Comparative efficacy of phosphorous supplements with phosphate solubilizing bacteria for optimizing wheat yield in calcareous soils.

Phosphorus (P) deficiency is the main hurdle in achieving sustainable crop production ps especially in calcareous soils. Using bio-fertilizers like phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) could be a useful approach for sustainable P management as they improve P availability in soil via dissolution, desorption and mineralization reactions. In addition, application of organic amendments with PSB could further ameliorate soil conditions for sustainable management of immobilized nutrients in calcarious soils. Therefore, we performed pot experiment to study the role of PSB in nullifying antagonistic effects of liming (4.78, 10, 15 and 20%) on P availability from poultry manure (PM), farm yard manure (FYM), single super phosphate (SSP) and rock phosphate (RP) in alkaline soils. PSB inoculation improved wheat growth, P availability and stimulated soil acidification over control regardless of P sources and lime levels. Soil calcification adversely affected plant growth, P nutrition, induced soil salinity and alkalinity, however, PSB and manures application potentially nullified such harmful effects over mentioned traits. Individually, organic sources were superior than mineral sources however, the performance of mineral fertilizers with PSB was at par to sole application of manures. Furthermore, application of RP with PSB proved as effective as sole SSP. Therefore, using PSB as bio-fertilizer has huge potential for improving P availability in calcareous soils.

Monotheca buxifolia Driven Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nano Material Its Characterization and Biomedical Applications.

The current study demonstrates a sophisticated and environmentally friendly synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) for a range of biological and environmental applications using Monotheca buxifolia as a bio-source. At the nanometer scale, a simple aqueous extract from Monotheca buxifolia was used to convert Zn into stable elemental zinc (Zn0). With an average size of 45.8 nm and a spherical shape, the NPs were stable and pure. The nanoparticles studied here were tested in vitro for bactericide, fungicide, biocompatibility, leishmaniasis, anti-diabetic effect, antioxidant effect, and anti-Alzheimer's effect. According to our results, Monotheca buxifolia mediated ZnO-NPs are highly effective against spore-forming fungal strains and MDR bacterial strains. All examined bacterial isolates of UTI (urinary tract infection) were resistant to non-coated antibiotics; however, adding 1% of the produced ZnO-NPs to the treatments increased their bactericidal activity significantly. The NPs also showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity against Leishmania tropica parasites, with an LC50 of 248 µg/mL for promastigote parasites and 251 µg/mL for amastigote parasites. In addition, a significant inhibition of α-glucosidase, α-amylase, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was discovered, indicating anti-Alzheimer's and anti-diabetic effects. The biocompatibility of the particles with human red blood cells was also observed. Due to their environmentally friendly production, biological safety, and exceptional physicochemical properties, ZnO-NPs could be used as a new competitor for several biological and environmental applications.

A Machine-Learning-Based System for Prediction of Cardiovascular and Chronic Respiratory Diseases.

Cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases are global threats to public health and cause approximately 19 million deaths worldwide annually. This high mortality rate can be reduced with the use of technological advancements in medical science that can facilitate continuous monitoring of physiological parameters-blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood glucose, etc. The futuristic values of these critical physiological or vital sign parameters not only enable in-time assistance from medical experts and caregivers but also help patients manage their health status by receiving relevant regular alerts/advice from healthcare practitioners. In this study, we propose a machine-learning-based prediction and classification system to determine futuristic values of related vital signs for both cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases. Based on the prediction of futuristic values, the proposed system can classify patients' health status to alarm the caregivers and medical experts. In this machine-learning-based prediction and classification model, we have used a real vital sign dataset. To predict the next 1-3 minutes of vital sign values, several regression techniques (i.e., linear regression and polynomial regression of degrees 2, 3, and 4) have been tested. For caregivers, a 60-second prediction and to facilitate emergency medical assistance, a 3-minute prediction of vital signs is used. Based on the predicted vital signs values, the patient's overall health is assessed using three machine learning classifiers, i.e., Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naive Bayes, and Decision Tree. Our results show that the Decision Tree can correctly classify a patient's health status based on abnormal vital sign values and is helpful in timely medical care to the patients.

Risk of heavy metals accumulation in soil and wheat grains with waste water irrigation under different NPK levels in alkaline calcareous soil.

A field study was conducted on the reuse of wastewater from Mardan city to evaluate its risk of contaminating soil and wheat grains at different NPK levels. Three irrigation sources i.e. waste water (WW), canal water (CW) and alternate waste + canal water (WW+CW) were applied to wheat (cv Atta Habib 2010) grown at 0, 50, 75 and 100% NPK levels of 120:90:60 kg N:P2O5:K2O ha-1 at Palatoo Research Farm, Amir Muhammad Khan Campus, Mardan during 2015.The results showed higher grain and biomass yields in WW irrigated plots as compared to CW at NPK levels up to 50% of recommending dose revealing supplementing nutrient requirements in deficient conditions. However, irrigation of WW at higher NPK levels especially at or beyond 75% of recommended dose tended to reduce the crop yield that could be associated with heavy metals toxicity and nutritional imbalances. The use of WW substantially increased AB-DTPA extractable Zn, Mn, Pb, Ni and Cd indicating a potential threat to soil contamination. Similarly, WW irrigated wheat had higher concentrations of these heavy metals as compared to CW which limits its use for production purposes without any remediation measures. The alternate use of CW and WW as revealed by its comparative lower contamination in soil and wheat than sole WW could be one of the possible solutions and may increase the time required for threshold soil contamination.

Comparing the phosphorus use efficiency of pre-treated (organically) rock phosphate with soluble P fertilizers in maize under calcareous soils.

In calcareous soils, phosphorus (P) availability to plant is impaired due to the formation of insoluble complexes with calcium and magnesium. Therefore, this study was executed to compare the P use efficiency (PUE) of four different P sources [rock phosphate (RP), acidulated rock phosphate (ARP), single super phosphate (SSP) and di ammonium phosphate (DAP)] alone or pre-treated with organic amendments (farm yard manure (FYM) enriched compost, simple compost and humic acid (HA)) along with control in maize crop under calcareous soils. All treatments irrespective of P sources received 90 kg P2O5 ha-1. Phosphorus application regardless of its sources and combination with organic amendments significantly improved maize growth, yield as well as P uptake and PUE. Rock phosphate when applied alone was recorded inferior but its performance significantly improved with compost or its pre-addition with FYM and HA, that further enhanced upon acidulation. Maize grain yield increased by 21, 22.2, 67.9 and 94% with RP, ARP, ARP enriched compost and ARP+ compost respectively, over control. Similarly, PUE of DAP improved from 31.7 to 43.1 and 39 with sample and enriched compost correspondingly. Post-harvest soil and grain P were at par for SSP, ARP and DAP alone or in conjugation with organic amendments when averaged across the amendments. These results suggested that pretreatment of P sources with organic amendments is an economical and more feasible approach to improve maize yield and PUE. Moreover, on-farm acidulation of RP may give at par results with SSP and DAP with cheaper rate and hence recommended for P management in maize in alkaline calcareous soils.

(O-Methyl di-thio-carbonato-κS)tri-phenyl-tin(IV).

In the title compound, [Sn(C6H5)3(C2H3OS2)], the Sn(IV) atom adopts a distorted SnC3S tetra-hedral coordination geometry. A short Sn⋯O contact [2.988 (4) Å] is also present. The phenyl rings are each disordered over two sets of sites with an occupancy ratio of 0.550 (8):0.450 (8). The crystal studied was found to be a racemic twin with a twin component ratio of 0.57 (18):0.43 (18).

First report of Vibrio cholerae infection from Andaman and Nicobar, India.

Out of 34 Stool Samples collected during an outbreak of diarrhoea, Vibrio cholerae 01 was isolated from 10 samples contrary to earlier reports that Shigella species was the only cause of diarrhoeal disease in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.