Faculty Bibliography

Background and aims: Individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at high risk for hospitalized heart failure (HHF) and these events are reduced by canagliflozin (CANA). We investigated whether the effect of CANA on HHF or cardiovascular (CV) death differs by key participant characteristics.
Material(s) and Method(s): CREDENCE randomized participants with T2DM and CKD to CANA or matching placebo. In this analysis, we assessed the effect of CANA on the prespecified secondary outcome of HHF/CV death by baseline characteristics. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs were estimated with Cox regression models, with subgroup by treatment interaction terms added to test for heterogeneity.
Result(s): Of 4401 trial participants, 432 experienced a HHF/CV death event over a median follow-up of 2.6 years. Participants at higher risk included those with a history of CV disease or HF, lower eGFR, higher UACR and baseline use of loop diuretics. CANA reduced the risk of HHF/CV death by 31% in the overall population (HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.57, 0.83), with consistent effect across a broad range of participant subgroups including those at high risk (all Pinteraction>0.246; Figure). The effect of CANA on HHF alone (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.47-0.80) was also similar across most key participant subgroups (all Pinteraction>0.10).
Conclusion(s): CANA consistently reduces the risk of HHF/CV death and of HHF in T2DM and CKD across a broad range of participant subgroups, including those with and without prior HF

Patients suffering from COVID-19 experience a wide range of symptoms and sequelae, including increasingly recognized neurological problems. A concerted effort is necessary to identify and characterize these issues, whether newly appearing as a result of COVID-19 disease or exacerbations of underlying conditions. A national resource to collect information and/or biospecimens regarding neurological complications of COVID-19 offers an opportunity for broad representation, harmonization, and rapid learning, all while ensuring robust protection of confidential information through the use of global unique identifiers to protect patient privacy.

One means of stimulating the mammalian innate immune system is via Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) being exposed to unmethylated cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) DNA, also known as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) of microbial origin. Synthetic CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) with defined CpG motifs possess broad immunostimulatory properties that make CpG ODNs suitable as therapeutic interventions in a variety of human disease conditions, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Rodent models are often used to preclinically test the effectiveness of CpG ODN therapeutic agents for AD and other disorders. However, the translatability of findings in such models is limited due to the significant difference of the expression of TLR9 between primates and rodents. The squirrel monkey (SQM), a New World non-human primate (NHP), is known to be phylogenetically proximate to humans, and develops extensive age-dependent cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a key pathological feature of AD. Hence, this model is currently being used to test AD therapeutics. In the present study, we conducted the first examination of Class C CpG ODN's immunomodulatory role in elderly SQMs. We documented the effectiveness of CpG ODN to trigger an immune response in an aged cohort whose immune system is senescent. The specific immune response patterns detected here closely resembled CpG ODN-induced immunostimulatory patterns observed in prior human studies. Overall, our findings provide critical data regarding the immunomodulatory potential of CpG ODN in this NHP model, allowing for future translational studies of innate immunity stimulation via TLR9 agonists for diverse indications, including AD therapeutics.

Objectives/UNASSIGNED:Clinically relevant neuroanatomy is challenging to teach, learn and remember since many functionally important structures are visualized best using histology stains from serial 2D planar sections of the brain. In clinical patients, the locations of specific structures then must be inferred from spatial position and surface anatomy. A 3D MRI dataset of neuroanatomy has several advantages including simultaneous multi-planar visualization in the same brain, direct end-user manipulation of the data and image contrast identical to clinical MRI. We created 3D MRI datasets of the postmortem brain with high spatial and contrast resolution for simultaneous multi-planar visualization of complex neuroanatomy. Materials and Methods/UNASSIGNED:; time = 7 h). Besides resolution, this sequence has multiple adjustments to improve contrast compared to a clinical protocol, including 93% reduced turbo factor and 77% reduced effective echo time. Results/UNASSIGNED:This MRI microscopy protocol provided excellent contrast resolution of small nuclei and internal myelinated pathways within the basal ganglia, thalamus, brainstem, and cerebellum. Contrast was sufficient to visualize the presence and variation of horizontal layers in the cerebral cortex. 3D isotropic resolution datasets facilitated simultaneous multi-planar visualization and efficient production of specific tailored oblique image orientations to improve understanding of complex neuroanatomy. Conclusion/UNASSIGNED:structure visualization.