The role of strigolactone in alleviating salinity stress in chili pepper.

Salinity stress can significantly delay plant growth. It can disrupt water and nutrient uptake, reducing crop yields and poor plant health. The use of strigolactone can be an effective technique to overcome this issue. Strigolactone enhances plant growth by promoting root development and improvement in physiological attributes. The current pot study used strigolactone to amend chili under no salinity and salinity stress environments. There were four treatments, i.e., 0, 10µM strigolactone, 20µM strigolactone and 30µM strigolactone. All treatments were applied in four replications following a completely randomized design (CRD). Results showed that 20µM strigolactone caused a significant increase in chili plant height (21.07%), dry weight (33.60%), fruit length (19.24%), fruit girth (35.37%), and fruit yield (60.74%) compared to control under salinity stress. Significant enhancement in chili chlorophyll a (18.65%), chlorophyll b (43.52%), and total chlorophyll (25.09%) under salinity stress validated the effectiveness of 20µM strigolactone application as treatment over control. Furthermore, improvement in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium concentration in leaves confirmed the efficient functioning of 20µM strigolactone compared to other concentrations under salinity stress. The study concluded that 20µM strigolactone is recommended for mitigating salinity stress in chili plants. Growers are advised to apply 20µM strigolactone to enhance their chili production under salinity stress.

Enhancing maize growth through the synergistic impact of potassium enrich biochar and spermidine.

Maize cultivated for dry grain covers approximately 197 million hectares globally, securing its position as the second most widely grown crop worldwide after wheat. Although spermidine and biochar individually showed positive impacts on maize production in existing literature, their combined effects on maize growth, physiology, nutrient uptake remain unclear and require further in-depth investigation. That's why a pot experiment was conducted on maize with spermidine and potassium enriched biochar (KBC) as treatments in Multan, Pakistan, during the year 2022. Four levels of spermidine (0, 0.15, 0.30, and 0.45mM) and two levels of potassium KBC (0 and 0.50%) were applied in completely randomized design (CRD). Results showed that 0.45 mM spermidine under 0.50% KBC caused significant enhancement in maize shoot length (11.30%), shoot fresh weight (25.78%), shoot dry weight (17.45%), root length (27.95%), root fresh weight (26.80%), and root dry weight (20.86%) over control. A significant increase in maize chlorophyll a (50.00%), chlorophyll b (40.40%), total chlorophyll (47.00%), photosynthetic rate (34.91%), transpiration rate (6.51%), and stomatal conductance (15.99%) compared to control under 0.50%KBC validate the potential of 0.45 mM spermidine. An increase in N, P, and K concentration in the root and shoot while decrease in electrolyte leakage and antioxidants also confirmed that the 0.45 mM spermidine performed more effectively with 0.50%KBC. In conclusion, 0.45 mM spermidine with 0.50%KBC is recommended for enhancing maize growth.

Efficacy of ZnO nanoparticles in Zn fortification and partitioning of wheat and rice grains under salt stress.

Zinc (Zn) deficiency is a major health concern in developing countries due to dependency on cereal based diet. Cereals are inherently low in Zn and inevitable use of stressed land has further elevated the problem. The aim of current research was to improve wheat and rice grains grain Zn concentration grown in saline soils through zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) due to their perspective high availability. The ZnO-NPs were prepared by co-precipitation method and characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Two separate pot experiments for wheat and rice were conducted to check the relative effectiveness of ZnO-NPs compared to other bulk Zn sources i.e., zinc sulphate heptahydrate (ZnSO4·7H2O) and ZnO. Results showed that salt stress negatively impacted the tested parameters. There was a significant (p ≤ 0.05) improvement in growth, salt tolerance, plant Zn uptake and grain Zn concentrations by Zn application through Zn sources. The ZnO-NPs showed maximum improvement in crops parameters as compared to other sources due to their higher uptake and translocation in plants under both normal and stressed soil conditions. Thus, ZnO nanoparticles proved to be more effective for grain Zn fortification in both tested wheat and rice crops under normal and saline conditions.

Diabetic Ketoacidosis in an Euglycemic Patient.

Diabetes is a common disease, and the number of patients is increasing every year. We report a case of a 34-year-old man with a history of diabetes mellitus (diagnosed at eight years old) and was on treatment with tablet glimepride with poor compliance. The patient sought consultation due to vomiting and abdominal pain 12 hours after onset along with burning micturition for four days. His initial blood sugar random (BSR) level was 84 mg/dL. Further lab tests revealed pH: 7.14, bicarbonate: 6.4 mEq/dL, sodium: 141, potasium: 3.8, chloride: 107, PO2: 115, PCO2: 19.4, serum amylase: 51, base excess (BE): -21.3 mmol/L, and positive ketonemia, i.e. 1.39. He was reanimated with parenteral crystalloids and insulin infusion. Eventually with subsequent arterial blood gases (ABGs) and ketones, the patient got better and was eventually declared to be out of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and later discharged. There are very less studies done on euglycemic DKA (eu-DKA); so many physicians fail to diagnose the patients properly and they fall into the invisible cases chunk.

Dechlorane Plus as an emerging environmental pollutant in Asia: a review.

Dechlorane Plus (DP) is an unregulated, highly chlorinated flame retardant. It has been manufactured from past 40 years but its presence in the environment was initially reported in 2006. Later, it has been found in various biotic and abiotic environmental matrices. However, little attention has been paid to monitor its presence in Asia. Many studies have reported the occurrence of DP in the environment of Asia, yet the data are scarce, and studies are limited to few regions. The objective of present review is to summarize the occurrence, distribution, and toxicity of this ubiquitous pollutant in various environmental matrices (biotic and abiotic). DP has also been reported in the areas with no emission sources, which proves its long-range transport. Moreover, urbanization and industrialization also affect the distribution of DP, i.e., high levels of DP have been found in urban areas relative to the rural. Tidal movement also incorporates in transport of DP across the aquatic system. Further, bioaccumulation trend of DP in various tissues is kidney > liver > muscle tissues, whereas, blood brain barrier resists its accumulation in brain tissues. Additionally, gender-based accumulation trends revealed high DP levels in females in comparison to males due to strong metabolism of males. Furthermore, methodological aspects and instrumental analysis used in previous studies have also been summarized here. However, data on biomagnification in aquatic ecosystem and bioaccumulation of DP in terrestrial food web are still scarce. Toxicity behavior of syn-DP and anti-DP is still unknown which might gain the interest for future studies.

Biosorption of heavy metals by Pseudomonas species isolated from sugar industry.

Heavy metal-resistant bacteria can be efficient bioremediators of metals and may provide an alternative or additional method to conventional methods of metal removal. In this study, 10 bacterial isolates were isolated from soil samples of a sugar industry, located at Peshawar, Pakistan. Morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of these isolates were observed. Sequence analysis (16S ribosomal RNA) revealed that isolated strains were closely related to the species belonging to the genera Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter, Exiguobacterium, Citrobacter, and Enterobacter Bacterial isolates were resistant with a minimum inhibitory concentration (500-900 ppm) to lead ion (Pb(2+)), (500-600 ppm) nickel ion (Ni(2+)), (500-800 ppm) copper ion (Cu(2+)), and (600-800 ppm) chromium ion (Cr(3+)) in solid media. Furthermore, biosorption of metals proved considerable removal of heavy metals by isolated metal-resistant strains. Pseudomonas sp. reduced 37% (Pb(2+)), 32% (Ni(2+)), 29% (Cu(2+)), and 32% (Cr(3+)) and was thus found to be most effective, whereas Enterobacter sp. reduced 19% (Pb(2+)), 7% (Ni(2+)), 14% (Cu(2+)), and 21% (Cr(3+)) and was found to be least effective. While average reduction of Pb(2+), Ni(2+), Cu(2+), and Cr(3+) by Citrobacter sp. was found to be 24%, 18%, 23%, and 27%, respectively, among recognized species. This study revealed that Pseudomonas sp. may provide a new microbial community that can be used for enhanced remediation of contaminated environment.