To investigate whether tissue specific alterations in the BCAA catabolic enzymes could be a determining factor specifically during the progression of obesity in patients undergoing cardiac surgery, we determined the mRNA and protein levels of key BCAA catabolic enzymes (Supplementary Figure 1, highlighted by *) in SAT, an important tissue impacting BCAA catabolism (41). The gene discussed is ARID4B; the disease is Obesity.