Wine: a potential source of antimicrobial compounds

With increase in the socioeconomic status, the demand of the health and nutraceutical food is increasing day-by-day. Wine contains a wide variety of the biologically active compounds including antimicrobial compounds (phenolics, acids, alcohols, bioamines, etc.) which possess the numerous health benefits. The concentration of these compounds changes according to the raw material their varieties and vinification process. Phenolics, such as epicatechin, gallic acid, catechin, caffeic acid, vannillic acid, p-coumaric acid and resveratrol, are present in different wines. Wine also contains various acids such as tartaric acid, succinic acid, acetic acid and malic acid. Alcohol includes majorly the ethanol with a minute quantity of methanol and other higher alcohols, whereas the bioamine includes the ethanolamine, ammonia and histamine. These all compounds have the ability to possess antimicrobial activity either independently or in the conjugative form with the other compounds. In this article, efforts have been made to document the different antimicrobial compounds present in wines and their antimicrobial activity. This review has the potential to attract readers; mainly researchers and industrialists for the future study and product development in the wine industry.     

Regression Analysis of the Dielectric and Morphological Properties for Porous Nanohydroxyapatite/Starch Composites: A Correlative Study

This paper aims to investigate the dielectric properties, i.e., dielectric constant (ε′), dielectric loss factor (ε″), dielectric tangent loss (tan δ), electrical conductivity (σ), and penetration depth (D_p), of the porous nanohydroxyapatite/starch composites in the function of starch proportion, pore size, and porosity over a broad band frequency range of 5 MHz–12 GHz. The porous nanohydroxyapatite/starch composites were fabricated using different starch proportions ranging from 30 to 90 wt%. The results reveal that the dielectric properties and the microstructural features of the porous nanohydroxyapatite/starch composites can be enhanced by the increment in the starch proportion. Nevertheless, the composite with 80 wt% of starch proportion exhibit low dielectric properties (ε′, ε″, tan δ, and σ) and a high penetration depth because of its highly interconnected porous microstructures. The dielectric properties of the porous nanohydroxyapatite/starch composites are highly dependent on starch proportion, average pore size, and porosity. The regression models are developed to express the dielectric properties of the porous nanohydroxyapatite/starch composites (R² > 0.96) in the function of starch proportion, pore size, and porosity from 1 to 11 GHz. This dielectric study can facilitate the assessment of bone scaffold design in bone tissue engineering applications.     

Managing grazing animals to achieve nutrient cycling and soil improvement in no-till integrated systems

Crop-livestock systems are regaining their importance as an alternative to unsustainable intensive farming systems. Loss of biodiversity, nutrient pollution and habitat fragmentation are a few of many concerns recently reported with modern agriculture. Integrating crops and pastures in no-till systems can result in better environmental services, since conservation agriculture is improved by system diversity, paths of nutrient flux, and other processes common in nature. The presence of large herbivores can positively modify nutrient pathways and soil aggregation, increasing soil quality. Despite the low diversity involved, the integration of crops and pastures enhances nature’s biomimicry and allows attainment of a higher system organization level. This paper illustrates these benefits focusing on the use of grazing animals integrated with crops under no-tillage systems characteristic of southern Brazil.     

Inter annual,spatial, seasonal,and diurnal variability of precipitable water vapour over northeast India using GPS time series

We present multi-scale variability of GPS-derived column integrated precipitable water vapour (PWV) estimated over five continuous GPS sites of northeast India from 2004 to 2012. PWV is estimated from GPS-derived zenith total delay using observed surface pressure and temperature from collocated meteorological sensors as well as obtained by interpolating European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis project (ERA-Interim) global reanalysis dataset. PWV estimated using ERA-Interim-derived parameters compare well with the PWV estimated using observed meteorological parameters with bias of less than ± 0.1 mm and highest root mean square error of 0.56 mm. The average PWV for the study period is about 17 mm at Bomdila in the Eastern Himalayas, about 20 mm at Shillong in Shillong plateau, about 31 mm at Lumami in Arokan-Yoma Hill ranges, and about 43 mm at Guwahati and Tezpur in Assam valley. The high altitude sites show low annual PWV variability (around 49%) than the low altitude sites (around 63–67%). Seasonal PWV value coincides with the monsoon with maximum in summer and minimum in the winter. However, percentage seasonal PWV variability is found to be almost same (around 68%) for all the five sites. The Assam valley sites do not show a distinct diurnal cycle whereas the high altitude sites indicate a distinct diurnal cycle coinciding with the daily solar cycle. Insights in to GPS PWV variability and rainfall are presented for the study period.     

Water‐Stable Chemical‐Protective Textiles via Euhedral Surface‐Oriented 2D Cu–TCPP Metal‐Organic Frameworks

Abatement of chemical hazards using adsorptive metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) attracts substantial attention, but material stability and crystal integration into functional systems remain key challenges. Herein, water‐stable, polymer fiber surface–oriented M–TCPP [M = Cu, Zn, and Co; H₂TCPP = 5,10,15,20‐tetrakis(4‐carboxyphenyl)porphyrin] 2D MOF crystals are fabricated using a facile hydroxy double salt (HDS) solid‐source conversion strategy. For the first time, Cu–TCPP is formed from a solid source and confirmed to be highly adsorptive for NH₃ and 2‐chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES), a blistering agent simulant, in humid (80% relative humidity (RH)) conditions. Moreover, the solid HDS source is found as a unique new approach to control MOF thin‐film crystal orientation, thereby facilitating radially arranged MOF crystals on fibers. On a per unit mass of MOF basis in humid conditions, the MOF/fiber composite enhances NH₃ adsorptive capacity by a factor of 3 compared to conventionally prepared MOF powders. The synthesis route extends to other MOF/fiber composite systems, therefore providing a new route for chemically protective materials.