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Since December 2019, the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused world-wide turmoil in a short period of time, and the infection, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is spreading rapidly. AI-driven tools are used to identify Coronavirus outbreaks as well as forecast their nature of spread, where imaging techniques are widely used, such as CT scans and chest X-rays (CXRs). In this paper, motivated by the fact that X-ray imaging systems are more prevalent and cheaper than CT scan systems, a deep learning-based Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model, which we call Truncated Inception Net, is proposed to screen COVID-19 positive CXRs from other non-COVID and/or healthy cases. To validate our proposal, six different types of datasets were employed by taking the following CXRs: COVID-19 positive, Pneumonia positive, Tuberculosis positive, and healthy cases into account. The proposed model achieved an accuracy of 99.96% (AUC of 1.0) in classifying COVID-19 positive cases from combined Pneumonia and healthy cases. Similarly, it achieved an accuracy of 99.92% (AUC of 0.99) in classifying COVID-19 positive cases from combined Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, and healthy CXRs. To the best of our knowledge, as of now, the achieved results outperform the existing AI-driven tools for screening COVID-19 using the acquired CXRs, and proves the viability of using the proposed Truncated Inception Net as a screening tool.

Mung bean ( Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) is a nutritionally important short-duration legume widely cultivated across the globe. Its productivity is becoming limited in many biogeographic zones due to soil salinity. In the present study, a novel solid matrix priming (SMP) strategy using chitosan and nano-chitosan was evaluated to enhance salinity tolerance in mung beans. SMP-mediated nano-chitosan priming significantly improved germination kinetics, seedling vigour, and growth performance under moderate and high salinity by enabling controlled hydration and minimising imbibitional injury compared to hydro-priming. Biochemical profiling using Native PAGE revealed enhanced activities of α-amylase and other antioxidant isozymes, while SDS-PAGE coupled with Orbitrap high-resolution LC–MS identified differentially expressed proteins uniquely associated with nano-chitosan treatment. Targeted HR-LCMS analysis demonstrated salinity-responsive modulation of major secondary metabolites, including phenols and isoflavones, known for their antioxidant and stress-protective roles. Integrative STRING and Cytoscape analyses further indicated coordinated interactions between these metabolites and salt stress-responsive genes, reflecting comprehensive metabolic reprogramming for adaptation under salinity stress and thereby maintaining productivity. The present findings indicate nano-chitosan-based SMP as a cost-effective, biodegradable, and environmentally sustainable strategy for improving early-stage salt tolerance and metabolic resilience in mung bean.

Morus alba is one of the most important cultivated crop in Indian sub-continent contributing towards production of silk fibre that carries economic importance worldwide. Post harvest preservation of M. alba leaves is a challenging factor as decrease in concentration of essential metabolites that needed for silk gland development takes place. Decrease in chlorophyll, protein, sugar concentration and increase in accumulation of free radicals and ROS takes place at post harvest stage of preservation, putting negative impact on larval development indicated by high mortality rate. Silver nitrate and nanosilver solution acts as an effective preservative, enhances the activity of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants thereby reducing the harmful effect of accumulated free radicals and ROS. The effectiveness of nanosilver solution was found to be on the upper site without any significant difference than silver nitrate, as higher retention of primary metabolites like pigments, proteins, and sugar takes place. The impact of feeding nanosilver preserved leaves on silkworm was found on the positive trend as larval growth rate, cocoon weight, shell weight, effective rate of rearing was observed almost same to the larvae fed with fresh leaves.

Purpose The manner in which healthy humans interact with objects as they move them within the hand is essential for activities of everyday life. The present study aims to identify the most salient features of the complex interactions between the fingers of the hand and the object. Specifically, the study seeks to determine whether the force applied by a healthy person follows a natural trend throughout the movement, or if it varies from individual to individual. Results will potentially inform the design of therapies, surgeries, and the design of prosthetic and orthotic devices to restore function in patients with compromised hand function. Methods The joint angles of four healthy subjects were recorded by a magnetic motion tracking system along with the forces the hand was applying to an instrumented object. These were recorded as subjects moved the object from a pose with fingers outstretched toward the palm of the hand and back again. After the joint angles were extracted from the motion capture readings, principal component analysis was conducted on the joint angle-force space as well as the space consisting of the joint angles alone. Results Principal component analysis of the joint angle and force data revealed that the first two principal components explained over 90% of the variance. One of these principal components was associated with the curling motion of the fingers, and the other with the squeezing of the object. The curling motion was consistent from subject to subject, but the changes in gripping force over the course of the movement varied from individual to individual. Conclusion The study supports the notion that when conducting an in-hand manipulation of an object, the coupled motions of the fingers and the sequence of hand shapes follows a common trend across individuals. The force applied to the object, however, seems to be volitional on the part of the subject and does not seem to follow as a consequence of the hand movement.

In recent years, the investigation of quick, efficient, and green method of metal nanoparticles synthesis has gained considerable importance in various dimensions of nanotechnology. But there are certain limitations to this emerging interest assize, morphology, and bioactivity of nanoparticles produced through green synthesis often varies greatly corresponding to the specific condition of metallic precursor and reducing agent. Current study intends to explore optimum condition like concentration of metallic precursor, plant extract (PLX), their volumetric ratio during biogenic synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles (FeNPs) using aqueous extracts of mature tea leaves which is basically a waste product with no commercial importance and generally discarded after pruning of young leaves and buds. The study also deals with the characterization of nanoparticles synthesized at optimized condition, investigation of antimicrobial and antioxidant propensity of the same. The optimal reactant concentration for biosynthesis of FeNPs was claimed to be10 mM FeCl3, 100 mg/mL plant extract and volumetric ratio of FeCl3:PLX = 10:1. The FeNPs obtained through this route had a spherical to irregular morphology with crystalline nature, average TEM and hydrodynamic size of 13.09 and 75.25 nm, respectively, having a zeta potential value of + 46.2 mV indicating strong stability. Synthesized FeNPs was found to be effective against wide range of soil microbes with highest activity against gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli) than gram-positive bacteria. Biosynthesized nanoparticles showed dose dependent antioxidant activity against all the tested parameters with highest against DPPH and least active against nitric oxide.

Application of green chemistry towards phytosynthesis of nanoparticles has gained attention of environment friendly world due to its simple, rapid, stable, eco-friendly and cost-effective property. But there are limitations to this growing interest, as the dimension and geometry of nanoparticles produced through phytosynthesis often varies greatly. To overcome the problem, current study deals with the assessment of reducing effect of the plant extract at different light intensity, pH and temperatures. Current study reports that the optimal condition for phytosynthesis of silver nanoparticles was neutral pH (pH 7), 25 °C and diffuse light (230 lx). It was observed that rapid synthesis of silver nanoparticles takes place with increase in light intensity, alkalinity and temperature, as revealed by quick appearance of dark brown colouration on addition of extract. But rapid synthesis leads to the formation of large size particles with increase in polydispersity as revealed from TEM analysis and were found to be instable through zeta potential analysis. It was observed that at acidic pH nanosilver formation does not takes place, while at low temperature it takes more time for nanosilver formation, but both conditions were found to be unstable. Nanosilver formed at neutral pH and 25 °C under diffuse light gives the size dimension of 18.11 ± 2.55 and 18.94 ± 5.30 nm with zeta potential of + 36.4 and + 37.4 mV respectively indicating stability, besides that they were found to be stable under long storage condition as revealed by UV–Visible spectrophotometric analysis. Silver nanoparticles formed under optimized condition of pH 7 and at 25 °C were found to be bioactive as it showed potentiality to extend the shelf life of post harvest mulberry leaves by 7 days.

The purpose of the current study was to determine the appropriate genotype and concentration of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles effectual in preserving mulberry leaves at the postharvest stage. The preservative effect of silver nanoparticles was determined by their potentiality to prevent xylem blockage, chlorophyll content retention and inhibition of microbial proliferation within a preservative solution. For synthesizing silver nanoparticles, a blend of 10 −3  M silver nitrate and S1 genotype of the mulberry leaf was found to be most effective. Silver nanoparticles at 6 ppm were observed to be the least effective concentration for preserving mulberry leaves for at least 7 days at the postharvest stage, as evident from physical texture and retention of chlorophyll content. Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles showed negative microbial count during the course of preservation as evident from no colony-forming unit (CFU) until the last day of preservation, while conventional preservative silver nitrate showed traces of CFU on a nutrient agar plate. Besides, these leaves preserved in nanosilver solution showed an almost negligible number of xylem blockage in the petiole, almost equivalent to the blockage nature of fresh leaves caused by the deposition of macromolecules like protein, lignin and suberin. Nanosilver- and silver nitrate–preserved leaves also displayed insignificant accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and greater retention of membrane integrity than leaves preserved in normal distilled water. Nanosilver solution showed greater durability of preserving mulberry leaves than conventional floral preservative silver nitrate, useful for feeding silkworm larvae during the rainy season.

Present study deals with molecular expression patterns responsible for post-harvest shelf-life extension of mulberry leaves. Quantitative profiling showed retention of primary metabolite and accumulation of stress markers in NS7 and CO7 respectively. The leaf mRNA profiles was sequenced using the Illumina platform to identify DEGs. A total of 3413 DEGs were identified between the treatments. Annotation with Arabidopsis database has identified 1022 DEGs unigenes. STRING generated protein–protein interaction, identified 1013 DEGs nodes with p  < 1.0e−16. KEGG classifier has identified genes and their participating biological processes. MCODE and BiNGO detected sub-networking and ontological enrichment, respectively at p  ≤ 0.05. Genes associated with chloroplast architecture, photosynthesis, detoxifying ROS and RCS, and innate-immune response were significantly up-regulated, responsible for extending shelf-life in NS7. Loss of storage sucrose, enhanced activity of senescence-related hormones, accumulation of xenobiotics, and development of osmotic stress inside tissue system was the probable reason for tissue deterioration in CO7. qPCR validation of DEGs was in good agreement with RNA sequencing results, indicating the reliability of the sequencing platform. Present outcome provides a molecular insight regarding involvement of genes in self-life extension, which might help the sericulture industry to overcome their pre-existing problems related to landless farmers and larval feeding during monsoon.

The worldwide agriculture industry is facing increasing problems due to rapid population increase and increasingly unfavorable weather patterns. In order to reach the projected food production targets, which are essential for guaranteeing global food security, innovative and sustainable agricultural methods must be adopted. Conventional approaches, including traditional breeding procedures, often cannot handle the complex and simultaneous effects of biotic pressures such as pest infestations, disease attacks, and nutritional imbalances, as well as abiotic stresses including heat, salt, drought, and heavy metal toxicity. Applying phytohormonal approaches, particularly those involving hormonal crosstalk, presents a viable way to increase crop resilience in this context. Abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellins (GAs), auxin, cytokinins, salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene, and GA are among the plant hormones that control plant stress responses. In order to precisely respond to a range of environmental stimuli, these hormones allow plants to control gene expression, signal transduction, and physiological adaptation through intricate networks of antagonistic and constructive interactions. This review focuses on how the principal hormonal signaling pathways (in particular, ABA-ET, ABA-JA, JA-SA, and ABA-auxin) intricately interact and how they affect the plant stress response. For example, ABA-driven drought tolerance controls immunological responses and stomatal behavior through antagonistic interactions with ET and SA, while using SnRK2 kinases to activate genes that react to stress. Similarly, the transcription factor MYC2 is an essential node in ABA–JA crosstalk and mediates the integration of defense and drought signals. Plants’ complex hormonal crosstalk networks are an example of a precisely calibrated regulatory system that strikes a balance between growth and abiotic stress adaptation. ABA, JA, SA, ethylene, auxin, cytokinin, GA, and BR are examples of central nodes that interact dynamically and context-specifically to modify signal transduction, rewire gene expression, and change physiological outcomes. To engineer stress-resilient crops in the face of shifting environmental challenges, a systems-level view of these pathways is provided by a combination of enrichment analyses and STRING-based interaction mapping. These hormonal interactions are directly related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 2 (Zero Hunger), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 13 (Climate Action). This review emphasizes the potential of biotechnologies to use hormone signaling to improve agricultural performance and sustainability by uncovering the molecular foundations of hormonal crosstalk. Increasing our understanding of these pathways presents a strategic opportunity to increase crop resilience, reduce environmental degradation, and secure food systems in the face of increasing climate unpredictability.

Packaging across diverse sectors like food, FMCG products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and electronics predominantly relies on petroleum-based materials. These petroleum-based non-renewable resources significantly impact the environment throughout their life cycle, emitting polluting gases, demanding energy-intensive manufacturing, and causing air, water, and land pollution during disposal. These problems can be minimized by using eco-friendly materials such as materials made from natural fibres, and agricultural waste that is biodegradable in nature. Natural fibre-reinforced biocomposite materials have a high potential to be used in sustainable packaging applications due to their lower environmental impact compared to petroleum-based materials. However, the use of biocomposites is very limited in the packaging sector and growing exponentially. Recently, agriculture waste fibres have been used for the development of various biocomposites-based packaging. In this paper, prior work has been analysed to identify the impact associated with petroleum-based packaging materials, advantages and potential of natural fiber-reinforced biocomposites in the packaging sector, manufacturing techniques, recent development, challenges, and prospects have been discussed.