Feature Article

Starvation initiates a series of metabolic adaptations to enable continuous production and delivery of nutrients to critical organs, tissues, and cells. This response is coordinated in large part by the liver that responds by liberating glucose to the circulation initially from glycogen stores followed by de novo glucose production (i.e., gluconeogenesis). Additionally, ketones are produced and provide an alternative energy source to glucose for highly oxidative tissues such as the brain.

In May, 2016, a Working Group of 23 scientists from ten countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, to evaluate the carcinogenicity of drinking coffee, mate, and very hot beverages. These assessments will be published in volume 116 of the IARC Monographs.

Artemisinin-based therapies are the only effective treatment for malaria, the most devastating disease in human history. To meet the growing demand for artemisinin and make it accessible to the poorest, an inexpensive and rapidly scalable production platform is urgently needed. Here we have developed a new synthetic biology approach, combinatorial supertransformation of transplastomic recipient lines (COSTREL), and applied it to introduce the complete pathway for artemisinic acid, the precursor of artemisinin, into the high-biomass crop tobacco.

As the frequency and prevalence of zoonotic diseases increase worldwide, investigating how mammal host distributions determine patterns of human disease and predicting which regions are at greatest risk for future zoonotic disease emergence are two goals which both require better understanding of the current distributions of zoonotic hosts and pathogens. We review here the existing data about mammalian host species, comparing and contrasting these patterns against global maps of zoonotic hosts from all 27 orders of terrestrial mammals.

To understand the diversity and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment bioreactors, the ARGs in sludge from two full-scale pharmaceutical wastewater treatment plants (PWWTPs) were investigated and compared with sludge samples from three sewage treatment plants (STPs) using metagenomic approach. The results showed that the ARG abundances in PWWTP sludge ranged from 54.7 to 585.0 ppm, which were higher than those in STP sludge (27.2 to 86.4 ppm).

Hydropower reservoirs are artificial water systems and comprise a small proportion of the Earth’s continental territory. However, they play an important role in the aquatic biogeochemistry and may affect the environment negatively. Since the 90s, as a result of research on organic matter decay in manmade flooded areas, some reports have associated greenhouse gas emissions with dam construction. Pioneering work carried out in the early period challenged the view that hydroelectric plants generate completely clean energy.

Vertical farming can be considered as an extension of indoor farming that evolved in the 1700s with the advent of greenhouses, with the primary objective of harnessing the off-season crop cultivation potential during unfavourable seasons. Vertical farming facilitates year-round cultivation in multi-storied structures using artificial illumination.

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Active forest fire monitoring using satellite data has been carried out from 2006 as part of the Disaster Management Support Programme of ISRO. The activity provides timely information on fires to State Forest Departments across India for forest fire control and management activities.

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Farming has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the role of pesticides is not known. Researchers examined associations between RA and pesticides or other agricultural exposures among female spouses of licensed pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.

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The South American tomato moth Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is a devastating pest of tomato. In the present study Tuta-adapted strains of Trichogramma were evaluated. Amongst the three species, Trichogramma achaeae Nagaraja and Nagarkatti, Trichogramma pretiosum Riley and Trichogrammatoidea bactrae Nagaraja could parasitise T. absoluta eggs and the parasitism rates were 5.0%, 51.1% and 68.2% respectively. Adults emerged from the parasitized T. absoluta eggs (4.8%, 97.5% and 90.0% adult emergence respectively). The F1 generation adults of T.