Sanjay Kumar

Summary: Coexpression of genes involved in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) metabolism offers a promising avenue for improving crop yield. This study investigated the impact of coexpressing phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase [ ZmPEPC ( P )], aspartate aminotransferase [ GmAspAT ( A )] and glutamine synthetase [ NtGS ( G )] in Brassica juncea to enhance plant yield through improved C and N utilization. Plants coexpressing three genes ( BjPAG ) showed a significant increase in plant growth, biomass, chlorophyll and carotenoid content, while exhibiting decreased anthocyanin and hydrogen peroxide production. These improvements were observed under both ambient (~400 ppm; ACO ₂ ) and low (~200 ppm; LCO ₂ ) atmospheric CO ₂ conditions. Chlorophyll fluorescence study revealed that BjPAG plants had higher photosynthetic efficiency, particularly increased maximum quantum yield of PSII and performance index. This facilitated increased CO ₂ assimilation, total soluble sugar and starch accumulation, along with altered stomatal traits under both ACO ₂ and LCO ₂ conditions. Additionally, BjPAG plants accumulated less ammonium than control plants under both CO ₂ levels, indicating effective functioning of the overexpressed genes. Improved performance (enhanced photosynthetic rates, biomass and seed yield) of BjPAG plants under various N environments (6, 3 and 0.3 m m N) also supported improved N utilization. NMR analysis suggested that PAG ‐coexpression resulted in a higher flux of assimilated CO ₂ and NH ₃ towards sugars, amino acids, organic acids, polyphenols and glucosinolates. In conclusion, this study highlights the effectiveness of coexpressing ZmPEPC , GmAspAT and NtGS in B. juncea , leading to efficient C and N utilization, ultimately resulting in enhanced photosynthesis, plant biomass and seed yields, and as a promising strategy for increasing the yield of food crops.

Introduction: The aim of this study is to develop a one-step real-time PCR assay for SARS-CoV-2 detection. The study was designed to circumvent the routine RNA isolation step and to optimize a lysis buffer and parameters for direct quantitative PCR. Methodology: A lysis solution was prepared using Tween-20, Triton X-100, EDTA, and Tris buffer (pH 7.4). Various parameters including the use of detergent combinations, V/V ratios and usage of carrier molecules were standardized to achieve the optimal amplification curve and Ct values of SARS-CoV-2 gene for improving the routine diagnostics procedures. Results: Adding carrier molecules [Poly(A), glycogen, and linear polyacrylamide] to the lysis solution significantly improved real-time reverse-transcription PCR (rtRT-PCR) efficacy. Poly(A) was the most effective of all carriers. The diagnostic potential of this Poly(A) solution was demonstrated using 150 patient swabs infected with SARS-CoV-2 and 200 uninfected swab samples, and the sensitivity of the rtRT-PCR diagnostic test was estimated to be 98.6 (95% CI: 96.0, 101.17, p < 0.001) for group 1; Ct ≤ 25 and 87.2 (95% CI: 80.2, 94.0, p < 0.001) for group 2; Ct ≥ 26–30, with excellent accuracy (0.9 < AUC < 1.0), and 100% specificity. Conclusions: Our finding imply that this strategy is feasible, and it may contribute to the development of a rapid, less laborious, and economical rtRT-PCR test for dealing with the SARS-COV-2 disease in the pandemic area.

The dairy sector plays an important role in India's economy and boosts the income of farmers. The present research was planned to evaluate the efficiency of manpower in the management of different categories of cattle in the dairy unit of the livestock complex, BASU (Patna). The investigations were done for 120 days. During the study, it was found that the work-efficiency of manpower during the morning time is better than the evening time. The average time spent in activities such as milking operations, feeding, watering, calf management, and miscellaneous activities were studied. The average time spent on milking, feeding, and watering activities for milch buffaloes took the most time compared to other categories of animals. The average time spent in the actual milking of cows and buffaloes were 324.52±13.90 and 329.77±8.52 seconds respectively. The average milk yield per day of cows and buffaloes were 2.98±0.18 and 4.31±0.09 kg, respectively. The time taken in rectal palpation and artificial insemination per animal was noted to be 1.37±0.04 and 7.50±0.16 minutes respectively. The training of workers may help to overcome the scarcity of manpower in adverse conditions.

Background: The global incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection is now very low. Despite the vaccination drive worldwide, the emergence of new omicron variants and their infection have been reported in a few countries. It is now required to identify potential risks associated with the COVID-19 disease aftermath’s 3rd disease wave. During pandemic stages, the healthcare system bears a significant burden in identifying early risk and providing early management to reduce infection. Methods: In this investigation, an attempt has been made to assess the laboratory risk of SARS-CoV-2 contamination. The samples were collected from the various blocks of the testing centre, including the surface, floor, diagnostic instruments, solutions, and tap water, and then RNA was isolated and in vitro diagnostic RT-qPCR was performed. A total of 316 samples were collected and analysed for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Our findings confirmed that only four samples (1.77%) had ORF-1ab and E gene signals, which indicated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The CT values for the E gene were 34.52 [IQR: 32.37-36.36] and 35.02 [IQR:34.25-35.76] for the ORF1-ab gene, respectively. Results: All four were taken from the surfaces, indicating that other parts were contamination-free. Very few positive contaminations demonstrated that laboratory sterilising processes are fully functional and effective. Conclusion: This study eventually provided more information about the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA traces in the environment aftermath of 3rd disease wave of COVID-19, including diagnostic laboratories.

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wave has fluctuated erratically around the globe over the past three years of the pandemic, sometimes declining and at other times surging. The cases of infection in India have remained low, despite the continued surge of Omicron sub-lineages reported in a few countries. In this study, we determined the presence of the circulating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains in the population of Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, India. Methodology: In vitro diagnostic real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed using Tata MD CHECK RT-PCR Omisure kit (Tata Medical and Diagnostics Limited, Maharashtra, India), to detect the presence of Omicron in target samples. A total of 400 samples were analyzed in this study; 200 each for the second and third waves, respectively. The S gene target failure (SG-TF) and S gene mutation amplification (SG-MA) primer-probe sets were used. Results: Our results corroborated that during the third wave, SG-MA amplification was noted, while amplification of SG-TF was not, and vice versa in the case of the second wave, indicating that all the tested patients were infected with the Omicron variant during the third wave, while Omicron was absent during the second wave. Conclusions: This study added more information about the prevalence of Omicron variants during the third wave in the chosen area, and it projected a use of in vitro RT-qPCR method for rapid prospective determination of the prevalence of the variant of concern (VOC) in developing countries with limited sequencing facility.

Supplementary Table S1; Supplementary Figures S1-S2. Supplementary Table 1. A) IC50 value of P7170 in pan-PI3K. B) Kinase inhibition data (ProQinase) of P7170 at 250 nM and 1. 5 μM.C) Kinase inhibition profile (KINOMEscan; 320 kinases) of P7170. D) IC50 values of selected kinases on treatment with P7170. Supplementary Figure S1. The growth response curves on treatment of P7170 on various patient-derived cancer cell lines. Supplementary Figure S2. P7170 induces autophagy in A2780 (A) and HCT116 (B) cells.

Supplementary Table S1; Supplementary Figures S1-S2. Supplementary Table 1. A) IC50 value of P7170 in pan-PI3K. B) Kinase inhibition data (ProQinase) of P7170 at 250 nM and 1. 5 μM.C) Kinase inhibition profile (KINOMEscan; 320 kinases) of P7170. D) IC50 values of selected kinases on treatment with P7170. Supplementary Figure S1. The growth response curves on treatment of P7170 on various patient-derived cancer cell lines. Supplementary Figure S2. P7170 induces autophagy in A2780 (A) and HCT116 (B) cells.

S1. Stable lentiviral transduction of CD44-targeting shRNA into U373-MG glioblastoma cells. S2. Characterization of effects of CD44 knockdown on integrin characterization and cell viability. S3. Cells seeded on HA hydrogels functionalized with fibronectin (A-B) or laminin (CD) exhibit similar stiffness-dependence on cell spread area and cell motility as cell seeded on hydrogels with RGD peptide. S4. Adsorption of hyaluronic acid and fibronectin onto solid substrates selectively engages CD44 and integrin-based adhesions. Legend for Supplementary Movie 1.