Botulinum Toxin in Facial Aesthetics Affects the Emotion Process: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

This study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effects of the btulinum toxin-A (BT-A) in patiets with mood disorders. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and LILACS were searched without restrictions up to July 2022. The PICOS strategy was used for the selection of studies and risk-of-bias assessment was performed using Cochrane's tool for RCTs. RCTs were included if they compared BT-A treatment on facial muscles in patients with mood disorders to placebo. After assessment of the full texts, seven studies were selected. Five studies had low risk of bias for the generation of random sequence and blinding of participants and professional domains. A total of four studies showed a low risk of bias for the allocation concealment and blinding of the evaluation of the domain results. The domain of selective reports showed a low risk of bias in all included studies. However, four studies presented a high risk of bias for the domain of other biases. The meta-analysis was based on the mean difference or standardized mean difference between the BT-A and placebo groups for each selected trial and revealed that the BT-A group showed a significant improvement in the symptoms of depression when compared to placebo. This study revealed that the BT-A application into mimic muscles of the upper third of the face improves the mood disorders, but it was not possible to guarantee whether the aesthetic benefits can contribute to reducing the severity of the depressive state.

Analytical techniques to recognize inclusion complexes formation involving monoterpenes and cyclodextrins: A study case with (-) borneol, a food ingredient

Monoterpenes are non-polar secondary metabolites widely used by industry due to their excellent therapeutic, food-ingredient and cosmetic properties. However, their low solubility in water limits their use. In this sense, cyclodextrins (CDs) have been widely used to solve these technological challenges. Thus, this study aims to use (-)-borneol as a monoterpene model to prepare inclusion complexes between β-CD and hydroxypropyl-β-CD (HP-β-CD) through different ways and characterize them in order to choose the best inclusion method to improve physicochemical properties of monoterpenes. To achieve this goal, the samples were prepared by physical mixture (PM), paste complex (PA) and freeze-drying complex (FD) and then, extensively characterized by thermal analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, size particle, X-ray diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance. The physicochemical results showed that freeze-drying was more effective to form inclusion complexes between (-)-borneol with both CDs. This research highlights the importance of recognizing the best method to prepare inclusion complexes, including food additives as (-)-borneol, to achieve better results in food preparations.