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Phylogeographic analyses can provide broad descriptions of the spread of pathogens between populations, but are limited by incomplete sampling. Here, the authors develop an inference framework that reconstructs sequential transmission events and use it to characterise dynamics of dengue in Thailand.

Here, authors use NeuroPainting, a high-content imaging assay, to reveal cell-type-specific effects of 22q11.2 deletion in neural cells, linking adhesion gene dysregulation to mitochondrial and structural abnormalities, especially in astrocytes.

Based on an analysis of the distribution of antibiotic resistance across the United States, research shows that increasing local temperatures as well as population density across regions are associated with increasing antibiotic resistance in common bacterial pathogens.

17β-oestradiol establishes an anti-ferroptotic state in female kidney tubules.

PROFESSOR Veniamin Levich was dismissed from his post at Moscow University in 1972 as a result of his application for a visa to emigrate to Israel. He had done definitive work in a number of fields including electrochemistry and physicochemical hydrodynamics. A number of Soviet scientists working in related fields were invited to attend a conference in Oxford to celebrate his 60th birthday. All declined. Extensive extracts from a letter explaining the Soviet attitude, and from a reply from Sir Derek Barton, Chairman of the Conference Committee, and Professor D. B. Spalding, Conference Organiser, appear below

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

Analysis of antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccines encoding variant-specific spike, with or without ancestral spike, suggests no loss of neutralization of the ancestral virus with variant-only vaccines, which may simplify future vaccine updates.

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have been investigated as a potential treatment for Covid-19 in several clinical trials. Here the authors report a meta-analysis of published and unpublished trials, and show that treatment with hydroxychloroquine for patients with Covid-19 was associated with increased mortality, and there was no benefit from chloroquine.

SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant BA.1 has shown increased transmissibility and immune escape, relative to previous SARS-CoV-2 variants. In this study, authors utilise antigenic cartography to characterise the neutralisation profiles of omicron sub-lineages, BA.2 and BA.5, in comparison to BA.1 and pre-omicron variants.

Many rare high-impact variants have been associated with disease, but the origins and functional impact are not always explored. Here, the authors trace the ancestry of a rare high impact atrial fibrillation allele in KCNQ1, and use iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes to characterize the effect of the allele.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

Cortex morphology varies with age, cognitive function, and in neurological and psychiatric diseases. Here the authors report 160 genome-wide significant associations with thickness, surface area and volume of the total cortex and 34 cortical regions from a GWAS meta-analysis in 22,824 adults.

Activated protein C (APC) is a plasma serine protease with antithrombotic and cytoprotective functions. Here, the authors develop a monoclonal antibody that specifically inhibits APC’s anticoagulant function without compromising its cytoprotective function, and shows efficacy in animal models.

Patients with disorders of the blood protein haemoglobin often depend on lifelong blood transfusions. That could change, given the success of gene therapy in a patient with one such disorder.

Human brain structure changes throughout the lifespan. Brouwer et al. identified genetic variants that affect rates of brain growth and atrophy. The genes are linked to early brain development and neurodegeneration and suggest involvement of metabolic processes.

The authors defined a roadmap for investigating the genetic covariance between structural or functional brain phenotypes and risk for psychiatric disorders. Their proof-of-concept study using the largest available common variant data sets for schizophrenia and volumes of several (mainly subcortical) brain structures did not find evidence of genetic overlap.

A new machaeridian from the Early Ordovician of Morocco with preserved soft parts is reported, showing that machaeridians are the calcareous plates carried on the back of a hitherto unknown form of segmented worm, resolving a 150-year-old mystery.

In a GWAS study of 32,438 adults, the authors discovered five novel loci for intracranial volume and confirmed two known signals. Variants for intracranial volume were also related to childhood and adult cognitive function and to Parkinson's disease, and enriched near genes involved in growth pathways, including PI3K-AKT signaling.

The analysis of more than 9,000 haemagglutinin sequences of human seasonal influenza viruses over a 12-year time period shows that the global circulation patterns of A/H1N1 and B viruses are different from those of the well characterised A/H3N2 viruses; in particular the A/H1N1 and B viruses are shown to persist locally across several seasons and do not display the same degree of global movement as the H3N2 viruses.

Genome sequencing of Zika virus samples from infected patients and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Florida shows that the virus was probably introduced into the United States on multiple occasions, and that the Caribbean is the most likely source.

In this Perspective, the authors review the different applications for mobile phone data to support COVID-19 pandemic response, the relevance of these applications for infectious disease transmission and control, and potential sources and implications of selection bias in mobile phone data.

Hans van Bokhoven and colleagues report mutations in the ISPD gene as a cause of Walker-Warburg syndrome. Knockdown of ispd in zebrafish causes hydrocephalus, reduced eye size, muscle degeneration and α-dystroglycan hypoglycosylation.

Paul Thompson and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for hippocampal, intracranial and total brain volume. They identify a locus at 12q24 associated with hippocampal volume and a locus at 12q14 associated with intracranial volume.

Overweight and obesity, the main drivers of type 2 diabetes, have long been regarded as health risks associated with affluence. Over the last decade, profound changes in the quality, quantity and source of food consumed in many developing countries, combined with a decrease in levels of physical activity among the population, have led to an increase in the prevalence of diabetes and its complications. Here, we present quantitative estimates of the epidemiological and economic impact of obesity and diabetes on developing countries. We provide the economic rationale for public policy action. We stress the importance of creating a roadmap to guide the development of comprehensive policies involving governments and private companies, and emphasize the need for experimentation in building the evidence while testing theories.

Systemic chronic inflammation increases with age and is linked to the development of several diseases, as presented in this Perspective.