Extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli – threat connected with food-borne infections

Infections caused by extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) are a serious public health problem worldwide. The most troublesome are urinary tract infections, severe neonatal meningitis, serious intraabdominal infections, and more rarely, pneumonia, intravascular-device infections, osteomyelitis, soft-tissue infections or sometimes bacteraemia. These strains are also able cause significant economic losses in animal husbandry. A thorough understanding of ExPEC ecology, reservoirs, chains and dynamics of transmission can greatly contribute to a reduction in the burden of ExPEC-associated disease. The ability of E. coli (including ExPEC) to exist and survive in various ecological niches impedes the precise recognition and indication of transmission routes most important for individual infections cases. Among many identified ExPEC reservoirs, animal companion and animals providing food seem to be important sources of infection for human; however, the real level of risk connected with potential transmission of these bacteria remains unclear. Food is indicated as one of potential ways of transmission. Despite a quite high number of reports, many of the uncertainties are expected to be reliably elucidated. This review presents most important data on the current state of knowledge concerning the potential role of food in ExPEC transmission. The possible consequences of ExPEC infections in human and animals are briefly described

Comparative Morphological Analysis of Graphene on Copper Substrate obtained by CVD from a Liquid Precursor

Graphene film has been produced on untreated Cu substrate by a chemical vapor deposition technique in ambient pressure with liquid ethanol serving as the carbon precursor. The obtained material has been subjected to morphological study, directly on Cu substrate, by means of optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and a detailed Raman analysis. As a benchmark material, graphene obtained on Cu by a conventional CVD from gaseous methane was used. This simple experimental setup has proved to enable obtaining large area graphene samples with nearly 100% substrate coverage and large domains of one carbon layer. As compared to graphene from gaseous precursor, the presented approach resulted in visibly more defects and impurities. These imperfections are due to more complex precursor molecular structure and lack of Cu pretreatment with hydrogen, the later cause being easy to eliminate in course of further optimization of the method. The described approach can be regarded as a viable, low-cost, and experimentally simple alternative for the existing techniques of producing large area graphene. By providing direct comparison with the conventional method, the paper's intention is to provide deeper insight and to fill gap in the understanding of mechanisms involved in graphene formation on copper