Kosaka Best Abstract Finalists: The Best of Anesthesia’s Brightest

Young May Cha, MD

Congratulations to all the finalists in the Kosaka Best Abstracts Session, who presented on Sunday, May 19 at the 2024 Annual Meeting, presented by IARS and SOCCA. This session was moderated by expert judges Y.S. Prakash, MD, PhD, IARS vice chair and trustee and chair of the department of physiology and biomedical engineering at Mayo Clinic, Vivianne Tawfik, MD, PhD, IARS trustee and associate professor of anesthesiology at Stanford University, and Yasuko Nagasaka, MD, PhD, professor in anesthesia and chair at Tokyo Women’s Medical University and representative for the Japan Society of Clinical Anesthesia. Continue reading to learn more about all of the finalists, beginning with our esteemed award recipients.

Top Abstract Awardees:

The Top Clinical Research Award was given to Annika Eyth, a fifth-year medical student at Montefiore Medical Center, for her study “Development and Validation of a Score to Predict Intraoperative Red Blood Cell Transfusion.” This study was conducted at Montefiore Medical Center and then externally validated with a cohort at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. With over 400,000 patients, they created a TRANSFUSE (Transfusion Forecast Utility for Surgical Events) score, which outperformed the previously published TRUST score, to reliably predict intraoperative transfusion in patients. One advantage of the TRANSFUSE score is that it can be implemented in the absence of machine-learning infrastructures.

The Top Basic Science Award was given to Varina Clark Onwunyi, MD, an anesthesiology resident at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, for the study “In Vivo miR10b-5p Inhibition in Rats is a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Pulmonary Hypertension.” MicroRNA are noncoding RNA that can regulate gene expression at the posttranscription level. MicroRNA miR10b-5p has been shown to have pro-proliferative effects in various cancers. In this study, overexpression of miR10b-5p resulted in in vitro proliferation of human pulmonary arterial cells. Inhibition of miR10b-5p via endotracheal delivery in a rat model of pulmonary hypertension resulted in improvement in pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular dysfunction. There was also a strong trend for improvement in the pulmonary vasculature at a cellular level.

The Top Scholars Abstract Award was given to Richard Perez, MD, a third-year anesthesiology resident at Stanford University Health Care, for the study “Deciphering the Translatomic Perturbations Associated with Acute and Chronic Pain in Mouse Spinal Cord Astrocytes.” Glial cells activated after injury release proinflammatory cytokines and are thought to play a role in the early initiation of pain. Astrocytes can also become reactive for months and are thought to play a role in the transmission of chronic pain. Using a mouse model of chronic regional pain syndrome, this study captured mRNA translated in astrocytes and used a weighted gene correlation network analysis to hierarchically cluster the genes expressed. With this network approach, this study identified 50 genes specifically expressed in astrocytes whose expression significantly changed from the acute pain condition to the chronic pain condition in this mouse model.

Clinical Research Finalists:

Sunny Lou, MD, PhD, instructor of anesthesiology at Washington University in St. Louis, presented “External Validation of a Publicly Available Surgical Transfusion Risk Prediction Model: A Multicentered Perioperative Outcomes Group Study.” By incorporating patient specific factors, such as anemia and coagulopathy, this open source code reduced blood orders and provided an explanation behind the predictive risk of transfusion.

Theresa Tenge, MD, research fellow in anaesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, presented “Early Detection of Palliative Care Need in ICU Patients: Development and Cross Validation of the PC-ICU Score.” This retrospective cohort study assessed over 60,000 adult ICU patients to identify 10 predictive factors that would be known within the first 24 hours of admission to identify patients that would benefit from early integration with a multidisciplinary palliative care team. This score is currently being externally validated with hospitals in the US and Europe and is applicable to surgical and medical ICUs.

Basic Science Finalists:

Elvedin Lukovic, MD, PhD, assistant professor anesthesiology at Columbia University, presented “Development of Asthma Therapies Inspired by Natural Products.” Ginger is used as an alternative remedy for asthma and its components can relax precontracted airway smooth muscle. This study assessed a library of novel synthetic derivatives of ginger components for their ability to induce relaxation or rescue lost albuterol activity in a reactive mouse trachea.

Xiaowen Bai, PhD, associate professor of cell biology, neurobiology, and anatomy at Medical College of Wisconsin, presented “Anesthetics Adverse Effects on Human Cerebral Organoids.” This study used cerebral organoids derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells and assessed propofol effects on young organoids. The study found increased apoptosis, increased autophagy, and downregulated synaptogenesis. Microarray studies showed abnormal gene expression in neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes.

Finalists for Research Conducted by a Scholar:

Wendy Yang, medical student at University of South Florida, presented “Dissecting Genetic Mechanisms of Differential Locomotion, Allodynia, and Depression After Spinal Cord Injury in Three Mouse Strains.” This study used mouse models of mild and moderate-severe spinal cord injury in three different genetic strains to assess differences in anxiety-like behavior, depressive-like behavior, and response to thermal/mechanical stimuli. In mild spinal cord injury, there was a difference in behavior and gene expression suggesting the importance of genetic variance in recovery from spinal cord injury.

Lars Lofgren, MS, graduate research fellow in anesthesiology at University of Utah, presented “Influence of Resuscitative Interventions Following Hemorrhagic Shock on Urinary Oxygen in Swine.” This study developed a novel device to measure urinary oxygen simultaneously with urine output as a possible marker for renal hypoperfusion that could be an early detector for acute kidney injury.

All Kosaka Best Abstract Finalists were awarded $50 gift certificates and a certificate of recognition at the Annual Meeting. The top awardees each will receive $500 and a plaque after the meeting. Additionally, the Basic Science and Clinical Research awardees will receive a complimentary registration to the following year’s annual meeting and a $1000 travel stipend should they attend.

The Kosaka Best Abstract Awards are supported by the Japan Society for Clinical Anesthesia (JSCA) and the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). The founder of the JSCA, Dr. Futami Kosaka, started a cooperative relationship with IARS in 1990 and developed the foundation for today’s Kosaka Best Abstracts Session.