Traditional food processing techniques can no longer meet the ever increasing demand for high quality food across the globe due to its low process efficiency, high energy consumption and low product yield. This review article is focused on the mechanism and application of Infrared (IR) and ultrasound (US) technologies in physical processing of food. We herein present the individual use of IR and US (both mono-frequency and multi-frequency levels) as well as IR and US supported with other thermal and non-thermal technologies to improve their food processing performance. IR and US are recent thermal and non-thermal technologies which have now been successfully used in food industries to solve the demerits of conventional processing technologies. These environmentally-friendly technologies are characterized by low energy consumption, reduced processing time, high mass-transfer rates, better nutrient retention, better product quality, less mechanical damage and improved shelf life. This work could be, with no doubt, useful to the scientific world and food industries by providing insights on recent advances in the use of US and IR technology, which can be applied to improve food processing technologies for better quality and safer products.

Melasma is a common chronic refractory disorder of pigmentation affecting people with darker skin types. Overall prevalence varies between 8.8% and 40%, depending on the ethnicity of the population and the geographical area. Therapeutic management of melasma is challenging, with high recurrence rates which significant impacts on the quality of life. No single treatment is universally efficacious. Systemic treatments with tranexamic acid and polypodium leucotmatous had promising results, although the former was related to systemic side effects. Microneedling and peeling were also efficacious, although their superiority to topical hydroquinone, the gold standard in melasma treatment, remains to be established. Similarly, laser and light devices have been beneficial. However, recurrence rates remain high in all treatment groups. Combination therapies, either in double or triple combinations yielded the best results when compared to single terapies. Treatment choice should be made after Wood\'s lamp examination, as well as dermatoscopic evaluation, in order to select the best treatment option, targeted at each melasma subtype.

BACKGROUND: Acne is a common condition that can result in permanent scarring. Acne scars can be broken down into three categories: atrophic; hypertrophic; and keloidal. Atrophic scars can be further sub-classified into: ice pick; rolling; and boxcar.
OBJECTIVE: We have performed a comprehensive literature search of the last ten years in order to determine the efficacy and adverse reactions of commonly used treatments against post-acne scarring.
RESULTS: A total of 36 relevant articles were identified on the following interventions: subcision (n = 10), dermabrasion (n = 1), microneedling (n = 8), dermal fillers (n = 5), and chemical peeling (n = 12).
CONCLUSIONS: Improvement in the appearance of post-acne scarring following subcision is in the range of 10-100%. Microdermabrasion achieved the least significant results. A total of 27.3% patients did not achieve any benefit despite eight treatment sessions, and only 9.1% achieved good results. All patients treated with microneedling achieved some improvement in scar appearance in the range of 31-62%. Dermal fillers also led to favourable outcomes. In particular, treatment with PPMA led to improvement in 84% of patients. Utilising chemical peels, trichloroacetic acid (TCA) CROSS achieved >70% improvement in 73.3% of patients, whereas 20% glycolic acid did not lead to any improvement in 25%.
CONCLUSIONS: Post-acne scarring is a common and challenging condition with no easy and definitive solution. The above interventions have been used with varying degrees of efficacy, each having both pros and cons. All have been deemed to be safe with few and transient adverse reactions. However, further trials with a larger number of patients are necessary in order to reach more concrete conclusions regarding their efficacy.