Assessment of Photosynthetic Pigments and Dust Load in Selected Avenue Plants of Saharanpur and Herbertpur Areas of India

The paper depicts impact of SO2, NO2, ozone and CO in chosen road plants of Saharanpur and Herbertpur regions in Indian dominion. Plant species falling in and around the area of modern territory and street side were chosen for examining purpose. Different morphological attributes and impact of business and vehicular residue on chlorophyll shade were contemplated and noticed the impact of residue molecule on development of the plant species (Ficus religiosa, Mangifera indica). In the examination the impacts of residue on chosen tree species was noticed and which will help in overseeing advancement of green belt to lessen the air contamination in the investigation area. Treatment with dust fundamentally expanded the fixation on leaves and the impacts were more extreme in significant degree of residue medicines. Contrasted with control, chlorophyll and porphyrin in substance were essentially diminished in the residue treated gatherings. This investigation propounds that business and vehicular residue statements affect photosynthetic shades, with broad impacts on development and improvement of plant

Effect of quinoa biomass and biocontrol fungi on expression of IPER gene in mung bean in Macrophomina phaseolina contaminated soil

Background: Mung bean is a pulse crop of economic significance, grown in Pakistan for its edible seeds. Its production is severely affected by Macrophomina phaseolina, a necrotrophic pathogen. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of different biocontrol fungi on expression of IPER gene in mung bean plants inoculated with M. phaseolina.Methods: Pot trials were carried out by adding different concentration of dry biomass of quinoa (DBQ) and six antagonistic fungi viz. Aspergillus flavipes, Aspergillus versicolor, Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium italicum, Trichoderma pseudokoningii and Trichoderma viride in M. phaseolina infected soils. After four weeks of germination of mung bean seeds, RNA was extracted from roots and leaves by using TRIzol method and cDNA was prepared by using SuperScriptTM IV First-Strand Synthesis Kit. IPER gene expression was studied on qRT-PCR and ACT was used as a housekeeping gene.Results: The expression of IPER gene was higher in positive control (only inoculated with M. phaseolina) than in negative control (no amendment). Moreover, 1 and 2% doses of DBQ showed slightly higher Ct values than in 3% dose where it was dropped down indicating the allelopathic stress of DBQ treated soils. The treatments either with sole application of antagonistic fungi or together with DBQ showed much higher Ct values indicating no stress at all.Conclusion: Plants only inoculated with M. phaseolina showed the highest disease incidence as compared to the negative control. The soils amended with DBQ and antagonistic fungi significantly alleviated the effect of M. phaseolina. The treatments with increased pathogen stress showed reduced Ct values and vice versa.Keywords: Biocontrol; IPER gene; Gene expression; Macrophomina phaseolina; Mung bean

Potential health-related phytoconstituents in leaves of Chenopodium quinoa

Background: Chenopodium quinoa Willd. or quinoa is an important food crop, having many pharmacological properties. It is recently introduced in Pakistan. In the present study, a phytochemical profile of its leaf extract was assessed through GC-MS analysis, and the health-related compounds were identified through a literature survey.Methods: Quinoa was grown in Lahore, Pakistan, and its leaves were collected at maturity, dried, ground, and extracted in methanol. GC-MS analysis of this extract was done that showed the presence of 30 compounds.Results: The most abundant compound was α-linolenic acid (12.13%), followed by n-hexadecanoic acid (11.51%), ergosta-5,7-dien-3-ol, (3β)- (10.99%), phytol (10.25%), and stigmast-7-en-3-ol, (3.beta.,5.alpha.,24S)- (7.33%). Moderately occurring compounds included DL-proline, 5-oxo-, methyl ester (6.01%), hydroxylamine, O-pentyl- (5.38%), neophytadiene (4.36%), 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (3.96%), 2-isopropoxyethyl propionate (3.84%), vitamin E (2.52%), and linolenic acid, methyl ester (2.46%). The remaining compounds were less abundant, having peak areas of less than 2%.Conclusion: Literature survey revealed that α-linolenic acid; n-hexadecanoic acid; phytol; squalene, vitamin E and linolenic acid, and methyl ester; present in leaf extract of quinoa possess various health-related properties such as antibacterial, antifungal, cardio-protective, anti-inflammatory, hypocholesterolemic, antihistaminic, antiandrogenic and antieczemic.                    Keywords: Amaranthaceae; Bioactive compounds; Leaf extract; Pakistan; Quinoa 

Exploring the effects of indole butyric acid (IBA) on in vitro growth of potato (Solanum tuberosum)

In this study the effect of different concentration of indole butyric acid (IBA) was examined on in vitro propagation of potato (Solanum tuberosum). Three doses of IBA (1 ml, 2 ml, and 3 ml) were applied in liquid medium to potato explants of Asterix variety. The main purpose of this study was to optimize the dosage of IBA that would develop the best results for potato micropropagation. The experiments were conducted at Gilgit Baltistan's Agriculture Lab. Various parameters such as number of roots, roots length, and total weight were measured after exposing Asterix explants to varying concentrations of IBA. All tests were conducted under aseptic conditions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for analyzing the collected data. Throughout the study period, the results indicated significant differences (p>0.05) in potato growth among different concentrations of IBA. Among the different treatments, the Asterix potato variety exhibited the longest root length (11.1 cm) treated with 1 mL of IBA compared to the other concentrations. The IBA dose of 1 ml also proved to be the most effective in promoting the number of roots (9) in the Asterix variety. In this experimentation, 1 ml of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) addition to the solution resulted in a major rise in the number of leaves (9) in Asterix plants. These findings have significant implications for future micropropagation and cultivation of potato plants. The ideal concentration of 1 ml of indole butyric acid (IBA) to promote root population can be used to develop effective and inexpensive protocols for in vitro potato propagation. © 2021 The Author(s

An evaluation of prescribing trends of antibiotics used in neonatal sepsis in a tertiary care hospital of Lahore, Pakistan

To find out commonly used antibiotic combinations in the management of neonatal sepsis, prevalence of early onset sepsis (EOS) and late onset sepsis (LOS) in a public sector tertiary care hospital of Lahore. Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome of bacteremia with systemic signs and symptoms of infection in the first 4 weeks of life. Neonatal sepsis is an important and common cause of morbidity and mortality in full term as well as preterm neonates. A retrospective observational study was conducted at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital of Lahore from September 2013 to November 2013. 50 cases of neonatal sepsis suspected on clinical grounds were included in this study. LOS was more prevalent (60%) as compared to EOS (40%). Three combinations of antibiotics were frequently being used. Combination of Amikacin, Ampicillin & Ceftazidime was the most frequently used (48%) followed by combination of Amikacin, Ampicillin and Cefotaxime (30%), and combination of Vancomycin with Meropenam (22%). High potency antibiotics were being used frequently with less reliance on performance of culture tests for definitive therapy selection

Mining scientific trends based on topics in conference call for papers

Ever since analyzing scientific topics and evolution of technology have become vital for researchers, academics, funding institutes and research administration departments, there is a crucial need to mine scientific trends to fill this appetite more rigorously. In this paper, we procured a novel Call for Papers (CFPs) dataset in order to analyze scientific evolution and prestige of conferences that set scientific trends using scientific publications indexed in DBLP. Using ACM CSS, 1.3 million publications that appear in 146 data mining conferences are mapped into different thematic areas by matching the terms that appear in publication titles with ACM CSS. In recent years, an attempt termed as Topic Detection and Tracking (TDT) [1] is made to find the solution for the problem of "well-awareness" on this dynamic data. As conference ranking has been made by different forums on the basis of mixed indicators1. ERA2 ranks Australia's higher education research institutions. The major contributions of this paper are as follows: (i) compilation of CFPs dataset, (ii) identification of topics and keywords from CFP corpus, and (iii) measure the impact of these extracted hot topics from CFPs

Fluorescent-based nanosensors for selective detection of a wide range of biological macromolecules: A comprehensive review

Thanks to their unique attributes, such as good sensitivity, selectivity, high surface-to-volume ratio, and versatile optical and electronic properties, fluorescent-based bioprobes have been used to create highly sensitive nano -biosensors to detect various biological and chemical agents. These sensors are superior to other analytical instrumentation techniques like gas chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis for being biodegradable, eco-friendly, and more economical, operational, and cost-effective. Moreover, several reports have also highlighted their application in the early detection of biomarkers associ-ated with drug-induced organ damage such as liver, kidney, or lungs. In the present work, we comprehensively overviewed the electrochemical sensors that employ nanomaterials (nanoparticles/colloids or quantum dots, carbon dots, or nanoscaled metal-organic frameworks, etc.) to detect a variety of biological macromolecules based on fluorescent emission spectra. In addition, the most important mechanisms and methods to sense amino acids, protein, peptides, enzymes, carbohydrates, neurotransmitters, nucleic acids, vitamins, ions, metals, and electrolytes, blood gases, drugs (i.e., anti-inflammatory agents and antibiotics), toxins, alkaloids, antioxidants, cancer biomarkers, urinary metabolites (i.e., urea, uric acid, and creatinine), and pathogenic microorganisms were outlined and compared in terms of their selectivity and sensitivity. Altogether, the small dimensions and capability of these nanosensors for sensitive, label-free, real-time sensing of chemical, biological, and pharma-ceutical agents could be used in array-based screening and in-vitro or in-vivo diagnostics. Although fluorescent nanoprobes are widely applied in determining biological macromolecules, unfortunately, they present many challenges and limitations. Efforts must be made to minimize such limitations in utilizing such nanobiosensors with an emphasis on their commercial developments. We believe that the current review can foster the wider incorporation of nanomedicine and will be of particular interest to researchers working on fluorescence tech-nology, material chemistry, coordination polymers, and related research areas

Novel Perspectives towards RNA-Based Nano-Theranostic Approaches for Cancer Management

In the fight against cancer, early diagnosis is critical for effective treatment. Traditional cancer diagnostic technologies, on the other hand, have limitations that make early detection difficult. Therefore, multi-functionalized nanoparticles (NPs) and nano-biosensors have revolutionized the era of cancer diagnosis and treatment for targeted action via attaching specified and biocompatible ligands to target the tissues, which are highly over-expressed in certain types of cancers. Advancements in multi-functionalized NPs can be achieved via modifying molecular genetics to develop personalized and targeted treatments based on RNA interference. Modification in RNA therapies utilized small RNA subunits in the form of small interfering RNAs (siRNA) for overexpressing the specific genes of, most commonly, breast, colon, gastric, cervical, and hepatocellular cancer. RNA-conjugated nanomaterials appear to be the gold standard for preventing various malignant tumors through focused diagnosis and delivering to a specific tissue, resulting in cancer cells going into programmed death. The latest advances in RNA nanotechnology applications for cancer diagnosis and treatment are summarized in this reviewComunidad de Madri