White fat stores excess energy, whereas brown and beige fat are thermogenic and dissipate energy as heat. Thermogenic adipose tissues markedly improve glucose and lipid homeostasis in mouse models, although the extent to which brown adipose tissue (BAT) influences metabolic and cardiovascular disease in humans is unclear 1,2 . Here we retrospectively categorized 134,529 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography scans from 52,487 patients, by presence or absence of BAT, and used propensity score matching to assemble a study cohort. Scans in the study population were initially conducted for indications related to cancer diagnosis, treatment or surveillance, without previous stimulation. We report that individuals with BAT had lower prevalences of cardiometabolic diseases, and the presence of BAT was independently correlated with lower odds of type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, congestive heart failure and hypertension. These findings were supported by improved blood glucose, triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein values.

We report persistent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in a patient with HIV/AIDS; the virus developed spike N terminal domain and receptor binding domain neutralization resistance mutations. Our findings suggest that immunocompromised patients can harbor emerging variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

34White fat stores excess energy, while brown and beige fat dissipate energy as heat 1 . These 35 thermogenic adipose tissues markedly improve glucose and lipid homeostasis in mouse 36 models, though the extent to which brown adipose tissue (BAT) influences metabolic and 37 cardiovascular disease in humans is unclear 2,3,4 . Here, we categorized 139,224 18 F-FDG 38 PET/CT scans from 53,475 patients by presence or absence of BAT and used propensity score 39 matching to assemble a study cohort. Individuals with BAT showed lower prevalences of 40 cardiometabolic diseases. Additionally, BAT independently correlated with lower odds of type II 41 diabetes, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. These findings were supported 42 by improved glucose, triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein values. The effects of BAT were 43 more pronounced in overweight and obesity, indicating that BAT can offset the deleterious 44 effects of obesity. Strikingly, we also found lower rates of hypertension among patients with 45BAT. Studies in a mouse model with genetic ablation of beige fat demonstrated elevated blood 46 pressure due to increased sensitivity to angiotensin II in peripheral resistance arteries. In 47 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) on positron emission tomography (PET) in areas 52 corresponding to supraclavicular fat on computed tomography (CT), suggesting the presence of 53 metabolically-active BAT in adult humans 5,6 . This tissue has received intense interest from the 54 biomedical community since 2009 when a series of papers confirmed the presence of active 55 BAT in adults, which correlated with lower body mass index (BMI), decreased age, colder 56 outdoor temperature, and female sex, as well as an association with decreased fasting glucose 57 levels 7,8,9,10,11,12 . Since then, small prospective studies in healthy humans have demonstrated 58 that cold-activated BAT is associated with increased whole body energy expenditure and 59

Objectives Late contrast enhancement visualizes myocardial infarction, but the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) is low using conventional CT. The aim of this study was to determine if spectral CT can improve imaging of myocardial infarction. Materials and Methods A canine model of myocardial infarction was produced in 8 animals (90-minute occlusion, reperfusion). Later, imaging was performed after contrast injection using CT at 90kVp/150kVpSn. The following reconstructions were evaluated: Single energy 90 kVp, mixed, iodine map, multiple monoenergetic conventional and monoenergetic noise optimized reconstructions. Regions of interest were measured in infarct and remote regions to calculate contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and Bhattacharya distance (a metric of the differentiation between regions). Blinded assessment of image quality was performed. The same reconstruction methods were applied to CT scans of four patients with known infarcts. Results For animal studies, the highest CNR for infarct vs. myocardium was achieved in the lowest keV (40 keV) VMo images (CNR 4.42, IQR 3.64–5.53), which was superior to 90 kVp, mixed and iodine map (p=0.008, p=0.002, p<0.001, respectively). Compared to 90 kVp and iodine map, the 40 keV VMo reconstructions showed significantly higher histogram separation (p=0.042 and p<0.0001, respectively). The VMo reconstructions showed the highest rate of excellent quality scores. A similar pattern was seen in human studies, with CNRs for infarct maximized at the lowest keV optimized reconstruction (CNR 4.44, IQR 2.86–5.94). Conclusions Dual energy in conjunction with noise-optimized monoenergetic post-processing improves CNR of myocardial infarct delineation by approximately 20 – 25%.

cMRI measures of cardiac structure and function were not significantly altered, and measures of fibrosis were similar or lower in RA patients with low to moderate disease activity compared to a matched control group.

Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) has been shown to be pathologic in heart failure and albuminuric chronic kidney disease (CKD), triggering proinflammatory and pro-fibrotic cellular pathways. The standard of care in these disease states includes treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) are also a mainstay in the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction; however, therapy is often limited by treatment-related hyperkalemia. In albuminuric CKD, the risk of hyperkalemia, acute kidney injury (AKI), and hypotension also remains

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