SGLT2 Inhibitors in Patients with Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease

Problem Definition: Multiple studies (e.g. EMPA-REG, CANVAS) demonstrate that SGLT2 Inhibitors (Inh) improve cardiac outcomes in patients with Type II Diabetes (DM2) with comorbid Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) including Heart Failure and Coronary Artery Disease. SGLT2 Inhibitors are considered standard of care for patients with DM2 and CVD. Based on literature published in European Journal of Preventative Cardiology and JACC HF, our prediction is that physicians at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Ambulatory Practices (TJUH) under-utilize SGLT2 Inh for patients with co-morbid CVD and DM2. Aims for Improvement: Within the Jefferson Healthcare System, we sought to determine: Future Interventions The percentage of patients with an indication for an SGLT2 Inhibitor who were actually being prescribed this. How often providers within the Jefferson system were prescribing these medications, and what the barriers to prescribing are. With this information, we hoped to increase the percentage of (qualifying) patients who are on these medications as part of standard of care by 20% within one year of intervention

Erratum to: Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition) (Autophagy, 12, 1, 1-222, 10.1080/15548627.2015.1100356

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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field