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Anxiety-like behaviour in mice, as a result of psychological stress, is shown to be mediated by GDF15 release in response to adipose tissue lipolysis.

Chromosome-level genome assemblies of nine tetraploid and two diploid wild Oryza species provide insights into genome evolution within the genus Oryza and the potential for crop improvement and neodomestication.

Ultrasound-mediated blood-brain barrier opening has been exploited to improve drug delivery in the brain. Here the authors show that low-intensity pulsed ultrasound in combination with intravenous injection of microbubbles enhances the delivery of doxorubicin and anti-PD1 in gliomas, improving anti-tumor immune responses.

Recent work indicates that drug delivery to the brain can be improved through disruption of the blood brain barrier using low intensity pulsed ultrasound. Here, the authors report a phase I/II clinical trial investigating the combination of a nine-emitter implantable ultrasound device and carboplatin in patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

Measurements of fission fragments for 100 fissioning systems are used to map an asymmetric fission island, providing evidence for the role played by the deformation induced by a closed 36-proton shell.

Zhu et al. designed and manufactured a mitral annuloplasty ring based on human high-resolution cardiac magnetic resonance imaging exams, demonstrating axis-specific flexibility and rigidity. This ring demonstrates excellent ex vivo hemodynamics and biomechanics while allowing mitral annulus dynamic changes in a survival in vivo large animal model.

Cardiac tissue engineering could be useful for replacement and/or repair of diseased or malformed cardiac tissue. The creation of functional, biocompatible contractile tissues, however, remains challenging. These investigators report a novel method of engineering a highly effective collagen-cell scaffold based on arginine–glycine–aspartic acid–serine peptides cross-linked to a clinically approved collagen matrix.

Rodrigues et al. show that exosomal CEMIP derived from brain metastatic cells elicits vascular remodelling and inflammation and supports subsequent metastatic colonization in the brain microenvironment.

Clarifying the underlying cause of prosthetic heart valve dysfunction is important for initiating appropriate treatment. Dr. Habets et al. describe the complementary roles of noninvasive imaging techniques in the diagnosis of left-sided mechanical and biological prosthetic heart valve dysfunction.

Modeling patient-individual resistance to immunotherapy is challenging. Here, the authors use a syngeneic experimental hypermutated orthotopic glioma model to define radiological and biological features that can predict or explain the mechanistic differences between responders and non-responders to immunotherapy.

Supergenes result from beneficial linkage and recombination suppression between two or more genes. Giraud and colleagues use whole genome sequencing data to show convergent evolution of supergenes on mating-type chromosomes in multiple closely-related fungal lineages.

Temozolomide therapy seems to lead to mismatch repair deficiency and hypermutation in gliomas, but not to an increase in response to immunotherapy.

Preclinical evidence suggests that a fasting mimicking diet (FMD) can make cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy, while protecting normal cells. In this randomized phase II clinical trial of 131 patients with HER2 negative early stage breast cancer, the authors demonstrate that FMD is safe and enhances the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on radiological and pathological tumor response.

There is a need for effective antiviral drugs against RSV infection. Conducting an RSV repurposing screen using the ReFRAME library Sake et al. identify lonafarnib as an RSV fusion protein inhibitor, characterize its binding site within the viral protein and show its antiviral effects in a mouse model.

Here the authors identify upstream open reading frames (uORFs), uORF1 and uORF2 in the Asian/American lineage and African uORF in the African lineage of Zika viruses, and show that uORF1 affects vimentin filaments and that the identified uORFs affect virus replication in neural cells.

Stomata act to control CO₂ uptake and water loss, integrating endogenous signals with environmental cues to ‘set’ stomatal aperture. Separate closure-inducing signals access unique but partially overlapping, modular gene networks.

Integrated experimental and computational approaches reveal functional and structural details of a key catabolic enzyme that oxidizes recalcitrant C-glycosides, abundant and biologically significant natural molecules, before deglycosylation.

Genome assemblies of 13 domesticated and wild rice relatives reveal salient features of genome evolution across the genus Oryza, especially rapid species diversification and turnover of transposons. This study also releases a complete long-read assembly of IR 8 ‘Miracle Rice’.

Crystallographically studying chemical reactions is difficult because the intermediates are rarely stable enough to be crystallized. Now, protein crystals have been used to trap four reaction intermediates in an aromatic dihydroxylation, showing that an iron peroxo complex is observed.

Improved biomarker-based tools for diagnosis and risk prediction of venous thromboembolism (VTE) are needed. Here, the authors show that Complement Factor H Related 5 protein, a regulator of the alternative pathway of complement activation, is a VTE-associated plasma biomarker in 5 independent cohorts.

This Registered Report presents evidence from 87 countries and regions showing that brief emotion-regulation interventions consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aggregation is sequence-specific and nucleated by short aggregating protein segments (APR). Here authors use a multidisciplinary approach to show that in E.coli some frequently occurring APRs lead to protein aggregation and ultimately bacterial cell death, which could serve as antibacterial strategy.

A catalogue of the naturally occurring three-dimensional stoichiometric materials with flat bands around the Fermi level provides a powerful search engine for future theoretical and experimental studies.

Crystallographic snapshots illustrate the catalytic cycle and illuminate the mechanism by which the enzyme Pdx1 shuttles intermediates between lysine residues in its two active sites during the biosynthesis of pyridoxal 5′-phosphate.

The breakdown of superconductivity is described as a reduction in the amplitude of the order parameter or a breakdown in phase coherence of Cooper pairs. This Review Article highlights recent results that show both mechanisms may be at play simultaneously.

Developmental cues for the different dendritic cell (DC) subsets in the intestine are yet to be defined. Here the authors show that TGFβR1 signalling is needed for development of CD103⁺CD11b⁺ intestinal DCs from CD103⁻CD11b⁺ cells and that they contribute to the generation of Th17 and regulatory T cells

The International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium reports the discovery of 48 new susceptibility variants for multiple sclerosis through targeted follow-up of immune-related loci. They also report fine mapping of association signals at established susceptibility loci and provide insights into the immune system processes underlying this disease.

Florent Soubrier and colleagues report a genome-wide association study of pulmonary arterial hypertension. They identify a susceptibility locus near CBLN2 associated with a twofold elevated risk of developing this life-threatening disease.