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Background: The aim of this study was to identify associations between smoking status and the severity of COVID-19 using a large-scale data registry of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Japan (COVIREGI-JP) and to explore the reasons for the inconsistent results previously reported on this subject. Methods: The analysis included 17,702 COVID-19 inpatients aged 20-89 years (10,279 men and 7,423 women). We graded the severity of COVID-19 (grade 0 to 5) according to the most intensive treatment required during hospitalization. Associations of smoking status with severe grade 3/4/5 (invasive mechanical ventilation/extracorporeal membrane oxygenation/death) and separately with grade 5 (death) were analyzed using multiple logistic regression with grade 0 (no oxygen) as the control group. Results were expressed as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for age and other factors considering the potential intermediate effects of comorbidities. Findings: Among men, former smoking significantly increased the risk of grade 3/4/5 and grade 5, with age-adjusted ORs (95% CI) of 1·50 (1·18-1·90) and 1·65 (1·23-2·21), respectively. An additional adjustment for comorbidities weakened these ORs to 1·29 (1·00-1·66) and 1.41 (1·01-1·95), respectively. Similar results were seen for women. Current smoking did not significantly increase the risk of grade 3/4/5 and grade 5 in either sex. Interpretation: Smoking cessation should be recommended even if the observed relationship between current smoking and the severity of COVID-19 is null because current smoking increases the risks of future comorbidities due to different diseases that increase the risk of severe COVID-19. Funding Information: This research was funded by the Health and Labour Sciences Research grant (19HA1003, 20CA2031) and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine (20A-3002). Declaration of Interests: All authors report no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) ethics review (NCGM-G-003494-0).

Correction for ‘Crystal structure and metallization mechanism of the π-radical metal TED’ by Yuka Kobayashi et al., Chem. Sci., 2020, DOI: 10.1039/d0sc03521a.

The purpose of this study was to create novel urate under-excretion animal models using pyrazinamide and to evaluate whether dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (CCBs) have uricosuric effects in vivo.Adult male ICR mice were treated with pyrazinamide, vehicle (dimethyl sulfoxide: DMSO), or tap water. Thirty minutes later, pyrazinamide-treated mice were given benzbromarone, losartan, nilvadipine, nitrendipine, nifedipine or azelnidipine. Six hours after the second administration, urine (by urinary bladder puncture) and plasma were collected to measure uric acid and creatinine levels, and fractional excretion of uric acid (FEUA) and creatinine clearance (Ccr) were calculated and evaluated. There was no significant difference in the levels of plasma uric acid, plasma creatinine, Ccr, urinary N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase (NAG) and urinary NAG-creatinine ratio between water, DMSO, and pyrazinamide-treated mice. But the FEUA of pyrazinamide-treated mice was significantly lower than water mice. The FEUA was significantly higher in mice taking the dihydropyridine CCBs (nilvadipine, nitrendipine, nifedipine, and high-dose azelnidipine) than in pyrazinamide-treated mice. There was no significant difference in Ccr.Thus, a novel animal model created with PZA administration was useful as a urate under-excretion animal model that was probably URAT1-mediated, and the uricosuric effects of dihydropyridine CCBs were confirmed in vivo. Keywords: Uric acid, Urate, Fractional excretion of uric acid, Urate under-excretion animal model, Calcium channel blocker