elemental composition

 Urbanization and human stress lead to ecosystem transformation and accumulation of ecotoxicants, including heavy metals, in plants. Medicinal plants such as large burdock (Arctium lappa L.) and medicinal dandelion (Taraxacum offi cinale L.) are widely used in medicine, but can accumulate both essential and toxic elements. The purpose of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the macro- and microelement composition of the roots of large burdock and medicinal dandelion, growing in the natural ecotope of the Voronezh region.

The use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for differentiation of natural and imitated caviar of various fish species: salmon, sturgeon, and particulate species has been proposed. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) have been used as tools for multivariate statistical analysis. The use of PCA and HCA have allowed effective visualisation of differences between caviar samples in terms of authenticity.