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Noble metals and their compounds have been used as therapeutic agents from the ancient time in medicine for the treatment of various infections. Recently, much progress has been made in the field of nanobiotechnology towards the development of different kinds of nanomaterials with a wide range of applications. Among the metal nanoparticles, noble metal nanoparticles have demonstrated potential biomedical applications. Due to the small size, nanoparticles can easily interact with biomolecules both at surface and inside cells, yielding better signals and target specificity for diagnostics and therapeutics. Noble metal nanoparticles inspired the researchers due to their remarkable role in detection and treatment of dreadful diseases. In this review, we have attempted to focus on the biomedical applications of noble metal nanoparticles particularly, silver, gold, and platinum in diagnosis and treatment of dreaded diseases such as cancer, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB), and Parkinson disease. In addition, the role of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) such as novel antimicrobials, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) such as efficient drug carrier, uses of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) in bone allograft, dentistry, etc. have been critically reviewed. Moreover, the toxicity due to the use of metal nanoparticles and some unsolved challenges in the field have been discussed with their possible solutions.

Ohmic heating (OH) is defined as a process wherein electric current is passed through materials with the primary purpose of heating them. In OH there is no need to transfer heat through solideliquid interfaces or inside solid particles once the energy is dissipated directly into the foods. A large number of actual and potential applications exist for OH, including blanching, evaporation, dehydration, fermentation, extraction, sterilization, pasteurization and heating of foods to serving temperature, including in the military field or long-duration space missions. Additionally to heating, research data suggests that the applied electric field under OH causes electroporation of cell membranes.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is used in different fields as a biological material due to its unique properties. Despite there being many BC applications, there still remain many problems associated with bioprocess technology, such as increasing productivity and decreasing production cost. New technologies that use waste from the food industry as raw materials for culture media promote economic advantages because they reduce environmental pollution and stimulate new research for science sustainability. For this reason, BC production requires optimized conditions to increase its application. The main objective of this study was to evaluate BC production by Gluconacetobacter xylinus using industry waste, namely, rotten fruits and milk whey, as culture media. Furthermore, the structure of BC produced at different conditions was also determined. The culture media employed in this study were composed of rotten fruit collected from the disposal of free markets, milk whey from a local industrial disposal, and their combination, and Hestrin and Schramm media was used as standard culture media. Although all culture media studied produced BC, the highest BC yield-60 mg/mL-was achieved with the rotten fruit culture. Thus, the results showed that rotten fruit can be used for BC production. This culture media can be considered as a profitable alternative to generate high-value products. In addition, it combines environmental concern with sustainable processes that can promote also the reduction of production cost.

Context: Cancer, being a cause of death for major fraction of population worldwide, is one of the most studied diseases and is being investigated for the development of new technologies and more accurate therapies. Still the currently available therapies for cancer have many lacunae which affect the patient's health severely in the form of side effects. The natural drugs obtained from the medicinal plants provide a better alternative to fight against this devastating disease. Withania somnifera L. Dunal (Solanaceae), a well-known Ayurvedic medicinal plant, has been traditionally used to cure various ailments for centuries. Objectives: Considering the immense potential of W. somnifera, this review provides a detail account of its vital phytoconstituents and summarizes the present status of the research carried out on its anticancerous activities, giving future directions. Methods: The sources of scientific literature were accessed from various electronic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and library search. Results: Various parts of W. somnifera especially the roots with its unique contents have been proved effective against different kinds of cancers. The most active components withanolides and withaferins along with a few other metabolites including withanone (WN) and withanosides have been reported effective against different types of cancer cell lines. Conclusion: This herb holds an important place among various anticancer medicinal plants. It is very essential to further screen and to investigate different formulations for anticancer therapy in vitro as well as in vivo in combination with established chemotherapy.