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Intravesical drug delivery (IDD), as a noninvasive, local pathway of administration, has great clinical significance for bladder diseases, especially bladder cancer. Despite the many advantages of IDD such as enhanced focal drug exposure and avoidance of systemic adverse drug reactions, the effectiveness of drug delivery is greatly challenged by the physiological barriers of the bladder. In this review, the routes and barriers encountered in IDD are first discussed, and attention is paid to the potential internal/mucosal retention and absorption-transport mechanisms of drugs. On this basis, the avoidance, overcoming and utilization of the "three barriers" is further emphasized, and current design and fabrication strategies for intravesical drug delivery systems (IDDSs) are described mainly from the perspectives of constructing drug reservoirs, enhancing permeability and targeting, with the hope of providing systematic understanding and inspirations for the research of novel IDDSs and their treatment of bladder diseases. Intravesical drug delivery has shown advantages in the treatment of bladder diseases, but drug delivery is limited by bladder physiologic barriers, for which a range of strategies have been proposed. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The domestic sector in India is the largest consumer of traditional sources of energy and accounts for 85 per cent of households in the rural areas, using fuelwood as an important source of energy for cooking and kerosene for lighting applications. However, the penetration of commercial fuels for cooking in rural areas continues to be low, with 11.5 per cent of rural households using kerosene and 6.5 per cent using LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) for cooking.[1] Hence, rural households commonly use traditional biomass fuels in traditional cookstoves (TCs), which are not only inefficient but also have an adverse effect on the health of people, especially women and children, who are largely exposed to the smoke emitted while burning such fuels. In order to reduce the ill effects caused by the use of low-efficiency (<12%) of TCs, introduction of improved forced draft biomass cookstoves will enhance cooking device efficiency and also improve the indoor kitchen environment. This article focuses on the adaptation process and service delivery mechanism for improved biomass cookstove. It also concentrates on the approach undertaken for leveraging technology and promotes the use of biomass and source energy in a sustainable manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]