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Drought is one of the most catastrophic abiotic stresses that affects global food production severely. The present work investigates the metabolic and physiological adaptation mechanisms in the xero-halophyte Haloxylon salicornicum to counter the effects of drought. This xero-halophyte can withstand a prolonged drought period of 14 days and recovered within 7 days of irrigation with minimal effects of drought on growth and physiological parameters. Photosynthetic parameters such as PN, gs, and E decreased significantly, whereas WUE increased under drought condition. Drought induces a significant decline in the Fv/Fm ratio. However, the value of Fv/Fm ratio successfully recovered within 7 days of the recovery period. Differential regulations of various antioxidative enzymes increase the drought tolerance potential of H. salicornicum. The metabolomic analysis of H. salicornicum shoot identified 63 metabolites: 43 significantly increased and 20 significantly decreased under drought conditions. These metabolites mainly include amino acids, organic acids, amines, sugar alcohols, sugars, fatty acids, alkaloids, and phytohormones. The metabolites that have a significant contribution towards drought tolerance include citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, D-erythrose, glyceric acid, sucrose, pentanoic acid, Dmannitol, ABA, and palmitic acid. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the vital drought-responsive metabolic pathways mainly include galactose metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, citrate cycle (TCA cycle), alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism. This study offers comprehensive information on physiological, antioxidative and metabolic adaptations and overall drought tolerance mechanisms in H. salicornicum. The information gained from this study will provide guidance to plant breeders and molecular biologists to develop drought-tolerant crop varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Laminin expression is supposed to be associated with a number of invasive carcinomas, particularly squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and uterine cervix. Overexpression of laminin is seen in a high proportion of triple negative breast carcinomas, which is associated with an unfavourable clinicopathological state and poor prognosis. Aim: To evaluate the role of laminin 332 expression as a prognostic marker in triple negative breast carcinomas. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, SCB Medical College, Cuttack, Odisha, India, during the period from January 2018 to December 2020. Total number of histologically diagnosed breast carcinoma cases reported was 322, over a span of two years. Out of which, 59 cases showed Estrogen Receptor (ER), Progesterone Receptor (PR) and Human Epidermal growth Receptor 2 neu (HER2neu) negativity. These triple negative breast carcinoma cases were further subjected to laminin immunostaining, excluding three due to lack of sufficient tissue. The results were interpreted and represented in a tabular manner taking into account the clinicopathological manifestation, tumour grading and correlation with laminin expression. Results: Only the 56 triple negative breast carcinomas were subjected to laminin immunostaining. Majority 50 (89.28%) were elderly patients above 50 years of age. Also, a higher proportion of cases i.e. 36 (64.29%) were grade 3 tumours. Histopathologically, 55 (98.21%) cases were Infiltrating Duct Carcinomas (IDC). Lymph node metastasis and lymphovascular invasion were found in 32 (57.14%) and in 36 (64.29%) cases respectively. Laminin was strongly positive in those with higher grade (grade-3) tumours 24 (66.67%), those with lymph node involvement 17 (53.12%) and those showing lymphovascular invasions 28 (77.78%). Conclusion: Laminin immunostaining is an important prognostic marker in a number of epithelial malignancies. This study was intended to predict the role of laminin as a prognostic biomarker in the triple negative breast carcinoma cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]