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Lai et al. show a function of astrocytic Ca²⁺ in preventing synaptic depotentiation by reducing repetitive dendritic activity in the motor cortex during motor training, thereby contributing to learning-dependent neuronal circuit modification.

Geospatial estimates of the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age across 82 low-income and middle-income countries reveals considerable heterogeneity and inequality at national and subnational levels, with few countries on track to meet the WHO Global Nutrition Targets by 2030.

Moses, Atlan et al. profile the killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) gonad using single-cell sequencing and reveal that genetic germline depletion induces sexually dimorphic phenotypes, enhancing lifespan in male fish and somatic repair in females.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Here, the authors sample air and surfaces in hospital rooms of COVID-19 patients, detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in air samples of two of three tested airborne infection isolation rooms, and find surface contamination in 66.7% of tested rooms during the first week of illness and 20% beyond the first week of illness.

Examining drivers of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient in a global database of local tree species richness, the authors show that co-limitation by multiple environmental and anthropogenic factors causes steeper increases in richness with latitude in tropical versus temperate and boreal zones.

Estimates from the Global Dietary Database indicated that 2.2 million new type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cardiovascular disease cases were attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages worldwide in 2020, with the highest burdens in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In this immunological ancillary study of the PREVAC trial, the authors show that approved Ebola virus vaccines induce memory T-cell responses that persist during the five year follow-up after initial vaccination.

Recent estimates of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) intake are generally unavailable. Here the authors show a global SSBs intake of 2.7 servings/week in 2018 in adults (range: 0.7 South Asia, 7.8 Latin America/Caribbean); intakes were higher among males, younger, more educated, and urban adults.

Isolation and optimization of antibodies targeting the malaria parasite may offer the potential for immediate protection as a prophylactic intervention to prevent severe disease.

An analysis based on data from the Global Dietary Database shows mean animal-sourced food intakes among children and adolescents increased modestly from 1990 to two portions per day in 2018, but remain low in sub-Saharan Africa, India and Bangladesh.

Sulfur(vi) fluoride exchange (SuFEx)—a type of click chemistry that generates S^VI-centred covalent linkages—has previously been used for polymer synthesis. Now, modular SuFEx polymerization using SOF₄ has been used to generate helical polymers. Unlike previous examples of SuFEx polymerization, the backbone retains S^VI–F motifs and therefore is able to undergo further SuFEx click reactions, enabling facile and efficient post-polymerization modification.

Bhattacharjee and Schaeffer et al. map exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in 94 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), finding increased EBF practice and reduced subnational variation across the majority of LMICs from 2000 to 2018. However, only six LMICs will meet WHO’s target of ≥70% EBF by 2030 nationally, and only three will achieve this in all districts.

Modeling analysis from the Global Dietary Database estimated that 70% of new global cases of type 2 diabetes are attributable to suboptimal intake of 11 dietary factors, with substantial differences in dietary risks across world regions and nations.

Dietary quality is reported at the global, regional and national level across 185 countries. Though diet quality increased modestly since 1990 at the global level, in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa it did not improve. In some regions, children’s dietary quality is lower than that of adults.

Activation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) is generally associated with increased immune activity. Here, the authors show, using syngeneic mouse models, that combined deficiency of TLR 3/7/9 in the host induces an inflamed tumour phenotype and results in T cell dependent tumour regression after an initial growth.

The aboveground carbon stock of a montane African forest network is comparable to that of a lowland African forest network and two-thirds higher than default values for these montane forests.

An almost ideal quantum anomalous Hall state is observed in (Bi,Sb)Te films doped with vanadium. This state is reached without the application of a polarizing magnetic film, making these materials interesting for low-power electronic applications.

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

A GWAS of multi- and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis using 6,465 Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates from more than 30 countries identifies novel mutations associated with resistance. The capacity to detect resistance in particular to ethionamide, pyrazinamide, capreomycin, cycloserine and paraaminosalicylic acid was enhanced by inclusion of insertions and deletions.

Analysis of peripheral mycobacteria-reactive CD4⁺ T cell receptor sequences from individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis shows a high degree of overlap between progressors and controllers, but points to some distinct clonotypes that are enriched in either group.

The Omicron variant evades vaccine-induced neutralization but also fails to form syncytia, shows reduced replication in human lung cells and preferentially uses a TMPRSS2-independent cell entry pathway, which may contribute to enhanced replication in cells of the upper airway. Altered fusion and cell entry characteristics are linked to distinct regions of the Omicron spike protein.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

Here the authors show that antibody-dependent phagocytosis of ring-stage P. falciparum parasites is mediated by merozoite antigens and is a strong predictor of protection following challenge in a controlled human malaria infection study in semi-immune Kenyan adults.

Impaired TGF-β signaling due to SMAD4 mutation in PDAC tumors initiates a STAT3-dependent signaling cascade that leads to increased stromal stiffening and disease progression.

Evolution of RNA aptamers that act allosterically by recognizing and stabilizing specific conformations, including active, inactive, and ligand-specific conformations of the GPCR β₂-adrenergic receptor, bound to pharmacologically distinct ligands.

Results for the final phase of the 1000 Genomes Project are presented including whole-genome sequencing, targeted exome sequencing, and genotyping on high-density SNP arrays for 2,504 individuals across 26 populations, providing a global reference data set to support biomedical genetics.

The tuberculosis pandemic requires new methods for diagnosing and containing infections prior to active disease. Here, the authors performed a multi-site observational study within sub-Saharan Africa and present serum and plasma metabolic signatures that can predict the onset of active TB with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity.

Paul Thompson and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for hippocampal, intracranial and total brain volume. They identify a locus at 12q24 associated with hippocampal volume and a locus at 12q14 associated with intracranial volume.

A study on how budding yeast decides between carbon sources when growing on pairs of sugars suggests that cells can actively prioritise sugars other than glucose and that such priorities need not reflect differences in growth rates.

Mark Tuszynski and his colleagues show that brain-derived neurotrophic factor is neuroprotective and can improve cognition in rodent and primate models of Alzheimer's disease.

Sulfur fluoride exchange (SuFEx) is a click reaction used to rapidly synthesize and discover functional molecules. In this Primer, Homer et al. discuss the essential elements of SuFEx operation, catalysis and SuFExable connective hubs and explore applications of SuFEx in drug development, polymer science and biochemistry.