Antifungal Activity of Resveratrol Derivatives against Candida Species

trans-Resveratrol (1a) is a phytoalexin produced by plants in response to infections by pathogens. Its potential activity against clinically relevant opportunistic fungal pathogens has previously been poorly investigated. Evaluated herein are the candidacidal activities of oligomers (2a, 3–5) of 1a purified from Vitis vinifera grape canes and several analogues (1b–1j) of 1a obtained through semisynthesis using methylation and acetylation. Moreover, trans-ε-viniferin (2a), a dimer of 1a, was also subjected to methylation (2b) and acetylation (2c) under nonselective conditions. Neither the natural oligomers of 1a (2a, 3–5) nor the derivatives of 2a were active against Candida albicans SC5314. However, the dimethoxy resveratrol derivatives 1d and 1e exhibited antifungal activity against C. albicans with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 29–37 μg/mL and against 11 other Candida species. Compound 1e inhibited the yeast-to-hyphae morphogenetic transition of C. albicans at 14 μg/mL

Origami voting: a non-cryptographic approach to transparent ballot verification

International audienceOver the past four decades, fear of election manipulation and hacking has spurred the security technology community to propose a variety of voting systems to implement verifiable voting. Most of these rely on hard to understand cryptographic protocols, which can affect whether users actually verify their selections. Three-Ballot and Vote/Anti-Vote/Vote, two related systems among the few non-cryptographic end-to-end verifiable voting systems, made improvements in security while eliminating complex protocols. They unfortunately suffered from usability issues, and although they did not require cryptographic primitives, they still relied on electronic devices. To address this, we introduce three folded-paper based systems that allow verifiable voting and resist common attacks despite not relying on any cryptography or electronic devices. The proposals are based on 1) semi-translucent ballots, 2) masking tape, or 3) folding and punching. These Origami voting methods help users understand the underlying mechanisms and give them a direct geometric approach to verification

SAFT Data Processing Applied to Laser-Ultrasonic Inspection

By relying on optics for providing the transduction of ultrasound, laser-ultrasonics brings practical solutions to a variety of nondestructive evaluation problems that cannot be solved by using conventional ultrasonic techniques based on piezoelectric transduction [1,2]. Laser-ultrasonics uses two lasers, one with a short pulse for the generation of ultrasound and another one, long pulse or continuous, coupled to an optical interferometer for detection. Laser-ultrasonics allows for testing at a large standoff distance, inspection of moving parts on production lines and inspection in hostile environments, such as the one encountered in the steel industry. The technique features also a large detection bandwidth, which is important for numerous applications, particularly involving material characterization. Another feature of laser-ultrasonics, particularly useful for inspecting parts of complex shapes, is the generation of an acoustic wave propagating normally to the surface, independently of the shape of the part and of the incidence angle of the optical generation beam. This characteristic feature occurs either when the ablation mechanism is used for generation or when light from the generation laser penetrates sufficiently deep below the surface. This last condition occurs usually with many polymer-based materials and on materials with painted surfaces.</p

SAFT data processing applied to laser-ultrasonic inspection

International audienceBy relying on optics for providing the transduction of ultrasound, laser-ultrasonics brings solutions to a variety of nondestructive problems that cannot be solved by using conventional ultrasonic techniques based on piezoelectric transduction

Antioxidative and wound healing properties of Crateva adansonii

International audienc