Unmasking complexities of combined stresses for creating climate-smart crops

Understanding the complex challenges that plants face from multiple stresses is key to developing climate-ready crops. We highlight the significance of the Stress Combinations and their Interactions in Plants database (SCIPdb) for studying the impact of stress combinations on plants and the importance of aligning thematic research programs to create crops aligned with achieving sustainable development goals.

Application of sphingolipid-based nanocarriers in drug delivery: an overview

Sphingolipids (SL) are well recognized for their cell signaling through extracellular and intracellular pathways. Based on chemistry different types of SL are biosynthesized in mammalian cells and have specific function in cellular activity. SL has an ampiphilic structure with have hydrophobic body attached to the polar head enables their use as a drug delivery agent in the form of nanocarriers. SL-based liposomes can improve the solubility of lipophilic drugs through host and drug complexes and are more stable than conventional liposomal formulations. Preclinical studies of SL nanocarriers are reported on topical delivery, oral delivery, ocular delivery, chemotherapeutic delivery, cardiovascular delivery and Alzheimer's disease. The commercial challenges and patents related to SL nanoformulations are highlighted in this article.

Time-Dependent Multireference Coupled-Cluster Method (TDMRCCM) for the Bath-Dynamics in System-Bath Approach to Nonadiabatic Dynamics

The time-dependent multireference coupled-cluster method (TDMRCCM) fits well in the scheme of the system-bath separation used to study the nonadiabatic dynamics. In TDMRCCM, a projection operator is defined as one that projects the full Hilbert space onto the space spanned by the collection of system degrees of freedom, called the model space. The inverse of this projection operator is a wave operator that acts on the model space and takes its projection back to the full wave function. This wave operator is defined as an exponential of the excitation terms and, hence, can be expanded into a Taylor series, which we have truncated in this work at the second-order of excitations. The attraction of using TDMRCCM for describing the bath dynamics is due to the exponential nature of the ansatz used in the method, which makes it possible for the higher-order excitations to be absorbed by the lower-order terms, even upon truncating the series. This improves the accuracy of the numerical calculations using TDMRCCM as an approximation for the bath-mode dynamics in the system-bath framework for nonadiabatic dynamics. We present the theoretical details of TDMRCCM and the numerical results for implementing this method to study the dynamics in the butatriene cation.

Determining the prevalence of Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in manure of dairy lagoons

AIM

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of microbial pathogens in manure of dairy lagoons in California.

METHODS AND RESULTS

To determine pathogens in dairy manure stored in anaerobic lagoons of dairy farm, an extensive field study was conducted across California to sample manure from 20 dairy farms. Samples were analyzed to determine the prevalence of indicator Escherichia coli, Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC), Salmonella, and E. coli O157: H7. To test the E. coli, STEC, and Salmonella, we used agar culture-based method followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. In addition, a real- time PCR based method was used to determine the presence of E coli O157: H7. Study demonstrated that the prevalence of Salmonella in manure sample is lower than E. coli. The presence of Salmonella was found in 2.26% of the samples, and both the culture-based and PCR methods yielded comparable outcomes in detecting Salmonella. Moreover, ∼11.30% of the total samples out of the 177 were identified as positive for STEC by qPCR.

CONCLUSION

These findings demonstrate that indicator E. coli are abundantly present in anaerobic lagoons. However, the presence of STEC, and Salmonella is substantially low.

Glucagon: Delivery advancements for hypoglycemia management

As the 100th anniversary of glucagon's discovery approaches, we reflect on the remarkable journey of understanding its pivotal role in glucose regulation. Advancements in glucagon delivery systems for managing hypoglycemia are unfolding with promise, albeit accompanied by formulation and implementation challenges. Recent developments include non-injectable methods like BAQSIMI® (Nasal glucagon) offers a user-friendly option, but stability, bioavailability, and rapid onset remain formulation hurdles. Closed-loop systems, combining glucagon with insulin, aim to automate glucose control, demanding stable and precise formulations compatible with complex algorithms. However, achieving co-delivery harmony and effective dual-hormone responses poses substantial challenges. Ogluo® and Gvoke HypoPen® are auto-injector pens, a ready-to-use solution that can rapidly control hypoglycemia and eliminate the need for mixing powder and liquid. GlucaGen® Hypokit® and Glucagon Emergency Kits are traditional deliveries that possess complexity during administration and are still widely used in clinical practice. In addition to this advancement, we have covered the recent patents and clinical trials of glucagon delivery. The synergy of patent innovation and clinical validation offers a glimpse into the transformative potential of glucagon delivery yet underscores the intricate path toward widespread adoption and improved diabetes care. Finally, this review will help the formulation scientist, clinicians, healthcare providers, and patient to manage hypoglycemia using glucagon.

When two negatives make a positive: the favorable impact of the combination of abiotic stress and pathogen infection on plants

Combined abiotic and biotic stresses modify plant defense signaling, leading to either the activation or suppression of defense responses. Although the majority of combined abiotic and biotic stresses reduce plant fitness, certain abiotic stresses reduce the severity of pathogen infection in plants. Remarkably, certain pathogens also improve the tolerance of some plants to a few abiotic stresses. While considerable research focuses on the detrimental impact of combined stresses on plants, the upside of combined stress remains hidden. This review succinctly discusses the interactions between abiotic stresses and pathogen infection that benefit plant fitness. Various factors that govern the positive influence of combined abiotic stress and pathogen infection on plant performance are also discussed. In addition, we provide a brief overview of the role of pathogens, mainly viruses, in improving plant responses to abiotic stresses. We further highlight the critical nodes in defense signaling that guide plant responses during abiotic stress towards enhanced resistance to pathogens. Studies on antagonistic interactions between abiotic and biotic stressors can uncover candidates in host plant defense that may shield plants from combined stresses.

Stress combinations and their interactions in plants database: a one-stop resource on combined stress responses in plants

We have developed a compendium and interactive platform, named Stress Combinations and their Interactions in Plants Database (SCIPDb; http://www.nipgr.ac.in/scipdb.php), which offers information on morpho-physio-biochemical (phenome) and molecular (transcriptome and metabolome) responses of plants to different stress combinations. SCIPDb is a plant stress informatics hub for data mining on phenome, transcriptome, trait-gene ontology, and data-driven research for advancing mechanistic understanding of combined stress biology. We analyzed global phenome data from 939 studies to delineate the effects of various stress combinations on yield in major crops and found that yield was substantially affected under abiotic-abiotic stresses. Transcriptome datasets from 36 studies hosted in SCIPDb identified novel genes, whose roles have not been earlier established in combined stress. Integretome analysis under combined drought-heat stress pinpointed carbohydrate, amino acid, and energy metabolism pathways as the crucial metabolic, proteomic, and transcriptional components in plant tolerance to combined stress. These examples illustrate the application of SCIPDb in identifying novel genes and pathways involved in combined stress tolerance. Further, we showed the application of this database in identifying novel candidate genes and pathways for combined drought and pathogen stress tolerance. To our knowledge, SCIPDb is the only publicly available platform offering combined stress-specific omics big data visualization tools, such as an interactive scrollbar, stress matrix, radial tree, global distribution map, meta-phenome analysis, search, BLAST, transcript expression pattern table, Manhattan plot, and co-expression network. These tools facilitate a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying plant responses to combined stresses.

Chronic illness adjustment scale (CIAS): Development and validation

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this study were to (i) develop a self-report instrument to measure adjustment to chronic illness, (ii) evaluate its core structure and (iii) study various psychometric properties in the development of this instrument.

METHOD

The entire process of developing and validating the instrument is conducted in different phases: item writing and content validation; exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to extract dimensions of the instrument; reliability and validity testing. A total of 1095 participants were included in the study. The EFA was run using IBM SPSS 23 and CFA was done by AMOS 21.

RESULTS

The Cronbach alpha of the chronic illness adjustment scale was found to be .70. The instrument correlates positively with illness perception and well-being which supports the notion that the chronic illness adjustment scale has satisfactory convergent validity.

DISCUSSION

The multifaceted nature of the chronic illness adjustment scale can serve as a global indicator of adjustment to chronic illness, allowing various interventions to flow toward the healthcare arena.

First Measurement of Hard Exclusive π^{-}Δ^{++} Electroproduction Beam-Spin Asymmetries off the Proton

The polarized cross-section ratio σ_{LT^{'}}/σ_{0} from hard exclusive π^{-}Δ^{++} electroproduction off an unpolarized hydrogen target has been extracted based on beam-spin asymmetry measurements using a 10.2  GeV/10.6  GeV incident electron beam and the CLAS12 spectrometer at Jefferson Lab. The study, which provides the first observation of this channel in the deep-inelastic regime, focuses on very forward-pion kinematics in the valence regime, and photon virtualities ranging from 1.5  GeV^{2} up to 7  GeV^{2}. The reaction provides a novel access to the d-quark content of the nucleon and to p→Δ^{++} transition generalized parton distributions. A comparison to existing results for hard exclusive π^{+}n and π^{0}p electroproduction is provided, which shows a clear impact of the excitation mechanism, encoded in transition generalized parton distributions, on the asymmetry.

First CLAS12 Measurement of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering Beam-Spin Asymmetries in the Extended Valence Region

Deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) allows one to probe generalized parton distributions describing the 3D structure of the nucleon. We report the first measurement of the DVCS beam-spin asymmetry using the CLAS12 spectrometer with a 10.2 and 10.6 GeV electron beam scattering from unpolarized protons. The results greatly extend the Q^{2} and Bjorken-x phase space beyond the existing data in the valence region and provide 1600 new data points measured with unprecedented statistical uncertainty, setting new, tight constraints for future phenomenological studies.

First Measurement of Λ Electroproduction off Nuclei in the Current and Target Fragmentation Regions

We report results of Λ hyperon production in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering off deuterium, carbon, iron, and lead targets obtained with the CLAS detector and the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility 5.014 GeV electron beam. These results represent the first measurements of the Λ multiplicity ratio and transverse momentum broadening as a function of the energy fraction (z) in the current and target fragmentation regions. The multiplicity ratio exhibits a strong suppression at high z and an enhancement at low z. The measured transverse momentum broadening is an order of magnitude greater than that seen for light mesons. This indicates that the propagating entity interacts very strongly with the nuclear medium, which suggests that propagation of diquark configurations in the nuclear medium takes place at least part of the time, even at high z. The trends of these results are qualitatively described by the Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model, particularly for the multiplicity ratios. These observations will potentially open a new era of studies of the structure of the nucleon as well as of strange baryons.

Criteria for the Classification of System and Bath Variables in Nonadiabatic Dynamics: Application to Pyrazine

The present work deals with the system-bath separation of the vibrational modes involved in a nonadiabatic system. System modes are the strongly interacting modes which dominate the overall dynamics and, hence, need a near-exact treatment. Bath modes have relatively weaker couplings and can be approximately treated. Thus, the exponential bottleneck involved in computations is controlled by the size of the system-subspace. The aim of this work is to put forward a set of criteria that provides clear guidelines for choosing the system degrees of freedom. The extent of wave packet dephasing caused by repeated crossings across the surface of curve-crossing is the basis for distinction between system and bath modes. The mechanisms of the wave packet dephasing and the criteria are discussed in detail. Numerically converged results presented for the 24-mode pyrazine and 3-mode spin-boson model validate the efficiency of these criteria.

Striatin family proteins: The neglected scaffolds

The Striatin family of proteins constitutes Striatin, SG2NA, and Zinedin. Members of this family of proteins act as a signaling scaffold due to the presence of multiple protein-protein interaction domains. At least two members of this family, namely Zinedin and SG2NA, have a proven role in cancer cell proliferation. SG2NA, the second member of this family, undergoes alternative splicing and gives rise to several isoforms which are differentially regulated in a tissue-dependent manner. SG2NA evolved earlier than the other two members of the family, and SG2NA undergoes not only alternative splicing but also other posttranscriptional gene regulation. Striatin also undergoes alternative splicing, and as a result, it gives rise to multiple isoforms. It has been shown that this family of proteins plays a significant role in estrogen signaling, neuroprotection, cancer as well as in cell cycle regulation. Members of the striatin family form a complex network of signaling hubs with different kinases and phosphatases, and other signaling proteins named STRIPAK. Here, in the present manuscript, we thoroughly reviewed the findings on striatin family members to elaborate on the overall structural and functional idea of this family of proteins. We also commented on the involvement of these proteins in STRIPAK complexes and their functional relevance.

Observation of Correlations between Spin and Transverse Momenta in Back-to-Back Dihadron Production at CLAS12

We report the first measurements of deep inelastic scattering spin-dependent azimuthal asymmetries in back-to-back dihadron electroproduction in the deep inelastic scattering process. In this reaction, two hadrons are produced in opposite hemispheres along the z axis in the virtual photon-target nucleon center-of-mass frame, with the first hadron produced in the current-fragmentation region and the second in the target-fragmentation region. The data were taken with longitudinally polarized electron beams of 10.2 and 10.6 GeV incident on an unpolarized liquid-hydrogen target using the CLAS12 spectrometer at Jefferson Lab. Observed nonzero sinΔϕ modulations in ep→e^{'}pπ^{+}X events, where Δϕ is the difference of the azimuthal angles of the proton and pion in the virtual photon and target nucleon center-of-mass frame, indicate that correlations between the spin and transverse momenta of hadrons produced in the target- and current-fragmentation regions may be significant. The measured beam-spin asymmetries provide a first access in dihadron production to a previously unexplored leading-twist spin- and transverse-momentum-dependent fracture function. The fracture functions describe the hadronization of the target remnant after the hard scattering of a virtual photon off a quark in the target particle and provide a new avenue for studying nucleonic structure and hadronization.

Observation of Azimuth-Dependent Suppression of Hadron Pairs in Electron Scattering off Nuclei

We present the first measurement of dihadron angular correlations in electron-nucleus scattering. The data were taken with the CLAS detector and a 5.0 GeV electron beam incident on deuterium, carbon, iron, and lead targets. Relative to deuterium, the nuclear yields of charged-pion pairs show a strong suppression for azimuthally opposite pairs, no suppression for azimuthally nearby pairs, and an enhancement of pairs with large invariant mass. These effects grow with increased nuclear size. The data are qualitatively described by the gibuu model, which suggests that hadrons form near the nuclear surface and undergo multiple scattering in nuclei.These results show that angular correlation studies can open a new way to elucidate how hadrons form and interact inside nuclei.

Combined Drought and Heat Stress Influences the Root Water Relation and Determine the Dry Root Rot Disease Development Under Field Conditions: A Study Using Contrasting Chickpea Genotypes

Abiotic stressors such as drought and heat predispose chickpea plants to pathogens of key importance leading to significant crop loss under field conditions. In this study, we have investigated the influence of drought and high temperature on the incidence and severity of dry root rot disease (caused by Macrophomina phaseolina) in chickpea, under extensive on- and off-season field trials and greenhouse conditions. We explored the association between drought tolerance and dry root rot resistance in two chickpea genotypes, ICC 4958 and JG 62, with contrasting resistance to dry root rot. In addition, we extensively analyzed various patho-morphological and root architecture traits altered by combined stresses under field and greenhouse conditions in these genotypes. We further observed the role of edaphic factors in dry root rot incidence under field conditions. Altogether, our results suggest a strong negative correlation between the plant water relations and dry root rot severity in chickpeas, indicating an association between drought tolerance and dry root rot resistance. Additionally, the significant role of heat stress in altering the dynamics of dry root rot and the importance of combinatorial screening of chickpea germplasm for dry root rot resistance, drought, and heat stress have been revealed.

Cationic microcrystalline cellulose - Montmorillonite composite aerogel for preconcentration of inorganic anions from dairy wastewater

Development of efficient adsorbents to inorganic anions as a solid phase extraction (SPE) material is highly desirable for chromatographic analysis and pollution control. In this work we developed a new hybrid cationic microcrystalline cellulose aerogel composite. Cationic cetylpyridinium imbedded montmorillonite (CPC-MT) was uniformly entrapped in microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) to enhance anionic adsorption efficiency and mechanical stability. The developed CPC-MT@MCC aerogel was used as an SPE adsorbent for anions from dairy wastewater by coupling with ion-column chromatography. Further quaternized CPC-MT@MCC aerogel (CPC-MT@QMCC) showed unique low density (10.6 mg cm^-3), large specific surface area (320 m² g^-1), porosity 70%, 800 mg g^-1 nitrate adsorption capacity within 60 min and ease of elution in alkaline solutions. The CPC-MT@QMCC aerogel showed efficient regeneration and reuse performances for up to 10 cycles. More importantly, a dynamic binding efficiency of 710 mg g^-1 highlights its excellent performance for practical applications. 96% of nitrate anion from environmental manure wastewater samples were adsorbed with 98.7% recovery. A good linear relationship was obtained in the range of 0.01-10 mg L^-1 and the limits of detection was 0.5 mg L^-1 using CPC-MT@QMCC aerogel as a preconcentration column. The successful synthesis of such intriguing and economic CPC-MT@QMCC aerogel may provide a promising matrix for high-performance and high efficiency chromatographic media.

Free-roaming dog population dynamics in Ranchi, India

Rabies causes approximately 20,000 human deaths in India each year. Nearly all of these occur following dog bites. Large-scale, high-coverage dog rabies vaccination campaigns are the cornerstone of rabies elimination strategies in both human and dog populations, although this is particularly challenging to achieve in India as a large proportion of the dog population are free-roaming and unowned. Further, little is known about free-roaming dog ecology in India which makes defining optimum vaccination strategies difficult. In this study, data collected using a mobile phone application during three annual mass vaccination and neutering (surgical sterilisation of both males and females) campaigns of free-roaming dogs in Ranchi, India (during which a total of 43,847 vaccinations, 26,213 neuter surgeries and 28,172 re-sight observations were made) were interrogated, using two novel approaches to estimate the proportion of neutered dogs that were lost from the city (assumed due to mortality or migration) between campaign years. Analysis revealed high losses of neutered dogs each year, ranging from 25.3% (28.2-22.8) to 55.8% (57.0-54.6). We also estimated that the total population declined by 12.58% (9.89-15.03) over the three-year period. This demonstrates that there is a high turnover of free-roaming dogs and that despite neutering a large number of dogs in an annual sterilisation campaign, the decline in population size was modest over a three-year time period. These findings have significant implications for the planning of rabies vaccination campaigns and population management programmes as well as highlighting the need for further research into the demographics of free-roaming, unowned dogs in India.

Recent Advances in Plant Gene Silencing Methods

With the increasing understanding of fundamentals of gene silencing pathways in plants, various tools and techniques for downregulating the expression of a target gene have been developed across multiple plant species. This chapter provides an insight into the molecular mechanisms of gene silencing and highlights the advancements in various gene silencing approaches. The prominent aspects of different gene silencing methods, their advantages and disadvantages have been discussed. A succinct discussion on the newly emerged microRNA-based technologies like microRNA-induced gene silencing (MIGS) and microRNA-mediated virus-induced gene silencing (MIR-VIGS) are also presented. We have also discussed the gene-editing system like CRISPR-Cas. The prominent bottlenecks in gene silencing methods are the off-target effects and lack of universal applicability. However, the tremendous growth in understanding of this field reflects the potentials for improvements in the currently available approaches and the development of new widely applicable methods for easy, fast, and efficient functional characterization of plant genes.

Improved Λp Elastic Scattering Cross Sections between 0.9 and 2.0 GeV/c as a Main Ingredient of the Neutron Star Equation of State

Strange matter is believed to exist in the cores of neutron stars based on simple kinematics. If this is true, then hyperon-nucleon interactions will play a significant part in the neutron star equation of state. Yet, compared to other elastic scattering processes, there is very little data on Λ-N scattering. This experiment utilized the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) detector to study the Λp→Λp elastic scattering cross section in the incident Λ momentum range 0.9-2.0  GeV/c. These are the first data on this reaction since the 1970s. The new cross sections have significantly better accuracy and precision than the existing world data, and the techniques developed here can also be used in future experiments.

First Measurement of Timelike Compton Scattering

We present the first measurement of the timelike Compton scattering process, γp→p^{'}γ^{*}(γ^{*}→e^{+}e^{-}), obtained with the CLAS12 detector at Jefferson Lab. The photon beam polarization and the decay lepton angular asymmetries are reported in the range of timelike photon virtualities 2.25<Q^{'2}<9  GeV^{2}, squared momentum transferred 0.1<-t<0.8  GeV^{2}, and average total center-of-mass energy squared s=14.5  GeV^{2}. The photon beam polarization asymmetry, similar to the beam-spin asymmetry in deep virtual Compton scattering, is sensitive to the imaginary part of the Compton form factors and provides a way to test the universality of the generalized parton distributions. The angular asymmetry of the decay leptons accesses the real part of the Compton form factors and thus the D-term in the parametrization of the generalized parton distributions.