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An updated systematic review was conducted to assessing on the association between indoor air pollution caused by household energy consumption and childhood pneumonia in low- and middle-income countries. We performed a meta-analysis from the electronic databases of PubMed, Cochrane library, Web of Science, EMBASE. Studies were selected when they reported childhood pneumonia or ALRI in relation to indoor air pollution resulted from solid fuel. Studies must provide results on exposure prevalence of children aged below 5 years from Asia or Africa. We devoted ourselves to identifying randomized controlled experiments and observational epidemiological researches, which revealed the relation between household usage of solid fuel and childhood pneumonia. Among 1954 articles, 276 were reviewed thoroughly and 16 conduced to such a meta-analysis. It was found that there is a significant relationship between the solid fuel combustion and increasing risk of childhood pneumonia (OR = 1.66, 95%CI 1.36–2.02). The summary odds ratios from biomass use and mixed fuel use were, respectively, 1.86 (95%CI 1.15–3.02) and 1.58 (95%CI 1.38–1.81), with substantial between study heterogeneity (I2 = 87.2% and 29.2%, respectively). According to the subgroup analysis along with the meta-regression analysis, the risk of using solid fuel in Asian regions is higher than that in African regions. Studies based on non-hospital participates (I2 = 49.5%) may also a source of heterogeneity. We found that indoor air pollution generated by the usage of solid fuel might be a significant risk factor for pneumonia in children and suggested improving the indoor air quality by promoting cleaner fuel will be important in undeveloped countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Syzygium cumini, locally known as Jamun in Asia, is a fruit-bearing crop belonging to the Myrtaceae family. This study aims to summarize the most recent literature related to botany, traditional applications, phytochemical ingredients, pharmacological activities, nutrition, and potential food applications of S. cumini. Traditionally, S. cumini has been utilized to combat diabetes and dysentery, and it is given to females with a history of abortions. Anatomical parts of S. cumini exhibit therapeutic potentials including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, antimalarial, anticancer, and antidiabetic activities attributed to the presence of various primary and secondary metabolites such as carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, alkaloids, flavonoids (i.e., quercetin, myricetin, kaempferol), phenolic acids (gallic acid, caffeic acid, ellagic acid) and anthocyanins (delphinidin-3,5-O-diglucoside, petunidin-3,5-O-diglucoside, malvidin-3,5-O-diglucoside). Different fruit parts of S. cumini have been employed to enhance the nutritional and overall quality of jams, jellies, wines, and fermented products. Today, S. cumini is also used in edible films. So, we believe that S. cumini's anatomical parts, extracts, and isolated compounds can be used in the food industry with applications in food packaging and as food additives. Future research should focus on the isolation and purification of compounds from S. cumini to treat various disorders. More importantly, clinical trials are required to develop low-cost medications with a low therapeutic index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study scrutinizes the impacts of oil price fluctuations, financial inclusion, and energy consumption on carbon flare-ups in 20 Asian developing nations. For empirical analysis panel data for the period from 1990 to 2020, and the CS-ARDL model is applied. Furthermore, our data confirm the existence of CD), slope parameter heterogeneity (SPH), and panel co-integration among the variables. For the stationarity of variables, this study applies a cross-sectional augmented IPS (CIPS) unit root test. The outcomes of the study depict that the price volatility of oil in the selected countries affects carbon emissions positively and significantly. This is because these nations use oil as a primary source of energy for the production of electricity, for manufacturing activities, and mainly in the transport sector. Financial inclusion helps to mitigate carbon emissions in developing Asian economies by motivating the industrial sector to adopt clean environmentally friendly production methods. Therefore, the study suggests that reducing dependency on oil and promoting renewable energies, and improving access to affordable and financial products will provide a pathway to achieve UN Agenda-13, a clean environment by mitigating carbon emissions in developing Asian nations., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The increasing frequency and intensity of droughts in a warming climate are likely to exacerbate adverse impacts on ecosystems, especially for water-limited regions such as Central Asia. A quantitative understanding of the impacts of drought on vegetation is required for drought preparedness and mitigation. Using the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies NDVI3g data and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) from 1982 to 2015, we evaluate the vegetation vulnerability to drought in Central Asia based on a copula-based probabilistic framework and identify the critical regions and periods. Furthermore, a boosted regression trees (BRT) model was also used to explore the relative importance of environmental factors and plant traits on vegetation response to drought. Additionally, we also investigated to what extent irrigation could alleviate the impacts of drought. Results revealed that months from June to September was the critical period when vegetated areas were most vulnerable to drought stress. The probabilities of vegetation loss below 20th quantile under extremely dry in these months were 68.7%, 69.4%, 71.0%, and 67.0%, respectively. Regarding vegetation-vulnerable regions, they shifted with different growth stages. During the middle of the growing season, semi-arid areas were the most vulnerable regions, whereas the highest drought-vulnerable regions were observed in arid areas during other periods. The BRT results showed that plant traits accounted for a large fraction (58.9%) of vegetation response to drought, which was more important than ambient soil environment (20.8%). The analysis also showed that mitigations from irrigation during July to September were smaller than in other months. The results of this paper provide insight into the influences of drought on vegetation and may contribute to drought mitigation and land degradation measures in Central Asia under accelerating global warming., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Land degradation has become one of the most critical environmental and socioeconomic issues in the world, particularly in Central Asia. Moreover, the realization of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in Central Asia faces enormous challenges in achieving the global Sustainable Development Goal 15.3 (SDG 15.3). It is critical to monitor land degradation and assess its drivers in Central Asia. In this study, an Optimal Land Degradation Index (OLDI) was established as a new index for monitoring land degradation using a constrained optimization algorithm. The spatiotemporal characteristics of LDN were monitored in Central Asia. Further analysis explored the driving force of land degradation in different areas. The results showed that 7.22% and 15.33% of the total land area exhibited land improvement and land degradation, respectively. According to abrupt change analysis, mutation changes in the OLDI were observed in 2005, 2012 and 2015. At the subnational scale, most regions in Central Asia have not achieved the goal of LDN. The residual analysis highlighted the drivers of spatial differences in land degradation performance in Central Asia. Drought was the main driving force affecting land degradation by the compound effect of decreased precipitation and increased temperature on the Ustyurt Plateau, while 24.01% of the land degradation areas resulted from anthropogenic disturbances and were mainly distributed in the areas surrounding the Aral Sea. The results also indicated that 72.56% of the land improvement areas resulted from human activities and were mainly concentrated in the Balkhash Lake Delta and the Amudarya Delta. In Central Asia, the realization of SDG 15.3 by 2030 remains a severe challenge. Restoration measures should be prioritized in land degradation areas in Central Asia to implement the LDN initiative, especially around the Aral Sea., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The dramatic climate change has far-reaching impacts on vegetation in drylands such as Central Asia. Recent attempts to assess vegetation stability to short-term climate variability often account solely for vegetation sensitivity or resilience but ignore the composite effects of these two indicators. Meanwhile, our understanding of the vegetation stability at the seasonal scale remains insufficient. In this study, considering the cumulative effects of vegetation response to three key climate factors, we assessed the stability of vegetation in Central Asia using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the meteorological data from 1982 to 2014 by integrating vegetation sensitivity and resilience, and further identified the critical regions and seasons of vegetation that experience high risks of pending change. The results show that the sensitivity of vegetation has a strong correlation (R 2  = 0.83, p < 0.001) with the aridity index (AI), with the vegetation of drier areas having lower sensitivities to climate variability. At the temporal scale, the sensitivity of vegetation to climate variability varied among different seasons. The average vegetation sensitivity index (VSI) is 41.17, 33.32 and 28.63 in spring, summer and autumn, respectively. Spatially, a trade-off between vegetation sensitivity and resilience is found both for the growing season (R 2  = 0.67) and seasonal scale (R 2  = 0.71, 0.32 and 0.43 for spring, summer and autumn, respectively), regions with high vegetation sensitivity were always accompanied by strong resilience. Based on the relationship between vegetation sensitivity and resilience, we further identify the critical regions and periods of vegetation with high change risk in Central Asia. Results suggest that herbaceous plants in semi-arid areas present high instability, especially in summer. This study offers a comprehensive perspective to assess vegetation stability to climate variability and the results will facilitate the protection of ecosystems and the implementation of sustainable development goals in Central Asia., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels is an important medicinal plant utilized in the health care systems of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. S. cumini have been used to treat renal issues, indigestion, diabetes, dysentery, and employed in folk medicine to treat inflammations. It is known to anticipate antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-bacterial, antifungal, activities, and radioprotective activities., Material and Methods: We examined the in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of S. cumini fruit extracts, evaluated using membrane stabilization, egg albumin denaturation, and bovine serum albumin denaturation assays. In vivo anti-inflammatory activity was also assessed, using murine models of carrageenan, formaldehyde, and PGE 2 induced paw edema. Fractionation of active extracts was performed using HPLC, followed by LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis to identify the bioactive compounds responsible for anti-inflammatory activity., Results: The crude methanolic extract showed stronger in vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory activities compared to other extracts. The most potent effects were observed in the formaldehyde induced paw edema assay wherein methanolic extract and standard indomethacin induced 72% and 88% inhibition against paw edema volume in comparison to control (normal saline) respectively. In the bovine serum albumin denaturation assay the methanolic extract induced 82% inhibition against denaturation as compared to control (phosphate buffer) while standard diclofenac sodium induced 98% inhibition. In contrast, 50% v/v MeOH:H 2 O or 100% dichloromethane extracts displayed moderate to weak effects in the anti-inflammatory models. HPLC fractionation provided 6 active sub-fractions, four (MF2, MF3, MF6, MF7) from the 100% methanolic extract and two (HAF1, HAF3) from the 50% methanolic extract. The MF2, MF7, and HAF1 sub-fractions displayed potent activity in all studied in vitro assays. LC-ESI-MS-MS analysis tentatively identified delphinidin 3-glucoside, peonidin-3,5-diglucoside, gallic acid, liquitrigenin, scopoletin, umbelliferon, and rosmanol from the 100% methanolic fractions. Myricetin, catechin, quinic acid, chlorogenic acid, ellagic acid, gallic acid, and caffeic acid were identified in the 50% methanolic fractions., Conclusions: These results demonstrate that S. cumini fruit extracts are a rich source of bioactive compounds that are worthy of further investigation as leads for anti-inflammatory drug discovery., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)