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Quercetin is the major polyphenolic flavonoid that belongs to the class called flavanols. It is found in many foods, such as green tea, cranberry, apple, onions, asparagus, radish leaves, buckwheat, blueberry, broccoli, and coriander. It occurs in many different forms, but the most abundant quercetin derivatives are glycosides and ethers, namely, Quercetin 3-O-glycoside, Quercetin 3-sulfate, Quercetin 3-glucuronide, and Quercetin 3′-metylether. Quercetin has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, antiviral, and antibacterial effects. It is found to be beneficial against cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, neuro-degenerative diseases, allergy asthma, peptic ulcers, osteoporosis, arthritis, and eye disorders. In pre-clinical and clinical investigations, its impacts on various signaling pathways and molecular targets have demonstrated favorable benefits for the activities mentioned above, and some global clinical trials have been conducted to validate its therapeutic profile. It is also utilized as a nutraceutical due to its pharmacological properties. Although quercetin has several pharmacological benefits, its clinical use is restricted due to its poor water solubility, substantial first-pass metabolism, and consequent low bioavailability. To circumvent this limited bioavailability, a quercetin-based nanoformulation has been considered in recent times as it manifests increased quercetin uptake by the epithelial system and enhances the delivery of quercetin to the target site. This review mainly focuses on pharmacological action, clinical trials, patents, marketed products, and approaches to improving the bioavailability of quercetin with the use of a nanoformulation.

Nanotechnology has the potential to generate advancements and innovations in formulations and delivery systems. This fast-developing technology has been widely exploited for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Today, cosmetic formulations incorporating nanotechnology are a relatively new yet very promising and highly researched area. The application of nanotechnology in cosmetics has been shown to overcome the drawbacks associated with traditional cosmetics and also to add more useful features to a formulation. Nanocosmetics and nanocosmeceuticals have been extensively explored for skin, hair, nails, lips, and teeth, and the inclusion of nanomaterials has been found to improve product efficacy and consumer satisfaction. This is leading to the replacement of many traditional cosmeceuticals with nanocosmeceuticals. However, nanotoxicological studies on nanocosmeceuticals have raised concerns in terms of health hazards due to their potential skin penetration, resulting in toxic effects. This review summarizes various nanotechnology-based approaches being utilized in the delivery of cosmetics as well as cosmeceutical products, along with relevant patents. It outlines their benefits, as well as potential health and environmental risks. Further, it highlights the regulatory status of cosmeceuticals and analyzes the different regulatory guidelines in India, Europe, and the USA and discusses the different guidelines and recommendations issued by various regulatory authorities. Finally, this article seeks to provide an overview of nanocosmetics and nanocosmeceuticals and their applications in cosmetic industries, which may help consumers and regulators to gain awareness about the benefits as well as the toxicity related to the continuous and long-term uses of these products, thus encouraging their judicious use.

Women’s health is an imminent concern worldwide, but it remains an ignored segment of research in most developing countries, and is yet to take the center stage in even developed nations. Some exclusive female health concerns revolve around both pathological and physiological aspects. These gender-specific maladies include breast, cervical, and ovarian cancers, and physiological concerns such as menopause and osteoporosis, which are often coexistent. Recently, women’s health issues, including postmenopausal syndrome, have attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners alike, opening newer pharmaceutical research and clinical avenues. Although not counted as a disease, postmenopausal syndrome (PMS) is a female health phenomenon underpinned by hormonal depletion. Enhanced life expectancy in women has added to their suffering, and pharmacological interventions are needed. Amongst the available treatment modalities, the use of numerous botanicals has emerged as an efficient health management tool for women. Cimicifuga racemosa (CR or Black Cohosh) is a plant/herb which has been traditionally exploited and extensively used by women. This review is an attempt to compile and provide a summary of the importance of CR in complementary and alternative therapies for the improvement of various disorders related to women, such as menopausal syndrome, mammary cancer, and osteoporosis. It aims to systematically highlight the bioactive constituents, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic potentials, quality control processes, chromatographic techniques, and possible mechanisms of action of clinically effective phytomedicine for women’s health. Various clinical trials and patents relating to CR and women’s health have been collated. Furthermore, the plant and its related products have been considered from a regulatory perspective to reveal its commercial feasibility. The present review summarizes the existing data on CR focusing on women’s health, which can help to introduce this traditional phytomedicine to the world and provide some reference for future drug development.

Chitosan (CS) nanoparticles of thymoquinone (TQ) were prepared by the ionic gelation method and are characterized on the basis of surface morphology, in vitro or ex vivo release, dynamic light scattering, and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) studies. Dynamic laser light scattering and transmission electron microscopy confirmed the particle diameter was between 150 to 200 nm. The results showed that the particle size of the formulation was significantly affected by the drug:CS ratio, whereas it was least significantly affected by the tripolyphosphate:CS ratio. The entrapment efficiency and loading capacity of TQ was found to be 63.3% ± 3.5% and 31.23% ± 3.14%, respectively. The drug-entrapment efficiency and drug-loading capacity of the nanoparticles appears to be inversely proportional to the drug:CS ratio. An XRD study proves that TQ dispersed in the nanoparticles changes its form from crystalline to amorphous. This was further confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry thermography. The flat thermogram of the nanoparticle data indicated that TQ formed a molecular dispersion within the nanoparticles. Optimized nanoparticles were evaluated further with the help of scintigraphy imaging, which ascertains the uptake of drug into the brain. Based on maximum concentration, time-to-maximum concentration, area-under-curve over 24 hours, and elimination rate constant, intranasal TQ-loaded nanoparticles (TQ-NP1) proved more effective in brain targeting compared to intravenous and intranasal TQ solution. The high drug-targeting potential and efficiency demonstrates the significant role of the mucoadhesive properties of TQ-NP1.

Resveratrol (RVT) is a well known phyto-chemical and is widely used in dietary supplements and botanical products. It shows a wide range of pharmacological/beneficial effects. Therefore, it can be a potential candidate to be developed as phyto-pharmaceutical. Multiple diseases are reported to be treated by the therapeutic effect of RVT since it has antioxidant, anti-cancer activity and anti-inflammatory activities. It also has a major role in diabetes, arthritis, cardiac disorder and platelet aggregation etc. The major requirements are establishments regarding safety, efficacy profile and physicochemical characterization. As it is already being consumed in variable maximum daily dose, there should not be a major safety concern but the dose needs to be established for different indications. Clinical trials are also being reported in different parts of the world. Physicochemical properties of the moiety are also well reported. Moreover, due to its beneficial effect on health it leads to the development of some intellectual property in the form of patents.

Periodontitis, a major oral disease, affects a vast majority of the population but has been often ignored without realizing its long-fetched effects on overall human health. A realization in recent years of its association with severe diseases such as carditis, low birth weight babies, and preeclampsia has instigated dedicated research in this area. In the arena of periodontal medicines, the studies of past decades suggest a link between human periodontal afflictions and certain systemic disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, respiratory disorders, preterm birth, autoimmune disorders, and cancer. Although, the disease appears as a locoregional infection, the periodontal pathogens, in addition their metabolic products and systemic mediators, receive access to the bloodstream, thereby contributing to the development of systemic disorders. Mechanism-based insights into the disease pathogenesis and association are highly relevant and shall be useful in avoiding any systemic complications. This review presents an update of the mechanisms and relationships between chronic periodontal infection and systemic disorders. Attention is also given to highlighting the incidence in support of this relationship. In addition, an attempt is made to propose the various periodonto-therapeutic tools to apprise the readers about the availability of appropriate treatment for the disease at the earliest stage without allowing it to progress and cause systemic adverse effects.

Over the past few years, pharmaceutical and biomedical areas have made the most astounding accomplishments in the field of medicine, diagnostics and drug delivery. Nanotechnology-based tools have played a major role in this. The implementation of this multifaceted nanotechnology concept encourages the advancement of innovative strategies and materials for improving patient compliance. The plausible usage of nanotechnology in drug delivery prompts an extension of lipid-based nanocarriers with a special reference to barriers such as the skin and blood–brain barrier (BBB) that have been discussed in the given manuscript. The limited permeability of these two intriguing biological barriers restricts the penetration of active moieties through the skin and brain, resulting in futile outcomes in several related ailments. Lipid-based nanocarriers provide a possible solution to this problem by facilitating the penetration of drugs across these obstacles, which leads to improvements in their effectiveness. A special emphasis in this review is placed on the composition, mechanism of penetration and recent applications of these carriers. It also includes recent research and the latest findings in the form of patents and clinical trials in this field. The presented data demonstrate the capability of these carriers as potential drug delivery systems across the skin (referred to as topical, dermal and transdermal delivery) as well as to the brain, which can be exploited further for the development of safe and efficacious products.

Hydrogels are known for their leading role in biomaterial systems involving pharmaceuticals that fascinate material scientists to work on the wide variety of biomedical applications. The physical and mechanical properties of hydrogels, along with their biodegradability and biocompatibility characteristics, have made them an attractive and flexible tool with various applications such as imaging, diagnosis and treatment. The water-cherishing nature of hydrogels and their capacity to swell—contingent upon a few ecological signals or the simple presence of water—is alluring for drug conveyance applications. Currently, there are several problems relating to drug delivery, to which hydrogel may provide a possible solution. Hence, it is pertinent to collate updates on hydrogels pertaining to biomedical applications. The primary objective of this review article is to garner information regarding classification, properties, methods of preparations, and of the polymers used with particular emphasis on injectable hydrogels. This review also covers the regulatory and other commerce specific information. Further, it enlists several patents and clinical trials of hydrogels with related indications and offers a consolidated resource for all facets associated with the biomedical hydrogels.

Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) (CR) is a popular herb and is medically lauded for ameliorating myriad symptoms associated with menopause. However, its pharmaceutical limitations and non-availability of a patient-compliant drug delivery approach have precluded its prevalent use. Henceforth, the current research premise is aimed at developing an ethosomal gel incorporating triterpene enriched fraction (TEF) obtained from CR and evaluating its effectiveness through the transdermal application. TEF-loaded ethosomes were formulated using solvent injection, optimized and characterised. The optimized ethosomes were then dispersed into a polymeric gel base to form ethosomal gel which was further compared with the conventional gel by in-vitro and ex-vivo experiments. Here, the quality by design (QbD) approach was exploited for the optimization and development of ethosomal gel. The elements of QbD comprising initial risk assessment, design of experimentation (DoE), and model validation for the development of formulation have all been described in detail. The optimized ethosomes (F03) showed a nanometric size range, negative zeta potential and good entrapment. The in vitro release profile of gel revealed a burst release pattern following the Korsmeyer Peppas model having Fickian diffusion. The transdermal flux of ethosomal gel was observed to be more than that of conventional gel. Texture analysis and rheological characterization of the gel, revealed good strength showing shear thinning and pseudoplastic behaviour. The confocal microscope investigation revealed the deeper skin permeation of ethosomal gel than conventional gel. This result was further strengthened by DSC, IR and histological assessment of the animal skin (Wistar rat), treated with the optimized formulation. Conclusively, the implementation of QbD in the formulation resulted in a better understanding of the process and the product. It aids in the reduction of product variability and defects, hence improving product development efficiencies. Additionally, the ethosomal gel was found to be a more effective and successful carrier for TEF than the conventional gel through the transdermal route. Moreover, this demands an appropriate animal study, which is underway, for a stronger outcome.

After the successful commercial exploitation of 3D printing technology, the advanced version of additive manufacturing, i.e., 4D printing, has been a new buzz in the technology-driven industries since 2013. It is a judicious combination of 3D printing technologies and smart materials (stimuli responsive), where time is the fourth dimension. Materials such as liquid crystal elastomer (LCE), shape memory polymers, alloys and composites exhibiting properties such as self–assembling and self-healing are used in the development/manufacturing of these products, which respond to external stimuli such as solvent, temperature, light, etc. The technologies being used are direct ink writing (DIW), fused filament fabrication (FFF), etc. It offers several advantages over 3D printing and has been exploited in different sectors such as healthcare, textiles, etc. Some remarkable applications of 4D printing technology in healthcare are self-adjusting stents, artificial muscle and drug delivery applications. Potential of applications call for further research into more responsive materials and technologies in this field. The given review is an attempt to collate all the information pertaining to techniques employed, raw materials, applications, clinical trials, recent patents and publications specific to healthcare products. The technology has also been evaluated in terms of regulatory perspectives. The data garnered is expected to make a strong contribution to the field of technology for human welfare and healthcare.