Environmental Stress and Aroma Production During Wine Fermentation

The sensory description of wine uses the widest range of descriptive terminology of all food products, reflecting the complex nature of a product whose character depends on the balance of hundreds of individual flavour-active compounds. There are many tools that can influence flavour profiles or wine styles, one of which is the choice of a specific yeast strain. Yeasts contribute to wine flavour by producing volatile metabolites with different flavour profiles. The impact of changing environmental conditions on the production of flavour compounds by yeast strains remains largely unexplored. This is the first study investigating the impact of two mild fermentation stresses, hyperosmotic and temperature stress, on aroma production in synthetic must by commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine strains. Hyperosmotic stress was imposed by cultivation of the yeast for 21 days in the must containing either 0.3 or 0.5 M sorbitol. The transient temperature stresses were applied for 16 h at 8° or 37°C for either two or eight days after commencement of the fermentation. Greater glycerol and acetic acid levels were produced by most yeasts when only hyperosmotic stress was applied. Hyperosmotic and temperature stress conditions produced a limited number of significant changes to the profile of the esters, higher alcohols and volatile fatty acids. These changes differed significantly for each strain and stress treatment, suggesting that the fermentation conditions can significantly alter the aromatic profile of a wine, although these stress impacts cannot be predicted in general. The changes to the aromatic profile are specific to each individual wine yeast strain

Independent biaxial reorganization of the retinotectal projection: A reassessment

It has been previously suggested that the retinotectal projection can reorganize independently along two orthogonal tectal axes. This possibility was reexamined by removing roughly a quarter of the retina and slightly less than a quarter of the tectum. In the tectal case, the unseated fibers arborized rostral to the ablation, but not lateral to it, and the projection shifted irrespective of tectal axes to maintain topographic order and a roughly uniform representation of retinal areas. In the retinal case, expansion into the denervated quadrant was only from the rostral, never from the medial or lateral directions. Analysis of the movements of fiber arbors shows that they respond to local competition for tectal space rather than following tectal axes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46548/1/221_2004_Article_BF00237596.pd

Late veneer and late accretion to the terrestrial planets

It is generally accepted that silicate-metal (`rocky') planet formation relies on coagulation from a mixture of sub-Mars sized planetary embryos and (smaller) planetesimals that dynamically emerge from the evolving circum-solar disc in the first few million years of our Solar System. Once the planets have, for the most part, assembled after a giant impact phase, they continue to be bombarded by a multitude of planetesimals left over from accretion. Here we place limits on the mass and evolution of these planetesimals based on constraints from the highly siderophile element (HSE) budget of the Moon. Outcomes from a combination of N-body and Monte Carlo simulations of planet formation lead us to four key conclusions about the nature of this early epoch. First, matching the terrestrial to lunar HSE ratio requires either that the late veneer on Earth consisted of a single lunar-size impactor striking the Earth before 4.45 Ga, or that it originated from the impact that created the Moon. An added complication is that analysis of lunar samples indicates the Moon does not preserve convincing evidence for a late veneer like Earth. Second, the expected chondritic veneer component on Mars is 0.06 weight percent. Third, the flux of terrestrial impactors must have been low ( <=10^(-6) M_earth/Myr) to avoid wholesale melting of Earth's crust after 4.4~Ga, and to simultaneously match the number of observed lunar basins. This conclusion leads to an Hadean eon which is more clement than assumed previously. Last, after the terrestrial planets had fully formed, the mass in remnant planetesimals was ~10^(-3) M_earth, lower by at least an order of magnitude than most previous models suggest. Our dynamically and geochemically self-consistent scenario requires that future N-body simulations of rocky planet formation either directly incorporate collisional grinding or rely on pebble accretion.Comment: Accepted for publication in Earth and Planetary Science Letter

Organizational and Leadership Implications for Transformational Development

Transformational development is a concept of change that originated in the Christian context but has now become generally used in the work of both secular and faith-based organizations. The growing use of the concept by organizations that are fundamentally different has naturally led to some confusion about what the concept means and what it takes to effectively implement it. In this article, we describe the key features of the concept and how they are important in determining the organizational requirements for its effective implementation. Drawing on a few cases, the paper highlights the centrality of faith in transformational development work

Comprehensive analysis of epigenetic clocks reveals associations between disproportionate biological ageing and hippocampal volume

The concept of age acceleration, the difference between biological age and chronological age, is of growing interest, particularly with respect to age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Whilst studies have reported associations with AD risk and related phenotypes, there remains a lack of consensus on these associations. Here we aimed to comprehensively investigate the relationship between five recognised measures of age acceleration, based on DNA methylation patterns (DNAm age), and cross-sectional and longitudinal cognition and AD-related neuroimaging phenotypes (volumetric MRI and Amyloid-β PET) in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Significant associations were observed between age acceleration using the Hannum epigenetic clock and cross-sectional hippocampal volume in AIBL and replicated in ADNI. In AIBL, several other findings were observed cross-sectionally, including a significant association between hippocampal volume and the Hannum and Phenoage epigenetic clocks. Further, significant associations were also observed between hippocampal volume and the Zhang and Phenoage epigenetic clocks within Amyloid-β positive individuals. However, these were not validated within the ADNI cohort. No associations between age acceleration and other Alzheimer’s disease-related phenotypes, including measures of cognition or brain Amyloid-β burden, were observed, and there was no association with longitudinal change in any phenotype. This study presents a link between age acceleration, as determined using DNA methylation, and hippocampal volume that was statistically significant across two highly characterised cohorts. The results presented in this study contribute to a growing literature that supports the role of epigenetic modifications in ageing and AD-related phenotypes

Comparative environmental profile assessments of commercial and novel material structures for solid oxide fuel cells

Globally, the issue of climate change due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is now broadly acknowledged as one of the major challenges facing humankind that requires urgent attention. Accordingly, considerable efforts on clean energy technologies and policy recommendations have been developed to address this challenge. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been touted to play a role in achieving a reduction in global GHG emissions, offering numerous advantages including higher efficiencies and reduced emissions, over other conventional methods of energy generation. The increasing recognition and emphasis on fuel cells as a representative power generation system of the future has raised concerns over their environmental profile. Extensive research regarding the environmental profile of current structures of SOFCs can be found in the literature, but none consider the use of new materials to achieve lower environmental impacts. This research fills the gap and presents a comparison of the environmental profile of three SOFC structures: a commercially available structure, and two intermediate temperature structures, one using erbia-stabilised bismuth oxide electrolytes and a proposed structure using strontium-doped sodium bismuth titanate electrolytes. Using a functional unit of kg/100 kW of power output for each of the SOFC structures (excluding the interconnects), within a hybrid life cycle analysis framework, the environmental hotspots across the supply chains of each SOFC type are identified, quantified and ranked. The results show the use of these novel material combinations leads to a reduction in embodied materials and toxicological impact but higher electrical energy consumption during fabrication, in comparison to commercial SOFCs. The findings support the move to reduce the operating temperatures of SOFCs using these novel material architectures, which leads to an overall reduction in environmental impact due to the lower operational energy requirement of the chosen material constituents

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362