Over the past few decades, chitosan (CS) has gained the attention of researchers investigating newer biomaterial-based carriers for drugs in pharmaceutical and biomedical research. Combined with its nontoxic behavior, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, chitosan has found widespread applications in the fields of drug delivery, tissue engineering, and cosmetics. As a novel drug carrier, chitosan is regarded as one of the promising biomaterials in the pharmaceutical industry. The extensive use of this cationic biopolysaccharide in the delivery of therapeutic agents has brought a few limitations of chitosan into the limelight. Various chemical modifications of chitosan can minimize these limitations and improve the efficacy of chitosan as a drug carrier. The effectiveness of several chemically modified chitosan derivatives, including trimethyl chitosan, thiolated chitosan, PEGylated chitosan, and other chitosan derivatives, has been investigated by many researchers for the controlled and target specific delivery of therapeutics. The chemically modified chitosan derivatives exhibited greater importance in the current scenario on drug delivery due to their solubility in wide range of media along with their interaction with pharmaceutically active ingredients. Chitosan derivatives have also attracted attention in several biomedical fields, including wound healing, hyperthermia therapy, tissue engineering, and bioadhesives. The present review narrates the sources and common physicochemical properties of chitosan, including several important synthetic modifications to obtain chemically modified chitosans and their applications in targetspecific drug delivery, along with several biomedical applications.

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INTRODUCTION:Considering the significant amount of world population, there is a huge section of people who are bilingual or multilingual. On the other hand, many people do not have the knowledge or understanding of second language. Personality traits and along with individual differences play a huge role in second language acquisition. Every individual is unique and hence their way of learning or developing a completely new skill varies significantly. OBJECTIVES:The objectives of this paper were to explore how Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is related to various personality traits and to explore this relationship in terms of bi-directional link between the two. METHOD:The method of literature review was employed. FINDINGS:The findings of the present study indicate personality traits, motivation levels and perception of one's self, other native speakers and of the language have a bi-directional relationship with SLA. Every individual approaches the SLA process differently and has a different success rate with it. It has also been hypothesised that music aids in understanding sound structure and in turn facilitates SLA. We further discuss how socio-cultural factors may play a role here. CONCLUSION:One of the main points that can be drawn from the present study is that SLA is mainly a matter of perception i.e., it is dependent on how an individual choses to view it. According to the demands of the 21 st century, more language-oriented activities should be incorporated to make second language learning (SLL) an intellectually stimulating process. Additionally, we believe that there exists a bi-directional relationship between personality traits and SLA. Future directions for future researches are also suggested.

In the late 2019 and early 2020s, a new variant of SaRs-CoV, now known as Corona virus or COVID-19, debuted internationally. Within a short time, the virus spread on such a scale that it resulted in drastic measures, like worldwide lockdown and strict social distancing, to fight against COVID-19. This study aims to explore the effects of COVID-19 and such protective measures on individuals from different population groups, ages, and walks of life. The literature review method was employed for this study where search words such as ‘aged people’, ‘children’, ‘COVID-19’, ‘families’, ‘healthcare workers’, ‘mental health’, ‘psychological’, ‘social’ and ‘students.’ were used. The findings of this study suggest that the psychological, emotional, and social complications of COVID-19 are not easily or quickly visible as the physical ones. After months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health effects are starting to emerge and pose a serious threat to the well-being of those concerned and the broader society. Likewise, these mental health effects will not vanish as easily and are estimated to stay behind long after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Anxiety, depression, compulsive-obsessive behaviour, hoarding behaviour, panic, stigmatization, and stress are some of the most common identified themes across different population groups. The need for mental health awareness and intervention strategies is ever so important now. Certain recommendations are also suggested in this paper.