Combination of wet fixation and drying treatments to improve dye fixation onto spray-dyed cotton fabric

The conventional dyeing process requires a substantial amount of auxiliaries and water, which leaches hazardous colored effluents to the environment. Herein, a newly developed sustainable spray dyeing system has been proposed for cotton fabric in the presence of reactive dyes, which has the potential to minimize the textile dyeing industries environmental impact in terms of water consumption and save significant energy. The results suggest that fresh dye solution can be mixed with an alkali solution before spray dyeing to avoid the reactive dye hydrolysis phenomenon. After that, drying at 60-100 degrees C, wet fixation treating for 1-6 min, and combined treatments (wet fixation+drying) were sequentially investigated and then dye fixation percentages were around 63-65%, 52-70%, and above 80%, respectively. Following this, fixation conditions were optimized using L-16 orthogonal designs, including wet fixation time, temperature, dye concentration, and pH with four levels where the "larger-the-better" function was selected to maximize the dye fixation rate. Additionally, the color uniformity and wash and rubbing fastnesses were at an acceptable level when both treatments were applied. Finally, the dyes were hydrolyzed after wet fixation, and the hydrolysis percentages were enhanced after the drying process

Antibacterial activity of herbal extracts towards uropathogenic Enterococcus isolates as a natural approach in control of urinary tract infections

Antibacterial and antibiofilm efficacy through a synergistic effect of herbal leaf extracts of bearberry (BE), bearberry tea (BTE), parsley (PE), and the strawberry tree (STE) was evaluated to discover an alternative approach to control urinary tract infections caused by Enterococci. UHPLC–DAD MS/MS analysis indicated that herbal extracts were rich in ellagic and gallic acids, catechin, quercetin, and arbutin, which are strong antioxidants. Mostly, Enterococcus faecalis isolates showed resistance only to gentamicin and/or norfloxacin (26.3 %) and moderate biofilm production (31.5 %), while 12 isolates of Enterococcus faecium showed multiple antibiotic resistance. The minimum inhibitory concentration for the majority of isolates was 1.25 mg ml−1 for STE, but 2.5 mg ml−1 for BE and BTE. Although individual extracts gave higher MIC values, for most isolates, a synergistic effect at lower concentrations was achieved, when BE or BTE (0.625 mg ml−1) was combined with STE (0.31 mg ml−1). The BTE extract was shown to have the strongest individual effect on initial adhesiveness and on biofilm formation to all selected isolates, while the synergism of BTE and STE caused significant biofilm inhibition at all concentrations tested. The synergistic effect achieved of the tested extract combinations might be a starting point in the development of alternative products, effective against antibiotic resistant Enterococcus isolates.Supplementary material: [https://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4526