High canopy cover of invasive Acer negundo L. affects ground vegetation taxonomic richness.

We assessed the link between canopy cover degree and ground vegetation taxonomic richness under alien ash-leaved maple (Acer negundo) and other (native or alien) tree species. We investigated urban and suburban forests in the large city of Yekaterinburg, Russia. Forests were evaluated on two spatial scales.

[The impacts of permanent irradiation on the flora of the eastern ural radioactive trace].

In the Eastern Ural Radioactive Trace, concentrations of 90Sr, the main contaminant, in the upper topsoil was estimated to be 40-17000 times over the global level. The density of contamination decreased with the distance from the accident plot according to exponential law. The resulting doze loads shown an excess over the background level of about 1-3 orders of magnitude.

Protective Effect of Meso-Tetrakis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin on the In Vivo Impact of Trimethyltin Chloride on the Antioxidative Defense System.

The in vivo effect of trimethyltin chloride (Me(3)SnCl), free base meso-tetrakis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin (R'(4)PH(2)) and their equimolar mixture, on the enzymatic activity of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and on the total content of free sulfhydryl groups has been studied in rat liver and kidney. It was demonstrated that the simultaneous treatment of tested animals with the combination of Me(3)SnCl and R'(4)PH(2) reduced the toxic impact of Me(3)SnCl.

[Efficacy of diagnostic plates with batumin in identification and indication of staphylococci].

In investigations designed to study sensitivity of 763 clinical strains of microorganisms that belonged to different taxonomic groups with respect to batumin, a new antibiotic recovered from bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas, all members of the genus Staphylococcus displayed high sensitivity to batumin irrespective of their sensitivity or resistance to other antibiotics. High selectivity of batumin in respect to representatives of the genus Staphylococcus has been used to create a novel diagnostic preparation diastaph--a batch of paper disks with batumin (5 mkg) spread on them. Results of the trial given to the preparation diastaph suggest to us a high specificity of this identification option for staphylococci of different species in mono- and mixed cultures, a possibility of our using them simultaneously with or instead of the Hew-Leuffson medium, and an expediency of employment of batumin disks for a prompt preindication of staphylococci in a clinical setting while studying a material notable for a high probability that there are bacterial associations involving staphylococci.