Hybrid electronic tongue based on optical and electrochemical microsensors for quality control of wine.
Gutiérrez M, Llobera A, Vila-Planas J, Capdevila F, Demming S, Büttgenbach S, Mínguez S, Jiménez-Jorquera C.
Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona (IMB-CNM), CSIC. Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Spain. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Abstract
A multiparametric system able to classify red and white wines according to the grape varieties and for analysing some specific parameters is presented. The system, known as hybrid electronic tongue, consists of an array of electrochemical microsensors and a colorimetric optofluidic system. The array of electrochemical sensors is composed of six ISFETs based sensors, a conductivity sensor, a redox potential sensor and two amperometric electrodes, an Au microelectrode and a microelectrode for sensing electrochemical oxygen demand. The optofluidic system is entirely fabricated in polymer technology and comprises a hollow structure, air mirrors, microlenses and self-alignment structures. The data obtained from these sensors has been treated with multivariate advanced tools; Principal Component Analysis (PCA), for the patterning recognition and classification of wine samples, and Partial-Least Squares (PLS) regression, for quantification of several chemical and optical parameters of interest in wine quality. The results have demonstrated the utility of this system for distinguishing the samples according to the grape variety and year vintage and for quantifying several sample parameters of interest in wine quality control.
PMID: 20445923 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Jun 9. [Epub ahead of print]
Resveratrol, a Red Wine Constituent, Blocks the Antimitogenic Effects of Estradiol on Human Female Coronary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells.
Dubey RK, Jackson EK, Gillespie DG, Zacharia LC, Imthurn B, Rosselli M.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (R.K.D., B.I., M.R.), Clinic for Reproductive Endocrinology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich CH-8091, Switzerland; Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (R.K.D.), University of Zurich, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland; and Center for Clinical Pharmacology (R.K.D., E.K.J., D.G.G., L.C.Z.) and Departments of Medicine (R.K.D., E.K.J., D.G.G., L.C.Z.) and of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology (E.K.J., L.C.Z.), University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260.
Abstract
Context: Antimitogenic effects of estradiol on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) may be cardioprotective, and these effects are mediated by estrogen receptor-alpha-dependent and -independent mechanisms, with the latter involving the conversion of estradiol to 2-hydroxyestradiol/2-methoxyestradiol by CYP450. Because resveratrol inhibits CYP450 and is an estrogen-receptor-alpha antagonist, resveratrol may abrogate the antimitogenic effects of estradiol. Objective: The objective of the study was to examine the interaction of pharmacologically relevant concentrations of resveratrol with estradiol, 2-hydroxyestradiol, and 2-methoxyestradiol in human female coronary artery VSMCs. Methods and Results: In human female coronary VSMCs, resveratrol (0.1-10 muM) alone did not influence serum-induced DNA or collagen synthesis or cell proliferation or migration; however, resveratrol abrogated the inhibitory effects of estradiol, but not 2-hydroxyestradiol or 2-methoxyestradiol, on these responses. Resveratrol also abrogated the inhibitory effects of estradiol on positive growth regulators (cyclin A, cyclin D, MAPK phosphorylation) and the stimulatory effects of estradiol on negative growth regulators (p21, p27). In microsomes and cells, dietarily relevant levels of resveratrol (0.001-1 muM) inhibited the metabolism of estradiol to 2-hydroxestradiol/2-methoxyestradiol. Propylpyrazoletriol (estrogen receptor-alpha agonist, 100 nmol/liter), but not diarylpropionitrile (estrogen receptor-beta agonist, 10 nmol/liter), inhibited VSMC mitogenesis, and this effect was blocked by resveratrol (5 mumol/liter). Higher concentrations (>25-50 muM) of resveratrol, never attainable in vivo, inhibited VSMC growth, an effect blocked by GW9662 (peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor-gamma antagonist). Conclusion: In conclusion, dietarily relevant levels of resveratrol abrogate the antimitogenic effects of estradiol by inhibiting CYP450-mediated estradiol metabolism and blocking estrogen receptor-alpha.
PMID: 20534756 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Atherosclerosis. 2010 May 6. [Epub ahead of print]
Alcohol consumption and risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with clinically manifest vascular disease and diabetes mellitus: The Second Manifestations of ARTerial (SMART) disease study.
Beulens JW, Algra A, Soedamah-Muthu SS, Visseren FL, Grobbee DE, van der Graaf Y; on behalf of the SMART Study Group.
Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the relation between alcohol consumption and specific vascular events and mortality in a high risk population of patients with clinical manifestations of vascular disease and diabetes. METHODS: Patients with clinically manifest vascular disease or diabetes (n=5447) from the SMART study were followed for cardiovascular events and mortality. Alcohol consumption was assessed with a baseline questionnaire and analysed in relation with coronary heart disease (CHD), amputations, stroke, and all-cause and vascular death. RESULTS: After a follow up of 4.7 years, we documented 363 cases of CHD, 187 cases of stroke, 79 amputations and 641 cases of all-cause death, of which 382 were vascular. In multivariate-adjusted models, alcohol consumption was inversely associated with CHD (p(linear trend)=0.007) and stroke (p(linear trend)=0.051) with respective hazard ratios of 0.39 (95%CI: 0.20-0.76) and 0.67 (0.31-1.46) for consuming 10-20 drinks/week compared with abstainers. We observed significant U-shaped associations between alcohol consumption and amputations (p(quadratic trend)=0.001), all-cause death (p(quadratic trend)=0.001) and vascular death (p(quadratic trend)=0.013). Hazard ratios for consuming 10-20 drinks/week were 0.29 (0.07-1.30) for amputations, 0.40 (0.24-0.69) for all-cause death and 0.34 (0.16-0.71) for vascular death compared with abstainers. Similar associations were observed for red wine consumption only. CONCLUSION: Moderate alcohol consumption (1-2 drinks/day) is not only associated with a reduced risk of vascular and all-cause death in a high risk patients with clinical manifestations of vascular disease, but also with reduced risks of non-fatal events like CHD, stroke and possibly amputations. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
PMID: 20537650 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Wine Consumption and Stroke


May was National Stroke Month, so we figured, better late than never, we’d refine the data on what is known and not known about the impact of moderate wine consumption on stroke incidence.


A stroke or cerebrovascular event is an interruption of  blood supply to any part of the brain.  The layout of the brain is novel in that a distribution of density of nerve cells or neurons is based on the role of that brain area, it’s function and history of use or disuse and whether the area is based on more basic vs. advanced function.  In that way, a stroke may impact the body’s function in a quite random way, based on the blood vessel or vessel’s distribution to a certain area.  To make it more complicated, for example, the somatosensory cortex may be schematized by what is known as an homunculus, in which a distorted scale model reflecting the relative distribution of nerves, function and density are represented shows a disproportionately large lips hands and feet relative to other body areas.

Strokes can generally be divided into ischemic  or  infarcted and hemorrhagic.  Ischemic insults occur if a blood clot or plaque of  locally forming atherosclerosis or migrating clot from an embolus/thrombus deprive blood supply to a certain area of the brain .  They may also occur with sudden diminished blood supply to the entire brain occurs, for example, due to dramatic loss in blood pressure.  Tissue damage and injury can result from accumulation of cell injury by-products.

Hemorrhagic strokes occur when bleeding as a result of brain trauma or weakening in a blood vessel wall occurs.  Deficits can be the result of deprivation of blood supply or mass effect from accumulation of blood. 

Present studies appear to stratify amounts of alcohol/wine consumption with relative risk of stroke,  as well as subclassify risks into types of stroke.  Gender based differences are addressed.   Attempts to isolate wine and alcohol’s subcomponents such as bioflavenols are still ambitious and laboratory based, failing to provide anthropomorphic data that can apply mouse data to humans.  Short-comings in all studies appear to accentuate basic deficits in the study of alcohol’s impact on health including limits to standardization of  amounts consumed, definitions of moderate and high/excessive and self-reporting bias.