Resistant biofilms formed by Staphylococcus aureus on medical devices pose a constant medical threat. A promising alternative to tackle this problem is photodynamic inactivation (PDI). This study focuses on a polyurethane (PU) material with an antimicrobial surface consisting of a composite based on silicate, polycation, and erythrosine B (EryB). The composite was characterized using X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy methods. Anti-biofilm effectiveness was determined after PDI by calculation of CFU mL−1. The liquid PU precursors penetrated a thin silicate film resulting in effective binding of the PU/silicate composite and the PU bulk phases. The incorporation of EryB into the composite matrix did not significantly alter the spectral properties or photoactivity of the dye. A green LED lamp and laser were used for PDI, while irradiation was performed for different periods. Preliminary experiments with EryB solutions on planktonic cells and biofilms optimized the conditions for PDI on the nanocomposite materials. Significant eradication of S. aureus biofilm on the composite surface was achieved by irradiation with an LED lamp and laser for 1.5 h and 10 min, respectively, resulting in a 10,000-fold reduction in biofilm growth. These results demonstrate potential for the development of antimicrobial polymer surfaces for modification of medical materials and devices.

Galleria mellonella is a promising in vivo model insect used for microbiological, medical, and pharmacological research. It provides a platform for testing the biocompatibility of various compounds and the kinetics of survival after an infection followed by subsequent treatment, and for the evaluation of various parameters during treatment, including the host–pathogen interaction. There are some similarities in the development of pathologies with mammals. However, a limitation is the lack of adaptive immune response. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is an alternative approach for combating microbial infections, including biofilm-associated ones. aPDT is effective against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, regardless of whether they are resistant to conventional treatment. The main idea of this comprehensive review was to collect information on the use of G. mellonella in aPDT. It provides a collection of references published in the last 10 years from this area of research, complemented by some practical experiences of the authors of this review. Additionally, the review summarizes in brief information on the G. mellonella model, its advantages and methods used in the processing of material from these larvae, as well as basic knowledge of the principles of aPDT.

Many applications of polymeric materials require chemical surface treatments. One possibility is the formation of a thin nanocomposite layer without changes in the polymer matrix. In this work, poly(caprolactone) was prepared with a thin nanocomposite layer composed of organoclay and photoactive dye, phloxine B (PhB). The principle of modification was the fusion of a thin layer of organoclay with a polymer matrix by the intercalation of polymer chains into the organoclay layer. The surface properties and composition of the thin layer of the nanocomposite were described using electron microscopy, measurements of water contact angles, X-ray diffraction, as well as X-ray photoelectron, UV–vis, and infrared spectroscopies. These methods revealed the effectiveness of polymer intercalation, confirmed the hydrophobic properties of the layer, the thickness of the composite at the level of several μm, the surface composition, and homogeneous distribution of PhB. The main outcomes were photoactive and antimicrobial properties of the films. The effects of various factors such as surfactant and dye concentrations and presence of polymer on photophysical properties were evaluated. PhB retained luminescence in all prepared materials to be highest at the lowest dye concentration and gradually decreased with increasing dye concentration. This trend was also confirmed by measurements of time-resolved fluorescence and quantum yields. In terms of antimicrobial activity, only the composite with the highest concentration of PhB exhibited a significant reduction in S. aureus biofilm growth. A more significant reduction was achieved using green light irradiation (about 3% of the growth in the control). The influence of other factors and potential applications will be the subjects of further studies.

Traditional food products (milk and vegetables) form the diet basis and are the main source of essential trace elements (microelements). The contents of trace elements in food products obtained from various landscape areas significantly differ. Transcarpathia has a pronounced tectonic and geological diversity. The young Carpathian Mountains face high tectonic and geological activity, which can affect the microelement composition of food products. A significant difference in the microelement composition of milk and vegetable mix was found for different landscape zones, for instance, food in lowland areas is richer in Fe, Cu, Zn, Mo, Co, P, Se, I, Br, F, Ca, and Mg while food in mountainous areas contains large amounts of As and Mn. Consistent patterns of microelement distribution in the food products from different landscape zones (lowland > foothill > mountainous) were estimated using the Spearman correlation coefficient. For milk samples: Fe: 0.91; Cu: 0.89; Mn: -0.94; Zn: 0.88; Mo: 0.89; Co: 0.94; Ca: 0.91; Mg: 0.91; P: 0.92; As: -0.94; Se: 0.82; I: 0.84; Br: 0.73; F: 0.82, for vegetable mix samples: Fe: 0.91; Cu: 0.85; Mn: -0.94; Zn: 0.79; Mo: 0.90; Co: 0.92; Ca: 0.94; Mg: 0.94; P: 0.80; As: -0.91; Se: 0.84; I: 0.91; Br: 0.73; F: 0.88. Pronounced inter-element correlation of microelements in food products is observed (the value of the Pearson correlation coefficient for all pairs of chemical elements is r > 0.60).

Antibiotic resistance is a serious threat to human health and biosecurity across the world. The soil microbiome plays an important role in the development and spread of antibiotic resistance in humans. The aim of this study was to detect the antibiotic resistance soil bacteria in different agroecosystems. We have isolated 244 dominating bacteria; among of them 53 antibiotic-resistant strains had been detected. The most isolates belonged to multi-drug resistant strains, greater than 62,3% of which were resistant to 9 antibiotics. A study of the agroecosystems where Capsicum annuum, Vitis vinifera, Rubus idaeus L., Petroselinum crispum were cultivated showed that the microbial community of soil samples have been characterized by a high content of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. From the soil were isolated antibiotic resistant anaerobic and aerobic microorganisms: Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium oedematiens, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterococcus faecalis, Hafnia alvei, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus mycoides, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Modern agroecosystems are the source of spread of pathogenic and conventionally pathogenic microorganisms with detected multiple antibiotic resistances and potentially endangering of human health.

Based on the screening of some heavy metals (HMs) content in the humus soil horizon of the Transcarpathian region, the regularities of the distribution of HMs in the soils of different landscape zones have been established. It is shown that increasing of the terrain height, the content of HMs in soils decreases (except for Mn and Hg) and for the total HMs content the values of the Spearman correlation coefficient are: Cu – (-0.84); Zn – (-0.83); Mn 0.77; Mo – (-0.91); Co – (-0.82); Pb – (-0.83); Hg – absent; for the content of acid-soluble forms: Cu – absent; Zn – (-0.72); Mn 0.75; Mo – (-0.89); Co – (-0.86); Pb – (-0.77); Hg is absent. This pattern is associated with the tectonic and geological features of the different landscape zones. The calculation of the migration coefficient (the ratio of the content of acid-soluble forms to the gross content) has been shown that in mountainous regions this indicator has the highest value for Zn, Pb, and Cu. That means the potential danger of migration of these heavy me­tals and their bioavailability. This is probably connected to the type of soil in the mountai­nous areas of the region. A pronounced inter-element correlation of the HMs content in soils (except for Hg) has been established and the corresponding values of Pearson’s coefficients for the gross content are: Cu:Zn – 0,96; Cu:Mn – (-0,84); Cu:Mo – 0,89; Cu:Co – 0,99; Cu:Pb – 0,87; Zn:Mn – (-0,79); Zn:Mo – 0,91; Zn:Co – 0,96; Zn:Pb – 0,86; Mn:Mo – (-0,86); Mn:Co – (-0,84); Mn:Pb – (-0,75); Mo:Co – 0,87; Mo:Pb – 0,81; Co:Pb – 0,87. This makes it possible to predict the content of several HMs in the soils of the Transcarpathian region based on the results of determining one of them. In general, the content of HMs in the humus soil horizon (total content and content of mobile forms) is lower than the corresponding values of maximum permissible concentrations.

BACKGROUND:For Transcarpathian region, with a pronounced landscape diversity of territories and significant areas of nature reserves, well water is an important source of drinking water. Screening of the microelement composition of drinking well water in Transcarpathia has not been carried out before. The microelement composition of such well water can be considered as the natural (baseline) indicator of quality. METHODS:We screened of the microelement (Cu, Zn, Fe, P, Ca, Mg, Mn, Mo, Co, As, Se, I, Br and F) composition of drinking well water in Transcarpathian region (for all 13 districts). Standard methods were used to determination the concentration of chemical elements in well water: electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy (Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, Mo, Co), flame photometry (Ca, Mg), inverse voltammetry (total iodine), potentiometry (F, Br), fluorimetric (Se) and spectrophotometric methods (P, As). RESULTS:The content of chemical elements in well water varies over a wide range, in particular for Cu: 3.27-11.6 μg⋅L-1, Zn: 8.16-38.2 μg⋅L-1; Fe: 37.9-411 μg⋅L-1; P: 51.4-193 μg⋅L-1; Ca: 85-139 mg⋅L-1, Mg: 10.2-18.9 mg⋅L-1, Mn: 22.8-78.1 μg⋅L-1; Mo: 2.33-8.96 μg⋅L-1; Co: 1.72-3.38 μg⋅L-1; As: 2.9-17.4 μg⋅L-1; Se: 0.95-3.6 μg⋅L-1; I: 0.94-4.4 μg⋅L-1; Br: 712-3098 μg⋅L-1; F: 71-149 μg⋅L-1. The tendency that the content of microelements (Cu, Zn, Mn, Mo, Co, As, Se, I, Br, and F) in well waters of different landscape zones was evaluated through Spearman's coefficients. The content of trace elements in the waters of different landscape zones increases in the series: lowland landscape > foothill landscape > mountainous landscape (Spearman's coefficients: Cu - 0.62, Zn - 0.85, Mn - 0.69, Mo - 0.83, Co - 0.79, P - 0.74, As - 0.72, Se - 0.75, I - 0.80, Br - 0.91, F - 0.73). CONCLUSION:It is shown that the chemical composition of well water can be considered as the natural (baseline) indicator of quality of groundwater in Transcarpathia, taking into account topographic and geochemical features of the territories. Among the main problems of drinking well water in Transcarpathia are the relatively high content of Fe (typical for different landscape zones), as well as the low content of Se, I and F. The correlation of inter-elements content of chemical elements in drinking well waters of Transcarpathia has been revealed. The most pronounced correlations are observed for such pairs of microelements: Co-Mo (r > 0.95), I-Br (r > 0.92), Zn-Br (r > 0.89), Cu-Co (r > 0.84), Se-Co (r > 0.84), Mo-P (r > 0.84), Mo-I (r > 0.82) and Zn-Mo (r > 0.80).

Consumption of edible plants satisfies a significant part of human body needs in macro- and micronutrients while biologically active substances contain strong antioxidant properties and reduce the risk of a number of diseases. Balanced nutrition and design of personalized diets and treatment rely on the data on the content of macro- and micronutrients and biologically active substances. We determined polyphenol and anthocyanin content in 22 species of local edible plants using modified spectrophotometric method with Folin–Ciocalteu reagent as well as chemical elements’ content in a mixture of edible plants from 13 regions using standard procedures. We performed correlational analysis of the obtained data and analysis of the main components in OriginLab, developed regional models of chemical elements’ content for a mixture of edible plants, and conducted cluster analysis using common tools in Python. The results of biologically active substances’ study demonstrated that the highest content of polyphenolic compounds and anthocyanins was found in grape meal of Vitis vinifera L. The study of chemical elements’ content demonstrated that edible plants from lowland areas are the best and revealed clear dependences of the elements on each other and geographical conditions. The analysis of the principal components confirmed this finding. Based on the obtained data, a number of regional models of chemical elements’ content in a mixture of edible plants were built, tested, and evaluated. Obtained results are the basis for designing various diets, filling composite databases of the region’s food, and creating the newest biologics—pharmabiotics.

Statistical data relevant to food consumption, morbidity and mortality of the last ten years has been examined and discussed.