No abstract

Intellectual disabilities (ID) are among the most common genetic disabilities worldwide. Over the last two decades, ID has especially drawn special scientific interest being the key to understanding normal brain development, growth, and functioning. Here, we discuss two intellectual disabilities to better understand the emerging trends in disease diagnosis as well as the therapies available for their management. Primary microcephaly (MCPH) is a monogenic genetic disorder with twenty-eight loci (MCPH1-MCPH28) mapped so far with all the causative genes being elucidated as well. The role of these genes in disease prognosis along with their association with various MCPH-linked phenotypes plays an important role in the molecular diagnosis of the disease. As there is no cure/treatment yet available to enlarge a congenitally small brain, management modalities in use include physical, speech and occupational therapies as well as psychological and genetic counselling to not only reduce the incidence of the disorder but also to help families cope better. The second intellectual disability being discussed here is schizophrenia which is a multifactorial disorder owing to its complex and extremely heterogeneous etiology. Although various environmental factors play an important role, the genetic factors have been identified to play the most pivotal role in disease presentation as to date, 19 loci (SCZD1-SCZD19) have been linked to schizophrenia. However, underlying genes for only six of these loci have been mapped along with 10 other genes that are either linked to schizophrenia or show susceptibility to it. Diagnosis of schizophrenia needs careful consideration and various tests and tools currently employed for complete diagnosis have been discussed here. The management options for schizophrenia include pharmacological, non-pharmacological and intracranial therapies. These disorders shed light on the important role omics technologies have played not only in better understanding of the disease prognosis but also assisting in disease diagnosis and treatment modalities too.

Bioremediation involves the use of natural microorganisms for the purpose ofdegrading numerous types of industrial and environmental waste. Microorganismsrequire carbon, nutrients, and energy to live and multiply as all living organisms do. Inorder to obtain energy, such microorganisms break down organic pollutants into simplerorganic compounds like carbon, salts, water, and similar harmless products. Thisapproach of degrading contaminants using microorganisms has proved much beneficialand has been proven to be cost-effective and efficient. There are a lot of naturally occurringmicroorganisms that have been reported essential in the degradation of organic pollutants.Different industries use different types of bioremediation methods. Specificenvironmental conditions may be required for optimal functioning of microbes e.g., pH,temperature, humidity, etc. Bioremediation has been proven as an environment-friendlyand cost-effective approach to deal with industrial contaminants. Descriptive informationof microbes involved in bioremediation has been explained in this review.

No abstract

Background Autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH) is a rare genetic disorder that leads to reduced cerebral cortex caused by a mutation in corticogenesis. The expression of the Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene is involved in the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells, and VDRpolymorphisms have been associated with various neurological disorders. However, their relationship with MCPH has not been explored. This study aimed to investigate the association of VDRpolymorphisms with MCPH and its In-silico analysis. Methods and Results Blood samples of 64 MCPH patients and 52 controls were collected to genotype VDR SNPs (TaqI (rs731236), FokI (rs2228570) and BsmI (rs1544410)) . In-silico tools were also used to assess the effects of exonic SNPs on mRNA and protein structure and pathogenicity of exonic and intronic SNPs. The study found that serum 25-OH vitamin D3 levels were significantly different in MCPH patients and healthy controls (P=0.000). The genetic analysis showed that VDRpolymorphisms of FokI and BsmI were seven times more frequent in MCPH patients than in controls (P<0.05) and the dominant model for TaqI and recessive model for BsmI polymorphisms were also associated with the pathogenesis of MCPH. In-silico analysis showed that the pathogenicity effects of rs2228570 and rs1544410 are neutral while rs731236 causes a silent mutation which has no effect on VDR protein. Conclusion VDR polymorphisms of FokI and BsmI are associated with the risk of MCPH. These findings suggest that VDR polymorphisms play a role in MCPH, which could provide important insights for understanding the molecular mechanisms of the disease.

Date palm(Phoenix dactylifera)is commercially propagated through offshoots. Alongwith thisrooted offshootthe tree also produces aerial offshoots,which arerootlessand die after plantation. In this study attempts have been made to evaluate the effect of auxins on the root initiation of the aerial offshootsof date palm cv. Hillawi.Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate theeffect of IAA (500 ppm), NAA(500 ppm), alone and in combination on root initiation in aerial offshoots of date palm cv. Hillawi. The auxins were applied to the aerial shoots by injection method. The experiment was laid out according to Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four treatments(Control, 500pmm IAA, 500ppm NAA and 500ppm IAA+NAA) andeach treatment was replicatedthrice.Injection method was used to apply the hormones and after the applicationof auxinsthe base of each offshoot was wrapped carefully with gunny bags having pinewood shaving as rooting media.After 40 days of supplication,offshootswere detached,and parameters were collected. Dataindicated that NAA @ 500ppm gave highest rooting percentage (24.5%), total number of roots per offshoot (82.33) and total weight of roots per offshoots (607.4g) as compared to other treatments. Similarly, a greaternumber of smaller roots (dia<0.5cm) was also achieved in offshoots treated with 500ppm NAA. Hence, it may be concluded that root initiation was remarkablein NAA alone and in combination with IAA at 500ppm concentration in comparison to other treatments.

Current study was conducted in 2019 at Post Harvest Research Center, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan and Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan to address this problem of strawberry fruit where aloe vera gel coating was applied with different concentrations (0.1%, 1.5% and 2%) at 3°C to determine its possible effects on postharvest fruit quality and to increase the shelf life. Data were recorded on different fruit related parameters like fruit weight loss, fruit shape index, firmness, disease and decay %age, pH, TSS, titrateable acidity, vitamin-c content, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars and total sugars. The results showed that application of 1.5% aloe vera gel significantly increased the shelf life as evidenced by minimum fruit weight loss (5.2%), higher fruit firmness (2.75%), less disease and decay (5.8%). However, TSS (8.16 °Brix), reducing sugars (2.98%), non-reducing sugars (2.59%) and total sugars (5.57%) were found maximum for control. Highest acidity (0.88%) and vitamin C contents (53.46 mg/100g) were found in fruits treated with 2% aloe vera gel. Moreover, lowest pH (4.41) was recorded in fruits coated with 2% aloe vera gel. Results of this study revealed that the potential of using aloe vera gel at 1.5% as a coating material proved to be better to prolong postharvest life as well as to maintain quality of strawberry fruits

No abstract