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Soil stability, yield decline and higher carbon decomposition are the key issues in intensive agriculture. Long-term integrated nutrient management (INM) influences carbon (C) dynamics and maintains the soil aggregate stability, which driven by the type of cropping system and climatic zone. Therefore, the specific effects of rice-wheat-jute cropping system on soil aggregate distribution, C-stability, and trade-off between C-storage and decomposition rate were studied of a long-term INM trial in the sub-tropical zone. We investigated the effect of four long-term nutrient management practices that include, control, N (nitrogen (N) and no phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)), NPK (N, P and K) and INM (N, P, K + farmyard manure (FYM)). Results showed that the addition of FYM with NPK improved macro-aggregates by 71%, and associated C-pools by 30%. The INM enhanced C-storage (20%), however, the decomposition rate was also higher (28%) over control at 35 °C at field capacity. A trade-off exists between the soil-aggregate stabilization and C-decomposition rate. The proportion of C-storage was higher than decomposition in INM. Further, the C-sequestration varied (0.17 to 0.26 t ha−1 y−1) under different treatments and were found highest in INM, indicating long-term soil stability and yield sustainability in the rice-wheat-jute system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present survey aimed to explore the fish fauna diversity, abundance and conservation status in the Jamuna River, a tributary of the River Brahmaputra, Bangladesh. During the study period from November 2018 to October 2019, a total of 55 species of fish were recorded, belonging to 6 orders, 20 families and 41 genera from the five selected stations near the river. Orders Cypriniformes and Siluriformes were recorded as the dominant group in the fish fauna community that comprises 34.55% and 30.91% of total species, respectively. Various types of Small Indigenous Species (SIS) and a total of 26 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red-listed species were recorded. Population indices, viz. Shannon–Weaver index (H), Simpson’s dominance index (D), Simpson’s index of diversity (1-D), Margalef’s index (d) and Evenness (E), were applied to demonstrate the species diversity, richness and evenness of fish, and their overall values were 1.28-1.48, 0.26-0.33, 0.67-0.74, 1.22-1.46 and 0.77-0.86, respectively. To sustain the prospect of fisheries biodiversity in the Jamuna River of Bangladesh, different fish management and conservation plan of action specifically establishing and maintaining fish sanctuaries, banning indiscriminate fishing and the use of destructive fishing gears for the protection of the breeding and nursery grounds of fish should be taken into consideration with utmost priority.

We have described the hyperreflective ganglion cell layer band (HGCB) in a series of cases of gyrate atrophy. Clinical fundus examination and multimodal imaging which included optical coherence tomography (OCT) was done in all cases. Four patients (one male, three female) were studied. In all four cases, a hyperreflective band was noted in the ganglion cell layer. In three patients, the band was continuous, and in one patient, the band was patchy. To conclude, HGCB is a novel OCT sign in gyrate atrophy and can be valuable in prognostication of disease. [ Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina 2024;55:598-602.] .

Purpose: To report occurrence of central serous chorioretinopathy(CSCR) which mimicked recurrence of ODP maculopathy in a young adult in whom surgery for the same had been done., Methods: Clinical fundus examination and multimodal imaging which included optical coherence tomography(OCT) and fundus autofluorescence(FFA) was done., Results: Patient had undergone surgery for ODP maculopathy. At 1 year follow up, there was recurrence of subretinal fluid at the macula. Fundus fluorescein angiography was done and the presence of ink blot pattern leakage clinched the diagnosis of CSCR, ruling out ODP maculopathy., Conclusion: CSCR is a great masquerade and correct diagnosis is very important to prevent permanent visual impairment. Subretinal fluid(SRF) associated with ODP must be examined carefully to rule out other pathologies like CSCR. Serous macular detachment after surgery for ODP maculopathy has been done, does not necessarily mean recurrence of the maculopathy. Other pathologies like CSCR should be ruled out. This case highlights the importance of multimodal imaging along with clinical signs in correct diagnosis and treatment of conditions with overlapping features like CSCR and ODP maculopathy., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interests: None

The chemical synthesis of guanosine nucleosides generates both the N9 and N7 regioisomers, which require careful separation to obtain the desired N9 isomer. To preferentially obtain the N9 isomer, a bulky diphenylcarbamoyl (DPC) group can be installed at the O6 position of guanine. However, installation of the DPC group presents a challenging task due to low solubility of the N -acetyl protected guanine. Here we report the usage of commercially available 2-amino-6-chloro purine as a new strategy that offers a more efficient route to the synthesis of the guanine phosphoramidite of threose nucleic acid (TNA).

Multicolor (MC) imaging is an innovative pseudocolor fundus imaging modality based on confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy. It effectively scans the retina at different depths to create a composite image. The green reflectance image depicts the middle retinal while blue reflectance image provides images of the retinal surface. The infrared reflectance image depicts retinal structures at the level of outer retina and choroid. We systematically analyze published case reports, case series, and original articles on MC imaging where it has helped in discovering additional clinical features of retinal diseases not readily apparent on conventional color fundus photography and played a role in monitoring the response to treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To describe the subretinal hyporeflective globule in cases of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC)., Methods: A retrospective analysis of consecutive cases of CSC presenting to a tertiary eye care center in eastern India was conducted. Subretinal hyporeflective globules were identified as small globular lesions below the external limiting membrane/ellipsoid zone, but above the RPE layer. They had a hyperreflective border with a hyporeflective core and a clear posterior tail of hyper-transmission., Results: The present study analyzed 137 eyes of 137 patients. Eighty (58.4%) eyes had acute disease at presentation, 48 (35%) eyes had chronic disease, and eight (5.8%) eyes had resolved CSC. Subretinal hyporeflective globules were seen in 27 (21.8%) eyes, of which choroidal caverns were seen in seven (5.1%) eyes. Twenty-five eyes with chronic CSC and only two eyes with acute CSC had subretinal hyporeflective globules. Three eyes with resolved CSC had subretinal hyporeflective globules., Conclusion: We describe subretinal hyporeflective globule as a novel optical coherence tomography (OCT) finding in cases of CSC and describe its clinical correlates., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.)

The extraction of bast fibres such as jute from plant stems involves the removal of pectin, hemicellulose, and other noncellulosic materials through a complex microbial community. A consortium of pectinolytic bacterial strains has been developed and commercialized to reduce the retting time and enhance fibre quality. However, there are currently no studies on jute that describe the structural changes and sequential microbial colonization and pectin loss that occur during microbe-assisted water retting. This study investigated the stages of microbial colonization, microbial interactions, and sequential degradation of pectic substances from jute bark under controlled and conventional water retting. The primary occurrence during water retting of bast fibres is the bacterially induced sequential breakdown of pectin surrounding the fibre bundles. The study also revealed that the pectin content of the jute stem significantly decreases during the retting process. These findings provide a strong foundation for improving microbial strains for improved pectinolysis with immense industrial significance, leading to a sustainable jute-based "green" economy., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Agriculture in the 21st century faces grave challenges to meet the unprecedented food demand of the burgeoning population as well as reduce the ecological footprint for achieving sustainable development goals. The extensive use of harsh synthetic surfactants in pesticides and the agrochemical industry has substantial adverse impacts on the soil and environment due to their toxic and non-biodegradable nature. Biosurfactants derived from plant, animal, and microbial sources can be an eco-friendly alternative to chemical surfactants. Microbes producing biosurfactants play a noteworthy role in biofilm formation, plant pathogen elimination, biodegradation, bioremediation, improving nutrient bioavailability, and can thrive well under stressful environments. Microbial biosurfactants are well suited for heavy metal and organic contaminants remediation in agricultural soil due to their low toxicity, high activity at fluctuating temperatures, biodegradability, and stability over a wide array of environmental conditions. This green technology will improve the agricultural soil quality by increasing the soil flushing efficiency, mobilization, and solubilization of nutrients by forming metal-biosurfactant complexes, and through the dissemination of complex nutrients. Such characteristics help it to play a pivotal role in environmental sustainability in the foreseeable future, which is required to increase the viability of biosurfactants for extensive commercial uses, making them accessible, affordable, and economically sustainable., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Chemical strategies that augment genetic polymers with amino acid residues that are overrepresented on the paratope surface of an antibody offer a promising route for enhancing the binding properties of nucleic acid aptamers. Here, we describe the chemical synthesis of α-l-threofuranosyl cytidine nucleoside triphosphate (tCTP) carrying either a benzyl or phenylpropyl side chain at the pyrimidine C-5 position. Polymerase recognition studies indicate that both substrates are readily incorporated into a full-length α-l-threofuranosyl nucleic acid (TNA) product by extension of a DNA primer-template duplex with an engineered TNA polymerase. Similar primer extension reactions performed using nucleoside triphosphate mixtures containing both C-5 modified tCTP and C-5 modified tUTP substrates enable the production of doubly modified TNA strands for a panel of 20 chemotype combinations. Kinetic measurements reveal faster on-rates ( k on ) and tighter binding affinity constants ( K d ) for engineered versions of TNA aptamers carrying chemotypes at both pyrimidine positions as compared to their singly modified counterparts. These findings expand the chemical space of evolvable non-natural genetic polymers by offering a path for improving the quality of biologically stable TNA aptamers for future clinical applications., Competing Interests: JC is a consultant for X, The Moonshot Factory., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Purpose: To analyze the imaging characteristics and the clinical course of patients showing concomitant paracentral acute middle maculopathy (PAMM) and acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMN) post-blunt trauma., Methods: PAMM and AMN lesions post-blunt trauma diagnosed on enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) were recruited for the study., Results: : Thirteen eyes of 13 individuals with a history of blunt trauma were included in the study, of whom 11 (85%) were males. Mean age of the patients was 33.62 (range 16-67) years. Mean visual acuity at presentation and the last visit was 1.67 log of minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) and 0.82 logMAR, respectively. Mean interval between trauma and imaging was 5.08 (range 1-15) days. All patients had unilateral involvement, with the right eye being involved in 10 patients (77%). All patients had concomitant PAMM and AMN lesions., Conclusion: : Presence of coincident PAMM and AMN suggests a common pathophysiologic etiology, but the description of concomitant PAMM and AMN in the setting of blunt trauma to eye is hitherto unreported. Identifying AMN in a setting of PAMM requires meticulous examination of the OCT and OCTA images. It can be a cause of suboptimal visual recovery in such eyes., Competing Interests: None

Reduction of inherent structural recalcitrance and improved saccharification efficiency are two important facets to enhance fermentable sugar yield for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. This study optimized alkaline pretreatment and saccharification conditions employing response surface methodology to improve saccharification yield of jute (Corchorus olitorius cv. JROB-2) biomass. The biomass is composed of cellulose (66.6 %), lignin (19.4 %) and hemicellulose (13.1 %). NaOH concentration exhibited significant effect on delignification during pretreatment. The highest delignification (80.42 %) was obtained by pretreatment with 2.47 % NaOH at 55.8 °C for 5.9 h removing 79.8 % lignin and 34.2 % hemicellulose from biomass, thereby increasing cell wall porosity and allowing better accessibility to saccharification enzyme. During saccharification optimization, significant effect was observed for biomass loading, enzyme concentration and temperature. Optimized saccharification condition yielded maximum saccharification (76.48 %) when hydrolysis was performed at 6.9 % biomass loading with enzyme concentration of 49.52 FPU/g substrate at 51.05 °C for 74.46 h., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Laxmi Sharma reports financial support was provided by Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology & Biotechnology, Government of West Bengal, India. Laxmi Sharma reports financial support was provided by ICAR-National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The design of a high-performance Dielectrically Modulated Field Effect Transistor (DMFET) with smaller device dimension (channel length ≤ 100nm) has recently drawn significant research attention for point-of-care (POC) diagenesis applications. Driven by this paradigm, a Hetero-Gate Metal Dielectrically Modulated Junction-Less Nanotube Field Effect Transistor (DM-JLNFET) architecture is introduced and systematically investigated for label-free electrochemical biosensing application with the help of extensive numerical device simulations. The DM-JLNFET is carefully designed to exploit the advantages of superior gate control over channel electrostatics and electron injection component as well as strong immunity towards the short channel effects that lead to a notably high sensing performance compared to its conventional counterparts. In this context, the underlying physics of the transduction mechanism is analyzed in detail based on the device electrostatics and the carrier transport mechanism. The sensing performance of the proposed biosensor is quantified in terms of the drain current and threshold voltage sensitivities, which represents the relative modulations in these parameters with biomolecule conjugation. Typically, the DM-JLNFET exhibits a drain current and threshold voltage sensitivities as high as 1×10 12 and 0.70, respectively, for biomolecule dielectric constant above 2. Furthermore, the sensing performance demonstrates strong immunities towards non-uniform cavity occupancy. Finally, extensive comparative performance analysis with Dielectrically Modulated Nanowire Field Effect Transistor (DM-NWFET) is performed. The results exhibit that the proposed DM-JLNFET can offer more than 100% and eight orders of magnitude improvements in the threshold voltage and drain current sensitivities, respectively, for a range of small biomolecule dielectric constants.

In the face of a long-running pandemic, understanding the drivers of ongoing SARS-CoV-2 transmission is crucial for the rational management of COVID-19 disease burden. Keeping schools open has emerged as a vital societal imperative during the pandemic, but in-school transmission of SARS-CoV-2 can contribute to further prolonging the pandemic. In this context, the role of schools in driving SARS-CoV-2 transmission acquires critical importance. Here we model in-school transmission from first principles to investigate the effectiveness of layered mitigation strategies on limiting in-school spread. We examined the effect of masks and air quality (ventilation, filtration and ionizers) on steady-state viral load in classrooms, as well as on the number of particles inhaled by an uninfected person. The effectiveness of these measures in limiting viral transmission was assessed for variants with different levels of mean viral load (ancestral, Delta, Omicron). Our results suggest that a layered mitigation strategy can be used effectively to limit in-school transmission, with certain limitations. First, poorly designed strategies (insufficient ventilation, no masks, staying open under high levels of community transmission) will permit in-school spread even if some level of mitigation is present. Second, for viral variants that are sufficiently contagious, it may be difficult to construct any set of interventions capable of blocking transmission once an infected individual is present, underscoring the importance of other measures. Our findings provide practical recommendations; in particular, the use of a layered mitigation strategy that is designed to limit transmission, with other measures such as frequent surveillance testing and smaller class sizes (such as by offering remote schooling options to those who prefer it) as needed., Competing Interests: Authors AC and MS are employed by Fractal Therapeutics. Author RN is employed by Halozyme Therapeutics. Authors AC, MS, RN, DV, and DJ-M are shareholders in Fractal Therapeutics. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Van Egeren, Stoddard, Malakar, Ghosh, Acharya, Mainuddin, Majumdar, Luo, Nolan, Joseph-McCarthy, White, Hochberg, Basu and Chakravarty.)