Biofilms are highly tolerant to antimicrobial agents and adverse environmental conditions being important reservoirs for chronic and hard-to-treat infections. Nanomaterials exhibit microbiostatic/microbicidal/antipathogenic properties and can be also used for the delivery of antibiofilm agents. However, few of the many promising leads offered by nanotechnology reach clinical studies and eventually, become available to clinicians. The aim of this paper was to review the progress and challenges in the development of nanotechnology-based antibiofilm drug-delivery systems. The main identified challenges are: most papers report only in vitro studies of the activity of different nanoformulations; lack of standardization in the methodological approaches; insufficient collaboration between material science specialists and clinicians; paucity of in vivo studies to test efficiency and safety.

Ageing is a complex, multi-step process which involves, among others loss of collagen and elastin. Collagen is found in large amounts in the body, especially in the dermis layer. These fibers provide the skin's normal strength, hydration and mechanical properties. Collagen is largely available, as it can be extracted from many animal sources, it can be easily absorbed upon topical administration, hence it is largely used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry for the treatment of premature aging. Bioactive peptides, such as collagen hydrolyzate, are among the most used ingredients for the development of nutraceuticals-food or food ingredients that have defined physiological effects. Numerous studies have demonstrated that peptides resulted from ingestion of hydrolysate collagen and detected in the blood stream have chemotactic properties for skin fibroblasts, helping the skin restoration process. The purpose of this minireview is to present an update on the use of hydrolyzed collagen for skin care. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Skin ageing-natural occurrence and external triggers33. 3. Sources of collagen peptides 4. Clinical evidence for the beneficial roles of collagen based products for skin care 5. Conclusions

In this review, we focus on gut microbiota profiles in infants and adults colonized (CDC) or infected (CDI) with Clostridioides difficile. After a short update on CDI epidemiology and pathology, we present the gut dysbiosis profiles associated with CDI in adults and infants, as well as the role of dysbiosis in C. difficile spores germination and multiplication. Both molecular and culturomic studies agree on a significant decrease of gut microbiota diversity and resilience in CDI, depletion of Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria phyla and a high abundance of Proteobacteria, associated with low butyrogenic and high lactic acid-bacteria levels. In symptomatic cases, microbiota deviations are associated with high levels of inflammatory markers, such as calprotectin. In infants, colonization with Bifidobacteria that trigger a local anti-inflammatory response and abundance of Ruminococcus, together with lack of receptors for clostridial toxins and immunological factors (e.g., C. difficile toxins neutralizing antibodies) might explain the lack of clinical symptoms. Gut dysbiosis amelioration through administration of “biotics” or non-toxigenic C. difficile preparations and fecal microbiota transplantation proved to be very useful for the management of CDI.