Antibacterial mono- and sesquiterpene esters of benzoic acids from Iranian propolis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Propolis (bee glue) has been used as a remedy since ancient times. Propolis from unexplored regions attracts the attention of scientists in the search for new bioactive molecules.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From Iranian propolis from the Isfahan province, five individual components were isolated: the prenylated coumarin suberosin <b>1</b>, and four terpene esters: tschimgin (bornyl <it>p</it>-hydroxybenzoate) <b>2</b>, tschimganin (bornyl vanillate) <b>3</b>, ferutinin (ferutinol <it>p</it>-hydroxybenzoate) <b>4, </b>and tefernin (ferutinol vanillate) <b>5</b>. All of them were found for the first time in propolis. Compounds <b>2 </b>- <b>5 </b>demonstrated activity against <it>Staphylococcus aureus</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of the present study are consistent with the idea that propolis from unexplored regions is a promising source of biologically active compounds.</p

An assessment of American Indian women's mammography experiences

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mortality from breast cancer has increased among American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) women. Despite this alarming reality, AI/AN women have some of the lowest breast cancer screening rates. Only 37% of eligible AI/AN women report a mammogram within the last year and 52% report a mammogram within the last two years compared to 57% and 72% for White women. The experiences and satisfaction surrounding mammography for AI/AN women likely are different from that of women of other racial/ethnic groups, due to cultural differences and limited access to Indian Health Service sponsored mammography units. The overall goals of this study are to identify and understand the mammography experiences and experiential elements that relate to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with mammography services in an AI/AN population and to develop a culturally-tailored AI/AN mammography satisfaction survey.</p> <p>Methods and Design</p> <p>The three project aims that will be used to guide this work are: 1) To compare the mammography experiences and satisfaction with mammography services of Native American/Alaska Native women with that of Non-Hispanic White, Hispanic, and Black women, 2) To develop and validate the psychometric properties of an American Indian Mammography Survey, and 3) To assess variation among AI/AN women's assessments of their mammography experiences and mammography service satisfaction. Evaluations of racial/ethnic differences in mammography patient satisfaction have received little study, particularly among AI/AN women. As such, qualitative study is uniquely suited for an initial examination of their experiences because it will allow for a rich and in-depth identification and exploration of satisfaction elements.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This formative research is an essential step in the development of a validated and culturally tailored AI/AN mammography satisfaction assessment. Results from this project will provide a springboard from which a maximally effective breast cancer screening program to benefit AI/AN population will be developed and tested in an effort to alter the current breast cancer-related morbidity and mortality trajectory among AI/AN women.</p

Neovascular age-related macular degeneration: A review of findings from the real-world Fight Retinal Blindness! registry

The use of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors has revolutionised the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) since the pivotal Phase III studies demonstrated their efficacy more than 10 years ago. The Fight Retinal Blindness! project was developed to track the treatment outcomes of patients with nAMD in real-world practice. Data from this registry have been used to answer several clinically relevant questions related to the treatment of nAMD including the effect of under-treatment, the comparative effectiveness of different anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents, long-term treatment outcomes, identifying optimal treatment regimens and the rate and outcomes of rare adverse events. Observational studies are a valuable complement to the shortcomings of clinical trials and a combination of data from real-world settings and clinical trials are necessary to provide evidence on how to achieve the best outcomes for individual patients with nAMD

Directional iDBSCAN to detect cosmic-ray tracks for the CYGNO experiment

The CYGNO experiment aims to study rare events related to the search for low-mass dark matter and solar neutrino events. One of the main components of background comes from cosmic rays that generate long tracks in the detector's images. The interaction of such particles with the gas releases a variable energy profile along its trajectory to form tracks with multiple cores that can be easily reconstructed erroneously by being split into more than one cluster. Thus, this work offers a newly adapted version of the well-known density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm, called iDDBSCAN, which exploits the directional characteristics of the clusters found by the DBSCAN to improve its clustering efficiency when dealing with multi-core tracks. This paper provides a detailed explanation of this algorithm, covering its parameter validation and evaluating its influence when integrated into the experiment's event selection routine. To generate background events, data acquisition was performed with the detector installed in an overground laboratory, leaving it exposed to natural radiation. To produce signals in the energy range of interest for the experiment, a 55Fe radioactive source was used. The achieved results showed that the iDDBSCAN algorithm is capable of improving the background rejection of the experiment, through a more accurate reconstruction of the tracks produced by natural radiation such as cosmic rays, without deteriorating its signal detection efficiency and energy estimation

Noise assessment of CMOS active pixel sensors for the CYGNO Experiment

Active Pixel sensors play a crucial role in enabling successful low-light scientific experiments due to their inherent advantages and capabilities. Such devices not only offer high spatial resolution but also feature individual pixels with integrated amplifiers, allowing for direct signal amplification at the pixel level. This results in reduced readout noise and improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which are particularly vital when dealing with limited photon counts in low-light environments. This holds particularly true for scientific CMOS (sCMOS) sensors, acknowledged as an advanced evolution of Active Pixel sensors. However, despite their advantages, such sensors can still exhibit limitations such as higher cost and presence of noise artifacts that should be closely investigated. In particular, CYGNO project fits in a global effort aimed at direct detection of Dark Matter particles. CYGNO collaboration intends to build a detector based on a Time Projection Chamber making use of Gas Electron Multipliers for the amplification of ionization electrons. The GEM multiplication process produces photons that can be readout by a high-resolution sCMOS sensor. Such detection system is being designed to have enough sensitivity to detect low-energy particles and to measure released energy with enough granularity so to reconstruct direction and energy profile along their trajectories. The image sensor has an important role in the detector performance, having a direct impact on the SNR of the experiment. This work proposes a study on the performance of three different sCMOS sensors with respect to their sensitivity to low-energy particles and their intrinsic noise, which are of the utmost importance for various scientific experiments