Search

BackgroundPregnancy outcomes of perinatally human immunodeficiency virus-infected women (PHIV) are poorly defined.MethodsWe compared preterm delivery and birth weight (BW) outcomes (low BW [LBW],

Globally more than two billion people suffer from micronutrient malnutrition (also known as “hidden hunger”). Further, the pregnant women and children in developing nations are mainly affected by micronutrient deficiencies. One of the most important factors is food insecurity which can be mitigated by improving the nutritional values through biofortification using selective breeding and genetic enhancement techniques. Chickpea is the second most important legume with numerous economic and nutraceutical properties. Therefore, chickpea production needs to be increased from the current level. However, various kind of biotic and abiotic stresses hamper global chickpea production. The emerging popular targets for biofortification in agronomic crops include targeting cytokinin dehydrogenase (CKX). The CKXs play essential roles in both physiological and developmental processes and directly impact several agronomic parameters i.e., growth, development, and yield. Manipulation of CKX genes using genome editing tools in several crop plants reveal that CKXs are involved in regulation yield, shoot and root growth, and minerals nutrition. Therefore, CKXs have become popular targets for yield improvement, their overexpression and mutants can be directly correlated with the increased yield and tolerance to various stresses. Here, we provide detailed information on the different roles of CKX genes in chickpea. In the end, we discuss the utilization of genome editing tool clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) to engineer CKX genes that can facilitate trait improvement. Overall, recent advancements in CKX and their role in plant growth, stresses and nutrient accumulation are highlighted, which could be used for chickpea improvement.

Abstract We explore a new realisation of the galactic scale dynamics via gravitational lensing phenomenon in power-law f(R) gravity theory of the type $$f(R)\propto R^{1+\delta }$$ f ( R ) ∝ R 1 + δ with $$\delta<

Lead-free ferroelectric materials are essential for environment-friendly solid-state cooling technology. In this respect, the electrocaloric effect of lead-free Ba0.8−xSr0.2SmxTiO3 (x = 0.01–0.05) ceramics has been investigated. The Rietveld refinement reveals that all the ceramics exhibit tetragonal symmetry and the tetragonality decreases for x > 0.03, which is the major reason behind the decrease in both isothermal entropy change and adiabatic temperature change. The degree of diffuseness parameter is enhanced by doping of Sm3+, which confirms the formation of polar nanoregion and the enhancement of the electrocaloric effect parameter by adding extra entropy. The relaxor behavior of the prepared samples is also confirmed by estimating the degree of deviation parameter (Δ T m = 77 K ) from the 1 ε r vs. T curve. So, the temperature stability of the prepared ceramics is improved in a broad temperature window. The highest isothermal entropy change (Δ S) , adiabatic temperature change (Δ T) , and electrocaloric strength ( Δ T Δ E ) are found to be 1.230 Jkg−1 K−1, 0.862 K, and 0.028 73 K cm/kV at 316 K, respectively, for Ba0.77Sr0.2Sm0.03TiO3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unremitting decline in crop productivity and nutrient recovery are resulted due to dearth of need based fertilizer recommendation over blanket application apart from nitrogen pollution in several means. An advance nutrient management tactic, GreenSeeker (GS) has developed and used in many field crops following the principle of four "R" (right source, right amount at right time, and place) nutrients stewardship technologies. But no studies have been conducted for evaluation of GS in mustard for improving productivity, profitability and nutrient use efficiency (NUE) while minimizing environmental risks. With this objective, a study was planned to conduct an experiment in rabi season of 2021–22 and 2022–23 to assess optical sensor based nitrogen management in mustard over blanket recommendation. The experiment was comprised of ten N treatments including control in randomized block design in triplicates. Research findings indicated that application of GreenSeeker based N significantly improved all growth traits and yield parameters in Brassica juncea L. Per cent enhancement in seed yield, net monetary returns and benefit-cost ratio was higher as 19.3 and 64.5%, 125.1 & 36.2% and 58.8 & 24.4%, respectively under GS based multi split N application over RDF and control. Further, real time N management with GS acquired higher crop production efficiency (CPE) (19.9 kg/day) with lesser cost/kg production (Rs 15.7/kg). Split application of N using GS increased oil yield by 79.9 and 26% over control and recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) with maximum oil content (42.3%), and increases soil organic carbon (SOC) content by 16.1% from its initial value. Moreover, GS crop sensor could be the probable solution to minimize the crop nitrogen requirement by 15–20% with a yield enhancement of about 18.7% over RDF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we have explored the analytical solution for the time-fractional wave equation through the utilization of the double Shehu transform. The time-fractional wave equation holds significant importance, being prevalent in scenarios involving electromagnetic wave propagation, vibrating strings, and other related areas. Employing the proposed technique, we successfully obtained the exact solution. In addition, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the presented method. It is worth mentioning that the proposed method is capable of reducing the volume of the computational work as compared to the classical methods while still maintaining the high accuracy of the numerical result; the size reduction amounts to an improvement of the performance of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel quadruple band-notched spatial diversity/MIMO antenna for super wideband (SWB) application is investigated. The proposed antenna comprises two identical tapered semicircular radiators with two microstrip feedlines and a common slotted ground plane (CSGP), contributing a wide impedance bandwidth from 1.88–30 GHz. Further, a wiggly-line-decoupling-structure (WLDS) is introduced among the radiating ports to maximize the average isolation, more than 24 dB. The first band-notched functionality at 2.4 GHz is produced by etching a meandering slot on the CSGP, while the remaining three notch bands at 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 GHz are obtained by implanting open-ended-semicircular (OES), complementary-split-ringresonator (CSRR), and elliptical-split-ring-resonator (ESRR) slots in each radiating patch. The designed and fabricated results for the two and four elements are analyzed, which exhibit wideband characteristics, stable radiation pattern, higher efficiency (above 85%), and reasonably high peak gain within the working frequency, excluding the quadruple notched bands. Moreover, other essential parameters such as ECC, DG, CCL, and TARC have also been analyzed, showing the antenna’s usefulness for radar imaging, cognitive radio, military, and long-range RF applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]