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As natural antioxidants and antimicrobials, essential oils (EOs) have been increasingly used to control foodborne pathogens. However, the application of EO in the food industry is limited due to low water solubility, intensive flavor, and high volatility. Therefore, to enhance water dispersion and prevent EO from degradation, nanoemulsions may be an alternative. In this study, two types of thyme essential oil (TEO) nanoemulsions, with distilled water (NEO) and with cinnamon aqueous extract (NEOC), were prepared. The physical, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of TEO extracts and nanoemulsions were determined. The results showed that the mean particle size and PDI index of NEOC and NEO were 728.2 and 162.4 nm and 0.19 and 0.30, respectively. Polyphenolic compounds of aqueous extract of cinnamon, TEO, NEO and NEOC were in the range of 33.4 to 10.9 mg gallic acid equivalent/g. The antioxidant activity (DPPH) was in the range of 16.3 to 66.4%. Phenolic compounds and DPPH, TEO and NEOC were the highest. Also, the antimicrobial effects of NEO and NEOC against Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella Typhimurium were significantly higher than TEO and cinnamon aqueous extract. The lowest values of MIC and MBC were first related to NEOC and then to NEO, which indicates the greater sensitivity of the studied microorganisms to nanoemulsions. According to the results, the highest antimicrobial and antioxidant activity was related to NEOC nanoemulsion. Therefore, it can be used in food products to prevent food poisoning and to treat diseases caused by S. aureus and S. Typhimurium.

Due to the increasing need to gain knowledge about the inhibitory effects of plants, in this study, the antimicrobial effects of Carum copticum, Rosa damascene, Anethum graveolens and Cuminum cyminum essential oils on some bacteria and yeast were investigated. The essential oils were extracted using a Clevenger apparatus and their compounds were determined by gas chromatography equipped with a mass spectrometer. Also, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the essential oils were determined and their antimicrobial properties were compared by well-diffusion method. MIC results of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus showed that Cuminum cyminum essential oil with 50 µg/ml had the lowest bactericidal effect. The essential oils of Carum copticum, Anethum graveolens and Rosa damascene had the highest bactericidal effect with 0.78 μg/ml on the studied bacteria. In the case of Escherichia coli, the highest antimicrobial effect was shown by Carum copticum essential oil at 6.25 μg/ml. Rosa damascene essential oil, with a concentration of 3.12 μg/ml, had the highest antifungal properties on Candida albicans. In the case of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the most antifungal effect was provided by Rosa damascene and Cuminum cyminum essential oils with 0.78 μg/ml. The antibacterial effect of Carum copticum essential oil was higher than the other three essential oils. In the case of yeasts, Rosa damascene and Cuminum cyminum essential oils had the most antifungal effect. According to the results, Carum copticum essential oil in controlling bacteria and Rosa damascene essential oil in controlling studied yeasts are recommended.

Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is an important foodborne pathogen that is of great importance in milk and its products. Despite the measures taken to eliminate and control Lm contamination in pasteurized milk products, but due to its high spread in the environment, there is a possibility of secondary contamination in products such as Ultra-filtered (UF) white cheese. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of nisin-producing Lactococcus lactis on Lm in Ultra-filtered white cheese. Ultra-filtrated and pasteurized cow's milk was inoculated with 3 Log CFU/g of standard or native strains of Lm and control and treatment (containing nisin-producing L. lactis) cheese samples were manufactured. Changes in the population of Lm and nisin concentration were estimated throughout the storage period. According to the results, in all groups, the population of Lm began to decrease from day five onwards. Nonetheless, the decreasing trend in the treatment samples and in parallel with the production of nisin was significant (p < 0.01). The native strain of Lm was significantly (p < 0.01) more resistant than the standard one. Since the nisin-producing L. lactis, despite inhibiting Lm, did not negatively affect the growth of starter bacteria and the resulting pH decline of the cheese samples. Consequently, nisin-producing L. lactis can be used to control some bacterial contamination of the UF white cheese. It is also necessary to study the behavior of native strains isolated from food samples along with laboratory strains in inoculation studies.

Enterococci are among lactic acid bacteria that are homogeneous and are commonly found in raw milk and its products. The purpose of this study was to isolate Enterococcus species from raw milk and traditional milk products in Tabriz region and to study their inhibitory effect on some of pathogenic bacteria. For this, 105 specimens including 15 samples of each of raw milk, yogurt, cheese, cream, butter, dough, and whey were tested. After isolation and differential identification of the species, 24 isolates were selected based on the sample type and the variety of Enterococcus species. Due to the pathogenic potential of E. faecalis and E. fascism species, they were evaluated for the presence of Esp and Asa1 genes, respectively. The inhibitory effect of Enterococcus isolates was tested on nine important foodborne pathogens using overlay method. According to the results, nine species of E. fascism, E. faecalis, E. gallinarum, E. avium, E. Benedetti, E. caseliflavus, E. hirae, E. saccharoliticus and E. raffinosus were isolated. All isolates had an inhibitory effect on indicator organisms; however, the inhibitory effect was found different among various species and various strains. E. faecalis and E. fascism species had the most antibacterial effects. The molecular evaluation showed that out of 5 isolates of E. faecalis, 2 isolates contained Esp gene. In the case of E. faecalis, none of the isolates harbored Asa1 gene. If further experiments are carried out in relation to the proven safety of enterococci, their inhibitory effect on food pathogenic bacteria can be used.

Bacillus is the dominant genus encloses gram-positive spore-formers that some are considered as a threat to the quality of foods and consumers’ health. This study aimed to explore the occurrence of Bacillus species in raw milk tankers and dairy processing equipments as well as to examine the biofilm-forming ability of the isolates. For this reason, a total of 80 samples consisting of 30 samples obtained from raw milk tankers, 30 samples of dairy processing equipments and 20 samples from various surfaces of the production plant was collected. According to the results, 16.66% of the samples obtained from raw milk tankers, 20% of dairy processing equipments and 40% of surface samples were found positive for Bacillus species. Various species of the Bacillus were found; amongst B. cereus with 36% and B. aloe and B. pumilus with 4% occurrence rate, were the most and least abundant species, respectively. Results of biofilm production revealed that 96% of the isolates were capable of producing biofilm. Eventually, it was concluded that conventional CIP procedure is unable to entirely remove the biofilm of Bacillus species from dairy plant surfaces. Hence, there is a need for a new approach to conquer the problem.

Herbs are often produced by traditional methods and in poor sanitary conditions and can contain high amounts of spoilage and pathogenic microbes. The aim of this study has investigated the effect of ozone on some qualitative characteristics and microbial spices sumac, cumin and pepper. For this purpose, samples were treated by ozone at a concentration of 2 g per hour for 10, 20, 40 and 60 minutes. Then microbial count and chemical characters such as moisture content, antioxidant properties, and phenolic compounds were determined. The results showed that compared with controls, treatment with ozone decreased 2 logarithmic units (P

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in raw milk and traditional dairy products of West-Azerbaijan Province and also to evaluate the presence of TSST-1 virulence gene, antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation of the isolates. Using stratified random method, a total of 80 raw milk and traditional dairy products (including traditional cheese, cream and curd) together with 20 nasal swab samples of the dairy products’ manufacturers were collected. S. aureus strains were isolated and identified by conventional culture methods. Afterwards, the isolates were subjected to PCR analysis to detect the presence of TSST-1 gene. According to the findings, 35% of the samples were contaminated by S. aureus. Moreover TSST-1 gene was recognized in 1 cheese and 2 swab samples. Antibiotic resistance profile revealed that most of S. aureus isolates were resistant towards vancomycin, penicillin, and methicillin and sensitive towards co-trimoxazole, gentamicin, rifampin, oxacillin, and cephalothin. Moreover, 2.85%, 17.15%, and 80% of the isolates were capable to form high, moderate and low amounts of biofilm. High occurrence of S. aureus in milk and dairy products which harbor TSST-1 virulence gene, and the strains that demonstrated resistant to several antibiotics and capable of biofilm formation, could be considered a health threat to the consumers of these products.

This research report introduces a learning system designed to detect the object that humans are gazing at, using solely visual feedback. By incorporating face detection, human attention prediction, and online object detection, the system enables the robot to perceive and interpret human gaze accurately, thereby facilitating the establishment of joint attention with human partners. Additionally, a novel dataset collected with the humanoid robot iCub is introduced, comprising more than 22,000 images from ten participants gazing at different annotated objects. This dataset serves as a benchmark for human gaze estimation in table-top human-robot interaction (HRI) contexts. In this work, we use it to assess the proposed pipeline's performance and examine each component's effectiveness. Furthermore, the developed system is deployed on the iCub and showcases its functionality. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach as a first step to enhancing social awareness and responsiveness in social robotics. This advancement can enhance assistance and support in collaborative scenarios, promoting more efficient human-robot collaborations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Hanifi, Maiettini, Lombardi and Natale.)

In this research, magnetic bismuth ferrite nanoparticles (BFO MNPs) were prepared through a convenient method and characterized. The structure and morphological characteristics of the prepared nanomaterial were confirmed through analyses using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), elemental mapping, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) techniques. The obtained magnetic BFO nanomaterial was investigated, as a heterogeneous Lewis acid, in three component synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2 (1H)-ones/thiones (DHPMs/DHPMTs). It was found that the BFO MNPs exhibit remarkable efficacy in the synthesis of various DHPMs as well as their thione analogues. It is noteworthy that this research features low catalyst loading, good to excellent yields, environmentally friendly conditions, short reaction time, simple and straightforward work-up, and the reusability of the catalyst, distinguishing it from other recently reported protocols. Additionally, the structure of the DHPMs/DHPMTs was confirmed through 1 H NMR, FTIR, and melting point analyses. This environmentally-benign methodology demonstrates the potential of the catalyst for more sustainable and efficient practices in green chemistry., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The generation of ultra-low-noise microwave and mmWave in miniaturized, chip-based platforms can transform communication, radar and sensing systems 1-3 . Optical frequency division that leverages optical references and optical frequency combs has emerged as a powerful technique to generate microwaves with superior spectral purity than any other approaches 4-7 . Here we demonstrate a miniaturized optical frequency division system that can potentially transfer the approach to a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible integrated photonic platform. Phase stability is provided by a large mode volume, planar-waveguide-based optical reference coil cavity 8,9 and is divided down from optical to mmWave frequency by using soliton microcombs generated in a waveguide-coupled microresonator 10-12 . Besides achieving record-low phase noise for integrated photonic mmWave oscillators, these devices can be heterogeneously integrated with semiconductor lasers, amplifiers and photodiodes, holding the potential of large-volume, low-cost manufacturing for fundamental and mass-market applications 13 ., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Numerous modern technologies are reliant on the low-phase noise and exquisite timing stability of microwave signals. Substantial progress has been made in the field of microwave photonics, whereby low-noise microwave signals are generated by the down-conversion of ultrastable optical references using a frequency comb 1-3 . Such systems, however, are constructed with bulk or fibre optics and are difficult to further reduce in size and power consumption. In this work we address this challenge by leveraging advances in integrated photonics to demonstrate low-noise microwave generation via two-point optical frequency division 4,5 . Narrow-linewidth self-injection-locked integrated lasers 6,7 are stabilized to a miniature Fabry-Pérot cavity 8 , and the frequency gap between the lasers is divided with an efficient dark soliton frequency comb 9 . The stabilized output of the microcomb is photodetected to produce a microwave signal at 20 GHz with phase noise of -96 dBc Hz -1 at 100 Hz offset frequency that decreases to -135 dBc Hz -1 at 10 kHz offset-values that are unprecedented for an integrated photonic system. All photonic components can be heterogeneously integrated on a single chip, providing a significant advance for the application of photonics to high-precision navigation, communication and timing systems., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Despite many advances, patients with a poor ovarian response to stimulation are one of the most important and challenging factors of infertility. Chronological and ovarian ages are two effective factors responsible for poor response to assisted reproduction treatment. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of age and AMH level on the in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes in participants with a reduced ovarian reserve., Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 210 participants with anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) < 1.1 ng/ml were included. The effect of age and AMH on pregnancy outcomes including dominant follicle count, serum estradiol level on the day of trigger administration, number of metaphase II (MII) oocytes, number of embryos, biochemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, abortion and live birth rate were evaluated., Results: The number of dominant follicle ( p  < 0.001), MII oocyte ( p  < 0.001), grade A ( p  < 0.001) and B ( p  < 0.001) embryos, serum estradiol level ( p  < 0.001), gonadotropin level (  p < 0.001), AMH ( p = 0.001), biochemical pregnancy ( p  = 0.007), clinical ( p  = 0.01) pregnancy, and live birth rate ( p  = 0.003) were higher in participants younger than 35 years old. In univariable logistic regression, the chance of retrieving more than 3 oocytes in individuals over 35 years old was 97.1% lower than in individuals younger than 35 years old ( p  < 0.001)., Conclusion: It has been concluded that the higher clinical pregnancy and live birth rate in participants younger than 35 years can be due to the higher AMH level in this group. Under the same conditions of AMH and other variables, age can affect the number of retrieved oocytes., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Federation of Obstetric & Gynecological Societies of India 2022.)

Background and Objectives: mHealth offers a new opportunity to ensure access to qualified healthcare providers. Therefore, to better understand its potential in Bangladesh, it is important to understand how young people use mobile phones for healthcare. Here we examine the knowledge, attitudes and intentions to use mHealth services among young population., Design: Population based cross sectional household survey., Setting and Participants: A total of 4909 respondents, aged 18 years and above, under the Chakaria Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) area, were interviewed during the period November 2012 to April 2013., Methods: Participants younger than 30 years of age were defined as young (or generation Y). To examine the level of knowledge about and intention towards mHealth services in generation Y compared with their older counterparts, the percentage of the respective outcome measure from a 2×2 contingency table and adjusted odds ratio (aOR), which controls for potential confounders such as mobile ownership, sex, education, occupation and socioeconomic status, were estimated. The aOR was estimated using both the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel approach and multivariable logistic regression models controlling for confounders., Results: Generation Y had significantly greater access to mobile phones (50%vs40%) and better knowledge about its use for healthcare (37.8%vs27.5%;aOR 1.6 (95% CI1.3 to 2.0)). Furthermore, the level of knowledge about two existing mHealth services in generation Y was significantly higher compared with their older counterparts, with aOR values of 3.2 (95% CI 2.6 to 5.5) and 1.5 (95% CI 1.1 to 1.8), respectively. Similarly, generation Y showed significantly greater intention towards future use of mHealth services compared with their older counterparts (aOR 1.3 (95% CI 1.1 to 1.4)). The observed associations were not modified by sociodemographic factors., Conclusion: There is a greater potential for mHealth services in the future among young people compared with older age groups. However, given the low overall use of mHealth, appropriate policy measures need to be formulated to enhance availability, access, utilisation and effectiveness of mHealth services., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Background: Bangladesh is facing serious shortage of trained health professionals. In the pluralistic healthcare system of Bangladesh, formal health care providers constitute only 5 % of the total workforce; the rest are informal health care providers. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are increasingly seen as a powerful tool for linking the community with formal healthcare providers. Our study assesses an intervention that linked village doctors (a cadre of informal health care providers practising modern medicine) to formal doctors through call centres from the perspective of the village doctors who participated in the intervention., Methods: The study was conducted in Chakaria, a remote rural area in south-eastern Bangladesh during April-May 2013. Twelve village doctors were selected purposively from a pool of 55 village doctors who participated in the mobile health (mHealth) intervention. In depth interviews were conducted to collect data. The data were manually analysed using themes that emerged., Result: The village doctors talked about both business benefits (access to formal doctors, getting support for decision making, and being entitled to call trained doctors) and personal benefits (both financial and non-financial). Some of the major barriers mentioned were technical problems related to accessing the call centre, charging consultation fees, and unfamiliarity with the call centre physicians., Conclusion: Village doctors saw many benefits to having a business relationship with the trained doctors that the mHealth intervention provided. mHealth through call centres has the potential to ensure consultation services to populations through existing informal healthcare providers in settings with a shortage of qualified healthcare providers.

Objective: Village doctors, informal health care providers practicing modern medicine, are dominant health care providers in rural Bangladesh. Given their role, it is important to examine their prescription pattern and inappropriate use of medication., Methods: These cross-sectional study data were collected through surveys of patients seen by village doctors during 2008 and 2010 at Chakaria, a typical rural area of Bangladesh. Categorization of appropriate, inappropriate, and harmful prescriptions by disease conditions was based on guidelines defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the Government of Bangladesh. Analytical categorization of polypharmacy was defined when five or more medications were prescribed for a patient at a single visit., Findings: A total of 2,587 prescriptions were written by village doctors during the survey periods. Among the prescriptions were appropriate (10%), inappropriate (8%), combination of appropriate and inappropriate (63%), and harmful medications (19%). Village doctors with more than high school education were 53% less likely (odds ratio [OR]: 0.47, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.26-0.86) to give polypharmacy prescriptions than those with less than high school education. While exploring determinants of prescribing inappropriate and harmful medications, this study found that polypharmacy prescriptions were six times more likely [OR: 6.00, 95% CI: 3.88-9.29] to have harmful medications than prescriptions with <5 medications., Conclusion: Village doctors' training and supervision may improve the quality of services and establish accountability for the benefit of the rural population.

Background: Achieving equity by way of improving the condition of the economically poor or otherwise disadvantaged is among the core goals of contemporary development paradigm. This places importance on monitoring outcome indicators among the poor. National surveys allow disaggregation of outcomes by socioeconomic status at national level and do not have statistical adequacy to provide estimates for lower level administrative units. This limits the utility of these data for programme managers to know how well particular services are reaching the poor at the lowest level. Managers are thus left without a tool for monitoring results for the poor at lower levels. This paper demonstrates that with some extra efforts community and facility based data at the lower level can be used to monitor utilization of healthcare services by the poor., Methods: Data used in this paper came from two sources- Chakaria Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) of ICDDR,B and from a special study conducted during 2006 among patients attending the public and private health facilities in Chakaria, Bangladesh. The outcome variables included use of skilled attendants for delivery and use of facilities. Rate-ratio, rate-difference, concentration index, benefit incidence ratio, sequential sampling, and Lot Quality Assurance Sampling were used to assess how pro-poor is the use of skilled attendants for delivery and healthcare facilities., Findings: Poor are using skilled attendants for delivery far less than the better offs. Government health service facilities are used more than the private facilities by the poor.Benefit incidence analysis and sequential sampling techniques could assess the situation realistically which can be used for monitoring utilization of services by poor. The visual display of the findings makes both these methods attractive. LQAS, on the other hand, requires small fixed sample and always enables decision making., Conclusion: With some extra efforts monitoring of the utilization of healthcare services by the poor at the facilities can be done reliably. If monitored, the findings can guide the programme and facility managers to act in a timely fashion to improve the effectiveness of the programme in reaching the poor.

We experimentally analyze the real-time formation of periodic surface patterning resulting from laser-driven photochemical deposition in liquid solutions. Using photochemical deposition of chromium hydroxide layers driven by a continuous Ar+ laser wave in a potassium chromate solution, we analyze the kinetic formation of three different types of patterning: dot array, periodic line writing, and holographic grating formed by interfering beams. Results are also presented for both flat and curved substrates. In each case, the deposit growth laws are measured and they show the emergence of scaling regimes that are predicted by our model [Phys. Rev. E 69, 051605 (2004)]]. Data taken from literature are also confronted to the model. The observed agreement suggests that a unified picture of the processes involved for photodeposition driven by a one-photon absorption can be devised, whatever the initial photosensitive medium is. This kinetic control of photodeposition, associated to the versatility in monitoring the geometry of laser/medium interaction and the flexibility in deposited materials by various photochemical reactions, offers a valuable level of development in substrate patterning for lithographic or holographic applications.