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• Zinc-enriched amino acids (Zn-AAC) boosted salt-stressed rice yield. • Zinc tryptophan (ZnTrp) increased physiology and chlorophyll contents. • ZnTrp improved the bioavailability of Zn in soil and plant tissues. • ZnTrp enhanced the fortification and Zn in rice and quality of rice. Soil salinization and its associated problems are becoming a potential threat to the sustainability of agriculture. Deficiency of micronutrients like zinc (Zn) is a common growth limiting factor in salt-affected soils. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of Zn enriched amino acids (ZnAAC) on the growth, nutrient uptake, and Zn fortification in rice plants under salt stress. Different ZnAAC including Zn glycine (ZnGly), Zn methionine (ZnMet), Zn tryptophan (ZnTrp) and conventional ZnSO 4 were applied at the rates of 8, 10, and 12 mg/kg with three replicates. The results of the current experiment revealed that ZnTrp applied at 12 mg/kg showed the maximum increase in root, shoot, and paddy weight (g/pot), which remained 12.9, 49.0, and 33.9, respectively. Maximum chlorophyll contents, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and sub-stomatal carbon dioxide were with the application of ZnTrp to rice grown on salt affected soil. Maximum increase in Zn concentration in soil (391.3 %), roots (251.8 %), shoots (232.9 %), and paddy (287.8 %) were increased with the application of ZnTrp at 12 mg/kg compared to that with control. Maximum decrease in phytic acid in rice paddy was observed with the application of ZnTrp at higher application rate. It is concluded that the application of ZnTrp is an effective remedy to enhance the growth response and Zn fortification in rice grown on salt affected soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoavailable cadmium (Cd) refers to the fraction of total cadmium in soil that is easily taken up by plants, which degrades the environmental quality and can cause contamination in the food chain. Cd contamination causes high carcinogenicity and toxicities, which harm both the environment and human health, including damage to the kidneys, bones, and respiratory system. In this study, seven extracting agents like ammonium bicarbonate diethylene triamine penta acetic acid (ABDTPA) and neutral salts having low and higher concentrations were used for the determination of phytoavailable Cd in sandy clay loam (SCL) and clay loam (CL) soils contaminated with Cd at naturally-Cd, Cd-20, Cd-40, and Cd-60 mg kg-1 and correlate it with Cd contents in roots, shoots, and grains of maize crop. Extraction efficiency of extractants remains in order: 10 M NH4AOc > ABDTPA > 1 M NH4AOc > 0.1 M CaCl2 > 0.01 M CaCl2 > 1 M NaNO3 > 0.1 M NaNO3. ABDTPA showed significantly the highest positive correlation with maize roots, shoots, and grains Cd contents in naturally Cd contaminated SCL and CL soils. While for artificially contaminated SCL and CL soils contaminated with Cd at Cd-20, Cd-40, and Cd-60 contamination levels, 0.1 M CaCl2 extractable Cd showed a stronger positive significant correlation with Cd contents in roots, shoots, and grains of maize crop. Overall results concluded that 10 M NH4AOc has the highest efficiency to extract Cd and 0.1 M NaNO3 has the lowest Cd extraction efficiency. Correlation results showed that ABDTPA and 0.1 M CaCl2 were found to be the most suitable extractants for predicting the bioavailability of Cd. Highly concentrated extractants give a stronger positive correlation as compared to low concentrated extractants. SCL soil showed stronger positive correlations as compared to CL soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin cancer is among the most prevalent and life-threatening forms of cancer that occur worldwide. Traditional methods of skin cancer detection need an in-depth physical examination by a medical professional, which is time-consuming in some cases. Recently, computer-aided medical diagnostic systems have gained popularity due to their effectiveness and efficiency. These systems can assist dermatologists in the early detection of skin cancer, which can be lifesaving. In this paper, the pre-trained MobileNetV2 and DenseNet201 deep learning models are modified by adding additional convolution layers to effectively detect skin cancer. Specifically, for both models, the modification includes stacking three convolutional layers at the end of both the models. A thorough comparison proves that the modified models show their superiority over the original pre-trained MobileNetV2 and DenseNet201 models. The proposed method can detect both benign and malignant classes. The results indicate that the proposed Modified DenseNet201 model achieves 95.50% accuracy and state-of-the-art performance when compared with other techniques present in the literature. In addition, the sensitivity and specificity of the Modified DenseNet201 model are 93.96% and 97.03%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofortification of micronutrients, particularly of the iron (Fe) in cereals, is a viable, attractive, and sustainable strategy to cope with malnutrition as cereals are the major staple diets, particularly in developing countries. Increased concentrations of heavy metal/(loid)s (HMs); i.e. cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As) etc. in agricultural soils is an increasing and serious challenge, posing severe health problems through food chain contamination. Accumulation of HMs in plants is challenging and contrasts to the development of biofortification strategies to combat micronutrient deficiencies. Agricultural biofortification strategies aim to increase plant uptake of mineral nutrients from soil and the translocation/storage of micronutrients to edible portions of cereal grains. However, it also means that any strategy to increase the uptake of Fe in plants may result in increased uptake of other toxic HMs. Therefore, the issue of HM contamination in cereals needs further understanding. This review describes the advancements in Fe biofortification strategies and the conflicting issue of HM accumulation in the grain of cereals. Iron (Fe)-deficiency in cereal crops is causing worldwide malnutrition and many metabolic disorders such as anaemia in human. Along the low accumulation of Fe in cereals, heavy metals i.e. (Cd, Pb, Hg etc) contamination in agricultural soils are transferring to humans, causing more adverse impacts on human health sustainability. We review recent advances in biofortification approaches; i.e. agronomic, transgenic and genetic approaches, while simultaneously addressing Fe biofortification and heavy metals mitigation in food chain for sustainable living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofortification of micronutrients, particularly of the iron (Fe) in cereals, is a viable, attractive, and sustainable strategy to cope with malnutrition as cereals are the major staple diets, particularly in developing countries. Increased concentrations of heavy metal/(loid)s (HMs); i.e. cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As) etc. in agricultural soils is an increasing and serious challenge, posing severe health problems through food chain contamination. Accumulation of HMs in plants is challenging and contrasts to the development of biofortification strategies to combat micronutrient deficiencies. Agricultural biofortification strategies aim to increase plant uptake of mineral nutrients from soil and the translocation/storage of micronutrients to edible portions of cereal grains. However, it also means that any strategy to increase the uptake of Fe in plants may result in increased uptake of other toxic HMs. Therefore, the issue of HM contamination in cereals needs further understanding. This review describes the advancements in Fe biofortification strategies and the conflicting issue of HM accumulation in the grain of cereals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important component of the pathogenicity of potentially pathogenic bacteria in humans is the urease enzyme. In order to avoid the detrimental impact of ureolytic bacterial infections, the inhibition of urease enzyme appears to be an appealing approach. Therefore, in the current study, morpholine-thiophene hybrid thiosemicarbazone derivatives (5a-i) were designed, synthesized and characterized through FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. A range of substituents including electron-rich, electron- deficient and inductively electron-withdrawing groups on the thiophene ring was successfully tolerated. The synthesized derivatives were evaluated in vitro for their potential to inhibit urease enzyme using the indophenol method. The majority of compounds were noticeably more potent than the conventional inhibitor, thiourea. The lead inhibitor, 2-(1-(5-chlorothiophen-2-yl)ethylidene)- N-(2-morpholinoethyl)hydrazinecarbothioamide (5g) inhibited the urease in an uncompetitive manner with an IC50 value of 3.80 ± 1.9 μM. The findings of the docking studies demonstrated that compound 5g has a strong affinity for the urease active site. Significant docking scores and efficient binding free energies were displayed by the lead inhibitor. Finally, the ADME properties of lead inhibitor (5g) suggested the druglikeness behavior with zero violation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of electromyographic (EMG) signals has expedited the use of a wearable prosthetic arm. To this end, pattern recognition-based myoelectric control schemes have shown the promising results; however, the choice of classifier and optimal features is always challenging. This paper presents the comparative analysis of classifiers for multiple EMG datasets including (1) the publicly accessible NinaPro database which provides data recorded for 52 hand movements collected from 27 subjects out of which twelve finger movements were classified, and (2) the data collected from ten healthy and six amputee subjects for 11 different hand movements. The classification results of artificial neural networks (ANN) were compared with those of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) for both datasets separately. For dataset 1, the mean classification accuracy of LDA obtained was 85.41% while ANN showed 91.14% accuracy. Similarly, for dataset 2, the mean classification accuracy achieved with LDA was 93.54% while with ANN, it was 97.69%. Besides, p-values were determined for both datasets which revealed better classification results of ANN as compared to LDA. The overall results of this study show that ANN performed better classification and recognition of hand movements as compared to LDA. The findings of this study offer important insights regarding the selection of classifiers of EMG signals which are critical to evaluating the accurate performance of prosthetic human organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of organic amendments on phytoavailability of nickel (Ni) and other metals in soil may change with time due to transformation of organic matter. We investigated the residual effect of organic amendments (farm manure [FM], poultry manure [PM], pressmud [PrM], and activated carbon [AC]) to immobilize Ni and other metals in soil and absorption of metals by Egyptian clover. Fresh and dry weights of Egyptian clover increased significantly (p < 0.05) due to residual effect of amendments compared to control. Extractable Ni and other metals had significant positive correlation with residual organic matter in soil. Extractable manganese (Mn) in post-harvest soil of Egyptian clover increased compared with that of post-harvest soil of maize (previous crop). However, extractable copper (Cu) decreased with amendments. Copper was the maximum in control followed by AC. Zinc in soil decreased in FM and PrM treated pots but increased in pots amended with PM and AC. Concentration of Ni, Mn, and Cu was the minimum in shoots of those plants grown with AC amended pots compared to the control. It was concluded that AC was the most effective for immobilization of metals in soil which consequently decreased the concentration of metals in shoots of Egyptian clover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endosymbionts associated with the whitefly Bemisia tabaci cryptic species are known to contribute to host fitness and environmental adaptation. The genetic diversity and population complexity were investigated for endosymbiont communities of B. tabaci occupying different micro‐environments in Pakistan. Mitotypes of B. tabaci were identified by comparative sequence analysis of the mitochondria cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) gene sequence. Whitefly mitotypes belonged to the Asia II‐1, ‐5, and ‐7 mitotypes of the Asia II major clade. The whitefly–endosymbiont communities were characterized based on 16S ribosomal RNA operational taxonomic unit (OTU) assignments, resulting in 43 OTUs. Most of the OTUs occurred in the Asia II‐1 and II‐7 mitotypes (r2 =.9, p <.005), while the Asia II‐5 microbiome was less complex. The microbiome OTU groups were mitotype‐specific, clustering with a basis in phylogeographical distribution and the corresponding ecological niche of their whitefly host, suggesting mitotype‐microbiome co‐adaptation. The primary endosymbiont Portiera was represented by a single, highly homologous OTU (0%–0.67% divergence). Two of six Arsenophonus OTUs were uniquely associated with Asia II‐5 and ‐7, and one occurred exclusively in Asia II‐1, two only in Asia II‐5, and one in both Asia II‐1 and ‐7. Four other secondary endosymbionts, Cardinium, Hemipteriphilus, Rickettsia, and Wolbachia OTUs, were found at ≤29% frequencies. The most prevalent Arsenophonus OTU was found in all three Asia II mitotypes (55% frequency), whereas the same strain of Cardinium and Wolbachia was found in both Asia II‐1 and ‐5, and a single Hemipteriphilus OTU occurred in Asia II‐1 and ‐7. This pattern is indicative of horizontal transfer, suggestive of a proximity between mitotypes sufficient for gene flow at overlapping mitotype ecological niches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salt stress is becoming a serious problem for the global environment and agricultural sector. Different sources of iron (Fe) can provide an eco-friendly solution to remediate salt-affected soils. The Fe nanoparticles (FeNPs) and conventional sources of Fe (iron-ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid; Fe-EDTA; and iron sulfate; FeSO 4) were used to evaluate their effects on wheat crop grown in normal and salt-affected soils. Application of FeNPs (25 mg/kg) on normal soil increased the dry weights of wheat roots, shoots, and grains by 46%, 59%, and 77%, respectively. In salt-affected soil, FeNPs increased the dry weights of wheat roots, shoots, and grains by 65%, 78%, and 61%, respectively. The application of FeSO 4 and Fe-EDTA increased the growth parameters of wheat in both normal and salt-affected soils compared to the respective controls. The photosynthetic parameters, including chlorophyll a (50%), chlorophyll b (67%), carotenoids (62%), and total chlorophyll contents (50%), were increased with the application of FeNPs under salt stress. The FeNPs increased plant-essential nutrients like iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and potassium in both normal and salt-affected soils. The experiment revealed that the application of Fe plays a significant role in enhancing the growth of wheat on alkaline normal and salt-affected soils. Maximum growth response was recorded with FeNPs than other Fe sources. The future must be focused on long term field experiments to economize the application of FeNPs on a large scale for commercialization. [Display omitted] • Iron nanoparticles (FeNPs) and Fe sources (FeSO 4 , Fe-EDTA) improved yield of salt-stressed wheat. • Both Fe sources comparatively increased the uptake of nutrients by plants. • FeNPs were more effective than other sources in increasing essential nutrients in wheat grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sentinel plot and commercial field monitoring reveals recent shifts in CLCuD complexes in Pakistan. • Evidence of altered prevalence of CLCuD-helper virus genomic variability. • Previously unreported CLCuD-associated plant host species discovered in cotton-vegetable and uncultivated species. • Early-detection predicted re-emergence of CLCuD-associated, cotton leaf curl Multan virus-Rajasthan. A sentinel plot case study was carried out to identify and map the distribution of begomovirus-betasatellite complexes in sentinel plots and commercial cotton fields over a four-year period using molecular and high-throughput DNA 'discovery' sequencing approaches. Samples were collected from 15 study sites in the two major cotton-producing areas of Pakistan. Whitefly- and leafhopper-transmitted geminiviruses were detected in previously unreported host plant species and locations. The most prevalent begomovirus was cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Burewala (CLCuKoV-Bu). Unexpectedly, a recently recognized recombinant, cotton leaf curl Multan virus-Rajasthan (CLCuMuV-Ra) was prevalent in five of 15 sites. cotton leaf curl Alabad virus (CLCuAlV) and cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Kokhran, 'core' members of CLCuD-begomoviruses that co-occurred with CLCuMuV in the 'Multan' epidemic were detected in one of 15 sentinel plots. Also identified were chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus and 'non-core' CLCuD-begomoviruses, okra enation leaf curl virus, squash leaf curl virus, and tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus. Cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMuB) was the most prevalent CLCuD-betasatellite, and less commonly, two 'non-core' betasatellites. Recombination analysis revealed previously uncharacterized recombinants among helper virus-betasatellite complexes consisting of CLCuKoV, CLCuMuV, CLCuAlV and CLCuMuB. Population analyses provided early evidence for CLCuMuV-Ra expansion and displacement of CLCuKoV-Bu in India and Pakistan from 2012-2017. Identification of 'core' and non-core CLCuD-species/strains in cotton and other potential reservoirs, and presence of the now predominant CLCuMuV-Ra strain are indicative of ongoing diversification. Investigating the phylodynamics of geminivirus emergence in cotton-vegetable cropping systems offers an opportunity to understand the driving forces underlying disease outbreaks and reconcile viral evolution with epidemiological relationships that also capture pathogen population shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although biochar and conventional organic materials have been widely studied for lowering cadmium (Cd) uptake by plants but information regarding their comparative effectiveness is lacking. In this study, biochars from different feedstocks viz. rice husk biochar (RHB), cotton sticks biochar (CSB) and wheat straw biochar (WSB) were compared with conventional organic materials viz. farm manure (FM), poultry manure (PM) and press mud (PrMd) for their effectiveness to promote plant growth and to reduce Cd uptake by wheat and rice plants grown rotationally in a Cd-spiked (50 mg kg−1) soil. Each amendment was applied at the rate of 2% (w/w) in three replicates. Results showed that the application of amendments improved the soil properties and plant growth, by retaining Cd in the soil and restricting its uptake by plants. The amendments decreased the ammonium bicarbonate diethylene penta acetic acid extractable soil Cd, and improved soil organic carbon (SOC) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) as compared to only Cd-contaminated soil. The highest SOC content of 2.68 and 1.68% and CEC of 8.77 and 9.39 cmol c kg−1 were found in RHB treated post-wheat and post-rice soil, respectively. Amendments treated soil showed lower concentrations of bioavailable Cd and the maximum reduction was recorded in RHB and PrMd amended soil. Similarly, bioaccumulation of Cd was decreased with the application of all amendments; the maximum decrease was recorded in RHB and PrMd treated soil. Our results suggested that RHB and PrMd could be used for reducing the bioaccumulation of Cd in cereal grains in alkaline soils. • Rice husk biochar (RHB) and press mud (PrMd) were more effective in increasing growth and biomass of cereals. • RHB and PrMd were highly efficient in decreasing cadmium (Cd) concentration in grains of cereals. • RHB and PrMd were more effective in decreasing bioavailable soil Cd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transfer of cadmium (Cd) through food crops have become a sturdy plight globally, due to increasing Cd pollution in agricultural soils. The Cd accumulation in food crops is not only quandary for food safety but also a prominent threat to agricultural productivity due to its severe biological toxicity which hinders plant growth and physiology by affecting nutrient homeostasis. Thus, a hydroponic experiment was executed to investigate the various levels of Cd on growth, physiology, mineral nutrients and Cd accumulation in different tissues of rice and wheat plants. The plant's seedlings grown from acid washed seed in sand culture were shifted to foam plugged holes in a polystyrene sheet floating on plastic tubs (8 L) containing Hoagland's solution. Four Cd levels (0, 5, 10 and 15 μM) with four replicates were applied after seven days of transplantation and harvested after twenty days of Cd application. The results explained that increasing levels of Cd resulted in severe toxicity and declined the physiological performance and growth of plants. Similarly, Cd uptake by roots of wheat and rice was increased up to 42 and 304 μg pot-1 respectively in Cd containing rooting solution. Compare to control, the 15 μM Cd treatment decreased the copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) contents by 6-61%, 6-41% and 6-17% in wheat and 18-39%, 6-29% and 4-32% in rice, respectively. Interestingly, root iron (Fe) contents in wheat were increased up to 28% at 10 μM Cd level while rice (both root and shoot) Fe contents were reduced at 10 and 15 μM Cd stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinization causes the degradation of the soil and threatening the global food security but the application of essential micronutrients like zinc (Zn), improve the plant growth by stabilizing the plant cell and root development. Keeping in view the above-mentioned scenario, an experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of conventional Zn fertilizers like zinc sulphate (ZnSO 4), zinc ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (Zn-EDTA) and advance nano Zn fertilizers such as zinc sulphate nanoparticles (ZnSO 4 NPs), and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) (applied at the rate of 5 and 10 mg/kg) in saline-sodic soil. Results revealed that the maximum plant height (67%), spike length (72%), root length (162%), number of tillers (71%), paddy weight (100%), shoot dry weight (158%), and root dry weight (119%) was found in ZnSO 4 NPs applied at the rate of 10 mg/kg (ZnSO 4 NPs-10) as compared to salt-affected control (SAC). Similarly, the plants physiological attributes like chlorophyll contents (91%), photosynthesis rate (113%), transpiration rate (106%), stomatal conductance (56%) and internal CO 2 (11%) were increased by the application of ZnSO 4 NPs-10, as compared to SAC. The maximum Zn concentration in root (153%), shoot (205%) and paddy (167%) found in ZnSO 4 NPs-10, as compared to control. In the body of rice plants, other nutrients like phosphorus and potassium were also increased by the application of ZnSO 4 NPs-10 and soil chemical attributes such as sodium and sodium adsorption ratio were decreased. The current experiment concluded that the application of ZnSO 4 NPs at the rate of 10 mg/kg in salt-affected paddy soil increased the growth, physiology, up take of essential nutrients and yield of rice by balancing the cationic ratio under salt stress. [Display omitted] • Different zinc sources were used for salt tolerance in rice crop. • ZnSO 4 nanoparticles were most effective in increasing salt-stressed plant growth. • ZnSO 4 NPs increased Zn, P, K contents in tissues than other Zn sources. • ZnSO 4 NPs increased AB-DTPA extractable Zn in soil than other Zn sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses in arid and semiarid climates which threatens the food security of the world. Present study had been designed to assess the efficacy of different abiogenic sources of silicon (Si) to mitigate the salinity stress on maize crop grown on salt-affected soil. Abiogenic sources of Si including silicic acid (SA), sodium silicate (Na–Si), potassium silicate (K–Si), and nanoparticles of silicon (NPs-Si) were applied in saline-sodic soil. Two consecutive maize crops with different seasons were harvested to evaluate the growth response of maize under salinity stress. Post-harvest soil analysis showed a significant decrease in soil electrical conductivity of soil paste extract (EC e) (−23.0%), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) (−47.7%) and pH of soil saturated paste (pHs) (−9.5%) by comparing with salt-affected control. Results revealed that the maximum root dry weight was recorded in maize1 by the application of NPs-Si (149.3%) and maize2 (88.6%) over control. The maximum shoot dry weight was observed by the application of NPs-Si in maize1 (42.0%) and maize2 (7.4%) by comparing with control treatment. The physiological parameters like chlorophyll contents (52.5%), photosynthetic rate (84.6%), transpiration (100.2%), stomatal conductance (50.5%), and internal CO 2 concentration (61.6%) were increased by NPs-Si in the maize1 crop when compared with the control treatment. The application of an abiogenic source (NPs-Si) of Si significantly increased the concentration of phosphorus (P) in roots (223.4%), shoots (22.3%), and cobs (130.3%) of the first maize crop. The current study concluded that the application of NPs-Si and K–Si improved the plant growth by increasing the availability of nutrients like P and potassium (K), physiological attributes, and by reducing the salts stress and cationic ratios in maize after maize crop rotation.. • Abiogenic Si sources were used for salt tolerance in maize crop. • SiNPs were effective for plant growth in 1st season, residual K silicate was effective in 2nd growth season • Si-NPs increased P and Si contents in tissues than other Si sources. • Si-NPs decreased soil EC and SAR and increased soil soluble Si than other Si sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuD) is caused by a suite of whitefly-transmitted begomovirus species and strains, resulting in extensive losses annually in India and Pakistan. RNA-interference (RNAi) is a proven technology used for knockdown of gene expression in higher organisms and viruses. In this study, a small interfering RNA (siRNA) construct was designed to target the AC1 gene of Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Burewala (CLCuKoV-Bu) and the bC1 gene and satellite conserved region of the Cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMB). The AC1 gene and CLCuMB coding and non-coding regions function in replication initiation and suppression of the plant host defense pathway, respectively. The construct, Vb, was transformed into cotton plants using the Agrobacterium-mediated embryo shoot apex cut method. Results from fluorescence in situ hybridization and karyotyping assays indicated that six of the 11 T1 plants harbored a single copy of the Vβ transgene. Transgenic cotton plants and non-transgenic (susceptible) test plants included as the positive control were challenge-inoculated using the viruliferous whitefly vector to transmit the CLCuKoV-Bu/CLCuMB complex. Among the test plants, plant Vβ-6 was asymptomatic, had the lowest amount of detectable virus, and harbored a single copy of the transgene on chromosome six. Absence of characteristic leaf curl symptom development in transgenic Vβ-6 cotton plants, and significantly reduced begomoviral-betasatellite accumulation based on real-time polymerase chain reaction, indicated the successful knockdown of CLCuKoV-Bu and CLCuMB expression, resulting in leaf curl resistant plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global biomass production from agricultural farmlands is facing severe constraints from abiotic stresses like soil salinization. Salinity-mediated stress triggered the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that may result in oxidative burst in cell organelles and cause cell death in plants. ROS production is regulated by the redox homeostasis that helps in the readjustment of the cellular redox and energy state in plants. All these cellular redox related functions may play a decisive role in adaptation and acclimation to salinity stress in plants. The use of nanotechnology like nanoparticles (NPs) in plant physiology has become the new area of interest as they have potential to trigger the various enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant capabilities of plants under varying salinity levels. Moreover, NPs application under salinity is also being favored due to their unique characteristics compared to traditional phytohormones, amino acids, nutrients, and organic osmolytes. Therefore, this article emphasized the core response of plants to acclimate the challenges of salt stress through auxiliary functions of ROS, antioxidant defense system and redox homeostasis. Furthermore, the role of different types of NPs mediated changes in biochemical, proteomic, and genetic expressions of plants under salt stress have been discussed. This article also discussed the potential limitations of NPs adoption in crop production especially under environmental stresses. [Display omitted] • NPs enhanced salt tolerance in plants by modulation of ROS, antioxidant defence system and redox homeostasis. • NPs mediated changes in biochemical, proteomic, genetic expressions of salt-stressed have been discussed. • Potential limitations of NPs adoption in crop production under salt stress have been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium (Cd) contamination is considered as a widespread concern at global scale which is serious threats to human health. Phytoremediation is an eco-friendly approach which can remove or immobilize Cd from the soil. Different organic and inorganic amendments can potentially enhance Cd phytoremediation efficiency but the comparison of farmyard manure (FM), elemental sulphur (S) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) for Cd phytoremediation through spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum L.) remained unanswered. The present study evaluated the efficiency of S (0.1 and 0.2%), EDTA (0.1 and 0.2%, represented as EDTA-0.1 and EDTA-0.2) and FM (0.5 and 1%, represented as FM-0.5 and FM-1) for remediation of Cd contaminated soils (50 and 100 mg kg-1, represented as Cd-50 and Cd-100) through spider plants. Results depicted that the highest shoots and roots dry biomass was found in FM treated plants followed by S, EDTA and control except in EDTA-0.2 treatment in which the lowest values of these parameters were observed. Application of FM-1 significantly increased the shoot dry weight (120%), root dry weight (99%), as well as photosynthetic attributes in Cd-50 as compared to control. Application of EDTA-0.2 increased the bioavailable fraction of Cd than control and the maximum increase was observed in Cd-100. The highest Cd concentrations in shoot and roots were found in EDTA treated plants followed by S, control and FM irrespective of Cd and amendment levels. Maximum Cd in roots (109%) and shoots (156%) was recorded in plants grown in Cd-100 with EDTA-0.2 than control. The maximum bioaccumulation factor, translocation index, harvest index and root to shoot translocation were observed with EDTA than control and other treatments. EDTA along with spider plants may enhance the uptake of Cd but lower biomass production in the highest dose of EDTA may questioned the efficiency of EDTA. [Display omitted] • Farmyard manure (FM), elemental sulphur (S), EDTA affected the growth and physiology of Cd-stressed C. comosum plants. • Biomass of C. comosum was higher with FM than elemental S and EDTA. • Use of FM improved the nutrient status of soil than elemental S and EDTA. • Higher Cd concentrations in shoots and roots were found with EDTA and elemental S than FM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the evolution of geminiviruses, genetic recombination plays a key role in ecological, biochemical and evolutionary processes. They evolve as results of prehistoric inter-genus recombination whereas intra-genus recombination of geminiviruses leads to the emergence of agriculturally important plant pathogens. Geminiviruses are transmitted by leafhoppers, treehoppers and whiteflies. An isolate of Chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus (CpCDV), a monopartite dicot infecting mastrevirus is transmitted by leafhopper. In contrast, Cotton leaf curl burewala virus (CLCuBuV), a monopartite begomovirus, was acquired and transmissible by whitefly to various host plants. In this study, we remove the coat protein (CP) gene of CpCDV by PCR and replaced with that of PCR amplified CLCuBuV-CP. The resultant infectious clone of chimeric CpCDV is produced later named mastrebegomo chimera (pGII0000MBC). By using Agroinfiltration technique (Agrobacterium-mediated inoculation) the chimeric clone along with wild type Clone CpCDV and CLCuBuV are injected on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana Domin.) seedlings and get symptoms after 21dpi (days post inoculation). Later, the symptoms appeared on plants were compared with healthy plants. This study elaborates our awareness about the genetic recombination and coexistence of mastreviruses with begomovirus globally including Pakistan and will provide the basic information regarding their management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suspected virus-like symptoms were observed in cacao plants in Trinidad during 1943, and the viruses associated with these symptoms were designated as strains A and B of cacao Trinidad virus (CTV). However, viral etiology has not been demonstrated for either phenotype. Total DNA was isolated from symptomatic cacao leaves exhibiting the CTV A and B phenotypes and subjected to Illumina HiSeq and Sanger DNA sequencing. Based on de novo assembly, two apparently full-length badnavirus genomes of 7,533 and 7,454 nucleotides (nt) were associated with CTV strain A and B, respectively. The Trinidad badnaviral genomes contained four open reading frames, three of which are characteristic of other known badnaviruses, and a fourth that is present in only some badnaviruses. Both badnaviral genomes harbored hallmark caulimovirus-like features, including a tRNA priming site, a TATA box, and a polyadenylation-like signal. Pairwise comparisons of the RT-RNase H region indicated that the Trinidad isolates share 57-71% nt sequence identity with other known badnaviruses. Based on the system for badnavirus species demarcation in which viruses with less than 80% nt sequence identity in the RT-RNase gene are considered members of separate species, these isolates represent two previously unidentified badnaviruses, herein named cacao mild mosaic virus and cacao yellow vein banding virus, making them the first cacao-infecting badnaviruses identified thus far in the Western Hemisphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium (Cd) is getting worldwide attention due to its continuous accumulation in agricultural soils which is due to anthropogenic activities and finally Cd enters in food chain mainly through edible plants. Cadmium free food production on contaminated soils is great challenge which requires some innovative measures for crop production on such soils. The current study evaluated the efficiency of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) (0, 150 and 300 mg/kg) on the growth of wheat in texturally different soils including clay loam (CL), sandy clay loam (SCL), and sandy loam (SL) which were contaminated with were contaminated with 25 mg/kg of Cd before crop growth. Results depicted that doses of ZnONPs and soil textures significantly affected the biological yields, Zn and Cd uptake in wheat plants. The application of 300 mg/kg ZnONPs caused maximum increase in dry weights of shoot (66.6%), roots (58.5%), husk (137.8%) and grains (137.8%) in CL soil. The AB-DTPA extractable Zn was increased while Cd was decreased with doses of NPs depending upon soil textures. The maximum decrease in AB-DTPA extractable Cd was recorded in 300 mg/kg of ZnONPs treatment which was 58.7% in CL, 33.2% in SCL and 12.1% in SL soil as compared to respective controls. Minimum Cd concentrations in roots, shoots, husk and grain were found in 300 mg/kg ZnONPs amended CL soil which was 58%, 76.7%, 58%, and 82.6%, respectively. The minimum bioaccumulation factor (0.14), translocation index (2.46) and health risk index (0.05) was found in CL soil with the highest dose of NPs. The results concluded that use of ZnONPs significantly decreased Cd concentration while increased Zn concentrations in plants depending upon doses of NPs and soil textures. [Display omitted] • Soil textures and ZnONPs remarkably affected the wheat growth under Cd stress. • Cd and Zn contents in tissues varied with soil textures and levels of ZnONPs. • Lowest grain Cd was found in clay loam soil then in sandy clay loam and sandy loam. • Lowest human health risk index was observed in clay loam soil with 300 mg/kg NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on the prevailing digital payment patterns across South Asia and the trends and challenges emerging in Pakistan. Some of the crucial digital payment instruments and devices in relation to the e-commerce, m-commerce environment are analysed. The ways in which South Asian businesspersons, customers and employers are replacing hard cash with digital payments are examined. Based on such analysis of trends and patterns widespread in today's world, the article also discusses the advantages of various devices of digital payments. The paper underscores the prospects and policy recommendations of digital payment trends in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Chemistry and synthetic aspects for pyrazolone endowed compounds. • Timeline for the progress of pyrazolone based drugs. • Assessment of biological efficacy including antibacterial, antifungal, enzyme inhibition and antioxidant activity. • Role of electron donating and withdrawing groups on bioactivity of pyrazolone derivatives. • Identification of potent compounds by structure activity relationship (SAR) studies. Pyrazolone is a well-known influential synthon for the synthesis of many molecules which hold remarkable potential in the advancement of functional materials, coordination chemistry, and pharmaceutical chemistry. Taking the advantage of diversity as well as multiple active sites of starting materials, a number of effective methods for synthesizing different pyrazolone compounds have been effectively established over the last few years. The chemistry of pyrazolone derivatives have attracted interests due to their diverse pharmacological functions such as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-viral, anti-proliferative and many other biological activities. This review article provides an overview of this field, with the aim of highlighting the remarkable achievements that have been made with the multiple reaction sites of different pyrazolone synthons and the synthetic strategies for existing and novel pyrazolone derivatives. In addition, chemical synthetic schemes, important mechanisms, structure activity relationships (SAR) and promising biological investigations relating to the corresponding products are also discussed. Graphical Abstract [Display omitted]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of new potentially anti-microbial 1-[4-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)phenyl]-3-phenylprop-2-en-1-ones was synthesised by condensation of various substituted benzaldehydes with 1-[4-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)phenyl]ethanone, which was itself prepared by N-arylation of imidazole with p-haloacetophenones, using copper iodide and 1,3-di(pyridin-2-yl)propane-1,3-dione as a catalyst. All the synthesised compounds were subjected to preliminary evaluation for their anti-leishmanial and anti-fungal activities. Some of the synthesised compounds showed significant activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel 4-{5-[(2-benzylidenehydrazine)carbonyl]phenyl}-3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-1-yl]benzenesulfonamides was synthesised from 4-[1-(4-aminosulfonylphenyl)-3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-5-yl]benzoic acid (celecoxib). Initially, celecoxib was selectively oxidised. The product was then esterified and this was followed by hydrazinolysis to get the carbohydrazide. The carbohydrazide was subsequently reacted with a number of benzaldehyde derivatives to give the title compounds. These compounds were characterised by spectral and elemental analyses along with the single crystal X-ray crystallography of a representative compound. All the synthesised compounds were found active for their anti-inflammatory activity in the carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema model. A few of them possessed even greater in vivo anti-inflammatory activities when compared to the reference drug celecoxib and showed minimal or no ulcerogenic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the synthesis of N'-benzylidene-2-(2-fluorobiphenyl)propanehydrazides, 2-(2-fluorobiphenyl-4-yl)propanoic acid was esterified to methyl 2-(2-fluorobiphenyl-4-yl)propanoate under microwave irradiation followed by hydrazinolysis. This hydrazide was then reacted in an ultrasonic bath with different benzaldehydes to afford a series of N'-benzylidene-2-(2-fluorobiphenyl)propanehydrazides. Comparison of both the conventional and ultrasound assisted reactions indicates a significant reduction in reaction times and improvement in yields. Besides chemical characterisation and X-ray crystallography, all the synthesised compounds were evaluated for their anti-oxidant potential (total anti-oxidant activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power and total phenolic content) and most of them were found to have useful potential for pharmaceutical applications especially derivative bearing 2-hydroxy substituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data mining has become a key ingredient in establishing intelligent decision support systems. As one of main branches in data mining, data stream clustering has received much attention over the past decade. Most existing data stream clustering techniques count on Euclidean distance metric for finding similar objects and hence produce spherical clusters which are not always suitable to represent the data. Moreover, in most of the real world problems, we come across the data of varying density which cannot be handled by density-based clustering techniques. In this paper, we introduce a new clustering technique called Hyper-Ellipsoidal Clustering for Evolving data Stream (HECES) based on the recently proposed HyCARCE algorithm. In HECES, a few modifications in the HyCARCE algorithm are made for handling stream clustering problem: sliding window model is used to handle incoming stream of data to minimize the impact of the obsolete information on recent clustering results; shrinkage technique is used to avoid the singularity issue in finding the covariance of correlated data; a novel technique for merging the initial ellipsoids is used to obtain the final clusters instead of a computationally intensive process of expansion and adjustment. HECES relies on Mahalanobis distance metric to cluster the data points and hence results in ellipsoidal shaped clusters. It can successfully handle data of varying density. Experiments on various synthetic and real datasets for clustering streaming data provide a comparative validation of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the progressive neurological disorders and the main cause of dementia all over the world. The multifactorial nature of Alzheimer's disease is a reason for the lack of effective drugs as well as a basis for the development of new structural leads. In addition, the appalling side effects such as nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, muscle cramps, and headaches associated with the marketed treatment modalities and many failed clinical trials significantly limit the use of drugs and alarm for a detailed understanding of disease heterogeneity and the development of preventive and multifaceted remedial approach desperately. With this motivation, we herein report a diverse series of piperidinyl-quinoline acylhydrazone therapeutics as selective as well as potent inhibitors of cholinesterase enzymes. Ultrasound-assisted conjugation of 6/8-methyl-2-(piperidin-1-yl)quinoline-3-carbaldehydes (4a,b) and (un)substituted aromatic acid hydrazides (7a-m) provided facile access to target compounds (8a-m and 9a-j) in 4–6 min in excellent yields. The structures were fully established using spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR, 1H- and 13C NMR, and purity was estimated using elemental analysis. The synthesized compounds were investigated for their cholinesterase inhibitory potential. In vitro enzymatic studies revealed potent and selective inhibitors of AChE and BuChE. Compound 8c showed remarkable results and emerged as a lead candidate for the inhibition of AChE with an IC50 value of 5.3 ± 0.51 µM. The inhibitory strength of the optimal compound was 3-fold higher compared to neostigmine (IC50 = 16.3 ± 1.12 µM). Compound 8g exhibited the highest potency and inhibited the BuChE selectively with an IC50 value of 1.31 ± 0.05 µM. Several compounds, such as 8a-c, also displayed dual inhibitory strength, and acquired data were superior to the standard drugs. In vitro results were further supported by molecular docking analysis, where potent compounds revealed various important interactions with the key amino acid residues in the active site of both enzymes. Molecular dynamics simulation data, as well as physicochemical properties of the lead compounds, supported the identified class of hybrid compounds as a promising avenue for the discovery and development of new molecules for multifactorial diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of stressors on academic performance of students of management sciences. Though researchers have explored stress from different aspects, yet more work is required to explore this issue in management sciences' students of developing countries like Pakistan. This study tries to make an in-depth investigation into impact on academic performance due to four stressors i.e. financial stressors, course load, time management and social support. A quantitative approach has been adopted. The sample consists of 155 students from three universities located in Islamabad out of which response rate was 94 per cent. Results indicate that two main stressors of course load and social support affect the academic performance of students of management sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crystal structures of methyl 2-pentyl-4-hydroxy-2H-1,2-benzothiazine-3-carboxylate-1,1-dioxide 1 and methyl 2-pentenyl-4-hydroxy-2H-1,2-benzothiazine-3-carboxylate-1,1-dioxide 2 have been determined after their synthesis from saccharin. 1 and 2 crystallize in a monoclinic and orthorhombic crystal system, respectively. The asymmetric unit of both contains one molecule of each compound and shows intramolecular O-H...O interactions generating six membered ring motifs S¹1(6). Intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions have been observed in the molecule with the pentyl side chain. The thiazine ring in both molecules adopts a half chair conformation with a r.m.s. deviation of 0.2049 Å and 0.2161 Å. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has become a serious threat all over the world, which creates a negative impact on the growth, physiology and yield attributes of the crops. Drought stress is one of the major causes of climate change that contributes more to the reduction of yield of crops and its physiological aspects (i.e., stomatal conductance, leaf temperature, plant canopy temperature, membrane thermal stability index, total chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence). Pod shattering negatively affects the yield of canola under drought stress conditions. The control of shattering, caused by drought, has been difficult due to the lack of resistant cultivars. Drought at any stage of canola, either vegetative or reproductive, badly affects the canola crops in terms of growth, physiology, pod development and its shattering, which results in the reduction of yield. To overcome the pod shattering and its development, the Si plays an important role, which provides the strength to the pod when it was applied with their proper amount and proper time. Si is the beneficial element which helps in improving the growth and physiology of crop under drought stress conditions. Si helps for reducing the pod shattering in canola and improving its yield by mitigating the adverse effect of drought on canola. Molecular approaches also help to provide resistance in canola against pod shattering and improve its yield under drought stress conditions. Current review highlights the role of Si and current molecular developments to deal with constraints in pod development and it's shattering under drought stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A series of 4-hydroxy-N′-[1-phenylethylidene]-2H/2-methyl, 1,2-benzothiazine-3-carbohydrazide 1,1-dioxides was synthesized from commercially available sodium saccharin. Base catalyzed ring expansion of methyl (1,1-dioxido-3-oxo-1,2-benzisothiazol-2(3H)-yl)acetate followed by ultrasound mediated hydrazinolysis and subsequent reaction with 1-phenylethanones under the influence of microwaves yielded the title compounds. Besides, microwave assisted synthesis of 1,4-dihydropyrazolo[4,3-c][1,2]benzothiazin-3-ol 5,5-dioxide and 4-methyl-1,4-dihydropyrazolo[4,3-c][1,2]benzothiazin-3-ol 5,5-dioxide is also discussed. Most of the synthesized compounds were found to possess moderate to significant anti-microbial (anti-bacterial and anti-fungal) activities. It is found that compounds with greater lipophilicity (N-methyl analogues) possessed higher anti-bacterial activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel series of potentially biologically active 4-hydroxy-N′-(benzylidene)-2H-benzo[e][1,2]thiazine-3-carbohydrazide 1,1-dioxides were synthesized starting from ultrasonic mediated N-alkylation of sodium saccharin with methyl chloroacetate. Ring expansion of methyl(1,1-dioxido-3-oxo-1,2-benzisothiazol-2(3H)-yl)acetate followed by its hydrazinolysis afforded 4-hydroxy-2H-1,2-benzothiazine-3-carbohydrazide 1,1-dioxide which was reacted in a straight forward manner with various benzaldehydes in an ultrasonic bath to get the title compounds. All of the synthesized compounds were subjected to preliminary evaluation for their antibacterial and DPPH radical scavenging activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Soil salinization and sodication harm soil fertility and crop production, especially in dry regions. To combat this, using biochar combined with gypsum, lime, and farm manure is a promising solution for improving salt-affected soils. In a pot experiment, cotton stick biochar (BC) was applied at a rate of 20 t/ha in combination with gypsum (G), lime (L), and farm manure (F) at rates of 5 and 10 t/ha. These were denoted as BCG-5, BCL-5, BCF-5, BCG-10, BCL-10, and BCF-10. Three different types of soils with electrical conductivity (EC) to sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) ratios of 2.45:13.7, 9.45:22, and 11.56:40 were used for experimentation. The application of BCG-10 led to significant improvements in rice biomass, chlorophyll content, and overall growth. It was observed that applying BCG-10 to soils increased the membrane stability index by 75% in EC:SAR (2.45:13.7), 97% in EC:SAR (9.45:22), and 40% in EC:SAR (11.56:40) compared to respective control treatments. After BCG-10 was applied, the hydrogen peroxide in leaves dropped by 29%, 23%, and 21% in EC:SAR (2.45:13.7), EC:SAR (9.45:22), and EC:SAR (11.56:40) soils, relative to their controls, respectively. The application of BCG-10 resulted in glycine betaine increases of 60, 119, and 165% in EC: SAR (2.45:13.7), EC: SAR (9.45:22), and EC: SAR (11.56:40) soils. EC: SAR (2.45:13.7), EC: SAR (9.45:22), and EC: SAR (11.56:40) soils all had 70, 109, and 130% more ascorbic acid in BCG-10 applied treatment, respectively. The results of this experiment show that BCG-10 increased the growth and physiological traits of rice plants were exposed to different levels of salt stress. This was achieved by lowering hydrogen peroxide levels, making plant cells more stable, and increasing non-enzymatic activity. [Display omitted] • Biochar with gypsum improved the rice physiological parameters under salinity conditions. • Biochar with gypsum enhanced plant cell progression cycle. • Biochar with lime, and farm manure shows a relatively minimal response than gypsum. • The biochemical analyses revealed reduced oxidative stress in rice plants by applying biochar and gypsum. • The findings offer promising avenues for optimizing crop performance in salt-affected soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by central cognitive dysfunction, memory loss, and intellectual decline poses a major public health problem affecting millions of people around the globe. Despite several clinically approved drugs and development of anti-Alzheimer's heterocyclic structural leads, the treatment of AD requires safer hybrid therapeutics with characteristic structural and biochemical properties. In this endeavor, we herein report a microwave-assisted synthesis of a library of quinoline thiosemicarbazones endowed with a piperidine moiety, achieved via the condensation of 6/8-methyl-2-(piperidin-1-yl)quinoline-3-carbaldehydes and (un)substituted thiosemicarbazides. The target N-heterocyclic products were isolated in excellent yields. The structures of all the synthesized compounds were fully established using readily available spectroscopic techniques (FTIR, 1H- and 13C-NMR). Anti-Alzheimer potential of the synthesized heterocyclic compounds was evaluated using acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes. The in vitro biochemical assay results revealed several compounds as potent inhibitors of both enzymes. Among them, five compounds exhibited IC50 values less than 20 μM. N-(3-chlorophenyl)-2-((8-methyl-2-(piperidin-1-yl)quinolin-3-yl)methylene)hydrazine carbothioamide emerged as the most potent dual inhibitor of AChE and BChE with IC50 values of 9.68 and 11.59 μM, respectively. Various informative structure–activity relationship (SAR) analyses were also concluded indicating the critical role of substitution pattern on the inhibitory efficacy of the tested derivatives. In vitro results were further validated through molecular docking analysis where interactive behavior of the potent inhibitors within the active pocket of enzymes was established. Quinoline thiosemicarbazones were also tested for their cytotoxicity using MTT assay against HepG2 cells. Among the 26 novel compounds, there were five cytotoxical and 18 showed proliferative properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weeds are common ancestors of modern crops. They are critical source of genes for resistance to diseases, pests and stresses such as drought and extreme environmental conditions. The wild relatives led to improve resistance to wheat curl mite, late blight in potato and to grassy stunt disease in rice. Agricultural pathogens are infecting economically important cash crops and weeds as well. Malvastrum coromandelianum is highly invasive weed specie of family Malvaceae. It is distributed all over the world in all climatic condition of tropical, subtropical and temperate region. The Malvaceae family is economically important as cotton (Gossipium hirsutem) belongs to it. M. coromandelianum has ethnobotanical importance and is extensively applied in the treatment of different diseases in south Punjab of Pakistan. It has been observed that there is a specific disease that affects the leaves of M. coromandelianum. In this study, we investigated the disease-causing agents (viruses and bacteria) at molecular level. Molecular investigation includes DNA isolation of unknown pathogens, verification through agarose gel electrophoresis, for identification of bacterial pathogens, 16s RNA primers were applied, and for viral pathogen using specific primers and RCA (rolling circle amplification) product as template. PCR was carried out for the amplification of full-length genomes. Manifestation of 1.4 kb bands showed the presence of the alpha and beta satellite of begomoviruse. Two types of begomoviruses, Malvestrum yellow vain younnan virus (MaYVYV) and Malvastrum yellow vain virus (MaYVV) was confirmed in this weed. The intermediate host Bemisia tabaci is the most common for the begomovirus transmission in crops and weeds. Intercrops and trap-crops techniques decrease the rate of whitefly population. Cultural methods, use of chemicals and biocontrol are useful practices to eliminate whitefly from field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in implantable technology, such as high-density recordings, wireless transmission of signals to a prosthetic hand, may pave the way for intramuscular electromyography (iEMG)-based myoelectric control in the future. This study aimed to investigate the real-time control performance of iEMG over time. A novel protocol was developed to quantify the robustness of the real-time performance parameters. Intramuscular wires were used to record EMG signals, which were kept inside the muscles for five consecutive days. Tests were performed on multiple days using Fitts' law. Throughput, completion rate, path efficiency and overshoot were evaluated as performance metrics using three train/test strategies. Each train/test scheme was categorized on the basis of data quantity and the time difference between training and testing data. An artificial neural network (ANN) classifier was trained and tested on (i) data from the same day (WDT), (ii) data collected from the previous day and tested on present-day (BDT) and (iii) trained on all previous days including the present day and tested on present-day (CDT). It was found that the completion rate (91.6 ± 3.6%) of CDT was significantly better (p < 0.01) than BDT (74.02 ± 5.8%) and WDT (88.16 ± 3.6%). For BDT, on average, the first session of each day was significantly better (p < 0.01) than the second and third sessions for completion rate (77.9 ± 14.0%) and path efficiency (88.9 ± 16.9%). Subjects demonstrated the ability to achieve targets successfully with wire electrodes. Results also suggest that time variations in the iEMG signal can be catered by concatenating the data over several days. This scheme can be helpful in attaining stable and robust performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of arable soils and its subsequent accumulation in food is one of the global issues which needs urgent attention. Field experiments were conducted to explore the impacts of ten silicon (Si) rich amendments on Cd bioavailability and accumulation by maize and wheat irrigated with sewage effluents. Results depicted that applied amendments decreased the total Cd accumulation in shoots and grains of both crops with and the maximum decrease was observed in rice husk biochar (RHB) treatment. The RHB was able to significantly decrease the translocation factor, Cd harvest and health risk indexes. All amendments differentially affected the soil pH, EC, CaCl 2 -extractable Si, and decreased the AB-DTPA-extractable soil Cd. Overall, suitable Si rich amendments (like RHB and CSB etc.) can be employed to mitigate the health risks associated with dietary Cd in untreated sewage irrigated fields. However, the cost-benefit analysis such Si rich amendments should be considered before final recommendations. Image 1 • Various silicon (Si) rich amendments increased the maize and wheat growth and yield. • Si rich amendments increased the photosynthesis of both crops. • Rice husk biochar was the most effective in decreasing Cd in grains of both crops. • All amendments reduced the health risk caused by Cd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil reclamation through afforestation along with soil amendments is one of the most suitable practices to combat soil salinity while the use of biochar may have potential to ameliorate salt-affected soils. This study was designed to check effects of different biochars on the physico-chemical properties of soil and characteristics of three important agroforestry trees species: Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Vachellia nilotica and Dalbergia sissoo, in saline soils. Farmyard manure biochar (FYMB), sugarcane bagasse biochar (SCB), woodchips biochar (WCB) were applied (6% w/w) to check their effects on plants under saline conditions. Results revealed that FYMB was the best for promoting all growth and physiological parameters of three tree species while E. camaldulensis was the best suited species. Different types of biochars influenced the growth of agroforestry species differently as SCB showed better results for D. sissoo as compared to WCB but for V. nilotica and WCB was more effective than SCB. Trend of growth and other physiological attributes for E. camaldulensis and V. nilotica was FYMB > WCB > SCB > control whereas D. sissoo showed trend as FYMB > SCB > WCB > control. Biochar was helpful in improving physicochemical characteristics of saline soils by lowering values of soil EC and SAR but type of biochar has a differential effect on tree growth. Novelty statement: Biochar may be a potential source for the amelioration of salt affected soils while less is known about the effects of different types of biochars on the soil and eco-physiological response of important agroforestry trees species in saline soils. In this study, although all types of biochar ameliorated the soil conditions and enhanced the plant growth, but farmyard manure biochar was the most efficient treatment among three types of used biochars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in financial inclusions have contributed to economic growth and poverty alleviation, addressing environmental implications and implementing measures to mitigate climate change. Financial inclusions force advanced countries to progress their policies in a manner that does not hinder developing countries' current and future development. Consequently, this research examined the asymmetric effects of information and communication technology (ICT), financial inclusion, consumption of primary energy, employment to population ratio, and human development index on CO2 emissions in oil-producing countries (UAE, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, USA, and Canada). The study utilizes annual panel data spanning from 1990 to 2021. In addition, this study investigates the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) trend on the entire sample, taking into account the effects of energy consumption and population to investigate the impact of financial inclusion on environmental degradation. The study used quantile regression, FMOLS, and FE-OLS techniques. Preliminary outcomes revealed that the data did not follow a normal distribution, emphasizing the need to use quantile regression (QR). This technique can effectively detect outliers, data non-normality, and structural changes. The outcomes from the quantile regression analysis indicate that ICT consistently reduces CO2 emissions in all quantiles (ranging from the 1st to the 9th quantile). In the same way, financial inclusion, and employment to population ratio constrains CO2 emissions across each quantile. On the other side, primary energy consumption and Human development index were found to increase CO2 emissions in each quantile (1st to 9th). The findings of this research have implications for both the academic and policy domains. By unraveling the intricate interplay between financial inclusion, ICT, and environmental degradation in oil-producing nations, the study contributes to a nuanced understanding of sustainable development challenges. Ultimately, the research aims to guide the formulation of targeted policies that leverage financial inclusion and technology to foster environmentally responsible economic growth in oil-dependent economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pattern recognition of electromyography (EMG) signals can potentially improve the performance of myoelectric control for upper limb prostheses with respect to current clinical approaches based on direct control. However, the choice of features for classification is challenging and impacts long-term performance. Here, we propose the use of EMG raw signals as direct inputs to deep networks with intrinsic feature extraction capabilities recorded over multiple days. Seven able-bodied subjects performed six active motions (plus rest), and EMG signals were recorded for 15 consecutive days with two sessions per day using the MYO armband (MYB, a wearable EMG sensor). The classification was performed by a convolutional neural network (CNN) with raw bipolar EMG samples as the inputs, and the performance was compared with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and stacked sparse autoencoders with features (SSAE-f) and raw samples (SSAE-r) as inputs. CNN outperformed (lower classification error) both LDA and SSAE-r in the within-session, between sessions on same day, between the pair of days, and leave-out one-day evaluation (p < 0.001) analyses. However, no significant difference was found between CNN and SSAE-f. These results demonstrated that CNN significantly improved performance and increased robustness over time compared with standard LDA with associated handcrafted features. This data-driven features extraction approach may overcome the problem of the feature calibration and selection in myoelectric control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity has emerged as a major threat to food security and safety around the globe. The crop production on agricultural lands is squeezing due to aridity, climate change and low quality of irrigation water. The present study investigated the effect of biogenic silicon (Si) sources including wheat straw biochar (BC-ws), cotton stick biochar (BC-cs), rice husk feedstock (RH-fs), and sugarcane bagasse (SB), on the growth of two consecutive maize (Zea mays L.) crops in alkaline calcareous soil. The application of SB increased the photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and internal CO 2 concentration by 104, 100, 55, and 16% in maize 1 and 140, 136, 76, and 22% in maize 2 respectively. Maximum yield (g/pot) of cob, straw, and root were remained as 39.5, 110.7, and 23.6 while 39.4, 113.2, and 23.6 in maize 1 and 2 respectively with the application of SB. The concentration of phosphorus (P) in roots, shoots, and cobs was increased by 157, 173, and 78% for maize 1 while 96, 224, and 161% for maize 2 respectively over control by applying SB. The plant cationic ratios (Mg:Na, Ca:Na, K:Na) were maximum in the SB applied treatment in maize 1 and 2. The study concluded that the application of SB on the basis of soluble Si, as a biogenic source, remained the best in alleviating the salt stress and enhancing the growth of maize in rotation. The field trials will be more interesting to recommend the farmer scale. [Display omitted] • Different organic amendments enhanced the maize yield under salts stress • Presence of silicon (Si) in amendments improved the growth and yield of maize crops • Among biogenic Si sources, sugarcane bagasse (SB) efficiently reduced the toxic effects of salts • The SB increased the nutrient availability and maintained ionic homeostasis in plants [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on conceptualizing the phenomenon of organizations that are having relatively more interest in ethical behavior of leaders than ever before. Since few decades, their importance has grown due to increased level of unethical behavior on leaders' parts and overstated responsibility drawn on their shoulders. Current research takes into account the leadership behavior of Government educational institutions heads in terms of creation of ethical climate in the institutions. For empirical testing of framework, data from 300 participants including principals, vice-principals, headmasters, deputy-headmasters working in (107) government educational institutions were taken through purposive sampling methodology. Various tests like descriptive statistics, regression correlational and factor analysis along with cross tabulation were executed through computer software like AMOS and SPSS. The results depicted that leadership behavior of ethical leaders was directed towards creation of ethical climate in the educational institutions. Results indicated a meaningful and positive effect of ethical leadership on Caring, Rules, Law and Codes, Independence ethical climate types but no significant influence on Instrumental type ethical climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cadmium contamination of soil is an alarming issue worldwide and among various mitigation strategies, nanotechnology mediated management of Cd contamination has become a well-accepted approach. The Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles (CeO 2 -NPs) are widely being explored for their novel works in Agro-Industry and Environment, including stress mitigation in crops. Very little work is reported regarding role of CeO 2 -NPs in management of Cd contamination in cereal crops like wheat. Present work was planned to check efficacy of CeO 2 -NPs in Cd stress mitigation of wheat under alkaline calcareous soil conditions. In this experiment, 4 sets of Cd contamination (Uncontaminated control-UCC, 10, 20, and 30 mg Cd per kg soil) and 5 sets of CeO 2 -NPs NPs (0, 200, 400, 600, and 1000 mg NP per kg soil) were applied in pots following completely randomized design (CRD) and wheat crop was grown. The growth, physiology, yield and Cd and Ce accumulation by wheat root, shoot and grain was monitored. The maximum Cd spiking level (30 mg kg−1) was found to be most toxic for plant growth. The results showed that the nanoparticles were overall beneficial for wheat growth and maximum level (1000 mg kg−1) being the most significant one under all Cd spiking sets. In Cd-30 sets, 1000 mg kg−1 NPs application resulted in decreased soil bioavailable Cd concentration (49.63% decrease compared to 30 mg kg−1 Cd spiked sets termed as Cd-30 Control), decreased Cd accumulation in all three tissues: root (58.36% decrease), shoot (52.30% decrease) and grain (55.56% decrease) while increased root dry weight (62.14%), shoot dry weight (89.32%), total grain yield (80.08%) and improved plant physiology with respect to Cd-30 control. Nanoparticles application substantially increased wheat root, shoot and grain Ce concentrations as well. The further prospects of these nanoparticles in relation to various biotic and abiotic stresses are advised to be explored. [Display omitted] • CeO 2 -NPs have novel applications in Cd stress mitigation. • CeO 2 -NPs decreased bioavailable Cd in alkaline soil. • CeO 2 -NPs enhanced wheat tissue Ce concentration. • CeO 2 -NPs decreased wheat tissue Cd concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between Bemisia tabaci mitotypes and cotton leaf curl outbreaks in Pakistan was investigated using the mitochondria cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI) as a molecular marker. The 3′-651 base fragment has been used to resolve B. tabaci phylogenies. However, the 5′-618 base fragment was nearly unexplored. Phylogenetic analysis for 829 whiteflies from 11 districts in two provinces of Pakistan, indicated all haplotypes grouped on the Asia II major clade, with Asia II-1 mitotype predominating, at 84%, compared to Asia II-5 and II-7, at ~16%, combined. The 3′- and 5′-fragment tree topologies were similar, while the concatenated topology was unique in some respects. Comparisons of segregating sites within the 3′- and 5′-loci, at third codon positions, 71 and 47, and of transitions to transversions (Ti/Tv) ratio of 2.93 and 5.9, respectively, showed the 3′-locus was most informative, while nucleotide diversity (π) was highest for the 5′-end, indicating both fragments contributed to concatenated tree structure. The extent of haplotype diversity, measured by Tajima's D, R 2, and Fu's F analyses, revealed significant demographic expansion for Asia II-1 and II-7 mitotypes. The bottleneck that preceded the expansions was evident in the temporal changes in mtCOI polymorphisms beginning in ~1990s, a timeframe known to have coincided with the adoption of a high-yield whitefly-susceptible cultivar in 1988, followed by pesticide overuse. These two cooperating phenomena appear to have exerted selection on the cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD)-whitefly complex, resulting in the emergence of a resistance-breaking begomovirus as the polyphagous Asia II-1 mitotype underwent a genetic expansion that led to 'a perfect storm'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic metal released into the environment through anthropogenic activities. Phytoremediation is a green technology used for the stabilization or remediation of Cd-contaminated soils. Brassica crop species can produce high biomass under a range of climatic and growing conditions, allowing for considerable uptake and accumulation of Cd, depending on species. These crop species can tolerate Cd stress via different mechanisms, including the stimulation of the antioxidant defense system, chelation, compartmentation of Cd into metabolically inactive parts, and accumulation of total amino-acids and osmoprotectants. A higher Cd-stress level, however, overcomes the defense system and may cause oxidative stress in Brassica species due to overproduction of reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation. Therefore, numerous approaches have been followed to decrease Cd toxicity in Brassica species, including selection of Cd-tolerant cultivars, the use of inorganic and organic amendments, exogenous application of soil organisms, and employment of plant-growth regulators. Furthermore, the coupling of genetic engineering with cropping may also help to alleviate Cd toxicity in Brassica species. However, several field studies demonstrated contrasting results. This review suggests that the combination of Cd-tolerant Brassica cultivars and the application of soil amendments, along with proper agricultural practices, may be the most efficient means of the soil Cd phytoattenuation. Breeding and selection of Cd-tolerant species, as well as species with higher biomass production, might be needed in the future when aiming to use Brassica species for phytoremediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity and drought are among the major abiotic stresses, leading to decreased crop productivity. Fungi are notorious for their detrimental effects on crop growth and development. In light of these circumstances, the primary objective of this project is to assemble a collection of endophytic fungi to develop new organic bio-stimulants that can effectively combat salinity and drought. To achieve this goal, diverse soil types, including cultivated, desert, and salt marshes, were sampled (five samples each) from different habitats and locations in the southern part of Sinai, the Saint Katherine Protectorate (SKP) is part of the upper Sinai massif, spanning specific coordinates (33°550 to 34°300 E and 28°300 to 28°350 N). Additionally, 80 samples of the predominant medicinal plant species from ten localities in the SKP were collected. The results of survey showed that the highest abundance of endophytic fungi was observed in Artemisia judaica L. and Alkanna orientalis (L.) Boiss., with both species exhibiting 61.1 % endophytic fungi. Five isolates of fungi labeled as SAF41, SAF46, SAF51, SAF57, and SAF63, were assessed for their tolerance to salinity stress by exposing them to different NaCl concentrations. Isolate SAF63 had the most substantial negative and significant correlation with salinity stress (R2=0.9565; p<0.001), followed by SAF51 (R2=0.9432; p<0.001) and SAF41 (R2=0.9351; p<0.001). The results indicate that different fungi isolates exhibited distinct responses to varying salinity levels and drought stress, as measured by their growth in different NaCl concentrations. Isolate SAF63 demonstrated the most significant negative correlation with salinity stress, followed by SAF51 and SAF41. These findings suggest that specific endophytic fungi isolates exhibit enhanced tolerance to both salinity and drought stress, underscoring their promising potential in mitigating metabolic and physiological damage in date palm plants, ultimately leading to increased growth and yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous cropping causes soil degradation and decreases crop yield in the karst region of southwestern China. However, the relationship between continuous cropping systems and soil hydraulic and physicochemical properties remains incompletely elucidated. In this study, we performed a comparative investigation on the soil physicochemical properties and soil-water-characteristic-curve-derived parameters from sites subjected to 3, 5, or 7 years of continuous cropping (CC3, CC5, and CC7) and cropping rotation (CC0). Soil organic matter content, clay content, and pH were significantly greater in soils under CC0 and short-term cropping (CC3) than in soils under long-term cropping (CC5 and CC7). This finding illustrated that continuous cropping reduced soil organic matter content, clay content, and pH. Across all continuous cropping durations, soil water holding capacity at 40~60 cm was greater than the 20~40 cm and 0~20 cm layers. The significantly greater soil water characteristics (except saturated moisture) in CC0 and CC3 soils than in CC5 or CC7 soils at all soil depths demonstrated that soil water characteristics deteriorated with the prolongation of cropping duration. The same soil water characteristics were positively correlated with soil organic matter content, clay content, and pH. These correlations, when viewed within the context of continuous cropping, can inform the development of more sustainable cropping systems in similar karst regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]