Newly engineered nanoparticles as potential therapeutic agents for plants to ameliorate abiotic and biotic stress

Food scarcity is a global concern that is growing every year. Biotic stress factors like pathogenic fungi, bacteria, viruses, and nematode pests aggravate the situation by imparting detrimental effects on crops by unfavourably affecting their growth and yield. Abiotic stress factors include extreme heat and cold, drought, high salinity, floods, and heavy metal toxicity. Annually, millions of hectares of agricultural land worldwide are lost to these stress elicitors. To combat these stress factors, plants have developed strong defense mechanisms, including protective physical barriers, the overexpression of certain genes, and the production of secondary metabolites. Nanotechnology offers numerous novel and sustainable substitutes for conventional agriculture due to its potential uses in this field. Newly engineered nanoparticles (NENPs) are synthesized nanoparticles that are 1-100 nm in size and possess unique properties that help plants combat abiotic and biotic stress factors efficiently. NENPs are designed to ameliorate stress, alleviate nutrient inadequacy in soil, improve plant nutritional value, and overall boost crop productivity. This review illustrates the applications of various NENPs, which help plants cope with biotic and abiotic stresses. It highlights the effective induced changes that develop in the morphology, physiology, and biochemistry of different plants under stress and the role of NENPs. This review also highlights the toxic and deleterious effects of NENPs on the soil when used in higher doses and concludes with the prospects of NENPs in agriculture

Comparative Insight of Regulatory Guidelines for Probiotics in USA, India and Malaysia: A Critical Review

Probiotics have always been a unique category of natural products due to established evidences of their applications in wellness of human beings. Inspite of being based on live microorganisms, commercial exploration of probiotics as biologics, pharmaceuticals, food and nutritional supplements has witnessed a tremendous increase due to their potential of providing health benefits. Currently different regulatory bodies across the globe consider probiotics under several categories depending upon their intended use. In order to clear the ambiguity related to regulatory specifications, assurance of quality and premarketing safety assessment for drafting of comprehensive guidelines with global acceptance is need of the hour. The aim of this paper is to compare existing regulations in countries like United States, India and Malaysia to develop harmonized guidelines for approval of probiotics

An interprofessional urban health elective focused on the social determinants of health

Background: More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities. Health professionals should understand how social factors and processes in urban spaces determine individual and population health. We report on lessons from an interprofessional urban health elective developed to focus on the social determinants of health (SDOH).                Methods: An interprofessional committee developed an urban health elective based in downtown Toronto. Course objectives included promoting collaboration to address SDOH, identifying barriers to care, accessing community-based resources, and learning to advocate at individual- and community-levels.Results: Seventeen students from eight disciplines participated during the 2011-2012 academic year. Sessions were co-facilitated with community partners and community members identified as experts based on their personal experience. Topics included housing, income and food security, Indigenous communities in urban spaces, and advocacy. Students collaborated on self-directed projects, which ranged from literature reviews to policy briefs for government. Students particularly valued learning about community agencies and hearing from people with lived experience.Conclusion: The specific health challenges faced in urban settings can benefit from an interprofessional approach informed by the experiences and needs of patient communities. This elective was innovative in engaging students in interprofessional learning on how health and social agencies collaborate to tackle social determinants in urban spaces.

AMPK Modulation Ameliorates Dominant Disease Phenotypes of CTRP5 Variant in Retinal Degeneration

Late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by a missense substitution in CTRP5. Distinctive clinical features include sub-retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) deposits, choroidal neovascularization, and RPE atrophy. In induced pluripotent stem cells-derived RPE from L-ORD patients (L-ORD-iRPE), we show that the dominant pathogenic CTRP5 variant leads to reduced CTRP5 secretion. In silico modeling suggests lower binding of mutant CTRP5 to adiponectin receptor 1 (ADIPOR1). Downstream of ADIPOR1 sustained activation of AMPK renders it insensitive to changes in AMP/ATP ratio resulting in defective lipid metabolism, reduced Neuroprotectin D1(NPD1) secretion, lower mitochondrial respiration, and reduced ATP production. These metabolic defects result in accumulation of sub-RPE deposits and leave L-ORD-iRPE susceptible to dedifferentiation. Gene augmentation of L-ORD-iRPE with WT CTRP5 or modulation of AMPK, by metformin, re-sensitize L-ORD-iRPE to changes in cellular energy status alleviating the disease cellular phenotypes. Our data suggests a mechanism for the dominant behavior of CTRP5 mutation and provides potential treatment strategies for L-ORD patients. © 2021, This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply

Reviewing the use of resilience concepts in forest sciences

Purpose of the review Resilience is a key concept to deal with an uncertain future in forestry. In recent years, it has received increasing attention from both research and practice. However, a common understanding of what resilience means in a forestry context, and how to operationalise it is lacking. Here, we conducted a systematic review of the recent forest science literature on resilience in the forestry context, synthesising how resilience is defined and assessed. Recent findings Based on a detailed review of 255 studies, we analysed how the concepts of engineering resilience, ecological resilience, and social-ecological resilience are used in forest sciences. A clear majority of the studies applied the concept of engineering resilience, quantifying resilience as the recovery time after a disturbance. The two most used indicators for engineering resilience were basal area increment and vegetation cover, whereas ecological resilience studies frequently focus on vegetation cover and tree density. In contrast, important social-ecological resilience indicators used in the literature are socio-economic diversity and stock of natural resources. In the context of global change, we expected an increase in studies adopting the more holistic social-ecological resilience concept, but this was not the observed trend. Summary Our analysis points to the nestedness of these three resilience concepts, suggesting that they are complementary rather than contradictory. It also means that the variety of resilience approaches does not need to be an obstacle for operationalisation of the concept. We provide guidance for choosing the most suitable resilience concept and indicators based on the management, disturbance and application context

Development and Validation of Psychic Energy Assessment Scale for Gymnasts

Abstract- The present study aimed to construct a Psychic Energy Scale by computing Exploratory Factor Analysis to validate the Psychic Energy Scale, before administering the EFA, the data was analysed for its sampling adequacy. The factor analysis was employed separately on each sub scale. Initially, seven items measure was administered to 120 Indian artistic gymnasts from different Gymnastics Centre of Allahabad, Hyderabad and Delhi. Exploratory factor analysis supported a 2-factor model that explained 57.98 % of the variance. In the next stage five items measure was administered to 65 Indian Gymnasts from Bhoir’s Gymkhana, Dombivali, Mumbai, the result supported by EFA as one factor model including four statements that explained 47.39 % of variance

A Case report of a continuous ambulatory drug delivery (CADD) pump to deliver opioid agonist treatment in an acute care setting

Abstract Background People with substance use disorder are at risk of complications of drug use and frequent hospitalization and may continue to use substances during admission to acute care. Acute care harm reduction strategies including oral or injectable prescription opioids may aid in care retention and improve health outcomes in this patient population. Case presentation A 58-year-old woman with refractory opioid use disorder was admitted to hospital for management of dysphagia secondary to esophageal stricture. She received injectable opioid agonist therapy using a continuous ambulatory drug delivery (CADD) pump in order to facilitate completion of her hospital admission. Conclusions The patient successfully received acute medical care with the use of a CADD pump for consistent, patient-controlled opioid administration, with the support of an interdisciplinary team and by respecting the patient’s own substance use goals