Publications by authors named "P K Judge"

The separation of lignocellulose into lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose without significantly altering the chemical structures of these component biopolymers remains a modern chemical challenge. Lignin, in particular, has potential as a highly valuable feedstock material but remains underutilized due to the difficulty of generating lignin with low modification and condensation. This work investigates the lignin-rich solids ("boron lignin") generated from a previously reported boron Lewis acid-mediated lignocellulose separation and concludes that (1) boron Lewis acid extraction removes 80-85% of carbohydrates from the original lignocellulose sample, and (2) the resulting lignin possesses a low condensation level and high similarity to native lignin structure.

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Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at risk of progressive loss of kidney function, heart failure, and cardiovascular death despite current proven therapies, including renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASi), sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), and statin-based regimens. RASi and SGLT2i reduce risk of CKD progression irrespective of primary cause of kidney disease, suggesting they target final common pathways. Targeting aldosterone overactivity with a nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) also reduces cardiorenal risk in patients with albuminuric diabetic kidney disease already treated with RASi.

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Article Synopsis
  • The EMPA-KIDNEY trial examined the effects of empagliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor, on patients with chronic kidney disease at risk for progression, assessing outcomes during and after the trial.
  • A total of 6609 patients were randomized, with 4891 participating in a follow-up period after the trial where they were observed for an additional 2 years, without trial medication but allowed to use other SGLT2 inhibitors.
  • Results showed that fewer primary outcome events (like kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death) occurred in the empagliflozin group (26.2%) compared to the placebo group (30.3%), suggesting lasting benefits of the drug even after the trial ended. *
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Phorbol ester analogs are a promising class of anticancer therapeutics and HIV latency reversing agents that interact with cellular membranes to recruit and activate protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms. However, it is unclear how these esters interact with membranes and how this might correlate with the biological activity of different phorbol ester analogs. Here, we have employed dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) NMR to characterize phorbol esters in a native cellular context.

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Background And Hypothesis: Hyperuricaemia and gout are common in chronic kidney disease (CKD). We aimed to assess the effects of sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibition on uric acid (urate) and gout in patients with CKD.

Methods: The EMPA-KIDNEY trial randomised 6609 patients with CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] ≥20 and <90 mL/min/1.

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