In the present study the occurrence of two heavy metals, arsenic and cadmium, have been reported in the drinking water and seminal plasma of infertile male patients as compared to a control group. The study originated from a survey of geogenic groundwater contamination with the heavy metals arsenic and cadmium in Southern Assam, India as an increase in the incidence of male infertility was being reported from these areas. According to WHO protocol, patients with sperm concentration < 20 x 10(6)/ml were selected as cases (oligozoospermic and azoospermic), and those with > 20 x 10(6)/ml, without any extreme pathological disorders and having fathered a child within 1-2 years of marriage were the control (normozoospermic) group. The study reports an inverse relationship between total sperm count and heavy metal content in drinking water as well as seminal plasma of the subjects. Moreover, a high correlation between altered semenological parameters and lower expression of accessory sex gland markers like fructose, acid phosphatase, and neutral α-glucosidase in the seminal plasma of patients is reported. The study also highlights significant differences of the sperm function parameters like hypo-osmotic swelling, acrosome reaction, and nuclear chromatin decondensation in the patient group as compared to controls. These findings are significant as they address a likely association between heavy metal stress and altered sperm function as well as seminal enzyme inhibition.

The world population is continuously growing at a rapid rate, so a great challenge for this time is to ensure the security of food and nutrition for this increased population seeking for new crop as a source of food and nutrition. In such state mushrooms, a great source of protein, can be a favor that can be cultivated by landless people using agricultural waste material. The research work was about to analyze the effect of three lighting conditions namely dark condition (C1), medium lighting condition (C2), and sunlight (C3) on growth, yield, and nutrient content of pleurotus ostreatus (white oyster mushroom). Vertical farming technology was applied in mushroom production in order to minimize the land use. Three vertical structures each of three layers were used. This study also encompassed the effects of different layers (bottom later L1, middle layer L2, top layer L3) on the growth and yield of mushroom. The findings of this investigation revealed that there were significant differences in growth and yield at different conditions and structural layers. The highest average growth and yield (stalk height 3.87 cm, cap size 11.89 cm, stipe size 2.65 cm, crops per bag 15.78, fresh weight 60.03 g, and dry weight 17.03 g) was observed in dark condition (C1). On the other hand, lowest growth, and yield (stalk height 1.59 cm, cap size 3.67 cm, stipe size 1.51 cm, crops per bag 4.22, fresh weight 18.38 g, and dry weight 4.47 g) was found in sunlight (C3). Oyster mushroom cultivated in dark condition C1 also have high nutrient content. The study suggested that maintaining the absolute darkness is capable of producing high-quality white oyster mushroom.

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