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Michael Mann views the US statesman's second film probing climate change.

The authors consider the future climate resilience and genomic adaptive capacity of the globally important crop sorghum using 1,937 global accessions. They identify the best potential parents and geographies for crop improvements, and underscore the need for better accessibility of plant resources.

Endovascular stent-graft repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms is a less-invasive alternative to open repair. Since the first description of the technique in 1990, the technology used has developed rapidly. In this Surgery Insight, Donald Baril, Tikva Jacobs and Michael Marin summarize the history of endovascular stent-graft development and discuss recent data on patients treated with this technique, and outline some new advances in stent-graft repairs.

Implantation of a synthetic mid-urethral sling (SMUS) is the most widely used anti-incontinence surgery performed in women. Despite this widespread use, a dearth of knowledge of the safety, risks and potential complications of SMUS currently exists. Here, Jerry Blaivas and co-authors draw upon the available evidence to provide an in-depth review of the risks of SMUS-associated complications.

Analysis of data from multiple instruments reveals a giant exoplanet in orbit around the 0.2-solar-mass star TOI-6894. The existence of this exoplanetary system challenges assumptions about planet formation and it is an excellent target for atmospheric characterization.

Understanding water transport through nanochannels is central to biology, separations and clean water. Here, the authors show transport of water vapor through Angstrom-scale pores (~2.8–6.6 Å in diameter) in atomically thin graphene membranes is orders of magnitude faster than liquid water, due to permeation occurring in different flow regimes.

Although calcium signals are known to be critical for many cellular processes, how signaling elicits specific functions remains unclear. In visually striking work, Duan et al. reveal that networks of cytoplasmic nanocourses orchestrate cell activity by directing site-specific calcium signals.

Impaired gut barrier function is a central driver of alcohol-related liver disease. This study indicates that the postbiotic ReFerm® improves gut barrier function and reduce liver stiffness and liver fibrosis, suggesting the gut barrier function as a potential treatment target.

Stig Bojesen, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Alison Dunning and colleagues report common variants at the TERT-CLPTM1L locus associated with mean telomere length measured in whole blood. They also identify associations at this locus to breast or ovarian cancer susceptibility and report functional studies in breast and ovarian cancer tissue and cell lines.

WASHINGTON & CAPE TOWN

The Clinton Administration is to relax its approach to developing countries seeking affordable medicines during public health crises.

Fe–N–C catalysts are a promising alternative to precious metals in fuel cell cathodes, but they suffer from durability issues. Now, a preparation method is reported that allows increasing the active site density while also improving durability.

A cross-ancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies association signals for stroke and its subtypes at 89 (61 new) independent loci, reveals putative causal genes, highlighting F11, KLKB1, PROC, GP1BA, LAMC2 and VCAM1 as potential drug targets, and provides cross-ancestry integrative risk prediction.

Sunitinib is a standard first-line therapy for patients with advanced or metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma. In an expanded-access study, sunitinib has demonstrated clinical benefit with an acceptable safety profile in a population of patients that is representative of those seen in clinical practice.

cape town

The US space agency NASA has agreed to locate its first satellite laser ranging system (SLRS) on the African continent in South Africa.

Optimizing COVID-19 vaccination strategies for patients under immunosuppressive medication is of high importance. In this clinical trial including non-seroconverted immunosuppressed patients, a homologous mRNA booster vaccination resulted in higher seroconversion rate than a switch to a vector-based vaccine.

Paul Pharoah and colleagues report the results of a large genome-wide association study of ovarian cancer. They identify new susceptibility loci for different epithelial ovarian cancer histotypes and use integrated analyses of genes and regulatory features at each locus to predict candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1.

Shifting rapidly to a low-emissions global economy could severely disrupt workers’ livelihoods and their communities, exacerbating inequalities and perpetuating injustice. In a Just Labor Transition, strategic policies prepare workers for new jobs, enable inclusive decision-making with meaningful participation of workers and their representatives (including labor unions and other collective organizations), and secure social license for change.

Reprogramming of somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that can be differentiated into many cell types has great potential for personalized therapy. By comparing copy number variations of early- and intermediate-passage human iPS cells to their respective parental fibroblast cells and human embryonic stem (ES) cells, this study finds that a high mutation rate is associated with the reprogramming process. However, during moderate length culture, human iPS cells undergo a selection process leading to decreased mutation load of cells equivalent to that observed in human ES cells.

Reprogramming of somatic cells to induce pluripotent cellular properties that closely resemble those of embryonic stem (ES) cells has important therapeutic potential. The first whole genome single-base resolution profiling of the DNA methylomes of several human ES cell, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) and somatic progenitor lines shows that iPSCs are fundamentally distinct from ES cells, insofar as they manifest common, quantifiable epigenomic differences. These 'hotspots of aberrant reprogramming' might be potentially useful as diagnostic markers for incomplete iPSC reprogramming, for the characterization of the efficacy of different reprogramming techniques, and for screening the potential propagation of altered methylation states into derivative differentiated cells.

In a post-approval study including more than 17,000 patients on the safety of pulsed field ablation, a new method for treatment of atrial fibrillation, the procedure was found to have a low rate of adverse events but was associated with some unexpected rare complications that will need further study.

Genome-wide association meta-analysis of AAA identifies 121 independent risk loci and highlights potential therapeutic targets such as proprotein convertase, subtilisin/kexin-type 9 (PCSK9).

Silicate weathering reactions remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in carbonate minerals. During the high atmospheric carbon dioxide conditions of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum, rates of chemical weathering, physical erosion and denudation in the western USA were equivalent to the highest recorded rates in the non-glacial Quaternary.

Paul Pharoah, Joellen Schildkraut, Thomas Sellers and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for epithelial ovarian cancer and genotyping using the iCOGS array in 18,174 cases and 26,134 controls from 43 studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. They identify three new ovarian cancer susceptibility loci, including one specific to the serous subtype, and their integrated molecular analysis of genes and regulatory regions at these loci suggests disease mechanisms.

The structural and temporal characteristics of atherosclerotic plaques differ between native coronary artery disease, vein-graft atherosclerosis, and in-stent neoatherosclerosis. In this Review, Yahagi et al. compare the shared and divergent morphological features, giving insight into the pathogenesis of atheroma formation, and provide an updated classification scheme for atherosclerotic lesions.