Traditional medicines are the collection of basic theories, medical practices, indigenous experiences, folk beliefs, pre-historical knowledge, and fundamental approaches by using natural ingredients from plants, animals, minerals, etc., in the maintenance of health as well as in the diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment of ailments by applying either in single or in combinations. Different beneficial experiences of traditional medicines have drawn the attention of medical practitioners and healthcare advisors, because of their easy availability, sustainability and intrinsic acceptability with fewer side effects. Having ethnopharmacological importance, this milieu of diverse medicinal products is the root of many developed dominant medical systems like Ayurveda and Unani in India. In traditional practices, there have been quite a substantial number of alternative treatment strategies that have significant roles in skin health. Various components of indigenous medicine have been used for the prevention of different dermatological concerns like eczema, psoriasis, skin rashes, acne, etc., and have promising roles on cutaneous circulation, moisturization and reduction of microbial loading due to anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer activities including cell stimulating properties. This chapter will depict frequently used indigenous medicinal practices in Indian settings for nurturing skin health. 

Dicarboxylate metallosurfactants (AASM), synthesized by mixing N-dodecyl aminomalonate, -aspartate and -glutamate with CaCl2,MnCl2 and CdCl2, were characterized by XRD, FTIR, and NMR spectroscopy. Layered structures, formed by metallosurfactants, were evidencedfrom differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analyses. Solvent-spread monolayer of AASM in combination withsoyphosphatidylcholine (SPC) and cholesterol (CHOL) were studied using Langmuir surface balance. With increasing mole fraction of AASMmean molecular area increased and passed through maxima at ~60 mol% of AASMs, indicating molecular packing reorganization. Systems with20 and 60 mol% AASM exhibited positive deviations from ideal behavior signifying repulsive interaction between the AASM and SPC, whilesynergistic interactions were established from the negative deviation at other combinations. Dynamic surface elasticity increased with increasingsurface pressure signifying formation of rigid monolayer. Transition of monolayer from gaseous to liquid expanded to liquid condensed state wasestablished by Brewster angle microscopic studies. Stability of the hybrid vesicles, formed by AASM+SPC+CHOL, was established bymonitoring their size, zeta potential and polydispersity index values over 100 days. Size and spherical morphology of hybrid vesicles wereconfirmed by transmission electron microscopic studies. Biocompatibility of the hybrid vesicles were established by cytotoxicity studies revealingtheir possible applications in drug delivery and imaging.

Cold plasma (low pressure) technology has been effectively used to boost the germination and growth of various crops in recent decades. The durability of these plasma-treated seeds is essential because of the need to store and distribute the seeds at different locations. However, these ageing effects are often not ascertained and reported because germination and related tests are carried out within a short time after the plasma-treatment. This research aims to fill that knowledge gap by subjecting three different types of seeds (and precursors): Bambara groundnuts (water), chilli (oxygen), and papaya (oxygen) to cold plasma-treatment. Common mechanisms found for these diverse seed types and treatment conditions were the physical and chemical changes induced by the physical etching and the cold plasma on the seeds and subsequent oxidation, which promoted germination and growth. The high glass transition temperature of the lignin-cellulose prevented any physical restructuring of the surfaces while maintaining the chemical changes to continue to promote the seeds germination and growth. These changes were monitored over 60 days of ageing using water contact angle (WCA), water uptake, electrical conductivity, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The vacuum effect was also investigated to separate its effect from cold plasma (low pressure). This finding offers a framework for determining how long agricultural seeds that have received plasma treatment can be used. Additionally, there is a need to transfer this research from the lab to the field. Once the impact of plasma treatment on seeds has been estimated, it will be simple to do so.

Antibacterial coating is necessary to prevent biofilm-forming bacteria from colonising medical tools causing infection and sepsis in patients. The recent coating strategies such as immobilisation of antimicrobial materials and low-pressure plasma polymerisation may require multiple processing steps involving a high-vacuum system and time-consuming process. Some of those have limited efficacy and durability. Here, we report a rapid and one-step atmospheric pressure plasma polymerisation (APPP) of D-limonene to produce nano-thin films with hydrophobic-like properties for antibacterial applications. The influence of plasma polymerisation time on the thickness, surface characteristic, and chemical composition of the plasma-polymerised films was systematically investigated. Results showed that the nano-thin films deposited at 1 min on glass substrate are optically transparent and homogenous, with a thickness of 44.3 ± 4.8 nm, a smooth surface with an average roughness of 0.23 ± 0.02 nm. For its antimicrobial activity, the biofilm assay evaluation revealed a significant 94% decrease in the number of Escherichia coli (E. coli) compared to the control sample. More importantly, the resultant nano-thin films exhibited a potent bactericidal effect that can distort and rupture the membrane of the treated bacteria. These findings provide important insights into the development of bacteria-resistant and biocompatible coatings on the arbitrary substrate in a straightforward and cost-effective route at atmospheric pressure.

Medical devices are often vulnerable to colonization by nosocomial pathogens (bacteria), leading to infections. Traditional sterilization methods may not always be effective, and as a result, alternative options are being explored to prevent microbial contamination. Recently, scientists are emphasizing using plant-derived essential oils that possess inherent antibacterial properties to produce antimicrobial coatings using plasma polymerization technology carried out at atmospheric pressure (AP). This approach shows promise compared to other coating strategies that need several processing steps, including a high-vacuum system, and are laborious, such as the immobilization of antimicrobial materials on precoated layers in the low-pressure plasma polymerization approach. The present study demonstrates the potential of AP plasma polymerization for producing thin films with excellent antibacterial properties and surface characteristics. The resulting coatings are stable, smooth, and have high wettability, making them ideal for repelling bacteria. The calculated zeta potential and deposition rate for the films are also favorable. These AP plasma-polymerized thin films created from carvone show a reduction rate of more than 90% for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Our computational docking studies also reveal strong binding interactions between the original carvone monomer and both bacteria. The study suggests that these AP plasma-produced coatings have great potential as antibacterial coatings for biomedical devices.

In the last few decades, the prevalence of multidrug resistance and importunate virulence in bacteria emerged as one of the serious concerns in health-care system. Lantibiotics, the well-conserved antimicrobial peptides predominantly rich in atypical sulfur-containing amino acids, lanthionine (Lan), and 3-methyl-lanthionine (MeLan), synthesized ribosomally from bacterial cells and modified posttranslationally, have drawn considerable interest in the therapeutic management of infectious diseases because of their effectiveness against multidrug-resistant bacteria. So far studied, the other reasons remain their potency, broad-spectrum nature, and negligible cytotoxicity. The biosynthesis of the lantibiotics involves two major steps, the modification of precursor peptides and their proteolytic activation. The gene cluster constituting the biosynthetic machinery codes essentially for the prepeptide and modification enzymes besides the proteases, ATP-binding cassette transporters, immunity factors, and regulatory proteins required as accessory factors. Herein, in this chapter a comprehensive discussion has been made on the biosynthesis of lantibiotics, which may be noteworthy in biomedical science for technology advancement.