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Developing applications for the by-products obtained from waste processing is vital for resource recovery. The synthesis of ZnCl2-activated biochar with high electrocatalytic activity was carried out by the microwave-assisted pyrolysis of pineapple peel and subsequent chemical activation process. Activated biochar is employed in the electrochemical sensing of nitrite by drop casting in a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The activated biochar exhibited a stacked carbon sheet, 254 m2 g−1 Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area, 0.076 cm3 g−1 pore volume, 189.53 m2 g−1 micropore area and oxygen-containing functional groups. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of the modified GCE showed a reduced charge transfer resistance of 61%. This is crucial to determine the electrochemical properties of biochar. The sensor showed a significant current response and an excellent limit of detection of 0.97 µmol L−1. The modified-activated biochar electrochemical sensor demonstrated high selectivity, reproducibility (RSD=2.4%), and stability (RSD=2.6%). Graphical abstract

Panicle abortion is a severe physiological defect and causes a reduction in grain yield.In this study, we aim to provide the characterization and functional analysis of a mutant apa1331 (apical panicle abortion1331).The isolated mutant from an EMS-mutagenized population was subjected to SSR analysis and Mutmap assay for candidate gene mapping. We performed phenotypic analysis, anthers cross-sections morphology, wax and cutin profiling, biochemical assays and phylogenetic analysis for characterization and evaluation of apa1331. We used CRISPR/Cas9 disruption for functional validation of its candidate gene. Furthermore, comparative RNA-seq and relative expression analysis were performed to get further insights into mechanistic role of the candidate gene.The anthers from the apical spikelets of apa1331 were degenerated, pollen-less and showed defects in cuticle formation. Transverse sections of apa1331 anthers showed defects in post-meiotic microspore development at stage 8-9. Gas Chromatography showed a significant reduction of wax and cutin in anthers of apa1331 compared to Wildtype (WT). Quantification of HOur study reports the novel role of SUBSrP1 in anther cuticle biosynthesis by ROS-mediated programmed cell death in rice.

Introduction Phytic acid (PA) is an important antinutrient agent present in cereal grains which reduces the bioavailability of iron and zinc in human body, causing malnutrition. Inositol pentakisphosphate 2- kinase 1 (IPK1) gene has been reported to be an important gene for PA biosynthesis. Objective A recent genome editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 has been successfully applied to develop biofortified rice by disrupting IPK1 gene, however, it remained a challenge in wheat. The aim of this study was to biofortify wheat using CRISPR/Cas9. Methodology In this study, we isolated 3 TaIPK1 homeologs in wheat designated as TaIPK1.A, TaIPK1.B and TaIPK1.D and found that the expression abundance of TaIPK1.A was stronger in early stages of grain filling. Using CRISPR/Cas9, we have disrupted TaIPK1.A gene in cv. Borlaug-2016 with two guide RNAs targeting the 1st and 2nd exons. Results We got several genome-edited lines in the T0 generation at frequencies of 12.7% and 10.8%. Sequencing analysis revealed deletion of 1–23 nucleotides and even an addition of 1 nucleotide in various lines. Analysis of the genome-edited lines revealed a significant decrease in the PA content and an increase in iron and zinc accumulation in grains compared with control plants. Conclusion Our study demonstrates the potential application of CRISPR/Cas9 technique for the rapid generation of biofortified wheat cultivars.

Annually, the thermal coal industries produce billion tons of fly-ash (FA) as a waste by-product. Which has been proficiently used for the manufacture of FA based geopolymer concrete (FGC). To accelerate the usage of FA in building industry, an innovative machine learning techniques namely gene expression programming (GEP) and multi expression programming (MEP) are employed for forecasting the compressive strength of FGC. The comprehensive database is constructed comprising of 311 compressive strength results. The obtained equations relate the compressive strength of FGC with eight most effective parameters i.e., curing regime (T), time for curing (t) in hours, age of samples (A) in days, percentage of total aggregate by volume (% Ag), molarity of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution (M), silica (SiO2) solids percentage in sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) solution (%S), superplasticizer (%P) and extra water (%EW) as percent FA. The accurateness and predictive capacity of both GEP and MEP model is assessed via statistical checks, external validation criteria suggested by different researcher and then compared with linear regression (LR) and non-linear regression (NLR) models. In comparison with MEP equation, the GEP equation has lesser statistical error and higher correlation coefficient. Also, the GEP equation is short and it would be easy to use in the field. So, the GEP model is further utilized for sensitivity and parametric study. This research will increase the re-usage of hazardous FA in the development of green concrete that would leads to environmental safety and monetarist reliefs.

Graphene is a highly sought-after material for a wide range of applications, particularly in areas such as energy harvesting and storage, electronics, electrochemical sensors, biomedical, composites, and coatings. The synthesis of high-quality graphene is a precondition for its real-time application. However, conventional synthesis methods have certain drawbacks including laborious procedures and structural defects in graphene nanosheets. Plasma-based synthesis techniques such as plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and atmospheric pressure microwave plasma are high-tech synthesis practices that can produce graphene without any solvents in a few seconds. This article reviews these state-of-the-art techniques emphasizing mainly their process parameters for the synthesis of high-grade graphene, which is defect-free, and comprises mono to few layers, great carrier mobility, and high purity. The applications of as-synthesized graphene in various fields are also provided. Moreover, the potential breakthroughs and the prospect of these techniques are also discussed in this work.

Leaf morphology influences photosynthesis, transpiration, and ultimately crop yield. However, the molecular mechanism of leaf development is still not fully understood. Here, we identified and characterized the narrow leaf21 (nal21) mutant in rice (Oryza sativa), showing a significant reduction in leaf width, leaf length and plant height, and increased tiller number. Microscopic observation revealed defects in the vascular system and reduced epidermal cell size and number in the nal21 leaf blade. Map-based cloning revealed that NAL21 encodes a ribosomal small subunit protein RPS3A. Ribosome-targeting antibiotics resistance assay and ribosome profiling showed a significant reduction in the free 40S ribosome subunit in the nal21 mutant. The nal21 mutant showed aberrant auxin responses in which multiple auxin response factors (ARFs) harboring upstream open-reading frames (uORFs) in their 5′-untranslated region were repressed at the translational level. The WUSCHEL-related homeobox 3A (OsWOX3A) gene, a key transcription factor involved in leaf blade lateral outgrowth, is also under the translational regulation by RPS3A. Transformation with modified OsARF11, OsARF16, and OsWOX3A genomic DNA (gDNA) lacking uORFs rescued the narrow leaf phenotype of nal21 to a better extent than transformation with their native gDNA, implying that RPS3A could regulate translation of ARFs and WOX3A through uORFs. Our results demonstrate that proper translational regulation of key factors involved in leaf development is essential to maintain normal leaf morphology.

To identify the bacterial agent responsible for the surge of cases of acute diarrhoeal disease in Karachi, Pakistan, and assess the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the isolates.Observational study.Department of Microbiology, Indus HospitalHealth Network, Karachi, Pakistan, from 1st March to 31st May 2022.Vibrio cholerae (V. Cholerae) isolates from stool samples received in the laboratory in the months of March, April, and May were identified and antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Serology was performed to identify the serotype causing a surge in cases of acute watery diarrhoea.A total of three-hundred and seventy-eight stool samples were received during the study period, out of which seventy-eight were positive for V. cholerae serogroup O1 serotype Ogawa. The isolate tested 100% sensitive for Ciprofloxacin, Tetracycline, Doxycycline, and Azithromycin, while 74% resistance was observed in Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole and 25% resistance in Ampicillin.V. cholerae serogroup O1 serotype Ogawa was the causative agent responsible for cholera outbreak in Karachi during the early summer of 2022. Ciprofloxacin, Tetracycline, Doxycycline, and Azithromycin are appropriate antimicrobials for treatment; whereas resistance to Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole, and Ampicillin was higher.Vibrio cholerae, Outbreak, Acute diarrhoeal disease.

The international development agenda was catalyzed into a higher gear during 2015, primarily through the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which cover a broad range of interlinked development issues. The overall development objectives of poverty eradication, universal health, universal education, removing hunger, and achieving gender equality squarely intersect with worldwide protection of water as a resource and its universal provision as a service. This chapter explores how water truly fits within this emerging international development agenda. Discussions revolve around the various water-related targets in the SDG framework and how human, institutional, and financial resources can be mobilized to achieve these targets. A number of emerging ethical dilemmas related to the scope of the targets, addressing complexity of targets and equitable mobilization of financial resources, are discussed. The chapter offers some insights into what the future might hold if the SDG framework is implemented in an imperfect way.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the potential of gene expression programming (GEP) in anticipating the compressive strength of circular CFRP confined concrete columns. A new GEP model has been developed based on a credible and extensive database of 828 data points to date. Numerous analyses were carried out to evaluate and validate the presented model by comparing them with those presented previously by different researchers along with external validation comparison. In comparison to other artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and the adaptive neuro-fuzzy interface system (ANFIS), only GEP has the capability and robustness to provide output in the form of a simple mathematical relationship that is easy to use. The developed GEP model is also compared with linear and nonlinear regression models to evaluate the performance. Afterwards, a detailed parametric and sensitivity analysis confirms the generalized nature of the newly established model. Sensitivity analysis results indicate the performance of the model by evaluating the relative contribution of explanatory variables involved in development. Moreover, the Taylor diagram is also established to visualize how the proposed model outperformed other existing models in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and being closer to the target. Lastly, the criteria of external validation were also fulfilled by the GEP model much better than other conventional models. These findings show that the presented model effectively forecasts the confined strength of circular concrete columns significantly better than the previously established conventional regression-based models.

Traditional object detection answers two questions; “what” (what the object is?) and “where” (where the object is?). “what” part of the object detection can be fine grained further i-e. “what type”, “what shape” and “what material” etc. This results in shifting of object detection task to object description paradigm. Describing object provides additional detail that enables us to understand the characteristics and attributes of the object (“plastic boat” not just boat, “glass bottle” not just bottle). This additional information can implicitly be used to gain insight about unseen objects (e.g. unknown object is “metallic”, “has wheels”), which is not possible in traditional object detection. In this paper, we present a new approach to simultaneously detect objects and infer their attributes, we call it Detectand- Describe (DaD) framework. DaD is a deep learning-based approach that extends object detection to object attribute prediction as well. We train our model on aPascal train set and evaluate our approach on aPascal test set. We achieve 97.0% in Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) for object attributes prediction on aPascal test set. We also show qualitative results for object attribute prediction on unseen objects, which demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach for describing unknown objects.

Landslides are one form of geohazard that is crucial for risk assessment and mitigation. This study proposes machine learning methods to identify landslides using data collected from Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. We applied classification techniques including Random Forest, Decision Tree, Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), light gradient boosting machine (LGBM), neural network (NN), 1D-CNN (convolutional neural network one dimensional), XGBoost, and Catboost. Our dataset consists of 12 different factors and data of 1213 sites to predict a landslide. Initially, we trained models individually and compared their performances to find a model with the highest accuracy. In the end, multiple performance measures are used for the evaluation of applied models. From the results, we achieved the highest test accuracy of 84% using NN and boosting methods, with more than 80% accuracy. Our proposed system can be effectively used to predict landslides for other sensitive regions with comparable environmental conditions.

Graphene nanostructures exhibit a wide range of remarkable properties suitable for many applications, including those in the field of biomedical engineering. In this work, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition was utilized at different applied RF power for the fabrication of vertical graphene nanowalls on silicon and quartz substrates from an inherently volatile carbon precursor without the use of any catalyst. AFM confirmed the presence of very sharp exposed graphene edges, with associated high surface roughness. The hydrophobicity of the material increased with the power of deposition, reaching the water contact angle of 123 ˚ for 500 W. Confocal scanning laser microscopy demonstrated that the viability of gram-negative Escherichia coli and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus cells were 33% and 37% when incubated on graphene samples, respectively, compared to controls (quartz) that showed the viability of 82% and 84%, respectively. SEM verified significant morphological damage to bacterial cell walls by the sharp edges of graphene walls, with cells appearing abnormal and deformed. The presented data clearly contributed to the current understanding of the mechanical-bactericidal mechanism of vertically oriented graphene nanowalls upon direct contact with microorganisms.

Optimum soil water availability is vital for maximum yield production in rice which is challenged by increasing spells of drought. The reproductive stage drought is among the main limiting factors leading to the drastic reduction in grain yield. The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular and morphophysiological responses of pre-anthesis stage drought stress in green super rice. The study assessed the performance of 26 rice lines under irrigated and drought conditions. Irrigated treatment was allowed to grow normally, while drought stress was imposed for 30 days at the pre-anthesis stage. Three important physiological traits including pollen fertility percentage (PFP), cell membrane stability (CMS), and normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) were recorded at anthesis stage during the last week of drought stress. Agronomic traits of economic importance including grain yield were recorded at maturity stage. The analysis of variance demonstrated significant variation among the genotypes for most of the studied traits. Correlation and principal component analyses demonstrated highly significant associations of particular agronomic traits with grain yield, and genetic diversity among genotypes, respectively. Our study demonstrated a higher drought tolerance potential of GSR lines compared with local cultivars, mainly by higher pollen viability, plant biomass, CMS, and harvest index under drought. In addition, the molecular basis of drought tolerance in GSR lines was related to upregulation of certain drought-responsive genes including OsSADRI, OsDSM1, OsDT11, but not the DREB genes. Our study identified novel drought-responsive genes (LOC_Os11g36190, LOC_Os12g04500, LOC_Os12g26290, and LOC_Os02g11960) that could be further characterized using reverse genetics to be utilized in molecular breeding for drought tolerance.

Novel vaccination strategies are crucial to efficiently control tuberculosis, as proposed by the World Health Organization under its flagship program "End TB Strategy." However, the emergence of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), particularly in those coinfected with HIV-AIDS, constitutes a major impediment to achieving this goal. We report here a novel vaccination strategy that involves synthesizing a formulation of an immunodominant peptide derived from the Acr1 protein of Mtb. This nanoformulation in addition displayed on the surface a toll-like receptor-2 ligand to offer to target dendritic cells (DCs). Our results showed an efficient uptake of such a concoction by DCs in a predominantly toll-like receptor-2-dependent pathway. These DCs produced elevated levels of nitric oxide, proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-6, interleukin-12, and tumor necrosis factor-α, and upregulated the surface expression of major histocompatibility complex class II molecules as well as costimulatory molecules such as CD80 and CD86. Animals injected with such a vaccine mounted a significantly higher response of effector and memory Th1 cells and Th17 cells. Furthermore, we noticed a reduction in the bacterial load in the lungs of animals challenged with aerosolized live Mtb. Therefore, our findings indicated that the described vaccine triggered protective anti-Mtb immunity to control the tuberculosis infection.

To avoid time-consuming, costly, and laborious experimental tests that require skilled personnel, an effort has been made to formulate the depth of wear of fly-ash concrete using a comparative study of machine learning techniques, namely random forest regression (RFR) and gene expression programming (GEP). A widespread database comprising 216 experimental records was constructed from available research. The database includes depth of wear as a response parameter and nine different explanatory variables, i.e., cement content, fly ash, water content, fine and coarse aggregate, plasticizer, air-entraining agent, age of concrete, and time of testing. The performance of the models was judged via statistical metrics. The GEP model gives better performance with R2 and ρ equals 0.9667 and 0.0501 respectively and meet with the external validation criterion suggested in the previous literature. The k-fold cross-validation also verifies the accurateness of the model by evaluating R2, RSE, MAE, and RMSE. The sensitivity analysis of GEP equation indicated that the time of testing is the influential parameter. The results of this research can help the designers, practitioners, and researchers to quickly estimate the depth of wear of fly-ash concrete thus shortening its ecological susceptibilities that push to sustainable and faster construction from the viewpoint of environmentally friendly waste management.

Optimum soil water availability is vital for maximum yield production in rice which is challenged by increasing spells of drought. The reproductive stage drought is among the main limiting factors leading to the drastic reduction in grain yield. Objective of this study was to investigate the molecular and morpho-physiological responses of pre-anthesis stage drought stress in green super rice. The study assessed the performance of 26 rice lines under irrigated and drought conditions. Irrigated treatment was allowed to grow normally while drought stress was imposed for 30 days at pre-anthesis stage. Three important physiological traits including pollen fertility percentage (PFP), cell membrane stability (CMS) and normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) were recorded at anthesis stage during the last week of drought stress. Agronomic traits of economic importance including grain yield were recorded at maturity stage. The analysis of variance demonstrated significant variation among the genotypes for most of the studied traits. Correlation and principal component analyses demonstrated highly significant associations of particular agronomic traits with grain yield, and genetic diversity among genotypes, respectively. Our study demonstrated a higher drought tolerance potential of GSR lines compared to local cultivars, mainly by higher pollen viability, plant biomass, CMS, and harvest index under drought. In addition, the molecular basis of drought tolerance in GSR lines was related to upregulation of certain drought responsive genes including OsSADRI, OsDSM1, and OsDT11. Our study identified novel drought tolerance related genes (OsDRG-1, OsDRG-2, OsDRG-3 and OsDRG-4) that could be further characterized using reverse genetics to be utilized in molecular breeding for drought tolerance.

This study provides the application of a machine learning-based algorithm approach names “Multi Expression Programming” (MEP) to forecast the compressive strength of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) confined concrete. The suggested computational Multiphysics model is based on previously reported experimental results. However, critical parameters comprise both the geometrical and mechanical properties, including the height and diameter of the specimen, the modulus of elasticity of CFRP, unconfined strength of concrete, and CFRP overall layer thickness. A detailed statistical analysis is done to evaluate the model performance. Then the validation of the soft computational model is made by drawing a comparison with experimental results and other external validation criteria. Moreover, the results and predictions of the presented soft computing model are verified by incorporating a parametric analysis, and the reliability of the model is compared with available models in the literature by an experimental versus theoretical comparison. Based on the findings, the valuation and performance of the proposed model is assessed with other strength models provided in the literature using the collated database. Thus the proposed model outperformed other existing models in term of accuracy and predictability. Both parametric and statistical analysis demonstrate that the proposed model is well trained to efficiently forecast strength of CFRP wrapped structural members. The presented study will promote its utilization in rehabilitation and retrofitting and contribute towards sustainable construction material.

The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most widespread viral infections of humans. HBV causes acute and chronic hepatitis. Chronic hepatitis leads to hepatocellular carcinoma, which is a significant cause of death. DNA-based immunization programs to control the spread of Hepatitis B in developing countries are costly and require special storage and transportation. The alternative way is to express Hepatitis B surface antigen (

Optimum growing temperature is necessary for maximum yield-potential in any crop. The global atmospheric temperature is changing more rapidly and irregularly every year. High temperature at the flowering/reproductive stage in rice causes partial to complete pollen sterility, resulting in significant reduction in grain yield. Green Super Rice (GSR) is an effort to develop an elite rice type that can withstand multiple environmental stresses and maintain yield in different agro-ecological zones. The current study was performed to assess the effect of heat stress on agronomic and physiological attributes of GSR at flowering stage. Twenty-two GSR lines and four local checks were evaluated under normal and heat-stress conditions for different agro-physiological parameters, including plant height (PH), tillers per plant (TPP), grain yield per plant (GY), straw yield per plant (SY), harvest index (HI), 1000-grain weight (GW), grain length (GL), cell membrane stability (CMS), normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI), and pollen fertility percentage (PFP). Genotypes showed high significant variations for all the studied parameters except NDVI. Association and principal component analysis (PCA) explained the genetic diversity of the genotypes, and relationship between the particular parameters and grain yield. We found that GY, along with other agronomic traits, such as TPP, SY, HI, and CMS, were greatly affected by heat stress in most of the genotypes, while PH, GW, GL, PFP, and NDVI were affected only in a few genotypes. Outperforming NGSR-16 and NGSR-18 in heat stress could be utilized as a parent for the development of heat-tolerant rice. Moreover, these findings will be helpful in the prevention and management of heat stress in rice.

Panicle degeneration is a severe physiological defect and causes reduction in grain yield. In this study, we characterized and presented the functional analysis of our previously reported mutant apa1331 (apical panicle abortion1331) that showed apical spikelet degeneration. The anthers from the apical spikelets of apa1331 were degenerated, pollen-less and showed lack of cuticle formation. Transverse sections showed normal meiosis till stage 5-6, however, defects in post-meiotic microspore development were found at stage 8-9 in apa1331. Measurement of wax and cutin analysis showed a significant reduction in anthers of apa1331 compared to Wildtype (WT). Quantification of H2O2 and MDA has indicated the excessive ROS (reactive oxygen species) in apa1331. Trypan blue staining, and TUNEL assay revealed cell death and excessive DNA fragmentation in apa1331. Map-based cloning and Mutmap analysis identified a candidate gene (LOC_Os04g40720) that is a SUBTILISIN-LIKE SERINE PROTEASE (OsSUBSrP1) which harbored an SNP (A>G) in apa1331. CRISPR-mediated knock-out lines of OsSUBSrP1 displayed spikelet degeneration comparable to apa1331. Global gene expression analysis revealed a significant downregulation of wax and cutin biosynthesis genes e.g., OsWDA1, OsMS2 and OsCER4 in apa1331. Our study reports the novel role of SUBSrP1 in ROS-mediated cell death in panicle development.Highlights1.OsSUBSrP1 plays an important role in maintaining ROS-mediated programmed cell death.2.OsSUBSrP1 is essential for apical spikelet development.3.OsSUBSrP1 regulates the expression of wax and cutin biosynthesis pathway genes.

Introduction Ankle-brachial pressure indices (ABIs) continue to form the basis of diagnostics for lower extremity arterial disease (LEAD). However, there remains a paucity of data to support its accuracy. This study aims to evaluate its diagnostic sensitivity and specificity using established arterial-imaging modalities as a benchmark. Methods In this retrospective study, a regional, prospectively maintained, vascular laboratory database was interrogated to identify referred patients with arterial disease who underwent concomitant assessment with ABI and lower limb arterial duplex ultrasound (DUS). Duplex acted as the reference standard. Those who had peripheral computed tomography angiogram (CTA) within 3 months of initial assessment were included in a subgroup analysis to correlate ABI with CTA. The primary end point was the sensitivity and specificity of ABI compared with DUS as the reference standard. Results Concomitant assessment was performed in 438 limbs (250 patients) over a 27-month period. The ABI was normal (0.9 to 1.4) in 196 limbs (44.9%) and abnormal in the remaining 241 limbs (55.1%). False-positive results occurred in 83 out of 241 limbs (34.4%), and false-negative results occurred in 54 limbs out of 196 (27.5%). True-positive results were 158 out of 241 limbs (65.6%), whereas true-negative results were 142 out of 196 limbs (72.4%). ABI using DUS as a benchmark identified a sensitivity for peripheral artery disease of 72.3% and a specificity of 69.3%. Concomitant CTA imaging was available in 200 limbs. The sensitivity and specificity of ABI correlated with CTA were 65.5 and 68.8%, respectively. Conclusion ABIs have a moderate predictive value in the diagnosis of LEAD. Normal range outcomes cannot be taken to infer the absence of LEAD and, as such, further arterial imaging in the form of DUS or angiography should be strongly considered in those with suspected underlying disease requiring intervention. Further noninvasive tests such as exercise studies or pulse volume waveforms should be considered, if diagnostic uncertainty exists, in those requiring nonoperative intervention and risk factor control.

Phytic acid (PA) is an important antinutrient agent present in cereal grains which reduces the bioavailability of iron and zinc in human body, causing malnutrition.A recent genome editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 has been successfully applied to develop biofortified rice by disruptingIn this study, we isolated 3We got several genome-edited lines in the TOur study demonstrates the potential application of CRISPR/Cas9 technique for the rapid generation of biofortified wheat cultivars.

The ultrafine fly ash (FA) is a hazardous material collected from coal productions, which has been proficiently employed for the manufacturing of geopolymer concrete (GPC). In this study, the three artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, namely, artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy interface (ANFIS), and gene expression programming (GEP) are used to establish a reliable and accurate model to estimate the compressive strength (f′c) of fly ash–based geopolymer concrete (FGPC). A database of 298 instances is developed from the peer-reviewed published work. The database consists of the ten most prominent explanatory variables and f′c of FGPC as a response parameter. The statistical error checks and criteria suggested in the literature are considered for the verification of the predictive strength of the models. The statistical measures considered in this study are MAE, RSE, RMSE, RRMSE, R, and performance index (ρ). These checks verify that the ANFIS predictive model gives an outstanding performance followed by GEP and ANN predictive models. In the validation stage, the coefficient of correlation (R) for ANFIS, GEP, and ANN model is 0.9783, 0.9643, and 0.9314, respectively. All three models also fulfill the external verification criterion suggested in the literature. Generally, the GEP predictive model is ideal as it delivers a simplistic and easy mathematical equation for future use. The k-fold cross-validation (CV) of the GEP model is also conducted, which verifies the robustness of the GEP predictive model. Furthermore, the parametric study is carried via proposed GEP expression. This confirms that the GEP model accurately covers the influence of all the explanatory variables used for the prediction of f′c of FGPC. Thus, the proposed GEP equation can be used in the preliminary design of FGPC.

Leaves are the primary food‐producing organs for a plant that carry out photosynthesis and contribute to biomass and grain yield. Leaf senescence is a developmentally regulated physiological process but early leaf senescence is known to negatively affect plant yield. The cuticle is an outer waxy protective layer on the leaf surface which protects plants from pathogens attack as well as dehydration. Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cuticle development and leaf senescence is still immature. The present study reports the role of the DEGENERATED PANICLE AND PARTIAL STERILITY 1 (DPS1) gene encoding a cystathionine β‐synthase (CBS) domain‐containing protein in cuticle development and leaf senescence in rice. The dps1 loss‐of‐function mutant showed leaf senescence phenotype with twisted leaves, significantly reduced chlorophyll content and degenerated chloroplasts characterized by a reduced number of starch granules and an abundance of osmiophilic bodies. Furthermore, dps1 leaves displayed defective cuticle development, reduced wax and cutin compounds, and lower relative water content as compared with wild type. Physiological assays showed significantly higher accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accompanied by enhanced DNA fragmentation in dps1 leaves, which could be associated with chloroplast degeneration and defective cuticle development. Transcriptome analysis revealed altered expression of several critical genes related to photosynthesis and wax/cutin pathway. This study revealed a crucial role of DPS1 in regulating leaf cuticle development and senescence by affecting the expression of several genes. Thus, a moderate expression of DPS1 is necessary for better plant growth and productivity.

For the production of geopolymer concrete (GPC), fly-ash (FA) like waste material has been effectively utilized by various researchers. In this paper, the soft computing techniques known as gene expression programming (GEP) are executed to deliver an empirical equation to estimate the compressive strength of GPC made by employing FA. To build a model, a consistent, extensive and reliable data base is compiled through a detailed review of the published research. The compiled data set is comprised of 298 experimental results. The utmost dominant parameters are counted as explanatory variables, in other words, the extra water added as percent FA (), the percentage of plasticizer (), the initial curing temperature (), the age of the specimen (), the curing duration (), the fine aggregate to total aggregate ratio (), the percentage of total aggregate by volume (), the percent SiO2 solids to water ratio () in sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) solution, the NaOH solution molarity (), the activator or alkali to FA ratio (), the sodium oxide (Na2O) to water ratio () for preparing Na2SiO3 solution, and the Na2SiO3 to NaOH ratio (). A GEP empirical equation is proposed to estimate the of GPC made with FA. The accuracy, generalization, and prediction capability of the proposed model was evaluated by performing parametric analysis, applying statistical checks, and then compared with non-linear and linear regression equations.

The Bacille Calmette-Guérin or BCG vaccine, the only vaccine available against Mycobacterium tuberculosis can induce a marked Th1 polarization of T-cells, characterized by the antigen-specific secretion of IFN-γ and enhanced antiviral response. A number of studies have supported the concept of protection by non-specific boosting of immunity by BCG and other microbes. BCG is a well-known example of a trained immunity inducer since it imparts ‘non-specific heterologous’ immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for the recent pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 continues to inflict an unabated surge in morbidity and mortality around the world. There is an urgent need to devise and develop alternate strategies to bolster host immunity against the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) and its continuously emerging variants. Several vaccines have been developed recently against COVID-19, but the data on their protective efficacy remains doubtful. Therefore, urgent strategies are required to enhance system immunity to adequately defend against newly emerging infections. The concept of trained immunity may play a cardinal role in protection against COVID-19. The ability of trained immunity-based vaccines is to promote heterologous immune responses beyond their specific antigens, which may notably help in defending against an emergency situation such as COVID-19 when the protective ability of vaccines is suspicious. A growing body of evidence points towards the beneficial non-specific boosting of immune responses by BCG or other microbes, which may protect against COVID-19. Clinical trials are underway to consider the efficacy of BCG vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 on healthcare workers and the elderly population. In this review, we will discuss the role of BCG in eliciting trained immunity and the possible limitations and challenges in controlling COVID-19 and future pandemics.

Rice (Oryza sativa) is an important staple food crop worldwide, especially in east and southeast Asia. About one-third of rice cultivated area is under saline soil, either natural saline soils or irrigation with brackish water. Salinity stress is among the devastating abiotic stresses that not only affect rice growth and crop productivity but also limit its cultivation area globally. Plants adopt multiple tolerance mechanisms at the morphological, physiological, and biochemical levels to tackle salinity stress. To identify these tolerance mechanisms, this study was carried out under both a controlled glass house as well as natural saline field conditions using 22 green super rice (GSR) lines along with two local varieties (“IRRI 6 and Kissan Basmati”). Several morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters along with stress-responsive genes were used as evaluation criteria under normal and salinity stress conditions. Correlation and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) suggested that shoot-related parameters and the salt susceptible index (SSI) can be used for the identification of salt-tolerant genotypes. Based on Agglomerative Hierarchical Cluster (AHC) analysis, two saline-tolerant (“S19 and S20”) and saline-susceptible (“S3 and S24”) lines were selected for further molecular evaluation. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed, and results showed that expression of 1-5-phosphoribosyl -5-5-phosphoribosyl amino methylidene amino imidazole-4-carboxamide isomerase, DNA repair protein recA, and peptide transporter PTR2 related genes were upregulated in salt-tolerant genotypes, suggesting their potential role in salinity tolerance. However, additional validation using reverse genetics approaches will further confirm their specific role in salt tolerance. Identified saline-tolerant lines in this study will be useful genetic resources for future salinity breeding programs.

Moderate leaf rolling is beneficial for leaf erectness and compact plant architecture. However, our understanding regarding the molecular mechanisms of leaf rolling is still limited. Here, we characterized a semi-dominant rice (Oryza sativa L.) mutant upward rolled leaf 1 (Url1) showing adaxially rolled leaves due to a decrease in the number and size of bulliform cells. Map-based cloning revealed that URL1 encodes the homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-Zip) IV family member RICE OUTERMOST CELL-SPECIFIC 8 (ROC8). A single-base substitution in one of the two conserved complementary motifs unique to the 3′-untranslated region of this family enhanced URL1 mRNA stability and abundance in the Url1 mutant. URL1 (UPWARD ROLLED LEAF1) contains an ethylene-responsive element binding factor-associated amphiphilic repression motif and functions as a transcriptional repressor via interaction with the TOPLESS co-repressor OsTPL2. Rather than homodimerizing, URL1 heterodimerizes with another HD-ZIP IV member ROC5. URL1 could bind directly to the promoter and suppress the expression of abaxially curled leaf 1 (ACL1), a positive regulator of bulliform cell development. Knockout of OsTPL2 or ROC5 or overexpression of ACL1 in the Url1 mutant partially suppressed the leaf-rolling phenotype. Our results reveal a regulatory network whereby a transcriptional repression complex composed of URL1, ROC5, and the transcriptional corepressor TPL2 suppresses the expression of the ACL1 gene, thus modulating bulliform cell development and leaf rolling in rice.

Shoot branching, a major component of shoot architecture, is regulated by multiple signals. Previous studies have indicated that sucrose may promote branching through suppressing the inhibitory effect of the hormone strigolactone (SL). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this effect are unknown.- Here we used molecular and genetic tools to identify the molecular targets underlying the antagonistic interaction between sucrose and SL.- We showed that sucrose antagonises the suppressive action of SL on tillering in rice and on the degradation of D53, a major target of SL signalling. Sucrose inhibits the expression of D3, the orthologue of the arabidopsis F-box protein MAX2 required for SL signalling. Over-expression of D3 prevents sucrose from inhibiting D53 degradation and enabled the SL inhibition of tillering under high sucrose. Sucrose also prevents SL-induced degradation of D14, the SL receptor involved in D53 degradation. Interestingly, D14 over-expression enhances D53 protein levels and sucrose-induced tillering.- Our results show that sucrose inhibits SL perception by targeting key components of SL signalling and, together with previous studies reporting the inhibition of SL synthesis by nitrate and phosphate, demonstrate the central role played by strigolactones in the regulation of plant architecture by nutrients.

Rice is an important cereal crop that serves as staple food for more than half of the world population. Abiotic stresses resulting from changing climatic conditions are continuously threating its yield and production. Genes in APETALA-2 (AP2) family encode transcriptional regulators implicated during regulation of developmental processes and abiotic stress responses but their identification and characterization in indica rice was still missing. In this context, twenty-six genes distributed among eleven chromosomes in Indica rice encoding AP2 transcription-factor subfamily were identified and their diverse haplotypes were studied. Phylogenetic analysis of OsAP2 TF family-members grouped them into three clades indicating conservation of clades among cereals. Segmental duplications were observed to be principal route of evolution, supporting the higher positive selection-pressure, which were estimated to be originated about 10.57 to 56.72 million years ago (MYA). Conserved domain analysis and intron-exon distribution pattern of identified OsAP2s revealed their exclusive distribution among the specific clades of the phylogenetic tree. Moreover, the members of osa-miR172 family were also identified potentially targeting four OsAP2 genes. The real-time quantitative expression profiling of OsAP2s under heat stress conditions in contrasting indica rice genotypes revealed the differential expression pattern of OsAP2s (6 genes up-regulated and 4 genes down-regulated) in stress- and genotype-dependent manner. These findings unveiled the evolutionary pathways of AP2-TF in rice, and can help the functional characterization under developmental and stress responses.

Direct seeding (DS) of rice gained much attention due to labor scarcity and unavailability of water. However, reduced emergence and poor seedling establishment are the main problems of DS which causes significant yield losses. Herein, DS-associated seedling traits of three major rice groups, i.e., Indica (Ind), Japonica (Jap), and aus-type (Aus), were evaluated by using an improved mesocotyl elongation assay. The associations among different traits at the seedling and maturity stage were also studied. Significant variation was observed among the cultivars of different rice groups. The Aus group cultivars showed higher mean values for coleoptile (C, 3.85 cm), mesocotyl (MC, 4.17 cm), shoot length (SL, 13.64 cm), panicle length (PL, 23.44 cm), tillers number (T, 15.95), culm length (CL, 105.29 cm), and plant height (PH, 128.73 cm), while the Indica and Japonica groups showed higher mean values of grain length (GL, 8.69 mm), grain length/width ratio (GL/WR, 3.07), and grain width (GW, 3.31 mm), with 1000 grain weight (TGWt, 25.53 g), respectively. Pairwise correlation analysis showed that MC, C, and SL were positively correlated among themselves and with PL, CL, and PH. Moreover, based on principal component analysis (PCA), C, MC, SL, CL, and PH were identified as the major discriminative factors in the rice cultivars. This study describes the development of desired DS rice variety with long MC and semidwarf in height and suggests that Aus group cultivars can be used as the donor parents of favorable DS-associated traits in rice breeding programs.

Rice, a staple cereal crop in many parts of the world, has been confronted with multiple environmental stresses including high temperature, negatively impacts the booting as well as anthesis growth stages. The situation is further complicated by the changing climatic conditions, resulting in gradual escalation of temperature as well as changing the rainfall pattern and frequency, thus raising a concern of food security worldwide. The situation can be combat by developing rice varieties with excellent genetics with improved morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms, together can minimize the adverse effects of heat stress. Here, several strategies (encompassing genetic and genomic, and mechanisms involved) for mitigating the impact of high temperature on rice have been discussed. Finally, the utilization of genomic knowledge in augmenting the conventional breeding approaches have been comprehensively elaborated to develop heat tolerant germplasm.