Sana Fatima

• Universidad Nacional de Itapúa

The rapidly evolving field of metallic nanocarriers explores the use of metal-based nanoparticles (NPs) in plant science, providing innovative strategies for sustainable agriculture. These nanocarriers, typically 1 to 100 nm in size, exhibit high surface area, enhanced reactivity, and quantum effects, making them highly efficient in agricultural an...

Deserts are generally prone to a number of ecological hazards which act as agents for the development of particularly a very diverse group of grasses, which can resist to salt stress through multiple morpho-anatomical and physio-biochemical mechanisms. Of such grasses, Cymbopogon jwarancusa is found inhabiting different saline patches of the Cholis...

Naturally adapted populations of a leafy succulent desert halophyte Salsola imbricata were evaluated for growth patterns, and, structural and functional modifications, that ensures their success in highly salt-affected habitats. The populations were collected from five diverse habitats least saline (DWF-Derawar Fort), moderately saline (TWT-Trawayw...

Kidney dysfunction is a prevalent complication of diabetes mellitus, contributing significantly to diabetes-related morbidity and mortality. We aim to explore whether platelet-rich plasma administration can modulate iron regulation mechanism within the kidney, thereby mitigating renal dysfunction associated with diabetes. Albino mice with an averag...

The Agriculture Editorial Office wishes to make the following changes to the author’s paper [...]

In this chapter, we will discuss the current and potential applications of nanotechnology in the treatment of skin diseases. The use of nanomedicine in dermatology represents one of the most advanced fields of interest for the diagnosis and treatment of skin diseases. The skin is an outer tissue covering of the body that provides protection, regula...

Multiple abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, and cold stress prevailing in natural habitats affect plant growth and development. Different species modify their structural and functional traits to combat these abiotic stresses while growing in stressful environments. Cenchrus species, i.e., Cenchrus pennisetiformis, C. setiger, and C....

The present research was carried out to determine the spatiotemporal variation in accumulation of different nutritional and medicinal components in Dicliptera bupleuroides from the Soone valley in the Salt Range of Punjab, Pakistan. Most of the biochemical attributes were higher in the spring season than those in the other seasons; this might have...

Anthropogenic activities, such as industrial wastewater and use of water softeners, cause hyper-accumulation of Cl⁻ in water sources and soils. Currently, industries have no sustainable method to remove these Cl⁻ ions from wastewater. This study was conducted to evaluate the integrative responses of wheat cultivated in five industrial effluent–affe...

Using halophytes for phytoremediation is an environmentally friendly technique, now gaining importance all over the world. Fagonia indica Burm. f. (Indian Fagonia) is primarily distributed in salt-affected lands of the Cholistan Desert and surrounding habitats. Four populations with three replications from salt-affected habitats were collected from...

Plant performance is mainly estimated based on plant architecture, leaf features and internal microstructural changes. Olive (Olea europaea L.) is a drought tolerant, oil yielding, and medium sized woody tree that shows specific structural and functional modifications under changing environment. This study was aimed to know the microstructural alte...

Chrysopogon serrulatus (false beard-grass) is a dominant component of vegetation in the foothills of the Himalayas. To study whole plant morphology, individuals of C. serrulatus were collected from three plots at each of six locations spanning from 400 to 1,400 m. The population colonizing the highest elevation showed noticeable morphological modif...

Desert plants are considered as a rich source of secondary metabolites and are used in drug development. The main objective of the current investigation was to explore the secondary metabolite profile of some desert plants and also compare the efficiency of different solvents. Plants [Psidium guajava L., Thuja orientalis L., Callistemon citrinus (C...

Context Allelopathy is recognised as a potential technology to control weeds, and could also be a suitable approach for enhancement of crop yield. Aims The study was conducted to investigate the allelopathic role of Averrhoa carambola leaf extract on growth, anatomical and physiological features of three wheat lines, namely 3094, 7076 and A2011....

Herbicides are widely used to kill weeds and increase crop production all over the world. Nevertheless, some weeds show certain structural modifications in response to herbicide application that impart mostly partial or sometimes complete tolerance to these noxious plants. The present study was focused on morpho-anatomical modifications in the root...

Background: Sodium metabisulfite (SM) is commonly used with varying concentrations as a preservative, sewage treatment chemical, and in other commercial consumer products etc. It is reported to pose series of health hazards affecting various vital organs. The current study was aimed to find histological alterations in the intestine with sub-chronic...

Micro and macro-morphological features contribute to plants' tolerance to a variety of environmental pollutants. The contribution of such structural modifications in the phytoremediation potential of Diplachne fusca populations collected from five saline habitats were explored when treated with 100 to 400 mM NaCl for 75 days along with control. Str...

Elucidation of the structural and physiological adaptations developed against environmental determinants is a key to understand acclimation and capability to withstand cold in plants colonizing high altitudes. In the present study, two Sorghum species, S. arundinaceum and S. nitidum, were collected from three different elevations (800, 1800 and 280...

Man is using plants for curing different diseases for several hundred years. In Pakistan, rangelands and forests are the major sources of medicinal plants, and the residents of different areas including those of the Vanhar Valley depend upon local plants for the medication of several diseases. However, this study was planned to enlist the indigenou...

Dear Editor, According to WHO, there have been 209,876,613 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 4,400,284 total deaths to date (https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019, retrieved on 22nd August 2021, 17:09 PST). Pakistan documented the first confirmed case of COVID-19 on February 26, 2020 (Waris et al. 2020). There were 1,123,81...

The role of ionic excretions and hyper-accumulation of salts through alterations of structural and functional traits in five populations of Suaeda vera Forssk. ex J.F. Gmel., a halophytic salt-indicator species of saline environments, was explored. Differently adapted populations of S. vera exhibited specific structural and functional responses for...

The adaptability potential of plants enables them to colonize diverse habitats along elevation gradients. Studying these adaptive traits and linking them to environmental attributes provide useful information to understand limitations imposed by elevation gradients on distribution of plant species. To meet these objectives, six most dominant perenn...

Naturally adapted populations of a leafy succulent desert halophyte Salsola imbricata were evaluated for growth patterns, and, structural and functional modifications, that ensures their success in highly salt-affected habitats. The populations were collected from five diverse habitats least saline (DWF-Derawar Fort), moderately saline (TWT-Trawayw...

Naturally adapted populations of a leafy succulent desert halophyte Salsola imbricata were evaluated for growth patterns, and, structural and functional modifications, that ensures their success in highly salt-affected habitats. The populations were collected from five diverse habitats least saline (DWF-Derawar Fort), moderately saline (TWT-Trawayw...

Two ecotypes of Cenchrus setigerus Vahl (birdwood grass) were collected from dry mountains surrounding hyper-saline Kalar Kahar Lake and Gatwala artificial forest plantation. The ramets of the two ecotypes were established in pots for 15 days and then subjected to 100% FC (control) or 75% and 50% FC (field capacity) levels. Growth attributes such a...

Two ecotypes of Cenchrus setigerus Vahl (birdwood grass) were collected from dry mountains surrounding hyper-saline Kalar Kahar Lake and Gatwala artificial forest plantation. The ramets of the two ecotypes were established in pots for 15 days and then subjected to 100% FC (control) or 75 and 50% FC (field capacity) levels. Growth attributes such as...

Introduction: In Pakistan, for the patients of Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Direct-Acting Antiviral (DAA) therapy for 12 weeks and 24 weeks had been reported to be highly efficacious for genotype 3. We currently carried out an observational study to predict the rate of efficacy of sofosbuvir and ribavirin in hepatitis C patients to establish concrete o...

Stone crushing processes release particulates and associated noxious substances in our surroundings that are continuously destructing environmental conditions and ecosystem health. Morpho-anatomical changes in some medicinally important native species (Aerva javanica, Calotropis procera, Digera muricata, Euphorbia prostrata, Euploca strigosa, and P...

The present study investigated the (i) socio-demographic predictors of psychological distress, (ii) socio-demographic predictors of satisfaction from online classes, and (iii) the relationship between psychological distress and satisfaction from online classes among university students of Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnai...

Forty-nine accessions were collected from arid and semi-arid areas of Pakistan to explore adaptive components in red-grained wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Single-line selections of these accessions were grown on an arid and a control site; that is, Uchkera Farm (UF) and Botanical Garden (BG), Faisalabad. The accessions grown at BG exhibited signifi...

Deserts are generally prone to a number of ecological hazards which act as agents for the development of particularly a very diverse group of grasses, which can resist to salt stress through multiple morpho-anatomical and physio-biochemical mechanisms. Of such grasses, Cymbopogon jwarancusa is found inhabiting different saline patches of the Cholis...

We investigated changes in plant morphology, anatomy and physiology in a commonly occurring weed, Euphorbia helioscopia L. due to exposure to post‐emergence herbicides. Weed plants were sprayed with one of the following herbicides: pyrimidinyl sulphonylharnstoffe (PS), tribenuron‐methyl (TM), fluroxypyr‐methyl tribenuron‐methyl (FMTM) and bromoxyni...

Cenchrus ciliaris L. is a perennial palatable grass and is capable of growing in a variety of habitats including extreme desert environment. The present study was conducted to explore the effect of drought stress on morpho-anatomical modifications in the aerial parts of C. ciliaris ecotypes, which were collected from the Cholistan Desert. Seeds of...

Aristida adscensionis L. is a widely distributed grass species that particularly invades Potohar region (arid/semi-arid conditions) of the country. Exploration of adaptive components in this grass in relation to altitudinal gradient is the first attempt. Plant samples were collected from 6 different altitudinal ranges, viz. 400, 600, 800, 1000, 120...

This study was aimed to find histological changes in the extrahepatic organs, hepatic iron deposition, and gene expression of some iron regulatory proteins in rats after sterile muscle abscess during the acute intoxication of Nerium oleander leaves decoction. 10 ml/kg of the leaves extract was injected intramuscularly in Wistar rats (200–225 g, n=4...

Effect of altitude on leaf responses in Phleum himalaicum populations was evaluated at three different elevation levels, viz. (Low 1200 m.a.s.l.), middle (1600 m a.s.l.) and high (1900 m a.s.l.) in western part of Himalaya. We hypothesized that physico-chemical properties of soil varied along elevation and Phleum populations located at high elevati...

An investigation was carried out to evaluate impact of altitudinal gradient on species composition and distributional pattern of individual grass species in the Potohar region. Vegetation was sampled by quadrat method, which were laid along a transect line at different selected sites. All ecological parameters like species composition, pair-wise as...

A study was conducted to investigate structural and functional modifications in three differently adapted ecotypes of Aeluropus lagopoides (Linn.) Trin. ex Thw. under saline conditions. Two ecotypes were collected from moderately saline Bailahwala Dahar (BD) and heavily salt-affected Ladam Sir (LS), respectively while one ecotype was selected from...

Many studies have been carried out in order to determine the toxicity of medicinal plants. The objective of this study was to compare and analyze the hepatic response against two doses of Nerium oleander, (N. oleander) “kaner” leaf decoction. Aqueous leaf decoction was injected intramuscularly into both hind limbs of male rats (200∓10g), assigned i...

Structural and functional aspects of photosynthesis in Conocarpus erectus L., a species native to salt marshes of North America and now cultivated throughout the world for its tolerance against a variety of environmental stresses were investigated under high salinity. This species showed better growth at salt level up to 300 mM, whereas extreme sal...

Two differentially adapted populations of Leptothrium senegalese Kunth (Poaceae) collected from non-saline and saline habitat of Cholistan in Bahawalpur District (Pakistan) were subjected to hydroponic conditions to investigate the physiological and biochemical response under salt stress. Both populations were posed in Hoagland’s nutrient solution...

Natural populations of a desert halophyte Sporobolus ioclados were investigated to explore morpho-anatomical and physiological modifications at differently salt-affected habitats. Derawar Fort (DF) was the least affected site, Trawaywala Toba and Bailahwala Dahar (BD) were moderately saline sites and Ladam Sir (LS) and Pati Sir (PS) were highly sal...

Five grasses of tribe Aveneae were collected from low (1100 m.a.s.l.) and highland (2300 m.a.s.l.) mountain range of Western Himalaya, Neelum Valley, to evaluate the physio-anatomical adaptations to altitudinal variability. An evidence to confirm the hypothesis that plants vegetating different altitudes must be different structurally (internal modi...

Thioacetamide (TAA) has been widely utilized in the development of animal models of hepatic damage by a number of researchers. The current investigation was designed to evaluate changes in tissue and serum total proteins and albumin along with urea, uric acid and serum transaminases activity after 12 and 24h of TAA administration in albino rats. Ra...

Environmental pollution caused by heavy metals is a global issue, which seriously affects growth and development of agricultural crops, as well as the native flora. It is known that metal toxicity can significantly alter soil physico-chemical properties of the soil, mainly organic matter, pH and cation exchange capacity. The devastating impact of h...

Three differently adapted populations of sewan grass (Lasiurus scindicus Henr.) were evaluated for structural and functional adaptations to high salinity. The habitats were Derawar Fort (DF, least saline, ECe 15.21), Bailahwala Dahar (BD, moderately saline, ECe 27.56 dS m−1) and Ladam Sir (LS, highly saline, ECe 39.18 dS m−1) from within the Cholis...

Two populations of cogongrass [Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeuschel], one from the saline regions of the Salt Range and the other from the non-saline regions of Faisalabad were assessed for salinity tolerance on the basis of some key morphological and physiological attributes. It was hypothesized that the tolerant population from the Salt Range must...

Morpho-anatomical and physiological response of Cyperus alopecuroides Rottb. (Family Cyperaceae), occurring in industrial-polluted water near Sheikhupura, Pakistan to metal (Ni and Cd) stress was examined. Two levels (30 and 60 mg L−1) of each of Ni and Cd were maintained during the experiment. Growth and development was severely affected by both m...

An experiment was conducted to investigate structural and functional acclimation in two ecotypes of Cyperus alopecuroides Rottb. under saline and waterlogged conditions. A salt sensitive ecotype was collected from fresh river water (FW) and a salt tolerant ecotype from polluted brackish water (BW). The experiment was conducted in a 2-factorial (sal...

Five differently adapted natural populations of the native salt desert grass Lasiurus scindicus Henrard from Lesser Cholistan Desert (Pakistan) in South Punjab of east central Pakistan, were evaluated to examine their mechanism of adaptation to saline stress based on some key morpho-anatomical and physiological characteristics. Five ecotypes were c...

Seven local landraces of common and durum wheat (Triticum aestivum L. and T. durum L.) from the arid and semi-arid areas of the Sultanate of Oman were examined for specific leaf and stem structural features for water conservation. On the basis of shoot fresh and dry weights (g plant−1), degree of tolerance to drought and salt stresses in these whea...

Peganum harmala is an annual herb commonly found in the Salt Range during spring and summer seasons. Spatiotemporal variations in accumulation of some medicinally important biochemical constituents in different parts of P. harmala during different seasons and at different sites of Soone Valley in the Salt Range were investigated. Dry matter and pho...

To gain insight into the hepatohistological alterations in noninjured rat liver, Nerium oleander (N.O.) leaves extract was injected intramuscularly to induce an acute phase reaction (APR). Histopathological changes were studied after 3, 12, and 24 h time course of sterile muscle abscess. Tissue integrity and any infiltration of inflammatory cells i...

Three cultivars of Alternanthera bettzickiana (Regel) G. Nicholson have been evaluated for their tolerance and adaptability potential to salt stress. During the experiment, 5 salt regimes were maintained: 18 (control), 50, 100, 150, and 200 mM NaCl. Salinity adversely affected all growth shoot length and leaves per plant. Root fresh and dry weight...

Background: Thioacetamide (TAA) has been used extensively in the development of suitable animal models of acute and chronic liver injury employing various doses, times and routes of its administration, particularly in drinking water due to its resemblance with human liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare...