OBJECTIVETo investigate the association between neck circumference and central obesity, overweight, and metabolic syndrome in Chinese individuals with type 2 diabetes.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSA total of 3,182 diabetic subjects (aged 20–80 years) were recruited from 15 community health centers in Beijing using a multistage random sampling approach.RESULTSReceiver operating characteristic analysis showed that the area under the curve for neck circumference and central obesity was 0.77 for men and 0.75 for women (P < 0.001). Furthermore, a neck circumference of ≥38 cm for men and ≥35 cm for women was the best cutoff point for determining overweight subjects. A neck circumference of ≥39 cm for men and ≥35 cm for women was the best cutoff point to determine subjects with metabolic syndrome.CONCLUSIONSIn the present study, neck circumference is positively related with BMI, waist circumference, and metabolic syndrome in Chinese individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Visfatin and apelin are two novel adipocyte- secreted hormone proposed to link obesity with insulin resistance. In this study we investigated whether plasma visfatin and apelin levels were altered in normal, impaired glucose tolerance, and type 2 diabetic subjects. We also assessed the association between plasma visfatin, or apelin and body composition, metabolic parameters, and resistin concentrations in these subjects. The visfatin levels of fasting and 2-h post-glucose load were found to be significantly decreased in diabetics compared with the controls ( P<0.05). In contrast, basal apelin levels were significantly increased in the IGT and diabetic subjects compared with the controls ( P<0.05 and P<0.01). The apelin levels of 2-h post-glucose load were significantly higher than the basal levels in every group (all P<0.05). Fasting plasma visfatin was found to correlate positively and significantly with BMI, WHR, and fasting plasma resistin, but negatively with HbA1c and 2 h OGTT glucose. Multiple regression analysis showed that WHR, HbA1c, 2 h OGTT glucose were independent related factors influencing plasma visfatin levels. Fasting plasma apelin levels correlated positively with HOMA-IR, BMI, TC, LDL-C, FBG and Fasting plasma insulin. Multiple regression analysis also showed that HOMA-IR, BMI, and TC were independent related factors influencing plasma apelin levels. The present work indicates the potential link of visfatin and apelin with the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and T2DM.

BackgroundCetacea (dolphins, porpoises, and whales) is a clade of aquatic species that includes the most massive, deepest diving, and largest brained mammals. Understanding the temporal pattern of diversification in the group as well as the evolution of cetacean anatomy and behavior requires a robust and well-resolved phylogenetic hypothesis. Although a large body of molecular data has accumulated over the past 20 years, DNA sequences of cetaceans have not been directly integrated with the rich, cetacean fossil record to reconcile discrepancies among molecular and morphological characters.ResultsWe combined new nuclear DNA sequences, including segments of six genes (~2800 basepairs) from the functionally extinct Yangtze River dolphin, with an expanded morphological matrix and published genomic data. Diverse analyses of these data resolved the relationships of 74 taxa that represent all extant families and 11 extinct families of Cetacea. The resulting supermatrix (61,155 characters) and its sub-partitions were analyzed using parsimony methods. Bayesian and maximum likelihood (ML) searches were conducted on the molecular partition, and a molecular scaffold obtained from these searches was used to constrain a parsimony search of the morphological partition. Based on analysis of the supermatrix and model-based analyses of the molecular partition, we found overwhelming support for 15 extant clades. When extinct taxa are included, we recovered trees that are significantly correlated with the fossil record. These trees were used to reconstruct the timing of cetacean diversification and the evolution of characters shared by "river dolphins," a non-monophyletic set of species according to all of our phylogenetic analyses.ConclusionsThe parsimony analysis of the supermatrix and the analysis of morphology constrained to fit the ML/Bayesian molecular tree yielded broadly congruent phylogenetic hypotheses. In trees from both analyses, all Oligocene taxa included in our study fell outside crown Mysticeti and crown Odontoceti, suggesting that these two clades radiated in the late Oligocene or later, contra some recent molecular clock studies. Our trees also imply that many character states shared by river dolphins evolved in their oceanic ancestors, contradicting the hypothesis that these characters are convergent adaptations to fluvial habitats.

We conclude that circulating Sfrp5 is likely to play a major role in insulin resistance in humans.