Combined effect of endophytic Bacillus mycoides and rock phosphate on the amelioration of heavy metal stress in wheat plants

BACKGROUND

Zinc (Zn) and nickel (Ni) are nutrients that are crucial for plant growth; however, when they are present at higher concentrations, they can cause toxicity in plants. The present study aimed to isolate plant growth promoting endophytic bacteria from Viburnum grandiflorum and assess its plant and defense promoting potential alone and in combination with RP in zinc (Zn) and nickel (Ni) toxic soil. The isolated endophytic bacteria were identified using 16s rRNA gene sequencing. For the experiment, twelve different treatments were applied using Zn, Ni, isolated endophytic Bacillus mycoides (Accession # MW979613), and rock phosphate (RP). The Ni, Zn and RP were used at the rate of (100 mg/kg) and (0.2 g/kg) respectively. A pot experiment with three replicates of each treatment was conducted using a complete randomized design (CRD).

RESULTS

The results indicated that Ni (T5 = seed + 100 mg/kg Ni and T9 = seed + 100 mg/kg Zn) and Zn concentrations inhibited plant growth, but the intensity of growth inhibition was higher in Ni-contaminated soil. Bacillus mycoides and RP at 100 mg/Kg Zn (T12 = inoculated seed + 100 mg/kg Zn + RP0.2 g/kg.) increased the shoot length, leaf width, protein and sugar content by 57%, 13%, 20% and 34%, respectively, compared to the control. The antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutases (SOD), peroxidase (POD) were decreased in contaminated soil. Furthermore, Ni and Zn accumulation was inhibited in T11 (seed + 100 mg/kg Zn + RP0.2 g/Kg) and T12 (inoculated seed + 100 mg/kg Zn + RP0.2 g/Kg) by 62 and 63% respectively. The Cu, Ca, and K, contents increased by 128, 219 and 85, Mn, Na, and K by 326, 449, and 84% in (T3 = inoculated seed) and (T4 = inoculated seed + RP 0.2 g/Kg) respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Ni was more toxic to plants than Zn, but endophytic bacteria isolated from Viburnum grandiflorum, helped wheat (Triticum aestivum) plants and reduced the toxic effects of Ni and Zn. The effect of Bacillus mycoides was more prominent in combination with RP which promoted and suppressed heavy-metal toxicity. The reported combination of Bacillus mycoides and RP may be useful for improving plant growth and overcoming metal stress.

Temporal profiling of physiological, histological, and transcriptomic dissection during auxin-induced adventitious root formation in tetraploid Robinia pseudoacacia micro-cuttings

MAIN CONCLUSION

Optimal levels of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) applied at the stem base promote adventitious root (AR) initiation and primordia formation, thus promoting the rooting of leafy micro-cuttings of tetraploid Robinia pseudoacacia. Tetraploid Robinia pseudoacacia L. is a widely cultivated tree in most regions of China that has a hard-rooting capability, propagated by stem cuttings. This study utilizes histological, physiological, and transcriptomic approaches to explore how root primordia are induced after indole butyric acid (IBA) treatment of micro-cuttings. IBA application promoted cell divisions in some cells within the vasculature, showing subcellular features associated with adventitious root (AR) founder cells. The anatomical structure explicitly showed that AR initiated from the cambium layer and instigate the inducible development of AR primordia. Meanwhile, the hormone data showed that similar to that of indole-3-acetic acid, the contents of trans-zeatin and abscisic acid peaked at early stages of AR formation and increased gradually in primordia formation across the subsequent stages, suggesting their indispensable roles in AR induction. On the contrary, 24-epibrassinolide roughly maintained at extremely high levels during primordium initiation thoroughly, indicating its presence was involved in cell-specific reorganization during AR development. Furthermore, antioxidant activities transiently increased in the basal region of micro-cuttings and may serve as biochemical indicators for distinct rooting phases, potentially aiding in AR formation. Transcriptomic analysis during the early stages of root formation shows significant downregulation of the abscisic acid and jasmonate signaling pathways, while ethylene and cytokinin signaling seems upregulated. Network analysis of genes involved in carbon metabolism and photosynthesis indicates that the basal region of the micro-cuttings undergoes rapid reprogramming, which results in the breakdown of sugars into pyruvate. This pyruvate is then utilized to fuel the tricarboxylic acid cycle, thereby sustaining growth through aerobic respiration. Collectively, our findings provide a time-course morphophysiological dissection and also suggest the regulatory role of a conserved auxin module in AR development in these species.

Knowledge and attitude towards children's oral health: findings from a sample of first-time mothers in Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

Women's important roles within families which include modelling appropriate oral health behaviours require them to have good knowledge and positive attitude in oral health. This study determined knowledge and attitude towards children's oral health among first-time mothers and factors associated with the attributes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 154 first-time mothers in the third trimester of pregnancy who attended two health clinics in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia for antenatal care participated in this cross-sectional study. A structured selfadministered questionnaire was used to measure the variables of interest.

RESULTS

Most mothers could correctly identify the aetiological factors of dental caries and strategies for preventing the disease in children. However, a substantial portion could not identify certain cariogenic and noncariogenic foods or drinks. Most pregnant women have appropriate attitudes towards children's oral health although some showed unfavourable attitude about care of primary teeth. Women who were older and had attended a talk on children's oral health were more likely to have higher mean knowledge score than their respective counterparts, and higher mean knowledge score was associated with higher mean attitude score.

CONCLUSION

Most first-time mothers in this study had correct knowledge and favourable attitude about children's oral health, although misunderstandings and misperceptions in several issues were also common. Significant association found between experience of attending oral health talk and oral health knowledge, and between oral health knowledge and attitude, substantiate the importance of an educational intervention program to optimise the mothers' roles in caries prevention in children.

Influence of natural and non-natural diets on the fitness and rearing of Pectinophora gossypiella Saunders

In order to develop integrated management approaches for Pectinophora gossypiella, basic studies are crucial. The two-sex life table is the most important tool for describing the fitness and population parameters of both sexes (male and female) of an insect, while the traditional life table only explains the female sex of an insect. However, no study has reported on the biology of P. gossypiella using two-sex life table tools. Therefore, this study explains the rearing dynamics of P. gossypiella on a cotton seed-based artificial diet and a natural diet (mature cotton bolls). According to the results, the oviposition period of P. gossypiella was recorded to be longer on the artificial diet (9.07 ± 0.24) compared to the natural diet (7.40 ± 0.11). The total fecundity of P. gossypiella was greater on the artificial diet (125.94 ± 3.06) in comparison to the natural diet (60.37 ± 1.10). The population parameters, including intrinsic rate of increase, finite rate of increase, gross reproductive rate, and net reproductive rate of P. gossypiella were highest on the artificial diet in comparison to the natural diet. This study concluded that the cotton seed-based artificial diet was most suitable for the rearing of P. gossypiella. In the future, P. gossypiella may be studied in depth in light of the findings in this study.

Identification of Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) Associated with Heat Tolerance at the Reproductive Stage in Synthetic Hexaploid Wheats Using GWAS

The projected rise in global ambient temperature by 3-5 °C by the end of this century, along with unpredicted heat waves during critical crop growth stages, can drastically reduce grain yield and will pose a great food security challenge. It is therefore important to identify wheat genetic resources able to withstand high temperatures, discover genes underpinning resilience to higher temperatures, and deploy such genetic resources in wheat breeding to develop heat-tolerant cultivars. In this study, 180 accessions of synthetic hexaploid wheats (SHWs) were evaluated under normal and late wheat growing seasons (to expose them to higher temperatures) at three locations (Islamabad, Bahawalpur, and Tando Jam), and data were collected on 11 morphological and yield-related traits. The diversity panel was genotyped with a 50 K SNP array to conduct genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for heat tolerance in SHW. A known heat-tolerance locus, TaHST1, was profiled to identify different haplotypes of this locus in SHWs and their association with grain yield and related traits in SHWs. There was a 36% decrease in grain yield (GY), a 23% decrease in thousand-grain weight (TKW), and an 18% decrease in grains per spike (GpS) across three locations in the population due to the heat stress conditions. GWASs identified 143 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) distributed over all 21 chromosomes in the SHWs. Out of these, 52 QTNs were associated with morphological and yield-related traits under heat stress, while 15 of them were pleiotropically associated with multiple traits. The heat shock protein (HSP) framework of the wheat genome was then aligned with the QTNs identified in this study. Seventeen QTNs were in proximity to HSPs on chr2B, chr3D, chr5A, chr5B, chr6D, and chr7D. It is likely that QTNs on the D genome and those in proximity to HSPs may carry novel alleles for heat-tolerance genes. The analysis of TaHST1 indicated that 15 haplotypes were present in the SHWs for this locus, while hap1 showed the highest frequency of 25% (33 SHWs). These haplotypes were significantly associated with yield-related traits in the SHWs. New alleles associated with yield-related traits in SHWs could be an excellent reservoir for breeding deployment.

A Machine-Learning-Based Robust Classification Method for PV Panel Faults

Renewable energy resources have gained considerable attention in recent years due to their efficiency and economic benefits. Their proportion of total energy use continues to grow over time. Photovoltaic (PV) cell and wind energy generation are the least-expensive new energy sources in most countries. Renewable energy technologies significantly contribute to climate mitigation and provide economic benefits. Apart from these advantages, renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy, have drawbacks, for instance restricted energy supply, reliance on weather conditions, and being affected by several kinds of faults, which cause a high power loss. Usually, the local PV plants are small in size, and it is easy to trace any fault and defect; however, there are many PV cells in the grid-connected PV system where it is difficult to find a fault. Keeping in view the aforedescribed facts, this paper presents an intelligent model to detect faults in the PV panels. The proposed model utilizes the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), which is trained on historic data. The dataset was preprocessed before being fed to the CNN. The dataset contained different parameters, such as current, voltage, temperature, and irradiance, for five different classes. The simulation results showed that the proposed CNN model achieved a training accuracy of 97.64% and a testing accuracy of 95.20%, which are much better than the previous research performed on this dataset.

Improvement in the Tracking Performance of a Maneuvering Target in the Presence of Clutter

The proposed work uses fixed lag smoothing on the interactive multiple model-integrated probabilistic data association algorithm (IMM-IPDA) to enhance its performance. This approach makes use of the advantages of the fixed lag smoothing algorithm to track the motion of a maneuvering target while it is surrounded by clutter. The suggested method provides a new mathematical foundation in terms of smoothing for mode probabilities in addition to the target trajectory state and target existence state by including the smoothing advantages. The suggested fixed lag smoothing IMM-IPDA (FLs IMM-IPDA) method's root mean square error (RMSE), true track rate (TTR), and mode probabilities are compared to those of other recent algorithms in the literature in this study. The results clearly show that the proposed algorithm outperformed the already-known methods in the literature in terms of these above parameters of interest.

Factors affecting youth empowerment and entrepreneurial initiatives: Social implications and way forward

This study aims to identify the factors that impact the empowerment of Pakistani youth and their entrepreneurial initiatives in Pakistan. A sample of 350 youngsters from renowned Pakistani universities across the country was selected for this purpose. The questionnaire was administered in person and electronically. Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for analyzing the data. The findings indicated that all the hypothesized factors (government policies, lack of political participation, employment opportunities, and social engagement) had an impact on youth empowerment and their ability to initiate entrepreneurial activities. This study identified the set of factors that impact empowerment in youngsters, and this model can be extended to other contexts and additional factors can be included. The analytical findings from this study serve to help the government formulate appropriate policies for underserved youth and include them in the policy-making process so that the factors that hinder their empowerment and entrepreneurial initiatives could be addressed.

Implications for sequencing of biologic therapy and choice of second anti-TNF in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: results from the IMmunogenicity to Second Anti-TNF therapy (IMSAT) therapeutic drug monitoring study

BACKGROUND

Anti-drug antibodies are associated with treatment failure to anti-TNF agents in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

AIM

To assess whether immunogenicity to a patient's first anti-TNF agent would be associated with immunogenicity to the second, irrespective of drug sequence METHODS: We conducted a UK-wide, multicentre, retrospective cohort study to report rates of immunogenicity and treatment failure of second anti-TNF therapies in 1058 patients with IBD who underwent therapeutic drug monitoring for both infliximab and adalimumab. The primary outcome was immunogenicity to the second anti-TNF agent, defined at any timepoint as an anti-TNF antibody concentration ≥9 AU/ml for infliximab and ≥6 AU/ml for adalimumab.

RESULTS

In patients treated with infliximab and then adalimumab, those who developed antibodies to infliximab were more likely to develop antibodies to adalimumab, than patients who did not develop antibodies to infliximab (OR 1.99, 95%CI 1.27-3.20, p = 0.002). Similarly, in patients treated with adalimumab and then infliximab, immunogenicity to adalimumab was associated with subsequent immunogenicity to infliximab (OR 2.63, 95%CI 1.46-4.80, p < 0.001). For each 10-fold increase in anti-infliximab and anti-adalimumab antibody concentration, the odds of subsequently developing antibodies to adalimumab and infliximab increased by 1.73 (95% CI 1.38-2.17, p < 0.001) and 1.99 (95%CI 1.34-2.99, p < 0.001), respectively. Patients who developed immunogenicity with undetectable drug levels to infliximab were more likely to develop immunogenicity with undetectable drug levels to adalimumab (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.39-4.19, p < 0.001). Commencing an immunomodulator at the time of switching to the second anti-TNF was associated with improved drug persistence in patients with immunogenic, but not pharmacodynamic failure.

CONCLUSION

Irrespective of drug sequence, immunogenicity to the first anti-TNF agent was associated with immunogenicity to the second, which was mitigated by the introduction of an immunomodulator in patients with immunogenic, but not pharmacodynamic treatment failure.

Influence of oral health literacy on knowledge and attitude towards children's oral health among pregnant women in Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

Health literacy is an independent predictor of health outcomes, including health knowledge and behavior. This study determined the influence of oral health literacy on knowledge and attitude towards children's oral health among pregnant women.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 130 pregnant women (65 nulliparous and 65 primiparous or multiparous) attending Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia for antenatal care who did not have any diagnosed cognitive disorders and could read and write in the Malay language participated in this crosssectional study. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to measure knowledge and attitude towards children's oral health, and the Malay version of the Oral Health Literacy Instrument (OHLI-M) was used to assess the oral health literacy of the participants.

RESULTS

Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that older women and women with higher OHLI-M scores had higher mean knowledge scores than younger women (p=0.007) and women with lower OHLI-M scores (p=0.001), respectively. In addition, women with higher OHLI-M scores, women with higher mean knowledge scores, and women who had attended a talk about children's oral health were more likely to have higher mean attitude scores than women with lower OHLI-M scores (p=0.019), women with lower mean knowledge scores (p=0.006), and women who had never attended a talk about children's oral health (p=0.001).

CONCLUSION

Pregnant women's oral health literacy was positively associated with their oral health knowledge and attitude towards children's oral health. Strategies to improve the oral health literacy of pregnant women are indicated.

Deep transfer learning with multimodal embedding to tackle cold-start and sparsity issues in recommendation system

Recommender systems (RSs) have become increasingly vital in the modern information era and connected economy. They play a key role in business operations by generating personalized suggestions and minimizing information overload. However, the performance of traditional RSs is limited by data sparseness and cold-start issues. Though deep learning-based recommender systems (DLRSs) are very popular, they underperform when considering rating matrices with sparse entries. Despite their performance improvements, DLRSs also suffer from data sparsity, cold start, serendipity, and generalizability issues. We propose a multistage model that uses multimodal data embedding and deep transfer learning for effective and personalized product recommendations, and is designed to overcome data sparsity and cold-start issues. The proposed model includes two phases. In the first—offline—phase, a deep learning technique is implemented to learn hidden features from a large image dataset (targeting new item cold start), and a multimodal data embedding is used to produce dense user feature and item feature vectors (targeting user cold start). This phase produces three different similarity matrices that are used as inputs for the second—online—phase to generate a list of top-n relevant items for a target user. We analyzed the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed model against the existing baseline RSs using a Brazilian E-commerce dataset. The results show that our model scored 0.5882 for MAE and 0.4011 for RMSE which is lower than baseline RSs which indicates that the model achieved an improved accuracy and was able to minimize the typical cold start and data sparseness issues during the recommendation process.

Role of Extrinsic Cues in the Formation of Quality Perceptions

Examining the quality perceptions of consumers has often been recommended as an international research paradigm. This study is grounded in the Pakistani consumer market to evaluate the impact of food packaging cues on perceived product quality. The moderating effect of consumer knowledge was also taken into consideration in the study. A signaling theory was used in the study for its established predictive power in consumer behavior, marketing, and various fields of research. Based on the essence of the signaling theory, this study hypothesized that food packaging cues cast a positive impact on perceived product quality and consumer knowledge moderates these relationships. By using the sample of 504 consumers, data were gathered using the mall intercept method following a multi-stage sampling technique. The responses were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS) and Smart Partial Least Square (PLS). The findings of this study unveil that the extrinsic cues' brand name, price, nutritional labels, and precautionary labels were positively and significantly related to the perceived product quality. However, the country of origin cast no impact on the perceived product quality. Consumer knowledge reflected a moderation effect on the relationships between brand name and country of origin with the perceived product quality whereas it exerted no moderation impact on the relationships of price, nutritional labels, and precautionary labels with the perceived product quality. As the results exhibit that Pakistani consumers rely on food packaging cues for perceiving a product, hence it is recommended that marketers and policymakers develop appropriate marketing strategies focused on the significance of food packaging cues.

Genome-Wide Association and Genomic Prediction for Stripe Rust Resistance in Synthetic-Derived Wheats

Stripe rust caused by Puccnina striiformis (Pst) is an economically important disease attacking wheat all over the world. Identifying and deploying new genes for Pst resistance is an economical and long-term strategy for controlling Pst. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and functional haplotypes were used to identify loci associated with stripe rust resistance in synthetic-derived (SYN-DER) wheats in four environments. In total, 92 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) distributed over 65 different loci were associated with resistance to Pst at seedling and adult plant stages. Nine additional loci were discovered by the linkage disequilibrium-based haplotype-GWAS approach. The durable rust-resistant gene Lr34/Yr18 provided resistance in all four environments, and against all the five Pst races used in this study. The analysis identified several SYN-DER accessions that carried major genes: either Yr24/Yr26 or Yr32. New loci were also identified on chr2B, chr5B, and chr7D, and 14 QTNs and three haplotypes identified on the D-genome possibly carry new alleles of the known genes contributed by the Ae. tauschii founders. We also evaluated eleven different models for genomic prediction of Pst resistance, and a prediction accuracy up to 0.85 was achieved for an adult plant resistance, however, genomic prediction for seedling resistance remained very low. A meta-analysis based on a large number of existing GWAS would enhance the identification of new genes and loci for stripe rust resistance in wheat. The genetic framework elucidated here for stripe rust resistance in SYN-DER identified the novel loci for resistance to Pst assembled in adapted genetic backgrounds.

Psychosocial issues of hearing impaired school children: a psychometric approach

OBJECTIVE

To develop a valid and reliable scale for measuring psychosocial issues of hearing-impaired school children.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study with four stage model of scale development was conducted at Multan, Muzafargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan Pakistan from August 2018 to January 2019. The four stages were item generation, expert validation, conversion of scale into sign language and psychometric study. The sample comprised hearing-impaired school children aged 18-23 years who were studying Special Education schools in Multan, Pakistan.

RESULTS

Of the 230 subjects, there were 110(47.8%) boys and 120(52.2%) girls. The overall mean age was 19.90±2.46 years. Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed 26 items in 'Depressive Affect', 'Social Isolation' and 'Feeling of Anger' sub-scales with high internal consistency (r=0.85) and validity (r=-0.32).

CONCLUSIONS

The internalised nature of psychosocial issues of children with hearing impairment needs timely identification and intervention so that silent suffering can be prevented to improve psychosocial functioning of such children.

Subjective Experiences of Alzheimer's Disease in the Pakistani Cultural Context: An Exploratory Study

Studying Alzheimer's disease with the fluctuating environmental, individual, and cultural factors in pertinence to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM-5) requires information, awareness, and understanding of the disease. Studies have calibrated sociocultural factors to be imperative in the expression of functional symptomology of Alzheimer's disease. Pakistan as a sociocentric, predominantly Muslim country, calls for such efforts. The current research was conducted to study the functional symptomology and experiences of Alzheimer's disease. A qualitative approach was adopted in which in-depth interviews of three dyads of patients with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers (N = 6) were conducted. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied to acquire the thematic analysis of data. Results showed sociocentricism as a forefront factor. Cognition, behavior, and emotions were found to be functionally expressed by religion, unawareness, respect of older people, stigmatization, and isolation within family dynamics. The study could be an instigator for further culture-oriented assessment and management providing services.

Analysis of incidence and reasons for re-intervention after aortic valve replacement using the Trifecta aortic bioprosthesis

INTRODUCTION

Trifecta bioprosthesis claims favourable haemodynamic performance. However, reports of structural valve deterioration (SVD) raise concerns of its long-term durability. We assessed outcomes with the Trifecta valve over a 10-year period.

METHODS

All patients receiving Trifecta bioprostheses between October 2011 and October 2020 were included. Perioperative and survival characteristics were prospectively collated in an independent database. Re-intervention was recorded as a surrogate for SVD.

RESULTS

944 patients (mean age 72.82 years ± 8.13, 58% male) underwent aortic valve replacement with the Trifecta valve. At 10-years, 1.4% of patients required a redo operation, giving an overall freedom from re-intervention of 98.6%. The mean time to re-intervention was 48.87 months. Survival was 73.58% and 76.92% in patients who did not require re-intervention vs re-intervention group, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In a large, single-centre cohort, the Trifecta aortic bioprosthesis had a 1.4% all-cause re-intervention rate at 10-years, with insignificant impact on survival.

Psychosocial Reactions of COVID-19 in Pakistan: A Psychometric Study

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous psycho-social issues throughout the world. Aim: The current study is aimed at identifying and validating the psychosocial reactions of university students to current pandemic COVID-19. Methods: Mixed-methods research design was used. Initially, the presenting problems of 39 university studentswere collated and a list of 28 items was finalized and presented to 15 experienced clinical psychologists for the frequency of occurrence for Psychosocial Reaction Scale (PRS). An online survey was conducted on 510 university students with an age range of 17-26 (M=21.86; SD=2.94) and presented Psychosocial Reaction Scale (PRS) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) for construct validity. Results: Results of both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a two-factor model depressive symptoms and apprehension. The PRS shown a satisfactory internal consistency and construct validity. Conclusion: The findings are further discussed in the continual significance and counseling plans to handle adverse reactions of COVID-19 in Pakistani university students.

Genome-wide association for heat tolerance at seedling stage in historical spring wheat cultivars

Increasing global temperature has adverse effects on crop health and productivity at both seedling and reproductivity stages. It is paramount to develop heat tolerant wheat cultivars able to sustain under high and fluctuating temperature conditions. An experiment was conducted to characterize 194 historical wheat cultivars of Pakistan under high temperature at seedling stage to identify loci associated with heat tolerance using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). A quantitative trait locus, TaHST1, on chr4A was also characterized to identify the haplotypes at this locus associated with heat tolerance in wheat from Pakistan. Initially, the diversity panel was planted under control conditions (25°C/20°C day and night temperature) in a glass house. At three leaf stage, plants were subjected to heat stress (HS) by increasing temperature (40°C/35°C day and night), while one treatment was kept at control condition. After 7 days of HS, data were collected for seedling morphology. Heat stress reduced these traits by 25% (root weight) to 40% (shoot weight), and shoot biomass was largely affected by heat stress. A GWAS model, fixed and random model circulating probability unification (FarmCPU), identified 43 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) on all chromosomes, except chr7B, were associated under both HS and control conditions. Thirteen QTNs were identified in control, while 30 QTNs were identified in HS condition. In total, 24 haplotypes were identified at TaHST1 locus, and most of the heat tolerant genotypes were assigned to Hap-20 and Hap-21. Eleven QTNs were identified within 0.3-3.1 Mb proximity of heat shock protein (HSP). Conclusively, this study provided a detailed genetic framework of heat tolerance in wheat at the seedling stage and identify potential genetic regions associated with heat tolerance which can be used for marker assisted selection (MAS) in breeding for heat stress tolerance.

Wheat Yellow Rust Disease Infection Type Classification Using Texture Features

Wheat is a staple crop of Pakistan that covers almost 40% of the cultivated land and contributes almost 3% in the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Pakistan. However, due to increasing seasonal variation, it was observed that wheat is majorly affected by rust disease, particularly in rain-fed areas. Rust is considered the most harmful fungal disease for wheat, which can cause reductions of 20-30% in wheat yield. Its capability to spread rapidly over time has made its management most challenging, becoming a major threat to food security. In order to counter this threat, precise detection of wheat rust and its infection types is important for minimizing yield losses. For this purpose, we have proposed a framework for classifying wheat yellow rust infection types using machine learning techniques. First, an image dataset of different yellow rust infections was collected using mobile cameras. Six Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) texture features and four Local Binary Patterns (LBP) texture features were extracted from grayscale images of the collected dataset. In order to classify wheat yellow rust disease into its three classes (healthy, resistant, and susceptible), Decision Tree, Random Forest, Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and CatBoost were used with (i) GLCM, (ii) LBP, and (iii) combined GLCM-LBP texture features. The results indicate that CatBoost outperformed on GLCM texture features with an accuracy of 92.30%. This accuracy can be further improved by scaling up the dataset and applying deep learning models. The development of the proposed study could be useful for the agricultural community for the early detection of wheat yellow rust infection and assist in taking remedial measures to contain crop yield.

Neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio between benign and malignant thyroid nodule

Objectives:

To determine the relationship of Neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio (NLR) values with the benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

Methods:

In this cross-sectional clinical study conducted from September 1^st 2020 to February 28^th 2021, we included 216 patients who underwent thyroidectomy at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi Pakistan. After thyroidectomy specimens were sent for pathologic examination. Patients were divided into two categories based on histopathologic results; Malignant nodule and benign nodules. Data of complete blood count was obtained from the pre-operative lab investigations and NLR was calculated.

Results:

There were 42 (26%) men, and 116 (74%) women of 158 in the BTN group, 18 (31%) men, and 40 (69%) women of 58 in the MTN group. The mean age of 48 ± 6 years in the BTN group as well as 47 ±8 years in the MTN group (p-value 0.32). The mean neutrophil count in the BTN group was 4.26 ± 2.8 versus 4.41 ± 2.2 (x 1000/mm³)) the malignance thyroid group (p-value = 0.71). The mean lymphocyte count was 3.81 ± 0.9(x 1000/mm³) in the BTN group and 3.61± 1.2 (x 1000/mm³) in the malignance group (p-value = 0.18). The mean NLR value for the benign thyroid nodular group was 1.19 ± 2.2 and 1.22±1.8 in the malignant thyroid nodular group (p-value = 0.92).

Conclusion:

According to the results of this study, we concluded that preoperative period biochemistry laboratory results such as neutrophils count, lymphocyte count, and NLR value don’t provide enough evidence to differentiate between benign and malignant thyroid carcinoma.

Characterization of wheat-Thinopyrum bessarabicum genetic stock for stripe rust and Karnal bunt resistance

Utilization of modern breeding techniques for developing high yielding and uniform plant types ultimately narrowing the genetic makeup of most crops. Narrowed genetic makeup of these crops has made them vulnerable towards disease and insect epidemics. For sustainable crop production, genetic variability of these crops must be broadened against various biotic and abiotic stresses. One of the ways to widen genetic configuration of these crops is to identify novel additional sources of durable resistance. In this regard crops wild relatives are providing valuable sources of allelic diversity towards various biotic, abiotic stress tolerance and quality components. For incorporating novel variability from wild relative's wide hybridization technique has become a promising breeding method. For this purpose, wheat-Th. bessarabicum amphiploid, addition and translocation lines have been screened in field and screen house conditions to get novel sources of yellow rust and Karnal bunt resistant. Stripe rust screening under field conditions has revealed addition lines 4JJ and 6JJ as resistant to moderately resistant while addition lines 3JJ, 5JJ, 7JJ and translocation lines Tr-3, Tr-6 as moderately resistant wheat-Thinopyrum-bessarabicum genetic stock. Karnal bunt screening depicted addition lines 5JJ and 4JJ as highly resistant genetic stock. These genetic stocks may be used to introgression novel stripe rust and Karnal bunt resistance from the tertiary gene pool into susceptible wheat backgrounds.

Monitoring of field-evolved resistance to flonicamid, neonicotinoid, and conventional insecticides in the Oxycarenus hyalinipennis costa

Oxycarenus hyalinipennis Costa is a polyphagous insect pest and can develop insecticide resistance. The resistance of O. hyalinipennis to neonicotinoids (clothianidin and dinotefuran), flonicamid, and conventional insecticides; carbamates (methomyl and carbosulfon), organophosphates (chlorpyrifos and malathion), and pyrethroids (cypermethrin and zeta-cypermethrin) was evaluated. The O. hyalinipennis populations were sampled from four locations in Pakistan and performed bioassays against the insecticides by leaf dip protocol. The O. hyalinipennis' populations showed low resistance to carbosulfan (resistance ratio (RR) = 2.06-6.34) and methomyl (RR = 2.78-7.27), moderate to high resistance to chlorpyrifos (RR = 30-45), malathion (RR = 20.29-88.19), and flonicamid (RR = 14.24-46.97), in comparison with the susceptible strain. Susceptibility to low resistance against cypermethrin (RR = 1.27-2.82), zeta-cypermethrin (RR = 2.62-3.38), and clothianidin (RR = 1.74-3.40), and low to moderate resistance to dinotefuran (RR = 3.84-13.43) in the field populations, was observed compared to the susceptible strain. A rotational usage of carbamates and pyrethroids with an integrated pest management tool should be considered to deal with O. hyalinipennis' insecticide resistance.

Psychosocial Reactions of Pakistani Students Towards COVID-19: A Prevalence Study

Background:

The current study aimed at investigating the manifestation and prevalence of the commonly reported psychosocial reactions in the university students following the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:

This cross-sectional survey was carried out during April to May, 2020 in the city of Lahore. Based on the interviews and presenting problems of thirty-nine self-referred students to student counselling service center, a list of twenty-seven self-report measure was presented through an online cross-sectional survey of 510 students enrolled in a private institute. The age range of the participants was between 17-26 years (M, 21.86; SD, 2.94).

Results:

The results showed that the most frequently reported reactions by university students during COVID-19 is restricted daily routine (92%), preoccupation with cleanliness (86%), feeling uncertain about future (85%), feeling bored (84%) and low mood (84%). The least frequently reported reaction was financial crisis (48%). The findings further showed that 18% of the participants had mild, 34% had moderate, 29% severe and 19% very severe level of problems.

Conclusions:

The finding revealed that university students have significantly affected by this pandemic which need attention from mental health professionals.

Genome-wide association study identifies five new cadmium uptake loci in wheat

Cadmium (Cd) toxicity is a serious threat to future food security and health safety. To identify genetic factors contributing to Cd uptake in wheat, we conducted a genome-wide association study with genotyping from 90K SNP array. A spring wheat diversity panel was planted under normal conditions and Cd stress (50 mg Cd/kg soil). The impact of Cd stress on agronomic traits ranged from a reduction of 16% in plant height to 93% in grain iron content. Individual genotypes showed a considerable variation for Cd uptake and translocation subdividing the panel into three groups: (1) hyper-accumulators (i.e. high Leaf_{_Cd} and low Seed_{_Cd} ), (2) hyper-translocators (i.e. low Leaf_{_Cd} and high Seed_{_Cd} ), and (3) moderate lines (i.e. low Leaf_{_Cd} and low Seed_{_Cd} ). Two lines (SKD-1 and TD-1) maintained an optimum grain yield under Cd stress and were therefore considered as Cd resistant lines. Genome-wide association identified 179 SNP-trait associations for various traits including 16 for Cd uptake at a significance level of P < .001. However, only five SNPs were significant after applying multiple testing correction. These loci were associated with seed-cadmium, grain-iron, and grain-zinc: qSCd-1A, qSCd-1D, qZn-2B1, qZn-2B2, and qFe-6D. These five loci had not been identified in the previously reported studies for Cd uptake in wheat. These loci and the underlying genes should be further investigated using molecular biology techniques to identify Cd resistant genes in wheat.

Parental Rejection and Mental Health Problems in College Students: Mediating Role of Interpersonal Difficulties

College students are said to have an increasing trend of mental health problems that lead to various negative academic, personal and social outcomes. The current study aimed to determine the mediating role of interpersonal difficulties between parental rejection and mental health problems of college students. A total of 321 college students selected through purposive sampling aged 15to 20 years provided self-report data on EMBU-A (Gerlsma, Arrindell, Van der Veen, & Emmelkamp, 1991), Urdu version of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS; Aslam, 2007) and Interpersonal Difficulties Scale (IDS; Saleem, Ihsan, & Mahmood, 2014). Pearson Correlation was used to ensure that parental rejection, mental health problems and interpersonal difficulties are related. Results of path analysis revealed that parental rejection has an indirect effect on mental health through interpersonal difficulties. Implications for counselling services are discussed.

B-29 REM Sleep Behavior Disorder in Non-Demented Parkinson’s Disease is Related to Poorer Cognitive Performance

Objective

Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) affects 33-46% of patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and may be a risk factor for neuropsychological impairment. However, the cognitive profile in PD patients with RBD has yet to be fully determined. This study examined differences in neuropsychological performance among non-demented PD patients with (PD/RBD+) and without RBD (PD/RBD-), and healthy controls (HC).

Methods

One hundred seventy-five participants, including 45 PD/RBD+ patients, 78 PD/RBD- patients, and 52 HC, completed the RBD sleep questionnaire and underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological battery assessing attention/working memory, language, visuospatial function, verbal and visual learning and memory, and executive function.

Results

The PD/RBD+ group demonstrated significantly poorer global neuropsychological performance compared to both the PD/RBD- and HC groups (p’s < .003; η_p^2 = .16). MANOVA demonstrated significant group differences on all individual cognitive domains (p’s < .001), except visuospatial function (p = .10). Both PD/RBD+ and PD/RBD- patients had significantly lower scores compared to the HCs in the domains of attention/working memory, language, learning, and memory. Additionally, the PD/RBD+ group had significantly lower executive functioning scores compared to the HCs, and poorer learning performance compared to the PD/RBD- group.

Conclusions

Compared to PD patients without RBD, PD/RBD+ patients have greater levels of cognitive impairment specific to the acquisition of new information. Moreover, PD/RBD+ patients have greater executive dysfunction compared to HCs, underscoring the importance of RBD assessment for improved detection and treatment of neuropsychological impairment (e.g., targeted cognitive interventions). Longitudinal investigations are needed to determine the enduring effects of RBD in PD.

How do office workers respond to media coverage of sitting?

BACKGROUND

Sitting time is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes, and premature mortality. Office workers sit for prolonged periods, so are at particular risk. Scientific advances in public health threats are predominantly communicated to the public through media reports.

AIMS

This study aimed to examine office workers' impromptu responses to media coverage of scientific evidence related to the health risks of sedentary behaviour.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were run with 26 office workers (mean age 35 years), recruited from four organizations in southern England. Within the interview, each participant provided a 'think-aloud' narrative as they read three real-world news reports relating to sedentary behaviour. Thematic analysis was conducted on verbatim transcripts.

RESULTS

Three themes were extracted from the data: gauging the personal relevance of the news reports; questioning their trustworthiness and challenging the feasibility of proposed sitting-reduction strategies. Participants voiced scepticism about the applicability of the reports to their personal circumstances, and the validity of the reports and the scientific evidence underpinning them.

CONCLUSIONS

Researchers, press officers and journalists should emphasise the ways in which participants in research studies represent the broader population of office workers, and offer greater transparency in reporting study methods, when reporting scientific advances in sedentary behaviour.

Molecular Characterization of 87 Functional Genes in Wheat Diversity Panel and Their Association With Phenotypes Under Well-Watered and Water-Limited Conditions

Modern breeding imposed selection for improved productivity that largely influenced the frequency of superior alleles underpinning traits of breeding interest. Therefore, molecular diagnosis for the allelic variations of such genes is important to manipulate beneficial alleles in wheat molecular breeding. We analyzed a diversity panel largely consisted of advanced lines derived from synthetic hexaploid wheats for allelic variation at 87 functional genes or loci of breeding importance using 124 high-throughput KASP markers. We also developed two KASP markers for water-soluble carbohydrate genes (TaSST-D1 and TaSST-A1) associated with plant height and thousand grain weight (TGW) in the diversity panel. KASP genotyping results indicated that beneficial alleles for genes underpinning flowering time (Ppd-D1 and Vrn-D3), thousand grain weight (TaCKX-D1, TaTGW6-A1, TaSus1-7B, and TaCwi-D1), water-soluble carbohydrates (TaSST-A1), yellow-pigment content (Psy-B1 and Zds-D1), and root lesion nematodes (Rlnn1) were fixed in diversity panel with frequency ranged from 96.4 to 100%. The association analysis of functional genes with agronomic and biochemical traits under well-watered (WW) and water-limited (WL) conditions revealed that 21 marker-trait associations (MTAs) were consistently detected in both moisture conditions. The major developmental genes such as Vrn-A1, Rht-D1, and Ppd-B1 had the confounding effect on several agronomic traits including plant height, grain size and weight, and grain yield in both WW and WL conditions. The accumulation of favorable alleles for grain size and weight genes additively enhanced grain weight in the diversity panel. Graphical genotyping approach was used to identify accessions with maximum number of favorable alleles, thus likely to have high breeding value. These results improved our knowledge on the selection of favorable and unfavorable alleles through unconscious selection breeding and identified the opportunities to deploy alleles with effects in wheat breeding.

Field evolved resistance to pyrethroids, neonicotinoids and biopesticides in Dysdercus koenigii (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae) from Punjab, Pakistan

The red cotton bug, Dysdercus koenigii (Fabricius) is an important emerging economic pest of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum Linnaeus in Pakistan. Insecticides are the primary management tactics to suppress populations of this pest. However, resistance to insecticides evolves due to substantial and repeated applications. The resistance to pyrethroids, neonicotinoids and biopesticides have been evaluated in many pests worldwide, nevertheless lack of information in D. koenigii. Therefore, the aforementioned insecticide resistance in five field populations of D. koenigii collected from Multan, Makhdoom Rashid, Jahanian, Lodhran and Vehari districts of Punjab, Pakistan during 2015-2017 was determined by using seed dip method. Based on the present results, D. koenigii has developed moderate to very high resistance to acetamiprid (RR = 33-433) and imidacloprid (RR = 21-173), low to high resistance to emamectin benzoate (RR = 14-52), and very low to high resistance to spinosad (RR = 4.13-54), compared to the susceptible population. However, all field populations of D. koenigii remained susceptible to deltamethrin (RR = 0.62-2.17) and lambda-cyhalothrin (RR = 0.91-1.97). A rotational use of pyrethroids with provision of other integrated pest management tactics is recommended to manage insecticide resistance in D. koenigii.

Nexus between financial development and CO2 emissions in Saudi Arabia: analyzing the role of globalization

This study examines the contribution of financial development to environmental degradation in Saudi Arabia in the period from 1971 to 2016, controlling the model for globalization and electricity consumption. The autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and vector error correction methods (VECM) are applied to the long-run and causal relationship, respectively. Empirical results indicate that financial development contributes to CO₂ emissions and degrades environmental quality. The results also show that the role of globalization in environmental degradation is insignificant and that electricity consumption is the main culprit behind the growing CO₂ emissions in Saudi Arabia. In addition, bidirectional causality exists between globalization and CO₂ emissions in the long run, and financial development and CO₂ emissions Granger-cause each other. Insights from the study help policymakers to understand the roles of financial development and globalization in environmental degradation and to comply with global mandate for the reduction of CO₂ emissions.

Effects of household bleach on sputum smear microscopy to concentrate acid fast bacilli for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the major public health problem among contagious diseases in Pakistan. TB diagnosis mainly depends on sputum smear microscopy. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of household bleach on sputum smear microscopy to concentrate acid fast bacilli for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Sputum specimens of 200 suspected TB patients were collected for the study. Smears were prepared from the purulent part of sputum sample before and after bleach treatment, heat fixed and stained with the ZN technique. The obtained data were analyzed by chi-squared test using SPSS software. Out of 200 isolates, 22 (11%) patients had positive smears for acid fast bacilli (AFB) by direct ZN staining. After treatment with household bleach (NaOCL) and centrifugation, the number of AFB positive patients were increased from 22 (11%) to 37 (18.5%). The bleach-concentration method for sputum samples significantly increased the TB detection rate as compared to direct sputum smear microscopy. Thus, a shift from direct sputum microscopy to bleach-concentration technique should be considered a better method for detection of AFB in sputum through smear microscopy.

Tissue Culture Mediated Allelic Diversification and Genomic Enrichment of Wheat to Combat Production Constraints and Address Food Security

In view of the emerging population trends and that wheat crop is the major unequivocally recognized conduit towards addressing the food security challenges of 2050 this discourse embraces various research options that are viewed as possible solutions toward delivering those targets for providing nutritious food and meeting the aspirations that policy setters have debated on the subject for decades. The underlying strength for achieving these targets will require concerted efforts from plant researchers that are well integrated within effectively harnessing and utilizing prevalent genetic diversity of the wide array of alleles in a holistic pro‐active manner. We argue that the purists of basic and strategic research dimensions need to be thoughtfully defined, so that the vital target of delivering the “applied” gains are only realized from the outputs on farmer’s fields and measured by tons per hectare. In this quest, the pre‐breeding disciplines “classical mode” and its recently surfaced “modified sense” are pivotal, where within the former facet “tissue culture” (TC)/artificial culturing is embodied integrally. Taken for granted, TC has been the backbone of all wide hybridization studies and has made an enormous impact on the agricultural landscape spanning over the last six decades. With its intervention significant generic and specific incompatibilities have been overcome as well as allowing researchers to exploit the protocols for adding efficiency to breeding programs, facilitate operational technologies in running breeding programs and development of unique genetic stocks that preserve valuable allelic richness in user friendly forms for future free germplasmusage in global/private domains of plant improvement ventures.Plant Tissue Cult. & Biotech. 27(1): 89-140, 2017 (June)

Reversible integer wavelet transform for blind image hiding method

In this article, a blind data hiding reversible methodology to embed the secret data for hiding purpose into cover image is proposed. The key advantage of this research work is to resolve the privacy and secrecy issues raised during the data transmission over the internet. Firstly, data is decomposed into sub-bands using the integer wavelets. For decomposition, the Fresnelet transform is utilized which encrypts the secret data by choosing a unique key parameter to construct a dummy pattern. The dummy pattern is then embedded into an approximated sub-band of the cover image. Our proposed method reveals high-capacity and great imperceptibility of the secret embedded data. With the utilization of family of integer wavelets, the proposed novel approach becomes more efficient for hiding and retrieving process. It retrieved the secret hidden data from the embedded data blindly, without the requirement of original cover image.

A Polynomial Subset-Based Efficient Multi-Party Key Management System for Lightweight Device Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consist of lightweight devices to measure sensitive data that are highly vulnerable to security attacks due to their constrained resources. In a similar manner, the internet-based lightweight devices used in the Internet of Things (IoT) are facing severe security and privacy issues because of the direct accessibility of devices due to their connection to the internet. Complex and resource-intensive security schemes are infeasible and reduce the network lifetime. In this regard, we have explored the polynomial distribution-based key establishment schemes and identified an issue that the resultant polynomial value is either storage intensive or infeasible when large values are multiplied. It becomes more costly when these polynomials are regenerated dynamically after each node join or leave operation and whenever key is refreshed. To reduce the computation, we have proposed an Efficient Key Management (EKM) scheme for multiparty communication-based scenarios. The proposed session key management protocol is established by applying a symmetric polynomial for group members, and the group head acts as a responsible node. The polynomial generation method uses security credentials and secure hash function. Symmetric cryptographic parameters are efficient in computation, communication, and the storage required. The security justification of the proposed scheme has been completed by using Rubin logic, which guarantees that the protocol attains mutual validation and session key agreement property strongly among the participating entities. Simulation scenarios are performed using NS 2.35 to validate the results for storage, communication, latency, energy, and polynomial calculation costs during authentication, session key generation, node migration, secure joining, and leaving phases. EKM is efficient regarding storage, computation, and communication overhead and can protect WSN-based IoT infrastructure.

Fatal Intoxications Due to Administration of Isosorbide Tablets Contaminated with Pyrimethamine

In January 2012, 664 cases of pyrimethamine toxicity and 151 deaths were reported among cardiac patients that had recently received free medicines from pharmacy of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Pakistan. These patients, ages ranged from 58 to 75 years, were prescribed simvastatin, clopidogrel, aspirin soluble, isosorbide mononitrate, and amlodipine. On examination of medications being given to them, it was found that a particular batch of isosorbide mononitrate tablets was contaminated with 50 mg pyrimethamine. Cardiac patients were taking isosorbide contaminated with pyrimethamine twice daily (100 mg pyrimethamine/day), whereas therapeutic dose of pyrimethamine for malaria is 25 mg/week. Postmortem urine, cardiac blood, and femoral blood specimens of three deceased males were submitted to author's laboratory for analysis. Postmortem toxicological analysis revealed that pyrimethamine concentration fell within the range of 1-10 μg/mL by liquid chromatography. Clinical, autopsy, histopathological, and toxicological findings strongly suggested toxicity due to pyrimethamine accumulation that resulted in deaths of these cardiac patients.

Blind data hiding technique using the Fresnelet transform

A new blind data hiding scheme is proposed in which data is decomposed using the Fresnelet transform. The inverse Fresnelet transform is performed on decomposed subbands by choosing different key parameters, and the coded pattern of the information data is obtained. This coded pattern is embedded into particular subbands of the cover image using the wavelets. The proposed method has good imperceptibility and large capacity of the information embedded data. Using the Fresnelet transform with a family of wavelet transforms makes the scheme more efficient in terms of extracted accuracy of hidden information. Moreover, the hidden data can be recovered without access to the original cover data. The proposed method is used to resolve privacy and security issues raised with respect to emerging internet applications for the effective handling of confidential data.