Indexing Virus and Virus-Like Diseases of Citrus

Citrus is a highly nutritive and prized fruit crop around the world. It contributes a substantial share in local consumption and exports of a nation to earn a handsome foreign exchange. The production of citrus is under the threat of citrus decline. Different factors are responsible for the citrus decline but virus and virus-like diseases have the major role in this decline. Virus and virus-like diseases alone or in association with other biotic and abiotic factors exist in the citrus orchards. Therefore, indexing of diseases caused by virus and virus-like pathogens is the key factor to manage these citrus diseases. Proper facilities and skilled personnel are the pre-requisite for the diseases indexing procedures. Biological, serological and molecular indexing is sensitive, reliable and durable strategy for managing different citrus virus and virus-like diseases under different conditions. Moreover, indexing of viruses and virus-like pathogens are very important for the production of disease free citrus nurseries. This chapter gives a brief review for the commonly used biological, serological and molecular assays for the detection of citrus virus and virus-like pathogens

Hygroscopic properties following drying affects wood consumption by Odontotermes obesus

The relationship between drying and hygroscopic ability of Crateva adansonii and Populus deltoides woods to resist feeding by Odontotermes obesus was studied. Woods were dried under the sun and in the oven for a range of 5-25 days and then these were exposed to termites for 25 days in underground pits in Randomized Complete Block Design pattern with five replications. Results showed that lowest moisture gain was observed at a short time for drying with each method. Weight loss after termites’ exposure was more in less dried sap and heartwood of either plant species. The practical implication of these results is discussed

Hygroscopic properties following drying affects wood consumption by Odontotermes obesus

The relationship between drying and hygroscopic ability of Crateva adansonii and Populus deltoides woods to resist feeding by Odontotermes obesus was studied. Woods were dried under the sun and in the oven for a range of 5-25 days and then these were exposed to termites for 25 days in underground pits in Randomized Complete Block Design pattern with five replications. Results showed that lowest moisture gain was observed at a short time for drying with each method. Weight loss after termites’ exposure was more in less dried sap and heartwood of either plant species. The practical implication of these results is discussed

Sublethal and transgenerational effects of synthetic insecticides on the biological parameters and functional response of Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) under laboratory conditions

Synthetic insecticides have been an inevitable part of plant protection throughout the world. Sublethal effects of these chemicals on beneficial insect species are one of the contemporary issues these days. Using the age-stage, two-sex life table model, this study evaluated the sublethal and transgenerational effects of six synthetic insecticides (imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, lambda-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, chlorpyrifos and profenofos) commonly applied to winter vegetables, on the fitness and predation of the seven-spotted ladybeetle, Coccinella septempunctata, which is an efficient predator of aphids worldwide. According to results, all insecticides at their sublethal doses (LC30) significantly suppressed the emergence of adults, adult weight, fertility and fecundity of the parental generation compared to control treatment. The larval stage was prolonged and oviposition, fecundity and total longevity of the adult beetles were decreased in unexposed progeny whose parents were exposed to sublethal doses of all insecticides. Moreover, the biological parameters of adults, including the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ) and net reproductive rate (R0) were significantly reduced when exposed to sublethal doses of insecticides. The predation rate of the F1 generation adults was also decreased after exposure to the sublethal doses of insecticides. However, chlorpyrifos, profenofos, lambda-cyhalothrin and cypermethrin exhibited more deleterious effects on the fitness and population parameters of beetles than imidacloprid and thiamethoxam

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Émissions d'oxydes d'azote par la macrofaune de sol tropical : impact des régimes alimentaires des ingénieurs de sol et des communautés microbiennes fonctionnelles impliquées dans ces émissions

Les sols représentent environ 63% des émissions de N2O et à eux seuls les sols tropicaux représentent 23% de ce budget soit une contribution bien plus élevé que les sols tempérés. Ces sols sont connus pour abriter une grande biodiversité d'invertébrés dominés par quatre types i.e. termites, vers de terre, fourmis et larves de scarabaeid. Ces groupes macrofaunal sont considérés comme des ingénieurs des sols via notamment leurs actions de régulation de la disponibilité des ressources chimiques, tels que l'azote minéral pour les micro-organismes. Cette régulation est due à leurs capacités de digestion spécifiques de la matière organique ainsi que la création et/ou la modification des habitats des sols. Cette étude est basée sur l'hypothèse suivante (i) l'environnement digestif et les structures biogéniques de ces ingénieurs du sol sont considérées comme des « hot spot » d' émissions de N2O (ii) les taux d'émission de N2O varient en fonction de leurs régimes alimentaires, cette macrofaune ingérant des substrats avec différents C:N (iii) le taux d'émission de N2O de chaque invertébré est corrélé à la densité des communautés bactériennes digestives impliquées dans l'émission de N2O (bactéries nitrifiantes et dénitrifiantes) et à leur teneur en azote minéral dans leur tube digestif. Pour évaluer ces différentes hypothèses, des mesures des taux d'émission de N2O ont été effectuées in vitro en aérobiose pour la macrofaune (30 espèces différentes en provenance d'Afrique, d'Amérique du Sud et d'Europe) et leurs matériels biogéniques associées (nids, turricules). L'abondance des gènes fonctionnelles des bactéries nitrifiantes (AOA et AOB) et dénitrifiantes (nirK, nirS, nosZ) ont été quantifiés par PCR quantitative. Les termites humivores et champignonnistes ainsi que les larves de scarabaeid émettent des quantités significatives de N2O alors que les fourmis n'en émettent pas. Quand aux termites xylophages et litièrivore, ils absorbent le N2O. Les structures biogéniques des vers de terre (turricules) et des fourmis (nid) émettent des quantités importantes de N2O ce qui n'est pas le cas des nids de termites. La faune du sol et leurs structures biogéniques associées, sont donc, dans la majorité des cas étudiés, un lieu d'émission de N2O, confirmant ainsi notre première hypothèse. Ce travail a également démontré qu'il y a avait une étroite corrélation entre régime alimentaire et intensité de l'émission de N2O au sein de chaque type de macrofaune étudié. En revanche, l'abondance des gènes des communautés digestive nitrifiantes et dénitrifiantes et le contenu en N minéral au sein du tube digestif ne semblent pas être des proxies pertinents des émissions de N2O. A partir de ces mesures, des calculs ont été effectuées pour déterminer l'importance de ces émissions à l'échelle des écosystèmes tropicaux étudiés (forêt et savane). Ces calculs suggèrent que la macrofaune du sol dans ces écosystèmes pourrait contribuer entre 0,1 à 11,7% et 0,1 à 8,8% du budget total des émissions de N2O, respectivement. Les résultats de ces travaux devraient contribuer à une meilleure prise en compte de la composante biotique dans la modélisation des émissions de gaz à effet de serre provenant des sols en milieu tropical.Soils account for about 63% of N2O emissions. Tropical soils are estimated to emit 23% of global N2O emission budget which is much higher than temperate soil N2O emissions. These soils also harbor a huge biodiversity of invertebrates dominated by four types of macrofauna i.e. termites, earthworms, ants and scarabaeid grubs. These macrofaunal groups are considered as soil engineers because they regulate the availability of chemical resources, like mineral nitrogen, for the microorganisms via their specific digestion capabilities and/or by creating and modifying soil habitats. This study is based on the following hypothesis (i) the gut environment or biogenic structures of these soil engineers are considered as hotspots of N2O emission (ii) the N2O emission rates will vary according to their feeding behavior as these macrofauna thrive on diverse substrates with different C:N ratio (iii) the rate of N2O emission in each soil fauna will also depend on the gut density of the bacterial communities involved in the N2O emission (nitrifiers and denitrifiers) and on the mineral nitrogen content within the gut. To assess these different hypotheses in-vitro short-term N2O emission rates were assessed for either live macrofauna (30 species collected from Africa, South America and Europe) or their biogenic materials or both under aerobic incubations. Genes abundance of nitrifiers (AOA and AOB) and denitrifiers (nirK, nirS, nosZ) were quantified by real time quantitative PCR. Soil-feeders and fungus-growing termites and scarabaeid grubs emitted in-vivo N2O while ants did not. Surprisingly, wood- and grass-feeding termites revealed an uptake of N2O. Biogenic structures of earthworms and ants emitted substantial amount of N2O while those of termites did not. The emission difference between macrofauna or their biogenic materials and their control materials was significant for most of the macrofaunal groups studied confirming our first hypothesis. We also confirmed that the feeding behavior (total N content and C:N ratio of food material) is the main factor explaining the observed N2O emission pattern of each macrofaunal group investigated whereas genes abundances, particularly of denitrifiers and gut N mineral content did not appear to be relevant proxies of the N2O emissions rates. A back-on-the-envelope data upscaling suggests that soil macrofauna could contribute from 0.1–11.7% and 0.1–8.8% of the total soil N2O emissions, respectively, for the tropical rainforest and dry savanna ecosystems. This work should contribute to a better estimation of the soil biotic compartment in the different models of greenhouse gas emissions from tropical soils

Effects on heat transfer of multiphase magnetic fluid due to circular magnetic field over a stretching surface with heat source/sink and thermal radiation

The purpose of the current article is to explore the boundary layer heat transport flow of multiphase magnetic fluid with solid impurities suspended homogeneously past a stretching sheet under the impact of circular magnetic field. Thermal radiation effects are also taken in account. The equations describing the flow of dust particles in fluid along with point dipole are modelled by employing conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy, which are then converted into non-linear coupled differential equations by mean of similarity approach. The transformed ODE’s are tackled numerically with the help of efficient Runga-Kutta method. The influence of ferromagnetic interaction parameter, viscous dissipation, fluid-particle interaction parameter, Eckert number, Prandtl number, thermal radiation parameter and number of dust particles, heat production or absorption parameter with the two thermal process namely, prescribed heat flux (PHF) or prescribed surface temperature (PST) are observed on temperature and velocity profiles. The value of skin-friction coefficient and Nusselt number are calculated for numerous physical parameters. Present results are correlated with available for a limited case and an excellent agreement is found. Keywords: Ferromagnetic interaction parameter, Dusty magnetic fluid, stretching sheet, Magnetic dipole, Heat source/sink, Thermal radiatio

Farmer field school’s training on knowledge level of citrus growers regarding improved production practices

ABSTRACT: The major objective of this paper was to assess the impact of the Farmer field school (FFS) training program on the knowledge level of farmers (citrus growers) regarding improved citrus production practices. Distract Sargodha was the targeted research area for this study being the leading producer of citrus in Pakistan. Quantitative data were collected through interview schedule and analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). It was conclude that young people were more tend towards getting training under FFS program than old age farmers. Educated farmers were in majority in FFS farmers while; conversely illiterate farmers were in majority in the category of non-FFs farmers. In category of FFS farmers livestock farming was their primary income as reported by majority (31.3%) of FFS farmers and in the case of non-FFS farmer’s crop sale was their primary income source as reported by 28.4% of non-FFs farmers. In addition to that both FFS and non-FFS farmers also earn income from nonfarm sources like business, job, foreign remittances and labour. FFS training program had positive and significant impact on the knowledge level of farmers regarding citrus production and protection practices. T-test statistics showed highly significant (P<0.05) difference in knowledge level of FFS farmers and non-FFS farmers

Synergized Toxicity of Promising Plant Extracts and Synthetic Chemicals against Fall Armyworm <i>Spodoptera frugiperda</i> (JE Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Pakistan

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a destructive pest of a wide array of agricultural and horticultural crops worldwide. This in vitro research assessed the combined effect of methanolic extracts of indigenous flora of Soone Valley (Khushab, Pakistan) and nine commonly used synthetic insecticides against 3rd instar larvae of S. frugiperda using the leaf-dip bioassay method. Toxicity bioassays with twelve plant extracts revealed that the extracts of Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, Sophora mollis (Royle) Baker and Rhazya stricta Decne. were the most effective, exhibiting minimum LC50 and LT50 values. Bioassays with synthetic insecticides revealed a significantly higher mortality of S. frugiperda larvae by emamectin benzoate (45%), chlorpyrifos (40%) and chlorantraniliprole (38%). Further bioassays with 10 binary combinations of these most effective botanical and synthetic insecticides showed that seven pesticidal combinations exhibited synergistic toxicity, and three combinations comprising emamectin benzoate exhibited an additive effect on the mortality of S. frugiperda larvae. GC–MS analyses of methanolic extracts of W. somnifera, S. mollis and R. stricta revealed 1,2,4-trimethyl-benzene and 3,5-dimethyl-octane, 1-ethyl-2-methyl-benzene, and 1-monolinoleoylglycerol trimethylsilyl ether, decane, and lupeol as major bioconstituents, respectively. Our results demonstrated that combining botanicals with synthetic insecticides can synergize their toxicity against S. frugiperda larvae, suggesting their potential incorporation into future IPM programs against S. frugiperda and other lepidopterous pests