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The Thar is the most densely populated desert in the world, which supports diverse ecosystems and human endeavours such as agriculture and socioeconomic activities. Water demand and supply in the Thar play an essential role in regulating the socioeconomic activities of the region. Inland water and precipitation aid the movement of water in the Thar Desert. Precipitation in the Thar is governed by the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM), during which the winds distribute water vapour to regulate precipitation across the region. Therefore, we analyse the water vapour, its sources and its relation with precipitation using satellite measurements and reanalysis data in the Thar during ISM. Like other regions, a clear seasonal cycle of water vapour is observed in the Thar, with very high values (> 45 kg/m2) during ISM and low in winter (< 15 kg/m2). Evapotranspiration and moisture transport have significant effects on the amount of water vapour during ISM. There is a significant increase in water vapour in the troposphere, with high trends at the surface (0.032 g/kg/year) and small at the tropopause (0.00002 g/kg/year). A significant increase in column water vapour is also estimated in the Thar during ISM, with high trends in the eastern and southern areas, at about 0.15-0.35 kg/m2/year. The rise in water vapour in the Thar can be attributed to the increase in evapotranspiration (0.03-0.07 mm/day/year) and water vapour transport (> 0.5 kg/m/s/year) from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. The rise in water vapour can lead to an increase in precipitation in the Thar, as it shows significant positive trends (0.05-0.1 mm/day/year) in the eastern areas during ISM. The increase in precipitation and water vapour in the arid Thar Desert can have significant implications for the regional environment and agriculture.

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Background Population aging is a global phenomenon associated with declines in muscle mass, physical activity levels, and respiratory health among elderly individuals. Despite evidence suggesting the benefits of physical activity on respiratory function, there is limited research examining its effects on lung function in the Indian elderly population. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the impact of different intensities of physical activity on respiratory health parameters among apparently healthy elderly males aged 60-80 years. Participants were categorized into walking, swimming, and sedentary groups based on their level of physical activity. Anthropometric measurements, cardiovascular parameters, respiratory endurance tests, and spirometry were conducted to assess lung function. Statistical analysis included nonparametric tests to compare the groups. Results Age, height, weight, BMI, waist circumference, and hip circumference were similar across groups, but the waist-to-hip ratio was higher in the sedentary group. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure did not differ significantly, while the pulse rate was lower in the swimming group. The sedentary group exhibited lower respiratory endurance, with a significantly reduced 40 mmHg endurance test and maximum expiratory pressure compared to the walking and swimming groups. Spirometry results showed significant improvements in various parameters, including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), forced expiratory flow 25% (FEF-25), and maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) in the walking and swimming groups compared to the sedentary group. Conclusion Regular physical activity, particularly walking and swimming, appears to positively influence respiratory health parameters among elderly males. Engaging in these activities may enhance respiratory muscle strength and lung function, potentially mitigating age-related declines in pulmonary function and promoting overall well-being.

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The devastating effects of COVID-19 pandemic have widely affected human lives and economy across the globe. There were significant changes in the global environmental conditions in response to the lockdown (LD) restrictions made due to COVID-19. The direct impact of LD on environment is analysed widely across the latitudes, but its secondary effect remains largely unexplored. Therefore, we examine the changes in particulate matter (PM2.5) during LD, and its impact on the global croplands. Our analysis finds that there is a substantial decline in the global PM2.5 concentrations during LD (2020) compared to pre-lockdown (PreLD: 2017-2019) in India (10-20%), East China (EC, 10%), Western Europe (WE, 10%) and Nigeria (10%), which are also the cropland dominated regions. Partial correlation analysis reveals that the decline in PM2.5 positively affects the cropland greening when the influence of temperature, precipitation and soil moisture are limited. Croplands in India, EC, Nigeria and WE became more greener as a result of the improvement in air quality by the reduction in particulates such as PM2.5 during LD, with an increase in the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) of about 0.05-0.1, 0.05, 0.05 and 0.05-0.1, respectively. As a result of cropland greening, increase in the total above ground biomass production (TAGP) and crop yield (TWSO) is also found in EC, India and Europe. In addition, the improvement in PM2.5 pollution and associated changes in meteorology also influenced the cropland phenology, where the crop development stage has prolonged in India for wet-rice (1-20%) and maize (1-10%). Therefore, this study sheds light on the response of global croplands to LD-induced improvements in PM2.5 pollution. These finding have implications for addressing issues of air pollution, global warming, climate change, environmental conservation and food security to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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Atmospheric pollution in the Arctic has been an important driver for the ongoing climate change there. Increase in the Arctic aerosols causes the phenomena of Arctic haze and Arctic amplification. Our analysis of aerosol optical depth (AOD), black carbon (BC), and dust using ground-based, satellite, and reanalysis data in the Arctic for the period 2003-2019 shows that the lowest amount of all these is found in Greenland and Central Arctic. There is high AOD, BC, and dust in the northern Eurasia and parts of North America. All aerosols show their highest values in spring. Significant positive trends in AOD (> 0.003 year-1) and BC (0.0002-0.0003 year-1) are found in the northwestern America and northern Asia. Significant negative trends are observed for dust (- 0.0001 year-1) around Central Arctic. Seasonal analysis of AOD, BC, and dust reveals an increasing trend in summer and decreasing trend in spring in the Arctic. The major sources of aerosols are the nearby Europe, Russia, and North America regions, as assessed using the potential source contribution function (PSCF). Anthropogenic emissions from the transport, energy, and household sectors along with natural sources such as wildfires contribute to the positive trends of aerosols in the Arctic. These increasing aerosols in the Arctic influence Arctic amplification through radiative effects. Here, we find that the net aerosol radiative forcing is high in Central Arctic, Greenland, Siberia, and Canadian Arctic, about 2-4 W/m2, which can influence the regional temperature. Therefore, our study can assist policy decisions for the mitigation of Arctic haze and Arctic amplification in this environmental fragile region of the Earth.

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India relies heavily on coal-based thermal power plants to meet its energy demands. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) emitted from these plants and industries is a major air pollutant. Analysis of spatial and temporal changes in SO2 using accurate and continuous observations is required to formulate mitigation strategies to curb the increasing air pollution in India. Here, we present the temporal changes in SO2 concentrations over India in the past four decades (1980-2020). Our analysis shows that the Central and East India, and Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) are the hotspots of SO2, as these regions house a cluster of thermal power plants, petroleum refineries, steel manufacturing units, and cement Industries. Thermal power plants (51%), and manufacturing and construction industries (29%) are the main sources of anthropogenic SO2 in India. Its concentration over India is higher in winter (December-February) and lower in pre-monsoon (March-May) seasons. The temporal analyses reveal that SO2 concentrations in India increased between 1980 and 2010 due to high coal burning and lack of novel technology to contain the emissions during the period. However, SO2 shows a decreasing trend in recent decade (2010-2020) because of the environmental regulations and implementation of effective control technologies such as the flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) and scrubber. Since 2010, India's renewable energy production has also been increased substantially when India adopted a sustainable development policy. Therefore, the shift in energy production from conventional coal to renewable sources, solid environmental regulation, better inventory, and effective technology would help to curb SO2 pollution in India. Both economic growth and air pollution control can be performed hand-in-hand by adopting new technology to reduce SO2 and GHG emissions.

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Targeted genome editing using RNA-guided endonucleases is an emerging tool in algal biotechnology. Recently, CRISPR-Cas systems have been widely used to manipulate the genome of some freshwater and marine microalgae. Among two different classes, and six distinct types of CRISPR systems, Cas9-driven type II system has been widely used in most of the studies for targeted knock-in, knock-out and knock-down of desired genes in algae. CRISPR technology has been demonstrated in microalgae including diatoms to manifest the function of the particular gene (s) and developing industrial traits, such as improving lipid content and biomass productivity. Instead of these, there are a lot of gears to be defined about improving efficiency and specificity of targeted genome engineering of microalgae using CRISPR-Cas system. Optimization of tools and methods of CRISPR technology can undoubtedly transform the research toward the industrial-scale production of commodity chemicals, food and biofuels using photosynthetic cell factories. This review has been focused on the efforts made so far to targeted genome engineering of microalgae, identified scopes about the hurdles related to construction and delivery of CRISPR-Cas components, algae transformation toolbox, and outlined the future prospect toward developing the CRISPR platform for high-throughput genome-editing of microalgae.

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Artemisia annua is known to be the source of artemisinin worldwide which is an antimalarial compound but is synthesised in very limited amount in the plant. Most research laid emphasis on the methods of enhancing artemisinin but our study has been planned in a way that it may simultaneously address two problems encountered by the plant. Firstly, to know the effect on the artemisinin content in the era of climate change because the secondary metabolites tend to increase under stress. Secondly, to identify some of the stress responsive genes that could help in stress tolerance of the plant under abiotic stress. Hence, the A. annua plants were subjected to four abiotic stresses (salt, cold, drought and water-logging) and it was observed that the artemisinin content increased in all the stress conditions except drought. Next, in order to identify the stress responsive genes, the transcriptome sequencing of the plants under stress was carried out resulting in 89,362 transcripts for control and 81,328, 76,337, 90,470 and 96,493 transcripts for salt, cold, drought, and water logging stresses. This investigation provides new insights for functional studies of genes involved in multiple abiotic stresses and potential candidate genes for multiple stress tolerance in A. annua.

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Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) hold promising future for sustainable agriculture. Here, we demonstrate a carotenoid producing halotolerant PGPR Dietzia natronolimnaea STR1 protecting wheat plants from salt stress by modulating the transcriptional machinery responsible for salinity tolerance in plants. The expression studies confirmed the involvement of ABA-signalling cascade, as TaABARE and TaOPR1 were upregulated in PGPR inoculated plants leading to induction of TaMYB and TaWRKY expression followed by stimulation of expression of a plethora of stress related genes. Enhanced expression of TaST, a salt stress-induced gene, associated with promoting salinity tolerance was observed in PGPR inoculated plants in comparison to uninoculated control plants. Expression of SOS pathway related genes (SOS1 and SOS4) was modulated in PGPR-applied wheat shoots and root systems. Tissue-specific responses of ion transporters TaNHX1, TaHAK, and TaHKT1, were observed in PGPR-inoculated plants. The enhanced gene expression of various antioxidant enzymes such as APX, MnSOD, CAT, POD, GPX and GR and higher proline content in PGPR-inoculated wheat plants contributed to increased tolerance to salinity stress. Overall, these results indicate that halotolerant PGPR-mediated salinity tolerance is a complex phenomenon that involves modulation of ABA-signalling, SOS pathway, ion transporters and antioxidant machinery.

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BACKGROUND: Stress plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Beta vulgaris is commonly known as "beet root" possessing antioxidant, anticancer, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, wound healing, and anti-inflammatory properties. OBJECTIVE: To study the protective effect of Beta vulgaris Linn. ethanolic extract (BVEE) of leaves against acute restraint stress (ARS)-induced anxiety- and depressive-like behavior and oxidative stress in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mice (n = 6) were pretreated with BVEE (100 and 200 mg/kg, p. o.) for 7 days and subjected to ARS for 6 h to induce behavioral and biochemical changes. Anxiety- and depressive-like behavior were measured by using different behavioral paradigms such as open field test (OFT), elevated plus maze (EPM), forced swim test (FST), and tail suspension test (TST) 40 min postARS. Brain homogenate was used to analyze oxidative stress parameters, that is, malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) level. RESULTS: BVEE pretreatment significantly (P < 0.05) reversed the ARS-induced reduction in EPM parameters, that is, percentage entries and time spent in open arms and in OFT parameters, that is, line crossings, and rearings in mice. ARS-induced increase in the immobility time in FST and TST was attenuated significantly (P < 0.05) by BVEE pretreatment at both the dosage. An increase in MDA and depletion of GSH level postARS was prevented significantly (P < 0.05) with BVEE pretreatment at both the dosage (100 and 200 mg/kg). CONCLUSION: BVEE exhibits anxiolytic and antidepressant activity in stressed mice along with good antioxidant property suggesting its therapeutic potential in the treatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders. SUMMARY: Stress plays major role in the pathogenesis of anxiety and depressionARS-induced anxiety- and depressive-like behavior through oxidative damage in miceBVEE pretreatment reversed ARS-induced behavioral changes, that is, anxiety and depressionARS-induced oxidative stress was prevented by BVEE pretreatment in mice. Abbreviations Used: ANOVA: Analysis of variance, ARS: Acute restraint stress, BVEE: Beta vulgaris ethanolic extract, BV: Beta vulgaris, CMC: Carboxymethylcellulose, CNS: Central nervous system, CPCSEA: Committee for the purpose of control and supervision of experiments on animals, cms: Centimeter, DNA: Deoxyribose nucleic acid, EPM: Elevated plus maze, FST: Forced swim test, GSH: Reduced glutathione, g: Gram, h: Hour, IAEC: Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, mg: Milligram, µM: Microgram, MDA: Malondialdehyde, SEM: Standard error of mean, TST: Tail suspension test, UV: Ultraviolet, w/v: Weight by volume.