Thrips-transmitted tobacco streak virus: A growing biotic challenge in sunflower (Helianthus annuus) cultivation and adaptive management strategies in India

Sunflower farming is under serious threat due to necrosis disease, predominantly caused by Tobacco Streak Virus (TSV) and transmitted by thrips. Among the vectors, Thrips palmi have been identified as a major carrier of this devastating disease. A critical component in the epidemiology of sunflower necrosis is the bioecology of thrips. Their complex behaviour such as specialized feeding, rapid reproduction and efficient dispersal-enable swift population build-up and facilitate virus transmission. These dynamics, coupled with environmental factors like temperature and humidity, contribute to seasonal disease outbreaks. Effective management of sunflower necrosis disease requires a comprehensive and integrated approach. Key strategies include adjusting the sowing time to avoid peak thrips activity, cultivating TSV-resistant sunflower varieties and minimizing weed hosts that serve as virus reservoirs. Biological control through the application of plant growth-promoting microbial consortia offers an eco-friendly and sustainable method to suppress vector populations. Additionally, the judicious use of insecticides in combination with biocontrol agents can enhance disease suppression while reducing chemical dependency. Although sunflower necrosis has been extensively studied in regions like India, its global distribution, impact and economic consequences remain underexplored. There is an urgent need for expanded region-specific research to evaluate its prevalence and severity across diverse agroclimatic zones. Multidisciplinary efforts are essential to develop resilient cropping systems, advance vector management strategies and safeguard sunflower production under changing environmental conditions

Wetlands for wastewater treatment and subsequent recycling of treated effluent : a review

Due to water scarcity challenges around the world, it is essential to think about non-conventional water resources to address the increased demand in clean freshwater. Environmental and public health problems may result from insufficient provision of sanitation and wastewater disposal facilities. Because of this, wastewater treatment and recycling methods will be vital to provide sufficient freshwater in the coming decades, since water resources are limited and more than 70% of water are consumed for irrigation purposes. Therefore, the application of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation has much potential, especially when incorporating the reuse of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which are essential for plant production. Among the current treatment technologies applied in urban wastewater reuse for irrigation, wetlands were concluded to be the one of the most suitable ones in terms of pollutant removal and have advantages due to both low maintenance costs and required energy. Wetland behavior and efficiency concerning wastewater treatment is mainly linked to macrophyte composition, substrate, hydrology, surface loading rate, influent feeding mode, microorganism availability, and temperature. Constructed wetlands are very effective in removing organics and suspended solids, whereas the removal of nitrogen is relatively low, but could be improved by using a combination of various types of constructed wetlands meeting the irrigation reuse standards. The removal of phosphorus is usually low, unless special media with high sorption capacity are used. Pathogen removal from wetland effluent to meet irrigation reuse standards is a challenge unless supplementary lagoons or hybrid wetland systems are used

Crystal growth, surface morphology, mechanical and thermal properties of UV-nonlinear optical crystal: Mercury cadmium chloride thiocyanate (MCCTC) single crystal

Abstract Single crystal of mercury cadmium chloride thiocyanate (MCCTC) was grown by slow evaporation solvent method at ambient temperature (SEST) with a dimension of 10×5×5 mm3. The grown single-crystal’s structure and lattice constant, density and volume were estimated by using single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Additionally, the chemical etching and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis were used to investigate reverse growth and surface morphology. Moreover, the mechanical properties such as, hardness number, yield strength, Mayer index number, and stiffness constant were calculated by Vickers’s micro-hardness measurement. The thermal stability of grown single is stable up to 171 °C observed from TG-DSC, which reveals that the sample posses low thermal stability compared to other organometallic thiocyanate families of single crystals like MMTC(381°C), MFCTC (241°C) and ACCTC (247 °C). The non-linear optical study of second harmonic generation efficiency for MCCTC single crystal is 17 times superior to Urea.</jats:p

Role of substance P in cerebral edema and association with an estimated specific gravity of the brain and an outcome prediction in post-traumatic cerebral edema

Purpose: The study aims to evaluate the role of substance P in cerebral edema and outcomes associated with acute TBI. Method: Patients with acute TBI who presented within 6 h and a CT scan showed predominantly cerebral edema were included in the study. Substance P level was assessed from a serum sample collected within 6 h of trauma. We also evaluated the brain-specific gravity using the Brain View software. Result: A total of 160 (128 male) patients were recruited. The median serum substance P concentration was 167.89 (IQR: 101.09–238.2). Substance P concentration was high in the early hours after trauma (p = 0.001). The median specific gravity of the entire brain was 1.04. Patients with a low Glasgow coma scale (GCS) at admission had a high concentration of the substance P. In the univariate analysis, low GCS, elevated serum concentrations of substance P level, high Rotterdam grade, high cerebral edema grade, a high international normalized ratio value, and high blood sugar levels were associated with poor outcomes at six months. In logistic regression analysis, low GCS at admission, high cerebral edema grade, and elevated blood sugar level were strongly associated with poor outcomes at six months. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.884 (0.826–0.941). Conclusion: Serum substance P is strongly associated with the severity of cerebral edema after TBI. However, brain-specific gravity does not directly correlate with posttraumatic cerebral edema severity. Serum substance P does not influence the clinical outcome of traumatic brain injury