Emerging landscape in psoriasis management: From topical application to targeting biomolecules

© 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune skin disorder affecting 2–3% of the world population. It has characteristic features such as increased keratinocyte proliferation and production of inflammatory mediators. The treatment involves various strategies including topical, systemic, phototherapy and biologics. Topical therapies are preferred for mild to moderate psoriasis conditions over the systemic therapies which are ideal in severe disease conditions. The systemic therapies include immunosuppressants, biological agents and recently approved phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitors. There are various limitations associated with the existing therapies where the new findings in the pathogenesis of psoriasis are paving a path for newer therapeutics to target at the molecular level. Various small molecules, PDE-4 inhibitors, biologics, and immunomodulator proved efficacious including the new molecules targeting Janus kinases (JAK) inhibitors that are under investigation. Furthermore, the role of genetic and miRNAs in psoriasis is still not completely explored and may further help in improving the treatment efficacy. This review provides an insight into various emerging therapies along with currently approved treatments for psoriasis

Microneedles: A smart approach and increasing potential for transdermal drug delivery system

© 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS The most widely used methods for transdermal administration of the drugs are hypodermic needles, topical creams, and transdermal patches. The effect of most of the therapeutic agents is limited due to the stratum corneum layer of the skin, which serves as a barrier for the molecules and thus only a few molecules are able to reach the site of action. A new form of delivery system called the microneedles helps to enhance the delivery of the drug through this route and overcoming the various problems associated with the conventional formulations. The primary principle involves disruption of the skin layer, thus creating micron size pathways that lead the drug directly to the epidermis or upper dermis region from where the drug can directly go into the systemic circulation without facing the barrier. This review describes the various potential and applications of the microneedles. The various types of microneedles can be fabricated like solid, dissolving, hydrogel, coated and hollow microneedles. Fabrication method selected depends on the type and material of the microneedle. This system has increased its application to many fields like oligonucleotide delivery, vaccine delivery, insulin delivery, and even in cosmetics. In recent years, many microneedle products are coming into the market. Although a lot of research needs to be done to overcome the various challenges before the microneedles can successfully launch into the market

Multiple episodes of aggradation and calcrete formation in Late Quaternary aeolian sands, Central Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India

A 12 m thick section in a dune-sandy plain terrain of the Central Thar in Rajasthan, has provided a near continuous record of environmental change for the past 160 ka. The site presently receives 280 mm rainfall, almost entirely from the summer monsoon. The base of this section comprises a gravel bed of an ephemeral stream and the overlying six litho-units, each with discrete boundaries, comprise a succession of aeolian sands. Luminescence dating provided an estimate of the timing of the sand aggradation periods to 160, 90, 60, 27 and 17–14 ka and helped constrain the timing of calcrete formation periods. In each aggradation unit, discrete nodular calcretes formed by the leaching of carbonate from the overlying solum. This is analogous to present-day conditions in sandy plains during periods of increased rainfall and landscape stability. Several of these calcretes are, however, devoid of their donor solum, suggesting solum removal during a subsequent period of decreased rainfall and resultant surface instability. This is supported by the presence of reworked nodules on the surfaces of some calcretes. A prominent phase of calcrete development followed the aeolian sand aggradation at 60 ka, suggesting climate amelioration that also caused the formation of groundwater-related calcrete and mottling. The study suggests that stage II calcrete nodules form in a time frame of 10–20 ka, and confirms limited data on the duration and stage of calcrete development in the literature. The d13C values of calcrete carbonate lie in a narrow range (+0.5 to -1.1‰) suggesting formation under soils with C4 vegetation. This implies that even during phases of climatic amelioration, the high temperatures and increased seasonality of rainfall did not permit significant development of C3 plants in the Central Thar

Emerging role of nanocarriers based topical delivery of anti-fungal agents in combating growing fungal infections.

The incidences of fungal infections have greatly increased over the past few years, particularly in humid and industrialized areas. The severity of such infections ranges from being asymptomatic-mild to potentially life-threatening systemic infections. There are limited classes of drugs that are approved for the treatment of such infections like polyenes, azoles, and echinocandins. Some fungi have developed resistance to these drugs. Therefore, to counter drug resistance, intensive large scale studies on novel targeting strategies and formulations are being conducted, which have gained impetus lately. Conventional formulations have limitations such as higher doses, frequent dosing, and several side effects. Such limiting factors have paved the path for the emergence of nanotechnology and its applications. This further gave formulation scientists the possibility of encapsulating the existing potential drug moieties into nanocarriers, which when loaded into gels or creams provided prolonged release and improved permeation, thus giving on-target effect. This review thus discusses the newer targeting strategies and the role of nanocarriers that could be administered topically for the treatment of various fungal infections. Furthermore, this approach opens newer avenues for continued and sustained research in pharmaceuticals with much more effective outcomes

Applications of 3D printing for the advancement of oral dosage forms

The book highlights the most recent advances in both nanosystems and 3D-printed systems for both drug delivery and tissue engineering applications