Enhanced wheat productivity in saline soil through the combined application of poultry manure and beneficial microbes.

BACKGROUND: Soil salinity is one of the major menaces to food security, particularly in dealing with the food demand of the ever-increasing global population. Production of cereal crops such as wheat is severely affected by soil salinity and improper fertilization. The present study aimed to examine the effect of selected microbes and poultry manure (PM) on seedling emergence, physiology, nutrient uptake, and growth of wheat in saline soil. A pot experiment was carried out in research area of Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Saline soil (12 dS m- 1 w/w) was developed by spiking using sodium chloride, and used in experiment along with two microbial strains (i.e., Alcaligenes faecalis MH-2 and Achromobacter denitrificans MH-6) and PM. Finally, wheat seeds (variety Akbar-2019) were sown in amended and unamended soil, and pots were placed following a completely randomized design. The wheat crop was harvested after 140 days of sowing. RESULTS: The results showed a 10-39% increase (compared to non-saline control) in agronomic, physiological, and nutritive attributes of wheat plants when augmented with PM and microbes. Microbes together with PM significantly enhanced seedling emergence (up to 38%), agronomic (up to 36%), and physiological (up to 33%) in saline soil as compared to their respective unamended control. Moreover, the co-use of microbes and PM also improved soil's physicochemical attributes and enhanced N (i.e., 21.7%-17.1%), P (i.e., 24.1-29.3%), and K (i.e., 28.7%-25.3%) availability to the plant (roots and shoots, respectively). Similarly, the co-use of amendments also lowered the Na+ contents in soil (i.e., up to 62%) as compared to unamended saline control. This is the first study reporting the effects of the co-addition of newly identified salt-tolerant bacterial strains and PM on seedling emergence, physiology, nutrient uptake, and growth of wheat in highly saline soil. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that co-using a multi-trait bacterial culture and PM could be an appropriate option for sustainable crop production in salt-affected soil.

Cost-effective sequence analysis of 113 genes in 1,192 probands with retinitis pigmentosa and Leber congenital amaurosis.

Introduction: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) are two groups of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) where the rod photoreceptors degenerate followed by the cone photoreceptors of the retina. A genetic diagnosis for IRDs is challenging since >280 genes are associated with these conditions. While whole exome sequencing (WES) is commonly used by diagnostic facilities, the costs and required infrastructure prevent its global applicability. Previous studies have shown the cost-effectiveness of sequence analysis using single molecule Molecular Inversion Probes (smMIPs) in a cohort of patients diagnosed with Stargardt disease and other maculopathies. Methods: Here, we introduce a smMIPs panel that targets the exons and splice sites of all currently known genes associated with RP and LCA, the entire RPE65 gene, known causative deep-intronic variants leading to pseudo-exons, and part of the RP17 region associated with autosomal dominant RP, by using a total of 16,812 smMIPs. The RP-LCA smMIPs panel was used to screen 1,192 probands from an international cohort of predominantly RP and LCA cases. Results and discussion: After genetic analysis, a diagnostic yield of 56% was obtained which is on par with results from WES analysis. The effectiveness and the reduced costs compared to WES renders the RP-LCA smMIPs panel a competitive approach to provide IRD patients with a genetic diagnosis, especially in countries with restricted access to genetic testing.

Impact of foreign direct investment, natural resources, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth on environmental degradation: evidence from BRICS, developing, developed and global countries.

This research examined the impact of foreign direct investment, natural resources, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth on environmental degradation in BRICS, developing, developed, and global countries for the time period from 1991 to 2018 by using dynamic fixed effect model, GMM, and system GMM estimators. The examined results indicate that FDI causes environmental degradation in BRICS and developing countries while in developed countries, FDI helps environmental degradation reduction. The empirical results indicate that fuel resources and renewable energy consumption help to reduce the environment degradation in BRICS, developing, developed, and global countries while ore and metal resources cause environment degradation improvement in developed countries. Total natural resources (coal, oil, natural gas, and mineral rents) and economic growth are the main factors that boost the environmental degradation in BRICS, developing, developed, and global countries. Based on the examined results, policies are suggested for BRICS, developing, developed, and global countries. It is suggested that policy makers in these countries not only reply to protect environmental degradation but also support the growth of fuel resources, ore, and metal resource and total natural resources.

Effect of foreign direct investment on CO2 emission with the role of globalization, institutional quality with pooled mean group panel ARDL.

This study utilized the Pooled Mean Group estimator to investigate the effect of renewable energy consumption, electricity consumption, economic growth, institutional quality, and globalization on carbon dioxide emission with an updated dataset for 10 economies for the time period from 1985 to 2018. Results of Harris-Tzavalis's test and Levin-Lin-Chu's test show that the utilized regressand and regressors are stationary at I(0) and I(I) that conform that the pooled mean group estimator panel ARDL can be utilized. Results of Kao and Pedroni cointegration tests show that cointegration exists amongst the variables. Empirical results of pooled mean group (PMG) revealed that renewable energy consumption helps to diminish the environmental degradation while foreign direct investment, electricity consumption, and economic growth and institutional quality positively affect the degradation of the environment. The findings show that globalization in the long run adversely and significantly influences the environmental degradation; globalization reduces the environmental degradation in the long run while in the short run, globalization positively and significantly influences the environmental degradation. Results of the panel VAR and VECM model indicate electricity consumption and institutional quality, and globalization positively affects environmental degradation. Further policies are recommended based on the findings.

The impact of macroeconomic and financial development on carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan: evidence with a novel dynamic simulated ARDL approach.

This paper has empirically explored the impact of macroeconomic and financial development on CO2 emissions by utilizing a novel dynamic simulated ARDL model for annual time series data from 1982 to 2018 for Pakistan. The results of a novel dynamic simulated ARDL disclosed that the growth of stock market, FDI, economic growth, and consumption of oil wield a positive impact on CO2 emission, while domestic credit exerts a negative effect on CO2 emission both in the short and the long run in Pakistan. The stock market development and domestic credit wield a significant influence on carbon dioxide emission in Pakistan both in the long and the short run. FDI exerts significant impact only in the long run, while economic growth and consumption of oil wield significant impact only in the short run on CO2 emission in Pakistan. This study opens up new visions for the economy of Pakistan to sustain financial and economic growth by protecting environment from pollution through its efficient national environmental policy, fiscal policy, and monetary policy.

Impact of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic on Psychological Well-Being of the Pakistani General Population.

Background and Objectives: In order to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the countries took preventive measures such as lockdown and restrictions of movements. This can lead to effects on mental health of the population. We studied the impact of COVID-19 on psychological well-being and associated factors among the Pakistani general population. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted between 26th April and 15th May and included participants from all over the Pakistan. Attitudes and worriedness about COVID-19 pandemic were assessed using a structured questionnaire. A validated English and Urdu version of the World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) was used to assess the well-being. Factor analysis was done to extract the attitude item domains. Logistic regression was used to assess the factors associated with poor well-being. Results: A total of 1,756 people participated in the survey. Almost half 50% of the participants were male, and a similar proportion was employed. About 41% of the participants were dependent on financial sources other than salary. News was considered a source of fear as 72% assumed that avoiding such news may reduce the fear. About 68% of the population was worried about contracting the disease. The most common coping strategies used during lockdown were spending quality time with family, eating healthy food, adequate sleep, and talking to friends on phone. Prevalence of poor well-being was found to be 41.2%. Female gender, being unemployed, living in Sindh and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), fear of COVID-19, and having chronic illness were significantly associated with poor well-being. Similarly, coping strategies during lockdown (doing exercise; spending time with family; eating healthy food; having good sleep; contributing in social welfare work and spending time on hobbies) were also significantly associated with mental well-being. Conclusion: We found a high prevalence 41.2% of poor well-being among the Pakistani general population. We also investigated risk factors of poor well-being which included female gender, unemployment, being resident of ICT and Sindh, fear, chronic illness, and absence of coping strategies. This calls for immediate action at population level in the form of targeted mass psychological support programs to improve the mental health of population during the COVID-19 crises.

Asymmetric impact of oil prices on stock returns in Shanghai stock exchange: Evidence from asymmetric ARDL model.

This study scrutinized the asymmetric impact of oil prices on stock returns in Shanghai stock exchange with data (January 2000 to December 2018) by using asymmetric ARDL model. The examined results of asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag model indicate that cointegration exists between the oil prices and the stock returns. Results of asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag model confirm that both in the long run and the short run increase in oil prices have a negative impact on the stock returns of Shanghai stock exchange while decrease in the oil prices has a positive impact on the stock returns. The examined results of this study recommend that oil prices dynamically contribute incompetence in stock prices in such a way that impact the profits of investors in stock market.

Cost-effective molecular inversion probe-based ABCA4 sequencing reveals deep-intronic variants in Stargardt disease.

PURPOSE: Stargardt disease (STGD1) is caused by biallelic mutations in ABCA4, but many patients are genetically unsolved due to insensitive mutation-scanning methods. We aimed to develop a cost-effective sequencing method for ABCA4 exons and regions carrying known causal deep-intronic variants. METHODS: Fifty exons and 12 regions containing 14 deep-intronic variants of ABCA4 were sequenced using double-tiled single molecule Molecular Inversion Probe (smMIP)-based next-generation sequencing. DNAs of 16 STGD1 cases carrying 29 ABCA4 alleles and of four healthy persons were sequenced using 483 smMIPs. Thereafter, DNAs of 411 STGD1 cases with one or no ABCA4 variant were sequenced. The effect of novel noncoding variants on splicing was analyzed using in vitro splice assays. RESULTS: Thirty-four ABCA4 variants previously identified in 16 STGD1 cases were reliably identified. In 155/411 probands (38%), two causal variants were identified. We identified 11 deep-intronic variants present in 62 alleles. Two known and two new noncanonical splice site variants showed splice defects, and one novel deep-intronic variant (c.4539+2065C>G) resulted in a 170-nt mRNA pseudoexon insertion (p.[Arg1514Lysfs*35,=]). CONCLUSIONS: smMIPs-based sequence analysis of coding and selected noncoding regions of ABCA4 enabled cost-effective mutation detection in STGD1 cases in previously unsolved cases.

Effect of energy consumption and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan with dynamic ARDL simulations approach.

Environmental degradations are mainly caused by the use of different energy resources for economic growth. This research examined the influence of energy consumption (coal consumption, oil consumption, and gas consumption) and economic growth on environmental degradation in Pakistan. This research used newly developed method dynamic ARDL simulations to scrutinize the actual influence of positive and negative change in the use of coal consumption, oil consumption, and gas consumption for energy and economic growth on environmental degradation in Pakistan. The examined results of dynamic ARDL indicate that economic growth, coal consumption, oil consumption, and natural gas consumption have positive impact on the environmental degradations in Pakistan both in short run and long run. It is suggested that environmental degradations can be reduced by promoting renewable energy sources for energy.

Impact of globalization, economic factors and energy consumption on CO2 emissions in Pakistan.

This research scrutinizes the impact of globalization, economic factors and energy consumption on CO2 emissions in Pakistan from 1971 to 2016 by utilizing dynamic ARDL simulations model Jordan and Philips (2018). Dynamic ARDL simulations model has capability to predict the actual positive and negative change in the independent variables and its effect on the dependent variable. The examined results of dynamic ARDL simulations indicates that Energy consumption, financial development, trade, foreign direct investment, economic globalization, social globalization and political globalization have positive effect on CO2 emissions in Pakistan while urbanization, economic growth and innovation have negative effect on CO2 emissions in Pakistan while in the short run the examined results of dynamic ARDL simulations indicate that energy consumption, urbanization, economic growth, financial development, economic globalization, social globalization and political globalization have positive effect on CO2 emissions in Pakistan while trade, innovation and foreign direct investment have negative effect on CO2 emissions. Based on the results of this study policy implications are suggested for Pakistan.

Targeted next generation sequencing reveals genetic defects underlying inherited retinal disease in Iranian families.

Purpose: Inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) are clinically and genetically heterogeneous showing progressive retinal cell death which results in vision loss. IRDs include a wide spectrum of disorders, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), cone-rod dystrophy (CRD), and Stargardt disease (STGD1). Methods: In this study, we performed targeted next-generation sequencing based on molecular inversion probes (MIPs) that allowed the sequence analysis of 108 IRD-associated genes in 50 Iranian IRD probands. Results: The sequencing and variant filtering led to the identification of putative pathogenic variants in 36 out of 50 (72%) probands. Among 36 unique variants, we identified 20 novel variants in 15 genes. Four out of 36 probands carry compound heterozygous variants, and 32 probands carry homozygous variants. Conclusions: Employing a cost-effective targeted next-generation sequencing procedure, we identified the genetic causes of different retinal disorders in the majority of Iranian families in this study.

DETERMINATION OF TENOXICAM IN THE PLASMA BY REVERSE PHASE HPLC METHOD USING SINGLE STEP EXTRACTION TECHNIQUE: A RELIABLE AND COST EFFECTIVE APPROACH.

A simple and cost effective RPLC-UV bio-analytical method was developed and used for tenoxicam quantification on ODS Hypersil C-18 column using classical liquid-liquid extraction technique for sample preparation. Acetonitrile was used as precipitating agent for plasma proteins and supernatant was taken for injection without any further modification. The bio-analytical method depends upon isocratic elution using binary mixture of aqueous 0.1 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate and acetonitrile in 6 : 4 ratio. The pH of mobile phase was adjusted to 2.8 which favor tenoxicam to remain undissociated throughout the analysis. The optimized flow rate of 1.0 mL/min provided proper separation of peaks and column clean up within 5 min. The UV detection was achieved at 381 nm and 4.29 min. Reproducible calibration curve gave 0.325 µg/mL LOQ, linear dynamic range from 0.325 to 20 µg/mL and recovery from plasma was 98.5% with %CV 0.2314 achieved. After validation, the method was applied in pharmacokinetic study in healthy human volunteers (n = 8). The pharmacokinetic parameters were evaluated using kinetica version 4.1.1. The values of C. and area under curve for current study were 1.776 ± 0.003 pg/mL and 179.97 ± 0.0681 (mean ± SEM) pg x h/mL. The values of t, and volume of distribution for tenoxicam in current study were 74.103 0.167 h (mean ± SEM) and 11.962 ± 0.0677 L/kg (mean ± SEM), respectively. This method was simple, sensitive and successfully applied in pharmacokinetic studies. It can be extended to bioequivalence studies and evaluation of tenoxicam in different clinical situations.

Biotoxicity assessment of pyrene in soil using a battery of biological assays.

A test battery, composed of a range of biological assays, was applied to evaluate the ecological health of soil aged for 69 days and spiked with a range of pyrene levels (1.04, 8.99, 41.5, 72.6, 136, and 399 µg g(-1) dry soil; Soxhlet-extracted concentrations after 69 days of aging). Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa), earthworm (Eisenia fetida), and bacteria (Vibrio fischeri) were used as test organisms to represent different trophic levels. Among the acute ecotoxicity bioassays used, the V. fischeri luminescence inhibition assay was the most sensitive indicator of pyrene toxicity. We observed >8 % light inhibition at the lowest concentration (1.04 µg g(-1)) pyrene, and this inhibition increased to 60 % at 72.6 µg g(-1). The sensitivity ranking for toxicity of the pyrene-contaminated soil in the present study was in the following decreasing order: root elongation of Chinese cabbage < earthworm mortality (14 days) < earthworm mortality (28 days) < luminescence inhibition (15 min) < luminescence inhibition (5 min). In addition, genotoxic effects of pyrene were also evaluated by using comet assay in E. fetida. The strong relationship between DNA damage and soil pyrene levels showed that comet assay is suitable for testing the genotoxicity of pyrene-polluted soil. In addition, tail moment was well correlated with soil pyrene levels (r (2) = 0.99). Thus, tail moment may be the most informative DNA-damage parameter representing the results of comet assay. Based on these results, the earthworm DNA damage assay and Microtox test are rapid and sensitive bioassays and can be used to assess the risk of soil with low to high levels of hydrocarbon pollution. Furthermore, an analysis of the toxic effects at several trophic levels is essential for a more comprehensive understanding of the damage caused by highly contaminated soil.

Assessment of phenanthrene bioavailability in aged and unaged soils by mild extraction.

It has become apparent that the threat of an organic pollutant in soil is directly related to its bioavailable fraction and that the use of total contaminant concentrations as a measure of potential contaminant exposure to plants or soil organisms is inappropriate. In light of this, non-exhaustive extraction techniques are being investigated to assess their appropriateness in determining bioavailability. To find a suitable and rapid extraction method to predict phenanthrene bioavailability, multiple extraction techniques (i.e., mild hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin (HPCD) and organic solvents extraction) were investigated in soil spiked to a range of phenanthrene levels (i.e., 1.12, 8.52, 73, 136, and 335 µg g( - 1) dry soil). The bioaccumulation of phenanthrene in earthworm (Eisenia fetida) was used as the reference system for bioavailability. Correlation results for phenanthrene suggested that mild HPCD extraction was a better method to predict bioavailability of phenanthrene in soil compared with organic solvents extraction. Aged (i.e., 150 days) and fresh (i.e., 0 day) soil samples were used to evaluate the extraction efficiency and the effect of soil contact time on the availability of phenanthrene. The percentage of phenanthrene accumulated by earthworms and percent recoveries by mild extractants changed significantly with aging time. Thus, aging significantly reduced the earthworm uptake and chemical extractability of phenanthrene. In general, among organic extractants, methanol showed recoveries comparable to those of mild HPCD for both aged and unaged soil matrices. Hence, this extractant can be suitable after HPCD to evaluate risk of contaminated soils.

Assessment of pyrene bioavailability in soil by mild hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin extraction.

Bioavailability of organic pollutants in soil is currently a much-debated issue in risk assessment of contaminated sites. Ecorisk of an organic pollutant in soil is strongly influenced by the properties of the soil and its contamination history. To evaluate the effect of aging on the availability of pyrene, earthworm (Eisenia fetida) accumulation and chemical extraction by exhaustive and nonexhaustive techniques in soil spiked with a range of pyrene levels (1.07, 9.72, 88.4, 152, and 429 µg g⁻¹ dry soil) were measured in this study using both unaged (i.e., 0 days) and aged (i.e., 69, 150, and 222 days) soil samples. The results showed that the amount of pyrene accumulated by earthworms did not change greatly with aging time under different high-dose contamination levels, but changed significantly at lower concentrations. Moreover, aging (after 222 days) significantly decreased biological and chemical availability of pyrene. Furthermore, the relationship between earthworm bioaccumulation, hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin (HPCD), and organic solvent extraction was investigated in order to find a suitable and rapid method to predict pyrene bioavailability. Results showed that, at different levels of pyrene, the mean values of earthworm uptake and HPCD extractability were 10-40% and 10-65%, respectively. Correlation (r² = 0.985) and extraction results for pyrene suggested that mild HPCD extraction was a better method to predict bioavailability of pyrene in soil compared with organic solvent extraction.