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In vitro meat production via stem cell technology and tissue engineering provides hypothetically elevated resource efficiency which involves the differentiation of muscle cells from pluripotent stem cells. By applying the tissue engineering technique, muscle cells are cultivated and grown onto a scaffold, resulting in the development of muscle tissue. The studies related to in vitro meat production are advancing with a seamless pace, and scientists are trying to develop various approaches to mimic the natural meat. The formulation and fabrication of biodegradable and cost-effective edible scaffold is the key to the successful development of downstream culture and meat production. Non-mammalian biopolymers such as gelatin and alginate or plant-derived proteins namely soy protein and decellularized leaves have been suggested as potential scaffold materials for in vitro meat production. Thus, this article is aimed to furnish recent updates on bioengineered scaffolds, covering their formulation, fabrication, features, and the mode of utilization.

Background: The WHO, declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020 due to its widespread nature.Considering heavy disease burden widespread vaccination is essential. There is vaccine hesitancy and doubt about its efcacy and anxiety for unknown side effects. Objective: Study, was aimed to assess psychological status and attitude towards COVID -19 vaccines in Frontline health workers, Other Frontline workers and Undergraduate medical students. Methods: This was hospital based cross sectional study. A total of 181 subjects included, among them there were 59 undergraduate medical students, 69 frontline health workers and 53 other frontline workers, age group between 18 to 60 years. Vaccination attitude and psychological status were assessed using Vaccination Attitudes Examination Scale (VAX) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21) respectively. Group comparisons were analysed using ANOVAs along with Scheffe's test for post hoc comparisons. Results: Other frontline worker demonstrated signicantly higher anti-vaccinations attitude (VAX-T) towards COVID vaccines (10.39±2.72) as compared to under graduate medical student (9.712±4.12, p-0.00) and frontline workers (6.52±2.06, p-0.00). The study showed that higher hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccinations is positively correlated with higher scores of depressions, anxiety and stress. Conclusion: Frontline health worker demonstrated less hesitancy compared to medical students and other frontline workers. Vaccination acceptance can be improved with intensive awareness programs about its safety, efcacy and adverse effects by public health authorities and medical organizations.

Context: India with 1.38 billion people become second most populous country that represent almost 17.85% of world’s population is trying best to mitigate Corona Virus Disease -19 (COVID-19) transmission like other country. Aim: Our aim was to find out critical care requirement including ICU, ventilator etc. as well as major comorbidities and other complications in patients with COVID-19 at rural tertiary care hospital in India. Settings and Design: Present study is a retrospective observational study for clinical manifestation of patients with COVID-19 at Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences, Saifai, Etawah. Material and Methods: Total 415 patients were admitted till 31 July 2020, while 125 during 15-31 July 2020. Criteria for inclusion were - 1. Only positive cases with COVID-19 were included. 2. Closed cases with known outcome. 3. Age > 18 years. Result: Out of 415 patients, 257 were discharged alive while 58 were deceased and 100 patients were remain admitted in the hospital till 31st July 2020, males and female admitted were 67.07% and 32.92% respectively. During 15-31 July 2020 total 125 patients with covid-19 were admitted, out of them 111 were discharged after treatment while 14 were deceased. The mortality rate 11.2% was observed at our facility during this period. Nearly 41% of the diseased were of age group 60 years or more against 9% population of this age group in India. Overall, 14.19% was admitted to ICU and 6.02% was having ventilator requirement. Major comorbidities observed were hypertension (30.76%), diabetes (26.92%), kidney disease (23.07%) while (19.25%) include others. Conclusion: Comorbidities and upper age were associated with greater ICU admissions and ventilator requirement more over leading to higher mortality. Septic shock was measure complication (50.00%); ARDS (38.46%) followed by pneumonia (34.61%) remaining belongs to other complications. Average stay in the hospital was found 11.4 days, while it was variable in different age groups.

Diabetes is a major health challenge, and it is linked to a number of serious health issues, including cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke), diabetic nephropathy (kidney damage or failure), and birth defects. The detection of glucose has a direct and significant clinical importance in the management of diabetes. Herein, we demonstrate the application of

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy and tissue repair necessitate the use of an ideal clinical biomaterial capable of increasing cell proliferation and differentiation. Recently, MXenes 2D nanomaterials have shown remarkable potential for improving the functional properties of MSCs. In the present study, we elucidated the potential of Ti2CTx MXene as a biomaterial through its primary biological response to human Wharton’s Jelly MSCs (hWJ-MSCs). A Ti2CTx nanosheet was synthesized and thoroughly characterized using various microscopic and spectroscopic tools. Our findings suggest that Ti2CTx MXene nanosheet exposure does not alter the morphology of the hWJ-MSCs; however, it causes a dose-dependent (10–200 µg/mL) increase in cell proliferation, and upon using it with conditional media, it also enhanced its tri-lineage differentiation potential, which is a novel finding of our study. A two-fold increase in cell viability was also noticed at the highest tested dose of the nanosheet. The treated hWJ-MSCs showed no sign of cellular stress or toxicity. Taken together, these findings suggest that the Ti2CTx MXene nanosheet is capable of augmenting the proliferation and differentiation potential of the cells.

Sustainable food supply to the world is possibly the greatest challenge that human civilization has ever faced. Among animal sourced foods, meat plays a starring role in human food chain. Traditional meat production necessitates high proportion of agricultural land, energy and clean water for rearing meat-producing animals; also massive emission of greenhouse gases from the unutilized nutrients of the digestive process into the environment is a major challenge to the world. Also, conventional meat production is associated with evolution and spread of superbugs and zoonotic infections. In vitro meat has the potential to provide a healthy alternative nutritious meal and to avoid the issues associated with animal slaughtering and environmental effects. Stem cell technology may provide a fascinating approach to produce meat in an animal-free environment. Theoretically, in vitro meat can supplement the meat produced by culling the animals and satisfy the global demand. This article highlights the necessity and potential of stem cell-derived in vitro meat as an alternative source of animal protein vis-a-vis the constraints of conventional approaches of meat production.

Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is often linked with hyperglycemia, disturbed lipid profiles, inflammation, and gut dysbiosis. Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation has a vital role in the management of T2DM. As a result, a better understanding of the potential role of omega-3 fatty acids in the development and progression of T2DM by influencing the intestinal microflora will help to improve the therapeutic intervention for T2DM and related complications. Focusing on the molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways induced by omega-3 fatty acids, this paper attempts to comprehensively review and discuss the putative associations between omega-3 fatty acids, gut dysbiosis, and the pathophysiology of T2DM and its related comorbidities. In addition, we contemplate the importance of gut microbiota in T2DM prevention and treatment and ponder the role of omega-3 fatty acids in T2DM by positively modulating gut microbiota, which may lead to discovery of novel targets and therapeutic strategies thereby paving way for further comprehensive, mechanistic, and clinical studies.

The aim of this review is to speculate the pre-clinical and clinical evidences indicating the association between butyrate-synthesizing firmicutes and development and progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus.Literature was searched using 'Google Scholar' and 'PubMed' to find out most relevant articles for the scope of this review. Information was also gathered from authentic sources such as the World Health Organisation and the International Diabetes Federation.Evidences suggest that an abnormal perturbation in the gut microbiome characterized by subsided levels of butyrate-producing bacteria may gradually result in the progression of type-2 diabetes; however, the explicit mechanisms underlying and implicating the role of specific butyrate-producing microbes remain unclear.This review explicitly summarizes the role of butyrate-synthesizing firmicutes known to be reduced in the subjects with type-2 diabetes mellitus in host metabolic health and contemplates the putative and reported mechanisms underlying its implication in the pathophysiology of type-2 diabetes mellitus.

The complexity and variety of gut microbiomes within and among individuals have been extensively studied in recent years in connection to human health and diseases. Our growing understanding of the bidirectional communication between metabolic diseases and the gut microbiome has also highlighted the significance of gut microbiome dysbiosis in the genesis and development of obesity-related cancers. Therefore, it is crucial to comprehend the possible role of the gut microbiota in the crosstalk between obesity and colorectal cancer (CRC). Through the induction of gut microbial dysbiosis, gut epithelial barrier impairment, metabolomic dysregulation, chronic inflammation, or dysregulation in energy harvesting, obesity may promote the development of colorectal tumors. It is well known that strategies for cancer prevention and treatment are most effective when combined with a healthy diet, physical activity, and active lifestyle choices. Recent studies also suggest that an improved understanding of the complex linkages between the gut microbiome and various cancers as well as metabolic diseases can potentially improve cancer treatments and overall outcomes. In this context, we herein review and summarize the clinical and experimental evidence supporting the functional role of the gut microbiome in the pathogenesis and progression of CRC concerning obesity and its metabolic correlates, which may pave the way for the development of novel prognostic tools for CRC prevention. Therapeutic approaches for restoring the microbiome homeostasis in conjunction with cancer treatments are also discussed herein.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine and metabolic disorder, typically characterized by anovulation, infertility, obesity, insulin resistance, and polycystic ovaries. Lifestyle or diet, environmental pollutants, genetics, gut dysbiosis, neuroendocrine alterations, and obesity are among the risk factors that predispose females to PCOS. These factors might contribute to upsurging metabolic syndrome by causing hyperinsulinemia, oxidative stress, hyperandrogenism, impaired folliculogenesis, and irregular menstrual cycles. Dysbiosis of gut microbiota may play a pathogenic role in the development of PCOS. The restoration of gut microbiota by probiotics, prebiotics, or a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) might serve as an innovative, efficient, and noninvasive way to prevent and mitigate PCOS. This review deliberates on the variety of risk factors potentially involved in the etiology, prevalence, and modulation of PCOS, in addition to plausible therapeutic interventions, including miRNA therapy and the eubiosis of gut microbiota, that may help treat and manage PCOS.

Blood feeding is an important behavior of

Hepatic copper levels differ among patients with Wilson disease (WD) and normal individuals depending on the dietary intake, copper bioavailability, and genetic factors. Copper chloride (CuCl2 ) caused dose-dependent reduction in cell viability of human teratocarcinoma (HepG2) cell line, measured using the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Cells were exposed to different concentrations of CuCl2 in log doses and maximum cell viability reduction was recorded at 15 µg/mL. Toxic dose of CuCl2 is potent inducer of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Apoptosis as a pattern of cell death was confirmed through sub-G1 fraction and morphological changes such as mitochondrial depolarization, endoplasmic reticulum and lysosomal destabilization, phosphatidylserine translocation, and DNA damage. Our transcriptional and translational results strongly support apoptotic cell death. Using the available data present in dbSNP and bioinformatics tools, three nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) were identified as deleterious, reducing the stability of protein ATP7B. Structural analysis of native and mutant ATP7B proteins was investigated using molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) approach. Mutation in ATP7B gene might disturb the structural conformation and catalytic function of the ATP7B protein may be inducing WD. Hence, excess dietary intake of copper chloride must be avoided for safety of health to prevent from WD.

Air pollution results from a variable and complex mixture of harmful gases and suspended particles and is the most worrisome of all environmental hazards. It is implicated in several non -communicable diseases and is recognized to be a public health problem. Though the initial exposure to air pollution is through the respiratory system, kidneys are thought to be exposed to higher concentrations owing to their filtration function. Chronic kidney disease is the insidious end result of several disease processes which cumulatively form a large healthcare burden, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. There is a growing body of evidence that air pollution may be a contributing factor that leads to CKD by not only its direct effects, but can also compound the effect of other factors/diseases causing kidney injury. PM2.5 exposure particularly has been implicated, although there is some evidence regarding other air pollutants as well. These pollutants are thought to act on kidneys through several interlinked systemic pathways and mechanisms which individually and collectively damage the nephrons. Long-term exposures seem to gradually diminish renal function and lead to end-stage renal disease. A thorough understanding of the mechanism of kidney injury is the key for formulating and implementing effective strategies for reducing this burden. Maintaining the air quality, promoting education, improving health quality and promotion of targeted nephroprotective measures through effective policy and research support are required in addressing this global public health problem.

Mucormycosis is a serious and potentially fatal fungal infection caused by a type of rare but opportunistic fungal pathogen called mucormycetes. Recently, mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, made severe chaos in India during the second wave (between April and June 2021) of the tragical COVID-19 epidemic by its sudden and devastating surge with up to 50% mortality rate. While the exact cause of its sharp rise suddenly and specifically during the second wave still remains debatable, it has been noted that the people who are diabetic and have recovered from COVID-19 infection are more predisposed to mucormycosis. Nevertheless, the precise reason and mechanism(s) underlying the surge of this deadly infection needs to be investigated to comprehend its pathogenesis and pathological elements and discover rationale preventative/ therapeutic solutions. It is speculated that the indiscriminate use of steroids, antibiotics and zinc as a self-medication practice that increased during the COVID-19 epidemic may have promoted the dysbiosis of gut microbiota thereby inducing immune-suppression and making the risk group highly susceptible to this mycotic disease. In these contexts, this timely article attempts to contemplate and discuss some of the possible factors and potential mechanisms that can help to understand and explain the conundrum of sudden, steep and deadly upsurge of mucormycosis infections during the second wave of COVID-19 epidemic.

Background The global health emergency of COVID-19 has necessitated the development of multiple therapeutic modalities including vaccinations, antivirals, anti-inflammatory, and cytoimmunotherapies, etc. COVID-19 patients suffer from damage to various organs and vascular structures, so they present multiple health crises. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of interest to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Main body Stem cell-based therapies have been verified for prospective benefits in copious preclinical and clinical studies. MSCs confer potential benefits to develop various cell types and organoids for studying virus-human interaction, drug testing, regenerative medicine, and immunomodulatory effects in COVID-19 patients. Apart from paving the ways to augment stem cell research and therapies, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) holds unique ability for a wide range of health applications such as patient-specific or isogenic cells for regenerative medicine and breeding transgenic animals for biomedical applications. Being a potent cell genome-reprogramming tool, the SCNT has increased prominence of recombinant therapeutics and cellular medicine in the current era of COVID-19. As SCNT is used to generate patient-specific stem cells, it avoids dependence on embryos to obtain stem cells. Conclusions The nuclear transfer cloning, being an ideal tool to generate cloned embryos, and the embryonic stem cells will boost drug testing and cellular medicine in COVID-19.

Sustainable food supply to the world is possibly the greatest challenge that human civilization has ever faced. Among animal sourced foods, meat plays a starring role in human food chain. Traditional meat production necessitates high proportion of agricultural land, energy and clean water for rearing meat-producing animals; also massive emission of greenhouse gases from the unutilized nutrients of the digestive process into the environment is a major challenge to the world. Also, conventional meat production is associated with evolution and spread of superbugs and zoonotic infections. In vitro meat has the potential to provide a healthy alternative nutritious meal and to avoid the issues associated with animal slaughtering and environmental effects. Stem cell technology may provide a fascinating approach to produce meat in an animal-free environment. Theoretically, in vitro meat can supplement the meat produced by culling the animals and satisfy the global demand. This article highlights the necessity and potential of stem cell-derived in vitro meat as an alternative source of animal protein

The looming problem of resistance to antibiotics in microorganisms is a global health concern. The drug-resistant microorganisms originating from anthropogenic sources and commercial livestock farming have posed serious environmental and health challenges. Antibiotic-resistant genes constituting the environmental “resistome” get transferred to human and veterinary pathogens. Hence, deciphering the origin, mechanism and extreme of transfer of these genetic factors into pathogens is extremely important to develop not only the therapeutic interventions to curtail the infections, but also the strategies to avert the menace of microbial drug-resistance. Clinicians, researchers and policymakers should jointly come up to develop the strategies to prevent superfluous exposure of pathogens to antibiotics in non-clinical settings. This article highlights the present scenario of increasing antimicrobial-resistance in pathogenic bacteria and the clinical importance of unconventional or non-antibiotic therapies to thwart the infectious pathogenic microorganisms.

The exponential growth of pollutant discharges into the environment due to increasing industrial and agricultural activities is a rising threat for human health and a biggest concern for environmental health globally. Several synthetic chemicals, categorized as potential environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), are evident to affect the health of not only livestock and wildlife but also humankind. In recent years, human exposure to environmental EDCs has received increased awareness due to their association with altered human health as documented by several epidemiological and experimental studies. EDCs are associated with deleterious effects on male and female reproductive health; causes diabetes, obesity, metabolic disorders, thyroid homeostasis and increase the risk of hormone-sensitive cancers. Sewage effluents are a major source of several EDCs, which eventually reach large water bodies and potentially contaminate the drinking water supply. Similarly, water storage material such as different types of plastics also leaches out EDCs in drinking Water. Domestic wastewater containing pharmaceutical ingredients, metals, pesticides and personal care product additives also influences endocrine activity. These EDCs act via various receptors through a variety of known and unknown mechanisms including epigenetic modification. They differ from classic toxins in several ways such as low-dose effect, non-monotonic dose and trans-generational effects. This review aims to highlight the hidden burden of EDCs on human health and discusses the non-classical toxic properties of EDCs in an attempt to understand the magnitude of the exposome on human health. Present data on the environmental EDCs advocate that there may be associations between human exposure to EDCs and several undesirable health outcomes that warrants further human bio-monitoring of EDCs.

Nanomedicine is the spin-off of modern medicine and nanotechnology and aims to prevent and treat diseases using nanoscale materials such as biocompatible nanoparticles and nanorobots. Targeted cellular and tissue-specific clinical applications with maximal therapeutic effects and insignificant side effects could be achieved by the pursuit of nanotechnology in medicine and healthcare regimen. The majority of conventional cancer therapies eliminate the cells of the tumor but not the cancer stem cells (CSCs). Conversely, the use of nanotechnology in CSC-based therapies is an emerging field of biomedical sciences. This article summarizes the recent trends and application of nanomedicine especially in CSC therapy along with its limitations.

Lead (Pb) toxicity is a major environmental concern affirming the need of proper mitigation strategies. In the present work, potential of combined treatment of 24-Epibrassinolide (24-EBL) and Salicylic acid (SA) against Pb toxicity to Brassica juncea L. seedlings were evaluated. Seedlings pre-imbibed in EBL (0.1 mM) and SA (1 mM) individually and in combination, were sown in Pb supplemented petri-plates (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 mM). Various microscopic observations and biochemical analysis were made on 10 days old seedlings of B. juncea. The toxic effects of Pb were evident with enhancement in in-situ accumulation of Pb, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), nuclear damage, membrane damage, cell death and polyamine. Furthermore, free amino acid were lowered in response to Pb toxicity. The levels of osmoprotectants including total carbohydrate, reducing sugars, trehalose, proline and glycine betaine were elevated in response to Pb treatment. Soaking treatment with combination of 24-EBL and SA led to effective amelioration of toxic effects of Pb. Reduction in Pb accumulation, reactive oxygen content (ROS), cellular damage and GSH levels were noticed in response to treatment with 24-EBL and SA individual and combined levels. The contents of free amino acid, amino acid profiling as well as in-situ localization of polyamine (spermidine) was recorded to be enhanced by co-application of 24-EBLand SA. Binary treatment of 24-EBL and SA, further elevated the content of osmoprotectants. The study revealed that co-application of combined treatment of 24-EBL and SA led to dimination of toxic effects of Pb in B. juncea seedlings.

Background: Psychological stress is an important factor for the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). More and more clinical and experimental evidences are showing that IBS is a combination of irritable bowel and irritable brain. As IBS is a stress sensitive disorder, its treatment should focus on managing stress and stress-induced responses.Methods: This is a hospital based longitudinal study. 72 patients fulfilling the Rome IV criteria for irritable bowel syndrome were enrolled into the study. Perceived stress was assessed using student stress dimension questionnaire (SSDQ) while IBS severity was assessed using IBS severity scoring system (IBS-SSS). The stress interventional module (SIM) consist of specific domain targeted psychological interventions given to the patients weekly based on the stress domain mapping. The effectiveness of these interventions on reducing stress as well as IBS severity was assessed at baseline, and weeks 2, 4 and 6 follow-ups.Results: Of the studied IBS patients, most had SPS in multiple life domains while familial and interpersonal domains were affected in 78%. Also, total stress load in form of mean cumulative stress load at baseline was 451.1 which decreased significantly to 274.4 over 6 weeks. This SIM brought about a reduction in mean irritable bowel syndrome severity score from 27.5 to 20.6 in 6 weeks. This reduction in IBS severity score overtime was significant (p=0.001).Conclusions: Patients of irritable bowel syndrome show significant stress in multiple domains of life, which require proper assessment and management. Authors propose that individual-specific interventions aimed at reducing stress in all psychosocial life domains are efficacious and should be an integral part of managing IBS.

Background: Since a long time ago, the experts have realized that determination of cut-off point for diagnosing diabetes will be revised over time with the lower blood glucose level as the more sensitive diagnosis for detecting the occurring complication and biochemical changes.Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out in the department of medicine, M.G.M. Medical College and M.Y. Hospital Indore from July, 2016 to August, 2017 in 200 individuals and patients having euglycemic status attending General Medicine OPD.Results: In the low and high normal group 2 (2.0%) and 8 (8.0%) were having abnormal total cholesterol (TC) level respectively. The mean total cholesterol in the low normal group was 117.16±26.94mg/dl and it was 154.74±28.38mg/dl in the high normal group. The difference was found to be statistically significant (p value 0.000). In the low and high normal group, 4 (4.0%) and 17 (17.0%) were having abnormal triglyceride (TG) levels respectively. The mean TG levels in the low and high normal group were 96.93±22.64mg/dl and 110.55±32.37mg/dl respectively. The difference was found to be statistically significant (p value 0.001). In the low and high normal group, 6 (6.0%) and 14 (14.0%) patient was having abnormal uric acid levels respectively. The mean uric acid levels in the low and high normal group was 4.88±1.10mg/dl and 5.31±1.31mg/dl respectively. The difference was found to be statistically significant (p value 0.013).Conclusions: Higher levels of Cholesterol and Triglycerides were found more commonly in high normal euglycemic group compared to low normal euglycemic group. Mean cholesterol and mean triglyceride levels were higher in high normal euglycemic group.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder and one of the substantial socioeconomic and medical calamities of our time. It is characterized by progressive neurodegenerative disorder featuring dementia and cognitive impairment. It is caused by synaptic failure and the excessive aggregation of two types of misfolded proteins, namely, amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau protein. AD is a complex disease that affects neurons in different parts of the brain. The treatment of AD is difficult with currently available medications and treatment approaches due to inadequate knowledge of its etiology and versatile nature of its pathology. Stem cell holds a promising approach to regenerate the tissue systems and has been explored in various studies of neurodegenerative disorders and provides great research opportunity. Stem cell research-based therapies emit a new hope for AD treatment as a regenerative approach. This chapter focuses on recent advances in stem cell therapies according to cell types and pathophysiology of AD along with human clinical trials of stem cell therapies for the AD.

Various biotic stresses induced by microbes/pathogens affect growth, yield and production in plants. Plants sequester a broad spectrum of receptor armory to instigate innate immune approaches which are unbeatable by pathogens. Several phytohormones, interact in multifaceted interconnected signaling networks. Recent studies have elucidated direct or indirect regulation of plant defense responses by phytohormones. Brassinosteroids (BRs), a growth-promoting hormone is also an imperative plant defense regulator. They have been recently observed as a modulator of plant defense response to pathogen attack. They enhance plants resistance to a wide array of plant diseases. BRs increase the efficacy of Pathogen Assisted Molecular Patterns (PAMP) triggered immunity. They also mediate crosstalk between different defense-signaling cascades including phytohormones signaling, DELLA proteins, Pattern-Recognition Receptors Triggered Innate Immunity (PTI) and plant pathogen interaction. Furthermore, BRs also regulate sulfur metabolism and production of nitric oxide and consequently affect plants immune responses.

Environmental stresses such as flood, drought, high or low temperatures, excessive soil salinity, inadequate mineral nutrients, and excess or insufficient light have adverse effects and cause damage to crop plants. Overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under stress conditions is a hallmark, comprising both free radical, superoxide radicals, hydroxyl radical, perhydroxy radical, and alkoxy radicals and nonradical (molecular) forms, like hydrogen peroxide and singlet oxygen. Production of excess ROS is very reactive in nature and interact with numerous biomolecules such as DNA, proteins, RNA, lipids, pigments, and other vital cellular molecules, leading to serious damages. The antioxidant defense mechanism of plants protects them against damage caused by environmental stress. ROS also play a key role in the acclimation process of plants to several abiotic stresses. During stress response, ROS act as important molecules and play pivotal roles in activating downstream metabolic pathways. ROS also influence the expression of a number of genes and therefore control many processes. The present chapter focuses on the description of ROS, damage caused to macromolecules by ROS, the process of ROS signaling, and antioxidant defense system under abiotic stress in plants and its role in the removal of ROS.

Capra aegagrus hircus eye lenses were incubated in Ringer’s solution in presence of Cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) (40,000I.U) for different time period i.e. 0, 15, 30, 45 minutes and 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 8.0 and 12.0 hours. The result indicated that the fortification of vitamin D3 in the medium was more effective within first 15 minutes of incubation period consequently decreased the inorganic phosphate and calcium levels in lens.

Stem cell niche is a specialized and dynamic microenvironment around the stem cells which plays a critical role in maintaining the stemness properties of stem cells. Over the years, advancement in the research activity has revealed the various important aspects of stem cell niche including cell-cell interaction, cell-extracellular matrix interaction, a large number of soluble signaling factors and various biochemical and biophysical cues (such as oxygen tension, flow, and shear and pore size). Stem cells have the potential to be a powerful tool in regenerative medicine due to their self-renewal property and immense differentiation potential. Recent progresses in in vitro culture conditions of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have enabled the researchers to investigate and understand the role of the microenvironment in stem cell properties. The engineered artificial stem cell niche has led to a better execution of stem cells in regenerative medicine. Here we elucidate the key components of stem cell niche and their role in niche engineering and stem cell therapeutics.