6 versus 14.9 per 1000 person-years; hazard ratio [HR] = 1.25; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04 to 1.50). In the malignancy cohort (n = 7732 pairs), mean age was 70 years, and 66% were female. There was a numerically higher, albeit not statistically significant, risk of AF with ZA compared with denosumab over 1 year (IR = 46.9 versus 39.0 per 1000 person-years; HR = 1.19; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.43; p = 0.06). No difference in stroke/TIA rates occurred. In the malignancy cohort, ZA was less effective than denosumab at preventing nonvertebral fractures (HR = 1.32; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.74). Compared with denosumab, ZA treatment for osteoporosis and possibly for malignancy-related bone disease is associated with modestly increased risk of incident AF in the first year of treatment. © 2020 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).The outbreak of COVID-19 emerged in December 2019 rapidly spread across the globe and has become pandemic. Little is known about the protective factors of this infection, which is equally distributed between genders and different ages while severe and poor prognosis cases are strongly associated to old males and the presence of comorbidities. Thus, preventive measures aiming at reducing the number of infection and/or their severity are strongly needed. Vitamin D has got great attention and has been claimed as potentially protective against the infection since it may be associated with immunocompetence, inflammation, aging, and those diseases involved in determining the outcomes of COVID-19. This narrative review aims at collecting the literature available on the involvement of the vitamin D status in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and the putative utility of vitamin D supplementation in the therapeutics. It emerges that a poor vitamin D status seems to associate with an increased risk of infection whereas age, gender and comorbidities seem to play a more important role in COVID-19 severity and mortality. While randomized control trials are needed to better inquire into this topic, vitamin D supplementation may be useful beside its potential effects on SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19.

The inherent diversity of natural product extracts has not only made their value for biological activity attractive, but has also presented significant challenges for separation and detection techniques to enable rapid characterisation of the biologically active component present in the complicated mixture.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is routinely valued for its ability to shed light on molecular structure, when NMR is used as a promising tool in drug screening, it can detect and quantify molecular interactions, and at the same time provide detailed structural information with atomic level resolution. Here, we introduced an accurate and efficient strategy for discovering ligands from natural product extracts, by taking the advantage of NMR-based drug screening.

The characteristic pre-purified subfraction libraries were brought into screening, and combinatorial ligand-observed NMR interaction detection experiments were performed, once hits were found from one subfraction, the repository of the subfraction would be subject to separation and preparation, and the structure of the hits would be easily identified.

Screening procedure of Radix Polygoni Multiflori water extract against human serum albumin (HSA) was used as an example, to discuss and verify the detailed methodology. Furthermore, human fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP

) was presented as an example target protein, to illustrate the utility of this method for discovering biologically active component.

It is proved that suitable subfraction library and well-combined ligand-detected NMR experiments will make the screening streamline more accurate and efficient. NMR is a promising tool to integrate natural product extracts into modern drug screening.

It is proved that suitable subfraction library and well-combined ligand-detected NMR experiments will make the screening streamline more accurate and efficient. NMR is a promising tool to integrate natural product extracts into modern drug screening.Since the end of 2019, a life-threatening infectious disease (coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-19) has spread globally, and numerous victims have been reported. In particular, older persons tend to suffer more severely when infected with a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and have higher case mortality rates; additionally, outbreaks frequently occur in hospitals and long-term care facilities where most of the residents are older persons. Unfortunately, it has been stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a medical collapse in some countries, resulting in the depletion of medical resources, such as ventilators, and triage based on chronological age. Furthermore, as some COVID-19 cases show a rapid deterioration of clinical symptoms and accordingly, the medical and long-term care staff cannot always confirm the patient’s values and wishes in time, we are very concerned as to whether older patients are receiving the medical and long-term care services that they wish for. It was once again recognized that it is vital to implement advance care planning as early as possible before suffering from COVID-19. To this end, in August 2020, the Japan Geriatrics Society announced ethical recommendations for medical and long-term care for older persons and emphasized the importance of conducting advance care planning at earlier stages. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2020; 20 1112-1119.Over the last few decades, there has been a shift in the classroom from lecture-based to active learning settings with the argument that students retain more information when they are involved in the learning process. This correlation is even stronger when the active learning setting incorporates a real-world or personal connection. Using active learning activities that develop students’ ability to comprehend primary scientific literature is particularly important in the field of immunology, due to the rapid expansion of information in the field, which has been further accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SU1498 solubility dmso By nature, immunology is interdisciplinary, requiring an integrated knowledge of concepts from several scientific disciplines to understand complex immune processes. Engaging undergraduate students through the use of primary literature can improve scientific literacy, develop critical thinking, and enhance understanding of complex topics. To explore this, we utilized a group learning activity in an introductory immunology course that incorporated both a coronavirus-related review and COVID-19 clinical research article.