ReduxFramework/redux-framework — pull request #1460 by mohanjith (2014-07-16 12:34:29+00:00)
Title: Use WP_User_Query and WP_Comment_Query to get the counts

It is more elegant to use WP_User_Query and WP_Comment_Query instead of directly querying the database. It also allows other plugins to modify the queries if necessary. Any core changes to DB schema will not affect the query either.