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Entomopathogenic fungi Metarhizium species are generally employed to manage the soil-dwelling stage of insect pests, and are known for their rhizocompetency property. Since this fungus is typically recommended for use in soil, it could potentially be investigated as a bioinoculant to reduce abiotic stress, such as salinity, along with improved plant growth promotion. Salt stress tolerance potential of native Metarhizium isolates was evaluated based on mycelial fresh weight, dry weight, and spore yield. All the isolates were found to tolerate NaCl concentrations (50 mM, 100 mM, 150 mM, 200 mM, 250 mM, and 300 mM) supplemented in the culture medium. Metarhizium anisopliae (AAUBC-M15) and Metarhizium pinghaense (AAUBC-M26) were found to be effective at tolerating NaCl stress up to 200 mM NaCl. These two isolates were analyzed in vitro for plant growth-promoting traits at elevated salt concentrations (100 and 200 mM NaCl). No significant effect on IAA production was reported with the isolate M. pinghaense (AAUBC-M26) (39.16 µg/mL) or in combination with isolate M. anisopliae (AAUBC-M15) (40.17 µg/mL) at 100 mM NaCl (38.55 µg/mL). The salinity stress of 100 mM and 200 mM NaCl had a significant influence on the phosphate solubilization activity, except in the co-inoculation treatment at 100 mM NaCl. The isolates were positive for ACC deaminase enzyme activity. An increase in salt concentration was accompanied by a steady and significant increase in chitinase enzyme activity. Total phenolics (149.3 µg/mL) and flavonoids (79.20 µg/mL) were significantly higher in the culture filtrate of Metarhizium isolates at 100 mM NaCl, and gradual decline was documented at 200 mM NaCl. M. pinghaense (AAUBC-M26) proved to be promising in reducing the salt stress in tomato seedlings during the nursery stage. In the pot culture experiment, the treatment comprising soil application + seedling root dip + foliar spray resulted in improved growth parameters of the tomato plant under salt stress. This study shows that Metarhizium, a fungus well known for controlling biotic stress brought on by insect pests, can also help plants cope with abiotic stress, such as salinity.

Increasing uses of nutrients have played a major role in increasing the food supply to a continually growing world population. However, excessive use of chemical fertilizers results in significant losses, inefficient utilization, and nutritional imbalance. However, poor soil management, inadequate nutrient application, and extreme weather conditions have all contributed to soil degradation. Prudent usage of integrated nutrient management (INM) is the greatest alternative to provide nutrients to crop needs and enhance soil conditions to repair the soil's nutrient depletion. To examine the impact of INM on the yield of rabi maize (Zea mays L.) and its lasting effects on succeeding summer sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) under irrigated conditions during 2019–2020 to 2021–2022 at College Agronomy Farm, Bansilal Amrutlal (B. A.) College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India, a field trial was conducted on loamy sand soil of Agro‐Climatic Zone–XIII, Gujarat Plains, and Hills region, India. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with 3 replications and 12 treatments. The improved growth, yield, and protein content of the maize crop were obtained by the application of 75% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) + 25% recommended dose of nutrient (RDN) through vermicompost + nitrogen–phosporus–potassium (NPK) consortium (soil application). In the subsequent sesame crop, residual effects of 75% RDF + 25% RDN through farm yard manure (FYM) + NPK consortium (soil application) together with 50% RDF (50:25:00 NPK kg/ha) were reported, which led to higher crop growth and yield. Under the conditions of middle Gujarat, the application of 75% RDF + 25% RDN through the FYM + NPK consortium (soil application) led to a greater system net realization in the maize–sesame sequence. Core Ideas Adequate fertilizer application confines nutrient leaching, volatilization and improves nutrient use efficiency. As the succeeding crop required only half of the nutrient application, it reduces the cost of fertilizers. This Study will help farmers and save the environment as well by reducing dependency on chemical sources only. Our research will help in changing the traditional cropping pattern of middle Gujarat with maize–sesame sequence.

A unique feature of leguminous plants is the establishment of symbiotic bacterial genera inside root or stem nodules that is being recently re-evaluated for investigating the micro-flora discrete to nitrogen fixation. The present research was carried out to evaluate non-rhizobial endophytes and Rhizobium from root nodules of Vigna radiata and ascertain their co-inoculation effect in pot and field conditions. Each strain displayed one or more plant growth-promoting behaviors in varying degrees. The ability to fix nitrogen was observed in all strains; however, a noticeable enhancement in nitrogen fixation was observed when all three strains were co-inoculated. All three strains were found to possess the nifH gene, which plays a key role in the nitrogen fixation process. However, only Rhizobium sp. AAU B3 also had the nodD gene present. Furthermore, combinations of all three strains produced the highest levels of phosphate solubilization, potash mobilisation, Indole Acetic Acid (IAA), and the stress-relieving enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase. Interestingly, the succession of the root nodule formation within root hairs seedlings was observed under a fluorescence microscope and two NRE were found to be located inside the root nodules, indicating that they are endophytic. Additionally, a pot and field investigation revealed that the combination of chosen Rhizobium and NRE strains had a favorable impact on the growth and yield characteristics of a green gram. Selected bio-inoculants can reduce the utilization of synthetic fertilizers by 75%, which might lead to the restoration of the soil’s health. Therefore, these bio-inoculants might be explored commercially for sustainable agriculture production.

Entomopathogenic fungi Metarhizium species are generally employed to manage the soil-dwelling stage of insect pests, and are known for their rhizocompetency property. Since this fungus is typically recommended for use in soil, it could potentially be investigated as a bioinoculant to reduce abiotic stress, such as salinity, along with improved plant growth promotion. Salt stress tolerance potential of native Metarhizium isolates was evaluated based on mycelial fresh weight, dry weight, and spore yield. All the isolates were found to tolerate NaCl concentrations (50 mM, 100 mM, 150 mM, 200 mM, 250 mM, and 300 mM) supplemented in the culture medium. Metarhizium anisopliae (AAUBC-M15) and Metarhizium pinghaense (AAUBC-M26) were found to be effective at tolerating NaCl stress up to 200 mM NaCl. These two isolates were analyzed in vitro for plant growth-promoting traits at elevated salt concentrations (100 and 200 mM NaCl). No significant effect on IAA production was reported with the isolate M. pinghaense (AAUBC-M26) (39.16 µg/mL) or in combination with isolate M. anisopliae (AAUBC-M15) (40.17 µg/mL) at 100 mM NaCl (38.55 µg/mL). The salinity stress of 100 mM and 200 mM NaCl had a significant influence on the phosphate solubilization activity, except in the co-inoculation treatment at 100 mM NaCl. The isolates were positive for ACC deaminase enzyme activity. An increase in salt concentration was accompanied by a steady and significant increase in chitinase enzyme activity. Total phenolics (149.3 µg/mL) and flavonoids (79.20 µg/mL) were significantly higher in the culture filtrate of Metarhizium isolates at 100 mM NaCl, and gradual decline was documented at 200 mM NaCl. M. pinghaense (AAUBC-M26) proved to be promising in reducing the salt stress in tomato seedlings during the nursery stage. In the pot culture experiment, the treatment comprising soil application + seedling root dip + foliar spray resulted in improved growth parameters of the tomato plant under salt stress. This study shows that Metarhizium, a fungus well known for controlling biotic stress brought on by insect pests, can also help plants cope with abiotic stress, such as salinity.

Cancer identification and classification from histopathological images of the breast depends greatly on experts, and computer-aided diagnosis can play an important role in disagreement of experts. This automatic process has increased the accuracy of the classification at a reduced cost. The advancement in Convolution Neural Network (CNN) structure has outperformed the traditional approaches in biomedical imaging applications. One of the limiting factors of CNN is it uses spatial image features only for classification. The spectral features from the transform domain have equivalent importance in the complex image classification algorithm. This paper proposes a new CNN structure to classify the histopathological cancer images based on integrating the spectral features obtained using a multi-resolution wavelet transform with the spatial features of CNN. In addition, batch normalization process is used after every layer in the convolution network to improve the poor convergence problem of CNN and the deep layers of CNN are trained with spectral–spatial features. The proposed structure is tested on malignant histology images of the breast for both binary and multi-class classification of tissue using the BreaKHis Dataset and the Breast Cancer Classification Challenge 2015 Datasest. Experimental results show that the combination of spectral–spatial features improves classification accuracy of the CNN network and requires less training parameters in comparison with the well known models (i.e., VGG16 and ALEXNET). The proposed structure achieves an average accuracy of 97.58% and 97.45% with 7.6 million training parameters on both datasets, respectively.

Tin selenide (SnSe), a member of the IV-VI group, belongs to the layered transition metal chalcogenide (TMC) family. As TMCs are chemically inert, and have a binary layered structure of Sn-X (X = S, Se, Te) type, they are used widely in the areas of photovoltaic, electronic, and optoelectronic devices. In the present study, a direct vapor transport technique was used to grow single crystals. The synthesized crystals were examined with energy-dispersive analysis of x-rays, optical microscopy-scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction techniques to investigate the purity, surface morphology, and phase, respectively. The present work reports the use of a layered monochalcogenide single-crystal substrate for preparation of metal-semiconductor or Schottky junction devices. The In/p-SnSe Schottky diode was prepared by a thermal evaporation method. Analysis for the In/p-SnSe Schottky contact is based on the measurement of the current–voltage characteristics of the Schottky diode within the temperature range (313 K < T < 413 K). Characteristics were analyzed using thermionic emission theory and Schottky barrier diode parameters including barrier height, ideality factor, and series resistance, which were obtained and analyzed using a Ln (I)-V method and Cheung’s method. This work also reports the anisotropic current–voltage characteristics as well as the alteration in the Schottky barrier diode parameters at high temperature.

Extreme smog in India widely impacts air quality in late autumn and winter months. While the links between emissions, air quality and health impacts are well-recognized, the association of smog and its intensification with climatic trends in the lower troposphere, where aerosol pollution and its radiative effects manifest, are not understood well. Here we use long-term satellite data to show a significant increase in aerosol exceedances over northern India, resulting in sustained atmospheric warming and surface cooling trends over the last two decades. We find several lines of evidence suggesting these aerosol radiative effects have induced a multidecadal (1980–2019) strengthening of lower tropospheric stability and increase in relative humidity, leading to over fivefold increase in poor visibility days. Given this crucial aerosol-radiation-meteorological feedback driving the smog intensification, results from this study would help inform mitigation strategies supporting stronger region-wide measures, which are critical for solving the smog challenge in India.

BackgroundWe report follow-up data from an ongoing prospective cohort study of COVID-19 in pediatric kidney transplantation through the Improving Renal Outcomes Collaborative (IROC).MethodsPatient-level data from the IROC registry were combined with testing, indication, and outcomes data collected to describe the epidemiology of COVID testing, treatment, and clinical outcomes; determine the incidence of a positive COVID-19 test; describe rates of COVID-19 testing; and assess for clinical predictors of a positive COVID-19 test.ResultsFrom September 2020 to February 2021, 21 centers that care for 2690 patients submitted data from 648 COVID-19 tests on 465 patients. Most patients required supportive care only and were treated as outpatients, 16% experienced inpatient care, and 5% experienced intensive care. Allograft complications were rare, with acute kidney injury most common (7%). There was 1 case of respiratory failure and 1 death attributed to COVID-19. Twelve centers that care for 1730 patients submitted complete testing data on 351 patients. The incidence of COVID-19 among patients at these centers was 4%, whereas the incidence among tested patients was 19%. Risk factors to predict a positive COVID-19 test included age > 12 years, symptoms consistent with COVID-19, and close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19.ConclusionsDespite the increase in testing and positive tests over this study period, the incidence of allograft loss or death related to COVID-19 remained extremely low, with allograft loss or death each occurring in < 1% of COVID-19-positive patients and in less than < 0.1% of all transplant patients within the IROC cohort.A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information

To document the effect of neurocritical care, delivered by specialist staff and based on protocol-driven therapy aimed at intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) targets, on outcome in acute head injury. Retrospective record review to compare presentation, therapy and outcome in patients with head injury referred to a regional neurosurgical centre, before and after establishment of protocol-driven therapy. Neurosciences Critical Care Unit (NCCU). Two hundred and eighty-five patients aged 18-65 years with at least one reactive pupil, referred with a diagnosis of head injury, requiring tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. Measurement of Glasgow Outcome Scale 6 months after injury. Patients from the two epochs were well matched for admission Glasgow Coma Scale and extracranial injuries. When all referred patients were considered, institution of protocol-driven therapy was not associated with a statistically significant increase in favourable outcomes (56.0% vs. 66.4%). However, we observed a significant increase in favourable outcomes in the severely head injured patients studied (40.4% vs. 59.6%). The proportion of favourable outcomes was also high (66.6%) in those presenting with evidence of raised ICP in the absence of a mass lesion and (60.0%) in those that required complex interventions to optimise ICP/CPP. Specialist neurocritical care with protocol-driven therapy is associated with a significant improvement in outcome for all patients with severe head injury. Such management may also benefit patients requiring no surgical therapy, some of whom may need complex therapeutic interventions. We found it impossible to predict need for such interventions from clinical features at presentation. These data suggest that specialist critical care with ICP/CPP guided therapy may benefit patients with severe head injury.

Female urethral strictures are rare, but underdiagnosed pathologies that can cause voiding dysfunction. These strictures are best managed with open reconstruction, as endoscopic treatments have high rates of failure. A flap urethroplasty can be performed with vaginal, labial or bladder tissue. Meanwhile, graft urethroplasties can utilize vaginal, labial, buccal or lingual tissue. It is important to consider the etiology and type of stricture, local vascularity, and prior attempts at repair when selecting the type of repair. Multiple different techniques have been described with theoretical advantages to each one. While some studies have reviewed a few of the reconstructive techniques to treat female urethral strictures, no single study has accounted for each individual technique. In this review, we discuss techniques captured by a number of systematic reviews and other articles. We will herein focus on reviewing and describing each unique technique of reconstruction in the setting of female urethral stricture.