Publications

Abstract Astringency is a major sensory property and plays an important role in the overall quality of juice and wines. A major contributor to astringency is condensed tannins, which can precipitate with salivary glycoproteins. And thus, it is vital to develop methods to measure the tannin accurately. Recently, the interest in the application of condensed tannin assays has been increasing in various fields. Condensed tannin assays broadly include the determination of concentration, activity, mean degree of polymerization and its derivative flavan‐3‐ol sulfonates content. In this guideline, the mechanisms and the practice of the most common condensed tannin assays applied in research labs are discussed in detail.

Objective: Several features of ambulatory (ABPM) blood pressure (BP) have been explored as potential predictors of stroke. Some studies, limited among other factors by relying on a single, low reproducible 24 h ABPM per participant, use of arbitrarily fixed clock hours to defined awake and asleep spans, and/or analysis of the prognostic value of a single unadjusted ABPM-derived parameter, have concluded that elevated morning BP surge or increased BP variability might be significant markers of stroke. We evaluated the comparative prognostic value for stroke of clinic BP and multiple ABPM-derived characteristics among the participants in the Hygia Project, designed to evaluate prospectively CVD risk by ABPM in primary care centers of Northwest Spain. Design and method: This study involved 11255 subjects, 6028 men/5227 women, 58.9 ± 14.5 years of age, with baseline BP ranging from normotension to hypertension according to ABPM criteria, prospectively evaluated throughout a 4.0-year median follow-up. BP was measured at 20-min intervals from 07:00 to 23:00 h and every 30-min at night for 48 h. During monitoring, subjects maintained a diary listing the times of going to bed and awakening. Results: We documented 147 ischemic and 29 hemorrhagic strokes. When each ABPM-derived parameter was analyzed separately, the asleep systolic BP mean was the most significant predictor of stroke (adjusted hazard ratio 1.35; 95%CI [1.20–1.52] for each 1-SD increase; P < 0.001). A greater morning BP surge was significantly associated with lower, not higher, stroke risk (0.87 [0.76–0.99], P = 0.042). After adjustment by asleep BP, neither clinic BP nor any other ABPM-derived parameter, including awake and 48 h means, sleep-time relative BP decline, morning surge, and indices of awake, asleep and 24 h BP variability, was significantly associated with increased/decreased risk of stroke. Conclusions: Progressively elevated sleep-time systolic BP was the only significant and independent prognostic marker of stroke. Contrary to current believe, neither a greater morning BP surge, morning hypertension, or extreme-dipper BP patterning increased the risk of stroke after adjusting by asleep BP level. On the basis of the null prognostic value of clinic BP here corroborated, ABPM should be considered a clinical requirement for proper stroke risk stratification.

Wine’s aroma is defined by volatile and non-volatile compounds that contribute to its make-up. The complex variety of volatile compounds, coming from grapes, interact with other non-volatile substances of the wine as precursors of wine’s aroma, known as primary aromas, which give the aroma of the young wine. The volatile compounds present in the skin and in the grape juice change according to the grape variety. Most of wine volatile compounds responsible for aroma are linked to sugars and they initially form odorless glycosides. Through the process of hydrolysis, they are reverted into an aromatic form. Chemical reactions among these compounds occur during the fermentation and in the first months of a wine’s existence, triggering fast and multiple modifications in wine’s aroma at this point. As wine ages and matures, changes and development in aroma will continue to take place but at a slower and more gradual pace. The study of the compounds responsible for aroma and flavor, as well as their correlation with the wine quality, is ongoing. Improving the knowledge of wine aromatic compounds could increase the risk of its potential adulteration; however, consumers prefer wine for its natural origin, so this scenario is unlikely in the future.

Chukrasia velutina is a local medicinal plant commonly known as chikrassy in Bangladesh, India, China, and other South Asian countries. The leaves, bark, and seeds are vastly used as herbal medicine for fever and diarrhea, and its leaves essential oils are used for antimicrobial purposes. In this study, we discuss the neuropsychiatric properties of C. velutina leaves through several animal models, quantitative and qualitative phytochemical analysis, and computational approaches. Neuropsychiatric effects were performed in rodents on the methanolic extract of C. velutina leaves (MECVL). Antidepressant, anxiolytic, and sedative effects experimented through these rodent models were used such as the force swimming test (FST), tail suspension test (TST), hole board test (HBT), elevated plus maze test (EPMT), light/dark box test (LDBT), open field test (OFT), and hole cross test (HCT). In these rodent models, 200 and 400 mg/kg doses were used which exhibited a significant result in the force swimming and tail suspension test (p &lt; 0.001) for the antidepressant effect. In the anxiolytic study, the results were significant in the hole board, elevated plus maze, and light/dark box test (p &lt; 0.001) for doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg. The result was also significant in the open field and hole cross test (p &lt; 0.001) for sedative action in the sake of similar doses. Moreover, qualitative and quantitative studies were also performed through phytochemical screening and GC-MS analysis, and fifty-seven phytochemical compounds were found. These compounds were analyzed for pharmacokinetics properties using the SwissADME tool and from them, thirty-five compounds were considered for the molecular docking analysis. These phytoconstituents were docking against the human serotonin receptor, potassium channel receptor, and crystal structure of human beta-receptor, where eight of the compounds showed a good binding affinity towards the respective receptors considered to the reference standard drugs. After all of these analyses, it can be said that the secondary metabolite of C. velutina leaves (MECVL) could be a good source for inhibiting the neuropsychiatric disorders which were found on animal models as well as in computational studies.

We report the formation of gold nanoparticles with a novel and useful morphology, comprising nanowires fully covered with sharp tips (thorned nanowires). The synthesis is based on a seeded-growth approach based the rapid overgrowth of ultrathin gold wires in N,N-dimethylformamide, in the presence of poly(vinylpyrrolidone). The process allows a fine control over the thickness of the final wires, as well as the tunability of the number and sharpness of the thorns. These new plasmonic nanostructures display extremely strong optical enhancing properties and can be readily used as platforms for SERS and for integration in ultrasensitive optical devices.