Search

Efficient methods to calculate magnetically induced currents in metallic nanostructures are currently lacking. Here, the authors propose a theoretical method to compute and analyze magnetically induced currents in nanostructures validated for experimentally synthesized gold-based, hydrogen-containing ligand-protected clusters.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses are of global concern. This study shows that a low-dose H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b Alum/CpG-adjuvanted vaccine elicits broad, durable antibody and T cell responses and protects female mice against lethal homologous and heterologous H5N1 challenges.

Lungs are continually challenged by exposure to airborne particles and microbes, yet they resist overt inflammatory responses. Hussell and colleagues show that this 'quiescent' state requires CD200-CD200R interactions between alveolar macrophages and lung tissues.

Lipid nanoparticle based mRNA vaccines are known to induce robust CD4 + T cell responses. Here the authors establish a role of endogenously derived antigen processing in the optimal priming of CD4 + T cell responses to mRNA lipid nanoparticle vaccines.

The study shows that the HIV-1 Nef protein stabilizes actin, thereby preventing R12C release and priming of RIG-I–like receptors. HIV-1 containing a mutant Nef unable to bind the actinmodulating kinase PAK2, triggers enhanced interferon responses.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Clade 2.3.4.4b highly pathogenic H5N1 is currently causing a panzootic and has the potential to become a pandemic. Here, Peña Alzua and colleagues develop specific monoclonal antibodies against this virus that could be used to prevent or treat human infections.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses from H5 clade 2.3.4.4b are circulating widely in birds and have recently caused large outbreaks in mammals. Here, Furey et al. develop a clade 2.3.4.4b HA-expressing mRNA-LNP vaccine and show that it elicits strong protective immune responses in mice and ferrets.

Antigenic epitopes differ in their immunogenicity. Yewdell and colleagues show that B cell and antibody responses to influenza A virus infection display reproducible dynamic immunodominance hierarchies to viral hemagglutinin epitopes.

ISG15 conjugation is essential to activate the RIG-I-like receptor MDA5 and trigger antiviral responses. SARS-CoV-2 suppresses MDA5 activation by direct PLpro-mediated de-ISGylation to escape innate immunity.

RIG-I is a cytosolic RNA sensor. Gack and colleagues show that herpesviruses, duplex DNA viruses, also activate RIG-I by inducing cytoplasmic translocation and unmasking of an endogenous host 5S ribosomal pseudogene RNA, RNA5SP141.

Paris et al. show that after injury or influenza infection alveolar type II cells signal via a STAT3–BDNF axis that activates the TrkB receptor on mesenchymal niche cells and enhances alveolar repair.

This study identifies regulators of the RNA sensor RIG-I. Diverse processes, including the unfolded protein response, Wnt signalling and RNA metabolism, modulate this pathway. The splicing regulator KHSRP is identified as a negative regulator of RIG-I that affects influenza replication in vivo.

An experiment with atoms at nanokelvin temperatures has produced the remarkable observation of light pulses travelling at velocities of only 17 m s⁻¹. The large optical nonlinearities seen in this system may open up new opportunities in quantum optics.

Here, Myers and Gallagher et al. characterize the structural organization of commercial influenza vaccines. The vaccines differ in their structural composition and identify a “spiked nanodisc” arrangement of hemagglutinin (HA) with increased display and immunogenicity of the conserved stem region of HA.

In this study, the authors report that a bat influenza A (H9N2) virus shows receptor binding features similar to avian influenza viruses, efficiently infects ex-vivo human respiratory cells and replicates in the lungs of mice and upper respiratory tract of ferrets following airborne transmission.

Federated learning (FL) algorithms have emerged as a promising solution to train models for healthcare imaging across institutions while preserving privacy. Here, the authors describe the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) challenge for the decentralised benchmarking of FL algorithms and evaluation of Healthcare AI algorithm generalizability in real-world cancer imaging datasets.

A distinct class of broadly neutralizing antibodies to the influenza virus target a membrane-proximal anchor epitope of the haemagglutinin stalk domain.

Non-neutralizing antibodies against the nucleoprotein (NP) of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus are protective against lethal challenge in mice. Here, the authors show that these anti-NP antibodies protect through the intracellular antibody receptor TRIM21 and that protection is independent of T cells.

Assessments of sea level rise risks depend on elevation data. Here, the authors present a new dataset on the Mekong Delta which shows it to have a much lower elevation (0.82 m above sea level) than previously thought – underlying principles may also imply major elevation uncertainties in other deltas.

In response to the emergence of H5N1 influenza A viruses as a novel pathogen of cattle, this study shows that pasteurisation of cows’ milk should effectively inactivate the virus, but that it remains infectious in unpasteurised milk.

A range of Influenza vaccines have been linked to induction of adaptive immunity in a number of animal models. Here, the authors utilize a computational design strategy and produce a swine H3 influenza vaccine which shows enhanced efficacy in both murine and porcine infectious disease models.

The interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) are involved in the innate immune response and are activated by phosphorylation. The structure of a pseudophosphorylated IRF5 activation domain now reveals structural changes in the activated form that would turn an autoinhibitory region into a dimerization interface. In vivo analysis supports the relevance of such a dimer to transcriptional activation.

Systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease study reported that, despite global improvements from 1990 to 2021, dietary iron deficiency-associated disease burden remains high in women, children and residents in low socio-demographic index countries.

In 2023, a highly pathogenic H5N1 virus caused an outbreak in mink. In the ferret model of influenza, the virus exhibits limited airborne transmissibility and high virulence. These findings indicate heightened pandemic potential of these viruses.

Seasonal influenza levels were unusually low when non-pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19 were in place. Here, the authors analyse serological and epidemiological evidence for the hypothesis that such lulls in influenza transmission lead to reduced immunity and therefore larger epidemics in subsequent seasons.