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Abstract The distinctive characteristics of nanoparticles and their potential applications have been given considerable attention by scientists across different fields, particularly agriculture. However, there has been limited effort to assess the impact of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) in modulating physiological and biochemical processes in response to salt-induced stress. This study aimed to synthesize CuNPs biologically using Solenostemma argel extract and determine their effects on morphophysiological parameters and antioxidant defense system of barley (Hordeum vulgare) under salt stress. The biosynthesized CuNPs were characterized by (UV–vis spectroscopy with Surface Plasmon Resonance at 320 nm, the crystalline nature of the formed NPs was verified via XRD, the FTIR recorded the presence of the functional groups, while TEM was confirmed the shape (spherical) and the sizes (9 to 18 nm) of biosynthesized CuNPs. Seeds of barley plants were grown in plastic pots and exposed to different levels of salt (0, 100 and 200 mM NaCl). Our findings revealed that the supplementation of CuNPs (0, 25 and 50 mg/L) to salinized barley significantly mitigate the negative impacts of salt stress and enhanced the plant growth-related parameters. High salinity level enhanced the oxidative damage by raising the concentrations of osmolytes (soluble protein, soluble sugar, and proline), malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). In addition, increasing the activities of enzymatic antioxidants, total phenol, and flavonoids. Interestingly, exposing CuNPs on salt-stressed plants enhanced the plant-growth characteristics, photosynthetic pigments, and gas exchange parameters. Furthermore, CuNPs counteracted oxidative damage by lowering the accumulation of osmolytes, H2O2, MDA, total phenol, and flavonoids, while simultaneously enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes. In conclusion, the application of biosynthesized CuNPs presents a promising approach and sustainable strategy to enhance plant resistance to salinity stress, surpassing conventional methods in terms of environmental balance.

Background: Frontonasal dysplasia type-2(FND2), a rare phenotypically variable and heterogeneous developmental anomaly resulting from mutation of the ALX4 gene, is primarily characterized by malformation of the skull and facial skeleton. This study was designed to showcase a clinical, imaging, and genetic analysis of FND2 in a consanguineous family of Bangladeshi origin. Methodology: Clinical imaging and whole genome sequencing of mother, father and patient was done by using Nextera DNA flex library preparation kit (Illumina, USA) using Novaseq 6000 next generation sequencer to find out ALX4 mutation which causes FND2 in patient. Result: We report the clinical as well as molecular findings in an 8-year-old girl with FND2. The child presented with various characteristic features of skull and facial anomalies associated with FND 2 along with numerous other features many of which have not been described in previous literature. The parents also showed some key clinical, radiological, and genetic features of FND 2. The whole genome sequencing (WGS) revealed homozygosity for a 793C-T transition in the ALX4 gene, which resulted in premature termination at codon 265 (p.Arg265Ter). Both of her parents were heterozygous carriers of ALX4 mutation. Conclusions: This is the first report that associates clinical, imaging, and genomics analyses in a Bangladeshi patient for better understanding the disease FND2. These results will facilitate diagnosis and genetic counseling of the future FND2 patients.

Nanoparticles may serve as novel plant growth stimulators to improve plant growth as well as protect plants from abiotic stresses. In this study, biogenic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized using the aqueous extract of Fagonia bruguieri and characterized using UV-visible spectroscopy, Zeta potential, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The synthesized AgNPs were employed on Echinops macrochaetus as seeds priming, and plants grown in pots were exposed to salinity stress to assess the ameliorating effects based on various parameters. The growth parameters (shoot length) and biomass (shoot, root and leaves weight) decreased in E. macrochaetus exposed to salinity stress alone (40, 80 and 120 mmol/L NaCl) for 90 days. However, seed priming with a low concentration of AgNPs (40 µmol/L) improved the growth of the plant in terms of biomass, shoot length and chlorophyll content alone as well as ameliorated the toxic effect caused by salinity stress. The mitotic index measured by flowcytometry (FCM) indicated genotoxic effects in plants grown at high concentrations of NaCl (80 and 120 mmol/L) as well as plants obtained with 80 µmol/L AgNPs seed priming and exposed to 120 mmol/L NaCl. Thus, an optimum concentration of AgNPs could be used in E. macrochaetus for production of more biomass by modulating the chlorophyll content, proline and antioxidant enzyme activity.

Abstract Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID -19, is constantly evolving, requiring continuous genomic surveillance. In this study, we used whole-genome sequencing to investigate the genetic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh, with particular emphasis on identifying dominant variants and associated mutations. We used high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) to obtain DNA sequences from COVID-19 patient samples and compared these sequences to the Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 reference genome using the Global Initiative for Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID). Our phylogenetic and mutational analyzes revealed that the majority (88%) of the samples belonged to the pangolin lineage B.1.1.25, whereas the remaining 11% were assigned to the parental lineage B.1.1. Two main mutations, D614G and P681R, were identified in the spike protein sequences of the samples. The D614G mutation, which is the most common, decreases S1 domain flexibility, whereas the P681R mutation may increase the severity of viral infections by increasing the binding affinity between the spike protein and the ACE2 receptor. We employed molecular modeling techniques, including protein modeling, molecular docking, and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) geometry optimization, to build and validate three-dimensional models of the S_D614G-ACE2 and S_P681R-ACE2 complexes from the predominant strains. The description of the binding mode and intermolecular contacts of the referenced systems suggests that the P681R mutation may be associated with increased viral pathogenicity in Bangladeshi patients due to enhanced electrostatic interactions between the mutant spike protein and the human ACE2 receptor, underscoring the importance of continuous genomic surveillance in the fight against COVID -19. Finally, the binding profile of the S_D614G-ACE2 and S_P681R-ACE2 complexes offer valuable insights to deeply understand the binding site characteristics that could help to develop antiviral therapeutics that inhibit protein–protein interactions between SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and human ACE2 receptor.

This research investigates the psychological health of tourism industry’s workforce in the midst of COVID-19 in the context of Chinese Tourism Industry. We have employed stress theory for the predictive analysis and hypothesis crafting in terms of mediator (financial dissatisfaction) and moderators (quality of marital relationship and family income). Path analysis has been used to evaluate different relationships while adopting ABCX family stress model. The findings confirm that alongside the economic and livelihood impacts of the unemployment, the tourism industry’s workforce has also suffered from psychological externalities of the phenomenon, not only individually but also in terms of their relationships at different levels. It further elaborates the inculcation of resilience in the tourism workforce on part of the maintenance of stability and harmony in the original family. It implies that the head over heels job responsibilities and joblessness foster work-family conflict equally likely.

Poverty, widening income inequality, and environmental degradation are very critical challenges to sustainable development while in the light of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), these challenges have been addressed in numerous past empirical studies. However, increasing environmental degradation is a big constraint in the path of sustainable development, poverty alleviation, and controlling income inequality as well. Hence, in this study, we empirically investigate the theoretically ambiguous and complex relationship between poverty, income inequality, and ecological footprint (EFP) for 18 Asian developing countries over the period 2006–2017. Empirical results obtained from the Driscoll–Kraay (D–K) standard error approach confirmed that poverty headcount contributing to environmental degradation in terms of EFP. Further, widening income inequality has a detrimental and harmful effect on the environment in Asian developing countries. The findings of this study also confirm the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC-Hypothesis) for investigated countries under the D–K methodology. This study provides some important policy implications for policymakers in the light of SDGs and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the investigated region.

Abstract Biosynthesized nanoparticles have played vital role recently, as suggested to be alternative to physical and chemical methods. In this study, biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were carried out using leaf extracts of Phoenix dactylifera L. and Zinc nitrate. The effect of ZnO nanoparticles on biomass and biochemical parameters was investigated. Biosynthesized ZnO nanostructure was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–visible spectrophotometer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Which resulted in spherical shape with size ranging between 16 to 35 nm of Biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles and UV absorption beak at 370.5 nm with clear peaks of functional groups. The impact of different concentrations (0.0 mg/L, 80 mg/L and 160 mg/L) of biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles on biomass and bioactive compounds production of Juniperus procera in vitro was investigated. The results showed that, biosynthesized ZnO NPs (80 mg/L and 160 mg/L) concentrations were boosted the growth of J. Procera with significantly compared to non-treated plants in vitro. The highest concentration (160 mg/L) of ZnO NPs was enhanced the growth of plant at beginning period, one month later shoots became yellow and callus turned to be brownish. Moreover, the influence of ZnO NPs on phytochemical compounds in callus of Juniperus procera was examined using GC–MS analysis. The differences among treatments were recoded. Overall, zinc oxide nanoparticles substantially improved the growth of shoots and callus with increasing of biochemical parameters such as chlorophyll a, total phenolic and flavonoids contents, besides the total protein and, SOD, CAT and APX activity. ZnO NPs might be induced some phytochemical compounds as well as inhibit.

A cross-sectional survey was undertaken to understand the management patterns and post-COVID-19 complications among hospital and home-treated participants. Retrospective information was collected from four COVID-19 dedicated hospitals and four selected community settings. Using probability proportional sampling, 925 participants were selected. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis and the exact chi-square tests were utilized to analyze the association between the studied variables. A total of 659 participants responded (response rate 70.93%); 375 from hospitals and 284 from communities. About 80% of participants were mild cases, 75% were treated at home, and 65% of hospital-treated participants were referred after home treatment. Participants treated at home-to hospital and directly in the hospital had 1.64 and 3.38 times longer recovery time respectively than what home-based participants had. A significant increasing trend (p

Bioactive compounds of medicinal plants present as natural ingredients provide health benefits beyond the basic nutritional value of these products. However, the availability of bioactive compounds in the current natural sources is limited. Hence, the induction of bioactive compound production from medicinal plants through nanoparticles (NPs) might play a vital role in industrially important medicinal compounds. Therefore, this study aimed to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) biologically and to investigate their effect on phytochemical compound production from the callus of Juniperus procera. AgNPs were synthesized biologically using aqueous leaf extract of Phoenix dactylifera, which acted as a reducing and capping agent, and silver nitrate solution. The formation of AgNPs has been confirmed through different analytical techniques such as UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The impact of different concentrations (0.0, 5, 20, and 50 mg/L) of AgNPs on enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants of the callus of J. procera was investigated. The obtained results showed a significant effect of AgNPs on biomass accumulation and non-enzymatic antioxidants (phenol, tannin, and flavonoid content). Additionally, total protein content and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were increased in response to AgNPs. Furthermore, bioactive compounds like gallic acid, tannic acid, coumarin, hesperidin, rutin, quercetin, and ferruginol were chromatographically separated and quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with reference standards. These compounds were increased significantly in response to AgNPs treatments. We concluded that AgNPs could be a promising elicitor for improving the production of phytochemical compounds in medicinal plants. This work can serve asa good model for improving the production of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants in vitro. This molecular investigation should be done to understand better the metabolic mechanism leading to bioactive compound production scaling.

The implementation of nanotechnology in the field of plant tissue culture has demonstrated an interesting impact on in vitro plant growth and development. Furthermore, the plant tissue culture accompanying nanoparticles has been showed to be a reliable alternative for the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Herein, the effectiveness of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) on the growth of Delonix elata calli, as well as their phytochemical profiles, were investigated. Delonix elata seeds were collected and germinated, and then the plant species was determined based on the PCR product sequence of ITS1 and ITS4 primers. Afterward, the calli derived from Delonix elata seedlings were subjected to 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mg/L of ZnONPs. The ZnONPs were biologically synthesized using the Ricinus communis aqueous leaf extract, which acts as a capping and reducing agent, and zinc nitrate solution. The nanostructures of the biogenic ZnONPs were confirmed using different techniques like UV–visible spectroscopy (UV), zeta potential measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Adding 30 mg/L of ZnONPs to the MS media (containing 2.5 µM 2,4-D and 1 µM BAP) resulted in the highest callus fresh weight (5.65 g) compared to the control and other ZnONP treatments. Similarly, more phenolic accumulation (358.85 µg/g DW) and flavonoid (112.88 µg/g DW) contents were achieved at 30 mg/L. Furthermore, the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed significant increments in gallic acid, quercetin, hesperidin, and rutin in all treated ZnONP calli compared to the control. On the other hand, the gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis of the calli extracts revealed that nine phytochemical compounds were common among all extracts. Moreover, the most predominant compound found in calli treated with 20, 30, 40, and 50 mg/L of ZnONPs was bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, with percentage areas of 27.33, 38.68, 22.66, and 17.98%, respectively. The predominant compounds in the control and in calli treated with 10 mg/L of ZnONPs were octadecanoic acid, 2-propenyl ester and heptanoic acid. In conclusion, in this study, green ZnONPs exerted beneficial effects on Delonix elata calli and improved their production of bioactive compounds, especially at a dose of 30 mg/L.

This research tends to convey the relationship between crude oil price volatility and key macroeconomics indicators, i.e., gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate (IR), interest rate, and exchange rate. The study collected the time-series data (2000–2020) from the South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), and employed macroeconomic policy modeling tools (impulse response function and the prediction error variance decomposition technique) in the vector autorepression (VAR) setup. The outcome of the impulse response function explained considerable variance among macroeconomic indicators in response to crude oil price shocks. The macroeconomic indicators are extremely susceptible to minor fluctuations in oil prices causing a significant impact on the region's socioeconomic situation. The result of variance decomposition indicates that each country in the region reacts differently to crude oil price volatility which reflects their macroeconomics fundamentals, independent policy, sector structure, and country differences. The findings support change in public policies in a way to reduce their dependency on oil energy and encourage them toward renewal and green energy sources for better environmental results and sustainable development.

Abstract Background Juniperus procera Hoechst. ex Endl. is a medicinal tree in Saudi Arabia, primarily in the Enemas region, but it is locally threatened due to die-back disease and difficulties regarding seed reproduction (seed dormancy and underdeveloped embryonic anatomy, and germination rate

Abstract Objective The major objective of the study was to sequence the whole genome of four Bangladeshi individuals and identify variants that are known to be associated with functional changes or disease states. We also carried out an ontology analysis to identify the functions and pathways most likely to be affected by these variants. Results We identified around 900,000 common variants and close to 5 million unique ones in all four of the individuals. This included over 11,500 variants that caused nonsynonymous changes in proteins. Heart function associated pathways were heavily implicated by the ontology analysis; corroborating previous studies that claimed the Bangladeshi population as highly susceptible to heart disorders. Two variants were found that have been previously identified as pathogenic factors in familial hypercholesteremia and structural disorders of the heart. Other pathogenic variants we found were associated with pseudoxanthoma elasticum, cancer progression, polyagglutinable erythrocyte syndrome, preeclampsia, and others.

Among biological methods, green synthesis of the nanomaterials using plant extracts was shown to be an environmentally friendly, economical, and simple approach. In the current study, the biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was achieved using the leaf extract of Hibiscus tiliaceus, in order to prevent the contamination of the tissue culture media and induce callus growth. The nanostructures of the fabricated AgNPs were characterized using UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra-red spectra (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), zeta size, and zeta potential techniques. Our results indicate that The UV–vis spectrum of AgNPs exhibited an absorption band at 415 nm. The FTIR analysis identified the functional groups which could involve in the reduction of silver ions to AgNPs, this was also confirmed by the (hkl) diffraction peaks in the XRD diffractogram. Moreover, the TEM analysis showed a spherical nanoparticle with a size ranging from 21 and 26 nm. Thereafter, the potential antibacterial and antifungal activity of the biogenic AgNPs was evaluated against Bacillus pumilus and Alternaria alternata which were isolated from the in vitro culture media and identified based on 16S rDNA and ITS rDNA sequences, respectively. The results showed that the AgNPs significantly inhibited the growth of Alternaria alternata and Bacillus pumilus at all applied concentrations (5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/L). Compared to the control more fungal radial growth reduction (42.59%,) and bacterial inhibition (98.12%) were registered in the plates containing high doses of AgNPs (40 mg/L). Using Rumex nervosus explants, the biosynthesized AgNPs were tested for their impact to promote callus growth. The obtained results showed a significant effect of AgNPs on callus fresh weight at all applied doses. Moreover, AgNPs treatments showed a polymorphism of 12.5% which was detected by RAPD markers. In summary, the results revealed that AgNPs (40 mg/L) can be effectively added to the in vitro culture media for reducing microbial contamination and improving callus growth while greatly maintaining its genetic stability.

Echinops macrochaetus is a medicinal plant that can be used to cure various diseases. In the present study, plant-mediated zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) were synthesized using an aqueous leaf extract of the medicinal plant Heliotropium bacciferum and characterized using various techniques. E. macrochaetus was collected from the wild and identified using the internal transcribed spacer sequence of nrDNA (ITS-nrDNA), which showed the closeness to its related genus in a phylogenetic tree. The effect of synthesized biogenic ZnO-NPs was studied on E. macrochaetus in a growth chamber for growth, bioactive compound enhancement and antioxidant system response. The irrigation of plants at a low concentration of ZnO-NPs (T1 = 10 mg/L) induced more growth in terms of biomass, chlorophyll content (273.11 µg/g FW) and carotenoid content (135.61 µg/g FW) than the control and other treatments (T2-20 mg/L and T3-40 mg/L). However, the application of a high concentration of ZnO-NPs (20 and 40 mg/L) increased the level of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, APX and GR), total crude and soluble protein, proline and TBARS contents. The accumulations of the compounds quercetin-3-β-D-glucoside, luteolin 7-rutinoside and p-coumaric acid were greater in the leaf compared to the shoot and root. A minor variation was observed in genome size in treated plants as compared to the control group. Overall, this study revealed the stimulatory effect of phytomediated ZnO-NPs, which act as bio-stimulants/nano-fertilizers as revealed by more biomass and the higher production of phytochemical compounds in different parts of the E. macrochaetus.

In developing countries, it is generally believed that a good health status and education (human capital) bring economic well-being and benefits. Some researchers have found that there are overall financial returns and income premiums correlated with human capital because of its excellent and higher ability. Due to different views and a lack of consensus, the role of human capital is still ambiguous and poorly understood. This study investigates the economic returns of health status, education level, and social interaction, that is, whether and how human capital and social interaction affect employment and income premiums. Using the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) for specification bias, we used the instrumental variable (IV) approach to specify the endogeneity and interaction effect in order to identify the impact and economic returns of human capital and social interaction on the values of other control and observed variables. However, we show that an individual with strong and higher human capital positively affects economic returns, but the variability of these estimates differs across estimators. Being more socially interactive is regarded as a type of social interaction but as not human capital in the labor market; thus, the empirical findings of this study reflect social stability and that the economic well-being of socially active individuals is an advantaged situation. Furthermore, men with substantial human capital and social interaction are in a more advantaged position compared to women with similar abilities.

Salinity is one of the most limiting constraints of crop production. Nevertheless, highly-tolerant crop plants (e.g. ‘Guar’ Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) can thrive well under salinity conditions. RNA-Seq plays a central role in identifying genes involved in the response mechanisms to salt stress in plant species. High-quality RNA, free of genomic DNA is a critical determinant for success in subsequent downstream experiments to shed light on tolerance mechanisms. In this research, an inspection of two different total RNA isolation protocols was employed for preparing highly pure and intact RNAs with good yield from Guar tissue under both high salinity and control conditions. The extracted RNA appeared in all quality metrics to be of adequate quantity and quality for most downstream applications, including high-throughput transcriptome sequencing and expression analysis. However, the outcomes showed that the most widely used RNA quality measurement, the RNA Integrity Number (RIN), is a poor indicator with a weak correlation to the integrity of RNA from this plant. In contrast to human and animal cells, plants have various ribosomal RNA species. Consequently, whenever the RNA was separated on an agarose gel, several RNA bands did appear, which gives the false impression of being unable to analyze the results of the bioanalyzer integrity. Low RIN number RNA samples were further processed by RNA-sequencing RNA-seq experiments from guar. RNA-seq analysis via Illumina’s paired-end method was carried out to trace back and evaluate the extracted total RNA, resulting in high-quality data for subsequent stress tolerance research.

Ochradenus arabicus is a significant therapeutic plant which grows in desert zones of Saudi Arabia. It has antimicrobial, anticancer, cancer prevention, antidiabetic, allopathic and pabulum properties. The present study evaluated the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) utilizing the leaf concentrate of plant O. arabicus having novel ethnomedicinal potential. The incorporated AgNPs were visualized utilizing UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The antimicrobial impact of AgNPs delivering O. arabicus was considered utilizing distinctive pathogenic microorganisms, for example, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus mutans. From the plate dispersion results, the incorporated silver nanoparticles demonstrated potent antibacterial properties and high antimicrobial action contrasted with the ionic silver. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13102818.2021.1961609 .

The study uses a transformative worldview to give voice to an economically marginalized group of tenant farmers vulnerable to climate changes due to their calamity prone geographical location. Drawing on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) theory lens, we examine the impact of manmade actions on climate change in District “Swat” and “Malakand” of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, Pakistan using a sequential mixed methods research design. Through this research design, the results of quantitative survey were complemented with a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews. In first phase, we conducted a survey of 200 tenant farmers, followed by second wave of data collection involving 12 open-ended in-depth interviews (IDIs). The both qualitative and quantitative results suggest that farmers in both districts are affected by climate change although their crop yield had progressively increased signaling better coping and survival skills than other parts of country. Majority of respondents believed that climate change is something beyond their control in disagreement with AGW theory. Major economic losses were specifically, due to sudden alterations in weather patterns, such as floods, and hailstorms that reduce productivity as well as results in food waste with no avenues available to reclaim the energy laden in organic food waste. Besides, a productivity loss was attributed to outdated farming, lack of awareness regarding sharecropping and crop loan insurance practices. The study concludes that farmers are most vulnerable to climate change in socioeconomic terms as such changes impact their income sources; This inwardly compels cash strapped tenant farmers to delve in practice of informal credit with substantive risks attached which further deteriorates their livelihoods. The study offers understanding of how low-literate and economically marginalized indigenous tenant farmers cope to climate change and offers policy recommendations to advocate for the rights to earn sustainable livelihoods in the face of grand climate challenge.

There seems to be meager studies with regards to rhizo and non-rhizo microbial association with potato plant from the central India. Present study was undertaken to evaluate the microbial diversity of rhizospheric and non-rhizospheric isolates from three varieties of potato viz Kufri sindhuri, Kufri lauvkar and Kufri chipsona-3 procured from the Central Potato Research Station, Maharajpura, Gwalior. A total of 130 bacterial forms were isolated, and amongst these forty isolates were further characterized on their morphological basis, and those showing some of PGPR characteristics were identified to species level using VITEK-2 method. Various bacterial populations were found in potato rhizosphere and dominant presence was those of Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus Megaterium and Lysinibacillus sphaericus. The non-rhizospheric soil was dominant in the forms like Aeromonas salmonicida, Morxella group and Bacillus coagulans. Highest bacterial diversity was found in the rhizosphere soil of different potato cultivars than in the non-rhizospheric soil of potato.

Secondary plant metabolites and their derivatives play a significant role in human health. Ferruginol is a diterpene phenol that has recently received attention for its pharmacological properties, including antibacterial, antitumor, antimalarial, and cardioprotective effects. Recently, we detected the ferruginol compound in the leaf and seed extracts of Juniperus procera using different analytical approaches. The present work aims at detecting phytochemical compounds in a root extract of J. procera and estimating the amount of ferruginol compound in different parts of Juniperus procera. To screen the phytochemical compounds present in the root extract of J. procera, Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was performed. For ferruginol identification and estimation, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with the ferruginol reference standard and high-resolution direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) (DART-TOF-MS) analysis were used. GC/MS analysis revealed more than 20 bioactive compounds related to secondary plant metabolites in the root extract of J. procera with biological activity. The DART-TOF-MS result showed the typical positive ion spectra of ferruginol, and the HPLC result confirmed that the root extract of J. procera contains the ferruginol compound. In contrast, the root extract of J. procera contained a significant amount of ferruginol compared to that in the leaf and seed extracts. All parts of the J. procera contained the ferruginol compound and proved that ferruginol might be accumulated in the roots, leaves, and seeds of J. procera.

Acacias are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world and have both economic as well as medicinal value. The estimation of genome size is very important as it changes due to the change in noncoding DNA sequence as well as genome duplication among organisms for their evolutionary aspects. Three potential species of the genus Acacia including Acacia etbaica, Acacia johnwoodii and Acacia origena, which are threatened and nearly endemic to Saudi Arabia, were collected. The present study was carried out to determine the genome size (2C DNA contents), total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid (TFC) and some bioactive compounds in these species for their comparison. The genome size ranged from 1.91 pg (A. etbaica) to 2.45 pg/2C (A. origena) among the Acacia species, which correspond to genome sizes 1843.15–2364.25 Mbp, respectively. The variation was observed in genome size within Acacia species as nuclei were extracted using different extraction buffers except for GB and MB01 buffers. The FTIR analysis revealed the presence of various functional groups in compounds that might be responsible for different types of phytochemicals in these Acacia species. Total flavonoid content (TFC) ranged from 0.647 (A. origena) to 1.084 mg QE/g DW (A. etbaica), whereas the total phenolic f content (TPC) ranged between 15.322 (A. origena) to 28.849 (A. johnwoodii) mg/g DW of GAE. HPLC analysis revealed the presence of quercetin 3-β-D-glucoside and luteolin 7-rutinoside in the leaves of all three Acacia species in considerable amounts, and these might have good health-promoting effects. This is our first study on genome size (2C DNA content) using flow cytometry and phytochemical profiling on these Acacias. Thus, estimated genome size and phytochemical study of these species could help to understand the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites under various genes and the evolutionary relationships among them.

Maerua oblongifolia (Forssk.) is a rare medicinal plant in Saudi Arabia that is threatened with extinction owing to overexploitation, climate change, and poor seed germination. This study aimed to identify, for the first time, the phytochemical compounds existing in M. oblongifolia leaves’ extract using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). In addition, it aimed to determine the plant growth and genetic uniformity of the plant under the exposure of in vitro biogenic silver and zinc oxide nanoparticles. The GC-MS analysis detected 28 phytochemical compounds. The main compounds obtained from the leaf extracts were triphenylphosphine oxide and 4,5-Dihydrooxazole-5-one, 2-methyl-4-[2,3,4-methozxybenzylidnen]-. The supplementation of AgNPs and ZnO NPs to the culture media significantly enhanced the plant biomass, shoot length, and shoot regeneration of M. oblongifolia. The genetic stability of the plant material was evaluated using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The application of Ag and ZnO NPs showed genetic stability among treated plants. However, the higher concentration of both nanoparticles induced minor genetic variations recorded as 4.4 and 2.2% in Ag and ZnO NPs, respectively. This work focused on the detection of phytochemical active constituents from M. oblongifolia shoot cultures, and it will be useful for the large-scale manufacturing of these compounds for pharmaceutical and commercial purposes. In addition, it confirmed that the exposure of silver and zinc oxide nanoparticles to the in vitro culture media of plant tissues might be a secure technique with which to produce true-to-type plants.

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses that affect the plant’s growth and development. Recently, the contribution of nanoparticles (NPs) to ameliorating salinity stresses has become the new field of interest for scientists due to their special physiochemical properties in the biological system. This study is designed to examine the effects of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) spherical in shape (size range between 9 and 30 nm) on morphophysiological characteristics and the antioxidant defense system of in vitro raised Maerua oblongifolia under four levels of salt stress (0, 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl). Our findings reveal that the application of AgNPs (0, 10, 20, and 30 mg/L) to M. oblongifolia shoots significantly alleviates the adverse effects of salt stress and ameliorates plant developmental-related parameters and defense systems. High salinity elevates the oxidative damage by over-accumulation of the levels of total soluble sugars, proline, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA). In addition, enhancing the activity of the antioxidant enzymes, total phenolic, and flavonoid content over the control. Interestingly, the application of AgNPs to salinized plants improved the growth traits and photosynthetic pigment production and caused higher enhancement in antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, mitigating the oxidative damage by lowering the accumulation of proline, soluble sugars, H2O2, MDA, and total phenolic and flavonoid contents in salt-stressed plants. In general, AgNPs augmented the growth of M. oblongifolia shoots under saline conditions through different strategies; thus, AgNPs can be used as an appropriate eco-friendly approach that enhances salinity tolerance in plants.

Several researchers have studied the relationship between poverty and environmental degradation, as these concerns are remained at top priority in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the symmetric and asymmetric impact of poverty and income inequality along with population and economic growth on carbon emissions (CO2e) has not been studied in the case of Pakistan. For this purpose, the short and long-run impact of poverty, income inequality, population, and GDP per capita on CO2e investigated by applying the Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) along with Non-linear Autoregressive Distributive Lag (NARDL) co-integration approach in the context of Pakistan for period 1971–2015. The symmetric results of the current study show poverty and population density along with GDP per capita increase carbon emissions in both the short and long-run, while income inequality has no impact on carbon emissions in the short-run. While in the long-run the symmetric results show that income inequality weakens environmental degradation in terms of carbon emissions. The analysis of NARDL also supports the results obtained from ARDL and suggests a positive effect of poverty, population, and economic growth on carbon emission in Pakistan. The empirical findings of the current study provide policy implications in light of the United Nation's SDGs for the development of Pakistan.

Based on the nationally representative sample data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS-2015), this study examines the relationship of education levels and health status with an individual's probability of being employed in China. The findings obtained from the binary logistic regression estimator suggest that people with a higher level of education were more likely to be employed than those who have less or no education. The individual with university or above education was found to be 85% more likely to be employed than college or equal diploma holders. Further, the healthier individual was found to be 11% more likely to be employed than relatively less healthy. Moreover, the resulting coefficients obtained from the moderation effect suggest that all of the two-way interaction effects among health status and education levels with gender are not statistically significant even at the 10% level. The results suggest that there was no multiplicative effect of gender with health status and level of education on an individual's probability of being employed. Further, the study also suggests important policy implications in the light of China's active labor force market and the gender gap in employment.

The threat of heat stress on crop production increased dramatically due to global warming leading to the rise on the demand of heat-tolerant crops and understanding their tolerance. The leguminous forage crop Guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub] is a high-temperature tolerant plant with numerous works on its tolerance at morph-physiological levels but lack on molecular thermotolerance level. In the current study, the differential gene expression and the underlying metabolic pathways induced by heat treatment were investigated. An RNA-Seq study on Guar leaves was carried out to estimate gene abundance and identify genes involved in heat tolerance to better understand the response mechanisms to heat stress. The results uncovered 1551 up- and 1466 downregulated genes, from which 200 and 72 genes with unknown function could be considered as new genes specific to guar. The upregulated unigenes were associated with 158 enzymes and 102 KEGG pathways. Blast2GO, InterProScan, and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes packages were utilized to search the functional annotation, protein analysis, enzymes, and metabolic pathways and revealed hormone signal transduction were enriched during heat stress tolerance. A total of 301 protein families, 551 domains, 15 repeats, and 3 sites were upregulated and matched to those unigenes. A batch of heat-regulated transcription factor transcripts were identified using the PlantTFDB database, which may play roles in heat response in Guar. Interestingly, several heat shock protein families were expressed in response to exposure to stressful conditions for instance small HSP20, heat shock transcription factor family, heat shock protein Hsp90 family, and heat shock protein 70 family. Our results revealed the expressional changes associated with heat tolerance and identified potential key genes in the regulation of this process. These results will provide a good start to dissect the molecular behaviour of plants induced by heat stress and could identify the key genes in stress response for marker-assisted selection in Guar and reveal their roles in stress adaptation in plants.

Drought remains one of the most serious environmental stresses because of the continuous reduction in soil moisture, which requires the improvement of crops with features such as drought tolerance. Guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub], a forage and industrial crop, is a nonthirsty plant. However, the information on the transcriptome changes that occur under drought stress in guar is very limited; therefore, a gene expression analysis is necessary in this context. Here, we studied the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to drought stress and their metabolic pathways. RNA-Seq via an expectation-maximization algorithm was used to estimate gene abundance. Subsequently, an Empirical Analysis of Digital Gene Expression Data in the R Bioconductor package was used to identify DEGs. Blast2GO, InterProScan, and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes were used to explore functional annotation, protein analysis, enzymes, and metabolic pathways. Transcription factors were identified using the PlantTFDB database. Our study identified 499 upregulated and 191 downregulated genes in response to drought stress. Of those, 32 upregulated and six downregulated genes were deemed as novel genes exclusive to guar. An aggregate of 137 protein families, 306 domains, 12 repeats, and two sites were upregulated. The proton-dependent oligopeptide transporter family and transferase, aquaporin transporter, calcium/calmodulin-dependent/calcium-dependent protein kinase, aspartic peptidase A1 family, UDP-glucuronosyl/UDP-glucosyltransferase, and major intrinsic protein were the most upregulated protein families. The upregulated unigenes were associated with 88 enzymes and 77 KEGG pathways. Finally, the MYB-related, MYB, and ERF transcription factor families were upregulated. These data may be useful for understanding the plant molecular response to drought stress.

Abrus precatorius is considered to be a valuable source of natural products for the development of drugs against various diseases. Herein, the genome size and phytochemical compounds in the leaves and callus of A. precatorius were evaluated. The endangered A. precatorius was collected from the Al-Baha mountains, Saudi Arabia and identified based on the phylogenetic analysis of a DNA sequence amplified by ITS1 and ITS4 primers. The callus was induced by the culture of stem explants onto Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) supplemented with various combinations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4D) and 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP). The callus with the highest fresh weight (2.03 g) was obtained in the medium containing 0.5µM BA and 5 µM 2,4-D after 8 weeks of culture; thus, the callus of this combination was selected for the genome estimation and phytochemical compound extraction. The genetic stability of the leaves from the donor as well as in the regenerated callus was analyzed by flow cytometry with optimized tomato (2C = 1.96 pg) as an external reference standard. The 2C DNA content was estimated to 1.810 pg ± 0.008 and 1.813 pg ± 0.004 for the leaves and callus, respectively. Then, the total phenol and total flavonoid contents in the methanol extract of the callus and leaves were measured using a spectrophotometer and the High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC ) methods. The results showed that the methanolic extract of the leaves was higher in total phenols and total flavonoids than the callus extract. Finally, the extracts of callus and leaves were analyzed for phytochemical compound through the Gas chromatography and Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). A total of 22 and 28 compounds were detected in the callus and leaves, respectively. The comparative analysis showed that 12 compounds of the secondary metabolites were present in both extracts.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) develops after exposure to or witnessing traumatic events. PTSD is highly comorbid and individuals with PTSD usually report Depressive Symptoms(DS). Common treatment choices for PTSD and DS are either EMDR or CBT, however, little is known about their comparative efficacy, especially in Pakistan. Therefore, this Randomized Controlled Trial(RCT) aims at determining the comparative efficacy of EMDR vs CBT in Pakistan. This study will also examine the association between reduction in symptoms of PTSD and DS over course of treatment. In this regard, two arms Crossover Randomized Controlled Trial(RCT) with Repeated Measures Design will be selected. This study will be conducted at two rehabilitation centers and patients will be screened at Time:01, baseline; Time:02, during treatment; Time:03, post treatment and Time:04, 06 months follow-up. All analyses will be performed according to intention-to-treat principle. Variations in symptoms will be analysed by using descriptive statistics, χ2 tests, t-tests, and one way ANOVA. To examine changes in PTSD and DS across time and to check efficacy of each treatment, a series of Linear Mixed Models will be run. Furthermore, a series of multi-level lagged mediation analysis will be performed to check bi-directional mediation between changes PTSD and DS over time. This protocol has outlined the rationale for determining efficacy of EMDR and CBT in Pakistan. It will help in answering a broad range of questions concerning efficacy of newly developed evidence-based treatments. Moreover, it may also guide future research on the treatment of PTSD and DS in the developing countries. Keywords: Post-traumatic stress disorder, Depressive symptoms, Comorbidity, Eye movement desensitization & reprocessing, Cognitive behavioral therapy

Juniperus procera is a natural source of bioactive compounds with the potential of antitumor, antimicrobial, insecticidal, antifungal, and antioxidant activities. An optimization method was developed for total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and total tannin content (TTC) in leaf and seed extract of Juniperus procera. Organic solvents (methanol (99.8%), ethanol (99%), and acetone (99.5%)), and deionized water (DI) were used for extraction. The estimation of TPC, TFC, and TTC in plant materials was carried out using UV-spectrophotometer and HPLC with the standards gallic acid, quercetin, and tannic acid. Recovery of TPC in leaf extract ranged from 2.9 to 9.7 mg GAE/g DW, TFC from 0.9 to 5.9 mg QE/g DW, and TTC ranged from 1.5 to 4.3 mg TA/g DW while the TPC value in the seed extract ranged from 0.53 to 2.6 mg GAE/g DW, TFC from 0.5 to 1.6 mg QE/g DW, and TTC ranged from 0.5 to 1.4 mg TA/g DW. This result revealed that methanol is the best solvent for recovery of the TPC value (9.7 mg) from leaf extract in comparison to other solvents. Ethanol recorded the highest result of TFC (5.9 mg) in leaf extract among the solvents whereas acetone was the best for TTC yield recovery from leaf extract (4.3 mg). In the case of the seed extract, ethanol was the best solvent for both TPC (2.6 mg), and TFC (1.6 mg) recovery in comparison to other solvents. Total tannin content in methanol resulted in significant recovery from seed extract (1.4 mg). Separation and quantification of gallic acid, quercetin, and tannic acid in plant materials were undertaken using HPLC. Gallic acid in leaf and seed of J. procera ranged from 6.6 to 9.2, 6.5 to 7.2 µg/g DW, quercetin from 6.3 to 18.2, 0.9 to 4.2 µg/g DW, and tannic acid from 16.2 to 29.3, 6.6 to 9.3 µg/g DW, respectively. Solvents have shown a significant effect in the extraction of phenolic compounds. Moreover, phytochemicals in plant materials were identified using GC-MS and resulted in very important bioactive compounds, which include anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antitumor agents such as ferruginol, phenanthrene, and n-hexadecanoic acid. In conclusion, the optimal solvent for extraction depends on the part of the plant material and the compounds that are to be isolated.

Zincoxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are among the most produced and used nanomaterials worldwide, and in recent times these nanoparticles have also been incorporate in plant science and agricultural research. The present study was planned to synthesize ZnO NPs biologically using Ochradenus arabicus leaves and examine their effect on the morphology and physiology properties of Maerua oblongifolia cultured in vitro. ZnO NPs were characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and transmission electron microscopy, which demonstrated hexagonal shape nanoparticles of size ranging from 10 to 50 nm. Thus, the study uncovered an efficient, eco-friendly and simple technique for biosynthesis of multifunctional ZnO NPs using Ochradenus arabicus following growth of Maerua oblongifolia shoots in different concentrations of ZnO NPs (0, 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 mg L−1) in Murashige and Skoog medium. Remarkable increases in plant biomass, photosynthetic pigments, and total protein were recorded up to a concentration of 5 mg L−1; at the same time, the results demonstrated a significant reduction in lipid peroxidation levels with respect to control. Interestingly, the levels of proline and the antioxidant enzyme catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities were increased significantly in response to all ZnO NP treatments. These findings indicate that bioengineered ZnO NPs play a major role in accumulation of biomass and stimulating the activities of antioxidant enzymes in plant tissues. Thus, green-synthesized ZnO NPs might be of agricultural and medicinal benefit owing to their impacts on plants in vitro.

Genome size is one of the fundamental cytogenetic features of a species, which is critical for the design and initiation of any genome sequencing projects and can provide essential insights in studying taxonomy, cytogenetics, phylogenesis, and evolutionary studies. However, this key cytogenetic information is almost lacking in the endemic species Reseda pentagyna and the locally rare species Reseda lutea in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, genome size was analyzed by propidium iodide PI flow cytometry and compared to k-mer analysis methods. The standard method for genome size measures (flow cytometry) estimated the genome size of R. lutea and R. pentagyna with nuclei isolation MB01 buffer were found to be 1.91 ± 0.02 and 2.09 ± 0.03 pg/2 °C, respectively, which corresponded approximately to a haploid genome size of 934 and 1.022 Mbp, respectively. For validation, K-mer analysis was performed on both species’ Illumina paired-end sequencing data from both species. Five k-mer analysis approaches were examined for biocomputational estimation of genome size: A general formula and four well-known programs (CovEST, Kmergenie, FindGSE, and GenomeScope). The parameter preferences had a significant impact on GenomeScope and Kmergenie estimates. While the general formula estimations did not differ considerably, with an average genome size of 867.7 and 896. Mbp. The differences across flow cytometry and biocomputational predictions may be due to the high repeat content, particularly long repetitive regions in both genomes, 71% and 57%, which interfered with k-mer analysis. GenomeScope allowed quantification of high heterozygosity levels (1.04 and 1.37%) of R. lutea and R. pentagyna genomes, respectively. Based on our observations, R. lutea may have a tetraploid genome or higher. Our results revealed fundamental cytogenetic information for R. lutea and R. pentagyna, which should be used in future taxonomic studies and whole-genome sequencing.

The forage crop Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.) has the ability to endure heat, drought, and mild salinity. A complete image on its genic architecture will promote our understanding about gene expression networks and different tolerance mechanisms at the molecular level. Therefore, whole mRNA sequence approach on the Guar plant was conducted to provide a snapshot of the mRNA information in the cell under salinity, heat, and drought stresses to be integrated with previous transcriptomic studies. RNA-Seq technology was employed to perform a 2×100 paired-end sequencing using an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform for the transcriptome of leaves of C. tetragonoloba under normal, heat, drought, and salinity conditions. Trinity was used to achieve a de novo assembly followed by gene annotation, functional classification, metabolic pathway analysis, and identification of SSR markers. A total of 218.2 million paired-end raw reads (~44 Gbp) were generated. Of those, 193.5M paired-end reads of high quality were used to reconstruct a total of 161,058 transcripts (~266 Mbp) with N50 of 2552 bp and 61,508 putative genes. There were 6463 proteins having >90% full-length coverage against the Swiss-Prot database and 94% complete orthologs against Embryophyta. Approximately, 62.87% of transcripts were blasted, 50.46% mapped, and 43.50% annotated. A total of 4715 InterProScan families, 3441 domains, 74 repeats, and 490 sites were detected. Biological processes, molecular functions, and cellular components comprised 64.12%, 25.42%, and 10.4%, respectively. The transcriptome was associated with 985 enzymes and 156 KEGG pathways. A total of 27,066 SSRs were gained with an average frequency of one SSR/9.825 kb in the assembled transcripts. This resulting data will be helpful for the advanced analysis of Guar to multi-stress tolerance.

Ziziphus spina-christi (sidr) is a shrub, sometimes a tree, native to a vast area of Africa stretching from Mauritania to West Africa. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it is an exotic medicinal plant for many diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the genetic diversity within and among 34 accessions of Z. spina-christi collected from different regions of Saudi Arabia. The amplification of genomic DNA with 11 inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers yielded 105 scorable loci, of which 93.4% were found to be polymorphic. The observed number of alleles (na), effective number of alleles (ne), Nei's gene diversity (h) and genetic diversity estimated by Shannon's information index (I) were 1.93, 1.44, 0.26 and 0.41, respectively. The total genetic diversity, Ht (0.266 ± 0.0289) was close to the average intrapopulation genetic diversity, Hs (0.2199 ± 0.0216). A high level of gene flow (Nm = 2.37) between populations, reflecting high genetic differentiation (Gst = 0.1739). The analysis of molecular variance showed that the maximum value of genetic variation was found within populations (90%), whereas a low value of genetic variance was observed among populations. The analysis using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages clustered the population from Farasan Island as an out-group due to its geographical origin. The obtained results demonstrate that the ISSR markers may be used for evaluation of the genetic diversity due to their efficiency in revealing polymorphism even in closely related germplasm and may help in Ziziphus genome analysis.

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is cultivated in arid and semiarid regions worldwide. Given the dioecious nature of this plant, gender identification is very important at the seedling stage. Molecular markers are very effective tools that help in gender identification at this stage. A sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker linked to sex-specific regions in the genome of date palm was developed. Of the 300 tested randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers, only one primer (OPC-06) produced reproducible band (294 bp) in male plants. The PCR product of this primer was cloned and sequenced. The specific primers were synthesized for amplification of a 186 bp fragment in male date palm plants. These primers were validated in male and female date palm plants, wherein the designed SCAR marker was reported only in male plants and no amplification was observed in female plants. The developed SCAR marker was used with seedlings of date palm and proved very effective in identification of gender.

Many Phoenix dactylifera (date palm) cultivars are grown in the arid and semiarid regions of the world, including Saudi Arabia. P. dactylifera is highly tolerant to salinity stress. To investigate the response of Khalas cultivar of P. dactylifera, two-month-old plants were treated with sodium chloride (50, 100, and 150 mM NaCl) for three months. Our result showed that proline content was higher in all treated plants compared to control plants. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were increased at 100 and 150 mM NaCl treatments; however, the result was found nonsignificant between control and plants treated at 50 mM NaCl. Similarly, enzyme activities of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were 0.805 and 0.722 U/mg protein/min, respectively, and were greater at 100 and 150 mM NaCl treatments compared to the control plants. Total chlorophyll content and fresh weight of shoots and roots decreased substantially with the increase of salinity. A cDNA start codon-targeted (cDNA-SCoT) marker showed a variation in different gene expressions profiling between treated and untreated plants under various NaCl concentrations.

Phoenix dactylifera L. (date palm), being economically very important, is widely cultivated in the Middle East and North Africa, having about 400 different cultivars. Assessment of date cultivars under trading and farming is a widely accepted problem owing to lack of a unique molecular signature for specific date cultivars. In the present study, eight different cultivars of dates viz., Khodry, Khalas, Ruthana, Sukkari, Sefri, Segae, Ajwa and Hilali were sequenced for rpoB and psbA-trnH genes and analyzed using bioinformatics tools to establish a cultivar-specific molecular signature. The combined aligned data matrix was of 1147 characters, of which invariable and variable sites were found to be 958 and 173, respectively. The analysis clearly reveals three major groups of these cultivars: (i) Khodary, Sefri, Ajwa, Ruthana and Hilali (58% BS); (ii) Sukkari and Khalas (64% BS); and (iii) Segae. The economically most important cultivar Ajwa showed similarity with Khodary and Sefri (67% BS).The sequences of the date cultivars generated in the present study showed bootstrap values between 38% and 70% so these sequences could be carefully used as molecular signature for potential date cultivars under trading and selection of genuine cultivars at the seedling stage for farming.

Introduction: Iodine deficiency is the leading cause of preventable brain damage, with 30% of the world's population suffering from iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs). The objectives of the study are to estimate the prevalence of goitre among schoolchildren in the age group of 6-12 years, to find out the proportion of households with adequately iodised salt, and to assess the dietary iodine intake by measuring urinary iodine levels in the urine samples of school-going children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in four pre-selected districts of the Kashmir division of Jammu and Kashmir in school-going children aged 6 to 12 years. Multi-stage 30 cluster sampling was used to select the study sample. For the selection of 30 clusters in each district, probability proportional to size (PPS) was employed. From each cluster, 90 children were selected. From a sub-sample of children in each district, 540 salt samples and 270 urine samples were also collected. Results: A total of 10,800 children aged 6-12 years were examined. Grade I goitre was present in 1382 (12.8%) and 116 (1.07%) which were having Grade II goitre. The weighted prevalence of goitre for four districts was 12.6%, lowest for district Ganderbal and highest for district Shopian. Half of the population in all the districts consumed salt with iodine levels of <15 ppm. Urinary iodine levels <99.9 µg/L were present in 15.7% indicating mild to moderate iodine deficiency. Conclusion: Though the present survey showed some decline in the total goitre rate (TGR) from a prevalence of 14.8% in 2017 to 12.6% in 2022, it continues to be a public health problem of mild to moderate intensity in Kashmir. The salt consumed at the household level was inadequately iodised. Hence, efforts in IDD elimination activities need to be scaled up further with emphasis on iodised salt quality control and intensive education at the community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]