Food waste contributes to environmental degradation by emitting greenhouse gases and depleting natural resources, but it also exacerbates global hunger and poverty. This study investigated the use of food waste digestate (FWD) as fertilizer on ornamental plant (Piper sarmentosum) cultivation under soil amendment growing media such as organic compost (OC), biochar, and rice husk (RH) in a 56-day trial. A significant increase in plant growth was observed in the potting mix with soil amendments combined with the application of FWD in comparison to the potting mix without the application. In comparison to soil amendments such as OC, FWD found a higher chlorophyll content index of 1.48%. In comparison to biochar, this was followed by 2.76% higher and 1.29% higher than RH. Furthermore, the number of leaves and leaf areas of plants increased significantly (>2%) with FWD added to soil amendments in comparison with OC and RH. The identified microbial phyla were Acidobacteriota, Actinobacteriota, Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Verrucomicrobiota, and some have closed to networking, like Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes were listed as plant growth-promoting microbe groups in the study. This approach promotes plant growth and offers a sustainable solution to recycling FW into fertilizer.
Cotton (Gossypium spp.) has an important role in the world economy because of cotton fiber. Cotton fiber is a valuable resource for the textile industry, developed from epidermal ovule cells. Among the 50 species, four (Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense, G. herbaceum, and Gossypium arboretum) are cultivated for fiber production. Over 90% of cotton worldwide comes from Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). The genetic improvement of cotton has been ongoing for centuries, but recent advances in genetic engineering and genomics have made this process faster and more efficient. This chapter focuses on the genetic improvement approaches adopted in enhancing cotton fiber quality and yield. Cotton has been the most exploited crop through genetic engineering tools due to the establishment of robust transformation and regeneration protocols. It also harbors the recent updates on the genetic enhancement of cotton through biotechnological interventions for biotic (pest and disease resistance) and abiotic stress (drought, climate resilience, etc.) management and cotton fiber development. It also discusses the role of epigenetics in improving the quality and yield of cotton fiber. Recent technological advances in cotton production have included CRISPR-Cas9, RNA interference (RNAi), marker-assisted selection (MAS), genomic selection, and genetically modified cotton, which have improved productivity, sustainability, and profitability. Information pertaining to the exploitation of the male sterility system in cotton is also detailed in this chapter. In a nutshell, this chapter provides an overview of the recent advancements, impact, strategies, and trends toward sustainable crop improvement of cotton through genetic modification regimes.
The paper implicates the study of the health impact due to air pollution in East Delhi.Air pollution causes deterioration in the health status of people, due to which a major proportion of their income is incurred on medical expenditure.The major objective of this research is to approximately appraise the beneϐit that an individual would attain in East Delhi, if there is a reduction in air pollution in this region, or similarly reiterated, an increment in the air quality of the regions located in East Delhi.The research methodology engages a household production function model which is based on a household survey of areas which are within half a kilometer distance from the main air pollution monitoring stations of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) located at Anand Vihar, Nizamuddin, Shahdara and Dilshad Garden.This model is used to determine the relationships among the willingness of the people to pay for a reduction in pollution, cost of treatment, both direct and indirect costs.The method of computing the monetary beneits of reducing air pollution involves the regressing number of sick days on environment quality, mitigating activity, stock of health capital, and stock of social capital.The paper investigates that indoor pollution, ambient air pollution, and poor health stock increase the probability of falling sick.This reduced probability of falling sick implies a monetary beneϐit that individuals will acquire due to a reduction in air pollution.Various factors, including nutrition, eating habits, usage of heatgenerating electronic devices, etc., are related to the number of sick days that a person has.An increase in the aforementioned independent activities decreases the dependent variable (no. of sick days).The study holds a signiϐicant role in spreading awareness about air pollution among the people in Delhi and helps us to identify the reasons for high indoor pollution in various regions of Delhi.By safeguarding the health of the individuals, the society would contribute to the building up of human capital, which is more productive and efϐicient, since health is a crucial constituent of human capital.
COVID 19 is a virus which originated from the city of Wuhan, China. This virus is similar to the earlier SARS-COV and MERS. The present day scenario is considered as the third pandemic in this century as issued by the WHO. Till now COVID-19 has infected more than 50 lac people across the globe and more than 2.5 lac people died due to it.[4]However, despite the seemingly unpredictable nature of disease emergence, there are lessons to be learned from the origins of recently emerged diseases as well as those that have their origins in the more distant past, lessons that may offer clues as to how future infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics may be prevented. The challenge lies in using the accumulated, albeit incomplete, knowledge gained from emergent diseases of our past to identify practical solutions and strategies aimed at detecting and halting future threats. Here, we review the field's current understanding of the origins of infectious diseases and the factors that contribute to their emergence. We are also highlighting the importance of the zoonotic transmission of pathogenic agents from animals to humans, the favoured mechanism by which emergent diseases have come to afflict humans throughout history comparison of related epidemics/pandemics in the past and the economic implications faced by the world.[1, 2, 3] Despite the fact that most emerging diseases stem from the transmission of pathogenic agents from animals to humans, the factors that mediate this process are still ill defined. What is known, however, is that the interface between humans and animals is of paramount importance in the process. Improving our understanding of this interface will be crucial to future pandemic prevention efforts.
Public trust in health experts has been decreasing, leading to decreased adherence to expert recommendations.
Objective
To evaluate public perceptions of uncertainty and disagreement among experts in healthcare recommendations and whether it is associated with decreased trust in health entities as providers of accurate health information.
Design, Setting, and Participants
A cross-sectional analysis of the US nationally representative Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 6—2022). Adults aged 18 and older were respondents to the survey (unweighted n=5842, representing 241 million adults).
Main Outcomes and Measures
Trust in different experts, doctors, scientists and government health agencies for health information. Analyses examined trust in experts with public perceptions of uncertainty among experts (conflict about recommendations; recommendations constantly changing).
Results
There was high trust in doctors as sources of health information is 95% while 84% had high trust in scientists and only 70% in government health agencies. Only 18% have high trust in the health information on social media. There was no significant relationship between perceptions of uncertainty among experts and trust in doctors (p>.05). Respondents who felt expert recommendations change often were less likely to have high trust (65%) in government agencies compared to those who felt that the recommendations didn't often change (82%) (p<.01). In logistic regressions controlling for age, sex, race, education, income and trust in social media for health information, perceptions of low conflict among expert health recommendations is associated with likelihood of high trust in government health agencies (OR 2.86; 95% CI 1.96--4.15).
Conclusions and Relevance
The US adult population has low trust in government health agencies and perceptions of uncertainty and disagreement among experts over recommendations is likely playing a role in the erosion of trust in health experts.
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