Accurate diagnosis is fundamental to effective healthcare, guiding clinical and surgical decisions and ultimately influencing treatment outcomes and prognosis. Recent advancements in nanomaterials and fabrication techniques, coupled with emerging computational approaches such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and deep learning, have revolutionized high-throughput screening and laboratory automation. AI-driven algorithms now process and analyze salivary proteomic data with remarkable accuracy, identifying patterns and biomarkers associated with diseases such as oral cancer at an early stage. This capability not only enhances diagnostic precision but also accelerates decision-making, enabling timely interventions. Despite their lower analyte content, oral fluids—particularly saliva—offer a non-invasive and accessible alternative for biomarker testing. This has led to the development and optimization of highly sensitive and amplified detection methods, including polymerase chain reaction, isothermal amplification, microfluidic, lab-on-a-chip, and biosensor technologies such as surface plasmon resonance and electrochemical sensing. These innovations have culminated in reliable Point-of-Care (PoC) solutions for molecular diagnostics, facilitating the detection and monitoring of a broad spectrum of conditions, including steroid levels, growth factors, drug and alcohol abuse, infectious diseases (such as HIV antibodies), diabetes (via salivary glucose), periodontitis, peri-implantitis, and oral cancer, with applications extending even into forensics. The precision, simplicity, and accessibility of salivary-based biomarkers and biosensors present a promising frontier in contemporary oro-dental healthcare, offering significant benefits to clinicians and surgeons. While significant progress has been made, challenges remain in standardizing salivary diagnostic techniques and ensuring their widespread clinical adoption. Addressing these challenges requires continued research into improving assay sensitivity, data integration, and cost-effectiveness. Henceforth, ongoing advancements are expected to further integrate predictive analytics into our routine clinical practice, ultimately improving patient outcomes through personalized, cost-effective, and timely care, thereby enhancing overall healthcare quality and efficiency. These are the topics to be discussed in this review.

Bone tissue engineering is an evolving area of tissue engineering using conventional and state-of-the art 3D printing methods. The present review focuses on introducing different methods used in developing scaffolds from biocompatible and biodegradable materials using several tissue engineering techniques including 3D printing. In addition, surface modification methods were also discussed to ensure the functionality of the scaffolds that facilitate a differentiation response in human mesenchymal stem cells in vitro or in vivo bone mineralization.

The efficiency of gene transfection using cationic polymers primarily depends on factors such as compact polyplex formation, cellular uptake, endosomal escape, cytoplasmic transport, nuclear entry, and the dissociation and release of plasmid from the polyplex. These factors can be manipulated through the chemical modification of cationic polymers. Branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) has been considered the "gold standard" in gene delivery due to its high transfection efficiency. However, cytotoxicity and serum sensitivity limit its therapeutic use. In the present study, we aimed to reduce cytotoxicity while maintaining or enhancing transfection efficiency by chemically modifying PEI with the amino acid histidine via five-armed alkylamino siloxane. We anticipated that the spatial orientation of histidine could enhance cellular uptake and endosomal escape. Histidine-modified PEI, termed P(S-His)1, improved gene transfection efficiency due to elevated cellular uptake through multiple pathways and rapid endosomal escape via the proton sponge effect, compared to PEI and other derivatives with higher histidine conjugation. When the same polymer was further chemically modified with polyethylene glycol-folic acid (PEG-FA) to facilitate receptor-mediated cellular targeting, cellular uptake improved through additional pathways; however, the transfection efficiency unexpectedly decreased. This reduction in transfection efficiency is likely due to the absence of plasmid release from the polyplex for gene transcription, caused by the reduced ionic strength of the polyplex resulting from the high molecular weight PEG.

The management of scarring continues to be significant in health care due to their ubiquity and impact on daily life. Scars include immature, mature, atrophic, hypertrophic, and keloid scars, with hypertrophic and keloid scars commonly being targeted for therapeutic interventions. Hypertrophic and keloid scars have dysregulated wound healing phases, involving higher levels of inflammatory markers, such as TGF-β, PDGF, VEGF, as well as increased type 1 collagen. Current treatments for hypertrophic scarring and keloid scars include pressure garments, corticosteroids, laser therapy, scar excision, and radiation. The next steps in therapy involve minimizing scars and eventually eliminating scars by tissue regeneration; current research is exploring the inhibition of Yes-associated protein and harnessing TGF-β3 to support tissue regeneration over scarring in humans.

Osteochondral (OC) tissue repair is a significant challenge in managing osteoarthritis patients, as osteoarthritis (OA) progressively deteriorates both cartilage and subchondral bone, reducing quality of life. Restoring OC regions with complete structural and functional recovery is crucial. Despite availability of various OC constructs for OA joint repair, ensuring their stability and bone support remains problematic. The primary obstacle in attaining favourable patient outcome is designing constructs tailored to individual needs. This critical review addresses the various challenges in OC tissue repair, including (i) anatomical complexities, (ii) biological approaches to restoring the OC interface, and material selection, (iii) cell sources for reconstruction, and (iv) recreating a coordinated microenvironment. The findings arising out of this introspection, underscore the need for innovative strategies to overcome these OC tissue repair limitations, aiming at restoring OC unit structure and function in OA patients.

The unique properties of nanoscale materials exhibiting chirality, such as their catalytic, optical and photothermal capabilities, have been recognized for their exceptional potential in bio-applications. The optical active nanomaterials have attracted significant attention due to their valuable contributions to the fields of biocatalysis, biosensing and nanomedicine, marking a period of notable progress and innovation. In this review, we delve into the most recent advancements in this rapidly evolving field, aiming to provide a thorough insight into the progress made with optically active nanomaterials and to inspire further advancements in bio-applications.