Vitamin D has been widely studied for its implications on type 2 diabetes mellitus, a chronic condition characterized by insulin resistance, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction. This review explores the molecular mechanisms underpinning vitamin D’s effects on glucose metabolism, inflammation, and adipogenesis, while assessing its potential clinical applications in type 2 diabetes. In its 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 form, vitamin D modulates various metabolic processes, affecting proinflammatory cytokines and activating the AMPK pathway, inhibiting mTOR signaling, and promoting adipocyte differentiation. These effects enhance insulin sensitivity and reduce chronic inflammation, key contributors to metabolic dysfunction. In this context, the progression of prediabetes has been linked to vitamin D, which limits pathological progression and increases the likelihood of restoring a normal metabolic state, crucial in diabetes progression. Moreover, vitamin D has been reported to reduce the likelihood of developing diabetes by 15%, particularly in doses higher than the traditional recommendations for bone health. Despite promising evidence, discrepancies in study designs, serum vitamin D measurements, and population-specific factors highlight the need for standardized methodologies and personalized approaches. In conclusion, vitamin D has complementary therapeutic potential in treating type 2 diabetes, revealing gaps in research, such as optimal dosing and long-term effects across populations. Future studies should integrate molecular insights into clinical practice to optimize vitamin D’s impact on metabolic health.

La participación de los estudiantes es vital en los procesos de enseñanza - aprendizaje, adquiriendo mayor relevancia en entornos virtuales de aprendizaje. Sin embargo, en las experiencias de clases online se ha demostrado que existe baja interacción durante las clases sincrónicas, entre estudiantes y docente, y entre los mismos estudiantes. Por ello, esta investigación tiene como propósito identificar los factores que intervienen en la interacción de los estudiantes de la carrera Bibliotecología y Documentación, de la Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana, en las clases online sincrónicas. Para ello, se utilizó como instrumento de recolección de datos, un cuestionario con preguntas abiertas y cerradas, aplicándose a una muestra de 103 alumnos regulares de la carrera, de un universo de 155 estudiantes. Los resultados demostraron que la participación activa de los estudiantes en las clases online sincrónicas se ve afectada por factores internos y externos al educando, entre ellos aspectos personales, motivacionales y medioambientales.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a complex metabolic disorder characterized by insulin resistance, chronic low-grade inflammation, and progressive metabolic dysfunction affecting multiple organs. This review explores the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying T2DM, emphasizing the role of intracellular metabolic signaling pathways, mitochondrial function, and inter-organ communication in the development and progression of metabolic dysregulation. Particular attention is given to key regulatory pathways such as AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), which play central roles in cellular energy sensing, glucose metabolism, and lipid homeostasis. Dysregulation of these pathways contributes to impaired insulin signaling, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and altered adipogenesis, all of which are critical factors in the pathophysiology of T2DM. In addition, growing evidence highlights the importance of metabolic crosstalk between skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, liver, pancreas, and the gut microbiota through signaling molecules including adipokines, myokines, hepatokines, and gut-derived metabolites. These inter-organ networks influence systemic inflammation, metabolic flexibility, and glucose homeostasis. Lifestyle factors such as physical activity, nutritional patterns, and micronutrient status have also been shown to modulate these molecular pathways, improving mitochondrial function and insulin sensitivity while reducing inflammatory signaling. Despite significant advances in understanding the molecular basis of T2DM, important challenges remain, including heterogeneity in disease progression and variability in individual metabolic responses. In conclusion, T2DM should be understood as a multisystem metabolic disorder driven by complex interactions between molecular signaling pathways and systemic metabolic regulation. Future research integrating molecular mechanisms with clinical and lifestyle interventions may help develop more effective strategies for prevention and treatment.

VUCA is an acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, used to describe an environment that defies confident predictions. An example of this environment is the Covid-19 pandemic, which has created uncertainty worldwide because it is an unknown and highly contagious disease that neither society nor institutions were prepared to face. This article aims to describe the scientific production of VUCA to understand its main research focus. This research analyzes 105 documents from the Web of Science (WoS) database using Bibliometrics and Content Analysis. The bibliometric analysis reported several production indexes: annual, personal, national, institutional, and journal productivity. The content analysis analyzed 95 article abstracts in nineteen clusters selected by comparing two clustering methods, Latent Dirichlet Allocation and K-Means, using the coherence and silhouette indices, respectively. VUCA is an emerging topic with increased scientific production in the last four years. However, there are no major producers to date. The most frequent topics are management, leadership, and change, where several works emphasize the role of the leader in dealing with change. The literature has focused on understanding the skills needed to cope with a VUCA environment and how to teach them. In addition, the use of two methods based on machine learning techniques to estimate the number of clusters of scientific papers is highlighted as an alternative to splitting articles into topics when the dataset is small. VUCA es un acrónimo de volatilidad, incertidumbre, complejidad y ambigüedad que se utiliza de diversas formas para describir un entorno que desafía las predicciones seguras. Un ejemplo de este entorno es la pandemia por Covid-19, la cual ha instalado un contexto de incertidumbre a nivel mundial, por tratarse de una enfermedad desconocida y altamente contagiosa, para la cual, ni la sociedad ni las instituciones se encontraban preparadas para afrontar. El propósito de este artículo es describir la producción científica de VUCA para entender su principal enfoque de investigación. Esta investigación analiza 105 documentos de la base de datos Web of Science (WoS) mediante Bibliometría y Análisis de Contenido. El análisis bibliométrico reportó varios índices de producción: anual, personal, nacional, institucionalidad y productividad de las revistas. El análisis de contenido analizó 95 resúmenes de artículos en diecinueve clusters seleccionados por comparación de dos métodos de clustering Latent Dirichlet Allocation y K-Means, utilizando los índices de coherencia y silueta respectivamente. Se encontró que VUCA es un tema emergente con una mayor producción científica en los últimos cuatro años. Sin embargo, no hay grandes productores a la fecha. Los temas más frecuentes son la gestión, el liderazgo y el cambio, donde varias investigaciones hacen hincapié en el papel del líder a la hora de afrontar los cambios. La literatura se ha centrado en la comprensión de las habilidades necesarias para hacer frente a un entorno VUCA y en cómo enseñarlas. Además, se destaca el uso de dos métodos basados en técnicas de aprendizaje automático para estimar la cantidad de grupos de trabajos científicos, como una alternativa para dividir artículos en tópicos cuando el set de datos es pequeño.

Objectives: Interval block resistance training (IBRT) and circuit resistance training (CRT) are periodization models aimed at enhancing neuromuscular and metabolic adaptations. This study aims to evaluate the effects of a 12-week IBRT program compared to CRT on body composition, muscle strength, speed, functional capacity, and autonomic recovery in young Chilean adults. Methods: A randomized, parallel, double-blind study was conducted with 30 participants assigned to IBRT (n = 15) or CRT (n = 15). Assessments included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, right-hand grip strength, the running anaerobic sprint test (RAST), the 6 min walk test (6 MWT), and heart rate variability (HRV) indices: low-frequency to high-frequency ratio (LF/HF) and root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD, a time-domain HRV metric reflecting parasympathetic activity). Statistical analyses included t-tests and ANCOVA. Results: Groups were similar in age (IBRT: 25.2 ± 3.19; CRT: 23.27 ± 3.69, p = 0.14) and BMI (IBRT: 21.56 ± 2.22; CRT: 22.36 ± 1.70 kg/m², p = 0.40). Both groups improved significantly in waist circumference (IBRT: −1.85%; CRT: −2.37%), grip strength (IBRT: +5.47%; CRT: +4.02%), RAST (IBRT: −2.67%; CRT: −1.04%), 6 MWT (IBRT: +4.53%; CRT: +2.17%), LF/HF (IBRT: −11.43%; CRT: −5.11%), and RMSSD (IBRT: +5.36%; CRT: +3.81%) (all p ≤ 0.01). IBRT produced significantly greater gains in 6 MWT (B = 19.51, 95% CI: 0.79 to 38.23, p = 0.04). Conclusions: Both IBRT and CRT effectively improved body composition, muscle strength, speed, functional capacity, and autonomic recovery. However, IBRT demonstrated a superior effect on aerobic capacity.