Climate and soil factors co-derive the functional traits variations in naturalized downy thorn apple (Datura innoxia Mill.) along the altitudinal gradient in the semi-arid environment.

Plant functional traits are consistently linked with certain ecological factors (i.e., abiotic and biotic), determining which components of a plant species pool are assembled into local communities. In this sense, non-native naturalized plants show more plasticity of morphological traits by adopting new habitat (an ecological niche) of the invaded habitats. This study focuses on the biomass allocation pattern and consistent traits-environment linkages of a naturalized Datura innoxia plant population along the elevation gradient in NW, Pakistan. We sampled 120 plots of the downy thorn apple distributed in 12 vegetation stands with 18 morphological and functional biomass traits during the flowering season and were analyzed along the three elevation zones having altitude ranges from 634.85 m to 1405.3 m from sear level designated as Group I to III identified by Ward's agglomerative clustering strategy (WACS). Our results show that many morphological traits and biomass allocation in different parts varied significantly (p < 0.05) in the pair-wise comparisons along the elevation. Likewise, all plant traits decreased from lower (drought stress) to high elevation zones (moist zones), suggesting progressive adaptation of Datura innoxia with the natural vegetation in NW Pakistan. Similarly, the soil variable also corresponds with the trait's variation e.g., significant variations (P < 0.05) of soil organic matter, organic carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus was recorded. The trait-environment linkages were exposed by redundancy analysis (RDA) that was co-drive by topographic (elevation, r = -0.4897), edaphic (sand, r = -0.4565 and silt, r = 0.5855) and climatic factors. Nevertheless, the influences of climatic factors were stronger than soil variables that were strongly linked with elevation gradient. The study concludes that D. innoxia has adopted the prevailing environmental and climatic conditions, and further investigation is required to evaluate the effects of these factors on their phytochemical and medicinal value.

Ecological factors affecting minerals and nutritional quality of "Dryopteris filix-mas (L.) Schott": an underutilized wild leafy vegetable in rural communities.

Dryopteris filix-mas (hereafter D. filix-mas), a wild leafy vegetable, has gained popularity among high mountain residents in the Hindukush-Himalaya region due to its exceptional nutritional profile, and their commercial cultivation also offers viable income alternatives. Nevertheless, besides phytochemicals with medicinal applications, ecological factors strongly affect their mineral contents and nutritional composition. Despite this, little has been known about how this wild fern, growing in heterogeneous ecological habitats with varying soil physiochemical properties and coexisting species, produces fronds with optimal mineral and nutritional properties. Given its nutritional and commercial significance, we investigated how geospatial, topographic, soil physiochemical characteristics and coexisting plants influence this widely consumed fern's mineral and nutrient content. We collected soil, unripe fern fronds, and associated vegetation from 27 D. filix-mas populations in Swat, NW Pakistan, and were analyzed conjointly with cluster analysis and ordination. We found that the fronds from sandy-loam soils at middle elevation zones exhibited higher nitrogen contents (9.17%), followed by crude fibers (8.62%) and fats (8.09%). In contrast, juvenile fronds from the lower and high elevation zones had lower moisture (1.26%) and ash (1.59%) contents, along with fewer micronutrients such as calcium (0.14-0.16%), magnesium (0.18-0.21%), potassium (0.72-0.81%), and zinc (12% mg/kg). Our findings indicated the fern preference for middle elevation zones with high organic matter and acidic to neutral soil (pH ≥ 6.99) for retaining higher nutritional contents. Key environmental factors emerged from RDA analysis, including elevation (r = -0.42), aspect (r = 0.52), P-3 (r = 0.38), K+ (r = 0.41), EC (r = 0.42), available water (r = -0.42), and field capacity (r = -0.36), significantly impacting fern frond's mineral accumulation and nutrient quality enhancement. Furthermore, coexisting plant species (r = 0.36) alongside D. filix-mas played a pivotal role in improving its mineral and nutritional quality. These findings shed light on the nutritional potential of D. filix-mas, which could help address malnutrition amidst future scarcity induced by changing climates. However, the prevalent environmental factors highlighted must be considered if the goal is to cultivate this fern on marginal lands for commercial exploitation with high mineral and nutrient yields in Hindukush-Himalaya.

Sub-genotypes of hepatitis C virus in the Middle East and North Africa: Patterns of distribution and temporal changes.

Infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains a considerable public health concern in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The objectives of this study were to analyze the HCV genotype (GT) and sub-genotype (SGT) distribution in the MENA region and to assess the temporal change in the number of sequences within the MENA region. All HCV molecular sequences collected in the MENA region had been retrieved from GenBank as of 1 August 2022. The number of HCV sequences retrieved was 6740 representing sequences from a total of 17 MENA countries with a majority from Iran (n = 1969, 29.2%), Egypt (n = 1591, 23.6%), Tunisia (n = 1305, 19.4%) and Saudi Arabia (n = 1085, 16.1%). The determination of GT/SGT was based on the NCBI genotyping and Blast tool. Genotype 1 (GT1) dominated infections in the MENA (n = 2777, 41.2%), followed by GT4 (n = 2566, 39.0%). Additionally, SGT4a (1515/6393, 23.7%) was the most common SGT in the MENA, and SGT4a was dominant in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, followed by SGT1b (n = 1308, 20.5%), which was dominant in Morocco and Tunisia, while SGT1a (n = 1275, 19.9%) was common in Iran, Iraq and Palestine. Furthermore, significant temporal increase in the number of HCV MENA sequences was observed. On the SGT level, specific patterns of HCV genetic diversity were seen in the MENA region, with the most common SGT being 4a, in addition to increasing the availability of HCV sequences in the MENA region.

Congregating Ag into γ-Bi2O3 coupled with CoFe2O4 for enhanced visible light photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin, Cr(VI) reduction and genotoxicity studies.

The work attempts to construct a highly effective γ-Bi2O3/CoFe2O4/Ag visible active photocatalyst for the enhanced degradation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) and Cr(VI) reduction. γ-Bi2O3/CoFe2O4/Ag photocatalyst was prepared by simple solid phase and co-precipitation methods. The nanosphere shaped CoFe2O4 photocatalyst are embedded on top of γ-Bi2O3 nanotriangle. The addition of Ag into γ-Bi2O3/CoFe2O4 heterojunction primitively facilitates the photocatalytic activity in higher rate. The quantitative analysis of photocatalyst possesses to have lower e-/h+ recombination rate compared to its counterparts. The prepared γ-Bi2O3/CoFe2O4/Ag photocatalyst showed 96.6% degradation of CIP in 220 min and 99.2% reduction of Cr(VI) in 120 min. Additionally, γ-Bi2O3/CoFe2O4/Ag showed outstanding recyclability and long-term stability with a degradation efficiency of 96.5% even after six cycles. The intermediate products formed were identified and the degradation pathway was elucidated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Total organic carbon measurement was carried over to assess the efficiency of complete degradation and the removal percentage was found to be 98%. The end product toxicity study towards bacteria was proven to have less toxicity level when compared to parent compound. Lastly, the genotoxicity of γ-Bi2O3/CoFe2O4/Ag photocatalyst was tested in Allium cepa and the results confirmed to have no cause of toxicity impacts. Overall, the work not only tends to provide a highly visible active γ-Bi2O3/CoFe2O4/Ag photocatalyst, but also attributes to have no further negative imprints in the environment.

Environmental and anthropogenic drivers of watercress (Nasturtium officinale) communities in char-lands and water channels across the Swat River Basin: implication for conservation planning.

Recent anthropogenic sources and excess usage have immensely threatened the communities and habitat ecology of this region's medicinally and economically significant crops. Therefore, our study aims to evaluate the community structure and related environmental characteristics sustaining Nasturtium officinale communities along the river basin (RB) in Northwest Pakistan, using the clustering procedure (Ward's method) and Redundancy analysis (RDA). From 340 phytosociological plots (34 × 10 = 340), we identified four ecologically distinct assemblages of N. officinale governed by different environmental and anthropogenic factors for the first time. The floristic structure shows the dominance of herbaceous (100%), native (77%), and annual (58.09%) species indicating relatively stable communities; however, the existence of the invasive plants (14%) is perturbing and may cause instability in the future, resulting in the replacement of herbaceous plant species. Likewise, we noticed apparent variations in the environmental factors, i.e., clay percentage (p = 3.1 × 10-5), silt and sand percentage (p< 0.05), organic matter (p< 0.001), phosphorus and potassium (p< 0.05), and heavy metals, i.e., Pb, Zn, and Cd (p< 0.05), indicating their dynamic role in maintaining the structure and composition of these ecologically distinct communities. RDA has also demonstrated the fundamental role of these factors in species-environment correlations and explained the geospatial variability and plants' ecological amplitudes in the Swat River wetland ecosystem. We concluded from this study that N. officinale communities are relatively stable due to their rapid colonization; however, most recent high anthropogenic interventions especially overharvesting and sand mining activities, apart from natural enemies, water deficit, mega-droughts, and recent flood intensification due to climate change scenario, are robust future threats to these communities. Our research highlights the dire need for the sustainable uses and conservation of these critical communities for aesthetics, as food for aquatic macrobiota and humans, enhancing water quality, breeding habitat, fodder crop, and its most promising medicinal properties in the region.

Spatial distribution of the four invasive plants and their impact on natural communities' dynamics across the arid and semi-arid environments in northwest Pakistan.

Introduction: Non-native species are globally successful invaders with negative impacts on vegetation communities' social, economic, and ecological values. Hence, the current research was carried out to assess the spatial distribution patterns and vegetative diversity of the four non-native species in severely invaded areas of the semi-arid parts of northern Pakistan. Methods: The research was conducted using data from 1065 plots spread across 165 sites. These sites represented habitats throughout Northern Province, such as farm countryside, highlands, and abandoned places in rural and urban areas. Results and discussion: The communities were floristically diverse, represented by 107 plant species, and dominated mainly by annual and perennial life forms with herbaceous habits. Similarly, the floristic structure shows significant variation tested by the χ2 test (P< 0.05) for plant status, life forms, life cycle, and habitat base distribution. In addition, the diversity indices show significant variation having the highest diversity in C-III (P. hysterophorus-dominated sites) and lowest in C-IV (S. marianum-dominated sites, i.e., primarily pure communities), indicating non-native species may increase or decrease site diversity. The diversity communities were further supported by higher quantities of soil nutrients, i.e., organic percentage (2.22 ± 0.04). Altitude, soil nutrients, and texture were shown to be the environmental factors most associated with communities that non-native species had invaded. Recommendation: It is recommended that relevant, additional soil and climatic parameters be integrated into species distribution models to improve our understanding of the ecological niches of different species and to make a collective approach for preserving and conserving native plant communities.

Synergistic visible light assisted photocatalytic degradation of p-chlorophenol and rifampicin from aqueous solution using a novel g-C3N4 quantum dots incorporated α-MoO3 nanohybrid - Mechanism, pathway and toxicity studies.

In this work, a simple g-C3N4 quantum dots enriched MoO3 nanohybrid was formulated for the synergistic photocatalytic degradation of an industrially active organic pollutant, p-chlorophenol (PCP) and a widely prescribed antibiotic, rifampicin (RIF). The nanohybrid was synthesised via a facile ultrasonic assisted hydrothermal method and characterized using various characterization analysis. The efficient Z-scheme charge transfer of the nanohybrid resulted in the elimination of 98% PCP and 89% RIF under visible light with a rate constant of 0.012 and 0.006 min-1 respectively. The photocatalysis was attributed to the formation of both hydroxyl (OH•) and superoxide (O2•-) radicals in the resulting nanohybrid. The intermediates formed in the course of reaction were estimated through gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy/mass spectroscopy (GC-MS/MS) analysis and a suitable degradation pathway was constructed. The structural stability and reusability of the nanohybrid was affirmed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis to outweigh the industrial potential of the catalyst, with 85% PCP and 80% RIF removal efficiency after six cycles of degradation. In addition, the mineralization of the pollutants was confirmed by total organic carbon analysis. Further, the toxicity of the drug and the formed intermediates was determined using ecological structure activity relationships (ECOSAR) software. On the whole, this work provides an excellent insight for the development of environment-friendly materials in a large scale for the degradation of water-based pollutants.

The Epigenesis of Salivary Glands Carcinoma: From Field Cancerization to Carcinogenesis.

Salivary gland carcinomas (SGCs) are a diverse collection of malignant tumors with marked differences in biological activity, clinical presentation and microscopic appearance. Although the etiology is varied, secondary radiation, oncogenic viruses as well as chromosomal rearrangements have all been linked to the formation of SGCs. Epigenetic modifications may also contribute to the genesis and progression of SGCs. Epigenetic modifications are any heritable changes in gene expression that are not caused by changes in DNA sequence. It is now widely accepted that epigenetics plays an important role in SGCs development. A basic epigenetic process that has been linked to a variety of pathological as well as physiological conditions including cancer formation, is DNA methylation. Transcriptional repression is caused by CpG islands hypermethylation at gene promoters, whereas hypomethylation causes overexpression of a gene. Epigenetic changes in SGCs have been identified, and they have been linked to the genesis, progression as well as prognosis of these neoplasms. Thus, we conduct a thorough evaluation of the currently known evidence on the involvement of epigenetic processes in SGCs.

Assessing lead and cadmium tolerance of Chenopodium ambrosioides during micropropagation: an in-depth qualitative and quantitative analysis.

The tolerance of Chenopodium ambrosioides to some heavy metals under in vitro environment was thoroughly investigated. A micropropagation protocol was developed to facilitate the mass production of plants and to identify metals-tolerant species for potential use in the restoration of polluted areas. Nodal explants exhibited callus formation when treated with N6-benzyladenin (BA) (1.5 mg/l) and a combination of BA/α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) at concentrations of 1.5/1.0 mg/l on the Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. The optimal shoot formation was achieved with the callus grown on a medium enriched with 1.5/1.0 mg/l BA/NAA, resulting in an impressive number (21.89) and length (11.79 cm) of shoots. The in vitro shoots were rooted using NAA (1.0 and 1.5 mg/l) and were acclimatized in pots with 71% survival rate. After standardizing micropropagation protocol, the in vitro shoots were subjected to various doses of lead nitrate (Pb(NO3)2 and cadmium chloride (CdCl2). Pb(NO3)2 and CdCl2 in the media let to a reduction in shoot multiplication, decreasing from 18.73 in the control group to 11.31 for Pb(NO3)2 and 13.89 for CdCl2 containing medium. However, Pb(NO3)2 and CdCl2 promoted shoot length from 5.61 in the control to 9.86 on Pb(NO3)2 and 12.51 on CdCl2 containing medium. In the case of Pb(NO3)2 treated shoots, the growth tolerance index (GTI) ranged from117.64% to 194.11%, whereas for CdCl2 treated shoots, the GTI ranged from 188.23% to 264.70%. Shoots treated with high level of Pb(NO3)2induced reddish-purple shoots, while a low level of Pb(NO3)2 induced shoots displayed both green and reddish-purple colors in the same explants. In CdCl2 treated culture, the toxic effects were narrow leaf lamina, elongated petiole and a dark reddish purple coloration. These findings highlight the remarkable potential of C. ambrosioides to maintain growth and organogenesis even in the presence Pb(NO3)2 and CdCl2 on the MS medium, indicating a high degree of metal tolerance.

Effectiveness of Anodal otDCS Following with Anodal tDCS Rather than tDCS Alone for Increasing of Relative Power of Intrinsic Matched EEG Bands in Rat Brains.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to determine whether (1) evidence is available of interactions between anodal tDCS and oscillated tDCS stimulation patterns to increase the power of endogenous brain oscillations and (2) the frequency matching the applied anodal otDCS's frequency and the brain's dominant intrinsic frequency influence power shifting during stimulation pattern sessions by both anodal DCS and anodal oscillated DCS. METHOD: Rats received different anodal tDCS and otDCS stimulation patterns using 8.5 Hz and 13 Hz state-related dominant intrinsic frequencies of anodal otDCS. The rats were divided into groups with specific stimulation patterns: group A: tDCS-otDCS (8.5 Hz)-otDCS (13 Hz); group B: otDCS (8.5 Hz)-tDCS-otDCS (13 Hz); group C: otDCS (13 Hz)-tDCS-otDCS (8.5 Hz). Acute relative power changes (i.e., following 10 min stimulation sessions) in six frequency bands-delta (1.5-4 Hz), theta (4-7 Hz), alpha-1 (7-10 Hz), alpha-2 (10-12 Hz), beta-1 (12-15 Hz) and beta-2 (15-20 Hz)-were compared using three factors and repeated ANOVA measurement. RESULTS: For each stimulation, tDCS increased theta power band and, above bands alpha and beta, a drop in delta power was observed. Anodal otDCS had a mild increasing power effect in both matched intrinsic and delta bands. In group pattern stimulations, increased power of endogenous frequencies matched exogenous otDCS frequencies-8.5 Hz or 13 Hz-with more potent effects in upper bands. The power was markedly more potent with the otDCS-tDCS stimulation pattern than the tDCS-otDCS pattern. SIGNIFICANCE: The findings suggest that the otDCS-tDCS pattern stimulation increased the power in matched intrinsic oscillations and, significantly, in the above bands in an ascending order. We provide evidence for the successful corporation between otDCS (as frequency-matched guidance) and tDCS (as a power generator) rather than tDCS alone when stimulating a desired brain intrinsic band (herein, tES specificity).