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Summary• Foliar dehydration tolerance of three mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal legumes is presented here.• Leaf water potential, osmotic adjustment and soil matric potential at the end of a lethal drying episode were compared in soybean, cowpea and bush bean colonized or uncolonized by Glomus intraradices .• Lethal leaf water potential were similar among treatments except in soybean, for which nonmycorrhizal plants given low phosphorus fertilization had values 0.3 -0.4 MPa lower than mycorrhizal plants or nonmycorrhizal plants given higher phosphorus fertilization. Mycorrhizal symbiosis did not affect osmotic adjustment or lethal soil matric potential. Nonmycorrhizal cowpeas given low phosphorus showed more osmotic adjustment than nonmycorrhizal cowpeas given higher phosphorus. Foliage of host species typically classified as drought avoiders, cowpea and bush bean, survived to lower soil matric potentials than soybean, although soybean foliage was more tolerant of dehydration.• Our findings support the idea that when arbuscular mycorrhizal plants fare better than nonmycorrhizal plants during drought, it is probably due to enhanced drought avoidance capabilities conferred by the symbiosis rather than to changes in ability of foliage to withstand dehydration.

Nowadays, breast cancer is the leading oncological diagnosis in women worldwide. On the other hand, breast cancer treatment can be considered one of the most progressive therapeutic approach in the medical fi eld of oncology. The invasive types of breast cancer have a tendency to spread via lymphatic route, what brings in the issue of sentinel lymph node-the fi rst node into which the lymph drains from a given anatomical location. This review paper discusses the historical background of the concept of sentinel lymph node and focuses on clinical signifi cance of the positivity of sentinel lymph node(s) as well. Modern-day conservative therapeutic surgery of breast cancer should be in accordance with diagnostic and preventive interventions in the axilla, whose rate of invasiveness and morbidity must be also attenuated without worsening the patient´s prognosis and survival rate. Formerly, a complete axillary lymph node dissection was routinely performed for prophylactic and cancer staging purposes. The indiscriminate application of this approach was replaced by sentinel lymph node biopsy. Along with common histopathological examination, immunohistochemistry, as well as modern techniques of molecular biology are often employed. These state-of-the-art methods enabled the identifi cation of micrometastases, or even nanometastases, though their real prognostic value is yet to be concluded (Ref. 52).

Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa Hans.) trees often develop unattractive leaf curling throughout canopies during hot and/or dry weather. Aesthetically superior trees were compared to control trees for their ability to tolerate summer stress, in an established kousa dogwood plantation in 2000 and 2001. An index of leaf curl revealed that superior trees showed less curling than controls during June, July and August of 2000 and 2001. Superior trees often had higher stomatal conductance than trees in both control groups during both years, with seasonal averages 16 to 40% higher in superior than in control trees. Leaf water status, characterized by leaf osmotic potential, remained similar in superior trees and control trees throughout the 2000 summer season. Leaf temperatures were similar between groups during each summer. We confirmed that trees initially selected as having superior visual appearance had measurable differences in foliar characteristics compared to control trees, and that these trees better tolerated summer stress.

Growing cancer incidence in reproductive age goes hand in hand with a rising survival rate of patients who underwent anticancer therapy. This trend points to the necessity of discussion regarding the fertility maintenance. The patient´s future with respect to his reproductive ability has to be addressed properly to achieve a complex approach to cancer management. The germinal epithelium of the testes is highly susceptible to deleterious effects of chemotherapy. After the administration of gonadotoxic chemotherapeutic agents, a patient can develop oligospermia, or even azoospermia. Similarly, radiation exposure can damage spermatogenesis, while higher doses lead to azoospermia. This review brings an overview of the methods of assisted reproduction, which are currently in use for fertility maintenance in oncological patients, but also in those with non-malignant indications. Also, novel, yet still experimental, methods are discussed, which represent promising technologies applicable to prepubertal oncological patients. We also discuss historical milestones in the development of assisted reproduction, summarize the options of semen analysis, and we present a practical guide through the process of sperm cryopreservation and subsequent in vivo or in vitro fertilisation. We deem that fertility maintenance should be an integral part of the health care in oncological patients in reproductive age (Tab. 1, Ref. 85).