Multi-Component Antioxidative System and Robust Carbohydrate Status, the Essence of Plant Arsenic Tolerance.

Arsenic (As) contaminates the food chain and decreases agricultural production through impairing plants, particularly due to oxidative stress. To better understand the As tolerance mechanisms, two contrasting tobacco genotypes: As-sensitive and As-tolerant , cv. 'Wisconsin' were analyzed.

Strong antioxidant capacity of horseradish hairy root cultures under arsenic stress indicates the possible use of Armoracia rusticana plants for phytoremediation.

The potential contamination of the food chain is the most important aspect of arsenic (As) pollution, since it is highly toxic to all organisms. Thus, the search for As hyperaccumulators suitable to remove As from contaminated soils appears to be a vital task. Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana), a crop plant with a high potential to accumulate heavy metals, can also serve to study the physiological processes that accompany arsenic stress.

Two facets of world arsenic problem solution: crop poisoning restriction and enforcement of phytoremediation.

This review provides insights into As toxicity in plants with focus on photosynthesis and sugar metabolism as important arsenic targets and simultaneously defence tools against accompanying oxidative stress. Heavy metal contamination is a great problem all over the world. Arsenic, a metalloid occurring naturally in the Earth's crust, also massively spreads out in the environment by human activities.

[Digital images of the retinal nerve fiber layer in healthy eye and in glaucoma].

The authors describe the procedure how to take pictures of the retinal nerve fiber layer with the fundus camera CANON CF-60UV connected to the digital camera EOS 20D. They attach practical instructions how to modify taken digital pictures with the Photoshop CS2 software, to make the nerve fiber layer and its losses more visible. They present modified pictures of the nerve fiber layer in healthy eye and in glaucoma where the losses are compared to the scotomas in the visual field.

[Subjective examination of the nerve fiber layer of the retina and its evaluation in a healthy eye and in glaucoma].

The authors describe the advantage of subjective examination of the nerve fiber layer in everyday outpatient praxis of the ophthalmologist. The objective examination of the nerve fiber layer is performed on specialized clinics by means of expensive instruments as are OCT, GDX or HRT. Every ophthalmologist may analyze the retinal nerve fiber layer subjectively with the basic equipment of the praxis.