Targeting Metabolic Consequences of Insulin Resistance in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome by D-chiro-inositol and Emerging Nutraceuticals: A Focused Review.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex disorder associated with ovarian dysfunction, infertility, menstrual irregularity, and hormonal impairments. Over the last decade, several studies have shown that some PCOS women have insulin resistance (InsR) and hyperinsulinemia, apart from being overweight or obese. Therefore, a crucial clinical aspect is that PCOS patients might develop glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes. Insulin-sensitizing drugs have been used as first-line treatment to improve hyperinsulinemia in women with PCOS. Although reducing PCOS symptoms and signs, several used insulin-sensitizer drugs may induce side effects, which reduces compliance. D-chiro-inositol (DCI), which is a naturally occurring stereoisomer of inositol, has been classified as an insulin-sensitizer and seems to mitigate multiple InsR-related metabolic alterations in PCOS with a safe profile. However, according to a multi-targeted design, the supplementation with DCI can be synergistically integrated by combining other potential insulin-sensitizing drugs and/or nutraceuticals. The literature provides the initial support for using several unexplored nutraceutical interventions that may target relevant metabolic abnormalities associated with InsR in PCOS. With a need to promote interest in clinical research, this review aims to discuss the efficacy of DCI and the role of emerging nutraceuticals for managing InsR in PCOS.

Mineral essential elements for nutrition in different chocolate products.

In this work, the essential mineral nutritional elements in cocoa beans, in chocolates at different cocoa percentage (60,70,80 and 90%) and in milk chocolate are evaluated. Dark chocolates are confirmed as an excellent source of magnesium (252.2 mg/100 g) and iron (10.9 mg/100 g): in chocolate containing 90% cocoa, their content corresponds to, respectively, 67.0% and 80.3 of Nutrient Reference Values (NRV) in the European Union. The chocolate containing 90% cocoa is also a good source of zinc (3.5 mg/100 g), which is important for the immune system, and selenium (0.1 mg/100 g). Three main components suitable to explain the mineral concentrations are analyzed by factor analysis. The component 1 can be interpreted as the contribution from the cocoa beans, owing to the mineral characteristics of the soil in which they have grown; the component 2 is mainly due to the manipulation and transformation of the cocoa in chocolate, while the component 3 represents the milk powder.

A low-cost system to acquire 3D surface data from anatomical samples

The technology of optical 3D imaging sensors or 3D scanners (laser and structured light sensors) has become widely available over the last few years. A wider diffusion of this technique in anatomical laboratories could lead to a revolution in the field of anatomy: cadaver dissections could be easily documented in 3D, and specimens stored in museums could be easily scanned and the 3D models shared. In the present article, a simple, versatile, economical and widespread 3D scanner, the Kinect sensor, is validated to show its potential use for 3D scanning of anatomical specimens. The comparison of 3D models of anatomical specimens (a collection of skulls) with the respective 2D photographs showed that 3D models were superior to the photographs, the latter being affected by some distortions due to perspective. Moreover, the 3D models allowed for measuring angles, distances, circumferences between every part of the model, or measuring volumes and surfaces, which, of course, were not available using the 2D images. Due to the low cost of this system, its simplicity of use and its widespread availability, it is desirable that in the future, anatomical specimens from museums will become more available as 3D objects. These could greatly simplify the quantitative analysis of rare specimens, such as fetal monstrosities or anatomical variations

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