NIH-funded Grants Research Articles

Trends in pharmaceutical industry payments to US cancer centers, 2014-2021.

11065 Background: US National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers (NCICCCs) receive federal funding to support their public missions. However, these institutions also receive substantial funds (both research and non-research) from the pharmaceutical companies, which have private, for-profit goals. The amount of industry money received by NCICCCs, with respect to their federal funding, is poorly understood. The goal of this study was to examine trends in industry payments to US cancer centers. Methods: NCICCCs were identified (N=51). Industry payments to each NCICCC from 2014-2021 were obtained from Open Payments, and NIH grant funding from NIH RePORT. Given our interest in NCICCCs, we focused on the subset of industry payments (those designated as being related to a cancer drug, both research and non-research) and NIH grant funding (grants awarded by the NCI specifically, as opposed to other institutes) that were likely to be cancer-related (we also measured overall industry payments and overall NIH funding). In order to capture both industry payments and grant funding broadly, we manually identified teaching hospitals and research universities affiliated with each NCICCC and included payments and grants to these as well. All amounts were inflation-adjusted to 2021 dollars. Results: Oncology-related industry payments increased from $320 million in 2014 to $896 million in 2021. NCI funding increased slightly during the same period, from $2,481 million to $2,691 million. Overall industry payments increased from $1,811 million in 2014 to $3,015 million in 2019 (exceeding NCI funding in that year), though overall industry payments subsequently declined to $1,977 million in 2021. Non-research (as opposed to research) payments were the minority of industry payments; the year with the greatest proportion of non-research payments was 2019, at 39%. NCI funding exceeded oncology-related industry payments at all NCICCCs except for two: City of Hope ($1,137 million oncology-related industry payments vs. $311 million in NCI funding) and MD Anderson ($1,040 million vs. $1,001 million). Conclusions: Oncology-related industry payments to NCICCCs has increased substantially more than NCI funding in recent years. Although most industry payments are research-related, a substantial portion are not. A small number of NCICCCs receive comparable or greater amounts of money from industry than they receive in grant funding from the NCI. These trends raise concerns regarding the influence of industry payments and the ability of these institutions to maintain their public missions.

Funding for Refugee Health Research From the National Institutes of Health Between 2000 and 2020

The US has historically resettled more refugees than any other country, with over 3.5 million refugees since 1980. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest public funder of biomedical research and development, but its role in mitigating many health disparities refugees experience through its funded research remains unknown. To examine the NIH's research funding patterns on refugee health research over the last 2 decades. Secondary analysis of NIH-funded grants between 2000 and 2020 using a cross-sectional study design. The NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools database was used to find relevant grants. Data were analyzed from November 2021 to September 2022. NIH grants awarded by year, state, grant type, research area, funding institute, grant duration, and amount funded. Of 1.7 million NIH grants funded over the 20-year study period, only 78 addressed refugee health. Funded grants were mostly training grants (23 grants [29%]), followed by hypothesis-driven research (R01 grants; 22 grants [28%]), pilot or preliminary investigation proposals (13 grants [17%]), and other types of grants (20 grants [26%]). The most studied research domain was mental health (36 grants [46%]), followed by refugee family dynamics and women's and children's health (14 grants [18%]). A total of 26 grants (33%) were funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and 15 (19%) were funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Most grants were US-based (60 grants [76%]) and the state of Massachusetts received the greatest amount of funding ($14 825 852 [18%]). In 2020, the NIH allocated about $2.3 million to refugee health research, or less than 0.01% of its $42 billion budget that year. The number of grants funded in each time period did not always reflect changes in the number of refugees resettled in the US over the years. This cross-sectional study found that there remain significant gaps in the understanding of and interventions in the health research needs of refugees locally and along the migratory route. To close these gaps, the NIH should increase its investments in comprehensive studies assessing the physical, mental, and social well-being of this expanding population. This can be achieved by ensuring that all NIH institutes allocate budgets specifically for refugee health research and extend support for the training of refugee researchers.

A 10-Year Analysis of Representation of Women in Patent Applications and NIH Funding in Vascular Surgery

There has been an increasing focus on gender disparities in the medical field and in the field of vascular surgery specifically. We aimed to characterize gender representation in vascular surgery innovation over the past 10years, using metrics of patents and National Institutes of Health (NIH) support. We performed a retrospective review of all vascular-related patent filings (Google Scholar) and NIH-funded grants (NIH RePORTER) over a 10-year period (January 1st, 2012, to December 31st, 2021). Gender-API (Application Programming Interface) was used to identify the gender of the inventors, with manual confirmation of a 10% random sample. Gender representation for patent inventors and grant principal investigators (PIs) were compared using Chi-squared and Student's t-tests as appropriate. Yearly temporal changes in representation were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and linear regression analyses. We identified 2,992 unique vascular device patents with 6,093 associated inventors over 10years. Women were underrepresented in patent authorship overall (11.5%), and were least likely to be listed as first inventor (8.9%) and most commonly fourth and fifth inventors (15.5% and 14.1%, respectively) compared to men. There was no significant change in representation of women inventors over time (-0.2% females per year, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.54 to 0.10). We identified 1736 total unique NIH grants, with 23.8% of funded projects having women PIs. There was an increase in the proportion of women PIs over time (+1.31% per year, 95% CI 0.784 to 1.855; P<0.001). Projects with women PIs received mean total awards that were significantly lower than projects with men PIs ($350,485±$220,072 vs. $451,493±$411,040; P<0.001), but the overall ratio of funding:women investigators improved over time (+$11,531 per year, 95% CI $6,167 to $16,895; P=0.0011). While we have made strides in increasing the number of women in the surgical research space, there is still room for improvement in funding parity. In addition, we found substantial and persistent room for improvement in representation of women in surgical innovation. As we enter a new frontier of surgery hallmarked by equalizing gender representation, these data should serve as a call-to-action for initiative aimed at rebuilding the foundation of surgical innovations upon equal gender representation.

Advice for Early Career Clinical Stroke Researchers Applying for National Institutes of Health Funding.

Advice for Early Career Clinical Stroke Researchers Applying for National Institutes of Health Funding.

An Update: National Institutes of Health Research Funding for Palliative Medicine 2016-2020.

Background: The evidence base to support palliative care clinical practice is inadequate and opportunities to improve the evidence base remain despite the field's rapid growth. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine current National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding of palliative medicine research and trends over time. Design: We sought to identify NIH funding of palliative medicine (2016-2020) in two stages: (1) we searched the NIH grant database, RePORTER, for grants with the keywords, "palliative care," "end-of-life care," "hospice," and "end of life," and (2) identified palliative care researchers likely to have secured NIH funding using three strategies. Methods: We abstracted (1) the first and last authors' names from original investigations published in major palliative medicine journals from 2016 to 2018; (2) names from a PubMed-generated list of original articles published in major medicine, nursing, and subspecialty journals using the above keywords; and (3) palliative medicine journal editorial board members and members of key palliative medicine initiatives. We cross-matched the pooled names against NIH grants funded from 2016 to 2021. Results: A crosswalk analysis of the author search and NIH RePORTER search identified 1658 grants. Of those, 541 were categorized as relevant to palliative medicine, which represented 419 unique principal investigators (mean of 1.34 grants per investigator). Compared with 2011-2015, the number of NIH-funded grants increased by 25%, NIH dollars increased by 35%, and the distribution of grant types remained stable. Conclusions: Despite the challenging NIH funding climate, the number of NIH grants and funding to palliative care have increased. Given the increased funding allocation toward Alzheimer's dementia and related dementia research at the congressional level, this increase in funding reflects this funding allocation and does not represent overall growth. Dedicated federal funding for palliative care research remains critical to grow the evidence base for persons living with serious illnesses and their families.

A Portfolio Analysis of Nutritional Biomarkers in NIH- and NHLBI-funded Research, 2008–2020

ObjectivesNutrition biomarkers are important in elucidating disease risks and severity, as surrogate markers of nutritional status, and provide objective measures of dietary intake. This study analyzed grants that investigated nutritional biomarkers and were funded between 2008 and 2020 by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and across the National Institutes of Health (NIH). MethodsData were extracted using the NIH iSearch portfolio analysis platform to curate grant applications to the NIH and NHLBI. Keywords included nutrition or diet, followed by omics, metabolomics, lipidomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, genomics, and epigenomics. Funded and unfunded nutri-omics grants were separated and examined for keywords for total expenditures, Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) categories, administering Institute, fiscal year, Early-Stage Investigator eligibility, and organization. Citation and publication data stemming from each awarded grant were collated using iCite. ResultsThe total number of NIH- and NHLBI-funded grants in nutri-omics biomarkers was 1,143 and 95, respectively from 2008–2020. Total dollar amount of NIH-funded grants in nutri-omics biomarkers increased from $15M in 2008 to $59.5M in 2019 and declined to $47M in 2020. NHLBI funded grants increased substantially during the same years from $1.8M in 2008 to $7.5M in 2020. During the 12-year period, the proportion of ESI grants among funded grants increased by about 10-fold across NIH and 2-fold for NHLBI. There was an increase in the number of NHLBI research publications (500%) and relative citation ratios (RCR) (150%). Funded grants were concentrated along the East and West coasts of the United States. Major foam tree topics from NHLBI-administered nutri-omics grants included cardiovascular disease, dietary patterns, obesity, human genome, risk factors, microbiome, TMAO (trimethyl amine oxide), and fatty acids. ConclusionsThe analysis indicated increased funding in nutri-omics biomarkers. However, major gaps remain in topics categorized as nutrition biomarkers in NHLBI- and NIH-funded grants. More research is needed to characterize and examine novel biomarkers in NIH-funded grants. Funding SourcesNot applicable.

This Month in Adult Urology

This Month in Adult Urology

Abstract 255: National Institutes of Health Research Funding of the Top Science Gaps Recognized in the 2015 American Heart Association Emergency Cardiac Care Guidelines

Objective: A descriptive analysis of NIH funding of the top science gaps recognized in the 2015 AHA Emergency Cardiac Care cardiac arrest (CA) guidelines over a five-year period. Methods: A search within NIH RePORTER for the period of 2015 to 2019 was performed using the following terms: “cardiac arrest” or “cardiopulmonary resuscitation” or “heart arrest” or “circulatory arrest” or “pulseless electrical activity” or “ventricular fibrillation” or “resuscitation”. Grants were identified as CA research (yes/no) using predefined, published criteria. NIH funded CA abstracts were individually reviewed and categorized using the previously recognized ten most urgent science gaps in the 2015 AHA ECC CA guidelines published by Panchal et al. The data were analyzed descriptively. Results: The search yielded 1,518 NIH-funded grants over the study period, of which 172 (11.3%) were classified as individual CA grants. A total of 42 (24.4%) did not address a top 10 scientific gap. The remaining 130 grants addressed the following scientific gaps: optimization of post-CA care (78 grants, 45.3%), prediction of patients at risk of CA (12, 7%), developing tools for early neuroprognostication (7, 4.1%), hemodynamic monitoring/goal directed resuscitation (4, 2.3%), optimizing educational strategies for providers (4, 2.3%), optimal airway strategies (2, 1.2%), and understanding why bystanders fail to respond (1, 0.6%). Previously existing scientific networks or data centers accounted for 19 (11%) grants and 3 (1.7%) grants addressed both optimizing post-CA care and early neuroprognostication gaps. Recognized scientific gaps in dispatch-directed CPR, individualized resuscitation strategies, and novel technology for out-of-hospital CA identification and response did not receive specifically directed NIH grant funding. Conclusion: Additional research funding targeting critical knowledge gaps in the 2015 cardiac arrest guidelines is needed promote broader evidence-based guideline development. Current NIH funding is concentrated in a few areas leaving disparity among recognized high-yield scientific gaps in CA care.

The evolution of parkinsonism in primary progressive apraxia of speech: A 6-year longitudinal study

IntroductionPrimary progressive apraxia of speech (PPAOS) is a neurodegenerative syndrome in which patients present with an isolated motor speech disorder. Some PPAOS patients develop parkinsonism and other features of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and/or corticobasal syndrome (CBS) over time. We aimed to assess the evolution of parkinsonian characteristics in PPAOS patients who had been followed yearly for at least six years. MethodsFrom a large cohort of 46 PPAOS patients, eight were followed yearly for > 6-years in multiple NIH-funded grants. Parkinsonian and other features, including bradykinesia, tremor, rigidity, postural instability, apraxia, ocular motor function and cognition were assessed at each visit, and research criteria applied for PSP and CBS diagnosis. Neurological, speech-language test scores, and [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET (FDG-PET) and MRI midbrain volumes were assessed. ResultsA Parkinson's plus syndrome developed in all eight patients (100%). Bradykinesia was the earliest feature, followed by rigidity and postural instability. Tremor was not a significant feature. Parkinsonism, limb apraxia and ocular motor impairment tended to develop four-to-five years after onset with some patients having slight asymmetric parkinsonism. Six patients (75%) met research criteria for probable PSP, although only one for PSP-Richardson's syndrome; three patients met criteria for possible CBS. Slightly asymmetric, left-sided, hypometabolism was observed on FDG-PET, not matching asymmetry of Parkinsonism. Midbrain hypometabolism was absent-minimal. Three patients had progressive midbrain volumes in the PSP-Richardson's syndrome range. ConclusionsA Parkinson's plus syndrome may inevitably develop in PPAOS supporting PPAOS as an early presentation of a Parkinson's plus disorder.

Gender differences in NIH grant funding in neurological surgery

Research productivity is a vital component to an academic neurosurgeon’s career. We sought to evaluate gender differences in NIH funding among faculty in neurological surgery departments. NIH funding awarded to PIs of neurological surgery departments from 2014 to 2019 were obtained and analyzed for gender differences in funding trends, with attention to terminal degree and academic rank, as well as publication range in length of years and h-index. 79.4% of all NIH grants were awarded to male PIs, with the remaining 20.5% given to their female counterparts. Mean of the total NIH grants awarded to men was significantly higher at $1,796,684 (± Standard Error of Mean (SEM) $155,849, IQR: $1,759,250) compared to women at $1,151,968 (± SEM $137,914, IQR: $1,388,538) (P = 0.022). Mean NIH funding per grant for men was $365,760 (± SEM: $39,592, IQR: $189,692) and for women was $292,912 (± SEM: 28,239, IQR: $283,177). Differences in mean NIH funding per grant approached but did not reach statistical significance between men and women (P = 0.122). When stratified for academic rank, there was a significant difference in mean NIH funding per grant between men and women on the associate professor level (p < 0.005), with women exceeding men in funding at this academic level, with other academic ranks remaining non-significant. Overall, male neurosurgeons receive significantly more total NIH grant funding than their female counterparts, except at the level of associate professor where women were found to surpass men.

Fostering Trauma and Emergency Research Capacity in Rwanda Through Collaboration

Access to effective emergent care would prevent 45% of all deaths in LMICs, however, trauma and emergency care remain largely neglected. Our collaboration in Rwanda to build prehospital trauma care led us to create a research mentorship program to enhance the ability of the local team to evaluate their system. NIH grant funding had been previously obtained to establish standards for prehospital trauma care in Rwanda and build local research capacity. We created a research mentorship program that involved a surgical resident embedded locally tasked with 1) giving lectures on research, study design, interpretation, and writing, 2) providing mentorship for data interpretation and 3) supporting the development of abstracts, presentations, and publications. Four research teams identified high priority areas for quality improvement research. Research group meetings were held and involved mentored literature searches, critical review of published works, basics of study design, abstract writing and manuscript development. Abstracts were submitted and accepted to three international conferences. At this time 3 manuscripts have been accepted and are in production, 2 abstracts and 1 manuscript has been published. Eleven staff enrolled in master's degree programs in critical and nursing, epidemiology, public health and global health equity across three institutions. Responsive health care systems need capacity for ongoing quality improvement and research. This is especially true to address the massive global burden of disease of trauma and emergency conditions. US academic surgical collaborations have tremendous research expertise that can contribute to improving health system capacity globally. Such collaborations offer the opportunity to set up the foundations of future academic productivity.

NIH funding trends to US medical schools from 2009 to 2018.

Total NIH funding dollars have increased from 2009–2018. We questioned whether this growth has occurred proportionately around the country and throughout allopathic medical schools. Therefore, we compared the trend in NIH grant funding from 2009 to 2018 for United States allopathic medical schools among historically top-funded schools, private and public schools, and by region of the country. Changes in both unadjusted and real funding dollars over time revealed a significant difference. Region was the only significant factor for mean percent change in funding from 2009–2018, with the Western region showing a 33.79% increase in purchasing power. The Northeastern region showed a -6.64% decrease in purchasing power while the Central and Southern regions reported changes of 2.46% and -6.08%, respectively. The mean percent increases were more proportional and nonsignificant in the public vs. private institutions comparison, at -3.41% and 4.75%, respectively. Likewise, the top-funded institutions vs. other institutions comparisons demonstrated modest, nonsignificant differences. However, although the relative changes might be proportional, the absolute increases evidence a pattern of growing cumulative advantage that favor the highest-funded institutions and private institutions. The potential consequences of this disproportionate increase include health science education, biomedical research, and patient access disparities in large parts of the country. The NIH and the scientific community should explore potential solutions in its funding models.

A Call to Action: Black/African American Women Surgeon Scientists, Where are They?

To determine the representation of Black/AA women surgeons in academic medicine among U.S. medical school faculty and to assess the number of NIH grants awarded to Black/AA women surgeon-scientists over the past 2 decades. Despite increasing ethnic/racial and sex diversity in U.S. medical schools and residencies, Black/AA women have historically been underrepresented in academic surgery. A retrospective review of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2017 Faculty Roster was performed and the number of grants awarded to surgeons from the NIH (1998-2017) was obtained. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges included the total number of medical school surgery faculty, academic rank, tenure status, and department Chair roles. Descriptive statistics were performed. Of the 15,671 U.S. medical school surgical faculty, 123 (0.79%) were Black/AA women surgeons with only 11 (0.54%) being tenured faculty. When stratified by academic rank, 15 (12%) Black/AA women surgeons were instructors, 73 (59%) were assistant professors, 19 (15%) were associate professors, and 10 (8%) were full professors of surgery. Of the 372 U.S. department Chairs of surgery, none were Black/AA women. Of the 9139 NIH grants awarded to academic surgeons from 1998 and 2017, 31 (0.34%) grants were awarded to fewer than 12 Black/AA women surgeons. A significant disparity in the number of Black/AA women in academic surgery exists with few attaining promotion to the rank of professor with tenure and none ascending to the role of department Chair of surgery. Identifying and removing structural barriers to promotion, NIH grant funding, and academic advancement of Black/AA women as leaders and surgeon-scientists is needed.

Abstract P4-15-03: An analysis of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) breast cancer research portfolio and the Department of Defense (DOD) breast cancer research program (BCRP) funding for metastatic breast cancer research in fiscal year 2016

Abstract Background: Approximately 90 percent of breast cancer mortality is due to metastasis - the spreading of primary tumor cells to distant organs. Despite a dramatic increase in early screening and improvements in available treatments for primary breast tumors, the number of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (MBC)—an incurable disease with a median survival of 30 months upon diagnosis—has not changed significantly in the past two decades. Increasingly, patients with MBC and other advocates question the amount of funding being directed toward MBC research. However, answering this question has proven complex. Methods: We evaluated the percent of funding distributed for MBC research by two primary research funding bodies—the NIH and the Department of Defense BCRP. Abstracts publicly-available through the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT) (Breast Cancer Disease Category, FY2016 [Actual]) and from the CDMRP BCRP website (All Award Types, FY2016) were exported to a Microsoft Excel file for analysis. Data included FY2016 budget allocation amounts and detailed abstracts for each project. A team of breast cancer patient advocates (all graduates of Project LEAD®) systematically reviewed each project abstract to assess whether the project informed, or was relevant to, MBC research. Advocate peer reviewers used a combination of keyword searches along with in-depth substantive evaluation of project abstracts according to predefined search terms and assessment criteria to determine whether a research project should be classified as MBC research. The BCRP-funded grants (n=87 active in 2016) were each reviewed by all four advocate peer reviewers. Due to the large number of NIH-funded grants (n=1693 active in FY2016), the collection of abstracts was divided by the team and each project was reviewed by at least two advocate peer reviewers. Projects for which there was disagreement on coding were reviewed by the larger team in an effort to reach consensus. Results: In FY2016, of the total funds allocated by the DoD BCRP ($91,743,310), 57.6 percent of allocated grant funds ($52,827,805) went to projects classified as MBC research, 37.3 percent ($34,263,109) to non-MBC research, and 5.1 percent ($4,652,396) to projects that could not be classified by the peer reviewers (i.e., consensus not reached). Among FY2016 NIH-funded breast cancer research projects ($656,440,525), 14.6 percent of allocated grant funds ($96,356,077) went to projects classified as MBC research, 79.6 percent ($522,396,807) to non-MBC research, and 5.7 percent ($37,687,641) to projects not be classified by the reviews. Conclusions: This strategy of a peer reviewed evaluation of two primary sources of federal funding for breast cancer research is a practical way to evaluate MBC research funding. It provides a repeatable process that can be used by breast cancer patient advocates to estimate funding for MBC research. Citation Format: Judy Perkins. An analysis of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) breast cancer research portfolio and the Department of Defense (DOD) breast cancer research program (BCRP) funding for metastatic breast cancer research in fiscal year 2016 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-15-03.

Abstract 310: National Institutes of Health Research Investment for the Leading Causes of Disability-Adjusted Life Years in the United States

Background: Cardiac arrest (CA) is a leading cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALY) in the United States (U.S.). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) does not report annual research funding for CA. Our objective was to calculate and compare the NIH research investment for CA to other leading causes of DALY in the U.S. Methods: A search within NIH RePORTER for the year 2016 was performed using the following terms: cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, heart arrest, circulatory arrest, pulseless electrical activity, ventricular fibrillation, or resuscitation. Grants were individually reviewed and categorized as CA research (yes/no) using predefined criteria and the sum of funding for grants meeting inclusion criteria were tabulated. DALY were calculated as the sum of years of life lost (YLL) and years lived with disability (YLD) using all adult non-traumatic EMS-treated out-of-hospital CA (OHCA) from the CARES database for 2016. Total DALY for the study population were extrapolated to a national level. The leading causes of DALY were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease study. Funding data were extracted from the 2016 NIH Categorical Spending Report. Research funding were compared using U.S. dollars invested per DALY as the outcome measure. Results: The search yielded 285 NIH-funded grants, of which 65 (22.8%) were classified as CA research. Total NIH funding for CA research in 2016 was $28.5M. A total of 59,752 cases from CARES met study inclusion criteria for the DALY analysis. The total DALY following adult OHCA in the U.S. were 4,354,192 (YLL 4,350,825; YLD 3,365). Per annual DALY, the NIH invested $284 for diabetes, $89 for stroke, $53 for ischemic heart disease, and $7 for CA research in 2016 (FIGURE). Conclusion: The NIH investment into CA research is less than other leading causes of death and disability in the U.S. These results should help inform the debate regarding how to best utilize limited resources to improve public health.

The historical context and scientific legacy of John O. Holloszy.

John O. Holloszy, as perhaps the world’s preeminent exercise biochemist/physiologist, published >400 papers over his 50+ year career, and they have been cited >41,000 times. In 1965 Holloszy showed for the first time that exercise training in rodents resulted in a doubling of skeletal muscle mitochondria, ushering in a very active era of skeletal muscle plasticity research. He subsequently went on to describe the consequences of and the mechanisms underlying these adaptations. Holloszy was first to show that muscle contractions increase muscle glucose transport independent of insulin, and he studied the mechanisms underlying this response throughout his career. He published important papers assessing the impact of training on glucose and insulin metabolism in healthy and diseased humans. Holloszy was at the forefront of rodent studies of caloric restriction and longevity in the 1980s, following these studies with important cross-sectional and longitudinal caloric restriction studies in humans. Holloszy was influential in the discipline of cardiovascular physiology, showing that older healthy and diseased populations could still elicit beneficial cardiovascular adaptations with exercise training. Holloszy and his group made important contributions to exercise physiology on the effects of training on numerous metabolic, hormonal, and cardiovascular adaptations. Holloszy’s outstanding productivity was made possible by his mentoring of ~100 postdoctoral fellows and substantial NIH grant funding over his entire career. Many of these fellows have also played critical roles in the exercise physiology/biochemistry discipline. Thus it is clear that exercise biochemistry and physiology will be influenced by John Holloszy for numerous years to come.

Impact of funding allocation on physical therapist research productivity and DPT student graduates: an analysis using panel data.

Financial support for institutional research is relatively stagnant, and thus institutions are likely to seek tuition revenue to offset the costs of research and teaching. It is likely that this has led to increases in tuition driven activities, and thus has limited research activities of academic physical therapy (PT) programs in particular. However, the relationships between sources of program revenue, the number of graduates from PT programs, and the scholarly production of PT faculty have not been studied. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of types of funding-including research grants and tuition-on the number of physical therapy graduates from each program and the research productivity of physical therapy faculty. Data from 2008 to 2016 were utilized to perform a fixed-effects panel analysis. Panel models created predictions for the number of graduates and the number of peer-reviewed publications for programs from grant funding, annual tuition, and number of funded faculty members. In any given program, a 1% increase in annual tuition is associated with 24% more graduates per year, but a single percentage point increase in the mix of NIH grant funding over other funding types is associated with 8% fewer graduates, all else equal. For every 1% increase in annual tuition, a program can expect to have 41% fewer publications per year. Those institutions with higher numbers of graduates tended to have higher numbers of publications. Higher annual program tuition appears to be associated with both higher numbers of physical therapy graduates and lower levels of publications. Different funding sources have variable effects on degree production and scholarly productivity. Data are self-reported by programs on the Annual Accreditation Report, and cause and effect cannot be established through observational design.

Enterocyte Lipid Droplet and Mitochondrial Interaction in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Larvae During High Fat Diet Absorption

Diets associated with the development of dyslipidemias are typically high in triglycerides and cholesterol. These lipids are readily absorbed by intestinal enterocytes and there processed and packaged for delivery to the whole organism. Much remains unknown about the energetic mechanisms regulating dietary lipid processing within intestinal enterocytes. The purpose of this study is to better elucidate the dynamic interaction of lipid droplets and mitochondria during lipid absorption in the zebrafish model. Previous work in our lab has shown that larvae fed a high fat diet undergo lipid droplet biogenesis. We hypothesized that an increase in the size of the lipid droplets will cause mitochondria biogenesis or fusion while increasing apposition with lipid droplets. To test this prediction, zebrafish 6 day post fertilization larvae were fed a high fat diet of chicken egg yolk for one hour, rinsed, and fixed for TEM to create a 10 hour time course. Larvae were then sectioned, and imaged via TEM for each hour post feeding. Numbers of mitochondria decreased (43±7, 0 hours vs. 30±7, 3 hours) early upon feeding while area the total number of mitochondria increased (21±14 μm vs. 28±9 μm). Apposition between lipid droplets and mitochondria increased (from 0 vs. 5±1) during the same time frame and decrease by hour 10. Our results indicate that mitochondrial/lipid droplet apposition events correlate with lipid droplet processing or maturation. Future studies will attempt to further validate the zebrafish enterocyte model by comparison of other vertebrates. This work was supported by WV‐INBRE Grant# 2P20GM1.343_14 P1500699 to the West Virginia IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence, NIH Grant P20GM103434Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by WV‐INBRE Grant# 2P20GM1.343_14 P1500699 to the West Virginia IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence, NIH Grant P20GM103434This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Abstract 142: Engaging Patients Throughout the Health System: A Landscape Analysis of Top Research Institutions and Cold Call Policies

Background: Healthcare institutions may often prohibit “cold-calling,” or direct contact with a potential research participant when the person initiating contact is unknown to the patient. This policy aims to maintain patient privacy, but may lead to unintended consequences such as physician gatekeeping or increase concerns for coercion if treating physicians are the sole contact allowed. Patients may also be denied full knowledge and benefit of research opportunities, and clinical studies may suffer from selection bias and under enrollment. Differences in cold call policies across institutions have yet to be explored. Objectives: To review the current landscape of cold call policies among top academic institutions in order to inform guidance about future policy change. Methods: Sixteen institutions with the highest NIH grant funding were classified as providing guidance about cold-calling, prohibiting cold-calling, and/or allowing exceptions to the cold call policy, based on publically available data. Results: Among the top 16 research intensive institutions, 5 institutions have no cold-call policy. There are 7 institutions that prohibit cold-calling with exceptions, including when provider contact is impractical. There are 2 that do not have a cold call policy, but provide guidance such as taking extra care to respect patient privacy and inform patients of how they were identified. Finally, 2 prohibit cold-calling without exceptions. For patients not receiving care within the hospital’s health system, some institutions require that the PCP make first contact (Table). Conclusion: The approach to engaging patients in large, research intensive health systems varies significantly. As healthcare has evolved with more virtual visits, team-based care or system-based care, the engagement of potential research participants should similarly evolve while preserving patient privacy and autonomy. Potential solutions include opt-in or opt-out approaches for future contact, replacement of cold call policies with best practices, or a team based collaborative approach between physicians and researchers to guide recruitment decisions.

Congress OKs $2 Billion Boost for the NIH.

President Donald Trump last week signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill for fiscal year 2017, including a welcome $2 billion boost for the NIH that will support former Vice President Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot initiative, among other priorities. However, researchers who rely heavily on NIH grant funding remain concerned about proposed cuts for 2018.