AIM:In the hope to assist in tailoring individualized nutritional therapy, this study aimed to assess the nutritional status of autistic children.MATERIAL AND METHODS:This cross-sectional study included 80 autistic children, divided into two groups: group 1 (aged 3- 5 years) and group 2 (aged 6-9 years). Diagnosis was performed based on the criteria for autistic disorder as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised and Autism Rating Scale.RESULTS:Socio-demographic data, anthropometric measurements and dietary intake patterns were recorded using a validated questionnaire. The daily intakes of calories and nutrients were converted to percentages of the Recommended Dietary Allowance or Dietary Reference Intake based on age- and gender-normalized DRIs. Plotting on the Egyptian sex-specific growth chart, BMI-z scores of both age groups were slightly overweight. Autistic children suffered inadequate intake of some micronutrients such as vitamin D and C, calcium, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and iron, some deficiencies were highly significant especially at older age.CONCLUSIONS:Tailoring a specially designed balanced diet with appropriate micronutrient supplementation may ameliorate the severity of autism symptoms and related abnormal behaviours.

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There is an urgent need for innovative strategies to raise the performance of environmentally stressed plants. The seeds of single-cross yellow Zea mays (L.) hybrid Giza-168 were soaked in Cis-(c-Z-Ck) or trans-zeatin-type cytokinin (t-Z-Ck) solutions at a concentration of 50 or 40 µM, respectively. Salinity stress was imposed at 0, 75 or 150 mM NaCl in the Hoagland nutrient solution (full strength) used for irrigation. The total carotenoids content was negatively affected by only 150 mM NaCl, while both 75 and 150 mM NaCl negatively affected the growth and yield components, relative water content, membrane stability index, photochemical activity, gas exchange, K+ and chlorophyll contents, K+/Na+ ratio, and photosynthetic efficiency. However, all of these traits were significantly improved by c-Z-Ck pretreatment and further enhanced by t-Z-Ck pretreatment compared with the corresponding controls. Furthermore, the contents of proline, soluble sugars, ascorbate, and glutathione, as well as enzymatic antioxidant activities, were significantly elevated by both salt stress concentrations and increased more by both biostimulators compared to the control. Compared to c-Z-Ck, t-Z-Ck was superior in mitigating the harmful effects of the high H2O2 levels caused by salt stress on the levels of malondialdehyde and ion leakage compared to the control. Under normal or stress conditions, t-Z-Ck pretreatment was better than c-Z-Ck pretreatment, while both positively affected maize hormonal contents. As a result, t-Z-Ck is recommended to enhance the growth and productivity of maize plants by suppressing the effects of oxidative stress caused by saline water irrigation.

Salt stress restricts plant performance by disrupting various physio-biochemical processes like photosynthesis. Plants growing in saline substrates show deficiencies in absorption of some essential elements due to the presence of excessive sodium (Na+) in the rhizosphere, which antagonizes beneficial cations and causing toxicity in metabolism. Cyanobacteria (CB; a natural biofertilizer) play a fundamental role in building-up soil fertility, thus increasing plant performance. Glutathione (GSH) is a well-known antioxidant, which contributes to increase salt tolerance in the plant. This work was conducted as a pot experiment (sand culture) in 2017 to study the combined effect of CB, applied as seed inoculation, and GSH, applied as foliar spray, on growth, pods and seed yields, the contents of antioxidants, osmoprotectants, and nutrients, and the antioxidative enzymes activities of soybean (Glycine max L., cv. Giza 111) plants grown under saline conditions. At fourth leaf stage (21 days after sowing; DAS), CB-pretreated seedlings were supplemented with NaCl (150 mM) along with Hoagland′s nutrient solution, and at the same time seedlings were sprayed with 1 mM GSH. Samples were taken at 60 DAS to assess morphological, physio-biochemical and antioxidant defense systems attributes. Results showed that the integrative application of CB and GSH under saline conditions was effective in improving significantly the growth characteristics, yield components, photosynthetic efficiency (pigments contents and chlorophyll fluorescence), membrane stability index, relative water content, contents of soluble sugars, free proline, ascorbic acid, glutathione, α-tocopherol, and protein, and activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and guaiacol peroxidase. The contents of macronutrients (N, P, K+, and Ca2+) were also increased significantly in Glycine max plants compared to the stressed control. In contrast, Na+ content and electrolyte leakage were significantly reduced. Our results recommend using the combined CB (as seed inoculation) and GSH (as foliar spray) application for soybean plantss to grow well under saline conditions.