Antimicrobial activity of apple cider vinegar against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans; downregulating cytokine and microbial protein expression

The global escalation in antibiotic resistance cases means alternative antimicrobials are essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial capacity of apple cider vinegar (ACV) against E. coli, S. aureus and C. albicans. The minimum dilution of ACV required for growth inhibition varied for each microbial species. For C. albicans, a 1/2 ACV had the strongest effect, S. aureus, a 1/25 dilution ACV was required, whereas for E-coli cultures, a 1/50 ACV dilution was required (p < 0.05). Monocyte co-culture with microbes alongside ACV resulted in dose dependent downregulation of inflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-6). Results are expressed as percentage decreases in cytokine secretion comparing ACV treated with non-ACV treated monocytes cultured with E-coli (TNFα, 99.2%; IL-6, 98%), S. aureus (TNFα, 90%; IL-6, 83%) and C. albicans (TNFα, 83.3%; IL-6, 90.1%) respectively. Proteomic analyses of microbes demonstrated that ACV impaired cell integrity, organelles and protein expression. ACV treatment resulted in an absence in expression of DNA starvation protein, citrate synthase, isocitrate and malate dehydrogenases in E-coli; chaperone protein DNak and ftsz in S. aureus and pyruvate kinase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, fructose bisphosphate were among the enzymes absent in C.albican cultures. The results demonstrate ACV has multiple antimicrobial potential with clinical therapeutic implications

Bitter Taste Receptors for Asthma Therapeutics.

Clinical management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has primarily relied on the use of beta 2 adrenergic receptor agonists (bronchodilators) and corticosteroids, and more recently, monoclonal antibody therapies (biologics) targeting specific cytokines and their functions. Although these approaches provide relief from exacerbations, questions remain on their long-term efficacy and safety. Furthermore, current therapeutics do not address progressive airway remodeling (AR), a key pathological feature of severe obstructive lung disease. Strikingly, agonists of the bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) deliver robust bronchodilation, curtail allergen-induced inflammatory responses in the airways and regulate airway smooth muscle (ASM) cell proliferation and mitigate features of A

Gas phase hydrogen permeation in alpha titanium and carbon steels

Commercially pure titanium and heats of Armco ingot iron and steels containing from 0.008-1.23 w/oC were annealed or normalized and machined into hollow cylinders. Coefficients of diffusion for alpha-Ti and alpha-Fe were determined by the lag-time technique. Steady state permeation experiments yield first power pressure dependence for alpha-Ti and Sievert's law square root dependence for Armco iron and carbon steels. As in the case of diffusion, permeation data confirm that alpha-titanium is subject to at least partial phase boundary reaction control while the steels are purely diffusion controlled. The permeation rate in steels also decreases as the carbon content increases. As a consequence of Sievert's law, the computed hydrogen solubility decreases as the carbon content increases. This decreases in explained in terms of hydrogen trapping at carbide interfaces. Oxidizing and nitriding the surfaces of alpha-titanium membranes result in a decrease in the permeation rate for such treatment on the gas inlet surfaces but resulted in a slight increase in the rate for such treatment on the gas outlet surfaces. This is explained in terms of a discontinuous TiH2 layer

An IoT Framework for Addressing Parents Concerns about Safety of School Going Children

In this paper, we have proposed a novel application using Internet of things (IOT). This application is focused to address the concerns of the parents towards their school going kids. Mainly the concerns of the parents are to ensure the safety of their kids in school bus as well as at school premises. In this paper, we have tried to provide detailed technical implementation about how different sensing, communication technologies clubbing together provides a platform in terms of IoT, where proposed application can be implemented to ensure safety of school going children as it is the priority and concern for parents. In Proposed application, parents get notification when his child boards the bus for school and gets down the bus at home’s doorstep. Parents also get notification when child enters his Class Room first time in a day. Parents any time can access the location his child or school bus in which his child is travelling. In case of emergency, child can disseminate the signal to parents / Single point of contact (SPOC) at school to make them aware about emergency

Effects of Effluents of Industrial Waste on Soil Properties (A Case Study of Nandesari Area, Vadodara)

Around Vadodara City (Gujarat) number of chemical industries dispose of water, air and oil based pollutant everyday. The pollution process in soil due to the industrial effluent discharge on to the land and its effect on the geotechnical properties of soil arc discussed in the present case study. Uncontrolled exploitation of the natural resources have resulted in an unanticipated soil behaviour due to environmental degradation. This resulted in an increased interest in the study of environmental geotechnics which is a means of forecasting soil behaviour to the changing environment

Reverse graded relaxed buffers for high Ge content SiGe virtual substrates

An innovative approach is proposed for epitaxial growth of high Ge content, relaxed Si1−xGex buffer layers on a Si(001) substrate. The advantages of the technique are demonstrated by growing such structures via chemical vapor deposition and their characterization. Relaxed Ge is first grown on the substrate followed by the reverse grading approach to reach a final buffer composition of 0.78. The optimized buffer structure is only 2.8 µm thick and demonstrates a low surface threading dislocation density of 4×106 cm−2, with a surface roughness of 2.6 nm. The buffers demonstrate a relaxation of up to 107%

Lining of Perennial Canals Under Flowing Conditions by Ulomat Grouted Mattress Technique

Irrigation water is made available to the farmers by means of construction of a dam/weir and a canal system taking off from the reservoir impounded behind the dam. This water is therefore very precious. If the canal system is not lined, about 25 to 30 per cent of water released in the canal is lost by way of seepage through canals. Canals should therefore be lined not only to save this water but also to irrigate additional area. A pilot project of providing such lining on experimental basis was taken up for the first time in India by Irrigation Department of the Government of Gujarat. The lining has been provided on their canals of different capacities in the Ukai-Kakrapar command. Also a special experimental model has been developed in the laboratory to evaluate the interacted efficiency of grout and geotextile mattress from the consideration of strength and permeability

Coherence Length of Excitons in a Semiconductor Quantum Well

We report on the first experimental determination of the coherence length of excitons in semiconductors using the combination of spatially resolved photoluminescence with phonon sideband spectroscopy. The coherence length of excitons in ZnSe quantum wells is determined to be 300 ~ 400 nm, about 25 ~ 30 times the exciton de Broglie wavelength. With increasing exciton kinetic energy, the coherence length decreases slowly. The discrepancy between the coherence lengths measured and calculated by only considering the acoustic phonon scattering suggests an important influence of static disorder.Comment: 4 Pages, 4 figure