Researchers from all over the world have been working tirelessly to combat the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 pandemic since the World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed it to be a pandemic in 2019. Expanding testing capacities, creating efficient medications, and creating safe and efficient COVID-19 (SARS CoV-2) vaccinations that provide the human body with long-lasting protection are a few tactics that need to be investigated. In clinical studies, drug delivery techniques, including nanoparticles, have been used since the early 1990s. Since then, as technology has advanced and the need for improved medication delivery has increased, the field of nanomedicine has recently seen significant development. PNPs, or polymeric nanoparticles, are solid particles or particulate dispersions that range in size from 10 to 1000 nm, and their ability to efficiently deliver therapeutics to specific targets makes them ideal drug carriers. This review article discusses the many polymeric nanoparticle (PNP) platforms developed to counteract the recent COVID-19 pandemic-related severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The primary subjects of this article are the size, shape, cytotoxicity, and release mechanism of each nanoparticle. The two kinds of preparation methods in the synthesis of polymeric nanoparticles have been discussed: the first group uses premade polymers, while the other group depends on the direct polymerization of monomers. A few of the PNPs that have been utilized to combat previous viral outbreaks against SARS-CoV-2 are also covered.

Herein, we report a facile preparation of super-hydrophilic sand by coating the sand particles with cross-linked polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogels for enhanced water absorption and controlled water release aimed at desert agriculture. To prepare the sample, 4 wt% of aqueous PAM solution is mixed with organic cross-linkers of hydroquinone (HQ) and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) in a 1:1 weight ratio and aqueous potassium chloride (KCl) solution. A specific amount of the above solution is added to the sand, well mixed, and subsequently cured at 150 °C for 8 h. The prepared super-hydrophilic sands were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) for chemical composition and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for successful polymer coating onto the sand. The water storage for the samples was studied by absorption kinetics at various temperature conditions, and extended water release was studied by water desorption kinetics. The water swelling ratio for the super-hydrophilic sand has reached a maximum of 900% (9 times its weight) at 80 °C within 1 h. The desorption kinetics of the samples showed that the water can be stored for up to a maximum of 3 days. Therefore, super-hydrophilic sand particles were successfully prepared by coating them with PAM hydrogels, which have great potential to be used in sustainable desert agriculture.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer is among the most common cancers worldwide. Most of the anticancer agents have been showing a variety of side effects. Recently, bacterial proteins have been investigated as promising anticancer agents. Azurin is a bacterial cupredoxin protein secreted from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and has been reported as a potent multi-targeting anticancer agent, which makes it an appropriate candidate for drug delivery. Azurin may be delivered to cancer cells using different carriers like polymeric micro and nanoparticles. In the present study, azurin was extracted from the bacterial host and loaded into chitosan particles. Then its effect on MCF-7 cell line was investigated. Chitosan-azurin particles were made using the ion gelation method. Results showed that chitosan-azurin particles are about 200 nm, and the loading of the protein in particles did not affect its integrity. The MTT assay showed a significant reduction in cell viability in azurin and chitosan-azurin-treated cells. The toxicity level after 5 days was 63.78% and 82.53% for free azurin and chitosan-azurin-treated cells, respectively. It seems using an appropriate carrier system for anticancer proteins like azurin is a promising tool for developing low side effect anticancer agents.

Control of key technological and benchmark flows of polymer fluids poses a number of challenges. Some of them are nowadays under active investigation and rather far from complete under­stan­ding. This review considers such phenomena as both practically important and governed by funda­mental laws of rheology and non-linear fluid mechanics. We observe, shear bands in polymeric and other complex structured fluids (like wormlike micellar solutions or soft glassy materials), birefrigerent strands, peculiarities of stress and pressure losses in fluids moving through com­plex shape domains. These and other processes involve in­ho­mo­geneity, in­stabilities and tran­sient modes creeping in flow fields. In practical aspect this is of interest in such industrial process as polymer flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), where a flow inhomogeneity affects a poly­mer solution injectivity and residual oil saturation. The value of viscoelasticity in the polymer flooding is estimated. The obser­va­tion is con­clu­ded by some new results on relation between polymer concentration in solutions and viscoelastic traits of benchmark flows.

Subcutaneous (SC) drug delivery is one of the best routes of drug administration to patients over intravenous (IV) administration due to the ease of application and patient acceptance. The main limitation of using the SC route is administering larger volumes of drug, greater than 3–5 mL for therapeutic dosages. Wearable injectors on body devices are an attractive option for larger-volume drug delivery to patients. Thus, the need for a self-administration strategy at home is growing faster and is required for the next level of time-dependent and high-volume drug delivery. The advances in low-cost, connected on-body delivery systems hold great opportunity for novel ways of delivering home-based drug therapy in the future.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a promising technological approach for various applications in the biomedical field. Natural polymers, which comprise the majority of 3D printable “bioinks”, have played a crucial role in various 3D bioprinting technologies during the layered 3D manufacturing processes in the last decade. However, the polymers must be customized for printing and effector function needs in cancer, dental care, oral medicine and biosensors, cardiovascular disease, and muscle restoration. This review provides an overview of 3D bio-printed natural polymers—commonly employed in various medical fields—and their recent development.