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News & Views |
Prehistoric events might explain European multiple sclerosis risk
An exploration of more than 1,600 ancient Eurasian genomes suggests that genetic changes that increase autoimmune-disease risk in modern Europeans could have protected ancient Europeans from pathogens.
- Samira Asgari
- & Lionel A. Pousaz
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News |
Ancient DNA reveals origins of multiple sclerosis in Europe
A huge cache of ancient genomes spanning tens of thousands of years reveals the roots of traits in modern Europeans.
- Sara Reardon
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Article
| Open AccessElevated genetic risk for multiple sclerosis emerged in steppe pastoralist populations
Analysis of a large ancient genome dataset shows that genetic risk for multiple sclerosis rose in steppe pastoralists, providing insight into how genetic ancestry from the Neolithic and Bronze Age has shaped modern immune responses.
- William Barrie
- , Yaoling Yang
- & Eske Willerslev
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Comment |
Boosting microbiome science worldwide could save millions of children’s lives
Studies of the microbes living on and in our bodies are conducted mainly in a few rich countries, squandering opportunities to improve the health of people globally.
- Hilary P. Browne
- , Najeeha Talat Iqbal
- & Samuel Kariuki
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News |
Potent psychedelic drug banishes PTSD, small study finds
Military veterans with cognitive and psychological problems saw drastic improvements after a dose of ibogaine.
- Max Kozlov
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Editorial |
A new class of antibiotics is cause for cautious celebration — but the economics must be fixed
The threat of antimicrobial resistance means that new antibiotics need to be used sparingly. Governments must support their development with a long-term funding plan.
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Research Briefing |
Small numbers of sodium channels on cartilage cells have a large effect on joint damage
A type of sodium channel previously thought to be specific to neurons is also present in chondrocytes — cells that are crucial for joint health. Despite having low density, the sodium channels have an outsized role in the progression of osteoarthritis, and their genetic deletion or pharmacological inhibition reduced joint damage in mouse models.
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News Feature |
Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations — here’s why
Not only is the prevalence of the condition poorly understood, but it’s also often ignored by physicians and the wider public.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article
| Open AccessNav1.7 as a chondrocyte regulator and therapeutic target for osteoarthritis
The voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.7 has a dual role in osteoarthritis—in chondrocytes, it promotes joint damage, and in dorsal root ganglia neurons, it increases pain transmission.
- Wenyu Fu
- , Dmytro Vasylyev
- & Chuan-ju Liu
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Article
| Open AccessDigital measurement of SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk from 7 million contacts
Digital measurements of proximity and duration of exposure by the NHS COVID-19 app show a strong relation to actual infections among 7 million contacts notified in England and Wales, with longer durations translating to increased risk of transmission.
- Luca Ferretti
- , Chris Wymant
- & Christophe Fraser
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Correspondence |
Heal the aftermath of intergenerational trauma and grief
- Yafit Levin
- , Menachem Ben-Ezra
- & Yaira Hamama-Raz
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News |
The science events to watch for in 2024
Advanced AI tools, Moon missions and ultrafast supercomputers are among the developments set to shape research in the coming year.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Research Briefing |
What makes people with diabetes more susceptible to serious lung infections?
Diabetes is a strong risk factor for viral respiratory infections, including influenza and COVID-19, which can be particularly dangerous for people with the condition. The discovery that the metabolism of lung dendritic cells, key sentinels of the immune system, is disrupted by high blood-sugar levels could provide a route to reversing this susceptibility.
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News & Views |
Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy linked to hormone from fetus
Maternal sensitivity to a hormone produced by the fetus might underlie the risk of severe nausea and vomiting in human pregnancy — a finding that could open up strategies for the treatment of this debilitating condition.
- Alice E. Hughes
- & Rachel M. Freathy
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Nature Podcast |
Cat parasite Toxoplasma tricked to grow in a dish
Cat-only life-cycle stage cultured in vitro, and the mysterious giant proteins that might turn bacteria into killers.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News Feature |
Weight-loss-drug pioneer: this biochemist finally gained recognition for her work
Svetlana Mojsov led early studies of GLP-1, the hormone behind Wegovy, Ozempic and other blockbusters.
- Elie Dolgin
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News Feature |
Malaria fighter: this researcher paved the way for a game-changing vaccine
Halidou Tinto runs a clinic in rural Burkina Faso that has been instrumental to the approval of the world’s first malaria vaccines.
- Brendan Maher
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Article
| Open AccessLung dendritic-cell metabolism underlies susceptibility to viral infection in diabetes
Hyperglycaemia leads to impaired costimulatory molecule expression, antigen transport and T cell priming in distinct lung dendritic cell subsets, driving a defective antiviral adaptive immune response, delayed viral clearance and enhanced mortality.
- Samuel Philip Nobs
- , Aleksandra A. Kolodziejczyk
- & Eran Elinav
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Article
| Open AccessGDF15 linked to maternal risk of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy
Elevated circulating levels of GDF15 in pregnant women are associated with severe nausea and vomiting, and sensitivity to such symptoms during pregnancy is partly determined by prepregnancy levels of this hormone.
- M. Fejzo
- , N. Rocha
- & S. O’Rahilly
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Article |
Distinct Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes defined by noninvasive genomic profiling
The potential use of circulating tumour DNA in classic Hodgkin lymphoma detection, classification and monitoring is defined.
- Stefan K. Alig
- , Mohammad Shahrokh Esfahani
- & Ash A. Alizadeh
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News |
Are your organs ageing well? The blood holds clues
One organ in a person’s body can age faster than the rest — with implications for health and mortality.
- Max Kozlov
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Article
| Open AccessReverse metabolomics for the discovery of chemical structures from humans
A new discovery strategy, ‘reverse metabolomics’, facilitates high-throughput matching of mass spectrometry spectra in public untargeted metabolomics datasets, and a proof-of-concept experiment identified an association between microbial bile amidates and inflammatory bowel disease.
- Emily C. Gentry
- , Stephanie L. Collins
- & Pieter C. Dorrestein
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News Explainer |
Climate change is also a health crisis — these 3 graphics explain why
Health is on the agenda at the COP28 climate meeting. Rising temperatures increase the spread of infectious diseases, claim lives and drive food insecurity.
- Carissa Wong
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News Explainer |
Why has swine flu emerged in a person in the UK — and what’s next?
Scientists are closely monitoring a virus that has been detected for the first time in a UK individual.
- Katharine Sanderson
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Outlook |
Putting low-cost diagnostics to the test
The COVID-19 pandemic brought home the value of cheap, ‘good enough’ methods of detecting disease. Extending that approach to other illnesses could improve health care in low- and middle-income countries.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Nature Podcast |
Polio could be eradicated within 3 years — what happens then?
How to ensure polio doesn’t return after eradication, and the space explosion that’s baffling scientists.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Article |
Autoimmune amelogenesis imperfecta in patients with APS-1 and coeliac disease
A large fraction of patients with APS-1 and coeliac disease develop enamel dystrophy, characterized by the presence of autoantibodies against the enamel matrix, which are generated through the breakdown of either central (APS-1) or peripheral (coeliac) tolerance to a battery of ameloblast-sepecific proteins.
- Yael Gruper
- , Anette S. B. Wolff
- & Jakub Abramson
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World View |
Only 0.5% of neuroscience studies look at women’s health. Here’s how to change that
A new initiative challenges the severe neglect of women’s brain health from puberty through to pregnancy and menopause.
- Emily G. Jacobs
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News |
Massive genetic study finds genes linked to cannabis addiction
Data from more than one million genomes offer fresh insights into excessive cannabis use and its relationship to other diseases.
- Lilly Tozer
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News Explainer |
How wild monkeys ‘laundered’ for science could undermine research
Demand is fuelling an illegal trade. But smuggled monkeys carry diseases that can disrupt experiments and lead to unreliable data.
- Gemma Conroy
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News & Views |
Diabetes prevention programme put to the test
Causal evidence shows that referring people who are at risk of developing diabetes to a nationwide lifestyle-change programme can result in health improvements — but only if programme participation can be sustained.
- Edward W. Gregg
- & Naomi Holman
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Nature Podcast |
How to 3D print fully formed robots
Printing multi-material objects in a single run, and the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions for preventing type 2 diabetes.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Nature Podcast |
Massive study assesses benefits of lifestyle changes on diabetes risk
A large diabetes prevention programme in the UK is put to the test, with promising results.
- Benjamin Thompson
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News |
Giant UK programme to lower people’s blood-sugar levels really works
One of the world’s biggest campaigns to prevent diabetes through behaviour change holds promise for public-health gains.
- Heidi Ledford
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Outlook |
Tropical diseases move north
As Earth warms, the creatures that spread neglected tropical diseases are gaining a foothold in Europe. Wealthy countries must prepare themselves for more cases.
- Claire Ainsworth
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Perspective |
The power and potential of mitochondria transfer
The mechanisms by which mitochondria are transferred between cells and how intercellular mitochondria transfer regulates physiological processes and disease pathogenesis are discussed.
- Nicholas Borcherding
- & Jonathan R. Brestoff
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Article
| Open AccessDeconstruction of rheumatoid arthritis synovium defines inflammatory subtypes
Single-cell transcriptomic and proteomic data from synovial tissue from individuals with rheumatoid arthritis classify patients into groups based on abundance of cell states that can provide insights into pathology and predict individual treatment responses.
- Fan Zhang
- , Anna Helena Jonsson
- & Soumya Raychaudhuri
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News |
Spinal implant helps man with advanced Parkinson’s to walk without falling
Electrical stimulation improved his mobility, although researchers say that a larger study is needed to assess the device.
- Emily Waltz
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News Feature |
Psychedelic treatments are speeding towards approval — but no one knows how they work
Many questions remain about the formerly taboo chemicals that are being used to treat trauma and depression.
- Sara Reardon
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News Explainer |
Dengue is spreading in Europe: how worried should we be?
The post-COVID travel boom combined with a warm summer have led to dengue outbreaks in Italy and France.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: Why BMI is flawed — and how to redefine obesity
Although body mass index is the main diagnostic test for obesity, it leaves out many factors that can affect how healthy someone is.
- McKenzie Prillaman
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News |
Dengue rates drop after release of modified mosquitoes in Colombia
Largest-ever deployment of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes yields ‘encouraging’ results in three densely populated cities.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Article
| Open AccessAn ON-type direction-selective ganglion cell in primate retina
Transcriptomic data and functional experiments on macaque retina are used to identify the ON-type direction-selective ganglion cells responsible for detecting moving images and initiating gaze-stabilization mechanisms.
- Anna Y. M. Wang
- , Manoj M. Kulkarni
- & Teresa Puthussery
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Comment |
Long COVID research risks losing momentum – we need a moonshot
Investing US$1 billion every year for the next ten years into long COVID research could improve the lives of millions and save trillions in economic costs.
- Lisa McCorkell
- & Michael J. Peluso
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News |
How the current bird flu strain evolved to be so deadly
Genetic changes to avian influenza viruses have led to spread among many wild species, creating an uncontrollable global outbreak.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Article |
The episodic resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 virus
Recent resurgences of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 viruses have different origins and virus ecologies as their epicentres shift and viruses evolve, with changes indicating increased adaptation among domestic birds.
- Ruopeng Xie
- , Kimberly M. Edwards
- & Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran
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Article
| Open AccessThe burden and dynamics of hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 in England
Data from acute hospitals in England are used to quantify hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections, evaluate likely pathways of spread and factors associated with heightened transmission risk, and explore the impact on community transmission.
- Ben S. Cooper
- , Stephanie Evans
- & Gwenan M. Knight
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News Explainer |
Anti-obesity drugs’ side effects: what we know so far
Recent studies evaluate risks associated with drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro.
- Mariana Lenharo
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