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From 2014–2017, marine heatwaves caused global mass coral bleaching, where the corals lose their symbiotic algae. The authors find, this event exceeded the severity of all prior global bleaching events in recorded history, with approximately half the world’s reefs bleaching and 15% experiencing substantial mortality.

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Some cancer patients first present with metastases where the location of the primary is unidentified; these are difficult to treat. In this study, using machine learning, the authors develop a method to determine the tissue of origin of a cancer based on whole sequencing data.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

Multi-omics datasets pose major challenges to data interpretation and hypothesis generation owing to their high-dimensional molecular profiles. Here, the authors develop ActivePathways method, which uses data fusion techniques for integrative pathway analysis of multi-omics data and candidate gene discovery.

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Viral pathogen load in cancer genomes is estimated through analysis of sequencing data from 2,656 tumors across 35 cancer types using multiple pathogen-detection pipelines, identifying viruses in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome datasets.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

Whole-genome sequencing data from more than 2,500 cancers of 38 tumour types reveal 16 signatures that can be used to classify somatic structural variants, highlighting the diversity of genomic rearrangements in cancer.

Many tumours exhibit hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypoxic tumours often respond poorly to therapy. Here, the authors quantify hypoxia in 1188 tumours from 27 cancer types, showing elevated hypoxia links to increased mutational load, directing evolutionary trajectories.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.

The characterization of 4,645 whole-genome and 19,184 exome sequences, covering most types of cancer, identifies 81 single-base substitution, doublet-base substitution and small-insertion-and-deletion mutational signatures, providing a systematic overview of the mutational processes that contribute to cancer development.

Rare astronomical observation shows effects of relativity.

Efficient, large-scale genomic analysis is facilitated on the cloud by a computational tool with error-diagnosing and self-healing capabilities.

Market-based measures are being discussed at the International Maritime Organization as a means to decarbonize shipping. This study estimates the required level of carbon pricing to close the conventional and alternative marine bunker fuels price gap.

A study presents a method to mitigate emissions of nitrous oxide from farmland using bacteria to consume nitrous oxide in soil with organic waste as a substrate and vector.

Analysis of mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA) by using whole-genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancer samples across 38 cancer types identifies hypermutated mtDNA cases, frequent somatic nuclear transfer of mtDNA and high variability of mtDNA copy number in many cancers.

Analysis of whole-genome sequencing data across 2,658 tumors spanning 38 cancer types shows that chromothripsis is pervasive, with a frequency of more than 50% in several cancer types, contributing to oncogene amplification, gene inactivation and cancer genome evolution.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key regulators of bone development, remodeling and pathologies. This Review discusses the critical functions of miRNAs controlling skeletal cell commitment, growth and differentiation. The authors present novel insights into the supervision of chondro-osteogenic signaling pathways and transcriptional regulatory networks that are coordinated for normal bone homeostasis.

Cerebral vasospasm is the classic cause of delayed neurological deterioration after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Surprisingly, however, patient outcome after SAH was not improved in recent trials of the endothelin antagonist clazosentan, which prevents vasospasm. In light of this result, Macdonald et al. highlight the need for reconsideration of the pathophysiology of SAH.

Despite close timing, researchers doubt that the first big tremor set off the second.

Intestinal anastomoses are frequently performed to remove tumors or diseased tissue. They have clear benefits but they can also lead to serious complications such as dehiscences and strictures. This Review discusses the surgical techniques, healing factors and perioperative and postoperative strategies to minimize complications when performing anastomoses of the lower gastrointestinal tract.

Semiquantitative MRI-based scoring of joint pathology is a powerful tool in osteoarthritis (OA) research, which provides valuable information on the natural history of the disease and can be used in outcome measures. Herein, the authors discuss approaches to semiquantitative MRI-based scoring of OA features and review the scoring systems currently available for whole-joint and feature-specific assessment of knee, hand, hip, spine and shoulder OA.

This Review discusses the genetic, prenatal and environmental antecedents of polycystic ovary syndrome. The reproductive, metabolic, cardiovascular, psychiatric and neoplastic complications of this common condition are presented, followed by a comprehensive discussion of diagnostic and therapeutic measures.

Multisensory integration allows information from multiple senses to be combined, with benefits for nervous-system processing. Stein and Stanford discuss the principles of multisensory integration in single neurons in the CNS and consider the questions that the field must address.

There are few treatment options for patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who are unresponsive to trastuzumab. The combination of lapatinib and capecitabine significantly prolongs time to disease progression in women previously treated with chemotherapy and trastuzumab for HER2-positive advanced disease. The rationale for using this combination and the promising activity of lapatinib in early trials of inflammatory breast cancer is highlighted.

Critics fear that a proposed megaproject could crowd out other biological research.

Observations of V404 Cygni, an X-ray transient containing a black hole of nine solar masses and a companion star, show that optical oscillations on timescales of 100 seconds to 2.5 hours can occur at mass-accretion rates at least ten times lower than previously thought, suggesting that the accretion rate is not the critical parameter for inducing inner-disk instabilities.