Citations

Abstract Privacy protection is a core principle of genomic but not proteomic research. We identified independent single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) quantitative trait loci (pQTL) from COPDGene and Jackson Heart Study (JHS), calculated continuous protein level genotype probabilities, and then applied a naïve Bayesian approach to match proteomes to genomes for 2,812 independent subjects from COPDGene, JHS, SubPopulations and InteRmediate Outcome Measures In COPD Study (SPIROMICS) and Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). We were able to correctly match 90%-95% of proteomes to their correct genome and for 95%-99% we could match the proteome to the 1% most likely genome. The accuracy of matching in subjects with African ancestry was lower (~ 60%) unless training included diverse subjects. With larger profiling (SomaScan 5K) in the Atherosclerosis Risk Communities (ARIC) correct identification was > 99% even in mixed ancestry populations. When serial proteomes are available, the matching algorithm can be used to identify and correct mislabeled samples. This work also demonstrates the importance of including diverse populations in omics research and that large proteomic datasets (> 1,000 proteins) can be accurately linked to a specific genome through pQTL knowledge and should not be considered unidentifiable.

(1) Background: Chronic inflammation and insulin resistance are associated with cardiometabolic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Therapeutic water-only fasting and whole-plant-food refeeding was previously shown to improve markers of cardiometabolic risk and may be an effective preventative treatment but sustained outcomes are unknown. We conducted a single-arm, open-label, observational study with a six-week post-treatment follow-up visit to assess the effects of water-only fasting and refeeding on markers of cardiometabolic risk. (2) Methods: Patients who had voluntarily elected and were approved to complete a water-only fast were recruited from a single-center residential medical facility. The primary endpoint was to describe changes to Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) scores between the end-of-refeed visit and the six-week follow-up visit. Additionally, we report on changes in anthropometric measures, blood lipids, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and fatty liver index (FLI). Observations were made at baseline, end-of-fast (EOF), end-of-refeed (EOR), and six-week follow-up (FU). (3) Results: The study enrolled 40 overweight/obese non-diabetic participants, of which 33 completed the full study protocol. Median fasting, refeeding, and follow-up lengths were 14, 6, and 45 days, respectively. At the FU visit, body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference (AC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), hsCRP, and FLI were significantly decreased from baseline. Triglycerides (TG) and HOMA-IR scores, which had increased at EOR, returned to baseline values at the FU visit. (4) Conclusion: Water-only fasting and whole-plant-food refeeding demonstrate potential for long-term improvements in markers of cardiovascular risk including BW, BMI, AC, SBP, DBP, blood lipids, FLI, and hsCRP.

AbstractHow to deliver best care in various clinical settings remains a vexing problem. All pertinent healthcare-related questions have not, cannot, and will not be addressable with costly time- and resource-consuming controlled clinical trials. At present, evidence-based guidelines can address only a small fraction of the types of care that clinicians deliver. Furthermore, underserved areas rarely can access state-of-the-art evidence-based guidelines in real-time, and often lack the wherewithal to implement advanced guidelines. Care providers in such settings frequently do not have sufficient training to undertake advanced guideline implementation. Nevertheless, in advanced modern healthcare delivery environments, use of eActions (validated clinical decision support systems) could help overcome the cognitive limitations of overburdened clinicians. Widespread use of eActions will require surmounting current healthcare technical and cultural barriers and installing clinical evidence/data curation systems. The authors expect that increased numbers of evidence-based guidelines will result from future comparative effectiveness clinical research carried out during routine healthcare delivery within learning healthcare systems.

Drug-resistant Gram-positive bacterial infections are still a substantial burden on the public health system, with two bacteria ( Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae ) accounting for over 1.5 million drug-resistant infections in the United States alone in 2017. In 2019, 250,000 deaths were attributed to these pathogens globally. We have developed a preclinical glycopeptide antibiotic, MCC5145, that has excellent potency (MIC 90 ≤ 0.06 μg/ml) against hundreds of isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and other Gram-positive bacteria, with a greater than 1000-fold margin over mammalian cell cytotoxicity values. The antibiotic has therapeutic in vivo efficacy when dosed subcutaneously in multiple murine models of established bacterial infections, including thigh infection with MRSA and blood septicemia with S. pneumoniae , as well as when dosed orally in an antibiotic-induced Clostridioides difficile infection model. MCC5145 exhibited reduced nephrotoxicity at microbiologically active doses in mice compared to vancomycin. MCC5145 also showed improved activity against biofilms compared to vancomycin, both in vitro and in vivo, and a low propensity to select for drug resistance. Characterization of drug action using a transposon library bioinformatic platform showed a mechanistic distinction from other glycopeptide antibiotics.

AbstractBackgroundProstatic specific antigen (PSA) has well‐recognized limitations as a marker for treatment response and disease progression. Post hoc analysis of the PREVAIL trial reported 24.5% of chemotherapy naïve metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients on enzalutamide had radiographic progression on conventional imaging with nonrising PSA. In this study, we sought to study the discordance of imaging with PSA kinetics in mCRPC patients on second generation anti‐androgens (SGA) post‐chemotherapy using combined conventional imaging, and new generation imaging in the form of C‐11 choline positron emission tomography/computed tomography (C[11] choline PET/CT) scan.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 123 patients with mCRPC treated with SGA (Abiraterone or Enzalutamide) after docetaxel between 2016 and 2019. Patients underwent PSA testing, and C[11] choline PET/CT scan at baseline level before starting treatment with SGA, then every 3–6 months as part of their follow up evaluation. Loss of response to SGA was defined by increase in corrected maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of pretreatment lesions on C‐11 Choline PET/CT, and/or development of new lesions. Suspicious new lesions were confirmed by biopsy and/or conventional imaging.ResultsWe identified 123 mCRPC patients who received SGA (Abiraterone, n = 106; Enzalutamide, n = 17) after docetaxel. Median duration of therapy was 13.9 months (interquartile range: 8.75–21.14). Approximately 43% (n = 53) of subjects in this study exhibited an increase in choline avidity while on SGA. Of this group, 60.4% of patients experienced a parallel rise in PSA (Group‐A), whereas 39.6% displayed a paradoxical response (PR) (Group‐B), defined as increased choline avidity combined with stable or down‐trending PSA. Median PSA at time of increase in choline avidity was 3.1 ng/ml for Group‐A, and 1.3 ng/ml for Group‐B (p = 0.0176). Median SUVmax was similar in both groups (4.9 for Group‐A, 4.6 for Group‐B; p = 0.6072). The median time for increase in choline avidity was 9.5 versus 3.9 months for Group‐A versus Group‐B, respectively (Log‐Rank = 0.0063).ConclusionNearly 40% of mCRPC patients placed on SGA post docetaxel chemotherapy will exhibit paradoxical responses to therapy, therefore, warranting close follow up with imaging. C‐11 choline PET/CT imaging is a useful tool that can help in early predication of disease progression or treatment failure.

OBJECTIVE The Treatment of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations Study (TOBAS) is a pragmatic study that includes 2 randomized trials and registries of treated or conservatively managed patients. The authors report the results of the surgical registry. METHODS TOBAS patients are managed according to an algorithm that combines clinical judgment and randomized allocation. For patients considered for curative treatment, clinicians selected from surgery, endovascular therapy, or radiation therapy as the primary curative method, and whether observation was a reasonable alternative. When surgery was selected and observation was deemed unreasonable, the patient was not included in the randomized controlled trial but placed in the surgical registry. The primary outcome of the trial was mRS score > 2 at 10 years (at last follow-up for the current report). Secondary outcomes include angiographic results, perioperative serious adverse events, and permanent treatment-related complications leading to mRS score > 2. RESULTS From June 2014 to May 2021, 1010 patients were recruited at 30 TOBAS centers. Surgery was selected for 229/512 patients (44%) considered for curative treatment; 77 (34%) were included in the surgery versus observation randomized trial and 152 (66%) were placed in the surgical registry. Surgical registry patients had 124/152 (82%) ruptured and 28/152 (18%) unruptured arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), with the majority categorized as low-grade Spetzler-Martin grade I–II AVM (118/152 [78%]). Thirteen patients were excluded, leaving 139 patients for analysis. Embolization was performed prior to surgery in 78/139 (56%) patients. Surgical angiographic cure was obtained in 123/139 all-grade (89%, 95% CI 82%–93%) and 105/110 low-grade (95%, 95% CI 90%–98%) AVM patients. At the mean follow-up of 18.1 months, 16 patients (12%, 95% CI 7%–18%) had reached the primary safety outcome of mRS score > 2, including 11/16 who had a baseline mRS score ≥ 3 due to previous AVM rupture. Serious adverse events occurred in 29 patients (21%, 95% CI 15%–28%). Permanent treatment-related complications leading to mRS score > 2 occurred in 6/139 patients (4%, 95% CI 2%–9%), 5 (83%) of whom had complications due to preoperative embolization. CONCLUSIONS The surgical treatment of brain AVMs in the TOBAS registry was curative in 88% of patients. The participation of more patients, surgeons, and centers in randomized trials is needed to definitively establish the role of surgery in the treatment of unruptured brain AVMs. Clinical trial registration no.: NCT02098252 (ClinicalTrials.gov)