Aerogels have been steadily developed since its first invention to become one of the most promising materials for various medical and non-medical applications. It has been prepared from organic and inorganic materials, in pure forms or composites. Cellulose-based aerogels are considered one of the promising materials in biomedical applications due to their availability, degradability, biocompatibility and non-cytotoxicity compared to conventional silica or metal-based aerogels. The unique properties of such materials permit their utilization in drug delivery, biosensing, tissue engineering scaffolds, and wound dressing. This review presents a summary of aerogel development as well as the properties and applications of aerogels. Herein, we further discuss the recent works pertaining to utilization of cellulose-based aerogels for antibacterial delivery.

Plants are a rich source of diverse metabolites that have been traditionally used for thousands of years all over the world, providing safer and inexpensive therapeutic option for millions of people in developing countries including Libya. Many types of medicinal plants growing in Libya possess significantly important curative activities and have been traditionally used for treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer, as well as their biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic and insecticidal properties, etc. Apart from the therapeutic activities, most of Libyan nation rather to use natural and plant-based materials for their daily activities such as food preservation, food flavoring as well as medicinal usages. This review presents the most important medicinal plants growing in Libya with their traditional usage, medical properties, and compare the reliability of using these plants as therapeutic agents. Presenting the latest works that have been done in term of justification of the traditional use and scientifically proving its ability as therapeutic agent

Phoenix dactylifera L. is a flowering plant species commonly known as the date palm and is widely cultivated in most Middle East countries, including Libya. The present study analysed the biochemical and genetic diversity of fully mature eight Libyan date palm cultivars grown in different regions using the amplified fragments length polymorphism (AFLP) technique. Six pairs of AFLP molecular marker combinations were utilised to discriminate the eight date palm genotypes. Fruit dimensions (length x diameter) varied based on the type; Majhool Alheelo fruit had the highest value (15.29 cm2), while the lowest value was for Alkhadraya fruits (7.9 cm2). Reducing sugar content ranged from 10.4 per cent of flesh dry weight in Umfetity cultivars to 61.2 per cent in Sufeer-genab, which also showed the highest polymorphism percentage (P%=4.9), while Alkhadarya was the lowest (P%=0.519). The phylogenetic tree indicated that the most distantly related cultivars were Sufeer-genab, Alhamraya and Majhool Alhelo. The two most closely related cultivars were the Alsaeedy Show and Alkhadarya, grown in different regions. Our results indicate that the nutritional and genetic diversity of Libyan cultivars is not closely matched with the growing region.