Hosts Mitsuaki Sawano, MD, Shun Kohsaka, MD, FACC, and Makoto Mori, MD (Associate Editor) welcome Dr. Tsuyoshi Kaneko, MD, a cardiovascular surgeon, to discuss the impact of federal funding cuts at Columbia University and findings from a large-scale STS database study on bioprosthetic vs. mechanical aortic valve replacement (AVR) in patients aged 40-75 years. Dr. Kaneko provides a surgical perspective on risk-adjusted comparisons, data linkage challenges, and potential biases, while also sharing insights on publishing in JACC and essential writing tips for Japanese researchers.