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A retrospective, observational study shows that completion of a diabetes prevention program in England (the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme) was associated with decreased incidence of type 2 diabetes and long-term conditions such as dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 24 months.

The thymus is sensitive to acute insults including infection, as well as to injury from chemotherapy and myeloablative conditioning before hematopoietic cell transplantation. Here, Granadier et al. describe a role for IL-18 in limiting thymic regeneration by stimulating NK cells, which then target thymic epithelial cells.

Genome-wide analyses identify 30 independent loci associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder, highlighting genetic overlap with other psychiatric disorders and implicating putative effector genes and cell types contributing to its etiology.

Mechanisms regulating collagen clearance may be useful for treating fibrosis. Here, the authors conducted functional genome-wide screens and found that collagen biosynthesis directly regulates collagen clearance via a noncanonical function of SEL1L.

Age is associated with increasing vulnerability to both acute and chronic lung diseases. Employing genomic analysis and live lung imaging, this study reveals a profile of increased cellular senescence, telomere shortening, and fibrosis-induced impaired alveolar function in the natural history of human lung aging.

Scientists couple the zero-phonon line of individual nitrogen-vacancy centres to the modes of microring resonators fabricated in single-crystal diamond using standard semiconductor techniques, paving ways towards integrated diamond photonics.

In mouse and human, lung-specialized alveolar fibroblasts adopt multiple molecular states that are induced by pro-inflammatory and fibrotic signals and have diverse protective roles against lung injury.

In a prospective international cohort of 1,127 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer and ctDNA-guided therapy, ctDNA detection was associated with shorter survival, independently of clinicopathologic features and metabolic tumor volume.

The association of telomere length with age and mortality across racially diverse pulmonary fibrosis populations is unknown. Here, the authors show that leukocyte telomere length associates with chronologic age and is predictive of mortality in pulmonary fibrosis across racial groups.

Results from the phase 2/3 clinical trial of gantenerumab or solanezumab in dominantly inherited Alzheimer’s disease reveal no beneficial effects on cognitive measures despite a significant reduction in amyloid plaques and other key biomarkers in those treated with gantenerumab.

Mast cells, which are involved in inflammation and wound healing, have now been shown to have a role in obesity and diabetes in a new report by Guo-Ping Shi and his colleagues. They go on to show that pharmacological inhibition of mast cell function is sufficient to reduce these metabolic disturbances in mice, suggesting a new therapeutic avenue in the clinic for these disorders.

Collagen production by lung cells is critical to maintain organ architecture but can also drive pathological scarring. Here the authors perform single cell RNA sequencing of collagen-producing lung cells identifying a subset of pathologic fibroblasts characterized by Cthrc1 expression which are concentrated within fibroblastic foci in fibrotic lungs and show a pro-fibrotic phenotype.

Chest computed tomography (CT) is one of the most common diagnostic tests. Here, the authors combine two AI models to measure from CT coronary artery calcium, left ventricular mass index, and left and right atrial and ventricular volumes, and show their association with cardiovascular mortality.

Poeck and colleagues identify a microbiome signature in patients receiving allogenic stem cell transplantation, which is associated with protective immune-modulatory metabolites, improved survival and less transplant-related mortality.

In the second part of their Review on restenosis after PCI, Jukema and colleagues focus on the technological advances that have fueled revolutionary changes for optimizing outcomes of coronary stenting and the prevention and treatment of in-stent restenosis.

Kathiriya et al. report that fibrotic signalling in the lung mesenchyme leads to transdifferentiation of human alveolar type 2 cells into KRT5⁺ basal cells, providing a mechanistic explanation for the pathology associated with severe lung injuries.

Cassandras et al. show that Gli1-expressing mesenchymal stromal cells promote metaplastic differentiation of airway progenitors into basal cells by antagonizing BMP signalling in lung fibrosis.

Salt marshes protect coastlines against waves. Wave flume experiments show that marsh vegetation causes substantial wave dissipation and prevents erosion of the underlying surface, even during extreme storm surge conditions.

Tasha Fingerlin, David Schwartz and colleagues report a genome-wide association study of fibrotic idiopathic interstitial pneumonia. Their results confirm known risk variants at MUC5B and TERT and identify several new regions associated with disease susceptibility.

Using scRNA-seq analysis, Bhattacharya and colleagues identify a subset of profibrotic lung macrophages that have a gene expression signature intermediate between those of monocytes and alveolar macrophages.

In an analysis of adult patients with hematologic malignancies who received anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, baseline gut microbiome composition was correlated with clinical response and treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics in the four weeks prior to infusion was associated with worse survival and increased neurotoxicity.

A new high-throughput platform to find rare T cells that can recognize shared cancer neoantigens identifies T cell receptors specific for a conserved, immunogenic and therapeutically actionable epitope in mutant PI3Kα, one of the most common driver oncogenes

A systematic review of evidence, across the key pillars of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis, outlines milestones that need to be met to enable the broad clinical implementation of precision medicine in diabetes care.

Sven van der Lee, Julie Williams, Gerard Schellenberg and colleagues identify rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3 and TREM2 associated with Alzheimer's disease. These genes are highly expressed in microglia and provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated immune response contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Sarcomas are rare tumours with many different subtypes and clinical outcomes; a broader knowledge of their genetic features is required. Here, the authors analyse 2138 soft tissue and bone sarcomas across 45 subtypes using MSK-IMPACT targeted sequencing and find genomic groups that are distinct from histological subgroups.

Neurostimulation therapy is often needed for patients with neuropathic pain that is refractory to medical treatment. In this Review, Nguyenet al. compare and contrast the evidence for efficacy of motor cortex stimulation and deep brain stimulation, highlighting the brain-targeting strategies, mechanisms of action and future therapeutic potentials of both treatments in patients with chronic neuropathic pain.

In this Review, Tsimikas and co-workers re-examine the role of lipoprotein(a) in the regulation of platelet function and propose areas for future research to define its clinical relevance for cardiovascular disease.

Analysis of a large grassland biodiversity dataset shows that increases in local land-use intensity cause biotic homogenization at landscape scale across microbial, plant and animal groups, both above- and belowground, that is largely independent of changes in local diversity.

Both a high number of species and abundance in multiple trophic levels are required for ecosystems to continue to provide the services humans require of them.

Kelpin et al. present results from a randomized controlled pilot trial comparing 3 digital access and literacy intervention strategies for enhancing access to online evidence-based smoking cessation treatment among Midwest rural adults who smoke. Findings suggest individual phone coaching to address technology needs may improve smoking outcomes.

Misra, Wagner et al. systematically review if strategies to subclassify type 2 diabetes (T2D) are associated with high quality evidence and patient outcomes. Cluster-based stratification yields T2D subtypes that associate with outcomes, suggesting subclassification could have future clinical use.

Francis et al. perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate studies comparing perinatal outcomes among individuals with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Their review and post hoc analysis find that maternal preconception weight and non-glucose-dependent biochemical markers could be a precision diagnostic approach to reducing variability in clinical outcomes following treatment.