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Nano-biochar considers a versatile and valuable sorbent to enhance plant productivity by improving soil environment and emerged as a novel solution for environmental remediation and sustainable agriculture in modern era. In this study, roles of foliar applied nanobiochar colloidal solution (NBS) on salt stressed tomato plants were investigated. For this purpose, NBS was applied (0%, 1% 3% and 5%) on two groups of plants (control 0 mM and salt stress 60 mM). Tween-20 was used as a surfactant to prolong NBS effective stay on plant leaf surface. The results showed that 3% NBS application effectively improved the plant height, plant biomass, fruit count and fruit weight under non-stressed and stressed plants. In addition, 3% NBS application further increased the plant pigments such as chlorophyll by 72% and 53%, carotenoids by 64% and 40%, leaf relative water content by 4.1 fold and 1.07 fold under both conditions, respectively. NBS application stabilized the plasma membrane via reducing electrolyte leakage by 30% as well as reduced the lipid peroxidation rates by 46% and 29% under non-stressed and stressed plants, respectively. 3% NBS application also significantly enhanced the plants primary and secondary metabolites, as well as activities of antioxidant enzymes compared to control plants. Overall, NBS foliar application significantly improved all growth and yield indices, pigments, primary and secondary metabolites, leaf water content, antioxidant enzyme activities as well as reduced electrolyte leakage and lipid peroxidation rates in tomato to combat stress conditions. In future, studies on nano biochar interactions with soil microbiota, surface modifications, long-term environmental impacts, reduced methane gas emissions, and biocompatibility could provide insights into optimizing its use in sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on nanoparticles (NPs) is gaining great attention in modulating abiotic stress tolerance and improving crop productivity. Therefore, this investigation was carried out to evaluate the effects of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) on growth and biochemical characteristics in two maize hybrids (YH-5427 and FH-1046) grown under normal conditions or subjected to saline stress. A pot-culture experiment was carried out in the Botanical Research Area of "the University of Lahore", Lahore, Pakistan, in a completely randomized design. At two phenological stages, both maize hybrids were irrigated with the same amount of distilled water or NaCl solution (EC = 5 dS m−1) and subjected or not to foliar treatment with a suspension of CuO-NPs. The salt stress significantly reduced the photosynthetic parameters (photosynthetic rate, transpiration, stomatal conductance), while the sodium content in the shoot and root increased. The foliar spray with CuO-NPs improved the growth and photosynthetic attributes, along with the N, P, K, Ca, and Mg content in the roots and shoots. However, the maize hybrid YH-5427 responded better than the other hybrid to the saline stress when sprayed with CuO-NPs. Overall, the findings of the current investigation demonstrated that CuO-NPs can help to reduce the adverse effects of salinity stress on maize plants by improving growth and physio-biochemical attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have demonstrated the crucial role of Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) in the production of secondary metabolites, phytohormones and antioxidants in plants. However, their functional characterization specifically under alkaline stress remains elusive. CYP82C4 was the key gene screened from a family of wild soybean CYPs in our previous studies. The aim of this present study was to clone the Glycine soja GsCYP82C4 gene and characterize its functions in Arabidopsis and Glycine max. The results showed that the GsCYP82C4 gene displayed a high expression in different plant tissues at mature stages compared to young stages. Further, higher temporal expression of the GsCYP82C4 gene was noted at 6, 12 and 24 h time points after alkali treatment in leaves compared to roots. In addition, overexpression of GsCYP82C4 improved alkaline stress tolerance in Arabidopsis via increased root lengths and fresh biomass and strengthened the antioxidant defense system via a reduction in superoxide radicals in transgenic lines compared to wild type (WT) and atcyp82c4 mutants. Further, the expression levels of stress-related marker genes were up-regulated in GsCYP82C4 OX lines under alkali stress. The functional analysis of GsCYP82C4 overexpression in soybean displayed better hairy root growth, increased fresh weight, higher antioxidant enzyme activities and reduced lipid peroxidation rates in OX lines compared to the soybean WT (K599) line. In total, our study displayed positive roles of GsCYP82C4 overexpression in both Arabidopsis and Glycine max to alleviate alkaline stress via altering expression abundance of stress responsive genes, stronger roots, higher antioxidant enzyme activities as well as reduced rates of lipid peroxidation and superoxide radicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "Artificial intelligence" (AI) refers to machines that can perform certain tasks like humans. Machine learning (ML) is an AI subdomain that "learns" intrinsic statistical patterns in large data to make predictions on previously unseen data. The current paper aims to give the reader a basic under-standing of AI and its use to improve clinical practice and also to study the knowledge, awareness of private practitioners about AI. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional survey-based study on full-time dental practitioners who were not involved in any academics. Pre-validated questionnaires were used and collected data by visiting their clinics. Results: Out of 124 participants, the majority were males 104 (83.9 %), and only 20(16.1%) were females. Only 34 (27.4%) agreed they were aware of AI, while 68(54.8%) were not. Results showed 58% of the participants were not using AI in their clinics and only 8.1% were using more than 4 applications of AI in their clinics. The majority (75.8%) got awareness about AI through social media. Conclusion: Private practitioners are not well educated about the use of AI in dentistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The main objective of this research is to study the attitudes of University students toward mentally ill individuals with reference to the effect of demographic variables, like gender and age. Place of Study: Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan Sample and Method: The sample consisted of 150 university students (75 males / 75 females), age ranged between 18 years to 30+ years, enrolled in different disciplines and obtaining different levels of education (BS, BSc, MS, MSc, PhD). A cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to the random sample of students in various universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The questionnaire contained three sections: general information, demographics and Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI). Results: The response rate was 100%. The results revealed that female university students have more positive attitudes toward mentally ill individuals (M= 103.70, SD= 9.40) than male university students (M= 88.69, SD= 8.21). Young-aged university students have more positive attitude (M= 99.81, SD= 10.37) than middle-aged (M= 98.66, SD= 12.24) and old-aged university students (M=89.80, SD= 8.57) toward mentally ill individuals. Conclusion: It was concluded that there was non-significant difference between the attitudes of university students who have interacted with mentally ill individuals and those who have not interacted with mentally ill individuals, females had more positive attitudes than males, and young-aged university students have more positive attitudes than middle-aged and old-aged university students towards mentally ill individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To ascertain the prevalence of hyperthermia and different categories of hypothermia among the cases of probable and culture-proven neonatal sepsis, and to evaluate association of mortality rate with axillary temperature at admission., Methods: This analytical study was conducted at Fazl-e-Omar Hospital, Rabwah, Pakistan, from January to December 2013, and comprised all cases of culture-proven and probable neonatal sepsis admitted in the neonatal intensive-care unit of the hospital. Using World Health Organisation classification, cases were categorised according to their temperature on admission, and outcome was recorded. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis., Results: Of the 374 patients, 47(12.6%) died. Besides, 217(58%) cases had normal temperature, 49(13.1%) had hyperthermia, 50(13.4%) had mild hypothermia, and 58(15.5%) had moderate hypothermia. Mortality rate was high among cases with mild and moderate hypothermia i.e. 15(32.6%) and 15(33%), compared with the mortality rate in cases with normal temperature i.e. 12(6.1%). Mortality rate among cases with hyperthermia was 5(11.6%). In early onset cases, 33(16.2%) had mild and 45(22.1%) had moderate hypothermia. In late onset cases, 37(21.8%) had hyperthermia., Conclusions: Most cases with neonatal sepsis had normal temperature. Mild and moderate hypothermia were found to be associated with higher mortality rate.