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OBJECTIVE: Environmental pollution is a leading global challenge affecting weather conditions and causing severe environmental, social, and public health problems. This study explores the impact of ambient air pollutants, particular matter (PM), PM2.5 and PM10 on morbidity and mortality of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) globally. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, initially 492 research articles were identified through seven search engines containing Web of Science, Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, WHO COVID-19 literature, and Ovid databases by consuming keywords "Environmental pollution, Ambient air pollutants, particulate matter, PM2.5, PM10, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and COVID-19 pandemic". Finally, 26 original research publications were included for the analysis, and the remaining were excluded. These studies were originated from the United States of America (9), China (5), Italy (3), India (1), worldwide (1), and one study each from England, Spain, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, and Iran. RESULTS: The analysis based on a worldwide dataset assembled the information from the global literature from December 2019 to September 30, 2021. The assessment for the various regions to a global extent was based on air pollutants and COVID-19 cases and deaths. Twenty- six studies met the selection criteria representing almost all over the world. Based on the synthesis of scientific studies, it was identified that PM2.5 and PM10 are associated with 15.08%, 11.44 increased COVID-19 cases, and 9.26% and 0.75% COVID-19 deaths, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence indicates that PM2.5 and PM10 can affect COVID-19 epidemiology in various geographical regions. The findings established an association and a possible causal link between increasing ambient air pollutants, particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10 with increased incidence and mortality of COVID-19. The global health authorities must take strict preventive measures to minimize air pollution and combat such challenging and threatening COVID-19 pandemic globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a devastating plant pathogen that causes substantial losses in various agricultural crops. Although plants have developed some well-known defense mechanisms against invasive fungi, glucosimuch remains to be learned about plant responses to fungal pathogens. In this study, we investigated how S sc/emtiorum infection affects plant primary and secondary metabolism in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Our results showed that soluble sugar and amino acid content changed significantly in A. th£iliana leaves upon fungal colonization, with decrease in sucrose and an increase in mannitol, attributed to fungal biosynthesis. Furthermore, the jasmonate signaling pathway was rapidly activated by S. sclerotiorum infection, and there was a striking accumulation of antifungal metabolites such as camalexin, p -coumaroyl agmatine, feruloyl agmatine, and Na-acetylornithine. On the other hand, the characteristic defense compounds of the Brassicaceae, the glucosimuch nolates, were not induced in A. thaliana infected by S. sderotiorum. Our study provides a better understanding of how A. thaliana primary and secondary metabolism is modified during infection by a fungal pathogen like S. sclerotiorum that has both hemibiotrophic and necrotrophic stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]