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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are highly persistent, manufactured chemicals used in various manufacturing processes and found in numerous commercial products. With over 9000 compounds belonging to this chemical class, there is increasing concern regarding human exposure to these compounds due to their persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic nature. Human exposure to PFAS may occur from a variety of exposure sources, including, air, food, indoor dust, soil, water, from the transfer of PFAS from non-stick wrappers to food, use of cosmetics, and other personal care products. This critical review presents recent research on the health-related impacts of PFAS exposure, highlighting compounds other than Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluoroctane sulfonate (PFOS) that cause adverse health effects, updates the current state of knowledge on PFAS toxicity, and, where possible, elucidates cause-and-effect relationships. Recent reviews identified that exposure to PFAS was associated with adverse health impacts on female and male fertility, metabolism in pregnancy, endocrine function including pancreatic dysfunction and risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, lipid metabolism and risk of childhood adiposity, hepatic and renal function, immune function, cardiovascular health (atherosclerosis), bone health including risk for dental cavities, osteoporosis, and vitamin D deficiency, neurological function, and risk of developing breast cancer. However, while cause-and-effect relationships for many of these outcomes were not able to be clearly elucidated, it was identified that 1) the evidence derived from both animal models and humans suggested that PFAS may exert harmful impacts on both animals and humans, however extrapolating data from animal to human studies was complicated due to differences in exposure/elimination kinetics, 2) PFAS precursor kinetics and toxicity mechanism data are still limited despite ongoing exposures, and 3) studies in humans, which provide contrasting results require further investigation of the long-term-exposed population to better evaluate the biological toxicity of chronic exposure to PFAS. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Refereed/Peer-reviewed As antimicrobial resistance continues to compromise the therapeutic efficacy of countless antibiotics, the significant risk this poses to the global population is without question and should be considered emergent. Antimicrobial resistance can be deadly, specifically in terms of case numbers and disease prognosis. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report stating that in the U.S., two million people suffer from severe infections that are highly resistant to conventional treatment regimens.

Physical drug delivery enhancement in skin has been shown to enhance cosmeceutical actives efficacy. Among the physical drug delivery enhancement technologies, microneedle is the most commercially successful technology. However, there are pros and cons like other physical enhancement technologies including variabilities in penetration depth and lack of efficacy. In this study, three physical topical dug delivery enhancements, elongated microparticles, microneedles and dermaroller, were applied to ex vivo pig skin and compared. The model topical drug that was used is 5-Aminolevulinic acid, the most commonly used photosensitiser prodrug. The skin was pre-treated before mounting on to Franz cell diffusion apparatus. Transdermal epidermal water loss was measured, and receptor fluids were collected at 7 time points for HPLC analysis. The results show that all three technologies disrupted the skin surface. All microporation pre-treatments significantly enhanced mALA cumulative permeation over 8 h (p < 0.001), with the 24x dermaroller significantly greater than 12x dermaroller (p < 0.001) and both dermaroller treatments significantly greater than microneedles and elongated microparticles (p < 0.05).The microporation pre-treatments all significantly increased mALA deposition in the stratum corneum and deeper skin tissues compared to passive administration, with deposition increases ranging from 3.6x to 15.1x that of passive administration. The DR pretreatment showed highest enhancement ratios (amount 5-Aminolevulinicacid in skin at 8 h following pretreatment v passive) with the following order of enhancement: 24x dermaroller> 12x dermaroller > microneedles > elongated microparticles. In conclusion, physical enhancement tools such as microneedles, dermarollers and elongated microparticles demonstrated significant penetration and retention of mALA through/into piglet skin. Further study is needed to determine the cost, dose and patient compliance. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The biocompatibility of conducting polymer has seen remarkable advancement in numerous biomedical applications. The tuneable electrical property expressed by doping and de‐doping of the polymer has contributed to electrical controlled film in terms of volume and conductivity. Also, higher sensitivity specially for ionic molecules, bring forward new prospective in bio/sensing. Meanwhile, wearable devices for health care monitoring are becoming more prominent due to remote, real time and continuous monitoring. The flexible and stretchable property of organic electronic, in this paper represented by conducting polymer, as compared to rigid, conventional conductor unleashes high potential of conducting polymer as platform for wearable sensing device. In this review, properties of conducting polymers adopted in wearable devices focusing on on‐skin sensing is elaborated. The contribution of conducting polymers in various sensing targets, mainly categorized by chemical, tactile and electrophysiological are discussed, followed by types of the wearable sensors. Overall, our aim is to lay broader understanding of incorporation of the polymer within wearable sensing devices. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

There are an abundance of nanoparticle technologies being developed for use as part of therapeutic strategies. This review focuses on a narrow class of metal nanoparticles that have therapeutic potential that is a consequence of elemental composition and size. The most widely known of these are gold nanoshells that have been developed over the last two decades for photothermal ablation in superficial cancers. The therapeutic effect is the outcome of the thickness and diameter of the gold shell that enables fine tuning of the plasmon resonance. When these metal nanoparticles are exposed to the relevant wavelength of light, their temperature rapidly increases. This in turn induces a localized photothermal ablation that kills the surrounding tumor tissue. Similarly, gold nanoparticles have been developed to enhance radiotherapy. The high-Z nature of gold dramatically increases the photoelectric cross-section. Thus, the photoelectric effects are significantly increased. The outcome of these interactions is enhanced tumor killing with lower doses of radiation, all while sparing tissue without gold nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles have been used for their wound healing properties in addition to enhancing the tumor-killing effects of anticancer drugs. Finally, platinum nanoparticles are thought to serve as a reservoir for platinum ions that can induce DNA damage in cancer cells. The future is bright with the path to clinical trials is largely cleared for some of the less complex therapeutic metal nanoparticle systems. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Foroderm is a new cutaneous delivery technology that uses high-aspect ratio, cylindrical silica microparticles, that are massaged into the skin using a 3D-printed microtextured applicator, in order to deliver payloads across the epidermis. Herein we show that this technology is effective for delivery of a non-adjuvanted, inactivated, whole-virus chikungunya virus vaccine in mice, with minimal post-vaccination skin reactions. A single topical Foroderm-based vaccination induced T cell, Th1 cytokine and antibody responses, which provided complete protection against viraemia and disease after challenge with chikungunya virus. Foroderm vaccination was shown to deliver fluorescent, virus-sized beads across the epidermis, with beads subsequently detected in draining lymph nodes. Foroderm vaccination also stimulated the egress of MHC II+ antigen presenting cells from the skin. Foroderm thus has potential as a simple, cheap, effective, generic, needle-free technology for topical delivery of vaccines. Refereed/Peer-reviewed