Bibliometric analysis of intestinal microbiota in diabetic nephropathy.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to use bibliometrics to explore the research overview and research hotspots. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The relevant literature on intestinal flora and diabetic nephropathy in the Web of Science Core Collection was sorted out, and VOSviewer, CiteSpace, Scimago Graphica and other software were used to conduct data visualization analysis on the number of publications, countries, institutions, journals, authors, keywords and citations. RESULTS: A total of 124 relevant literatures were included. From 2015 to 2022, the number of published papers increased every year. The countries, institutions and journals that published the most articles in this field are China, Isfahan University Medical Science and Frontiers in Pharmacology. Liu Bicheng and Mirlohi Maryam are the authors with the most published articles in this field. The main keywords of research in this field are obesity, inflammation, oxidative stress, indoxyl sulfate, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and Chinese herbal medicine. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first bibliometric analysis of diabetic nephropathy and gut microbiota, reporting hot spots and emerging trends. Obesity, inflammation, oxidative stress, indoxyl sulfate, SCFAs and Chinese herbal medicine are the main keywords of current research, and SCFAs and Chinese herbal medicine may be the hotspots of future research.

[Prevalence of obesity and its association with dietary patterns: a cohort study among Tibetan pastoralists in Qinghai Province].

Objectives: To explore obesity prevalence and its association with dietary patterns among Tibetan pastoralists during the urbanization transition in Qinghai Province. Methods: Using an open cohort study design, 1 003 subjects were enrolled at baseline in 2018, 599 were followed up, and 1 012 were newly recruited in 2022. A total of 1 913 adults over 18 years were included in the study, and a questionnaire survey and health examination were conducted. Factor analysis was used to identify dietary patterns, and a mixed-effects model was used to analyze the association between dietary patterns and obesity. Results: From 2018 to 2022, the prevalence rates of overweight, obesity, and central obesity were 27.6%, 33.8%, and 54.6%, respectively. Age-sex-standardized prevalence of obesity and central obesity increased. Three dietary patterns were identified: the modern pattern was characterized by frequent consumption of pork, poultry, processed meat, fresh fruits, sugary drinks, salty snacks, etcetera; the urban pattern was characterized by frequent consumption of refined carbohydrates, beef and mutton, vegetables and eggs, etcetera; and pastoral pattern featured frequent consumption of tsamba, Tibetan cheese, buttered/milk tea, and whole-fat dairy products. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, and lifestyle factors, compared with the T1, subjects in the T3 of urban pattern scores were more likely to be overweight (OR=2.09, 95%CI: 1.10-3.95) and overweight/obese (OR=1.23, 95%CI: 1.00-1.51), whereas those in the T3 of pastoral pattern scores had a lower risk of overweight (OR=0.45, 95%CI: 0.24-0.84), obesity (OR=0.81, 95%CI: 0.69-0.95), overweight/obesity (OR=0.75, 95%CI: 0.61-0.91) and central obesity (OR=0.58, 95%CI: 0.38-0.89). Conclusions: Prevalence of obesity and central obesity was high among Tibetan pastoralists during the urbanization transition. Urban dietary pattern was a risk factor for overweight and overweight/obesity, whereas pastoral dietary pattern was a protective factor for overweight, obesity, overweight/obesity, and central obesity. Tailored interventions are needed to improve local people's health.

Is tirzepatide 15 mg the preferred treatment strategy for type 2 diabetes? A meta-analysis and trial-sequence-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to evaluate tirzepatide's efficacy and safety in treating type 2 diabetes by meta-analysis and trial-sequential-analysis (TSA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight databases were searched for clinical trials on tirzepatide for type 2 diabetes with a time limit of November 2022. Revman5.3 and TSA 0.9.5.10 Beta were selected for meta-analysis and TSA. RESULTS: Compared with placebo, the meta-analysis demonstrated that tirzepatide 15 mg reduced hemoglobin-type-A1C (HbA1c) (p<0.00001), fasting-serum-glucose (FSG) (p<0.00001), and weight (p<0.00001). Compared with insulin, tirzepatide 15 mg reduced HbA1c (p<0.00001), FSG (p<0.00007), and weight (p<0.00001). Compared with glucagon-like-peptide-1 receptor-agonist (GLP-1 RA), tirzepatide 15 mg reduced HbA1c (p=0.00004), FSG (p=0.001), and weight (p<0.00001). In safety endpoints, the meta-analysis revealed that adverse events (AEs) of placebo, insulin and GLP-1 RA were comparable to tirzepatide 15 mg. The total AEs (p=0.02) and gastrointestinal (GI) AEs (p=0.03) were higher in tirzepatide 15 mg than in the placebo, while hypoglycemia (<54 mg/dl) was comparable. The major adverse cardiovascular events-4 (MACE-4) (p=0.03) and hypoglycemia (<54 mg/dl) (p<0.00001) of tirzepatide 15 mg were lower when compared to insulin, while total AEs (p=0.03) were increased. Compared with GLP-1 RA, tirzepatide 15 mg was comparable in safety endpoints in total AEs and GI AEs, while hypoglycemia (<54 mg/dl) (p=0.04) was higher. TSA indicated that HgA1c, FSG, and weight benefits were conclusive. In safety endpoints, only MACE-4 and hypoglycemia (<54 mg/dl) of Tirzepatide 15 mg vs. Insulin were conclusive. Harbord regression of AEs suggested no evident publication bias (p=0.618). CONCLUSIONS: Tirzepatide 15 mg reduced HbA1c and weight more effectively than placebo, insulin, and GLP-1 RA. Total AEs were higher than placebo and insulin but comparable to GLP-1 RA. Tirzepatide 15 mg is a kind of optimal strategy to treat type 2 diabetes. However, there is a need to focus on GI AEs.

The visfatin gene is associated with glucose and lipid metabolism in a Chinese population.

AIMS: Visfatin is a newly discovered adipokine found in abundance in visceral fat. It lowers plasma glucose in humans and mice. In this study, we explored the relationships between the plasma level of visfatin and genetic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and anthropometric and metabolic parameters in Chinese subjects. METHODS: Oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) and biochemical assays for plasma insulin, lipid profiles and serum visfatin were performed in 241 newly diagnosed T2DM patients, subjects with impaired glucose regulation (IGR), and normal glucose tolerant subjects more than 40 years of age. Genotyping for three SNP loci: -1535C/T, rs2058539 and rs10953502 were performed using the allele-specific real-time PCR method. RESULTS: Visfatin levels were similar in T2DM patients, IGR and normal glucose tolerant subjects. However, visfatin levels were significantly lower in obese than normal-weight subjects (13.66 +/- 0.87 vs. 15.46 +/- 0.47 ng/ml, P = 0.03). There was suggestively significant correlation between visfatin level and body mass index (r = -0.17 P = 0.07) and waist-hip ratio (r = 0.16 P = 0.08) in male subjects, but not in female subjects. Allele and common haplotype frequencies of the three SNP loci were similar in T2DM patients, IGR and normal glucose tolerant subjects. However, significant associations were found between these three SNP loci and plasma glucose concentration at 0 and 120 min during OGTT, the area under the response curve for plasma glucose, and triglyceride and total cholesterol levels. CONCLUSIONS: Serum visfatin levels may be related to visceral obesity in men, and the visfatin gene may account for variation of glucose and lipid parameters in Chinese subjects.

Relationship of total body fatness and five anthropometric indices in Chinese aged 20-40 years: different effects of age and gender.

OBJECTIVES: We aim to evaluate the ethnic-specific relationship of total fat mass and anthropometric indices in Chinese. DESIGN: Cross-section study. SETTING: This study was performed at the College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, P.R. China. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: To increase our understanding of the relationship of total fat mass and anthropometric indices in Chinese, 793 females and 1091 males aged 20-40 years were randomly recruited from Changsha city of P. R. China. Hip circumference (HC) and waist circumference (WC) were measured using standardized equipments, and other three anthropometric indices of body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and conicity index (CI) were calculated using weight, height, HC and WC. Total body fatness (TBF) in kg was measured using a Hologic QDR 4500 W dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scanner. RESULTS: There was an increasing trend of TBF, %TBF (percent total body fatness) and the five anthropometric indices in successively older age groups. Compared with females, males generally had high average BMI, WC, HC, WHR and CI, but had low average TBF and %TBF. Except for some correlations in 25-29 years age groups, TBF and %TBF were significantly correlated with five anthropometric indices with the Pearson's correlation coefficients ranging from 0.07 to 0.87. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to form four principal components (PCs) that interpreted over 99% of the total variation of the five related anthropometric indices in all age groups, with over 53% of the total variation accounted for by the PC1. Multiple regression analyses showed that four PCs combined explained a greater variance (R (2)=55.2-80.8%) in TBF than did BMI alone (R (2)=40-74.9%). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that there is an increasing trend of total fat mass and five anthropometric indices with aging; that age and sex have the important effects on influencing the correlations of TBF and the studied anthropometric indices; and that the accuracy of predicting the TBF using five anthropometric indices is higher than using BMI alone.

No evidence for linkage and/or association of human alpha2-HS glycoprotein gene with bone mineral density variation in Chinese nuclear families.

Osteoporosis is an important health problem in the world. Alpha2-HS glycoprotein (AHSG) is involved in bone formation and metabolism and has been considered as an important candidate gene for osteoporosis. In this study, we simultaneously tested linkage and/or association of the AHSG gene with the variation of bone mineral density (BMD), an important risk factor for osteoporosis. A sample of 1,260 subjects from 401 Chinese nuclear families (including both parents and their daughters) were studied. The daughters' ages ranged from 20 to 45 years. All the subjects were genotyped by PCR-RFLP (polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism) at polymorphic Sac I site inside the exon 7 of the AHSG gene. This polymorphism involves a nucleotide substitution of C to G at the middle nucleotide of the codon at amino acid position 238, resulting in the replacement of threonine (ACC) with serine (AGC). BMD was measured at the lumbar spine and hip region by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Using the QTDT (quantitative trait transmission disequilibrium test), we found no significant results for association or linkage between the AHSG gene and BMD variation at the spine or hip. Our data provided no evidence to support the AHSG gene as a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for the BMD variation in a Chinese population.