Formulating O/W Emulsions with Plant-Based Actives: A Stability Challenge for an Effective Product

Quality, safety, and efficacy concerns added to instability, poor absorption, and the dispersion of actives are common problems while formulating plant-based cosmetics. Furthermore, a correct balance between the stability of the emulsion, the sensory profile, and the high efficacy has to be considered to formulate an effective product. In this paper, we demonstrate that rheology is a methodological tool that can be used while designing a new product. In particular, we developed an O/W emulsion which is easy to spread on irritated skin, and that can soothe the redness and discomfort caused by the exposure to both physical and chemical irritating agents. The green active mixture consists of three natural raw materials: Bosexil\uae, Zanthalene\uae, and Xilogel\uae. Each ingredient has a well-demonstrated efficacy in terms of soothing, anti-itching, and moisturizing properties respectively. Starting from the selection of a new green emulsifying system, through the analysis of the rheological properties, we obtained a stable and easy-to-apply o/w emulsion. The efficacy of the optimized product was assessed in vitro on intact and injured skin using the SkinEthic\u2122 Reconstituted Human Epidermis (RHE) as a biological model

Evaluating Natural Alternatives to Synthetic Acrylic Polymers: Rheological and Texture Analyses of Polymeric Water Dispersions

The natural cosmetics market is growing, in line with the interest of public opinion on environmental safety. The availability of polysaccharides for cosmetic use is very wide; each raw material has its own sensorial specificities and hardly matches the performance of synthetic polymers. We developed an instrumental protocol based on rheology and texture analysis to evaluate alternatives to acrylic polymers. The study has been carried out on a set of water dispersions prepared with different synthetic, semisynthetic, and natural polymers at different concentrations. Using statistical principal component analysis, three different clusters have been identified: group A includes polymers with a stringy viscoelastic behavior, group B includes polymers with low firmness and a weak-gel rheological pattern, and group C includes polymers which formed soft and elastic gels. This work showed that this instrumental approach is a powerful toolto comprehensively characterize new rheological modifiers and to forecast their contribution to the formulation based on their applicative features. Moreover, rheology and texture analysis turned out to be complementary tools useful to compare polymeric raw materials and to identify appropriate alternatives to synthetic ones in order to formulate green cosmetic products

Larix decidua Bark as a Source of Phytoconstituents: An LC-MS Study

Larix decidua bark is a waste of the timber industry and is widely diffused in Northern Italy. This material can be considered a good source of antioxidants and phytoconstituents with possible use in cosmetic or nutraceutical products. In this study, simple extraction of larch bark was performed using mixtures of ethanol/water. Furthermore, the phytochemical composition of larch bark extract was studied using LC-MS(n) methods and the main constituents were identified as flavonoids, spiro-polyphenols, and procyanidins. To confirm the identification by LC-MS semi-preparative HPLC was performed in order to isolate the main constituents and verify the structures by \ub9H-NMR. Antioxidant properties were studied using an in vitro approach combining DPPH assay and LC-MS in order to establish different roles of the various classes of phytochemicasl of the extract. DPPH activity of some of the isolated compounds was also assessed. The overall results indicate this waste material as a good source of antioxidant compounds, mainly procyanidins, whichresulted the most active constituents in the DPPH assay

The Relevance of Assessing Subjective Experiences of Skin Toxicity During Adjuvant Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer

Purpose: Radiodermatitis is likely to be an inevitable side effect of radiotherapy (RT) but experiencing pain relief during RT might contribute making treatment more acceptable and less impairing. The current study aimed to assess the subjective perceptions and experiences of skin toxicity in a sample of women undergoing adjuvant RT for breast cancer. Methods: Eighty patients were randomly assigned to one out of two groups: treatment (i.e., a newly developed topical product) and control (i.e., standard-of-care). Patients underwent adjuvant RT for 3 weeks. Clinical assessment of radiodermatitis and self-reported levels of pain, relief, and perceptions of treatment response were collected at the initiation of RT (T1), during RT (T2 and T3), and 2 weeks after treatment completion (T4). To assess changes in skin-related QoL, a subgroup of patients completed the Padua Skin-Related QoL questionnaire at T0 (before the initiation of RT) and at T4. Results: A comparable timing of onset and severity of radiodermatitis during treatment was observed in both groups. The treatment group reported lower levels of pain and higher levels of relief compared to the control group when skin toxicity was at its highest levels (T2 and T3). Independent of the group, levels of perceived improvements in clinical status increased over time, whereas skin-related QoL worsened from T0 to T4. Conclusion: Current findings outline the relevance of integrating clinical evaluations of radiodermatitis with patients\u2019 subjective experiences of skin toxicity in interventional studies. Moreover, they provide preliminary evidence about the soothing effect of a newly developed topical product, thus supporting its usefulness of as a supportive care

The return and risk profile of equities and equity portfolios at the Budapest stock exchange

This paper examines the risk and return characteristics of equities listed and traded in category ‘A’ at the Budapest Stock Exchange in the time period of 2001–2002. The performance of two portfolio strategies is also evaluated. It is shown empirically that a systematic portfolio allocation has several advantages to stock picking. Indeed, the portfolio strategies examined performed well not only on an ex post but also on an ex ante basis

Action of surfactants on the mammal epidermal skin barrier

Daily skin washing routines can promote undesirable effects on skin barrier function. The stratum corneum (SC) lipid matrix is crucial for skin barrier function. Skin cleansing products are mostly composed of surfactants: surface-active molecules that interact with skin lipids in several ways. The main aim of this work was to investigate the effect produced by surfactants on skin barrier permeability. Porcine skin is a well-accepted and readily available model of the human skin barrier. The effect of two cleansing formulations (based on different surfactant mixtures) on the barrier properties of mammalian skin were evaluated

Rheological and Textural Characterization of Acrylic Polymer Water Dispersions for Cosmetic Use

Despite the traditional trial and error formulation approach, industries require more rational, time, and money-saving procedures to achieve functional and sensorial objectives. We developed a methodology based on rheology and texture analysis to outline the physical\u2013mechanical properties of aqueous dispersions of acrylic polymers belonging to three different classes: carbomers, acryloyldimethyltaurate derivatives, and predispersed acrylic polymers. Statistical analyses evidenced a significant correlation between rheological and textural parameters: viscosity (\u3b7) correlates with firmness, while storage (G\u2032) and loss (G\u2033) moduli with adhesiveness, and stringiness. The results demonstrated that the combined approach of these two instrumental techniques is useful to discriminate each cosmetic raw material on the basis of their applicative specificities and to rationalize their use in personal care products obtaining a wide range of textural characteristics

Hard Water and Cleansers: An In-Vitro Study of the Effects on Immature Reconstructed Human Epidermis

Background: Barrier function impairment resulting from increased exposure to daily use of surfactants in the presence of hard water (HW) has been identified as a relevant factor to the development of atopic dermatitis (AD), especially in infants. Objectives: To investigate the effect of HW as such or in the presence of surfactants on skin barrier development as it occurs during infancy, using a 3D reconstructed immature (not fully differentiated) human epidermis model. Materials and Methods: Reconstructed Human Epidermis (RHE) starting at the 13th day of differentiation was exposed to HW alone or in the presence of surfactants (Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate and a commercial cleansing oil) for 2 days (two topical exposure per day) followed by two days of recovery. The barrier structure and functional modifications have been assessed by evaluating epidermal morphology (H&E), tight junctions barrier functionality (TEER measure), proteins\u2019 expression of claudin-1, filaggrin and involucrin by immunohistochemistry, inflammation by transcriptional activity of TNF-\u3b1 and RHE ultrastructure (TEM analysis). Results: HW itself has modified the differentiation process without influencing the barrier function structure (Claudin 1 was not significantly affected) but in presence of SDS, HW has induced inflammation, morphological modification in particular cell swelling and SC lamellar structure damages leading to a severe modification to the barrier structure in the final epidermal differentiation. The effects of the hard water are reduced in the presence of a mild cleansing oil including emollients. Conclusion: The results obtained using the in-vitro RHE model are in agreement with the clinical observations reported in the literature regarding the detrimental effect of the hard water on the skin of infants. Moreover, the invitro model can be a useful tool to evaluate the effects of both surfactant and cleansing formulation on impaired skin

THE ASSESSMENT OF SKIN-RELATED QOL IN INDIVIDUALS DISSATISFIED WITH THEIR SKIN: FACTOR STRUCTURE AND RESPONSIVENESS OF THE PADUA SKIN-RELATED QOL QUESTIONNAIRE

The current studies aimed at providing preliminary evidence about the factor structure, reliability, and responsiveness of the Padua Skin-Related QoL (PSRQ) questionnaire, an Italian self-report measure assessing skin-related Quality of Life (QoL) in people dissatisfied with their skin. The PSRQ was administered to 150 dermatological cosmetics consumers to test its factor structure and internal consistency. A further sample made up of 84 dermatological cosmetics consumers was then enrolled to evaluate the responsiveness of the PSRQ. Findings revealed the existence of 4 factors explaining the 54.8% of variance. Thirteen items of the original version were removed because they loaded on more than one factor or they had insufficient loadings; the final version of the PSRQ comprised 50 items, and internal consistency was excellent (.81 < αs < .95). As regards responsiveness, only the “Positive feelings and emotions” scale resulted to be sensitive to change: individuals in the Experimental group reported significantly higher scores, after using a basic cream, compared to individuals in the Waiting list condition. Current findings suggest that the PSRQ is a reliable measure capable of assessing multiple aspects of skin-related QoL in the target population. Further studies assessing its psychometric properties in different samples are recommended