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Byline: R. Joshi, B. Medhi, A. Prakash, S. Chandy, J. Ranjalkar, H. Bright, J. Basker, L. Govindraj, P. Chugh, C. Tripathi, D. Badyal, S. Balakrishnan, R. Jhaj, A. Shukla, S. [...]

Jute and allied fibres viz., mesta including kenaf, roselle, ramie, sunhemp, sisal and flax are important industrial crops and the sources of livelihood of about 4 million farm families and supports direct employment to about 3.7 lakh workers. They accounted for about 0.36%, 0.51% and 0.45 of the gross-, net cropped area and total arable land, respectively, in India during 2018-19. The contribution of jute crop to the global acreage and production during 2018 was 49.4% and 53.7%, respectively. Its contribution to global production was reduced to 50.5% during 2019. The present paper analyses the growth of jute and allied crops during 1950-51 to 2020-21; scenario of area, production and yield; breeding and seed production during 2010-11-2021-22. The Compound Annual Growth rate was 0.21%, 1.52% and 1.31%, respectively, for area, production and yield during 1950-51 to 2020-21. The area and production of jute and allied fibres have decreased substantially during the last 12 years despite the enhancement of yield ha-1 from 2197 kg ha-1 in 2010-11 to 2709 kg ha-1 in 2021-22. Of the total 310 varieties of fibre crops (including cotton) released and notified during 2011-23, 43 were of these crops. In jute, leading varieties in the seed chain contributing highest to the breeder seed indent, such as Navin, Suren (JRO 204) and JRO 128 were old released during 1978, 2007 and 2002, respectively, and very old varieties released up to 1995 had a considerably high share in breeder seed indent during 2021-22. During the period under study (2014-15 to 2021-22), there was no indent for breeder seed production of mesta except in 2016-17 and 2021-22 and against the indent of 0.5 q for two varieties, Satyen (JRKM 9-1, released in 2016) and Central Kenaf 2 (JBMP 2, released in 2016), 1.7 q breeder seed was produced during 2016-17. But, during 2021-22 only 22 kg breeder seed against the indent of 9 kg for three varieties HC7910 (Ujjal), released during 1977; HS 4288, released during 1967 and JRM 5 (Shrestha), released during 2010, was produced. In sunhemp, only five varieties, SUIN 037, SUIN 053, JRG 610 (Prankur), PAU 1691 and Chhindwara 1 (Jabalpur 1) were indented for breeder seed production from 2016-17 to 2021-22 released during 2013, 2009, 2015, 2008 and 1973, respectively. Therefore, old varieties for jute and sunhemp need to be replaced in the seed chain. However, no systematic seed production is being followed for other fibre crops like mesta, ramie, sisal and flax. Public sector organizations contributed only up to 30% of the seed requirement of jute in the country. Therefore, there is an urgent need to increase the share of the public sector in seed production to ensure 'seed security' as well as its affordability and timely availability. The possibility should also be explored for jute seed production in areas close to the proximity to the area of cultivation by incentivizing seed production. Systematic seed/planting materials production of other crops such as ramie, sisal and flax that have very low acreage but important fibre crops with specific niches of cultivation should also be initiated / strengthened to ensure availability of quality seed/planting materials to the farmers. Since these are industrial crops, therefore, there is an urgent need to develop linkages with private sector especially textile industry, Farmers' Producing Organizations and Non-Government Organizations for enhancing production of seed/planting materials and also expanding them in new niches by developing suitable models and incentivizing production of fibres from these crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction among plant species has both beneficial and harmful effect on one or both the species. It plays an imperative role in the plant growth and survival. Grewia optiva ( Bhimal) is widely grown fodder tree usually grown on boundaries of crop fields. The plant is reported to have allelopathic effect on crop growth but its importance as a fodder tree cannot be ignored. The present investigation is carried out with Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) strains ( Pseudomonas FP-11 and Bacillus BS-10) in alleviating allelochemical (biotic) stress of Grewia optiva (Bhimal) on Finger millet. Due to presence of Grewia optiva leaf extract there was inhibition in germination, reduction in seedling fresh and dry weight, root and shoot length of finger millet in contrast to control. This inhibition was recovered with PGPR treatment of Pseudomonas FP-11 and Bacillus BS-27. The results indicated that the seeds inoculation with PGPR strains under allelochemical stress significantly improved germination, plant growth, vigour and chlorophyll contents of leaf. The root length, shoot length, seedling length, seedling fresh and dry weight were also considerably increased by seeds treatment with PGPR. The plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) Pseudomonas FP-11 strain and Bacillus BS-10 strain in combination could alleviate allelopathic effect of Grewia optiva on finger millet. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) was observed replacing the use of chemicals in agriculture, horticulture practices. This is due to the emerging demand for minimizing harmful impacts and utilization of chemical products to the growing necessity of sustainable agriculture within a holistic apparition of development and to emphasize environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snow cover is an important feature for the supply of freshwater and influences climatic hydrology at various altitudes, especially in mountain regions. Snow is a significant component of the environmental threat. In order to map and realize the extent of snow cover at high altitudes, continuous monitoring is therefore necessary. Data from satellite remote sensing helps to capture land cover and changes in land cover. The major intricacies in the snow cover mapping in the Leh region are the underlying vegetation, debris, and sparse snow. The Landsat OLI satellite data base methodology was developed to map the snow cover in the Leh region of the Indian Himalayas through NDSI (normalized difference snow index) to overcome such area specific issues. NDSI encompasses a reasonably good accuracy and can be used extensively because topographic shadows, water bodies and clouds can easily be misinterpreted as snow. It is capable of differentiating pixels of snow from pixels of cloud, debris, vegetation, and water. The NDSI was generated for snow mapping using Landsat OLI satellite images. Using the high reflectance of the snow in the blue band, misinterpreted water bodies were removed. NDSI was subsequently used month-wise to estimate the snow cover of the Leh region (Ladakh Union Territory of India). The findings of present study clearly indicate that the accuracy of the NDSI is reasonably appropriate for the estimation of the snow cover distribution over a wider area. It has been also observed that the snow cover in the study region has decreased over the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1D array of electron donor-acceptor chromophoric organic molecules is of paramount importance for photovoltaic, catalytic and optoelectronic applications. Herein, we report coordination driven 1D arrays of an electron-donor guest (fluorene, carbazole, dibenzofuran, and dibenzothiophene) and o -phen chelator as an acceptor in a Zn-based porous coordination polymer, {[Zn( o -phen)(ndc)]·DMF} (PCP-1). All the guest-encapsulated PCPs were characterized by performing single-crystal structure determinations and showed emission driven by charge transfer. Exciton binding energies were calculated and correlated with electron-donating capabiliities of the guest molecules.

Immunotherapies, including checkpoint inhibitor antibodies, have precipitated significant improvements in clinical outcomes for melanoma. However, approximately half of patients do not benefit from approved treatments. Additionally, apart from Tebentafusp, which is approved for the treatment of uveal melanoma, there is a lack of immunotherapies directly focused on melanoma cells. This is partly due to few available targets, especially those expressed on the cancer cell surface. Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4) is a cell surface molecule overexpressed in human melanoma, with restricted distribution and low expression in non-malignant tissues and involved in several cancer-promoting and dissemination pathways. Here, we summarize the current understanding of the expression and functional significance of CSPG4 in health and melanoma, and we outline immunotherapeutic strategies. These include monoclonal antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), chimeric-antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, and other strategies such as anti-idiotypic and mimotope vaccines to raise immune responses against CSPG4-expressing melanomas. Several showed promising functions in preclinical models of melanoma, yet few have reached clinical testing, and none are approved for therapeutic use. Obstacles preventing that progress include limited knowledge of CSPG4 function in human cancer and a lack of in vivo models that adequately represent patient immune responses and human melanoma biology. Despite several challenges, immunotherapy directed to CSPG4-expressing melanoma harbors significant potential to transform the treatment landscape.

Solar-light driven reduction of CO 2 to CH 4 is a complex process involving multiple electron and proton transfer processes with various intermediates. Therefore, achieving high CH 4 activity and selectivity remains a significant challenge. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) represent an emerging class of photoactive semiconductors with molecular level structural tunability, modular band gaps, and high charge carrier generation and transport within the network. Here, we developed a new heterocyclic triazole ring containing COF, TFPB-TRZ, through the condensation reaction between 1,3,5-tris(4-formylphenyl)benzene (TFPB) and 3,5-diamino-1,2,4-triazole (TRZ). The TFPB-TRZ COF with multiple heteroatoms shows suitable visible light absorption, high CO 2 uptake capability and an appropriate band diagram for CO 2 photoreduction. Photocatalysis results reveal a maximum CO 2 to CH 4 conversion of 2.34 mmol g -1 with a rate of 128 μmol g -1 h -1 and high selectivity (∼99%) using 1-benzyl-1,4-dihydronicotinamide (BNAH) and triethylamine (TEA) as sacrificial agents. Under similar reaction conditions in the presence of direct sunlight, the TFPB-TRZ COF displays a maximum CH 4 yield of 493 μmol g -1 with a rate of 61.62 μmol g -1 h -1 , suggesting the robustness and light-harvesting ability of the COF photocatalyst. A femtosecond transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy study shows fast decay of excited state absorption (ESA) in the COF compared to the TFPB building unit due to efficient electron transfer to the catalytic site in the framework. The mechanism of CO 2 reduction to CH 4 is studied by DFT-based theoretical calculation, which is further supported by an in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopic (DRIFTS) study. The DFT results reveal that the lone pair of electrons on nitrogen heteroatoms present in the triazole ring of the TRZ moiety help in the stabilization of the CO intermediate during CO 2 to CH 4 conversion. Overall, this work demonstrates the use of a metal-free, recyclable COF-based photocatalytic system for solar energy storage by CO 2 reduction., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Derived from the myeloid lineage, granulocytes, including basophils, eosinophils, and neutrophils, along with mast cells, play important, often disparate, roles across the allergic disease spectrum. While these cells and their mediators are commonly associated with allergic inflammation, they also exhibit several functions either promoting or restricting tumor growth. In this Position Paper we discuss common granulocyte and mast cell features relating to immunomodulatory functions in allergy and in cancer. We highlight key mechanisms which may inform cancer treatment and propose pertinent areas for future research. We suggest areas where understanding the communication between granulocytes, mast cells, and the tumor microenvironment, will be crucial for identifying immune mechanisms that may be harnessed to counteract tumor development. For example, a comprehensive understanding of allergic and immune factors driving distinct neutrophil states and those mechanisms that link mast cells with immunotherapy resistance, might enable targeted manipulation of specific subpopulations, leading to precision immunotherapy in cancer. We recommend specific areas of investigation in AllergoOncology and knowledge exchange across disease contexts to uncover pertinent reciprocal functions in allergy and cancer and allow therapeutic manipulation of these powerful cell populations. These will help address the unmet needs in stratifying and managing patients with allergic diseases and cancer., (© 2024 The Author(s). Allergy published by European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Cannabis is one of the most consumed illicit drugs and the potency of cannabis products is of note due to health-related concerns. Hand-rubbed hashish is the ancient technique of extracting psychoactive resin from cannabis plants and is practiced in the Indian Himalayas. This study establishes the cannabinoid profile and potency of hand-rubbed hashish collected from 20 regions of the northwest Himalayas. Fifty-eight hashish samples were analyzed using a validated high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) method. Ten cannabinoids were quantified including acidic (THCA & CBDA), and neutral compounds (CBDV, THCV, CBD, CBG, CBN, Δ 9 -THC, Δ 8 -THC, and CBC). The mean concentration (w/w%) of Δ 9 -THC is 26%; THCA is 15% and THC Total is 40% is observed in the studied hashish samples. The majority (70%) of the hashish samples were categorized in chemotype I with the THC:CBD:CBN ratio of 91:3:4, and the remaining 30% were categorized under chemotype II with the ratio of 76:15:8. Diverse qualities of hashish are produced in the studied regions as per the seed, plant selection, and skills of manual rubbing, which results in potency variations. The average difference between the least and highest potent hand-rubbed hashish of a region is 27 w/w% (THC Total ). The other studied non-psychoactive cannabinoids have a mean w/w% of <5%, followed by 6% of CBDA. It is concluded that the cultivated and wild cannabis fields in the northwest Himalayas belong to the drug-type cannabis subspecies. Hand-rubbed hashish holds traditional significance and impacts the current policies of legislation., (© 2024 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.)

Tuberculosis (TB) and cachexia are clinical entities that have a defined relationship, making them often found together. TB can lead to cachexia, while cachexia is a risk factor for TB. This article reviews cachexia in Tuberculosis patients in Southeast Asian and African regions by conducting a comprehensive literature search across electronic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and Research Gate between 2013 and 2024 using keywords including 'Africa', 'cachexia', 'prevalence', 'implications', 'tuberculosis', and 'Southeast Asia. This article utilized only studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria, revealing knowledge gaps and untapped opportunities for cachexia in TB across Southeast Asian and African regions. Many Southeast Asian and Western Pacific patients initially receive a tuberculosis diagnosis. Sub-Saharan African countries are among the 30 high TB burden nations, according to the WHO. Food inadequacy and heightened energy expenditure can impair the immune system, leading to latent TB and subsequently, active infection. Symptoms needing attention: shortness of breath, productive cough, hyponatremia at 131 mmol/l, hypoalbuminemia at 2.1 g/dl, elevated aspartate transaminase at 75 U/l, increased lactate dehydrogenase at 654, and normocytic anemia. Comorbidities, such as kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and asthma, can influence the nutritional status of individuals with TB. While efforts like screening, contact tracing, and utilizing gene Xpert to detect TB cases were implemented, only a few proved effective. It is essential to conduct further studies, including RCTs, in Southeast Asia and Africa to evaluate and manage cachexia in TB patients., Competing Interests: All authors disclose no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Objective: To assess the allele rs 1143634 in IL-1β and rs1800587 in IL-1α in patients for orthodontically induced external apical root resorption (EARR)., Material and Methods: Intra-oral periapical radiograph (IOPA) of maxillary incisors of 142 Patients were evaluated for resorption at two time points; before the start of fixed mechanotherapy (T1) and after one year of treatment (T2). The individuals with root resorption<2mm were categorized as a control group (group 1; n=90), and resorption>2mm were categorized as case group (group 2; n=52). Buccal swabs of all patients were taken and DNA could be isolated in 95 out of 142 samples (group 1 {n=58}, group 2 {n=37}), which were then screened for the selected two polymorphic targets to determine the nucleotide status of these targets. Tetra-primer ARMS PCR reactions were carried out using all 4 primers for each polymorphism., Results: rs11800587 was not associated with risk of EARR in any inheritance model. Chi-square test for association of alleles with EARR revealed that rs1143634 was associated with the risk of EARR in an allelic model in such a way that A allele of this SNP increased the risk of EARR 4 folds [OR=4.375; P=0.016]. However, the adjusted level of significance using the Holm-Bonferroni method for rs1143634 was P<0.010 for A and G comparison rendering the results non-significant., Conclusion: SNP rs1143634 and SNP rs11800587 were not associated with risk of EARR in any inheritance model., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: To develop a predictive model incorporating stone volume along with other clinical and radiological factors to predict stone-free (SF) status at ureteroscopy (URS)., Material and Methods: Retrospective analysis of patients undergoing URS for kidney stone disease at our institution from 2012 to 2021. SF status was defined as stone fragments < 2 mm at the end of the procedure confirmed endoscopically and no evidence of stone fragments > 2 mm at XR KUB or US KUB at 3 months follow up. We specifically included all non-SF patients to optimise our algorithm for identifying instances with residual stone burden. SF patients were also randomly sampled over the same time period to ensure a more balanced dataset for ML prediction. Stone volumes were measured using preprocedural CT and combined with 19 other clinical and radiological factors. A bagged trees machine learning model with cross-validation was used for this analysis., Results: 330 patients were included (SF: n = 276, not SF: n = 54, mean age 59.5 ± 16.1 years). A fivefold cross validated RUSboosted trees model has an accuracy of 74.5% and AUC of 0.82. The model sensitivity and specificity were 75% and 72.2% respectively. Variable importance analysis identified total stone volume (17.7% of total importance), operation time (14.3%), age (12.9%) and stone composition (10.9%) as important factors in predicting non-SF patients. Single and cumulative stone size which are commonly used in current practice to guide management, only represented 9.4% and 4.7% of total importance, respectively., Conclusion: Machine learning can be used to predict patients that will be SF at the time of URS. Total stone volume appears to be more important than stone size in predicting SF status. Our findings could be used to optimise patient counselling and highlight an increasing role of stone volume to guide endourological practice and future guidelines., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objectives: India has taken several initiatives to provide health care to its population while keeping the related expenditure minimum. Since cardiovascular diseases are the most prevalent chronic conditions, in the present study, we aimed to analyze the difference in prices of medicines prescribed for three cardiovascular risk factors, based on (a) listed and not listed in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) and (b) generic and branded drugs., Materials and Methods: Outpatient prescriptions for diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were retrospectively analyzed from 12 tertiary centers. The prices of medicines prescribed were compared based on presence or absence in NLEM India-2015 and prescribing by generic versus brand name. The price was standardized and presented as average price per medicine per year for a given medicine. The results are presented in Indian rupee (INR) and as median (range)., Results: Of the 4,736 prescriptions collected, 843 contained oral antidiabetic, antihypertensive, and/or hypolipidemic medicines. The price per medicine per year for NLEM oral antidiabetics was INR 2849 (2593-3104) and for non-NLEM was INR 5343 (2964-14364). It was INR 806 (243-2132) for generic and INR 3809 (1968-14364) for branded antidiabetics. Antihypertensives and hypolipidemics followed the trend. The price of branded non-NLEM medicines was 5-22 times higher compared to generic NLEM which, for a population of 1.37 billion, would translate to a potential saving of 346.8 billion INR for statins. The variability was significant for sulfonylureas, angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers, diuretics, and statins (P < 0.0001)., Conclusion: The study highlights an urgent need for intervention to actualize the maximum benefit of government policies and minimize the out-of-pocket expenditure on medicines., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Pharmacology.)

Background Objectives: Irrational prescribing practices have major consequences on patient safety and also increase the economic burden. Real-life examples of impact of irrational prescription have potential to improve prescribing practices. In this context, the present study aimed to capture and evaluate the prevalence of deviations from treatment guidelines in the prescriptions, potential consequence/s of the deviations and corrective actions recommended by clinicians., Methods: It was a cross-sectional observational study conducted in the outpatient departments of tertiary care hospitals in India wherein the 13 Indian Council of Medical Research Rational Use of Medicines Centres are located. Prescriptions not compliant with the standard treatment guidelines and incomplete prescriptions with respect to formulation, dose, duration and frequency were labelled as 'prescriptions having deviations'. A deviation that could result in a drug interaction, lack of response, increased cost, preventable adverse drug reaction (ADR) and/or antimicrobial resistance was labelled as an 'unacceptable deviation'., Results: Against all the prescriptions assessed, about one tenth of them (475/4838; 9.8%) had unacceptable deviations. However, in 2667/4838 (55.1%) prescriptions, the clinicians had adhered to the treatment guidelines. Two thousand one hundred and seventy-one prescriptions had deviations, of which 475 (21.9%) had unacceptable deviations with pantoprazole (n=54), rabeprazole+domperidone (n=35) and oral enzyme preparations (n=24) as the most frequently prescribed drugs and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and hypertension as most common diseases with unacceptable deviations. The potential consequences of deviations were increase in cost (n=301), ADRs (n=254), drug interactions (n=81), lack of therapeutic response (n=77) and antimicrobial resistance (n=72). Major corrective actions proposed for consideration were issuance of an administrative order (n=196) and conducting online training programme (n=108)., Interpretation Conclusions: The overall prevalence of deviations found was 45 per cent of which unacceptable deviations was estimated to be 9.8 per cent. To minimize the deviations, clinicians recommended online training on rational prescribing and administrative directives as potential interventions., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Medical Research.)

Agriculture Internet of Things (AIoTs) deployments require design of high-efficiency Quality of Service (QoS) & security models that can provide stable network performance even under large-scale communication requests. Existing security models that use blockchains are either highly complex or require large delays & have higher energy consumption for larger networks. Moreover, the efficiency of these models depends directly on consensus-efficiency & miner-efficiency, which restricts their scalability under real-time scenarios. To overcome these limitations, this study proposes the design of an efficient Q-Learning bioinspired model for enhancing QoS of AIoT deployments via customized shards. The model initially collects temporal information about the deployed AIoT Nodes, and continuously updates individual recurring trust metrics. These trust metrics are used by a Q-Learning process for identification of miners that can participate in the block-addition process. The blocks are added via a novel Proof-of-Performance (PoP) based consensus model, which uses a dynamic consensus function that is based on temporal performance of miner nodes. The PoP consensus is facilitated via customized shards, wherein each shard is deployed based on its context of deployment, that decides the shard-length, hashing model used for the shard, and encryption technique used by these shards. This is facilitated by a Mayfly Optimization (MO) Model that uses PoP scores for selecting shard configurations. These shards are further segregated into smaller shards via a Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO) Model, which assists in identification of optimal shard length for underlying deployment contexts. Due to these optimizations, the model is able to improve the speed of mining by 4.5%, while reducing energy needed for mining by 10.4%, improving the throughput during AIoT communications by 8.3%, and improving the packet delivery consistency by 2.5% when compared with existing blockchain-based AIoT deployment models under similar scenarios. This performance was observed to be consistent even under large-scale attacks., Competing Interests: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors., (© 2024 The Authors.)