Constructed wetlands, as an alternative to conventional methods, are systemsdesigned on the basis of the application of natural purification processes that take placein watery and swampy overgrown habitats, with certain microbiological groups. In thewastewater treatment process various types of constructed wetlands can be combinedto achieve a higher efficiency of the purification.In this study, the removal effectiveness of the organic substances from municipalwastewater was monitored, using a horizontal pilot - scale constructed wetlandutilizing Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis. In addition to the measurement oforganic substances content through COD, BOD and KMnO4 consumption, and totaldissolved substances (TDS) in influent and effluent, microbiological sample analysis wasperformed, monitored by total number of coliform bacteria.The aim of this study was to calculate the effectiveness of removing organicsubstances from municipal wastewater, depending on the season, as well as theeffectiveness of eliminating total coliform bacteria.The results of one-year research have shown that the removal effectiveness ofthe organic substances from municipal wastewater, expressed as the chemical oxygendemand (COD), was the highest in summer - 87.82% ± 2.83%, and the lowest in thewinter - 64.51% ± 5.89%. During the study, effectiveness of elimination of total coliformbacteria was 97.88 ± 0.80% and total dissolved substances 71.27% .

The purpose of this work was to examine the influence of non-coherent polarized light upon the growth of Escherichia coli. Experiments were designed to test the main hypothesis that this kind of polychromatic light can produce decimal reductions in numbers of E. coli bacteria. Two strains of E. coli - isolated from ground pork and commercial culture E. coli ATCC 25922, were both exposed to light for 20, 30, 40 and 60 minutes. The source of non-coherent polarized light was a Bioptron-1 lamp (Zepter, Swiss) with the following technical char - acteristics: wavelength 400-2000 nm, polarization > 95%, and constant radiation dose 2.4 J/cm 2 per minute. The result for both strains showed a slight increase in bacterial count in response to an irradiation time of 20 min and decreases in bacterial counts for irradiation times of 30, 40 and 60 min without characteristics of a decimal reduction. Bacterial counts after treatments displayed a linear relationship with the total count of bacteria before treatments as well as the percentage surviving bacteria and irradiation time. Data analysis (ANOVA two factors with replication) showed that the survival of bacteria was influenced significantly by duration time ( P < 0.01), bacterial culture (p<0.05), and interaction between duration time and bacterial culture ( P < 0.01). Neither E. coli ATCC 25922 nor E. coli isolated from ground pork showed a decimal reduction after irradiation with non-coherent polychromatic polarized light.

In this paper we examined the effect of plasma pretreatment on the structure and antimicrobial properties of knitted fabrics (100% cotton, 100% bamboo and 50% cotton/50% bamboo) treated with alcoholic herbal extracts of Achillea millefolium L. and Reynoutria japonica Houtt. The influence of water vapour plasma pretreatment on the surface functionalization or change of the structure of the knitted fabrics is evaluated with SEM. Antimicrobial properties of knitted fabrics treated with herbal extracts were tested on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans by using the parallel streaking method (AATCC TM 147-2004). The degree of coloration was evaluated with CIELAB method and with stereomicroscope. It was found that the plasma pretreatment and processing with the herbal extract of Reynoutria japonica Houtt. had a positive impact on the antimicrobial activity of the knitted fabrics against Staphylococcus aureus.

The antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of Equisetum arvense L. harvested in a polluted urban area were investigated. The total phenolic content determined by a modified Folin-Ciocalteu method was 335.8 mg of GEA/g of the dried ethanol extract. Antioxidant activity determined by FRAP method was 28.7 mM Fe(II)/g of extract, whereas antioxidant activity index for stable DPPH free radicals was 3.86. The results were compared with control antioxidants (gallic acid, vitamin C, BHA and BHT). Antimicrobial activity was tested by monitoring the impact of different extract concentrations through measuring the change in optical density of bacterial suspension over time and by determining MIC and MBC using macrodilution method. E. arvense extract has been effective on the tested microorganisms depending on the concentration and exposure time. The extract had the strongest antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus, with MIC and MBC of 11.14 mg/mL and 22.28 mg/mL respectively, and the weakest effect on Bacillus cereus, with MIC of 89.10 mg/mL.

Samples of stinging nettle or common nettle (Urtica dioica L.) were collected from the area of Banja Luka. To measure and evaluate the content of chlorophyll (a and b), carotenoids, and soluble proteins, as well as peroxidase activity (POD, EC 1.11.1.7.), fresh nettle leaves of different developmental stages were used. Dried nettle leaves were used to obtain ethanol extract. The dry residue of ethanol extract was dissolved in metha- nol and the obtained solution was used to determine the content of total phenols, flavo- noids, flavonols, as well as non-enzymatic antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity. The non-enzymatic antioxidant activity was determined by different methods: FRAP, DPPH, and ABTS. The results were compared to those of standard substances like vitamin C, BHT, and BHA. Antimicrobial activity was screened by using macrodilution method. The obtained results showed insignificantly higher content of chlorophyll, caroteno- ids, and proteins in young nettle leaves as well as an increase in the soluble peroxidase activities. Native electrophoresis of the soluble fraction showed the presence of two pero- xidase isophorms in the soluble protein fraction of nettle leaves. The total phenolic content in nettle extracts amounted to 208.37 mg GAE/gdw,, the content of total flavonoids was 20.29 mg QE/gdw, and the content of total flavonols was 22.83 mg QE/gdw. The antioxidant activity determined by FRAP method was 7.50 mM Fe(II)/gdw, whereas the antioxidant activity measured by using DPPH and ABTS methods, with IC50 values, were 31.38 and 23.55 μg mL -1 , respectively. These results showed the weak and moderate an- tioxidant capacity of stinging nettle. Extract of Urtica dioica L. was tested for antibacterial acivity against various Gram- positive and Gram-negative bacteria: Bacillus subtilis IP 5832, Lactobacillus plantarum 299v (Lp299v), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli isolated from food and Escherichia coli isolated from urine samples. Ampicillin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, and gentamicin were used as positive control. The results showed that minimum inhibi- tory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the extract ranged from 9.05 to more than 149.93 mg mL -1 .

Ethanolic (50%, v/v) extract of Reynoutria japonica Houtt. rhizome from the Banja Luka region was prepared. The dry extract was dissolved in methanol, and total phenols content, antimicrobial and antioxidative activities were determined. The total phenols content was determined using modified Folin-Ciocalteu method, the antimicrobial activity by monitoring the optical density, and antioxidative activity by the method of quenching stable free 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals by FRAP and ABTS metods. The antioxidative activity results were compared with control antioxidants: vitamin C, BHA and BHT. In order to determine the antimicrobial extract activity, E. coli, S. aureus and B. cereus were used as test microorganisms. The paper discusses the results of antimicrobial and antioxidative activeties of the R. japonica extract with respect to extract concentration as well as to total phenols content. The extract of R. japonica rhizome shows both, a significant overall antioxidant activity (29.84 mM (FeII)/g of extract) and high activity in quenching DPPH (IC50 = = 13.68 μg/mL) and ABTS+ (99.1%) radicals. It was found that the R. Japonica extract had greater impact on growth rate reduction of B. cereus, E. coli, than S. aureus, expressed in percentages of growth rate, L, 73.6, 59.3 and 52.1% respectively. The greatest decrease in total bacterial count, M, was observed in S. aureus (71.9%), while the decrease in E. coli and B. cereus was approximately equal (about 50%). The total phenols content, expressed as mg of galic acid equivalents/g of extract was 664±15. The high antioxidant and significant antimicrobial activity of the R. japonica extract determined in this work is associated with extremely high total phenols content.

This study is a continued investigation of the influence of ferrocene and its derivatives on trypsin activity. The goal was to examine the effect in vivo, by monitoring the growth of the bacteria Escherichia coli. The growth of the bacteria with the addition of ferrocene and derivatives of various concentrations was followed up spectrophotometrically, measuring changes in OD, correlating OD with the number of formed bacterial colonies and comparing the results as the mean generation time. The obtained results in relation to control experiments indicate a very strong inhibitory action of ferrocene and (dimethylaminomethyl) ferrocene, a medium or modest inhibitory effect of methyl 1'-acetamidoferrocene- 1-carboxylate and benzyl 1'-methoxycarbonyl-1-ferrocenecarbamate; influence of benzyl 1'-carboxy-1-ferrocenecarbamate is negligible, while 1'-acetamidoferrocene-1-carboxylic acid causes the increase in the growth of Escherichia coli.