Beginning in December 2019, the world faced a critical new public health stressor with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2. Its spread was extraordinarily rapid, and in a matter of weeks countries across the world were affected, notably in their ability to manage health care needs. While many sectors of public structures were impacted by the pandemic, it particularly highlighted shortcomings in medical care infrastructures around the world that underscored the need to reorganize medical systems, as they were vastly unprepared and ill-equipped to manage a pandemic and simultaneously provide general and specialized medical care. This paper presents modalities in approaches to the pandemic by various countries, and the triaged reorganization of medical sections not considered first-line in the pandemic that was in many cases transformed into wards for treating COVID-19 cases. As new viruses and structural variants emerge, it is important to find solutions to streamline medical care in hospitals, which includes the expansion of digital network medicine (i.e., telemedicine and mobile health apps) for patients to continue to receive appropriate care without risking exposure to contagions. Mobile health app development continues to evolve with specialized diagnostics capabilities via external attachments that can provide rapid information sharing between patients and care providers while eliminating the need for office visits. Telemedicine, still in the early stages of adoption, especially in the developing world, can ensure access to medical information and contact with care providers, with the potential to release emergency rooms from excessive cases, and offer multidisciplinary access for patients and care providers that can also be a means to avoid contact during a pandemic. As this pandemic illustrated, an overhaul to streamline health care is essential, and a move towards greater use of mobile health and telemedicine will greatly benefit public health to control the spread of new variants and future outbreaks.

Initially used extensively as an additive and ingredient in the food industry, alginate has become an important compound for a wide range of industries and applications, such as the medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors. In the food industry, alginate has been used to coat fruits and vegetables, as a microbial and viral protection product, and as a gelling, thickening, stabilizing or emulsifying agent. Its biocompatibility, biodegradability, nontoxicity and the possibility of it being used in quantum satis doses prompted scientists to explore new properties for alginate usage. Thus, the use of alginate has been expanded so as to be directed towards the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries, where studies have shown that it can be used successfully as biomaterial for wound, hydrogel, and aerogel dressings, among others. Furthermore, the ability to encapsulate natural substances has led to the possibility of using alginate as a drug coating and drug delivery agent, including the encapsulation of probiotics. This is important considering the fact that, until recently, encapsulation and coating agents used in the pharmaceutical industry were limited to the use of lactose, a potentially allergenic agent or gelatin. Obtained at a relatively low cost from marine brown algae, this hydrocolloid can also be used as a potential tool in the management of diabetes, not only as an insulin delivery agent but also due to its ability to improve insulin resistance, attenuate chronic inflammation and decrease oxidative stress. In addition, alginate has been recognized as a potential weight loss treatment, as alginate supplementation has been used as an adjunct treatment to energy restriction, to enhance satiety and improve weight loss in obese individuals. Thus, alginate holds the promise of an effective product used in the food industry as well as in the management of metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity. This review highlights recent research advances on the characteristics of alginate and brings to the forefront the beneficial aspects of using alginate, from the food industry to the biomedical field.

With incidence of antimicrobial resistance rising globally, there is a continuous need for development of new antimicrobial molecules. Phenolic compounds having a versatile scaffold that allows for a broad range of chemical additions; they also exhibit potent antimicrobial activities which can be enhanced significantly through functionalization. Synthetic routes such as esterification, phosphorylation, hydroxylation or enzymatic conjugation may increase the antimicrobial activity of compounds and reduce minimal concentrations needed. With potent action mechanisms interfering with bacterial cell wall synthesis, DNA replication or enzyme production, phenolics can target multiple sites in bacteria, leading to a much higher sensitivity of cells towards these natural compounds. The current review summarizes some of the most important knowledge on functionalization of natural phenolic compounds and the effects on their antimicrobial activity.

Research regarding the use of biopolymers has been of great interest to scientists, the medical community, and the industry especially in recent years. Initially used for food applications, the special properties extended their use to the pharmaceutical and medical industries. The practical applications of natural drug encapsulation materials have emerged as a result of the benefits of the use of biopolymers as edible coatings and films in the food industry. This review highlights the use of polysaccharides in the pharmaceutical industries and as encapsulation materials for controlled drug delivery systems including probiotics, focusing on their development, various applications, and benefits. The paper provides evidence in support of research studying the use of biopolymers in the development of new drug delivery systems, explores the challenges and limitations in integrating polymer-derived materials with product delivery optimization, and examines the host biological/metabolic parameters that can be used in the development of new applications.

The amount of plastics used globally today exceeds a million tonnes annually, with an alarming annual growth. The final result is that plastic packaging is thrown into the environment, and the problem of waste is increasing every year. A real alternative is the use bio-based polymer packaging materials. Research carried out in the laboratory context and products tested at the industrial level have confirmed the success of replacing plastic-based packaging with new, edible or completely biodegradable foils. Of the polysaccharides used to obtain edible materials, sodium alginate has the ability to form films with certain specific properties: resistance, gloss, flexibility, water solubility, low permeability to O₂ and vapors, and tasteless or odorless. Initially used as coatings for perishable or cut fresh fruits and vegetables, these sodium alginate materials can be applied to a wide range of foods, especially in the meat industry. Used to cover meat products, sodium alginate films prevent mass loss and degradation of color and texture. The addition of essential oils prevents microbial contamination with Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, or Botrytis cinerea. The obtained results promote the substitution of plastic packaging with natural materials based on biopolymers and, implicitly, of sodium alginate, with or without other natural additions. These natural materials have become the packaging of the future.

In today’s society, packaging is essential. Without this, the materials would be messy and ineffective. Despite the importance and key role of packaging, they are considered to be useless, as consumers see it as a waste of resources and an environmental threat. Biopolymer-based edible packaging is one of the most promising solutions to these problems. Thus, inulin, biopolymers such as agar and sodium alginate, and glycerol were used to develop a single use edible material for food packaging. These biofilms were obtained and tested for three months. For inulin-based films, the results highlight improvements not only in physical properties (homogeneity, well-defined margins, light sweet taste, good optical properties, high solubility capacity or, as in the case of some samples, complete solubilization), but also superior mechanical properties (samples with high inulin content into composition had high tensile strength and extremely high elongation values). Even after three months of developing, the values of mechanical properties indicate a strong material. The optimization establishes the composition necessary to obtain a strong and completely water-soluble material. This type of packaging represents a successful alternative for the future of food packaging: they are completely edible, biodegradable, compostable, obtained from renewable resources, and produce zero waste, at low cost.