Cost and Use Trends of Endomyocardial Biopsy in Heart Transplant Patients: A 4-Year Claims Data Analysis.

Background: This study evaluated patterns of utilization, complications, and costs of endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) in heart transplant patients.

Methods: The IBM Treatment Pathways tool was used to analyze claims data selected from IBM's MarketScan de-identified Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant dataset. Differences in EMB paid amounts and utilization patterns were assessed for commercial payers and Medicare (2016-2019).

Bitter taste receptors along the gastrointestinal tract: comparison between humans and rodents.

For decades bitter taste receptors (TAS2R) were thought to be located only in the mouth and to serve as sensors for nutrients and harmful substances. However, in recent years Tas2r have also been reported in extraoral tissues such as the skin, the lungs, and the intestine, where their function is still uncertain. To better understand the physiological role of these receptors, in this paper we focused on the intestine, an organ in which their activation may be similar to the receptors found in the mouth.

Centenarian clocks: epigenetic clocks for validating claims of exceptional longevity.

Claims surrounding exceptional longevity are sometimes disputed or dismissed for lack of credible evidence. Here, we present three DNA methylation-based age estimators (epigenetic clocks) for verifying age claims of centenarians. The three centenarian clocks were developed based on n = 7039 blood and saliva samples from individuals older than 40, including n = 184 samples from centenarians, 122 samples from semi-supercentenarians (aged 105 +), and 25 samples from supercentenarians (aged 110 +).

Development of PPARγ Agonists for the Treatment of Neuroinflammatory and Neurodegenerative Diseases: Leriglitazone as a Promising Candidate.

Increasing evidence suggests that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily, plays an important role in physiological processes in the central nervous system (CNS) and is involved in cellular metabolism and repair. Cellular damage caused by acute brain injury and long-term neurodegenerative disorders is associated with alterations of these metabolic processes leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation. PPARγ agonists have demonstrated the potential to be effective treatments for CNS diseases in preclinical models, but to date, most drugs have failed to show efficacy in clinical trials of neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.