Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a pregnancy complication, is defined as any degree of glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency has recently been recognized as a contributing factor to the pathogenesis of GDM, and this link might be associated with hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and inflammation, which are implicated in GDM. Objectives: This study aims at investigating the relationship between vitamin D, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), insulin, zinc, ferritin, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) in GDM. Method: A case-control study in which 80 women attending the antenatal clinic of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria, were recruited; the women were grouped into controls (40 nondiabetic pregnant women) and cases (40 pregnant women with GDM). Blood samples were taken at the second trimester, and metabolites were quantified by standard laboratory methods. Student's t test and Pearson correlation were used to compare variables and determine the relationship between variables, respectively. Results: Results showed significant (p < 0.05) low levels of serum vitamin D and zinc, and significant (p < 0.05) higher levels of FPG and serum insulin, ferritin, and CRP in the GDM group compared to the control group. In the GDM group, a positive weak relationship

Highlights of the Study• Renal function status of the children was assessed using urine albumin creatinine ratio and urine human neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin. • This study shows that kidney injury possibly begins early in childhood in sickle cell individuals and that albumin creatinine ratio is more sensitive than urine human neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in assessing renal injury in this age group. • Findings of this study further emphasize the importance of periodic renal evaluations in sickle cell children, for early identification of those at risk of kidney injury.

There is current great international concern about the contribution of environmental pollution to the global burden of disease particularly in the developing, low- and medium-income countries. Industrial activities, urbanization, developmental projects as well as various increased anthropogenic activities involving the improper generation, management and disposal of pollutants have rendered today’s environment highly polluted with various pollutants. These pollutants include toxic metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides and diesel exhaust particles most of which appear to be ubiquitous as well as have long-term environmental persistence with a wide range of toxicities such as oxidative stress among others. Oxidative stress, which may arise from increased production of damaging free radicals emanating from increased pollutant burden and depressed bioavailability of antioxidant defenses causes altered biochemical and physiological mechanisms and has been implicated in all known human pathologies most of which are chronic. Oxidative stress also affects both flora and fauna and plants are very important components of the terrestrial environment and significant contributors of nutrients for both man and animals. It is also remarkable that the aquatic environment in which sea animals and creatures are resident is also highly polluted, leading to aquatic stress that may affect the survival of the aquatic animals, sharing in the oxidative stress. These altered terrestrial and aquatic environments have an overarching effect on human health. Antioxidants neutralize the damaging free radicals thus, they play important protective roles in the onset, progression and severity of the unmitigated generation of pollutants that ultimately manifest as oxidative stress. Consequently, human health as well as that of aquatic and terrestrial organisms may be protected from environmental pollution by mitigating oxidative stress and employing the principles of nutritional medicine, essentially based on antioxidants derived mainly from plants, which serve as the panacea of the vicious state of environmental pollutants consequently, the health of the population. Understanding the total picture of oxidative stress and integrating the terrestrial and aquatic effects of environmental pollutants are central to sustainable health of the population and appear to require multi-sectoral collaborations from diverse disciplinary perspectives; basically the environmental, agricultural and health sectors.

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases significantly contribute to medical morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. Insulin resistance, a characteristic finding of type 2 diabetics and their offspring, is associated with an abnormal lipid metabolism and cardiovascular disease. <b><i>Aims:</i></b> This study therefore aims to determine the pattern of lipid biomarkers of atherogenesis and their relationship with insulin resistance index in young people with a family history of diabetes mellitus. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This is a cross-sectional study carried out among 150 apparently healthy young adults between 18 and 25 years of age, including 76 with a family history of diabetes mellitus in first- and/or second-degree relatives (YWFH) and 74 with no family history of diabetes mellitus (YWoFH). Anthropometric characteristics, insulin resistance index, plasma glucose, fasting lipid profile (plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides [TG], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and serum levels of insulin, lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], apolipoprotein B (ApoB), apolipoprotein A-1 (ApoA-1), and ApoB/ApoA-1 ratios were compared in the 2 groups. Plasma glucose, total cholesterol, high-density cholesterol, and TG were measured using standard methods. The Friedewald equation was used to calculate low-density cholesterol. Serum insulin, Lp(a) levels, ApoB, and ApoA-1 were also measured using standard assays. The insulin resistance index was determined using homeostatic model assessment (HOMA). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0. Comparisons between variables were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, and correlations between variables were performed using Spearman rank correlation coefficients. The level of significance was set at <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Offspring of diabetics (YWFH) had a significantly higher median BMI (<i>p</i> = 0.015), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR; <i>p</i> = 0.002), insulin resistance index (<i>p</i> = 0.038), total cholesterol (<i>p</i> = 0.017), TG (<i>p</i> = 0.004), Lp(a) (<i>p</i> = 0.045), ApoB (<i>p</i> = 0.002), and ApoB/ApoA-1 ratio (<i>p</i> = 0.001) than the age-matched control group with no family history of diabetes mellitus (YWoFH). There was no correlation between the insulin resistance index and each of the lipid biomarkers of atherogenesis except Lp(a), with which it was negatively correlated. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> This study demonstrates that a positive family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with a higher insulin resistance index and elevated atherogenic lipid indices; thus, a positive family history of diabetes mellitus in first or second-degree relatives when the index person is not diabetic confirms a significant cardiovascular risk.