Exploring the acceptability of a risk prediction tool for cardiometabolic risk (gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy) for use in early pregnancy: A qualitative study.

Problem/ Background: The acceptability of providing women with personalised cardiometabolic risk information using risk prediction tools early in pregnancy is not well understood.

Aim: To explore women's and healthcare professionals' perspectives of the acceptability of a prognostic, composite risk prediction tool for cardiometabolic risk (gestational diabetes and/or hypertensive disorders of pregnancy) for use in early pregnancy.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the acceptability of cardiometabolic risk prediction tools, preferences for risk communication and considerations for implementation into antenatal care.

Patient Characteristics, Diagnoses, and Management in a Combined Uveitis-Rheumatology Clinic.

Introduction: Combined uveitis-rheumatology clinics (combined clinics) are a relatively recent clinical care model. Here we report the demographics, ocular and systemic disease characteristics, and medications utilized in patients seen in a combined clinic at a tertiary care hospital in the USA.

Methods: Medical records were reviewed of patients seen at the Combined Clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital between January 1, 2016 and November 1, 2023.

Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: The bi-directional autophagy and inflammation network becomes progressively dysregulated with age, with systemic inflammation as a biomarker of this dysregulation including in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). We hypothesize that interventions which target the shared feature of systemic inflammation in the biology of aging and AD, via regulation of the autophagy-inflammation network, will prevent the conversion to disease pathogenesis in AD as well as improve healthspan and longevity in aging populations. While previous studies report benefits of mTOR inhibition including rapamycin in transgenic mouse models of familial AD, the present studies aim to evaluate this pathway in a model of sporadic, late onset AD (LOAD) and test the contribution of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) as a critical regulator of the mTOR pathway.

Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: Studies investigating mTOR signaling provide compelling and reproducible evidence of the extension of lifespan across model organisms by treatment with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin, and preclinical data suggests neuroprotective benefits of rapamycin in models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Rapamycin has potent immunosuppressive and autophagy activating effects though it remains unknown whether rapamycin's neuroprotective and lifespan enhancing effects are achieved through modulating systemic inflammation, augmenting autophagy, or via some combination of modifying both these factors. Relatedly, the cellular and molecular mechanisms that contribute to rapamycin's neuroprotective effects in AD remain unclear.