoculated with tobacco mosaic virus were used. BIO-OBJECTS: Tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L.

Effects of homeopathic arsenic on tobacco plant resistance to tobacco mosaic virus. Theoretical suggestions about system variability, based on a large experimental data set.

Context: This research aimed at verifying the efficacy of homeopathic treatments by plant-based bioassays, which may be suitable for basic research, because they lack placebo effects and provide large datasets for statistical analyses.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of homeopathic treatments of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on tobacco plants subjected to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) inoculation as biotic stress.

Design: Blind, randomized experiment using tobacco leaf disks.

Weak extremely high frequency microwaves affect pollen-tube emergence and growth in kiwifruit: pollen grain irradiation and water-mediated effects.

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the effects of weak-intensity extremely high frequency (EHF) microwaves in a model system-the plant organism pollen grain-lacking the placebo effect, available in large populations, to ensure accurate statistical analysis, and whose sensitivity is closely relevant to animal and human biology.

Design: This study was blinded using an in vitro pollen germination technique. SUBJECTS AND STUDY INTERVENTIONS: Pollen of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) was either directly irradiated or grown in a medium prepared with irradiated water, using a CromoStim 2000, (PromoPharma, Republic of San Marino) designed for EHF microwave resonance therapy (MRT).