Reviews & Analysis

A flurry of emerging treatment options is transforming the therapeutic landscape of hepatocellular carcinoma; two new studies highlight the complexities and gaps in knowledge, but also hint at a greater understanding of how to apply immunotherapy in early and advanced disease.

Longitudinal analysis of stool samples reveals new insights into how the gut microbiome changes during immunotherapy. These findings could inform the application of microbiome-targeted interventions to maximize the outcomes of immune checkpoint blockade.

This study seeks to highlight the scientific, regulatory and operational issues around the use of polygenic risk scores in a diverse population. The work presented here provides a framework for laboratories, providers and researchers wishing to advance the field of preventative medicine.

Robust validation of biomarkers of aging will be critical to their clinical translation; here, authors review the key challenges and propose recommendations to overcome them.

In a prospective study involving 1,090 high-risk pregnancies, a comprehensive screening test of fetal cell-free DNA successfully detected pathogenic aneuploidies, microdeletions and monogenic variants linked to fetal anomalies. The inclusion of monogenic conditions alongside chromosomal abnormalities in this test resulted in a 60.7% increase in the detection rate for suspected fetal structural abnormalities.

A pilot trial of the WHO’s Labour Care Guide reveals important considerations for implementation and for future trials aimed at reducing the inappropriate use of cesarean section, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Senolytic therapy for diabetic macular edema (DME) refractory to anti-VEGF treatment appears safe, and preliminary data suggest a therapeutic effect on visual acuity and macular thickness.

An AI-enabled chatbot increased self-referrals to psychological therapies for common mental health disorders; but further research is needed to ensure that better access translates into high-quality treatment experiences and outcomes for everyone.

In a large-scale digital experiment on dermatology diagnosis, we found that specialists and generalists achieved diagnostic accuracy of 38% and 19%, respectively. With decision support from a fair deep learning system, the diagnostic accuracy of physicians improved by more than 33%, but the gap in accuracy of generalists widened across skin tones.

Credible evidence suggests that, under extraordinary circumstances, Alzheimer’s disease may be transmitted by a prion-like mechanism — yielding insights into both the basic biology of this neurodegenerative disorder and strategies for early prevention.

In military veterans with traumatic brain injury, treatment with ibogaine plus magnesium led to dramatic clinical improvements and a favorable safety profile; further studies with state-of-the art safety monitoring will be crucial to unlocking the potential benefits of this psychedelic compound.

To guide the safe implementation of the next generation of surgical robots, the IDEAL Robotics Colloquium provides recommendations for their evaluation throughout the product life cycle—considering multiple perspectives within and beyond the surgical team.

The unique risks and needs of women in relation to noncommunicable diseases offer myriad opportunities to intervene and prevent disease, but several key barriers to implementation must be addressed.

As populations age, falls are an increasing public health problem; strategies to prevent them should incorporate new technologies and insights into the sensory, perceptual and motor systems controlling balance.

In one person with Parkinson’s disease, freezing of gait was averted through the use of a soft robotic apparel that provided a moderate level of hip-flexion assistance during the swing phase of walking. This approach delivered instantaneous effects and consistently improved walking quality and function across a range of conditions.

We deeply characterized the early-life gut virome, which consists mainly of bacteriophages (phages) and the diversity of which greatly exceeds bacterial diversity. The virome was associated with later asthma development, independently of the bacterial hosts of the phages; we further uncovered intriguing interactions with immune genetics.

We profiled human central nervous system (CNS)-associated macrophages (CAMs) in anatomically dissected CNS interface tissue from typical, fetal and glioblastoma-affected brains using single-cell multi-omics and spatially resolved transcriptomic techniques. Analyses of CAM (and microglia) turnover rates in stem-cell-transplanted glioblastoma and prenatal tissues highlighted the developmental phenotypes of these cells in patients, which lays the groundwork for potential replacement therapies.

The largest whole-genome sequencing study thus far has revealed myriad actionable alterations and potential biomarkers for 33 cancer types, but various logistical, technical and economic challenges must be overcome before this technique can become standard of care.

Two malaria vaccines are approved and several prophylactic antibodies are in development, but a combination of strategies tailored to different epidemiological situations will be needed if malaria is to be eliminated.

Semaglutide, also known as Ozempic for treating type 2 diabetes and as Wegovy for treating obesity, compared with other weight management or diabetic medications, is not associated with higher risk of suicidal ideations in patients with obesity (or who are overweight) or patients with type 2 diabetes.