Mesenteric Visceral Lipectomy Improves Glucose Tolerance in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Pilot Study.

Context: Increased mesenteric visceral fat is associated with the metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Using targeted cell separation and extraction technology (TC-SET), we examined the effect of removal of intra-abdominal fat, specifically small bowel mesenteric fat, on glycemic control and insulin sensitivity in 7 individuals with obesity and poorly controlled type 2 diabetes (T2D) (glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c] = 8.9% ± 0.

Cardiac Molecular Analysis Reveals Aging-Associated Metabolic Alterations Promoting Glycosaminoglycans Accumulation via Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway.

Age is a prominent risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, often leading to heart structural and functional changes. However, precise molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac remodeling and dysfunction exclusively resulting from physiological aging remain elusive. Previous research demonstrated age-related functional alterations in baboons, analogous to humans.

Metabolic Diaschisis in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Neurophysiological diaschisis presents in traumatic brain injury (TBI) as functional impairment distant to the lesion site caused by axonal neuroexcitation and deafferentation. Diaschisis studies in TBI models have evaluated acute phase functional and microstructural changes. Here, biochemical changes and cerebral blood flow (CBF) dynamics following TBI are studied with magnetic resonance.

Reproducibility and Repeatability of Intravoxel Incoherent Motion MRI Acquisition Methods in Liver.

Background: Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion weighted MRI (DWI) has potential for evaluating hepatic fibrosis but image acquisition technique influence on diffusion parameter estimation bears investigation.

Purpose: To minimize variability and maximize repeatably in abdominal DWI in terms of IVIM parameter estimates.

Study Type: Prospective test-retest and image quality comparison.

Cardiac Molecular Analysis Reveals Aging-Associated Metabolic Alterations Promoting Glycosaminoglycans Accumulation Via Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway.

Age is a prominent risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, and often leads to heart structural and functional changes. However, precise molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac remodeling and dysfunction resulting from physiological aging per se remain elusive. Understanding these mechanisms requires biological models with optimal translation to humans.

Integrated multi-omics analysis of brain aging in female nonhuman primates reveals altered signaling pathways relevant to age-related disorders.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been implicated as a key brain region responsible for age-related cognitive decline. Little is known about aging-related molecular changes in PFC that may mediate these effects. To date, no studies have used untargeted discovery methods with integrated analyses to determine PFC molecular changes in healthy female primates.

Pioglitazone reduces epicardial fat and improves diastolic function in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Aims: To examine the effect of pioglitazone on epicardial (EAT) and paracardial adipose tissue (PAT) and measures of diastolic function and insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: Twelve patients with T2DM without clinically manifest cardiovascular disease and 12 subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to quantitate EAT and PAT and diastolic function before and after pioglitazone treatment for 24 weeks. Whole-body insulin sensitivity was measured with a euglycaemic insulin clamp and the Matsuda Index (oral glucose tolerance test).

Influence of the Human Lipidome on Epicardial Fat Volume in Mexican American Individuals.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide and is the leading cause of death in the US. Lipid dysregulation is a well-known precursor to metabolic diseases, including CVD. There is a growing body of literature that suggests MRI-derived epicardial fat volume, or epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volume, is linked to the development of coronary artery disease.

Combination therapy with pioglitazone/exenatide/metformin reduces the prevalence of hepatic fibrosis and steatosis: The efficacy and durability of initial combination therapy for type 2 diabetes (EDICT).

Aim: To compare the efficacy of triple therapy (metformin/exenatide/pioglitazone) versus stepwise conventional therapy (metformin → glipizide → glargine insulin) on liver fat content and hepatic fibrosis in newly diagnosed, drug-naïve patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Sixty-eight patients completed the 6-year follow-up and had an end-of-study (EOS) FibroScan to provide measures of steatosis (controlled attenuation parameter [CAP] in dB/m) and fibrosis (liver stiffness measurement [LSM] in kPa); 59 had magnetic resonance imaging-proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) to measure liver fat.

Results: At EOS, HbA1c was 6.

Summary and Assessment of Studies on Cardiac Aging in Nonhuman Primates.

Nonhuman primates (NHP) are important translational models for cardiac aging. To assess progress in this research area and to provide a reference for other investigators, we identified papers indexed in PubMed to determine what species, ages, outcomes, treatments, and approaches have been studied. Since 1983, 33 studies of cardiac aging in NHP have been published.

Assessment of tumor hypoxia and perfusion in recurrent glioblastoma following bevacizumab failure using MRI and F-FMISO PET.

Tumoral hypoxia correlates with worse outcomes in glioblastoma (GBM). While bevacizumab is routinely used to treat recurrent GBM, it may exacerbate hypoxia. Evofosfamide is a hypoxia-targeting prodrug being tested for recurrent GBM.

Restriction Spectrum Imaging-Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Improve Prostate Cancer Imaging in Men on Active Surveillance.

Purpose: Restriction spectrum imaging-magnetic resonance imaging is a short duration enhanced diffusion-weighted technique that seeks to standardize sequences and predict upgrading. We test this technology for active surveillance biopsies. Our objective is to investigate the utility of restriction spectrum imaging-magnetic resonance imaging to improve upgrading detection in a prostate cancer active surveillance cohort.

The nonhuman primate hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis is an orchestrator of programming-aging interactions: role of nutrition.

Developmental programming alters life-course multi-organ function and significantly affects life-course health. Recently, interest has developed in how programming may influence the rate of aging. This review describes interactions of nutrition and programming-aging interactions in hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) development and function from fetal development to old age.

Seeing the fetus from a DOHaD perspective: discussion paper from the advanced imaging techniques of DOHaD applications workshop held at the 2019 DOHaD World Congress.

Advanced imaging techniques are enhancing research capacity focussed on the developmental origins of adult health and disease (DOHaD) hypothesis, and consequently increasing awareness of future health risks across various subareas of DOHaD research themes. Understanding how these advanced imaging techniques in animal models and human population studies can be both additively and synergistically used alongside traditional techniques in DOHaD-focussed laboratories is therefore of great interest. Global experts in advanced imaging techniques congregated at the advanced imaging workshop at the 2019 DOHaD World Congress in Melbourne, Australia.

Perinatal maternal undernutrition does not result in offspring capillary rarefaction in the middle-aged male baboon at rest.

Microvascular health is a main determinant of coronary blood flow reserve and myocardial vascular resistance. Extracardiac capillary abnormality has been reported in subjects at increased coronary heart disease risk, such as prehypertension, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerosis. We have reported cardiovascular dysfunction in a cohort of maternal nutrient reduction (MNR)-induced intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) baboon offspring.

Computational Modeling of Human Left Ventricle to Assess the Effects of Trabeculae Carneae on the Diastolic and Systolic Functions.

Trabeculae carneae are irregular structures that cover the endocardial surfaces of both ventricles and account for a significant portion of human ventricular mass. The role of trabeculae carneae in diastolic and systolic functions of the left ventricle (LV) is not well understood. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the functional role of trabeculae carneae in the LV.

Impaired left ventricular diastolic function in T2DM patients is closely related to glycemic control.

Background: Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction commonly is observed in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We employed transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) to investigate the hypothesis that LV diastolic dysfunction in T2DM is associated with poor glycemic control.

Methods: Forty subjects, 21 with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and 19 with T2DM, were studied with CMRI and TTE to assess LV function.

Ageing changes in biventricular cardiac function in male and female baboons (Papio spp.).

Key Points: Life course changes in cardiovascular function in a non-human primate have been comprehensively characterized. Age-related declines in normalized left ventricular stroke volume and cardiac output were found with corresponding decreases in biventricular ejection fractions and filling rates. There were age-related decreases in male and female baboon normalized left ventricular myocardial mass index, which declined at similar rates.

The Effect of Pentagalloyl Glucose on the Wall Mechanics and Inflammatory Activity of Rat Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms.

An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a permanent localized expansion of the abdominal aorta with mortality rate of up to 90% after rupture. AAA growth is a process of vascular degeneration accompanied by a reduction in wall strength and an increase in inflammatory activity. It is unclear whether this process can be intervened to attenuate AAA growth, and hence, it is of great clinical interest to develop a technique that can stabilize the AAA.

Antenatal Synthetic Glucocorticoid Exposure at Human Therapeutic Equivalent Doses Predisposes Middle-Age Male Offspring Baboons to an Obese Phenotype That Emerges With Aging.

Introduction: Women threatening premature delivery receive synthetic glucocorticoids (sGC) to accelerate fetal lung maturation, reducing neonatal mortality and morbidity. Few investigations have explored potential long-term offspring side effects. We previously reported increased pericardial fat and liver lipids in 10-year-old (human equivalent 40 years) male baboons exposed to 3 antenatal sGC courses.

Efficacy and safety of antenatal steroids.

Antenatal steroids (ANS) are among the most important and widely utilized interventions to improve outcomes for preterm infants. A significant body of evidence demonstrates improved outcomes in preterm infants (24-34 wk) delivered between 1 and 7 days after the administration of a single course of ANS. Moreover, ANS have the advantage of being widely available, low cost, and easily administered via maternal intramuscular injection.