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A prática de adubação verde, que envolve o cultivo de espécies vegetais com características benéficas para o solo, destaca-se como uma estratégia eficaz para a melhoria da fertilidade do solo. O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a produção de biomassa de três espécies indicadas para utilização como adubação verde (crotalária - Crotalaria juncea; mucuna preta - Mucuna aterrima; estilosante - Stylosanthes macrocephala). O trabalho foi realizado em Santarém, Pará com delineamento experimental em blocos intercalados, com oito repetições. A coleta de dados foi realizada 90 dias após o plantio e incluiu a medição da altura das plantas, massa fresca da parte aérea (MFPA), massa seca da parte aérea (MSPA), massa seca das raízes (MSR), massa seca total (MST), comprimento das raízes e diâmetro do colo da raiz. Observou-se que a crotalária se destacou em relação às demais espécies, apresentando a maior produção de biomassa fresca (1,43 ± 1,2 t/ha) e seca (0,46 t/ha e 0,21 t/ha) na parte aérea da planta. A mucuna preta se destacou para o comprimento de raiz com média de 33,2 cm. Esses resultados são de grande relevância para a agricultura sustentável, pois a adubação verde desempenha um papel fundamental na promoção da saúde do solo, na conservação dos recursos naturais e no aumento da produtividade agrícola. O cultivo de espécies como crotalária e mucuna preta poderá proporcionar benefícios significativos para os cultivos.

The current research studies the synergistic effect of Cydonia oblonga and its extracted nano bio‑silver as a natural and eco-friendly agent for the improvement of three-dimensional (3D)-printed alginate wound dressings. Therefore, Cydonia oblonga extract was first prepared and silver nanoparticles were extracted from it through a green and simple method. The Cydonia oblonga and its extracted bio-based nanoparticles were then added to 3D printing alginate-based ink. Subsequently, a 3D structural extrusion printer was employed to create the porous hydrogel-based wound dressings. The morphological investigation demonstrated that using the extraction method the bio-based silver nanoparticles were successfully prepared, having an average size of 17.95 ± 4.50 nm. The Cydonia oblonga extract showed comparable antioxidant activity to the commercial antioxidant and an excellent total phenol content. In addition, the results showed the combination of Cydonia oblonga extracts/silver nanoparticles significantly improved the antibacterial performance of alginate-based bioinks. In vivo, and in vitro studies confirmed their biocompatibility and significant efficacy in the treatment of burn wounds., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Despite critical advances in regenerative medicine, the generation of definitive, reliable treatments for musculoskeletal diseases remains challenging. Gene therapy based on the delivery of therapeutic genetic sequences has strong value to offer effective, durable options to decisively manage such disorders. Furthermore, scaffold-mediated gene therapy provides powerful alternatives to overcome hurdles associated with classical gene therapy, allowing for the spatiotemporal delivery of candidate genes to sites of injury. Among the many scaffolds for musculoskeletal research, hydrogels raised increasing attention in addition to other potent systems (solid, hybrid scaffolds) due to their versatility and competence as drug and cell carriers in tissue engineering and wound dressing. Attractive functionalities of hydrogels for musculoskeletal therapy include their injectability, stimuli-responsiveness, self-healing, and nanocomposition that may further allow to upgrade of them as "intelligently" efficient and mechanically strong platforms, rather than as just inert vehicles. Such functionalized hydrogels may also be tuned to successfully transfer therapeutic genes in a minimally invasive manner in order to protect their cargos and allow for their long-term effects. In light of such features, this review focuses on functionalized hydrogels and demonstrates their competence for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders using gene therapy procedures, from gene therapy principles to hydrogel functionalization methods and applications of hydrogel-mediated gene therapy for musculoskeletal disorders, while remaining challenges are being discussed in the perspective of translation in patients. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Despite advances in regenerative medicine, the generation of definitive, reliable treatments for musculoskeletal diseases remains challenging. Gene therapy has strong value in offering effective, durable options to decisively manage such disorders. Scaffold-mediated gene therapy provides powerful alternatives to overcome hurdles associated with classical gene therapy. Among many scaffolds for musculoskeletal research, hydrogels raised increasing attention. Functionalities including injectability, stimuli-responsiveness, and self-healing, tune them as "intelligently" efficient and mechanically strong platforms, rather than as just inert vehicles. This review introduces functionalized hydrogels for musculoskeletal disorder treatment using gene therapy procedures, from gene therapy principles to functionalized hydrogels and applications of hydrogel-mediated gene therapy for musculoskeletal disorders, while remaining challenges are discussed from the perspective of translation in patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Pesticides can have harmful impacts on the environment and living organisms. Thus, removing them from polluted water is crucial. In this study, a bionanocomposite of carboxymethyl tragacanth-grafted-poly(3-aminophenol)/zinc oxide@iron oxide (CMT-g-P3AP/ZnO@Fe 3 O 4 ) synthesized by in situ copolymerization as an efficient adsorbent to eliminate the acetamiprid pesticide from polluted water. The CMT-g-P3AP/ZnO@Fe 3 O 4 magnetic nanocomposite was analyzed utilizing various techniques including FTIR, EDX, FESEM, XRD, BET, CHNSO, and TGA. The results displayed that the resulting nanocomposite with maximum adsorption capacity (Q max ) successfully removed the acetamiprid pesticide from polluted water under optimal conditions such as pH of 7.00, 5.00 mg of adsorbent, 20.0 min duration, and 400 mg/L acetamiprid concentration. According to the linear Langmuir isotherm, the Q max of the biosorbent was 833 mg/g. The experimental adsorption data fitted well with Temkin's nonlinear isotherm model. The adsorption kinetic data were closely related to the Weber-Morris intraparticle diffusion nonlinear model. After three repetitive cycles, CMT-g-P3AP/ZnO@Fe 3 O 4 can be outstandingly renewed and recycled without significant reduction in its adsorption efficacy, as evidenced by the adsorption-desorption experiments. In addition, the CMT-g-P3AP/ZnO@Fe 3 O 4 displayed the good antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

There is usually a trade-off between high mechanical strength and dynamic self-healing because the mechanisms of these properties are mutually exclusive. Herein, we design and fabricate a fluorinated phenolic polyurethane (FPPU) elastomer based on octafluoro-4,4'-biphenol to overcome this challenge. This fluorine-based motif not only tunes interchain interactions through π-π stacking between aromatic rings and free-volume among polymer chains but also improves the reversibility of phenol-carbamate bonds via electron-withdrawing effect of fluorine atoms. The developed FPPU elastomer shows the highest recorded puncture energy (648.0 mJ), high tensile strength (27.0 MPa), as well as excellent self-healing efficiency (92.3%), along with low surface energy (50.9 MJ m -2 ), notch-insensitivity, and reprocessability compared with non-fluorinated counterpart biphenolic polyurethane (BPPU) elastomer. Taking advantage of the above-mentioned merits of FPPU elastomer, we prepare an anti-fouling triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with a self-healable, and reprocessable elastic substrate. Benefiting from stronger electron affinity of fluorine atoms than hydrogen atoms, this electronic device exhibits ultrahigh peak open-circuit voltage of 302.3 V compared to the TENG fabricated from BPPU elastomer. Furthermore, a healable and stretchable conductive composite is prepared. This research provides a distinct and general pathway toward constructing high-performance elastomers and will enable a series of new applications., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Injectable hydrogels based on biopolymers, fabricated utilizing diverse chemical and physical methodologies, exhibit exceptional physical, chemical, and biological properties. They have multifaceted applications encompassing wound healing, tissue regeneration, and across diverse scientific realms. This review critically evaluates their largely uncharted potential in ophthalmology, elucidating their diverse applications across an array of ocular diseases. These conditions include glaucoma, cataracts, corneal disorders (spanning from age-related degeneration to trauma, infections, and underlying chronic illnesses), retina-associated ailments (such as diabetic retinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD)), eyelid abnormalities, and uveal melanoma (UM). This study provides a thorough analysis of applications of injectable hydrogels based on biopolymers across these ocular disorders. Injectable hydrogels based on biopolymers can be customized to have specific physical, chemical, and biological properties that make them suitable as drug delivery vehicles, tissue scaffolds, and sealants in the eye. For example, they can be engineered to have optimum viscosity to be injected intravitreally and sustain drug release to treat retinal diseases. Their porous structure and biocompatibility promote cellular infiltration to regenerate diseased corneal tissue. By accentuating their indispensable role in ocular disease treatment, this review strives to present innovative and targeted approaches in this domain, thereby advancing ocular therapeutics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The current study developed an innovative design for the production of smart multifunctional core-double shell superparamagnetic nanoparticles (NPs) with a focus on the development of a pH-responsive drug delivery system tailored for the controlled release of Phenytoin, accompanied by real-time monitoring capabilities. In this regard, the ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide@silica NPs (IO@Si MNPs) were synthesized and then coated with a layer of gelatin containing Phenytoin as an antiepileptic drug. The precise saturation magnetization value for the resultant NPs was established at 26 emu g -1 . The polymeric shell showed a pH-sensitive behavior with the capacity to regulate the release of encapsulated drug under neutral pH conditions, simultaneously, releasing more amount of the drug in a simulated tumorous-epileptic acidic condition. The NPs showed an average size of 41.04 nm, which is in the desired size range facilitating entry through the blood-brain barrier. The values of drug loading and encapsulation efficiency were determined to be 2.01 and 10.05%, respectively. Moreover, kinetic studies revealed a Fickian diffusion process of Phenytoin release, and diffusional exponent values based on the Korsmeyer-Peppas equation were achieved at pH 7.4 and pH 6.3. The synthesized NPs did not show any cytotoxicity. Consequently, this new design offers a faster release of PHT at the site of a tumor in response to a change in pH, which is essential to prevent epileptic attacks., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Cancer, a global health challenge of utmost severity, necessitates innovative approaches beyond conventional treatments (e.g., surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy). Unfortunately, these approaches frequently fail to achieve comprehensive cancer control, characterized by inefficacy, non-specific drug distribution, and the emergence of adverse side effects. Nanoscale systems based on natural polymers like chitosan have garnered significant attention as promising platforms for cancer diagnosis and therapy owing to chitosan's inherent biocompatibility, biodegradability, nontoxicity, and ease of functionalization. Herein, recent advancements pertaining to the applications of chitosan nanoparticles in cancer imaging and drug/gene delivery are deliberated. The readers are introduced to conventional non-stimuli-responsive and stimuli-responsive chitosan-based nanoplatforms. External triggers like light, heat, and ultrasound and internal stimuli such as pH and redox gradients are highlighted. The utilization of chitosan nanomaterials as contrast agents or scaffolds for multimodal imaging techniques e.g., magnetic resonance, fluorescence, and nuclear imaging is represented. Key applications in targeted chemotherapy, combination therapy, photothermal therapy, and nucleic acid delivery using chitosan nanoformulations are explored for cancer treatment. The immunomodulatory effects of chitosan and its role in impacting the tumor microenvironment are analyzed. Finally, challenges, prospects, and future outlooks regarding the use of chitosan-based nanosystems are discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Despite the advantages of topical administration in the treatment of skin diseases, current marketed preparations face the challenge of the skin's barrier effect, leading to low therapeutic effectiveness and undesirable side effects. Hence, in recent years the management of skin wounds, the main morbidity-causing complication in hospital environments, and atopic dermatitis, the most common inflammatory skin disease, has become a great concern. Fortunately, new, more effective, and safer treatments are already under development, with chitosan, starch, silk fibroin, agarose, hyaluronic acid, alginate, collagen, and gelatin having been used for the development of nanoparticles, liposomes, niosomes and/or hydrogels to improve the delivery of several molecules for the treatment of these diseases. Biocompatibility, biodegradability, increased viscosity, controlled drug delivery, increased drug retention in the epidermis, and overall mitigation of adverse effects, contribute to an effective treatment, additionally providing intrinsic antimicrobial and wound healing properties. In this review, some of the most recent success cases of biopolymer-based drug delivery systems as part of nanocarriers, semi-solid hydrogel matrices, or both (hybrid systems), for the management of skin wounds and atopic dermatitis, are critically discussed, including composition and in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo characterization, showing the promise of these external drug delivery systems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Soft robots have the potential to assist and complement human exploration of extreme and harsh environments (i.e., organic solvents). However, soft robots with stable performance in diverse organic solvents are not developed yet. In the current research, a non-Euclidean-plate under-liquid soft robot inspired by jellyfish based on phototropic liquid crystal elastomers is fabricated via a 4D-programmable strategy. Specifically, the robot employs a 3D-printed non-Euclidean-plate, designed with Archimedean orientation, which undergoes autonomous deformation to release internal stress when immersed in organic solvents. With the assistance of near-infrared light illumination, the organic solvent inside the robot vaporizes and generates propulsion in the form of bubble streams. The developed NEP-Jelly-inspired soft robot can swim with a high degree of freedom in various organic solvents, for example, N, N-dimethylformamide, N, N-dimethylacetamide, tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane, and trichloromethane, which is not reported before. Besides bionic jellyfish, various aquatic invertebrate-inspired soft robots can potentially be prepared via a similar 4D-programmable strategy., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

The limited capacity of typical materials to resist stress loading, which affects their mechanical performance, is one of the most formidable challenges in materials science. Here, we propose a bone-inspired stress-gaining concept of converting typically destructive stress into a favorable factor to substantially enhance the mechanical properties of elastomers. The concept was realized by a molecular design of dynamic poly(oxime-urethanes) network with mesophase domains. During external loading, the mesophase domains in the condensed state were aligned into more ordered domains, and the dynamic oxime-urethane bonds served as the dynamic molecular locks disassociating and reorganizing to facilitate and fix the mesophase domains. Consequently, the tensile modulus and strength were enhanced by 1744 and 49.3 times after four cycles of mechanical training, respectively. This study creates a molecular concept with stress-gaining properties induced by repeated mechanical stress loading and will inspire a series of innovative materials for diverse applications.

Polymer microcapsules containing cyanoacrylates have represented a promising option to develop self-healing biomaterials. This study aims to develop an electrospray method for the preparation of capsules using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the encapsulant and ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate (EC) as the encapsulate. It also aims to study the effect of the electrospray process parameters on the size and morphology of the capsules. The capsules were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Moreover, the effects of electrospray process parameters on the size were investigated by Taguchi experimental design. FTIR and TGA approved the presence of both PMMA and EC without further reaction. FE-SEM micrograph demonstrated that an appropriate choice of solvents, utilizing an appropriate PMMA:EC ratio and sufficient PMMA concentration are critical factors to produce capsules dominantly with an intact and spherical morphology. Utilizing various flow rates (0.3-0.5 ml/h) and applied voltage (18-26 kV), capsules were obtained with a 600-1000 nm size range. At constantly applied voltages, the increase in flow rate increased the capsule size up to 40% (ANOVA, p ≤ 0.05), while at constant flow rates, the increase in applied voltage reduced the average capsule size by 3.4-26% (ANOVA, p ≤ 0.05). The results from the Taguchi design represented the significance of solution flow rate, applied voltage, and solution concentration. It was shown that the most effective parameter on the size of capsules is flow rate. This research demonstrated that electrospray can be utilized as a convenient method for the preparation of sub-micron PMMA capsules containing EC. Furthermore, the morphology of the capsules is dominated by solvents, PMMA concentration, and PMMA:EC ratio, while the average size of the capsules can be altered by adjusting the flow rate and applied voltage of the electrospray process., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Stretchable conductive fibers play key roles in electronic textiles, which have substantial improvements in terms of flexibility, breathability, and comfort. Compared to most existing electron-conductive fibers, ion-conductive fibers are usually soft, stretchable, and transparent, leading to increasing attention. However, the integration of desirable functions including high transparency, stretchability, conductivity, solvent resistance, self-healing ability, processability, and recyclability remains a challenge to be addressed. Herein, a new molecular strategy based on dynamic covalent cross-linking networks is developed to enable continuous melt spinning of the ionogel fiber with the aforementioned properties. As a proof of concept, adaptable covalently cross-linked ionogel fibers based on dimethylglyoximeurethane (DOU) groups (DOU-IG fiber) are prepared. The resultant DOU-IG fiber exhibited high transparency (>93%), tensile strength (0.76 MPa), stretchability (784%), and solvent resistance. Owing to the dynamic of DOU groups, the DOU-IG fiber shows high healing performance using near-infrared light. Taking advantage of DOU-IG fibers, multifunctional ionotronics with the integration of several desirable functionalities including sensor, triboelectric nanogenerator, and electroluminescent display are fabricated and used for motion monitoring, energy harvesting, and human-machine interaction. It is believed that these DOU-IG fibers are promising for fabricating the next generation of electronic textiles and other wearable electronics., (© 2023 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

As stretchable conductive materials, ionogels have gained increasing attention. However, it still remains crucial to integrate multiple functions including mechanically robust, room temperature self-healing capacity, facile processing, and recyclability into an ionogel-based device with high potential for applications such as soft robots, electronic skins, and wearable electronics. Herein, inspired by the structure of spider silk, a multilevel hydrogen bonding strategy to effectively produce multi-functional ionogels is proposed with a combination of the desirable properties. The ionogels are synthesized based on N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM), N, N-dimethylacrylamide (DMA), and ionic liquids (ILs) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([EMI][TFSI]). The synergistic hydrogen bonding interactions between PNIPAM chains, PDMA chains, and ILs endow the ionogels with improved mechanical strength along with fast self-healing ability at ambient conditions. Furthermore, the synthesized ionogels show great capability for the continuous fabrication of the ionogel-based fibers using the melt-spinning process. The ionogel fibers exhibit spider-silk-like features with hysteresis behavior, indicating their excellent energy dissipation performance. Moreover, an interwoven network of ionogel fibers with strain and thermal sensing performance can accurately sense the location of objects. In addition, the ionogels show great recyclability and processability into different shapes using 3D printing. This work provides a new strategy to design superior ionogels for diverse applications., (© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)