Search

Swarm Learning is a decentralized machine learning approach that outperforms classifiers developed at individual sites for COVID-19 and other diseases while preserving confidentiality and privacy.

The relationship of mycorrhizal associations with latitudinal gradients in tree beta-diversity is unexplored. Using a global dataset approach, this study examines how trees with arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal associations contribute to latitudinal beta-diversity patterns and the environmental controls of these patterns.

While transition metal nitrides are promising low-cost electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media, a fundamental understanding of their activity is still lacking. Here MnN nanocuboids with well-defined surface structures are investigated, providing atomistic insight and mechanistic understanding.

The PDZ serine protease HTRA1 degrades fibrillar tau, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Here the authors report that HTRA1 inhibits aggregation of α-syn as well as FUS and TDP-43, which are implicated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Stroke is a multifactorial disease influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Here, the authors apply exome-wide association analysis to find rare coding variants associated with stroke in a Pakistani cohort, finding a significant association of a variant in NOTCH3 that is highly enriched in South Asians.

An examination of motor cortex in humans, marmosets and mice reveals a generally conserved cellular makeup that is likely to extend to many mammalian species, but also differences in gene expression, DNA methylation and chromatin state that lead to species-dependent specializations.

The authors report thermally activated delayed fluorescence in rigid planar donor-acceptor molecules achieving decoupling of ground and excited states through a bonding/antibonding connectivity between donor and acceptor without alarge dihedral twist angle between them.

Seed banks are reservoirs of plant diversity. This study shows that nutrient addition decreases diversity of grassland seed banks, increases their similarity to aboveground communities and interacts with aboveground herbivory to affect their abundance.

A global dataset of the satellite-tracked movements of pelagic sharks and fishing fleets show that sharks—and, in particular, commercially important species—have limited spatial refuge from fishing effort.

Peinado and colleagues show that small extracellular vesicles and secreted NGFR cargo induce lymphangiogenesis and develop the lymph node pre-metastatic niche to promote melanoma metastasis, which could be targeted pre-clinically with NGFR inhibition.

Artificial intelligence (AI) system is known to improve dermatologists’ diagnostic accuracy for melanoma. This group applies the eye-tracking technology on dermatologists when diagnosing dermoscopic images of melanomas and reports improved balanced diagnostic accuracy when using an X(explainable) AI system comparing to the standard one.

Goekbuget et al. characterize the role of the developmentally essential transcriptional repressor FOXD3 in limiting transcription of highly active genes upon entry into S phase to promote faithful DNA replication and to protect genome integrity.

The heterogenous nature of rheumatoid arthritis renders the prediction of responsiveness to biological treatments difficult. Here the authors analyze bulk RNA-seq data from the STRAP trial (n = 208) to build a machine-learning model for predicting responses to etanercept, tocilizumab and rituximab with AUCs around 0.75 to potentially assist in therapy planning.

The Finnish population is enriched for genetic variants which are rare in other populations. Here, the authors find new genetic loci associated with 1391 circulating metabolites in 6136 Finnish men, demonstrating that metabolite genetic associations can help elucidate disease mechanisms.

The authors use long-term satellite tracking to project climate-induced shifts in whale shark distributions and understand their potential future risk of ship-strike. Under high-emission scenarios, the movement of sharks to current range-edge habitat is linked to 15,000-fold increased co-occurrence with ships.

A synthetic nanocarrier based on DNA origami chassis offers control over valency, orientation and spatial arrangement of antibodies for simultaneously engaging immune signalling pathways, checkpoint inhibition and targeted co-stimulation in anticancer immunotherapy in vivo.

Tumor-reactive T cell receptors are rapidly identified from lymphocyte scRNA-seq data.

The TAM family of receptor tyrosine kinases exerts pleiotropic functions in health and disease. Here, the authors show that TAM receptors control osteoblastic bone formation and identified MERTK as a novel target for bone anabolic therapy and mitigation of bone metastasis including its associated osteolytic bone disease

Benchmarking of scATAC-seq protocols demonstrates the effects of data quality on downstream analyses.

To date, no Ca2 + -selective channelrhodopsins have been characterized. In this study, Fernandez Lahore et al. report two calcium-permeable channelrhodopsins (CapChR1 and 2) for the photocontrol of calcium signalling in excitable tissue.

Martini 3.0 is an updated and reparametrized force field for coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations with new bead types and an expanded ability to model molecular packing and interactions.

Eutrophication has been shown to weaken diversity-stability relationships in grasslands, but it is unclear whether the effect depends on scale. Analysing a globally distributed network of grassland sites, the authors show a positive role of beta diversity and spatial asynchrony as drivers of stability but find that nitrogen enrichment weakens the diversity-stability relationships at different spatial scales.

It remains unclear whether exotic and native species are functionally different. Using a global grassland experiment, Seabloomet al. show that native and exotic species respond differently to two globally pervasive environmental changes, addition of mineral nutrients and alteration of herbivore density.

Alternative stable states in forests have implications for the biosphere. Here, the authors combine forest biodiversity observations and simulations revealing that leaf types across temperate regions of the NH follow a bimodal distribution suggesting signatures of alternative forest states.

Analysis of 82 indictors of ecosystem functioning at the Jena grassland biodiversity experiment shows that multifunctionality increases strongly with diversity, but depends on the number and identity of the functions considered.

The tidal disruption event AT2019dsg is probably associated with a high-energy neutrino, suggesting that such events can contribute to the cosmic neutrino flux. The electromagnetic emission is explained in terms of a central engine, a photosphere and an extended synchrotron-emitting outflow.

Fasting has been reported to protect from chemotherapy-associated toxicity. Here, the authors show that fatty acid profiles in erythrocyte membranes and gene expression from peripheral blood mononuclear cells are associated to the fasting-mediated benefits during cancer treatment in mice and patients.

The anti-diabetic drug metformin has been shown to increase lifespan of some model organisms, but results have been conflicting. Here, Martin-Montalvo et al. administer one of two doses of metformin to male mice and show that the lower dose increases healthspan and lifespan, while the higher dose is toxic.

Upon physiological injury, hepatocytes transdifferentiate into biliary epithelial cells, a process involving molecular rewiring. Here, authors show that Sox4 organizes the early steps, acting as a pioneer factor to decommission hepatocyte enhancers and open chromatin around biliary genes.

In glioblastoma (GBM), tumour microtubes (TM) connect tumour cells to a broader cellular network, with roles in tumour progression and therapy resistance. Here, the authors combine a dye uptake method in GBM xenograft models with subsequent scRNA-seq to infer a TM connectivity signature, finding CHI3L1 as a marker of connectivity.

Complement activation on foreign cell surfaces leads to the generation of complement opsonins, which activate complement receptor type 3 (CR3) and pathogen clearance by macrophages. Here, the authors reveal structural basis of the interaction between human opsonin iC3b and the von Willebrand A inserted domain of the α chain of CR3.

POLRMT is key for transcription of the mitochondrial genome, yet has not been implicated in mitochondrial disease to date. Here, the authors identify mutations in POLRMT in individuals with mitochondrial disease-related phenotypes and characterise underlying defects in mitochondrial transcription.

Serpentinization of mantle rocks occurs in a variety of tectonic settings, but the controls on the rates of serpentinization are poorly constrained. Here, the authors developed anin situexperimental method to show that the rate of serpentinization is strongly controlled by the salinity of the reacting fluid.

First-principles calculations show that water molecules at the surface of crystalline ice have high variability in their binding energies. Such an amorphous character of a crystalline surface is unusual, and for ice it is a result of electrostatic frustration and the relaxation of geometric constraints. The findings have consequences for ice catalysis, surface pre-melting and growth.

The mechanism by which NAD⁺ alters the systemic immune response is unclear. Here the authors show that NAD⁺ induces systemic homeostasis and protects against experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a mouse model of multiple sclerosis, by regulating CD4⁺T cell differentiation and promoting myelin and axonal regeneration.

A sprayable dynamically crosslinked supramolecular polymer–nanoparticle hydrogel that robustly adheres to tissue reduces the severity of cardiac adhesions in rats and sheep.