INCREASING THE PHYTOREMEDIATION EFFICIENCY OF HEAVY METAL-CONTAMINATED SOILS IN THE UAE USING ENDOPHYTIC ACTINOBACTERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Pollution caused by heavy metals (HMs) is a major environmental concern worldwide. Human actions, agriculture practices and industrial activities can cause the release of HMs into the environment. Soil contamination with HMs may have negative effects on crops, thus disrupting the food chain and posing risks to human health. Lead (Pb) is a common pollutant found in soils when at high concentrations. Conventional land remediation techniques depending on chemical and mechanical methods are quite expensive and would lead to long-term deterioration of the ecosystems. Phytoremediation can serve as an alternative, eco-friendly approach to restore the lands for agricultural purposes. Hyperaccumulator plants, such as corn (Zea mays), have the ability to absorb toxic HMs beyond the normal limits. After certain duration, however, plants may release the stress hormone ethylene (ET) in response to HMs stress. In this study, the aim was to determine the effect of plant growth promoting (PGP) endophytic actinobacteria producing 1-aminocyclopropane1-carboxylate deaminase (ACCD) on plant growth in response to Pb (50 and 100 mM). Endophytic actinobacteria were isolated from the roots of corn plants obtained near Zakher Lake, Al Ain, UAE. According to the in vitro tests using different Pb concentrations, two endophytic actinobacteria residing within plant tissues were selected for further investigation. The two endophytic strains were regarded as H2-5 (the non-producing ACCD isolate) and Ax5-1 (the ACCD-producing isolate). Greenhouse experiments were carried out to study the effect of the selected strains on corn plants in response to 50 and 100 mM Pb stress. The obtained results about the growth promotion in corn plants inoculated with Ax5-1 and exposed to any Pb concentration suggest that this ACCD-producing isolate can reduce Pb stress and enhance growth in plants. There were 55% and 36% increase in the length and fresh weight (FW) of the shoot, respectively; in 50 mM Pb exposed corn plants. Upon exposure to 100 mM Pb, plants inoculated with the endophytic Ax5-1 also showed similar pattern of increase in FW in shoot tissues by 52% and root tissues by 34%, compared to control plants not suffering from Pb stress. This suggests that corn plants can hyperaccumulate more Pb in its tissues associated with growth promotion with Ax5-1 inoculation. Under 100 mM Pb stress conditions, plants inoculated with the ACCD-producing endophytic Ax5-1 isolate significantly (p\u3c0.05) accumulated more Pb in root and shoot tissues, resulting in decreased levels of Pb in the treated soil. These findings suggest that PGP endophytic actinobacteria possessing ACCD activity can play a pivotal role in ameliorating the negative effect of Pb stress on plants as an eco-friendly and sustainable agricultural practice

"Candidatus Rickettsia kellyi," India

We report the first laboratory-confirmed human infection due to a new rickettsial genotype in India, "Candidatus Rickettsia kellyi," in a 1-year-old boy with fever and maculopapular rash. The diagnosis was made by serologic testing, polymerase chain reaction detection, and immunohistochemical testing of the organism from a skin biopsy specimen

Mapping of variations in child stunting, wasting and underweight within the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2000–2017

Background To inform actions at the district level under the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), we assessed the prevalence trends of child growth failure (CGF) indicators for all districts in India and inequality between districts within the states. Methods We assessed the trends of CGF indicators (stunting, wasting and underweight) from 2000 to 2017 across the districts of India, aggregated from 5 × 5 km grid estimates, using all accessible data from various surveys with subnational geographical information. The states were categorised into three groups using their Socio-demographic Index (SDI) levels calculated as part of the Global Burden of Disease Study based on per capita income, mean education and fertility rate in women younger than 25 years. Inequality between districts within the states was assessed using coefficient of variation (CV). We projected the prevalence of CGF indicators for the districts up to 2030 based on the trends from 2000 to 2017 to compare with the NNM 2022 targets for stunting and underweight, and the WHO/UNICEF 2030 targets for stunting and wasting. We assessed Pearson correlation coefficient between two major national surveys for district-level estimates of CGF indicators in the states. Findings The prevalence of stunting ranged 3.8-fold from 16.4% (95% UI 15.2–17.8) to 62.8% (95% UI 61.5–64.0) among the 723 districts of India in 2017, wasting ranged 5.4-fold from 5.5% (95% UI 5.1–6.1) to 30.0% (95% UI 28.2–31.8), and underweight ranged 4.6-fold from 11.0% (95% UI 10.5–11.9) to 51.0% (95% UI 49.9–52.1). 36.1% of the districts in India had stunting prevalence 40% or more, with 67.0% districts in the low SDI states group and only 1.1% districts in the high SDI states with this level of stunting. The prevalence of stunting declined significantly from 2010 to 2017 in 98.5% of the districts with a maximum decline of 41.2% (95% UI 40.3–42.5), wasting in 61.3% with a maximum decline of 44.0% (95% UI 42.3–46.7), and underweight in 95.0% with a maximum decline of 53.9% (95% UI 52.8–55.4). The CV varied 7.4-fold for stunting, 12.2-fold for wasting, and 8.6-fold for underweight between the states in 2017; the CV increased for stunting in 28 out of 31 states, for wasting in 16 states, and for underweight in 20 states from 2000 to 2017. In order to reach the NNM 2022 targets for stunting and underweight individually, 82.6% and 98.5% of the districts in India would need a rate of improvement higher than they had up to 2017, respectively. To achieve the WHO/UNICEF 2030 target for wasting, all districts in India would need a rate of improvement higher than they had up to 2017. The correlation between the two national surveys for district-level estimates was poor, with Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.7 only in Odisha and four small north-eastern states out of the 27 states covered by these surveys. Interpretation CGF indicators have improved in India, but there are substantial variations between the districts in their magnitude and rate of decline, and the inequality between districts has increased in a large proportion of the states. The poor correlation between the national surveys for CGF estimates highlights the need to standardise collection of anthropometric data in India. The district-level trends in this report provide a useful reference for targeting the efforts under NNM to reduce CGF across India and meet the Indian and global targets. Keywords Child growth failureDistrict-levelGeospatial mappingInequalityNational Nutrition MissionPrevalenceStuntingTime trendsUnder-fiveUndernutritionUnderweightWastingWHO/UNICEF target

Extent of knowledge and attitudes on plagiarism among undergraduate medical students in South India - a multicentre, cross-sectional study to determine the need for incorporating research ethics in medical undergraduate curriculum

BACKGROUND: Undergraduate medical students in India participate in various research activities However, plagiarism is rampant, and we hypothesize that it is the lack of knowledge on how to avoid plagiarism. This study’s objective was to measure the extent of knowledge and attitudes towards plagiarism among undergraduate medical students in India. METHODS: It was a multicentre, cross-sectional study conducted over a two-year period (January 2018 – December 2019). Undergraduate medical students were given a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire which contained: (a) Demographic details; (b) A quiz developed by Indiana University, USA to assess knowledge; and (c) Attitudes towards Plagiarism (ATP) questionnaire. RESULTS: Eleven medical colleges (n = 4 government medical colleges [GMCs] and n = 7 private medical colleges [PMCs]) participated. A total of N = 4183 students consented. The mean (SD) knowledge score was 4.54 (1.78) out of 10. The factors (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]; 95% Confidence interval [CI]; p value) that emerged as significant predictors of poor knowledge score were early years of medical education (0.110; 0.063, 0.156; < 0.001) and being enrolled in a GMC (0.348; 0.233, 0.463; < 0.001).The overall mean (SD) scores of the three attitude components namely permissive, critical and submissive norms were 37.56 (5.25), 20.35 (4.20) and 31.20 (4.28) respectively, corresponding to the moderate category. CONCLUSION: The overall knowledge score was poor. A vast majority of study participants fell in the moderate category of attitude score. These findings warrant the need for incorporating formal training in the medical education curriculum

Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study

18% of the world's population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. Action to effectively improve population health in India requires availability of reliable and comprehensive state-level estimates of disease burden and risk factors over time. Such comprehensive estimates have not been available so far for all major diseases and risk factors. Thus, we aimed to estimate the disease burden and risk factors in every state of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016

Degradation and morphological disorder in organic light-emitting diodes

In this study, the intrinsic oxidative degradation present in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), wherein aluminum (III) 8-hydroxyquinoline (Alq 3) is utilized as an electron transporting and light emitting layer is analyzed as a function of the relative hole current in the device. The extent to which holes are allowed into the Alq3 layer in the typical hole transport layer/electron transport layer sandwich structure in OLEDs is controlled by means of the variable conductivity of a salt containing polymer layer (henceforth referred to as the oxidized transport layer or OTL) acting as a hole injection layer. The device lifetime and quantum efficiency were observed to attain an optimum value for injected hole current. Based on these results, the hypothesis that hole current in excess of that required for light emission results in the intrinsic failure of OLEDs is proved. ^ Further improvement in OLED lifetimes was attempted by minimizing thin film morphological instabilities. Co-evaporation of Alg3 with its close adduct aluminum (III) 4-methyl, 8-hydroxyquinoline (4m-Alq3) was utilized to provide entropically driven resistance to crystallization. The device quantum efficiencies thus obtained were the highest relative to 4m-Alq3 or Alq3 OLEDs made without co-evaporation, but the measured lifetimes were not extended over that of Alga based OLEDs. This is due to the poorer chemical stability of the 4m-Alq3 molecule as well as the energetic disorder introduced into the film by virtue of the blending process. ^ The observation of this effect of energetic disorder led to the study of the same present in Alq3 itself. The utilization of 27Al solid-state magic angle spinning NMR enabled the detection of molecular scale disorder in thermally evaporated films of Alq3. Based on variations in the dipole correlation effects resulting from molecular scale disorder, the evolution of the density of states for Alq3 as a function of evaporation rate was estimated. This study clearly proved the existence of traps inherent to organometallic systems comprised of octahedrally complexed asymmetric bidendate ligands and has not been taken into consideration thus far. The implications of these studies in research geared towards realizing more durable organic electron devices is discussed.

Chicken Liver Pyruvate Holocarboxylase: Studies on Its Synthesis From Theapoprotein and Biotin and Its Protection by Sulphate Ions Against Avidin Inhibition

92 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1970.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD