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The study highlights the importance of integrating organic resources, such as vermicompost and biofertilizers with inorganic fertilizers to sustain coconut yields and manage costs. The experimental trial was conducted from 2016 to 2020 in a 47-year-old East Coast Tall coconut garden at Coconut Research Station in South India. The research evaluated four nutrient management treatments viz., T1 (75% Recommended Dose of Fertilizer (RDF) + 25% N organic), T2 (50% RDF + 50% N organic), T3 (100% N organic) and a control (100% RDF). Intercrops included black pepper (Piper nigrum), banana (Musa acuminata) and cocoa (Theobroma cacao). Organic manure significantly improved soil physical properties, water retention and overall soil health. The T2 treatment achieved the highest yields for coconut, cocoa, banana and black pepper. The added soil health parameters supported to these findings, with T2 showing the highest fungal (15.27 × 103 cfu/g of soil) and bacterial populations (17.25 × 105 cfu/g of soil), along with a significant earthworm population (26/m2), indicating enhanced soil ecosystem health. Additionally, soil moisture content was highest under T3 (100% organic) across various depths, followed by T2, highlighting the critical role of organic matter in improving soil moisture conservation. The economic feasibility analysis, including a net present value (NPV), benefit/cost ratio (B/C ratio) and an internal rate of return (IRR), revealed T2 to be the most economically viable nutrient management strategy. This study highlights the economic benefits of intercropping coconuts using an integrated nutrient management (INM) approach, demonstrating its superiority over traditional monocropping practices.

Tissue damage and organ failure are major problems that many people face worldwide. Most of them benefit from treatment related to modern technology's tissue regeneration process. Tissue engineering is one of the booming fields widely used to replace damaged tissue. Scaffold is a base material in which cells and growth factors are embedded to construct a substitute tissue. Various materials have been used to develop scaffolds. Bio-based natural materials are biocompatible, safe, and do not release toxic compounds during biodegradation. Therefore, it is highly recommendable to fabricate scaffolds using such materials. To date, there have been no singular materials that fulfill all the features of the scaffold. Hence, combining two or more materials is encouraged to obtain the desired characteristics. To design a reliable scaffold by combining different materials, there is a need to choose a good fabrication technique. In this review article, the bio-based natural materials and fine fabrication techniques that are currently used in developing scaffolds for tissue regeneration applications, along with the number of articles published on each material, are briefly discussed. It is envisaged to gain explicit knowledge of developing scaffolds from bio-based natural materials for tissue regeneration applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Human guanine nucleotide binding protein like 1 (GNL1) is an evolutionary conserved putative nucleolar GTPase belonging to the HSR1_MMR1 subfamily of GTPases. GNL1 was found to be highly up-regulated in various cancers. Here, we report for the first time that GNL1 inhibits apoptosis by modulating the expression of Bcl2 family of proteins and the cleavage of caspases 7 and 8. Furthermore, GNL1 protects colon cancer cells from chemo-drug-induced apoptosis. Interestingly, GNL1 up-regulates the expression of p53 and its transcriptional target, p21 but the up-regulation of p21 was found to be p53 dependent as well as independent mechanisms. Our results further demonstrate that GNL1 promotes cell growth and survival by inducing cytoplasmic retention and stabilization of p21 through AKT-mediated phosphorylation. In addition, GNL1 failed to inhibit apoptosis under p21 knockdown conditions which suggests the critical role of p21 in GNL1-mediated cell survival. Finally, an inverse correlation of GNL1, p21, and AKT expression in primary colon and breast cancer with patient survival suggests their critical role in tumorigenesis. Collectively, our study reveals that GNL1 executes its antiapoptotic function by a novel mechanism and suggests that it may function as a regulatory component of the PI3K/AKT/p21 signaling network to promote cell proliferation and survival in cancers.

Objectives: Health literacy is increasingly recognized as a public health concern. Most of the literature on health literacy concentrate in the Western countries. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review and examine the available studies on health literacy in Southeast Asian countries and estimate its prevalence in this region., Study Design: Systematic review., Methods: A search for relevant articles was carried out using Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and MEDLINE (via EBSCOhost), Scopus, Science Direct, PubMed and Google Scholar with multiple search terms. Inclusion criteria comprised articles published in English language and assessing general health literacy. Risk of bias reduced with the involvement of two independent reviewers in the screening of the literature and the quality assessment process., Results: A total of 11 studies were included, which only consist of studies from five countries out of 11 making up the Southeast Asian region. The overall prevalence of limited health literacy varied considerably, 1.6%-99.5% with a mean of 55.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 35.1%-75.6%). A much higher prevalence was noted in studies conducted in healthcare settings, 67.5% (95% CI: 48.6%-86.3%). The most common factors associated with limited health literacy were education attainment, age, income and socio-economic background. Other factors identified were gender and health behaviours., Conclusions: In summary, despite the little evidence available and existences of high heterogeneity among studies, limited health literacy is still prevalent in Southeast Asian countries. Urgent strategies to improve and promote health literacy in the region are highly warranted. Besides, more studies on health literacy with better quality on the methodology aspect are needed., (Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)