The role of remnant cholesterol beyond low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Previous research has linked elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and remnant cholesterol (RC) with diabetes mellitus (DM). The present study aims to estimate the RC-related DM risk beyond LDL-C, and to investigate the extent to which the association of RC and DM is mediated via insulin resistance and inflammation. METHODS: We enrolled 7308 individuals without previous history of DM into the present study from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Fasting RC was calculated as total cholesterol minus LDL-C and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Subjects were divided into four groups according to their LDL-C (100 mg/dL) and RC (24 mg/dL) levels to evaluate the role of LDL-C vs. RC on DM. A logistic regression analysis was then employed to evaluate the relationships between the discordant/concordant LDL-C and RC and DM. A mediation analysis was undertaken to identify potential mediators. RESULTS: Of all the participants, a total of 625 (8.55%) patients were newly diagnosed with DM. Compared to the high LDL-C/low RC group, the low LDL-C/high RC group was more common in DM patients. After a multivariate adjustment, elevated LDL-C and RC were associated with DM. Moreover, the low LDL-C/high RC group and the high LDL-C/low RC group manifested a 4.04-fold (95% CI 2.93-5.56) and 1.61-fold (95% CI 1.21-2.15) higher risk of DM, relative to those with low LDL-C/low RC. The subgroup analysis indicated that low LDL-C/high RC was more likely to be related to DM in females. Similar results were also shown when the sensitivity analyses were performed with different clinical cut-points of LDL-C. Insulin resistance and inflammation partially mediated the association between RC and DM. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provided evidence for RC beyond the LDL-C associations with DM that may be mediated via insulin resistance and the pro-inflammatory state. In addition, women are more susceptible to RC exposure-related DM.

Impacts of various amendments on the microbial communities and soil organic carbon of coastal saline-alkali soil in the Yellow River Delta.

The utilization of industrial and agricultural resources, such as desulfurization gypsum and straw, is increasingly favored to improve saline alkali land. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive study on the mechanism of organic carbon turnover under the conditions of desulfurization gypsum and straw application. We studied the changes in soil chemical performance, microbial diversity, and microbial community structure in soils with the addition of various levels of straw (no straw, S0; low straw, Sl; medium straw, Sm; and high straw, Sh) and gypsum (no gypsum, DG0; low gypsum, DGl; and high gypsum, DGh) in a 120-day incubation experiment. The bacterial and fungal community richness was higher in the SmDGl treatment than in the SmDG0 treatment. The microbial community evenness showed a similar pattern between the SmDGl and SmDG0 treatments. The combination of the straw and desulfurization gypsum treatments altered the relative abundance of the main bacterial phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes and the dominant fungal class Sordariomycetes, which increased with the enhancement of the SOC ratio. The combination of the straw and desulfurization gypsum treatments, particularly SmDGl, significantly decreased the soil pH and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), while it increased the soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, and activities of soil enzymes. Improvement in the soil salinization environment clearly drove the changes in bacterial α-diversity and community, particularly those in the soil carbon fractions and ESP. In conclusion, these findings provide a strong framework to determine the impact of application practices on soil restoration, and the information gained in this study will help to develop more sustainable and effective integrated strategies for the restoration of saline-alkali soil.