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The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

NBEAL2 loss of function mutations lead to grey platelet syndrome, a condition characterised by α-granule-deficient platelets and, in a proportion of cases, by autoimmunity. Here authors show that NBEAL2 physically interacts with CTLA-4 in human T cells, and NBEAL2 deficiency leads to reduced CTLA-4 surface expression in effector T cells, but not regulatory T cells, thus tipping the balance towards autoimmunity.

Severe COVID-19 is characterized by hyperinflammation, and there is a need for accurate predictive biomarkers of progression. Lehuen et al. demonstrate that patients with severe COVID-19 show a dramatic loss of MAIT cells, and those that do remain are in a highly activated state.

Current temporal studies of DNA replication are either complex or low-resolution. Here, the authors introduce Nanotiming, a simple and inexpensive method producing high-resolution, telomere-to-telomere replication timing profiles through BrdU-mediated capture of dTTP pool expansion in S phase.

Analysing camera-trap data of 163 mammal species before and after the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns, the authors show that responses to human activity are dependent on the degree to which the landscape is modified by humans, with carnivores being especially sensitive.

Efficient small-scale fluid capture and transport is essential for point-of-care diagnostics but faces trade-offs between speed, volume, and flow resistance. Inspired by hummingbirds, the proposed elastocapillary device enables rapid, passive fluid capture and aliquoting, combining capillarity and elasticity for optimal performance.

The vascular, cellular and molecular changes underlying sex differences in mood disorders are unclear. Here, the authors show that blood-brain barrier dysfunction modulates anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in female mice and endothelium-specific changes associated with maladaptive responses compared to resilience to stress.

Targeted therapies matched to genomics improved progression-free survival when genomic alterations were classified as level I/II (according to ESCAT), and genomics should thus be driven by target actionability in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

A molecular marker is required to monitor artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum parasites in southeast Asia; here mutations in K13-propeller are associated with artemisinin resistance in vitro and in vivo and also cluster in Cambodian provinces where resistance is prevalent.

Mutations in genes required for the glycosylation of α-dystroglycan lead to dystroglycanopathies. Here, the authors show that three of these enzymes (ISPD, FKTN and FKRP) work together to attach ribitol phosphate to α-dystroglycan.

Analysis of HbA1c and FPG levels across 117 population-based studies demonstrates regional variation in prevalence of previously undiagnosed screen-detected diabetes using one or both measures and suggests that use of elevated FPG alone could underestimate diabetes prevalence in low- and middle-income countries.

Contrary to the view that urbanization is a major driver of the global rise in obesity, the global increase in body-mass index is shown to be mostly due to increases in the body-mass indexes of rural populations.

Statins are effectively used to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease, but patient response to these drugs is highly variable. Here, the authors identify two new genes associated with the response of LDL cholesterol to statins and advance our understanding of the genetic basis of drug response.

The authors introduce optical horn antennas, a nanophotonic platform combining plasmonic enhancement, efficient collection and background screening, for detection of UV autofluorescence from single proteins. They demonstrate label-free monitoring of protein unfolding and dissociation upon denaturation.

Theulot et al. introduce NanoForkSpeed, a nanopore sequencing-based method to map individual replication fork velocities on entire genomes. NFS shows that fork speed is uniform across yeast chromosomes except for a marked slowdown at pausing sites.

High-resolution measurements of Martian atmospheric dust, water and semiheavy water, obtained by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter during a global dust storm on Mars, are reported.

A human binary protein interactome map that includes around 53,000 protein–protein interactions involving more than 8,000 proteins provides a reference for the study of human cellular function in health and disease.

The plant hormone auxin is essential for plant development and growth and is transported across cellular membranes via specialized transporter proteins. In this study, Ranocha et al. identify the first vacuolar auxin transporter, WAT1, suggesting an involvement of the vacuole in auxin signalling.

Fabricating defect-free micro- and nano-circuits over large scales with controlled interconnections remains a challenge. Here, Bollani et al. show a dewetting strategy for engineering arrays of parallel Si-based nanowires up to 0.75 mm and complex interconnected circuits of monocrystalline Si on a chip.

Fluctuations, both quantum and classical, contain important information about the underlying system. Here, the authors show that for measurements on a subregion with a sharp corner, fluctuations have the same shape dependence for a large variety of systems.

Asthenozoospermia is a major cause of male infertility, and multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella (MMAF) is a particularly severe form. Here, using whole-exome sequencing of 78 MMAF patients, the authors identify mutations in two WDR proteins, CFAP43 and CFAP44, and confirm that these proteins are required for flagellogenesis in mouse and Trypanosoma brucei.

Exploratory analyses from the phase 2 randomized SAFIR02-IMMUNO trial identify biomarkers associated with improved outcomes to durvalumab as compared to maintenance chemotherapy in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

The genome of the black truffle - one of the most popular truffles on the market - has been sequenced. This is the first genome of a symbiotic ascomycete to be analysed. Comparison with the genome of another ectomycorrhizal symbiotic fungus indicates that a genetic predisposition to symbiosis evolved differently in ascomycetes and basidiomycetes. The study also offers insight into fungal sex and fruiting.

In patients with melanoma, increased RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway activity is known to drive chemotherapy resistance. Here, the authors identify CDK12 as a downstream effector of the RAS/MAPK pathway and therapeutic target which mediates chemotherapy resistance through increased expression of DNA repair associated genes.

Highly sensitive measurements of the atmosphere of Mars with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter do not detect any methane over a range of latitudes in both hemispheres, in contrast to previous local or remote detections.

FGF19 acts directly on skeletal muscle to increase its mass, and treatment with the hormone ameliorates muscle atrophy in three mouse models.