Trace elements in glucometabolic disorders: an update

Many trace elements, among which metals, are indispensable for proper functioning of a myriad of biochemical reactions, more particularly as enzyme cofactors. This is particularly true for the vast set of processes involved in regulation of glucose homeostasis, being it in glucose metabolism itself or in hormonal control, especially insulin. The role and importance of trace elements such as chromium, zinc, selenium, lithium and vanadium are much less evident and subjected to chronic debate. This review updates our actual knowledge concerning these five trace elements. A careful survey of the literature shows that while theoretical postulates from some key roles of these elements had led to real hopes for therapy of insulin resistance and diabetes, the limited experience based on available data indicates that beneficial effects and use of most of them are subjected to caution, given the narrow window between safe and unsafe doses. Clear therapeutic benefit in these pathologies is presently doubtful but some data indicate that these metals may have a clinical interest in patients presenting deficiencies in individual metal levels. The same holds true for an association of some trace elements such as chromium or zinc with oral antidiabetics. However, this area is essentially unexplored in adequate clinical trials, which are worth being performed

Packages of Care for Schizophrenia in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

In the third in a series of six articles on packages of care for mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries, Jair Mari and colleagues discuss the treatment of schizophrenia

An experimental and modeling study of synthesis, consolidation and aging behavior of AA2014 composite reinforced by TiB2 via powder metallurgy method

Aluminum 2014 alloy composite reinforced with TiB2 particulates with different volume% of TiB2 (5, 10 and 15%) has been successfully synthesized by P/M route. The composite powders were consolidated by cold uniaxial compaction pressure followed by sintering at 590 °C in N2 atmosphere. The Al 2014–TiB2 composites were aged at 160 °C between 0 and 8 h followed by microstructural characterization and hardness evaluation. Scheil cooling and equilibrium calculations were performed using FactSage for qualitative understanding of the microstructural evolution during sintering and aging operations. In addition, the thermo-physical properties such as hardness, density and transverse rupture strength of the sintered samples were evaluated.Rana Pratap Singh, Gaurav Kumar Gupta and Manas Paliwa