Asia

Endophytic fungi were able to protect their host plants against pathogens and promote plant growth. No previous studies have been conducted on the growth promotion of sunchoke by endophytic fungi. This research was the first to characterize plant growth promoting properties of endophytic fungi including, Macrophomina phaseolina BUP2/3 and Diaporthe phaseolorum BUP3/1 isolated from sunchoke and Daldinia eschscholtzii 2NTYL11, Trichoderma koningii ST-KKU1, Trichoderma erinaceum ST-KKU2, Macrophomina phaseolina SS1L10 and Macrophomina phaseolina SS1R10 from medicinal plants.
Plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) cause huge agricultural and silvicultural losses every year. Most studies that investigated various mechanisms for killing nematodes used the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Pseudomonas chlororaphis is an important biocontrol bacterium with great application potential in agriculture. Pseudomonas chlororaphis strains have the potential to control PPNs. In our previous study, we obtained one P. chlororaphis-like bacterium, namely, SPS-41, from the rhizosphere of sweet potato. This strain exhibited wide-spectrum of antifungal activity.
The plant root system influences plant growth and development due to its phenotypic, physiological, metabolomic, and microbiomic traits. Broadly speaking, it is characterized by primary (stem-attached large), secondary (primary-attached medium), and fine (secondary-attached hair-like) roots. The role of root branching order and categories (fine, medium, and large) in influencing microbial communities in the rhizosphere and root environments is not clear.

Background: With the rapid demographic shift towards an ageing society, it is a concerted effort to facilitate elderly's access to healthcare in order to maintain and improve their quality of life. In China, hospital care services dominate the healthcare market, which requires a better understanding of accessibility to hospitals in order to rationally allocate resources in spatial and land use planning. However, little attention has been paid to analysing the geographical accessibility to hospitals specific to the elderly population.

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in the working-age diabetic population in India and across the world. It may lead to permanent blindness if not detected in the early stages. The prevalence of DR among diabetics in India was 10% and 16.9% in 2014 and 2019, respectively. In 2019, the International Diabetes Federation estimated that Diabetic Mellitus will affect 101 million people in India in 2030; the largest number in any nation in the world.

An article on the prevalence, risk factors, and management of dementia in older adults in China, in the context of SDG 3, highlighting the need for the development of a prevention strategy and optimising clinical management.
Elsevier,

Forensic Science International: Reports, Volume 2, December 2020, 100121

Contributing to SDGs 3, 5 and 16, this paper examines the demographic profile of female victims with intellectual disablities who were sexually assaulted and the characteristics of sexual assault.
Background: Stay-at-home orders (lockdowns) have been deployed globally to control COVID-19 transmission, and might impair economic conditions and mental health, and exacerbate risk of food insecurity and intimate partner violence. The effect of lockdowns in low-income and middle-income countries must be understood to ensure safe deployment of these interventions in less affluent settings. We aimed to determine the immediate impact of COVID-19 lockdown orders on women and their families in rural Bangladesh.
Background: Stay-at-home orders (lockdowns) have been deployed globally to control COVID-19 transmission, and might impair economic conditions and mental health, and exacerbate risk of food insecurity and intimate partner violence. The effect of lockdowns in low-income and middle-income countries must be understood to ensure safe deployment of these interventions in less affluent settings. We aimed to determine the immediate impact of COVID-19 lockdown orders on women and their families in rural Bangladesh.
With ongoing global climate change and human activities, increasing desertification plays a predominant role in increasing soil nutrient losses. Soil nitrogen (N) is the essential limiting nutrient supporting plant growth and evaluating soil nutrient content, especially in desert ecosystems. N microbial processes will ultimately restore and maintain the balance in the soil N cycle, but the damage caused by desertification to soil N functional microorganisms associated with N supply, transformation, and loss is poorly understood.

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