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Introduction: Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is a pathologic condition characterized by Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), insulin resistance, abdominal obesity, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Until now, specific drugs such as metformin (MET) have been used to address its individual components; however, according to the recommendation of WHO, various plant extracts might be used as alternative medicines due to the side effects of pharmacologic agents. Policaptil Gel Retard® (PGR), a macromolecule complex based on polysaccharides which slows down the absorption rates of carbohydrates and fats, proved effective against glucose abnormalities. Our study aimed to verify the short-term efficacy and safety of PGR under real-life conditions. Methods: We evaluated both the 6-month changes in metabolic parameters in Italian patients with MS and T2DM, and the 10-year CV risk score (10-y-CV-RS) from the CUORE equation, competitively randomized to Policaptil Gel Retard (2172 mg before each main meal); Group A, n = 75, or Metformin (1500–2000 mg/day equally divided between the two main meals), and Group B, n = 75. Results: Fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c decreased significantly and similarly (p < 0.001) in the two groups. A significant decrease in BMI (−20% in the PGR group (p < 0.01), −14.3% in the MET group (p < 0.05)), % visceral fat, and UA levels was also apparent in both groups (p < 0.01). The opposite occurred for lipid profile, which improved significantly in the PGR group but remained unchanged in the MET group. Consequently, only the PGR group experienced a significant decrease in the 10-y-CV-RS (31.4 ± 8.0 vs. 19.7 ± 5.2, p < 0.0001), whereas this remained unchanged in the MET group (32.2 ± 3.3 vs. 30.5 ± 8.7; p n.s.). Conclusions: PGR could represent a suitable alternative to MET as a first-line treatment option, especially now that an ever-increasing number of people prefer natural products based on plant extracts. This is particularly pertinent given that, besides trying to avoid gastrointestinal side-effects as much as possible, patients might be sensitive to ecotoxicology-related problems involving plants and animals caused by the worldwide spread of environmental MET metabolites.

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is known to be associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. Over time, the CV Risk of patients with T2DM has been assessed according to various methods, often borrowed from different populations. Nevertheless, never have been evaluated changes in insulin absorption due to improper injection technique and responsible for further, well recognized CV-R factors as high glycemic variability, frequent hypoglycemia, and unsatisfactory glycemic control. Aim of the study was to intensify diabetes and its own comorbidities treatment, and in addition reduce the impact of injection technique of insulin to evaluate possible improvement in the CV-R score and NHYA score in 4499 insulin-treated T2DM subjects with (LH+) and without lipohypertrophy (LH-) due to improper injection habit. The educational training and the treatment intensification significantly reduced glycemic control, hypoglycemia rate and the mean amplitude of glycemic variability, expecially in LH+ subjects, adding new knowledge to a global intervention addressed to reduce the devastating impact to the increased cardiovascular risk of diabetic people, inclusive of the risk due to LHs

The history of insulin-induced skin lipohypertrophy (LH) runs parallel to that of insulin's 100 years, and an average of 47% of insulin-treated patients still suffer from it today. The metabolic and economic effects of LH are significant, with hypoglycemia being the most striking. The objective of the study was to perform a 52-week follow-up of 713 insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and LH to detect any differences in the occurrence of hypoglycemic events (HYPOs) and related healthcare costs as well as in LH rates and injection habits between an intensive education intervention group (IG) and control group (CG) provided with a single educational session at the starting point.All participants were trained in accurately self-monitoring blood glucose and recording all HYPOs for 6 months, which allowed baseline recordings before they were randomized into the IG, comprising 395 insulin-treated subjects undergoing repeated, structured multimodal education on correct injection techniques as a longstanding behavioral rehabilitation strategy, and the CG, comprising 318 subjects receiving the same structured, multimodal educational session, but only initially.Changes in LH rate and size and in performance were large in the IG and only slight and transient in the CG. A striking difference in the rate of decrease of HYPOs was also apparent between groups. Indeed, estimated costs of health interventions for severe and symptomatic HYPOs, which were on the order of €70,000 and €9300, respectively, in the two groups at baseline decreased by 5.9 times and 13.7 times, respectively, at the end of follow-up in the IG and by only approximately half in the CG. Full details of the changes occurring as a result of intensive education are provided in the text.The effect of only initial education in the CG was not significant, thus providing evidence of the virtual worthlessness of a single training session on injection techniques, typical of worldwide daily clinical practice, and easily explaining the extremely high prevalence of LH in insulin-treated patients. Conversely, highly positive effects on LH prevalence and size as well as costs expected from decreased HYPO rate were obtained in the IG. To our knowledge, ours is the first 18-month randomized trial in the field. If our experimental model were to be used as an effective, longstanding behavioral rehabilitation strategy and therefore adapted to real-world settings universally, LH prevalence and costs related to their clinical consequences would be drastically reduced. However, only with a strong, relentless commitment of universities, scientific societies, and patient associations can we achieve this ambitious goal, which would provide great institutional savings and improved quality of life for people with diabetes.

The aim of the present research is to test an integrated framework between the data obtained from the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), a handheld thermographic camera (Infrared thermography) and the Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS). Piscina Mirabilis, in the city of Naples, becomes the benchmark to generate a comprehensive database, including a clear geometrical definition of the thermal variations of the wall surfaces by texturing the IR images directly on the RGB mesh surfaces. To measure the performance of mapping, the present research compared the quality of information by using 3D processing algorithms to optimise final the result.