The vagina has been considered a potential drug administration route for centuries. Most of the currently marketed and investigated vaginal formulations are composed with the use of natural or synthetic polymers having different functions in the product. The vaginal route is usually investigated as an administration site for topically acting active ingredients; however, the anatomical and physiological features of the vagina make it suitable also for drug systemic absorption. In this review, the most important natural and synthetic polymers used in vaginal products are summarized and described, with special attention paid to the properties important in terms of vaginal application. Moreover, the current knowledge on the commonly applied and innovative dosage forms designed for vaginal administration was presented. The aim of this work was to highlight the most recent research directions and indicate challenges related to vaginal drug administrations. As revealed in the literature overview, intravaginal products still gain enormous scientific attention, and novel polymers and formulations are still explored. However, there are research areas that require more extensive studies in order to provide the safety of novel vaginal products.

The paper deals with the application of the method and systems for technical asset management in the process of the planning of railroad infrastructure maintenance and development. Due to the scale of operations of rail infrastructure managers, the application of appropriate management methods and IT tools supporting decision making, keeps increasingly resulting in the condition of the effectiveness for this measure. Technical asset management as part of Asset Management is an activity aimed at achieving a balance between factors such as: costs, risk, and efficiency, in such a way so as to meet the objectives of the infrastructure manager. The paper presents assumptions and the most important features with functionalities of systems used to manage technical assets. A review of systems including an assessment of their advanced technology and main implementations in entities related to railroad infrastructure have been presented. As a result of systems review, key areas of future use and related benefits have been identified.