Losartan controls immune checkpoint blocker-induced edema and improves survival in glioblastoma mouse models.

Immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs) have failed in all phase III glioblastoma trials. Here, we found that ICBs induce cerebral edema in some patients and mice with glioblastoma. Through single-cell RNA sequencing, intravital imaging, and CD8+ T cell blocking studies in mice, we demonstrated that this edema results from an inflammatory response following antiprogrammed death 1 (PD1) antibody treatment that disrupts the blood-tumor barrier. Used in lieu of immunosuppressive corticosteroids, the angiotensin receptor blocker losartan prevented this ICB-induced edema and reprogrammed the tumor microenvironment, curing 20% of mice which increased to 40% in combination with standard of care treatment. Using a bihemispheric tumor model, we identified a "hot" tumor immune signature prior to losartan+anti-PD1 therapy that predicted long-term survival. Our findings provide the rationale and associated biomarkers to test losartan with ICBs in glioblastoma patients.

Dendritic cell paucity in mismatch repair-proficient colorectal cancer liver metastases limits immune checkpoint blockade efficacy.

Liver metastasis is a major cause of mortality for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Mismatch repair-proficient (pMMR) CRCs make up about 95% of metastatic CRCs, and are unresponsive to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Here we show that mouse models of orthotopic pMMR CRC liver metastasis accurately recapitulate the inefficacy of ICB therapy in patients, whereas the same pMMR CRC tumors are sensitive to ICB therapy when grown subcutaneously. To reveal local, nonmalignant components that determine CRC sensitivity to treatment, we compared the microenvironments of pMMR CRC cells grown as liver metastases and subcutaneous tumors. We found a paucity of both activated T cells and dendritic cells in ICB-treated orthotopic liver metastases, when compared with their subcutaneous tumor counterparts. Furthermore, treatment with Feline McDonough sarcoma (FMS)-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) plus ICB therapy increased dendritic cell infiltration into pMMR CRC liver metastases and improved mouse survival. Lastly, we show that human CRC liver metastases and microsatellite stable (MSS) primary CRC have a similar paucity of T cells and dendritic cells. These studies indicate that orthotopic tumor models, but not subcutaneous models, should be used to guide human clinical trials. Our findings also posit dendritic cells as antitumor components that can increase the efficacy of immunotherapies against pMMR CRC.

Capacity to Consent to Research Among Adolescent-Parent Dyads in Rakai, Uganda.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the cognitive capacity of early, middle, and late adolescents and their parents or guardians to provide informed consent to a population-based cohort study. STUDY DESIGN: Adolescent-parent/guardian dyads including 40 early (n = 80; 10-14 years), 20 middle (15-17 years), and 20 late (18-19 years) adolescents were recruited from the Rakai Community Cohort Study, an open demographic cohort in Uganda. Participants were administered the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research, a structured open-ended assessment; interviews were recorded and transcribed. Twenty transcripts were scored independently by two coders; the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.89. The remaining interviews were scored individually. We compared mean scores for early and middle/late adolescents using a one-sided t test and score differences between parent/guardian and adolescent dyads using two-sided paired t tests. RESULTS: Early adolescents (mean score, 28.8; 95% CI, 27.1-30.5) scored significantly lower (P < .01) than middle/late adolescents (32.4; 31.6-33.1). In paired dyad comparisons, we observed no statistically significant difference in scores between parents/guardians and middle/late adolescents (difference, -0.2; 95% CI, -1.0-0.6). We found a statistically significant difference in scores between parents/guardians and early adolescents (difference, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.2-4.8). CONCLUSIONS: The capacity of adolescents-of different ages and in diverse settings-to comprehend risks, benefits, and other elements of informed consent is a critical but understudied area in research ethics. Our findings support the practice of having middle and late adolescents provide independent informed consent for sexual and reproductive health studies. Early adolescents may benefit from supported decision-making approaches.

A bilateral tumor model identifies transcriptional programs associated with patient response to immune checkpoint blockade.

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is efficacious in many diverse cancer types, but not all patients respond. It is important to understand the mechanisms driving resistance to these treatments and to identify predictive biomarkers of response to provide best treatment options for all patients. Here we introduce a resection and response-assessment approach for studying the tumor microenvironment before or shortly after treatment initiation to identify predictive biomarkers differentiating responders from nonresponders. Our approach builds on a bilateral tumor implantation technique in a murine metastatic breast cancer model (E0771) coupled with anti-PD-1 therapy. Using our model, we show that tumors from mice responding to ICB therapy had significantly higher CD8+ T cells and fewer Gr1+CD11b+ myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) at early time points following therapy initiation. RNA sequencing on the intratumoral CD8+ T cells identified the presence of T cell exhaustion pathways in nonresponding tumors and T cell activation in responding tumors. Strikingly, we showed that our derived response and resistance signatures significantly segregate patients by survival and associate with patient response to ICB. Furthermore, we identified decreased expression of CXCR3 in nonresponding mice and showed that tumors grown in Cxcr3-/- mice had an elevated resistance rate to anti-PD-1 treatment. Our findings suggest that the resection and response tumor model can be used to identify response and resistance biomarkers to ICB therapy and guide the use of combination therapy to further boost the antitumor efficacy of ICB.

Placental growth factor promotes tumour desmoplasia and treatment resistance in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC)-a rare liver malignancy with limited therapeutic options-is characterised by aggressive progression, desmoplasia and vascular abnormalities. The aim of this study was to determine the role of placental growth factor (PlGF) in ICC progression. DESIGN: We evaluated the expression of PlGF in specimens from ICC patients and assessed the therapeutic effect of genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of PlGF in orthotopically grafted ICC mouse models. We evaluated the impact of PlGF stimulation or blockade in ICC cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) using in vitro 3-D coculture systems. RESULTS: PlGF levels were elevated in human ICC stromal cells and circulating blood plasma and were associated with disease progression. Single-cell RNA sequencing showed that the major impact of PlGF blockade in mice was enrichment of quiescent CAFs, characterised by high gene transcription levels related to the Akt pathway, glycolysis and hypoxia signalling. PlGF blockade suppressed Akt phosphorylation and myofibroblast activation in ICC-derived CAFs. PlGF blockade also reduced desmoplasia and tissue stiffness, which resulted in reopening of collapsed tumour vessels and improved blood perfusion, while reducing ICC cell invasion. Moreover, PlGF blockade enhanced the efficacy of standard chemotherapy in mice-bearing ICC. Conclusion PlGF blockade leads to a reduction in intratumorous hypoxia and metastatic dissemination, enhanced chemotherapy sensitivity and increased survival in mice-bearing aggressive ICC.

Adaptor protein complex 4 deficiency: a paradigm of childhood-onset hereditary spastic paraplegia caused by defective protein trafficking.

Deficiency of the adaptor protein complex 4 (AP-4) leads to childhood-onset hereditary spastic paraplegia (AP-4-HSP): SPG47 (AP4B1), SPG50 (AP4M1), SPG51 (AP4E1) and SPG52 (AP4S1). This study aims to evaluate the impact of loss-of-function variants in AP-4 subunits on intracellular protein trafficking using patient-derived cells. We investigated 15 patient-derived fibroblast lines and generated six lines of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons covering a wide range of AP-4 variants. All patient-derived fibroblasts showed reduced levels of the AP4E1 subunit, a surrogate for levels of the AP-4 complex. The autophagy protein ATG9A accumulated in the trans-Golgi network and was depleted from peripheral compartments. Western blot analysis demonstrated a 3-5-fold increase in ATG9A expression in patient lines. ATG9A was redistributed upon re-expression of AP4B1 arguing that mistrafficking of ATG9A is AP-4-dependent. Examining the downstream effects of ATG9A mislocalization, we found that autophagic flux was intact in patient-derived fibroblasts both under nutrient-rich conditions and when autophagy is stimulated. Mitochondrial metabolism and intracellular iron content remained unchanged. In iPSC-derived cortical neurons from patients with AP4B1-associated SPG47, AP-4 subunit levels were reduced while ATG9A accumulated in the trans-Golgi network. Levels of the autophagy marker LC3-II were reduced, suggesting a neuron-specific alteration in autophagosome turnover. Neurite outgrowth and branching were reduced in AP-4-HSP neurons pointing to a role of AP-4-mediated protein trafficking in neuronal development. Collectively, our results establish ATG9A mislocalization as a key marker of AP-4 deficiency in patient-derived cells, including the first human neuron model of AP-4-HSP, which will aid diagnostic and therapeutic studies.

Blocking CXCR4 alleviates desmoplasia, increases T-lymphocyte infiltration, and improves immunotherapy in metastatic breast cancer.

Metastatic breast cancers (mBCs) are largely resistant to immune checkpoint blockade, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Primary breast cancers are characterized by a dense fibrotic stroma, which is considered immunosuppressive in multiple malignancies, but the stromal composition of breast cancer metastases and its role in immunosuppression are largely unknown. Here we show that liver and lung metastases of human breast cancers tend to be highly fibrotic, and unlike primary breast tumors, they exclude cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Unbiased analysis of the The Cancer Genome Atlas database of human breast tumors revealed a set of genes that are associated with stromal T-lymphocyte exclusion. Among these, we focused on CXCL12 as a relevant target based on its known roles in immunosuppression in other cancer types. We found that the CXCL12 receptor CXCR4 is highly expressed in both human primary tumors and metastases. To gain insight into the role of the CXCL12/CXCR4 axis, we inhibited CXCR4 signaling pharmacologically and found that plerixafor decreases fibrosis, alleviates solid stress, decompresses blood vessels, increases CTL infiltration, and decreases immunosuppression in murine mBC models. By deleting CXCR4 in αSMA+ cells, we confirmed that these immunosuppressive effects are dependent on CXCR4 signaling in αSMA+ cells, which include cancer-associated fibroblasts as well as other cells such as pericytes. Accordingly, CXCR4 inhibition more than doubles the response to immune checkpoint blockers in mice bearing mBCs. These findings demonstrate that CXCL12/CXCR4-mediated desmoplasia in mBC promotes immunosuppression and is a potential target for overcoming therapeutic resistance to immune checkpoint blockade in mBC patients.

Reprogramming the microenvironment with tumor-selective angiotensin blockers enhances cancer immunotherapy.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) can either suppress or support T lymphocyte activity, suggesting that CAFs may be reprogrammable to an immunosupportive state. Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) convert myofibroblast CAFs to a quiescent state, but whether ARBs can reprogram CAFs to promote T lymphocyte activity and enhance immunotherapy is unknown. Moreover, ARB doses are limited by systemic adverse effects such as hypotension due to the importance of angiotensin signaling outside tumors. To enhance the efficacy and specificity of ARBs in cancer with the goal of revealing their effects on antitumor immunity, we developed ARB nanoconjugates that preferentially accumulate and act in tumors. We created a diverse library of hundreds of acid-degradable polymers and chemically linked ARBs to the polymer most sensitive to tumor pH. These tumor microenvironment-activated ARBs (TMA-ARBs) remain intact and inactive in circulation while achieving high concentrations in tumors, wherein they break down to active ARBs. This tumor-preferential activity enhances the CAF-reprogramming effects of ARBs while eliminating blood pressure-lowering effects. Notably, TMA-ARBs alleviate immunosuppression and improve T lymphocyte activity, enabling dramatically improved responses to immune-checkpoint blockers in mice with primary as well as metastatic breast cancer.

Dual Programmed Death Receptor-1 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 Blockade Promotes Vascular Normalization and Enhances Antitumor Immune Responses in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Activation of the antitumor immune response using programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) blockade showed benefit only in a fraction of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Combining PD-1 blockade with antiangiogenesis has shown promise in substantially increasing the fraction of patients with HCC who respond to treatment, but the mechanism of this interaction is unknown. APPROACH AND RESULTS: We recapitulated these clinical outcomes using orthotopic-grafted or induced-murine models of HCC. Specific blockade of vascular endothelial receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) using a murine antibody significantly delayed primary tumor growth but failed to prolong survival, while anti-PD-1 antibody treatment alone conferred a minor survival advantage in one model. However, dual anti-PD-1/VEGFR-2 therapy significantly inhibited primary tumor growth and doubled survival in both models. Combination therapy reprogrammed the immune microenvironment by increasing cluster of differentiation 8-positive (CD8+ ) cytotoxic T cell infiltration and activation, shifting the M1/M2 ratio of tumor-associated macrophages and reducing T regulatory cell (Treg) and chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 2-positive monocyte infiltration in HCC tissue. In these models, VEGFR-2 was selectively expressed in tumor endothelial cells. Using spheroid cultures of HCC tissue, we found that PD-ligand 1 expression in HCC cells was induced in a paracrine manner upon anti-VEGFR-2 blockade in endothelial cells in part through interferon-gamma expression. Moreover, we found that VEGFR-2 blockade increased PD-1 expression in tumor-infiltrating CD4+ cells. We also found that under anti-PD-1 therapy, CD4+ cells promote normalized vessel formation in the face of antiangiogenic therapy with anti-VEGFR-2 antibody. CONCLUSIONS: We show that dual anti-PD-1/VEGFR-2 therapy has a durable vessel fortification effect in HCC and can overcome treatment resistance to either treatment alone and increase overall survival in both anti-PD-1 therapy-resistant and anti-PD-1 therapy-responsive HCC models.

Cell Phones, Sexual Behaviors and HIV Prevalence in Rakai, Uganda: A Cross Sectional Analysis of Longitudinal Data.

Cell phones have increased communication and connection across the globe and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa-with potential consequences for the HIV epidemic. We examined the association among ownership of cell phones, sexual behaviors (number of sexual partners, alcohol use before sex, inconsistent condom use), and HIV prevalence. Data were from four rounds (2010-2016) of the Rakai Community Cohort Study (N = 58,275). Sexual behaviors and HIV prevalence were compared between people who owned a cell phone to people who did not own a cell phone. We stratified analysis by younger (15-24 years) and older (25+ years) age groups and by gender. Using logistic regression and after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, we found cell phone ownership was independently associated with increased odds of having two or more sexual partners in the past 12 months across age and gender groups (young men AOR 1.67, 95% CI 1.47-1.90; young women AOR 1.28 95% CI 1.08-1.53; older men AOR 1.54 95% CI 1.41-1.69; older women AOR 1.44 95% CI 1.26-1.65). Interestingly, young men who owned cell phones had decreased odds of using condoms inconsistently (AOR 0.66, 95% CI 0.57-0.75). For young women, cell phone ownership was associated with increased odds of using alcohol before sex (AOR 1.38 95% CI 1.17-1.63) and increased odds of inconsistent condom use (AOR 1.40, 95% 1.17-1.67). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, only young women who owned cell phones had increased odds of being HIV positive (AOR 1.27 95% CI 1.07-1.50). This association was not mediated by sexual behaviors (Adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics and sexual behaviors AOR 1.24, 95% CI 1.05-1.46). While cell phone ownership appears to be associated with increased HIV risk for young women, we also see a potential opportunity for future cell phone-based health interventions.

Characterizing Behavioral Activity Rhythms in Older Adults Using Actigraphy.

Wrist actigraphy has been used to assess sleep in older adult populations for nearly half a century. Over the years, the continuous raw activity data derived from actigraphy has been used for the characterization of factors beyond sleep/wake such as physical activity patterns and circadian rhythms. Behavioral activity rhythms (BAR) are useful to describe individual daily behavioral patterns beyond sleep and wake, which represent important and meaningful clinical outcomes. This paper reviews common rhythmometric approaches and summarizes the available data from the use of these different approaches in older adult populations. We further consider a new approach developed in our laboratory designed to provide graphical characterization of BAR for the observed behavioral phenomenon of activity patterns across time. We illustrate the application of this new approach using actigraphy data collected from a well-characterized sample of older adults (age 60+) with osteoarthritis (OA) pain and insomnia. Generalized additive models (GAM) were implemented to fit smoothed nonlinear curves to log-transformed aggregated actigraphy-derived activity measurements. This approach demonstrated an overall strong model fit (R2 = 0.82, SD = 0.09) and was able to provide meaningful outcome measures allowing for graphical and parameterized characterization of the observed activity patterns within this sample.

Cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in insomnia patients with objective short sleep duration.

Two phenotypes have been proposed: insomnia with objective near-normal sleep duration, related to increased psychological symptoms, and insomnia with objective short sleep duration, associated with cardiometabolic morbidity. Reduced heart rate variability has also been implicated in the pathophysiology of cardiometabolic disease; however, there are little data on whether cardiovascular function differs between patients with objective short sleep duration and near-normal sleep duration. Participants (Mage  = 49.9 ± 11.3 years; 62.8% female) were 180 adults with chronic insomnia (Mduration  = 15.7 ± 13.6). Objective sleep duration was based on total sleep time averaged across two consecutive nights of polysomnography and subjective sleep duration was based on 2-week sleep diaries. The sample was divided into two groups, with sleep duration shorter (polysomnography-total sleep time: n = 46; sleep diary: n = 95) or equal/longer (polysomnography-total sleep time: n = 134; sleep diary: n = 85) than 6 hr. Electrocardiogram data derived from polysomnography were used to obtain heart rate and heart rate variability during stage 2 (N2) and rapid eye movement sleep. Heart rate variability measures included absolute and normalized high-frequency component, an index of parasympathetic activation, and the ratio of low- to high-frequency (LF/HF ratio), an index of sympathovagal balance. After controlling for covariates (e.g., co-morbidity), patients with objective short sleep duration had reduced high-frequency (p < .05) and elevated low-frequency/high-frequency ratio (p = .036) and heart rate (p = .051) compared with patients with near-normal sleep duration. No differences were observed between phenotypes when subjective sleep duration was used. Insomnia patients with objective short sleep duration showed significantly dampened parasympathetic activation and increased sympathovagal imbalance relative to their counterparts with near-normal sleep duration. These findings highlight the importance of treating insomnia, as treatment may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Lymph node effective vascular permeability and chemotherapy uptake.

OBJECTIVE: Lymph node metastases are a poor prognostic factor. Additionally, responses of lymph node metastasis to therapy can be different from the primary tumor. Investigating the physiologic lymph node blood vasculature might give insight into the ability of systemic drugs to penetrate the lymph node, and thus into the differential effect of therapy between lymph node metastasis and primary tumors. Here, we measured effective vascular permeability of lymph node blood vessels and attempted to increase chemotherapy penetration by increasing effective vascular permeability. METHODS: We developed a novel three-dimensional method to measure effective vascular permeability in murine lymph nodes in vivo. VEGF-A was systemically administered to increase effective vascular permeability. Validated high-performance liquid chromatography protocols were used to measure chemotherapeutic drug concentrations in untreated and VEGF-A-treated lymph nodes, liver, spleen, brain, and blood. RESULTS: VEGF-A-treated lymph node blood vessel effective vascular permeability (mean 3.83 × 10-7  cm/s) was significantly higher than untreated lymph nodes (mean 9.87 × 10-8  cm/s). No difference was found in lymph node drug accumulation in untreated versus VEGF-A-treated mice. CONCLUSIONS: Lymph node effective vascular permeability can be increased (~fourfold) by VEGF-A. However, no significant increase in chemotherapy uptake was measured by pretreatment with VEGF-A.

The role of vulnerability in stress-related insomnia, social support and coping styles on incidence and persistence of insomnia.

Individuals who are more prone to experience situational insomnia under stressful conditions may also be at greater risk to develop subsequent insomnia. While cross-sectional data exist on the link between sleep reactivity (heightened vulnerability to stress-related insomnia) and insomnia, limited data exist on its predictive value. The aim of the study was to evaluate prospectively whether sleep reactivity was associated with increased risk of incident and persistent insomnia in a population-based sample of good sleepers. Social support and coping styles were also investigated as potential moderators. Participants were 1449 adults (Mage  = 47.4 years, standard deviation = 15.1; 41.2% male) without insomnia at baseline and evaluated four times over 3 years. Sleep reactivity was measured using the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test (FIRST). Additional measures included depressive symptoms, the frequency and perceived impact of stressful life events, social support and coping styles. After controlling for prior sleep history, depressive symptoms, arousal predisposition, stressful life events and perceived impact, individuals with higher sleep reactivity had an odds ratio (OR) of 1.56 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13-2.16], 1.41 (95% CI: 0.87-2.30) and 2.02 (95% CI: 1.30-3.15) of developing insomnia symptoms, syndrome and persistent insomnia, respectively. Social support and coping styles did not moderate these associations. Results suggest that heightened vulnerability to insomnia is associated with an increased risk of developing new-onset subsyndromal and persistent insomnia in good sleepers. Knowledge of premorbid differences is important to identify at-risk individuals, as this may help to develop more targeted prevention and intervention strategies for insomnia.

Insomnia Symptoms Are Associated with Measures of Functional Deterioration and Dementia Status in Adults with Down Syndrome at High Risk for Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: While obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and insomnia symptoms in neurotypical populations are associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), their association with dementia in adults with Down syndrome (DS) remains less clear, even though these symptoms are prevalent and treatable in DS. Understanding their associations with AD-related dementia status, cognitive impairment, and functional deterioration may lead to interventions to slow decline or disease progression in adults with DS. Objective: To characterize differences in OSA and insomnia symptom expression by dementia status, and to determine which sleep factors support dementia diagnosis. Methods: Multimodal consensus conference was used to determine dementia status in 52 adults with DS (52.2 ±â€Š6.4 years, 21 women). Cognitive impairment, adaptive behavior skills, and symptoms of OSA and insomnia were quantified using validated assessments for adults with DS and their primary informants. Results: A sex by dementia status interaction demonstrated that older women with DS and dementia had more severe terminal insomnia but not OSA symptoms relative to older women with DS who were cognitively stable (CS). Greater insomnia symptom severity was associated with greater functional impairments in social and self-care domains adjusting for age, sex, premorbid intellectual impairment, and dementia status. Conclusions: Insomnia symptoms are more severe in women with DS with dementia than in women with DS and no dementia, and regardless of dementia status or sex, more severe insomnia symptoms are associated with greater impairment in activities of daily living. These findings underscore the potential importance of early insomnia symptom evaluation and treatment in women with DS at risk of developing AD.

Generation and characterization of six human induced pluripotent stem cell lines (hiPSCs) from three individuals with SSADH Deficiency and CRISPR-corrected isogenic controls.

Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency (SSADHD) is an ultra-rare autosomal recessive neurometabolic disorder caused by ALDH5A1 mutations presenting with autism and epilepsy. Here, we report the generation and characterization of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) derived from fibroblasts of three unrelated SSADHD patients - one female and two males with the CRISPR-corrected isogenic controls. These individuals are clinically diagnosed and are being followed in a longitudinal clinical study.

Cardiorespiratory fitness and circadian rhythms in adolescents: a pilot study.

Although cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), an important marker of youth health, is associated with earlier sleep/wake schedule, its relationship with circadian rhythms is unclear. This study examined the associations between CRF and rhythm variables in adolescents. Eighteen healthy adolescents (10 females and 8 males; Mage = 14.6 ± 2.3 yr) completed two study visits on weekdays bracketing an ambulatory assessment during summer vacation. Visit 1 included in-laboratory CRF assessment (peak V̇o2) using a ramp-type progressive cycle ergometry protocol and gas exchange measurement, which was followed by 7-14 days of actigraphy to assess sleep/wake patterns and 24-h activity rhythms. During Visit 2, chronotype, social jetlag (i.e., the difference in midsleep time between weekdays and weekends), and phase preference were assessed using a questionnaire, and hourly saliva samples were collected to determine the dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) phase. All analyses were adjusted for sex, pubertal status, and physical activity. Greater peak V̇o2 was associated with earlier sleep/wake times and circadian phase measures, including acrophase, UP time, DOWN time, last activity peak (LAP) time, and chronotype (all P < 0.05). Peak V̇o2 was negatively associated with social jetlag (P = 0.02). In addition, the mixed-model analysis revealed a significant interaction effect between peak V̇o2 and actigraphy-estimated hour-by-hour activity patterns (P < 0.001), with the strongest effects observed at around the time of waking (0600-1000). In healthy adolescents, better CRF was associated with an earlier circadian phase and increased activity levels notably during the morning. Future studies are needed to investigate the longitudinal effects of the interactions between CRF and advanced rhythms on health outcomes.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In healthy adolescents, better cardiorespiratory fitness, as assessed by the gold standard measure [laboratory-based assessment of peak oxygen consumption (V̇o2)], was associated with earlier circadian timing of sleep/wake patterns, rest-activity rhythms and chronotype, and less social jetlag. These findings highlight the close interrelationships between fitness and rhythms and raise the possibility that maintaining higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels alongside earlier sleep/wake schedule and activity rhythms may be important behavioral intervention targets to promote health in adolescents.

Cerebrovascular pathology mediates associations between hypoxemia during rapid eye movement sleep and medial temporal lobe structure and function in older adults.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in older adults and is associated with medial temporal lobe (MTL) degeneration and memory decline in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the underlying mechanisms linking OSA to MTL degeneration and impaired memory remains unclear. By combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessments of cerebrovascular pathology and MTL structure with clinical polysomnography and assessment of overnight emotional memory retention in older adults at risk for AD, cerebrovascular pathology in fronto-parietal brain regions was shown to statistically mediate the relationship between OSA-related hypoxemia, particularly during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and entorhinal cortical thickness. Reduced entorhinal cortical thickness was, in turn, associated with impaired overnight retention in mnemonic discrimination ability across emotional valences for high similarity lures. These findings identify cerebrovascular pathology as a contributing mechanism linking hypoxemia to MTL degeneration and impaired sleep-dependent memory in older adults.

Appropriateness, Acceptability, and Feasibility of a Neurodiversity-Based Self-determination Program for Autistic Adults.

Published self-determination programs do not adequately address the needs of autistic adults. We designed a multi-component self-determination program, grounded in the neurodiversity paradigm, to help autistic adults achieve goals to improve their quality of life. The first phase involved 5 days of psychoeducation, practice, and social events; the second phase included 3 months of telecoaching; and the third phase included follow-up. Thirty-four university students coached 31 autistic adults on three evolving goals. On average, participants completed one goal per week. Most participants were satisfied with the program. We found that the program was appropriate, acceptable, and feasible. This program is a promising approach to helping autistic adults gain self-determination skills and improve their quality of life.

Medial temporal lobe functional network architecture supports sleep-related emotional memory processing in older adults.

Memory consolidation occurs via reactivation of a hippocampal index during non-rapid eye movement slow-wave sleep (NREM SWS) which binds attributes of an experience existing within cortical modules. For memories containing emotional content, hippocampal-amygdala dynamics facilitate consolidation over a sleep bout. This study tested if modularity and centrality-graph theoretical measures that index the level of segregation/integration in a system and the relative import of its nodes-map onto central tenets of memory consolidation theory and sleep-related processing. Findings indicate that greater network integration is tied to overnight emotional memory retention via NREM SWS expression. Greater hippocampal and amygdala influence over network organization supports emotional memory retention, and hippocampal or amygdala control over information flow are differentially associated with distinct stages of memory processing. These centrality measures are also tied to the local expression and coupling of key sleep oscillations tied to sleep-dependent memory consolidation. These findings suggest that measures of intrinsic network connectivity may predict the capacity of brain functional networks to acquire, consolidate, and retrieve emotional memories.