Clubroot disease caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae is an obligate, biotrophic pathogen, sabotages various pathways in host plant, causes root infection and impedes growth and known as the greatest ...threat to cruciferous crop production worldwide. Various control measures such as genetic resistance, application of chemical compounds and biological fungicides and other cultural practices have not been fruitful. Biological control based upon the idea of implying nature to work for nature, is sound. Endophytes are ubiquitous to kingdom planta thus plant-endophyte association is intimate and dynamic. Bacterial endophytes offer many benefits to plant by acting as growth promoters and disease defenders. Endophyte-mediated biocontrol is achieved by exclusion of pathogen via niche and nutrient competition, by producing anti-microbial compounds and inducing host defense responses. Many rhizobacteria and some endophytes have been tested for clubroot control. In this review, efforts are made to summarize recent developments in biocontrol through endophytes, with latest improvements in biocontrol of clubroot disease are focused specifically.
The rich range of biomarkers in sweat and the ability to collect sweat in a non-invasive manner create interest in the use of this biofluid for assessments of health and physiological status, with ...potential applications that range from sports and fitness to clinical medicine. This paper introduces two important advances in recently reported classes of soft, skin-interfaced microfluidic systems for sweat capture and analysis: (1) a simple, broadly applicable means for collection of sweat that bypasses requirements for physical/mental exertion or pharmacological stimulation and (2) a set of enzymatic chemistries and colorimetric readout approaches for determining the concentrations of creatinine and urea in sweat, throughout ranges that are physiologically relevant. The results allow for routine, non-pharmacological capture of sweat for patient populations, such as infants and the elderly, that cannot be expected to sweat through exercise, and they create potential opportunities in the use of sweat for kidney disease screening/monitoring. Studies on human subjects demonstrate these essential capabilities, with quantitative comparisons to standard methods. The results expand the range of options available in microfluidic sampling and sensing of sweat for disease diagnostics and health monitoring.
Cancer is a preeminent threat to the human race, causing millions of deaths each year on the Earth. Traditionally, natural compounds are deemed promising agents for cancer treatment. Cantharidin ...(CTD)-a terpenoid isolated from blister beetles-has been used extensively in traditional Chinese medicines for healing various maladies and cancer. CTD has been proven to be protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF-1) inhibitor, which can be potential targets for its anticancer activity. Albeit, it harbors some toxicities, its immense anticancer potential cannot be overlooked, as the cancer-specific delivery of CTD could help to rescue its lethal effects. Furthermore, several derivatives have been designed to weaken its toxicity. In light of extensive research, the antitumor activity of CTD is evident in both in vitro as well as in vivo cancer models. CTD has also proven efficacious in combination with chemotherapy and radiotherapy and it can also target some drug-resistant cancer cells. This mini-review endeavors to interpret and summarize recent information about CTD anticancer potential and underlying molecular mechanisms. The pertinent anticancer strength of CTD could be employed to develop an effective anticarcinogenic drug.
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•Nano-enabled agrochemicals play fundamental role in sustainable agriculture.•MNOs may resolve the challenges of crop growth during agriculture decline.•Agriculture relevant dose ...assess toxic effects towards soil microbiome.•Nano-enabled biofertilizers could manipulate the microbes for crop productivity.•There are still challenges and barriers to introduced MNOs in field trials.
Agriculture-related manufactured nano-objects (MNOs) can revolutionize the crop production and help to achieve sustainable development goals. MNOs with diverse physico-chemical properties and ability to encapsulate and deliver active ingredients in controlled, targeted and stimuli responsive manner can enhance the efficiency while minimizing collateral damage to non-target organisms and environment. Application of MNOs in the form of nanopesticides and nanofertilizers is known to affect soil microbial communities both positively and negatively, but detailed studies with varying dose, type and environmental conditions are scarce. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the complex mechanisms and factors which shape the MNOs-microbial interactions through integrating state of the art technologies including omics (transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics), artificial intelligence, and statistical frameworks. Lastly, we propose the idea of MNOs-mediated manipulation of soil microbiome to modify the soil microbial communities for improved microbial services. These microbial services, if harnessed appropriately, can revolutionize modern agriculture and help in achieving sustainable development goals.
The rich composition of solutes and metabolites in sweat and its relative ease of collection upon excretion from skin pores make this class of biofluid an attractive candidate for point of care ...analysis. Wearable technologies that combine electrochemical sensors with conventional or emerging semiconductor device technologies offer valuable capabilities in sweat sensing, but they are limited to assays that support amperometric, potentiometric, and colorimetric analyses. Here, we present a complementary approach that exploits fluorometric sensing modalities integrated into a soft, skin-interfaced microfluidic system which, when paired with a simple smartphone-based imaging module, allows for in situ measurement of important biomarkers in sweat. A network array of microchannels and a collection of microreservoirs pre-filled with fluorescent probes that selectively react with target analytes in sweat (e.g. probes), enable quantitative, rapid analysis. Field studies on human subjects demonstrate the ability to measure the concentrations of chloride, sodium and zinc in sweat, with accuracy that matches that of conventional laboratory techniques. The results highlight the versatility of advanced fluorescent-based imaging modalities in body-worn sweat microfluidics platforms, and they suggest some practical potential for these ideas.
Capabilities in continuous monitoring of key physiological parameters of disease have never been more important than in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Soft, skin-mounted electronics ...that incorporate high-bandwidth, miniaturized motion sensors enable digital, wireless measurements of mechanoacoustic (MA) signatures of both core vital signs (heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature) and underexplored biomarkers (coughing count) with high fidelity and immunity to ambient noises. This paper summarizes an effort that integrates such MA sensors with a cloud data infrastructure and a set of analytics approaches based on digital filtering and convolutional neural networks for monitoring of COVID-19 infections in sick and healthy individuals in the hospital and the home. Unique features are in quantitative measurements of coughing and other vocal events, as indicators of both disease and infectiousness. Systematic imaging studies demonstrate correlations between the time and intensity of coughing, speaking, and laughing and the total droplet production, as an approximate indicator of the probability for disease spread. The sensors, deployed on COVID-19 patients along with healthy controls in both inpatient and home settings, record coughing frequency and intensity continuously, along with a collection of other biometrics. The results indicate a decaying trend of coughing frequency and intensity through the course of disease recovery, but with wide variations across patient populations. The methodology creates opportunities to study patterns in biometrics across individuals and among different demographic groups.
The highlighted energy consumption of Internet data center (IDC) in China has become a pressing issue with the implementation of the Chinese dual carbon strategic goal. This paper provides a ...comprehensive review of cooling technologies for IDC, including air cooling, free cooling, liquid cooling, thermal energy storage cooling and building envelope. Firstly, the environmental requirements for the computer room and the main energy consumption items for IDC are analyzed. The evaluation indicators and government policies for promoting green IDC are also summarized. Next, the traditional cooling technology is compared to four new cooling technologies to find effective methods to maximize energy efficiency in IDC. The results show that traditional cooling consumes a significant amount of energy and has low energy efficiency. The application of free cooling can greatly improve the energy efficiency of IDC, but its actual implementation is highly dependent on geographical and climatic conditions. Liquid cooling, on the other hand, has higher energy efficiency and lower PUE compared to other cooling technologies, especially for high heat density servers. However, it is not yet mature and its engineering application is not widespread. In addition, thermal energy storage (TES) based cooling offers higher energy efficiency but must be coupled with other cooling technologies. Energy savings can also be achieved through building envelope improvements. Considering the investment and recovery period for IDC, it is essential to seek efficient cooling solutions that are suitable for IDC and take into account factors such as IDC scale, climate conditions, maintenance requirements, etc. This paper serves as a reference for the construction and development of green IDC in China.
In recent years, some exogenous bioactive peptides have been shown to have promising anti-aging effects. These exogenous peptides may have a mechanism similar to endogenous peptides, and some can ...even regulate the release of endogenous active peptides and play a synergistic role with endogenous active peptides. Most aging studies use rodents that are easy to maintain in the laboratory and have relatively homogenous genotypes. Moreover, many of the anti-aging studies using bioactive peptides in rodent models only focus on the activity of single endogenous or exogenous active peptides, while the regulatory effects of exogenous active peptides on endogenous active peptides remain largely under-investigated. Furthermore, the anti-aging activity studies only focus on the effects of these bioactive peptides in individual organs or systems. However, the pathological changes of one organ can usually lead to multi-organ complications. Some anti-aging bioactive peptides could be used for rescuing the multi-organ damage associated with aging. In this paper, we review recent reports on the anti-aging effects of bioactive peptides in rodents and summarize the mechanism of action for these peptides, as well as discuss the regulation of exogenous active peptides on endogenous active peptides.
Nutrients play critical roles in maintaining core physiological functions and in preventing diseases. Technologies for delivering these nutrients and for monitoring their concentrations can help to ...ensure proper nutritional balance. Eccrine sweat is a potentially attractive class of biofluid for monitoring purposes due to the ability to capture sweat easily and noninvasively from nearly any region of the body using skin‐integrated microfluidic technologies. Here, a miniaturized system of this type is presented that allows simple, rapid colorimetric assessments of the concentrations of multiple essential nutrients in sweat, simultaneously and without any supporting electronics – vitamin C, calcium, zinc, and iron. A transdermal patch integrated directly with the microfluidics supports passive, sustained delivery of these species to the body throughout a period of wear. Comparisons of measurement results to those from traditional lab analysis methods demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of this platform. On‐body tests with human subjects reveal correlations between the time dynamics of concentrations of these nutrients in sweat and those of the corresponding concentrations in blood. Studies conducted before and after consuming certain foods and beverages highlight practical capabilities in monitoring nutritional balance, with strong potential to serve as a basis for guiding personalized dietary choices.
This paper introduces a soft, skin‐interfaced microfluidic system that enables nutrient analysis in sweat and delivery of vitamins to the body. Accurate colorimetric sensors can quantify the concentrations of nutrients in sweat, and a transdermal patch integrated directly with the microfluidics supports passive, sustained delivery of nutrients to the body throughout a period of wear.
In vivo optogenetics and photopharmacology are two techniques for controlling neuronal activity that have immense potential in neuroscience research. Their applications in tether-free groups of ...animals have been limited in part due to tools availability. Here, we present a wireless, battery-free, programable multilateral optofluidic platform with user-selected modalities for optogenetics, pharmacology and photopharmacology. This system features mechanically compliant microfluidic and electronic interconnects, capabilities for dynamic control over the rates of drug delivery and real-time programmability, simultaneously for up to 256 separate devices in a single cage environment. Our behavioral experiments demonstrate control of motor behaviors in grouped mice through in vivo optogenetics with co-located gene delivery and controlled photolysis of caged glutamate. These optofluidic systems may expand the scope of wireless techniques to study neural processing in animal models.
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