Among the diverse fields of application of technical textiles, which are poised for tremendous growth in fast-developing economies such as India and China, non-implantable healthcare and hygiene products are assuming significant importance because of the specificity of their end uses. Today, the healthcare industry is increasingly concerned with the exposure and transference of various microorganisms that are commonly present in the atmosphere. Studies have been carried out in the present work to fine-tune the properties of copper oxide nanoparticles for special applications. Using copper sulfate and sodium hydroxide as precursors and soluble starch as stabilizing agent, the copper oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a wet chemical method. The copper oxide nanoparticles were microencapsulated by an ionic gelation method and applied to plain weave cotton fabric by exhaustion as the first step, and in the second step by the pad—dry—cure method. The antibacterial property of the coated fabric was determined quantitatively and qualitatively using AATCC 100 and 147 test methods, respectively. Techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and physical and chemical characterization were employed to study the phase and morphology of the nanoparticles. The results indicate that the coated fabric has high antibacterial efficiency. The nanoparticles synthesized in this work have an average size of 50 nm, and the physical and chemical properties of the treated fabric are markedly different from those of the untreated fabric. Insights into copper oxide encapsulated coated fabric prove their efficacy against microbes and hence can be used in the manufacture of medical apparel.

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A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, motile bacterium was isolated from the soil of a ginseng field in Daejeon, South Korea, and characterized in order to determine its taxonomic position. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain DCY34 T belonged to the family Sphingomonadaceae, and the highest degree of sequence similarity was found with Sphingopyxis witflariensis W-50 T (97. Sohn et al., 2004). At the time of writing, the genus Sphingopyxis comprised eleven species with validly published names.In a series of studies based on a culture-dependent method, we attempted to isolate micro-organisms from soil in order to investigate the structure of the community. Strain DCY34 T was one of the isolates that was dominant on one tenth-strength R2A agar (Difco) plates incubated in aerobic conditions. The strain was characterized by a polyphasic taxonomic approach, including 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, genotypic relatedness and chemotaxonomic and phenotypic properties. The results obtained in this study indicated that DCY34T represented a new member of the genus Sphingopyxis.Cell morphology and motility were observed with a Nikon light microscope (61000 magnification) using cell material taken from 3-day-old colonies grown on standard R2A agar (Difco) at 30 u C. Tests for the Gram reaction were performed according to the non-staining method as described by Buck (1982). Oxidase activity was evaluated via the oxidation of 1 % p-aminodimethylaniline oxalate. Catalase activity was determined by testing for bubbleThe GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain DCY34T is EU075217.Tables showing the cellular fatty acid profile of strain DCY34 T and the results of DNA-DNA hybridization experiments and an image showing the polar lipid profile of strain DCY34T are available with the online version of this paper.

The field of medical textiles, an antimicrobial textile in particular is interdisciplinary. Antimicrobial textiles are mainly used in medical and healthcare environments to control the proliferation of microorganisms. The present work is aimed to study the antimicrobial activity of the air plasma treated (PT) nonwoven polypropylene fabric coated with herbs, which can be used as wound dressing. Surface modification of the nonwoven polypropylene fabric was performed using air plasma. The air PT fabric was finished with the methanolic extracts of 11 medicinal herbs. Their antibacterial activities were analyzed against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Of these, three herbs namely Ficus bengalensis, Cleome viscosa, and Areca catechu showed good activity against S. aureus and Escherichia coli. The antibacterial activity of the air PT polypropylene fabric coated with 1 : 1 : 1 combination of the abovementioned herbs was also assessed as per AATCC 100 method and it was found to be 99%. The herbal finished fabric was tested against the predominant wound isolates by agar diffusion method. The results showed excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus sp., good antibacterial activity against Bacillus sp., Escherichia sp., Klebsiella sp., Pseudomonas sp., Serratia sp., and Proteus sp. thus proving its potential as wound dressing. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013

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