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The aim of the study was to assess the impact of manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) on the parameters of carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism and the level of selected adipokines and cytokines in people with abnormal body mass index (BMI). In addition, an attempt was made to assess the optimal cut-off values of serum concentrations of the biochemical parameters studied in identifying the risk of obesity and insulin resistance (IR). The study included 60 subjects who underwent 10 and 30 min long MLD sessions three times a week. The study group included 15 patients with a normal body mass index (group I; n = 15), overweight patients (group II; n = 15) and obese patients (group III; n = 10). The control group was IV; n = 20 subjects not undergoing MLD. Biochemical tests were carried out on all subjects at stage 0′ (before MLD therapy) and at stage 1′ (one month after MLD therapy). In the control group, the time between the sample collection at stage 0′ and stage 1′ was the same as in the study group. Our results showed that 10 MLD sessions may have a positive effect on the selected biochemical parameters, including insulin, 2h-PG, leptin and HOMA-IR values in normal weight and overweight patients. In addition, in the study group, the highest AUCROC values in identifying the risk of obesity were found for leptin (AUCROC = 82.79%; cut-off = 17.7 ng/mL; p = 0.00004), insulin (AUCROC = 81.51%; cut-off = 9.5 µIU/mL; p = 0.00009) and C-peptide (AUCROC = 80.68%; cut-off = 2.3 ng/mL; p = 0.0001) concentrations as well as for HOMA-IR values (AUCROC = 79.97%; cut-off = 1.8; p = 0.0002). When considering the risk of IR, we observed the highest diagnostic value for insulin (AUCROC = 93.05%; cut-off = 1.8 ng/mL; p = 0.053), which was followed by C-peptide (AUCROC = 89.35%; cut-off = 17.7 ng/mL; p = 0.000001), leptin (AUCROC = 79.76%; cut-off = 17.6 ng/mL; p = 0.0002) and total cholesterol (AUCROC = 77.31%; cut-off = 198 mg/dL; p = 0.0008). Our results indicate that MLD may have a positive effect on selected biochemical parameters, including insulin, 2h-PG, leptin and HOMA-IR, in normal weight and overweight patients. In addition, we successfully established optimal cut-off values for leptin in the assessment of obesity and insulin in the assessment of insulin resistance in patients with abnormal body mass index. Based on our findings, we hypothesize that MLD, when combined with caloric restriction and physical activity, may serve as an effective preventive intervention against the development of obesity and insulin resistance.

Background: The study aimed to assess if manual therapy, compared to ibuprofen, impacts the concentration of inflammatory factors, sex hormones, and dysmenorrhea in young women Methods: Thirty-five women, clinically diagnosed with dysmenorrhea, were included in the study. They were divided into group A—manual therapy (n = 20) and group B—ibuprofen therapy (n = 15). Inflammatory factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), C-reactive protein (CRP), prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α), E2 (PGE2) and sex hormones levels were measured. Dysmenorrhea assessed with the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS), myofascial trigger points, and muscle flexibility were examined before and after the interventions. Results: The difference in the level of 17-β-estradiol after manual and ibuprofen therapy was significant, as compared to baseline (p = 0.036). Progesterone levels decreased in group A (p = 0.002) and B (p = 0.028). The level of CRP was negatively correlated with sex hormones. Decrease in dysmenorrhea was significant in both groups (group A p = 0.016, group B p = 0.028). Non-significant differences were reported in prostaglandins, VEGF and CRP levels, in both groups. Conclusions: There were no significant differences in CRP, prostaglandins and VEGF factors after manual or ibuprofen therapy. It has been shown that both manual therapy and ibuprofen can decrease progesterone levels. Manual therapy had a similar effect on the severity of dysmenorrhea as ibuprofen, but after manual therapy, unlike after ibuprofen, less muscles with dysfunction were detected in patients with primary dysmenorrhea.

The soil supplementation with sewage sludge (SS) has become a widespread method to improve soil quality, but its long-term possible consequences are still relatively unknown. SS may contain several groups of contaminants to which the biological responses of the organisms are still poorly understood mainly due to the mixture toxicity. In this context, RNA-seq has been used to assess the impact of the exposure to sewage sludge supplemented soil at the whole-transcriptome level in the Brassica napus (B. napus). Although the municipal sewage sludge passed all safety regulations set by the EU commission (86/278/EEC), soil supplementation with SS caused a significant (p 0.05) increase in the content of lead (by 68.8%, 71.4% in plant shoots and roots, respectively), zinc (by 22.4% and 31.2%), nickel (by 67.0% and 30.2%), and copper (by 33.1% and 39.2%). The de-novo assembled transcriptome of B. napus identified 555 differently expressed genes (DEGs) in a response to sewage sludge supplementation at the false detection rate below 0.001 (FDR0.001). Among them, 313 genes were up-regulated and 242 genes were down-regulated. The gene ontology analysis (GO) had shown, that significantly enriched GO groups included genes involved in photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and photosystems repair (41 genes), response to oxidative stress (50 genes), response to pathogens (36 genes), response to xenobiotics (15 genes), and heavy metals (41 genes), cell death (8 genes), cell wall structure (15 genes). These results suggest a significant impact of contaminants in sewage sludge on plants transcriptome. The transcriptomic approach facilitated a better understanding of the molecular level of the potential toxicity of sewage sludge in B. napus. RNA-seq allowed for the identification of potential novel early-warning molecular markers of environmental contamination. This work highlights the crucial necessity for rapid legislation change concerning the allowable levels of contaminants in sewage sludge applied on land, to mitigate the possible adverse outcomes in the ecosystem after its use as a fertilizer.

The proper fluid and carbohydrates intake is essential before and during physical exercise, and for this reason most athletes drink beverages containing a high amount of free sugars. Sweetened soft drinks are also commonly consumed by those not doing any sport, and this habit seems to be both unhealthy and also the cause of metabolic problems. Recently, several sweeteners have been proposed to replace sugars in popular beverages. To examine the impact of free sugars and the popular sweetener xylitol on metabolic profile and the markers of kidney function and injury after exercise the present study was conducted with semi-professional football players. All participants were healthy, with a mean age of 21.91 years. Their sports skills were on the level of the 4th-5th division of the league. The subjects took part in four football training sessions. During each session they drank a 7% solution of sugar (sucrose, fructose, glucose) or xylitol. The tolerability of these beverages and well-being during exercise was monitored. Before and after each training session, blood and urine were collected. The markers of kidney function and injury, uric acid, electrolytes, complete blood count, CRP, serum albumin, serum glucose and the lipid profile were analyzed. The main finding of this study was that the xylitol beverage is the least tolerated during exercise and 38.89% of participants experienced diarrhea after training and xylitol intake. Xylitol also led to unfavorable metabolic changes and a large increase in uric acid and creatinine levels. A mean increase of 1.8 mg/dl in the uric acid level was observed after xylitol intake. Increases in acute kidney injury markers were observed after all experiments, but changes in urine albumin and cystatin C were highest after xylitol. The other three beverages (containing “free sugars” - glucose, fructose and sucrose) had a similar impact on the variables studied, although the glucose solution seems to have some advantages over other beverages. The conclusion is that sweeteners are not a good alternative to sugars, especially during exercise. Pure water without sweeteners should be drunk by those who need to limit their calorie consumption.Clinical Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov, (NCT04310514)

Hermaphroditic lumbricid Eisenia sp. earthworms are ubiquitous and highly resistant to a variety of environmental stressors, including heavy metals. Among the progeny of laboratory mated inter-specific pairs of Eisenia fetida (Ea) and Eisenia andrei (Ef) there are fertile Ha hybrids derived from Ea ova fertilized by Ef spermatozoa and very rare sterile Hf hybrids from Ef ova fertilized by Ea spermatozoa. The aim of the first part of the experiment was to compare the life traits and whole body accumulation of cadmium in adult earthworms from genetically defined Ea, Ef and their hybrids (Ha) exposed for four weeks to commercial soil either unpolluted (control) or cadmium-spiked leading to moderate (M) or high (H) soil pollution (M = 425 and H = 835 mg kg−1 dry soil weight). Such exposure impaired cocoon production but not affected earthworm viability despite the massive Cd bioaccumulation in the whole earthworm bodies reaching at M and H groups 316–454, 203–338, 114–253, and 377–309 mg kg−1 dry body weights of Ea, Ef1, Ef2, and Ha, respectively, surprisingly reaching maximum accumulation quantities in hybrids. The second part of the experiment aimed to investigate cadmium-related defense mechanisms at transcriptomic level in coelomocytes non-invasively extruded from coelomic cavities of the new sets of Ea, Ef, Ha, and Hf earthworms exposed to Cd in microcosms for 0 days (control), 2 days, and 7 days (M = 425 mg kg−1). Expression level of stress-induced Cd-metallothionein (mt) and superoxide dismutase (sod) were gradually up-regulated, while the immune-connected lysenin (lys) was rapidly down-regulated; the expression of glutathione S-transferase (gst) and phytochelatin synthase (pcs) remained unaffected. Mt and sod gene up-regulation and lys gene down-regulation were especially pronounced in Ea-derived hybrids. In sum, capacity of cadmium bioaccumulation and detoxification mechanisms is more efficient in interspecific hybrids than in the pure Ea and Ef species.

The study was aimed to model and optimize the removal of cadmium from contaminated post-industrial soil via

In August 2019 and during August/September 2020, the main collection system of the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Warsaw, Poland, malfunctioned. During that system failure, over 4.8 million m3 of untreated wastewater was dropped directly into the Vistula River in just a few days. It is currently considered as one of the largest known failures of WWTP worldwide. In order to assess the environmental impact, water samples were collected from 2 spots at the Vistula river estuary (406 and 415 km from the discharge location, respectively), and 4 spots at the Gulf of Gdansk, situated on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. The sampling was conducted before the wastewater wave reached the Vistula river’s mouth, followed by daily sampling during 21 days after the malfunction occurred. The study showed the decline in water quality at the Vistula river estuary and the Baltic shore waters as the wave of wastewater reached those points, despite being situated over 400 km downstream from the place of the accident. Those changes included the reduction in the dissolved oxygen content (by 0.69-fold at its peak), the increase in Total Organic Carbon (TOC) (by 1.28-fold at its peak), nitrate-nitrogen (N-NO3) (by 1.68-fold at its peak), phosphorous (P) (by 2.41-fold at its peak), conductivity (by 16.8-fold at its peak), and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (by 1.84-fold). In the samples from the Vistula river, the decline in water quality was seen as incidental and lasted 2–3 days. Subsequently, the levels of physical and chemical parameters returned to the levels from before the accident. However, the changes in the Gulf of Gdańsk lasted significantly longer, especially on the West side of the Vistula river, where, even after 21 days from the initial accident, some parameters remained altered.

The objective of this study was to explore possible improvement of plant growth using the activity of the bacterial enzyme ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate) deaminase (endophytes and rhizobacteria). The beneficial effect of ACC deaminase activity was tested on plants growing under stress conditions (high concentrations of heavy metals: cadmium, lead, zinc in the soil). The bacteria were isolated from three plants species: Festuca rubra L., Agrostis capillaris L., Arabidopsis thaliana L. Heynh, acquired from the area contaminated with heavy metals. Strains with the highest ACC deaminase activity were used to prepare a bacterial consortium and inoculate the plants. It has been shown that inoculation of plants with ACC producing bacteria has a positive effect on their growth under stress conditions. The bacterial entophytes strains showed a higher activity of ACC deaminase, which resulted in a higher biomass growth of inoculated plants. PGPB bacteria may limit the toxicity of harmful ions and thus the increase the adaptive properties of plants. Moreover, it was discovered that the bacteria mainly belonging to genus Bacillus and Pseudomonas had the highest AAC deaminase activity in multiple heavy metal contaminated environment. The use of selected microorganisms and plants will provide results in an increasing efficiency of phytoremediation.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of pollutants with mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. This study aimed to assess the effects of cysteine on the growth and resistance of the Festuca plant against PAHs-induced stress. The experiment was designed in six different groups and included control, contaminated soil with pyrene (Py) and phenanthrene (Phe) (200, 300, and 400 mg kg−1), and supplementation with cysteine (100, 200 mg L-1), all with or without the cultivation of Festuca grass. During the two 45- and 90-day periods, changes in the population of bacteria, the activity of soil enzymes: dehydrogenase (DHA) and peroxidase (POD), and the level of pyrene and phenanthrene removal were investigated. Furthermore, the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) model was also applied to determine the relationships between input and response parameters. Then, using the sensitivity analysis by Monte Carlo simulation, the effect of the examined parameters on the response parameters was determined. The results demonstrated that cysteine supplementation, along with Festuca cultivation, increased the number of bacteria, improved the activity of enzymes, and elevated the elimination of PAHs (p-value

Atrazine is one of the most widely-used chlorine herbicides in agriculture. In recent years, studies have shown a potential hazard of atrazine use in environmental health and human health. Due to its toxicity, widespread use, relatively high stability in water and soil, determining safe and efficient methods of its removal is crucial. The main aim of this review was to showcase the recent progress of atrazine degradation methods, along with their main advantages, disadvantages, potential efficiency, and degradation pathways. The overall goal was to create an information gateway for researchers, and stakeholders interested in choosing the best method for atrazine degradation. Thus, the current technologies for atrazine degradation are systematically reviewed and can be used for future improvements or the selection of the most appropriate strategy for a specific place.

The main aim of this review is to assess the advantages and disadvantages of use of in vitro plant cell and organ cultures as useful research tools in process of phytoremediation. Plant tissue cultures including cell suspensions, callus and hairy roots are frequently used in the phytoremediation research, mostly as a model plant systems. One of the most important advantages of using in vitro cultures is the ability to examine the metabolic capabilities of plant cells as well as their capacity for toxicity tolerance in controlled conditions without any interference from microorganisms and processes occurring naturally in soils. The results obtained from plant cell or tissue cultures can be used to predict the responses of plants to environmental stressors and also to mass produce stress induced proteins and other metabolites. The aim of this review is to present possible applications for in vitro cultures in phytoremediation studies.

ACL; ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters, types C, G, and B were monitored via qPCR in order to investigate the influence of heavy metal (HM) contamination of post-industrial and post-agricultural soils and the effects of its supplementation with sewage sludge, on Sinapis alba plants. Five house-keeping genes were selected and validated to ensure the best reference points. The relative expression of ABC types C and G genes was profoundly affected by experimental conditions and included their upregulation after plants exposure to heavy metals and downregulation after supplementation with sewage sludge. However, ABC type C was more responsive then type G. The experimental conditions altered the expression of ABC type C gene faster than ABC type G and thus, the expression of ABC type C can therefore potentially be used as a bioindicator during assisted phytoremediation of degraded sites. In clean soil, supplementation with sewage sludge with a slight content of heavy metals still caused an upregulation in the expression of ABC types C and G, which showed that proper toxicity assessments are necessary to ensure safe application of sewage sludge into soils. Results showed that the analysed genes take a significant part in plants metal detoxification and that their expression is regulated at transcriptional level after exposure to soil contaminated with heavy metals by both, industrial activities and by sewage sludge supplementation. Thus, their expression can potentially be used as an early-warning biomarker when soil supplementation with sewage sludge is incorporated into the soil-management process.

The study was aimed to model and optimize the removal of cadmium from contaminated post-industrial soil via Sinapis alba L. by comparing two modeling approaches: Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The experimental design was done using the Box–Behnken Design method. In the RSM model, the quadratic model was shown to predict the closest results in comparison to our experimental data. For ANN approach, a two-layer Feed-Forward Back-Propagation Neural Network model was designed. The results showed that sewage sludge supplementation increased the efficiency of the Sinapis alba plant in removing Cd from the soil. After 28 days of exposure, the removal rate varied from 10.96% without any supplementation to 65.9% after supplementation with the highest possible (law allowed) dose of sewage sludge. The comparison proved that the prediction capability of the ANN model was much higher than that of the RSM model (adjusted R-square: 0.98, standard error of the Cd prediction removal: 0.85 ± 0.02). Thus, the ANN model could be used for the prediction of heavy metal removal during assisted phytoremediation with sewage sludge. Moreover, such approach could also be used to determinate the dose of sewage sludge that will ensure highest process efficiency.

ACL; The heavy metals (HMs) soils contamination is a growing concern since HMs are not biodegradable and can accumulate in all living organisms causing a threat to plants and animals, including humans. Phytoremediation is a cost-efficient technology that uses plants to remove, transform or detoxify contaminants. In recent years, phytoremediation is entering the stage of large-scale modelling via various mathematical models. Such models can be useful tools to further our understanding and predicting of the processes that influence the efficiency of phytoremediation and to precisely plan such actions on a large-scale. When dealing with extremely complicated and challenging variables like the interactions between the climate, soil and plants, modelling before starting an operation can significantly reduce the time and cost of such process by granting us an accurate prediction of possible outcomes. Research on the applicability of different modelling approaches is ongoing and presented work compares and discusses available models in order to point out their specific strengths and weaknesses in given scenarios. The main aim of this paper is to critically evaluate the main advantages and limitations of available models for large-scale phytoremediation including, among others, the Decision Support System (DSS), Response Surface Methodology (RSM), BALANS, PLANTIX and various regression models. Study compares their applicability and highlight existing gaps in current knowledge with a special reference to improving the efficiency of large-scale phytoremediation of sites contaminated with heavy-metals. The presented work can serve as a useful tool when choosing the most suitable model for the phytoremediation of contaminated sites. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This chapter summarizes the main and challenging aspects of soil enzyme research in regards to changing climate. Overall, the chapter focuses on recent advances in soil microbiology and enzyme research to assess the impact of climate change on microbial activity and extracellular enzymes. Recent studies expressed a growing need to understand how specific properties of soils including its biological, chemical, and physical aspects can influence the production of soil enzymes. Such knowledge can allow for alterations in extracellular enzyme synthesis and secretion, which can lead to an increase in bioremediation efficiency, improve plant growth, and carbon sequestration. In recent years, assays for extracellular enzyme activity had been developed and advanced as standard tools for researching the effects of climate change on microbial activities. Therefore the chapter compares the benefits and drawbacks of traditional and well-adapted methods with new techniques that had been developed for the assessment of the climate change impact of enzyme activities in soil.

The study aimed to assess the effects of melatonin, a plant growth regulator, on the degradation of phenanthrene (Phe) and pyrene (Py), in the rhizosphere of the Festuca grass. The experiments were divided into the following groups: 1) soil contaminated with Phe and Py, without the Festuca, 2) contaminated soil + Festuca, 3–5), contaminated soil + Festuca + the application of melatonin in three separate doses: 10, 50, or 100 μM. After 90 days, the effects of melatonin supplementation on the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed by evaluating the rate of PAHs degradation, the expression of genes encoding salicylaldehyde dehydrogenase (SDH) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) enzymes in Pseudomonas putida, as well as by measuring the total activity of dehydrogenase and peroxidase enzymes. Our results have shown that in soil contaminated by 300 mg kg−1 PAHs, application of melatonin (10, 50, 100 μM), resulted in the following increase in the dehydrogenase and peroxidase activity in all three applied doses (19% and 5.7%), (45.3% and 34.3%), (40.9% and 14.3%), respectively in comparison to the control group. The experiment showed that soil supplementation with melatonin at 50 μM, resulted in the highest removal rate of PAHs. According to our results, melatonin demonstrated a potentially favorable role in enhancing plant biomass, as well as an increase in soil bacterial population, and the activity of antioxidative enzymes in P. putida, causing all tested parameters of the soil and the expression of desired genes to be advantageously altered for the degradation of the chosen PAHs.

Safe soil application of sewage sludge is a challenging environmental issue. Scientists' views on the impact of sewage sludge on the phytobiome are very different and inconsistent. Also, practitioners have differing views, especially foresters and farmers who are strongly opposed to the use of sewage sludge while sewage sludge producers and environmental engineers are in favor of land application. The aim of the present work is to assess the influence of sewage sludge soil application on the phytobiome. Changes in microbial functional diversity, community level, and physiological profiles due to sewage sludge soil treatment are measured and assessed using specific indicators. Moreover, the indicators are also strictly correlated with the sewage sludge processing and treatment before soil application.

Bioindicators are promising tools used to detect the long-term effects of selected biosolids on plants development and should be implemented before large-scale supplementation of sewage sludge into the soil. The presented study shows the impact of sewage sludge application on metal-sensitive toxicity biological parameters (biomarkers) in Sinapis alba including: germination, root length, the activity of guaiacol peroxidase, the chlorophyll content, the level of DNA damage and the expression level of Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rbcL) and metallothionein (mt). We evaluated data from selected biomarkers in order to broaden our understanding of plants defense mechanisms against heavy metal contamination and the application of sewage sludge into soils. Overall, in contaminated soil after supplementation with both municipal sewage sludges, an increase in toxicity was noticed in DNA damage, mt and rbcl expression and total chlorophyll content. The supplementation of both soils with municipal sewage sludge caused a two-time induction in the mt expression. Moreover, clean soil supplemented with sewage sludge caused an increase in DNA damage shown as the tail moment from approximately 12 μm on control to 40 μm after supplementation. Even if those biosolids increased the initial germination, roots length, and biomass in comparison to the unamended soil, the toxicity was evidenced with other stress markers. Results showed, that in order to accurately assess the influence of sewage sludge application on plants the use of several specific biomarkers is required for safe land restoration. The conducted study also confirmed, both under biochemical and genotoxic tests, that iron enrichment for biosolids or contaminated soil can significantly reduce the bioavailability and toxicity of other metals.

Yellow-lupin (Lupinus luteus L.) was grown on soils contaminated with heavy metals during two parallel studies. In the first one, the soil was contaminated by industrial activities whereas, in the second one, the soil was artificially contaminated with a single metal including Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni (in nitrate form), and Ag (in nitrate and nanoparticles form). The study was performed to assess a plant's response to contamination including its antioxidative response and molecular mechanisms involved in metal detoxification through the expression level of metallothioneins (MTs). Overall, the study provided insights into identification and validation of housekeeping genes (HKG) in L. luteus under exposure to metal stress and showed the effects of selected heavy metals and silver nanoparticles on the expression of metallothioneins, the activity of guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and bioaccumulation of metals in leaves of L. luteus. As such, HKG validation using BestKeeper, NormFinder, and geNorm software allowed for the selection of four most stable reference genes in a context metal contamination for the selected plant. Moreover, a significant increase in the expression levels of MT was observed in plants grown under heavy metal stress and none on plants grown on 25 mg kg

The aim of the study was to evaluate sensitivity and potential applications of selected biomarkers in phytoremediation under complex heavy metal contamination in Sinapis alba L., Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Lupinus luteus L as a potential tools in effective phytoremediation management. The toxicity assessment was conducted using selected measurement endpoints, both classical and advanced, i.e., germination index, roots length, guaiacol peroxidase activity (GPX), chlorophyll and protein content, the amount of total phenolic compounds (TPC) and level of expression of one of the ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase genes (rbcL). Moreover, the influence of organic additives: cattle, horse manure, and vermicompost on lowering plant abiotic stress caused by complex heavy metal contamination was studied to assess the possible applications of selected stress markers in large scale phytoremediation planning. The results demonstrated the beneficial effects of selected soil additives on plant development. The 5% difference in the quantity of applied amendment caused statistically significant differences in GPX, TPC, chlorophyll content and expression level of rbcL. Among all endpoints, GPX activity, chlorophyll, and phenolic compounds content, as well as the expression of rbcL, turned out to be the most reliable assays for determination of the type and dosage of selected soil amendments (fertilizers) in the assisted phytoremediation process. Selected markers can be used to achieve the desired level of plant abiotic stress and consequently photosynthesis efficiency and CO2 sequestration. The results showed, that presented assays can be used in different taxonomical groups such as Fabaceae for planning effective phytoremediation process.

To investigate the effect of organic and inorganic amendments on heavy metal immobilization in soil and organic carbon sequestration, a growth chamber study over a period of 18 months was conducted. Phytoremediation of two degraded soils, smelter-polluted soil and post-mining soil, was carried out using Scots Pine (Pinus Sylvestris L.) and Giant Miscanthus (Miscanthus x Giganteus). The increase in organic carbon content for lake chalk amended soils was noted. In addition, the largest root biomass production after fertilization of heavy metal contaminated soil with lake chalk was observed. This soil additive increases soil pH and reduces heavy metal mobility, which finally minimizes the harmful effect of metals on plant life and growth. Root biomass production of Giant Miscanthus was significantly higher than Scots pine root biomass for both soils. This may indicate better phytosequestration properties of Giant Miscanthus, especially in the case of land degradation due to mining and destruction of soil profiles.

The paper is about a new class of antimicrobial functional nanomaterials. Proposed compounds are based on SBA-15 porous silica matrices and contain anchored copper ions. Thanks to the immobilization of functional groups the compounds are safer for environment than commonly used disinfectant agents. We prepared and examined silica based materials containing two concentrations of copper-containing groups: 10 and 5%. For the reference we prepared samples containing free-standing CuO molecules in the structure and checked their antimicrobial properties. Antibacterial effect of considered SBA-15-Cu material was tested onEscherichia colibacteria. Antimicrobial tests were applied for the pure form of the material and as modifying agents for plastics. The obtained results showed that the sample with lower concentration of active copper-containing groups has stronger antimicrobial properties than the one with higher concentration of copper. Interestingly, silica containing free-standing CuO molecules has no antimicrobial properties. Considering the obtained results, we can conclude that the most probable antimicrobial mechanism in this case is an oxidation stress. When a plastic modifier is applied the material is enriched with bacterial inhibitory properties. It seems that SBA-15 silica containing low concentration of anchored copper ions is promising in terms of its antibacterial property and biomaterial potential for commercial use.