NIH

Potassium [K+]-­deficient diets have to the global epidemic of hypertension and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Given the low cost and ease of increasing dietary [K+], more research is needed to understand how [K+] imbalance leads to these diseases. The kidneys handle 90% of [K+], and the distal convoluted DCT) acts as a [K+] sensor via the WNK-­SPAK (With-­No-­Lysine/Ste20/SPS-­1-­related proline-­alanine-­rich protein kinase) pathway.

The development of large observational health databases (OHD) has expanded the data available for analysis by pharmacoepidemiology research. The efficiency of these studies may be improved by simultaneously studying the association of multiple medications with a disease of interest. Unfortunately, prior research has demonstrated that it is difficult to distinguish true-positive from false-positive results when studying multiple exposures simultaneously, thus limiting the conclusions drawn from these types of studies and representing a major gap in the field.

Intraoperative identification of metastatic lesions is challenging due to unpredictable locations and coverage by normal tissue. Intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) uses targeted radioisotopes and/or fluorophores to guide surgeons to cancer tissue and distinguish tumor margins from normal surrounding tissue. Radioactive isotopes and near-infrared (NIR) fluorophores complement each other in dual-labeled probes by providing both depth of detection (radioisotope) and visual delineation of tumor borders (fluorophore) with common clinically used handheld detectors.

The goal of this fellowship is to provide excellent multidisciplinary training in psycholinguistics, functional neuroanatomy, and intracranial neurophysiology by developing mechanistic understanding of expressive language function in the multiple regions in the medial frontal wall, specifically the supplementary motor area (SMA) and preSMA. Dysfunction in these regions has been tied to a variety of motor and language deficits including issues with motor initiation and sequencing, articulation, and sentence planning as well as speech disorders including developmental stuttering.

Behavior is the product of cortical and subcortical interactions. This is epitomized by the primate circuitry that controls eye movements. Decades of study have enumerated the seemingly redundant contributions of cortical areas like the frontal eye fields (FEF) and subcortical areas like the superior colliculus (SC) to eye movements. However, the field has largely ignored how these two areas communicate, coordinate, and transform information between them to drive precise movement of the eyes.

This application requests partial funding for the Second Pittsburgh Rust Belt Microbiome (RBM) Conference 2022. For the Second RBM Conference, we intend to leverage the strength, successes and lessons learned from the first conference held in 2019 with an exciting and forward-thinking program featuring a focus on mechanistic studies of the microbiome through cutting-edge basic and translational research and new developments in the role of the microbiome in infectious disease, clinical science, and personalized medicine.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among women. Researchers and clinicians that can work across disciplinary boundaries are needed to effectively understand, prevent, and reduce the burden of CVD. A focus on women and CVD is critical given the multiple sex-specific risk factors for and manifestations of CVD that remain incompletely understood. This renewal application for an NHLBI Mid-Career Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research seeks support for Dr.

Abstract: Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is often accompanied by profoundly debilitating pain that is quite difficult to treat. There are no tools available in clinics to properly characterize the subtype of pain a patient is experiencing to choose a therapy most likely to benefit a patient’s pain symptoms. There are two peripheral mechanisms that could contribute, inflammatory pain (IP) and neuropathic pain (NP). A major driver of IP is neurogenic inflammation, inflammation resulting from increased neural activity that drives release of neuropeptides that recruit/activate immune cells.

Medication assisted treatment (MAT) is an evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) involving medication and behavioral therapy. Despite massive public expenditures to increase MAT access, MAT use remains low. Limited geographic access to MAT is a key barrier to OUD treatment because MAT requires frequent travel to providers. While expanding geographic access to MAT has been a policy priority, policymakers lack reliable, accurate measures of geographic access to MAT to guide planning efforts.

Our overarching goal is to develop minimally invasive approaches to better predict outcome and novel mechanisms in post-liver transplant (LT) NASH fibrosis. Although LT is an effective therapy for NAFLD cirrhosis, the risk of post-transplant NAFLD is alarmingly high, particularly for recurrent non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with an incidence of up to 70% at 5 years. Effective approaches to predict risk hamper the treatment and prevention of post-LT NASH fibrosis.