Report from the CVOT Summit 2020: new cardiovascular and renal outcomes

The 6th Cardiovascular Outcome Trial (CVOT) Summit “Cardiovascular and Renal Outcomes 2020” was the first to be held virtually on October 29–30, 2020. As in previous years, this summit served as reference meeting for in-depth discussions on the topic of recently completed and presented major outcome trials. This year, focus was placed on the outcomes of VERTIS-CV, EMPEROR-Reduced, DAPA-CKD, and FIDELIO-DKD. Trial implications for diabetes management and the impact on new treatment algorithms were highlighted for diabetologists, cardiologists, endocrinologists, nephrologists, and general practitioners. Discussion evolved from major outcome trials using SGLT-2 inhibitors for treatment and prevention of heart failure and chronic kidney disease in people with and without diabetes, to additional therapy options for chronic kidney disease with a novel mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist. Furthermore, challenges in diabetes management like COVID-19 and obesity, as well as novel treatment strategies and guidelines, were discussed. The 7th Cardiovascular Outcome Trial Summit will be held virtually on November, 18–19, 2021 (http://www.cvot.org)

Alma-Ata to Berlin: diabetes prevention and treatment to achieve healthy living

Bharti Hosp, Dept Endocrinol, Karnal, Haryana, IndiaAarhus Univ, Dept Publ Hlth, Aarhus, DenmarkKazakh Acad Nutr, Alma Ata, KazakhstanAcad Prevent Med, Alma Ata, KazakhstanKazakh Natl Med Univ, Alma Ata, KazakhstanDubai Hosp, Dept Endocrinol, Dubai, U Arab EmiratesPondicherry Inst Med Sci, Dept Med, Pondicherry, IndiaMinist Hlth, Directorate Epidemiol, Mexico City, DF, MexicoItalian Coll Gen Practitioners, Florence, ItalyUniv Hlth Network, Toronto, ON, CanadaSiberian State Med Univ, Tomsk, RussiaInst Diabet Endocrinol & Metab Dis, Endocrinol Res Ctr, Moscow, RussiaUniv Fed São Paulo, Dept Med, São Paulo, BrazilPrimary Care Diabet Europe, Barcelona, SpainDubai Hlth Author, Dubai, U Arab EmiratesPeking Union Med Coll, Beijing, Peoples R ChinaUniv Fed São Paulo, Dept Med, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Minimum information guideline for spectrophotometric and fluorometric methods to assess biofilm formation in microplates

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioflm.2019.100010.The lack of reproducibility of published studies is one of the major issues facing the scientific community, and the field of biofilm microbiology has been no exception. One effective strategy against this multifaceted problem is the use of minimum information guidelines. This strategy provides a guide for authors and reviewers on the necessary information that a manuscript should include for the experiments in a study to be clearly interpreted and independently reproduced. As a result of several discussions between international groups working in the area of biofilms, we present a guideline for the spectrophotometric and fluorometric assessment of biofilm formation in microplates. This guideline has been divided into 5 main sections, each presenting a comprehensive set of recommendations. The intention of the minimum information guideline is to improve the quality of scientific communication that will augment interlaboratory reproducibility in biofilm microplate assays.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska – Curie grant agreement No 722467, as part of the Print-Aid consortium. The information and views set out in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. This work received additional financial support by: project UID/EQU/00511/2019 - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); Project “LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION” – NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Selected strategies to fight pathogenic bacteria

Natural products and analogues are a source of antibacterial drug discovery. Considering drug resistance levels emerging for antibiotics, identification of bacterial metalloenzymes and the synthesis of selective inhibitors are interesting for antibacterial agent development. Peptide nucleic acids are attractive antisense and antigene agents representing a novel strategy to target pathogens due to their unique mechanism of action. Antisense inhibition and development of antisense peptide nucleic acids is a new approach to antibacterial agents. Due to the increased resistance of biofilms to antibiotics, alternative therapeutic options are necessary. To develop antimicrobial strategies, optimised in vitro and in vivo models are needed. In vivo models to study biofilm-related respiratory infections, device-related infections: ventilator-associated pneumonia, tissue-related infections: chronic infection models based on alginate or agar beads, methods to battle biofilm-related infections are discussed. Drug delivery in case of antibacterials often is a serious issue therefore this review includes overview of drug delivery nanosystems.Peer reviewe

Traditional medicinal plant knowledge and use by local healers in Sekoru District, Jimma Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia

The knowledge and use of medicinal plant species by traditional healers was investigated in Sekoru District, Jimma Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia from December 2005 to November 2006. Traditional healers of the study area were selected randomly and interviewed with the help of translators to gather information on the knowledge and use of medicinal plants used as a remedy for human ailments in the study area. In the current study, it was reported that 27 plant species belonging to 27 genera and 18 families were commonly used to treat various human ailments. Most of these species (85.71%) were wild and harvested mainly for their leaves (64.52%). The most cited ethnomedicinal plant species was Alysicarpus quartinianus A. Rich., whose roots and leaves were reported by traditional healers to be crushed in fresh and applied as a lotion on the lesions of patients of Abiato (Shererit). No significant correlation was observed between the age of traditional healers and the number of species reported and the indigenous knowledge transfer was found to be similar. More than one medicinal plant species were used more frequently than the use of a single species for remedy preparations. Plant parts used for remedy preparations showed significant difference with medicinal plant species abundance in the study area

Financial crisis and pension reform in Spain:the effect of labour market dynamics

We analyse the effect of post-financial crisis unemployment dynamics on the Spanish pension system’s financial health using Aggregate Accounting. We compare the basic scenario where the current labour market dynamics persist with a full employment (best-case) scenario. We find that economic risk is the main driver of unsustainability in the short run. However, in the long run, the main driver of expenditures lies in the ageing demographic structure. Our results suggest that future reforms should increase labour market participation but confirm that recent pension reforms do not attain sustainability in the long run, indicating the need of further pension reforms