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Pre-harvest sprouting in wheat is the germination of seeds within the spikes when rains occur after or during grain ripening, which occurs commonly in the barani tract of Pakistan. Therefore, 10 cultivars and five advanced lines of spring bread wheat were evaluated for pre-harvest sprouting resistance. After natural rainfall, seeds were immediately collected from the wet spikes and tested for germinating ability. Three different germination tests were applied to hand-threshed seed: (1) spikes threshed on the day of sampling and germination tested immediately, (2) spikes threshed on the day of sampling and germination tested 1 week later, and (3) spikes threshed 1 week after sampling and germination test immediately after threshing. Seeds and spikes kept for 1 week were place on blotting paper at room temperature. Cultivars BARS-09, 09FJ17, Doukkala-12, NARC-09 and Ouassou-20 exhibited higher sprouting resistance while other genotypes were susceptible to pre-harvest sprouting in each of the three tests. A diallel crossing was conducted with six susceptible and two resistant genotypes to assess the genetic behavior of pre-harvest sprouting resistance. The combining ability (CA) demonstrated a higher proportion of additive genetic effects for sprouting resistance, because of higher variance of general and specific CA for both parameters under study. Doukkala-12 and BARS-09 showed increased pre-harvest sprouting resistance in their F1 descendants.

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore the defensive effects of Vitamin E (Vit. E) and Urtica dioica (UD) in the mitigation of developmental anomalies induced by thiamethoxam (TMX) in chicken embryos. Methods: For this purpose, a total of 140 fertile eggs were equally divided into seven experimental groups (AG); Groups A and B were kept as negative and sham control, respectively. Group C was exposed to TMX while groups D and E were supplemented with Vit. E and U. dioica, respectively along with TMX. Group F received Vit. E and group G U. dioica, only. The eggs were examined on days 10th and 20th of incubation for the assessment of developmental flaws and musculoskeletal anomalies. Results: The mortality rate was highest (40%) in group C (TMX) followed by groups D and E (20 and 15%), respectively. Developing embryos were exposed to TMX for retarded growth weight and crown-rump length (CRL) were significantly decreased as compared to the control group. The highest survival rate was recorded in negative control group A. The teratogenic defects recorded in this study include growth retardation, decreased crown-rump length, shortened beak, exencephaly, feather scantiness, and limb deformities. Morphometric analysis revealed improved growth by all parameters in Vit. E and U. dioica supplemented groups. Conclusion: It was concluded that developmental defects are due to induced TMX, can be counteracted with Vit. E and U. dioica and have no phytochemicals negative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycobacterium tuberculosis associated morbidity, mortality and drug resistance is a global health issue. The Gene Xpert is used for early diagnosis of TB and simultaneous detection of Rifampicin (RIF) resistance. We aimed to determine situation analysis of clinical TB in tertiary care hospitals of Faisalabad and to find out frequency of TB and drug resistance pattern by Gene Xpert. A total of 220 samples from suspected patients of TB were included in this study and 214 samples were detected as positive by Gene Xpert. Samples were classified on the basis of gender, age group (<30, 30-50 and >50 years), type of sample (sputum and pleural) and number of M. tuberculosis by ct value (cycle threshold). The results of present study showed high positive frequency of TB in male patients and in 30-50 years of age groups by Gene Xpert. High number of M. tuberculosis was found in low and medium category in TB patients. Out of 214 positive TB patients, rifampicin resistance was detected in 16 patients. In conclusion, our study identified that Gene Xpert is an effective approach for diagnosing TB by detection of M. tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance in <2 hours for rapid diagnosis and management of TB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belt and road initiative (BRI) contains the transport, construction, and energy‐related projects to push the wheel of economic development of BRI's participant at the cost of ecological consequences. These sectors are highly energy‐intensive and upsurge the CO2 emission. Energy efficiency and renewable energy are considered two essential solutions to control CO2 emissions. Energy efficiency is proficient in yielding energy and demand savings that can relocate the electricity generation from primary energy resources, that is why, nowadays, energy efficiency is considered as an energy resource worldwide. Fiscal policy is a vital policy tool regarding energy policies related to production, growth, distribution, and energy consumption. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between energy efficiency and CO2 emission in light of the fiscal policy index for BRI countries. The results infer that energy efficiency and fiscal policy deteriorate the CO2 emission. On the other side, FDI and GDP will lead to an increase in CO2 emission. This study provides useful insights for policymakers on how to take preventive and remedial measures to reduce CO2 emissions in different sectors and demonstrated that technology in the energy sector could help to mitigate climate change through energy efficiency. Furthermore, future research can be carried out on how digitalization, energy efficiency monitoring processes, and management process can help to mitigate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report first-principles spin-polarized density functional theory calculations for exploring the effect of aliovalent Mo and C dopants on the electronic properties and photocatalysis potential of doped modifications of wide-bandgap cubic perovskite oxide BaHfO3 for water splitting. The structural and thermodynamic properties are computed by using the generalized gradient approximation, whereas the modified Becke-Johnson local density approximation is used to calculate the electronic structures of pristine, cation (Mo), and anion (C) monodoped and cation-anion (Mo, C) codoped BaHfO3. The spin-polarized calculations reveal that substitutional dopants CO and MoHf in the BaHfO3 lattice are thermodynamically stable. The incorporation of C in the O site reduces the bandgap of BaHfO3 and acts as a double-acceptor system, whereas a metallic character is obtained when Mo is doped into the Hf site giving rise to a double-donor system. We show that the acceptor and donor states of the C- and Mo-monodoped BaHfO3 can be passivated by (Mo, C) codoping at nearest-neighbor Hf and O sites of the BaHfO3 lattice, respectively. Analysis of the calculated electronic structure and optical absorption of (Mo, C) codoped BaHfO3 with reference to the H2O oxidation and reduction potentials reveals that this system is a suitable candidate for efficient splitting of water through photocatalysis in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]