Featured
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Editorial |
Half a million children die of malaria every year. Finally we can change that
With two vaccines available, this killer disease could now be eliminated — but will the world pull together to make it happen?
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News Feature |
Why BMI is flawed — and how to redefine obesity
The main diagnostic test for obesity — the body mass index — accounts for only height and weight, leaving out a slew of factors that influence body fat and health.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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World View |
Nipah virus is deadly — but smart policy changes can help quell pandemic risk
Repeated outbreaks increase the risk of a Nipah strain emerging that is better at spreading.
- Thekkumkara Surendran Anish
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News |
Second malaria vaccine to win global approval is cheaper and easier to make
The World Health Organization has recommended a shot called R21 to prevent the disease in children.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News |
The brain cells linked to protection against dementia
People with an abundance of specific neurons are more likely to escape cognitive decline despite having signs of Alzheimer’s in their brains.
- Sara Reardon
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Article
| Open AccessThe sex-specific factor SOA controls dosage compensation in Anopheles mosquitoes
A newly identified gene, sex chromosome activation (SOA), is a master regulator of dosage compensation in Anopheles gambiae.
- Agata Izabela Kalita
- , Eric Marois
- & Claudia Isabelle Keller Valsecchi
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Outlook |
The search for a connection between RSV and asthma
The consequences of respiratory syncytial virus infection sometimes linger for years — and scientists are trying to work out whether there’s a causal link.
- Sandy Ong
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Where I Work |
‘If I drop this, I’ll kill the queen’: how I launched a veterinary practice for bees
Elizabeth Hilborn is among just a handful of people in the United States who are medically trained to treat honey bees.
- Fern Reiss
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News |
Is depression lifting? AI that interprets brain waves has answers
A pattern of brain activity linked with recovery from severe depression could be used to improve therapies such as deep-brain stimulation
- Max Kozlov
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News |
Nipah virus outbreak: what scientists know so far
India is taking urgent steps to halt the transmission of a rare but deadly virus that spreads from bats to humans.
- Gemma Conroy
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Nature Podcast |
Why does cancer spread to the spine? Newly discovered stem cells might be the key
A stem cell vital for vertebral growth also drives spine metastases, and the use of MDMA in the treatment of PTSD.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Article
| Open AccessCingulate dynamics track depression recovery with deep brain stimulation
This study demonstrates how activity in the cingulate cortex tracks depression recovery, providing symptom relief using deep brain stimulation.
- Sankaraleengam Alagapan
- , Ki Sueng Choi
- & Christopher J. Rozell
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Article |
Reductive carboxylation epigenetically instructs T cell differentiation
Reductive carboxylation of glutamine by isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2) has a role in determining the fate of T cells, and inhibiting this enzyme promotes the differentiation of memory T cells.
- Alison Jaccard
- , Tania Wyss
- & Mathias Wenes
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News |
AlphaFold tool pinpoints protein mutations that cause disease
Researchers have adapted the AI network to search for genetic changes linked to ill health.
- Ewen Callaway
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Book Review |
Geneticist J. Craig Venter: ‘I consider retirement tantamount to death’
The human genome ‘maverick’ talks sequencing the ocean, setting up a health-screening company after checking his own genes — and why he has no plans to stop.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
First global survey reveals who is doing ‘gain of function’ research on pathogens and why
An analysis of the controversial work indicates that a one-size-fits-all regulation strategy will have consequences.
- Max Kozlov
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News |
Psychedelic drug MDMA moves closer to US approval following success in PTSD trial
Long-awaited trial data show drug is effective at treating post-traumatic stress disorder in a diversity of people.
- Sara Reardon
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News |
Life-changing cystic fibrosis treatment wins US$3-million Breakthrough Prize
Trio of scientists who developed the combination drug Trikafta are among the winners of five major awards in life sciences, physics and mathematics.
- Zeeya Merali
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Article
| Open AccessA foundation model for generalizable disease detection from retinal images
RETFound, a foundation model for retinal images that learns generalizable representations from unlabelled images, is trained on 1.6 million unlabelled images by self-supervised learning and then adapted to disease detection tasks with explicit labels.
- Yukun Zhou
- , Mark A. Chia
- & Pearse A. Keane
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Article
| Open AccessCauses and consequences of child growth faltering in low-resource settings
Analysis of data from 33 longitudinal cohorts from low- and middle-income countries indicates that conditions during pre-conception, pregnancy and the first few months of life are crucial in determining the risk of growth faltering in young children.
- Andrew Mertens
- , Jade Benjamin-Chung
- & Pablo Penataro Yori
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Article
| Open AccessChild wasting and concurrent stunting in low- and middle-income countries
An analysis of longitudinal cohort data across diverse populations suggests that the incidence of wasting between birth and 24 months is higher than previously thought, and highlights the role of seasonal factors that affect child growth.
- Andrew Mertens
- , Jade Benjamin-Chung
- & Pablo Penataro Yori
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Article
| Open AccessEarly-childhood linear growth faltering in low- and middle-income countries
A pooled analysis of longitudinal studies in low- and middle-income countries identifies the typical age of onset of linear growth faltering and investigates recurrent faltering in early life.
- Jade Benjamin-Chung
- , Andrew Mertens
- & Pablo Penataro Yori
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World View |
A new model for public health in Africa can become a reality
As Africa emerges from the COVID pandemic, combating infectious diseases must be a priority — along with treating non-communicable and mental health conditions.
- Jean Kaseya
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News |
Strike at outbreak-alert service ProMED to end — but tensions remain
Most of the striking ProMED staff members are prepared to return to work, although many still have concerns.
- Max Kozlov
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News Feature |
A DIY ‘bionic pancreas’ is changing diabetes care — what's next?
A community of people with type 1 diabetes got a self-built device approved. What can they offer that big companies can’t?
- Liam Drew
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Article
| Open AccessAn orexigenic subnetwork within the human hippocampus
An appetite-regulating subnetwork in humans involving the lateral hypothalamus and the dorsolateral hippocampus is implicated in obesity and related eating disorders.
- Daniel A. N. Barbosa
- , Sandra Gattas
- & Casey H. Halpern
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Article
| Open AccessGut microbial carbohydrate metabolism contributes to insulin resistance
Faecal carbohydrates, particularly host-accessible monosaccharides, are increased in individuals with insulin resistance and are associated with microbial carbohydrate metabolisms and host inflammatory cytokines.
- Tadashi Takeuchi
- , Tetsuya Kubota
- & Hiroshi Ohno
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Article |
Endothelial AHR activity prevents lung barrier disruption in viral infection
The environmental sensor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and diet-derived AHR ligands play an important part in protecting against tissue damage following viral pathogen infection in the lung.
- Jack Major
- , Stefania Crotta
- & Andreas Wack
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News Explainer |
Anti-obesity drug also protects against heart disease — what happens next?
Clinical-trial data suggest that semaglutide, sold under the name Wegovy, slashes risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular incidents.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
Key alert system for disease outbreaks is in crisis — can it be saved?
ProMED staff members look for rescue options, after going on strike and calling for new leadership and financing.
- Max Kozlov
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Article
| Open AccessDissecting human population variation in single-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2
Population differences in immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 can be explained by environmental exposures, but also by local adaptation acting through genetic variants acquired after admixture with archaic hominin forms.
- Yann Aquino
- , Aurélie Bisiaux
- & Lluis Quintana-Murci
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Revisiting the intrinsic mycobiome in pancreatic cancer
- Fangxi Xu
- , Deepak Saxena
- & George Miller
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News & Views |
How the cGAS–STING system links inflammation and cognitive decline
When DNA is misplaced inside cells, the cGAS–STING molecular system triggers inflammation. It emerges that stimulation of this mechanism in microglial cells of the brain during ageing contributes to cognitive decline.
- Bart J. L. Eggen
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News Feature |
Four key questions on the new wave of anti-obesity drugs
Scientists want to know who will benefit most, what the long-term effects might be and whether the treatments will change views on obesity.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Article |
Africa-specific human genetic variation near CHD1L associates with HIV-1 load
Africa-specific genetic variation on chromosome 1 near CHD1L is associated with HIV replication in vivo.
- Paul J. McLaren
- , Immacolata Porreca
- & Jacques Fellay
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News |
NIH launches trials for long COVID treatments: what scientists think
World’s largest study of long COVID will evaluate potential therapies for brain fog, sleep disruption and more.
- Max Kozlov
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News |
Experimental insulin implant uses electricity to control genes
Human cells that have been engineered to respond to an electrical current could be incorporated into future medical devices.
- Lilly Tozer
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News |
Dengue is breaking records in the Americas — what’s behind the surge?
Increasing temperatures contribute to longer dengue seasons, and could drive the geographical expansion of the disease.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
As COVID-19 cases rose, so did diabetes — no one knows why
The spike in childhood type 1 diabetes opened new avenues for researchers to explore the cause of the disease.
- Clare Watson
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Perspective |
The complementarity of DDR, nucleic acids and anti-tumour immunity
This Perspective reviews advances in the understanding of the intersection between the DNA damage response and the response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy, and discusses how developments in the field could lead to improved anti-cancer therapies.
- Anand V. R. Kornepati
- , Cody M. Rogers
- & Tyler J. Curiel
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Article
| Open AccessA common allele of HLA is associated with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection
The human leukocyte antigen allele HLA-B*15:01 is associated with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection due to pre-existing T cell immunity.
- Danillo G. Augusto
- , Lawton D. Murdolo
- & Jill A. Hollenbach
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News |
Alzheimer’s drug donanemab helps most when taken at earliest disease stage, study finds
But the drug, an antibody that attacks the protein amyloid, does not work as well in people with more advanced disease.
- Sara Reardon
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Technology Feature |
Germs, genes and soil: tales of pathogens past
Armed with DNA sequencers and powerful computational tools, archaeogeneticists are turning their attention towards ancient microbes to give bacteria their due in human history.
- Amber Dance
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Clinical Briefing |
A framework for identifying targets for individualized therapy in genetic disease
Researchers have developed a system to classify genetic mutations that could be addressed by therapeutic interventions that use ‘splice-switching antisense oligonucleotides’. This framework identified multiple eligible mutations among 235 people with the genetic disorder ataxia–telangiectasia. An oligonucleotide that was specific to one of these mutations was advanced to a proof-of-concept individualized trial.
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Article
| Open AccessPLSCR1 is a cell-autonomous defence factor against SARS-CoV-2 infection
Phospholipid scramblase 1 (PLSCR1), a protein induced by IFNγ, acts as a defence factor against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses by inhibiting the fusion of the virus with host-cell membranes.
- Dijin Xu
- , Weiqian Jiang
- & John D. MacMicking
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Article |
A planetary health innovation for disease, food and water challenges in Africa
By harvesting aquatic vegetation that provides habitat for snails that harbour Schistosoma parasites and converting it to compost and animal feed, a trial reduced schistosomiasis prevalence in children while providing wider economic benefits.
- Jason R. Rohr
- , Alexandra Sack
- & Caitlin Wolfe
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Article
| Open AccessA framework for individualized splice-switching oligonucleotide therapy
Whole-genome sequencing analyses in a cohort of individuals with ataxia-telangiectasia are used to identify genetic variants that might be amenable to treatment with splice-switching antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), and develop ASOs with therapeutic potential.
- Jinkuk Kim
- , Sijae Woo
- & Timothy W. Yu
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