Calcium Lactate Amendment Improves Saline Soil Properties and Enhances Pepper Resistance Under Short-Term Waterlogging Conditions.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of haemoglobin disorders characterized by abnormal sickle‐shaped red blood cells [, ]. The disease results from the inheritance of abnormal beta‐globin alleles and is related to acute painful sickle cell crisis, repeated sickling, and ongoing haemolytic anaemia []. The red blood cells in people with SCD become rigid, fragile and prone to sticking together, leading to the clinical phenotype of haemolytic anaemia and intermittent attacks of vascular occlusion that cause pain, infections and end‐organ damage []. The subtypes of SCD vary in severity, but life expectancy is reduced in all people with SCD [, , ]. Global analyses conducted between 2000 and 2021 identified 7.74 million people with SCD, and a 13.7% increase in total births of babies affected by SCD []. SCD affects populations worldwide, however it is particularly highly prevalent in sub‐Saharan Africa, and causes a significant disease burden in other historically malaria‐endemic regions of Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and South Asia []. Additionally, several countries including Bahrain, Angola, Kenya and Ghana have reported a high incidence of SCD at birth []. Pregnancy in women with SCD is associated with increased risks of adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes (such as pre‐eclampsia, eclampsia, maternal mortality, intrauterine growth restriction and perinatal mortality) []. Maternal mortality is approximately 7–11 times higher in pregnant women with SCD compared to those without the disease [, ]. SCD is also associated with a fourfold increased risk of severe maternal morbidity compared to women without SCD [].