The treatment of skin wounds represents an important research area due to the important physiological and aesthetic role of this tissue. During the last years, nanoparticles have emerged as important platforms to treat skin wounds. Silver, gold, and copper nanoparticles, as well as titanium and zinc oxide nanoparticles, have shown potential therapeutic effects on wound healing. Due to their specific characteristics, nanoparticles such as nanocapsules, polymersomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, and polymeric nanocomplexes are ideal vehicles to improve the effect of drugs (antibiotics, growth factors, etc.) aimed at wound healing. On the other hand, if active excipients are added during the formulation, such as hyaluronate or chitosan, the nanomedicine could significantly improve its potential. In addition, the inclusion of nanoparticles in different pharmaceutical materials may enhance the beneficial effects of the formulations, and allow achieving a better dose control. This paper aims at reviewing significant findings in the area of nanoparticles and wound treatment. Among the reviewed topics, we underline formulations comprising inorganic, polymeric, surfactant self-assembled, and lipid nanosystems. Among the drugs included in the nanoformulations, the paper refers to antibiotics, natural extracts, proteins, and growth factors, among others. Finally, the paper also addresses nanoparticles embedded in secondary vehicles (fibers, dressings, hydrogels, etc.) that could improve their application and/or upgrade the release profile of the active.

Deep-fried foods sold by unlicensed street vendors are a health concern for various reasons, but oil quality is particularly important considering known links between fat consumption and cardiovascular disease. To diagnose the exact gravity of this situation in Chile, a country where street vendors are proliferate, the physicochemical parameters of fat fractions from fried food samples were assessed. Fat quality was assessed through the acidity index, peroxide index, extinction coefficient, TOTOX index, polar compounds percentage, and fatty acid profile. Most food samples (80%) had at least a 10% fat content. Many samples also had high peroxide values (1.7–103.3 meqO2/kg) and extinction coefficients (K232 and K270), findings indicative of advanced oil deterioration. These results were supported by values for para-anisidine (100.2–311.0), TOTOX (>103.6), and polar compounds (14.2–49.7%). All assessed food samples contained saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, as well as trans-fatty acids (0.6–1.7%). According to national regulations on polar compounds, 50% of the assessed food samples are unfit for human consumption. When applying national limits for C18, all food samples should be discarded. These findings stress the urgent need to strictly control deep-fried foods sold by street vendors.

In this study, highly neutralized, highly porous, and ultralight polymeric aerogels prepared from aqueous colloidal suspensions of chitosan (CS) and chondroitin sulfate (ChS) nanocomplexes, formulated as quasi-equimolar amounts of both, are described. These aerogels were designed as healing agents under the inspiration of minimizing the amount of matter applied to wounds, reducing the electrostatic potential of the material and avoiding covalent cross-linkers in order to decrease metabolic stress over wounds. Aerogels synthesized under these criteria are biocompatible and provide specific properties for the induction of wound healing. They do not affect neither the metabolic activity of cultured 3T3 fibroblasts nor the biochemical parameters of experimental animals, open wounds close significantly faster and, unlike control wounds, complete reepithelialization and scarring can be attained 14 days after surgery. Because of its hydration abilities, rapid adaptation to the wound bed and the early accelerator effect of wound closure, the CS/ChS aerogels appear to be functional inducers of the healing. Previous information show that CS/ChS aerogels improve wound bed quality, increase granulation tissue and have pain suppressive effect. CS/ChS aerogels are useful as safe, inexpensive and easy to handle materials for topical applications, such as skin chronic wounds. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 2464-2471, 2018.

A rapid method for the simultaneous determination of acetaminophen (A) and tramadol (T) by second derivative spectrophotometric has been developed. From a solvent effect studies and the spectral behaviours of A and T, ethanol was selected as solvent. For a ∆λ value of 210 nm a smoothing factor of 8,000 and scale factor of 1,000,000 were selected, because in these conditions the signal/noise ratio was favoured in order to avoid error. In these conditions also it is possible the simultaneous determination of A/T in a molar relation of 17/1 contained in pharmaceutical formulations. At 285.7 nm the second derivative value is T concentration dependent, corresponding to zero-crossing point of A. On the other hand, T does not absorb between 296.0 to 400.0 nm, thus 308.0 nm was selected for A determination by graphic method. The determination ranges for A and T were 8.1x10-7-51x10-5 mol/L and 3.4 x10-7-5.0 x10-5 mol/L, respectively and can be determined with good precision and accuracy, without previous separation. A study of interferents, was carried out by using the excipients Zafin ® tablet. The recoveries were 97.4 ± 2.0% and 100.6 ± 1.7% for A and T, respectively. This tablet containing both drugs was assayed using the methods developed, showing a good accuracy and precision.

In this work, we present a new method to nanodisperse the pH-sensitive antibiotics oxolinic acid and flumequine by the use of a pH-sensitive synthetic polyketone derivative with amphiphilic characteristics. The pH-sensitive polymer bears imidazolium residues on pendant groups as weak acids, and its solvophobic properties can be tuned by changing the pH. While the antibiotics are soluble in water at pHs higher than 7.0 for flumequine and 8.4 for oxolinic acid, and the polymer is soluble in water at pHs lower than 5.5, nanoprecipitates presenting hydrodynamic radius of 35-100 nm and positive zeta potential containing both the polymer and any of the antibiotics are formed at pH 6.8 by mixing stock solutions whose pH has been adjusted to 5.4 for the polymer and higher than 10 for the antibiotics. The out-of-equilibrium process occurring upon mixing both solutions produces pH changing, molecular arrangement, and a controlled collapse of the system in the form of nano-and submicron particles. The driving forces for the arrangements are found among hydrophobic forces, long-range electrostatic interactions, and short range aromatic-aromatic interactions.

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The incidence of ulcers associated to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) increases every year. We introduce and explore a new mathematical algorithm to evaluate wound-healing in foot ulcers associated to T2DM. Fifteen patients (nine women and six men), mean age of 70 6 16 years were included. The evolution of their wounds followed-up for a period of 18-45 days. According to the Wagner grading system the ulcers were grade I (5 patients), grade II (9 patients), and grade III (1 patient). Clinically, the type of the ulcers was neuroischemic (12 patients) and neuropathic (3 patients). A new parameter is introduced, the ''continuous linear healing rate'' Dc that was more accurate with higher values and requires less quantifications than usual formulas to make a wound-healing projection.