A mucoadhesive biodissolvable thin film for localized and rapid delivery of lidocaine for the treatment of vestibulodynia.

Vestibulodynia (VBD), an idiopathic pain disorder characterized by erythema and pain of the vulvar vestibule (the inner aspect of the labia minora and vaginal opening), is the most common cause of sexual pain for women of reproductive age. Women also feel discomfort with contact with clothing and tampon use. As most women with this disorder only have pain with provocation of the tissue, topical anesthetics applied to the vestibule are the current first line treatment for temporary pain relief.

Irreversible Shear-Activated Gelation of a Liquid Crystalline Polyelectrolyte.

We report irreversible, shear-activated gelation in liquid crystalline solutions of a rigid polyelectrolyte that forms rodlike assemblies (rods) in salt-free solution. At rest, the liquid crystalline solutions are kinetically stable against gelation and exhibit low viscosities. Under steady shear at, or above, a critical shear rate, a physically cross-linked, nematic gel network forms due to linear growth and branching of the rods.

Observation of transition cascades in sheared liquid crystalline polymers.

We report on the shear rheology of liquid crystalline solutions composed of charged, rodlike polymers that form supramolecular assemblies dispersed in water. Under steady shear, we observe shear thickening behavior, followed by a hesitation in the viscosity accompanied by an extremely narrow range of negative first normal stress difference. The Peclet number (Pe, shear rate normalized by rod rotational diffusivity) for the onset of shear thickening is in agreement with previous, high-resolution numerical simulations of the Doi-Edwards-Hess kinetic theory.

Nanofibrillar Ionic Polymer Composites Enable High-Modulus Ion-Conducting Membranes.

Polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) with high volume fractions of ionic liquids (IL) and high modulus show promise for enabling next-generation gas separations, and electrochemical energy storage and conversion applications. Herein, we present a conductive polymer-IL composite based on a sulfonated all-aromatic polyamide (sulfo-aramid, PBDT) and a model IL, which we term a PBDT-IL composite. The polymer forms glassy and high-aspect-ratio hierarchical nanofibrils, which enable fabrication of PEMs with both high volume fractions of IL and high elastic modulus.