Background and Aims: Resistin is involved in the development of obesity and insulin resistance (IR) in mice and may play a similar role in humans through mechanisms that remain unresolved. The objective of this study was to characterize the relationship between resistin levels in obese subjects with and without IR among Hispanic subjects. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 117 nondiabetic Hispanic subjects of both genders that were allocated into three study groups: A control group (n = 47) of otherwise healthy individuals in metabolic balance, a group with obesity (OB) (n = 36), and a group with obesity and IR (OB-IR) (n = 34). Anthropometric and clinical characterization was carried out, and resistin levels were determined by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: We found that resistin levels were higher in OB and OB-IR groups when compared to the control group (1331.79 -142.15 pg/mL, 1266.28 -165.97 pg/mL vs. 959.21 -171.43 pg/mL; P < 0.05), an effect that was not confounded by age (control, 34.04 -10.00 years; OB, 37.30 -10.78 years; and OB-IR, 35.67 -10.15 years). In addition, we observed a significant correlation (P < 0.001) between resistin levels and higher adiposity and insulin sensitivity (IS) in our cohort. Conclusions: Our results suggest that higher resistin levels are associated with higher adiposity and lower IS among obese Hispanic subjects.

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Urinary albumin excretion remains the key biomarker to detect renal complications in type 2 diabetes. As diabetes epidemy increases, particularly in low-income countries, efficient and low-cost methods to measure urinary albumin are needed. In this pilot study, we evaluated the performance of Raman spectroscopy in the assessment of urinary albumin in patients with type 2 diabetes. The spectral Raman analysis of albumin was performed using artificial urine, at five concentrations of albumin and 24 h collection urine samples from ten patients with Type 2 Diabetes. The spectra were obtained after removing the background fluorescence and fitting Gaussian curves to spectral regions containing features of such metabolites. In the samples from patients with type 2 diabetes, we identified the presence of albumin in the peaks of the spectrum located at 663.07, 993.43, 1021.43, 1235.28, 1429.91 and 1633.91 cm−1. In artificial urine, there was an increase in the intensity of the Raman signal at 1450 cm−1, which corresponds to the increment of the concentrations of albumin. The highest concentration of albumin was located at 1630 cm−1. The capability of Raman spectroscopy for detection of small concentrations of urinary albumin suggests the feasibility of this method for the screening of type 2 diabetes renal complications.