Explore the vast range of titles available.

Sustainable bitter gourd production requires optimising the combined organic and inorganic nutrient management. Hence, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of combined organic and inorganic nutrient amendments on bitter gourd productivity, quality, nutrient use efficiency, soil microbial activity, soil health, and profitability. Treatments were T : control, T : recommended dose of inorganic N-P-K-S-Zn-B at 120-40-85-20-3-2 kg · ha , T : 5 t · ha vermicompost (VC) + 50% of NPKSZnB, T : 2.5 t · ha poultry manure (PM) + 50% of NPKSZnB, T : 5 t · ha VC + 75% of NPKSZnB, T : 2.5 t · ha PM + 75% of NPKSZnB, T : 5 t · ha cow dung (CD) + 75% of NPKSZnB, T : 5 t · ha VC + 5 t · ha CD + 50% of NPKSZnB, and T : 5 t · ha VC + 5 t · ha CD + 25% of NPKSZnB. Integrating 5 t · ha VC + 5 t · ha CD with 50% of NPKSZnB fertiliser (T ) significantly boosted the bitter gourd fresh fruit yield (13.1 t · ha ), a 192% higher over control, with larger fruits, higher fruit count, and greater vine length. Treatment T also excelled in vitamin C (77.6 mg · 100 g ), β-carotene (122 mcg · 100 g ), protein (18.1%), moisture content (93.4%), and total soluble solids (4.0°Brix), alongside enhanced nutrient uptake, soil health, robust microbial populations, and economic returns (4552 US$ · ha ). Treatment T exhibited the highest agronomic and removal efficiencies for key nutrients. Therefore, combined application of 5 t · ha VC + 5 t · ha CD with 50% of NPKSZnB fertiliser offer a promising approach for sustainable bitter gourd production. This method not only boosts yield and quality but also improves soil health and minimises environmental risks through reducing chemical fertiliser use.

The increasing frequency and intensity of drought caused by climate change necessitate the implementation of effective ways to increase the ability of wheat to withstand drought, with humic acid being a promising approach. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted to determine the efficacy of exogenous humic acid on wheat under water deficit stress via a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The impacts of four growing conditions, i.e., well water (65% field capacity), water deficit stress (35% field capacity), soil application of humic acid (44 mg kg−1 soil) under water deficit stress and foliar feeding of humic acid (200 ppm) under water deficit stress, were investigated on two wheat varieties (BWMRI Gom 1 and BWMRI Gom 3). The results demonstrated that water deficit stress substantially decreased the studied morphological and physiological traits, yield components and yield, in both genotypes, with the exception of the proline content of flag leaves. Compared with soil application, foliar feeding of humic acid promoted the ability of wheat to overcome stress conditions better. In the present study, humic acid as a soil application increased the grain yield by 9.13% and 13.86% and the biological yield by 9.94% and 5.19%, whereas foliar treatment increased the grain output by 24.76% and 25.19% and the biological yield by 19.23% and 6.50% in BWMRI Gom 1 and BWMRI Gom 3, respectively, under water deficit stress. Therefore, exogenous foliar humic acid treatment was more effective than soil application in alleviating the effects of drought stress on wheat.

The pandemic threat of COVID-19 has severely destroyed human life as well as the economy around the world. Although, the vaccination has reduced the outspread, but people are still suffering due to the unstable RNA sequence patterns of SARS-CoV-2 which demands supplementary drugs. To explore novel drug target proteins, in this study, a transcriptomics RNA-Seq data generated from SARS-CoV-2 infection and control samples were analyzed. We identified 109 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that were utilized to identify 10 hub-genes/proteins (TLR2, USP53, GUCY1A2, SNRPD2, NEDD9, IGF2, CXCL2, KLF6, PAG1 and ZFP36) by the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. The GO functional and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses of hub-DEGs revealed some important functions and signaling pathways that are significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections. The interaction network analysis identified 5 TFs proteins and 6 miRNAs as the key regulators of hub-DEGs. Considering 10 hub-proteins and 5 key TFs-proteins as drug target receptors, we performed their docking analysis with the SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease-guided top listed 90 FDA approved drugs. We found Torin-2, Rapamycin, Radotinib, Ivermectin, Thiostrepton, Tacrolimus and Daclatasvir as the top ranked seven candidate drugs. We investigated their resistance performance against the already published COVID-19 causing top-ranked 11 independent and 8 protonated receptor proteins by molecular docking analysis and found their strong binding affinities, which indicates that the proposed drugs are effective against the state-of-the-arts alternatives independent receptor proteins also. Finally, we investigated the stability of top three drugs (Torin-2, Rapamycin and Radotinib) by using 100 ns MD-based MM-PBSA simulations with the two top-ranked proposed receptors (TLR2, USP53) and independent receptors (IRF7, STAT1), and observed their stable performance. Therefore, the proposed drugs might play a vital role for the treatment against different variants of SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Some recent studies showed that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) disease might stimulate each other through the shared genes. Therefore, in this study, an attempt was made to explore common genomic biomarkers for SARS-CoV-2 infections and IPF disease highlighting their functions, pathways, regulators and associated drug molecules. At first, we identified 32 statistically significant common differentially expressed genes (cDEGs) between disease (SARS-CoV-2 and IPF) and control samples of RNA-Seq profiles by using a statistical r-package (edgeR). Then we detected 10 cDEGs (CXCR4, TNFAIP3, VCAM1, NLRP3, TNFAIP6, SELE, MX2, IRF4, UBD and CH25H) out of 32 as the common hub genes (cHubGs) by the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. The cHubGs regulatory network analysis detected few key TFs-proteins and miRNAs as the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators of cHubGs. The cDEGs-set enrichment analysis identified some crucial SARS-CoV-2 and IPF causing common molecular mechanisms including biological processes, molecular functions, cellular components and signaling pathways. Then, we suggested the cHubGs-guided top-ranked 10 candidate drug molecules (Tegobuvir, Nilotinib, Digoxin, Proscillaridin, Simeprevir, Sorafenib, Torin 2, Rapamycin, Vancomycin and Hesperidin) for the treatment against SARS-CoV-2 infections with IFP diseases as comorbidity. Finally, we investigated the resistance performance of our proposed drug molecules compare to the already published molecules, against the state-of-the-art alternatives publicly available top-ranked independent receptors by molecular docking analysis. Molecular docking results suggested that our proposed drug molecules would be more effective compare to the already published drug molecules. Thus, the findings of this study might be played a vital role for diagnosis and therapies of SARS-CoV-2 infections with IPF disease as comorbidity risk.

The main objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of yogurt supplementation on fat deposition, oxidative stress, inflammation and fibrosis in the liver of rats with high-fat (HF) diet-induced obesity. Male Wistar rats were used in this study and were separated into the following four different groups: the control, control + yogurt, high fat and high fat+ yogurt groups. The high fat groups received a HF diet for eight weeks. A 5% yogurt (w/w) supplement was also provided to rats fed the HF diet. Yogurt supplementation prevented glucose intolerance and normalized liver-specific enzyme activities in the HF diet-fed rats. Yogurt supplementation also significantly reduced the levels of oxidative stress markers in the plasma and liver of HF diet-fed rats. Moreover, inflammatory cell infiltration, collagen deposition and fibrosis in the liver of HF diet-fed rats were also prevented by yogurt supplementation. Furthermore, yogurt supplementation normalized the intestinal lining and brush border in HF diet-fed rats. This study suggests that yogurt supplementation potentially represents an alternative therapy for the prevention of metabolic syndrome in HF diet-fed rats.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, while the existing treatments primarily focus on alleviating symptoms rather than addressing the underlying pathophysiology. Seeking a safer alternative, the study explores the potential of Piper chaba Hunter as a promising drug lead for AD by eliciting the major signaling pathway, key players, and their interaction with phytochemicals from the plant extract. Initially, the phytochemicals in the P. chaba crude extract were identified using GC‐MS, and their physicochemical properties were verified using SwissADME. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) and signaling pathways–target proteins–compounds (STC) networks were analyzed to dig out target proteins and effective compounds for AD based on rigorous screening. Approximately 60 target proteins that interacted with GC‐MS‐identified compounds underwent PPI and STC networking which identified five compounds, a signaling pathway, and three target proteins with therapeutic potential. Three compounds, namely, bicyclo[7.2.0]undec‐4‐ene, 4,11,11‐trimethyl‐8‐methylene‐,[1R‐(1R∗,4Z,9S∗)], 2‐methoxybenzoic acid, 2,3‐dichlorophenyl ester, and (E)‐3‐butylidene‐4,5‐dihydroisobenzofuran‐1(3H)‐one, have the potential to modulate PTGS2, PLA2G4A, and CYP2C19 within metabolic signaling pathway, thus serving as promising therapeutic agents. Moreover, the drug likeliness and efficacy of those phytochemicals were justified by molecular docking tests (MDTs), molecular dynamics simulations (MDSs), and quantum chemistry analyses, which confirmed their ability to inhibit key targets to mitigate AD‐associated pathology.

This study investigates the effect and mechanisms of low pressure dielectric barrier discharge (LPDBD) produced with Ar/O 2 and Ar/Air technique causing biological stimulation leading to improved germination and growth in wheat. Both plasma treatments caused rougher and chapped seed surface along with noticeable improvement in seed germination in wheat. Beside this, seed H 2 O 2 concentration significantly increased compared to controls subjected to Ar/O 2 and Ar/Air while this phenomenon was more pronounced due to Ar/Air plasma. Analysis of plants grown from the plasma treated seeds showed significant improvement in shoot characteristics, iron concentration, total soluble protein and sugar concentration in comparison with the controls more efficiently due to Ar/O 2 plasma than that of Ar/Air. Further, none of the plasma treatments caused membrane damage or cell death in root and shoot of wheat. Interestingly, Ar/O 2 treated plants showed a significant increase (2-fold) of H 2 O 2 compared to controls in both root and shoot, while Ar/Air plasma caused no changes in H 2 O 2 . This phenomenon was supported by the biochemical and molecular evidence of SOD, APX and CAT in wheat plants. Plants derived from Ar/O 2 treated seeds demonstrated a significant increase in SOD activity and TaSOD expression in roots of wheat, while APX and CAT activities along with TaCAT and TaAPX expression showed no significant changes. In contrast, Ar/Air plasma caused a significant increase only in APX activity in the shoot. This suggests that Ar/O 2 plasma caused a slight induction in H 2 O 2 accumulation without triggering the H 2 O 2 scavengers (APX and CAT) and thus, efficiency affect growth and development in wheat plants. Further, grafting of control and Ar/O 2 treated plants showed a significant increase in shoot biomass and H 2 O 2 concentration in grafts having Ar/O 2 rootstock regardless of the type scion attached to it. It indicates that signal driving Ar/O 2 plasma mediated growth improvement in wheat is possibly originated in roots. Taken together, this paper delivers new insight into the mechanistic basis for growth improvement by LPDBD technique.

Soil organic carbon (OC) is one of the most important soil components regulating soil quality, fertility and agronomic productivity as well as the global carbon (C) cycle. Soil acts as a sink for global C, which can be influenced by the water regime and organic matter (OM) management in field. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the application of different organic amendments on C sequestration in paddy soils under contrasting irrigation regimes. A 4-month pot experiment was conducted under net house conditions and the treatments were composed of two organic amendments: rice straw (RS) and poultry manure (PM); four application rates of amendment: 0 g (control), 2.5 g, 5.0 g and 15.0 g kg−1 soil; and two irrigation regimes: (i) continuous waterlogging condition (CWL) and (ii) alternate wetting and drying (AWD). After the incubation period, soil samples were collected from the pot and isolated into labile (>53 µm) and mineral-associated (<53 µm) OM. Bulk (before and after incubation) and fractionated soil samples were analyzed for OC, total nitrogen (N), C:N ratio; and C sequestration percentage was calculated. Relatively higher amounts of soil OC were present in CWL condition (1.23%) than AWD (1.13%). The C sequestration potential also showed the similar trend (CWL: 47% > AWD: 35%). This was explained by the induced aerobic condition in between the anerobic condition in AWD and the continuous anaerobic condition in CWL which resulted in a difference in OM decomposition. The mineral-associated OM fraction (<53 µm) was higher in the CWL condition than AWD condition which also indicated the importance of the chemical stabilization of OC (OC bound to minerals) in the CWL condition. The application of PM led to a significant increase (45%) in C sequestration potential than RS (37%). This could be attributed to C:N ratio and probable biochemical composition of amendments which resulted in lower decomposability of PM than RS, and also in line with the higher distribution of OC in mineral-bound OM than labile fraction. The application of higher organic amendments did not increase OC content, and declined C sequestration potential in soils as the microbial activity presumably did not match with the amendment amount. Overall, C sequestration potential was higher with 5 g PM kg−1 soil application under CWL-irrigated paddy soil. The findings indicated the need to pay more attention to the selection of the proper type and rate of organic amendments for higher C sequestration in soil under a specific irrigation system for sustainable agriculture.

Plastic pollution has reached an alarming magnitude, defining the contemporary era as the \"Plastic Age.\" Uncontrolled plastic production and inadequate recycling processes have led to widespread contamination of the environment with micro and nanoplastics. The study aims to assess the environmental and human health consequences of exposure to microplastic particles (MPs) and their additives among plastic recycling workers in Dhaka. Specifically, it focuses on mapping the management pathways of plastic waste from collection to disposal, analyzing the types of MPs in the environment, and assessing the potential health impacts on plastic recycling workers. A cross-sectional exploratory study design was used, consisting of exposed and nonexposed groups in plastic recycling sites in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The study will establish possible associations between different health consequences and microplastic particle exposure with a systematic approach involving plastic recycling hot spot detection, management pathway mapping, and detecting the presence of environmental MP. MPs and heavy metals will be detected from environmental samples using fluorescence microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Human exposure will be assessed by detecting the metabolites of bisphenol and phthalates from urine samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and thoroughly evaluating endocrine, reproductive, respiratory, and renal functions. The sample size was derived from the mean concentrations of urinary bisphenol and phthalates metabolites, requiring the participation of 168 respondents. A 1:1 exposure to nonexposed stratification would be sufficient to meet our study objectives, considering the conventional level of power and confidence interval. This study protocol (PR#22111) has received approval from the Research Review Committee and Ethical Review Committee of the icddr,b. The project was funded in August 2022. We started collecting environmental samples in January 2023 and completed participant enrollment, exposure survey, and biological sample collection by December 2023. We enrolled 84 adult plastic recycling workers with at least 5 years of exposure history and 84 nonexposed participants who were not involved with plastic recycling activities. Data analysis is currently underway, and the first results are expected to be submitted for publication in November 2024. The findings would provide valuable insights into the adverse impacts of microplastic pollution on both the environment and human health, aiding in better understanding the extent of the issue. DERR1-10.2196/60289.

Bangladesh has a huge potential for utilizing renewable energy with the availability of sources for solar, wind, hydro, and biogas. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential for renewable energy sources and predicts optimal sites for renewable plant implementation in Bangladesh. A country-wise mapping approach is followed by validation of prediction using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) known as the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) which will aid in the planning and execution of Bangladesh’s upcoming expansion of renewable farms and will also be a useful tool for policymakers. Moreover, an economic analysis for 50 MW solar and wind power plant has been presented to estimate the levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) of the system and society. This work predicts the enormous potential for the expansion of renewable energy by assessing the appropriate future sites, economic viability, and provides several suggestions on the basis of the analysis from Bangladesh’s perspective.