Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

The complete chloroplast genome of Torreya nucifera (Taxaceae) and phylogenetic analysis

Torreya nucifera (L.) Siebold & Zucc. (Taxaceae) is a tertiary relict tree species with a distribution that is limited to South Korea and Japan. In the present study, the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of T. nucifera was sequenced and analyzed. The genome was 136,985 bp in length and contained 118 genes, including 82 protein-coding genes, 33 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. Fifteen of the genes contained a single intron, whereas ycf3 contained two introns and there were no inverted repeat sequences in the genome. Phylogenetic analysis supported the monophyly of Torreya species within the Taxaceae and T. nucifera was closely related to its congener T. grandis

Expression, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of Xoo2316, a predicted 6-­phosphogluconolactonase, from Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae

Xoo2316 from X. oryzae pv. oryzae, a predicted 6-phosphogluconolactonase, the second enzyme of the pentose phosphate pathway, has been cloned, purified and crystallized. A native data set was collected to 2.4 Å resolution and a MAD data set was collected to 2.5 Å resolution