## 3 Results and Discussion
### Time-Death Curves  
When regarding the data obtained in these assays (Figure 2), of all of the microorganisms tested, _L.__inocua_ appeared to be the most susceptible to _Q.__ilex_'s extracts, with the viable counts dropping below the quantification limit after 2 h in HT shell extracts and 7 h in the fresh shell extract. This higher activity of HT shell extracts was also observed for _B. cereus_ and MSSA. In the first, viable counts dropped below the quantification limit at the 12 h mark for HT shell extracts, while for fresh shell, this only occurred after 24 h. For MSSA, while the viable counts were only below the quantification limit for both shell extracts, the viable counts are systematically lower in the HT shell extract after 24 h. Interestingly, for MRSA, the opposite behaviour was observed, with the fresh shell exhibiting the strongest effect (viable counts dropping below the quantification limit after 12 h for fresh extract and only after 24 in the HT shell extract). This behaviour has two possible explanations: the first is the supposed enhanced antimicrobial activity of phenolic compounds against multidrug-resistant microorganisms, as previously described by [PERSON], [PERSON] [37]; the second possibility is that it be the mechanisms described in [PERSON], [PERSON]'s work [38], where compounds such as epicatechin gallate (which is present in acorn) have been reported as causing the formation of pseudocom multicellular aggregates of bacteria which are believed to be a single CFU, thus giving a false impression of diminishing CFU levels.  
The data obtained regarding the time-death curves produced in the presence of _Q.__super_ extracts at the MBC concentration can be seen in Figure 3. In this case, MSSA appeared to be the most susceptible microorganism, with viable counts dropping below the quantification limit after 12 h regardless of the shell extract, which demonstrates that, at MBC, _Q.__super_ extracts appear to be more effective in inhibiting this microorganism than _Q.__ilex_ ones. Interestingly for MRSA, while the HT shell extract exhibited a similar effect that as observed for the HT shell from _Q.__ilex_ acorns (values dropped below the quantification limit at the 24 h mark), for the fresh shell extracts, the _Q.__super_ one was less effective than the _Q.__ilex_ one, causing a reduction in viable counts below the quantification limit after 24 h instead of after 12 h, as observed for _Q.__ilex_ fresh shell. This lower effectiveness of _Q.__super_ extracts was also observed for B. cereus. In fact, when considering the data, it can be observed that, while HT shell extracts appeared to have a stronger impact on the total viable counts, the overall effect does not drop below the quantification limit even after 24 h. As this bacteria species are known to produce spores, a test was carried out by heating the samples to 95 \({}^{\circ}\)C before cooling and plating; however, as no growth was observed in these scenarios, the  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & & _Q.__ilex_ & & & & _Q.__super_ & \\ \cline{2-9}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Fruit**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Shell**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Fruit**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Shell**} \\ \cline{2-9}  & **Fresh** & **HT** & **Fresh** & **HT** & **Fresh** & **HT** & **Fresh** & **HT** \\ \hline _B. cereus_ & \textgreater{}20 & \textgreater{}20 & 10 & 10 & \textgreater{}20 & NT & 10 & 10 \\ _L.__inocua_ & NT & NT & 10 & 10 & NT & NT & NT & NT \\ MRSA & 10 & \textgreater{}20 & 10 & 5 & NT & \textgreater{}20 & 5 & 5 \\ MSSA & \textgreater{}20 & \textgreater{}20 & 10 & 5 & NT & NT & 5 & 5 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
*NT, not tested.  
\end{table}
Table 2: MBC (in mg/mL) for the extract–microorganisms that demonstrated inhibition halos in the well-diffusion assay.  
data were not added to the manuscript, although these did show that the viable count levels observed did not originate from the presence of these structures.