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The structural characterization of powder materials often remains challenging due to the lack of single crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction. Here, the authors present a workflow that integrates microcrystal electron diffraction with high-resolution mass spectrometry, database mining, solution and solid-state NMR, and DFT-D/GIPAW calculations to resolve atomic structures of complex powders, demonstrating the approach on a pyridoxine-N-acetyl-L-cysteine salt, a mechanochemically synthesized adduct for which large single crystals could not be obtained, and on N-formyl-methionyl-leucylphenylalanine, a bacterial chemoattractant peptide.

Unlike some planets, the Venusian polar vortex is warmer than the mid-latitudes at cloud-top level, but the mechanism behind this is unknown. Here, the authors use a general circulation model and suggest the cold collar and warm polar regions are due to residual mean meridional circulation intensified by thermal tides.

Genetic mechanisms influencing COVID-19 susceptibility are not well understood. Here, the authors analyzed whole blood RNA-seq data of 465 Japanese individuals with COVID-19, highlighting thousands of fine-mapped variants affecting expression and splicing of genes, as well as the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs.

A genome-wide association study highlights a variant in DOCK2, which is common in East Asian populations but rare in Europeans, as a host genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19.

Analysis of the blood DNA virome in patients with COVID-19 and autoimmune disease associates endogenous HHV-6 (eHHV-6) and high anellovirus load with increased disease risk, most notably for systemic lupus erythematosus. eHHV-6 carriers show a distinct immune response.

A single-cell multiomic immune cell atlas from 235 Japanese, including patients with COVID-19 and healthy individuals, linked with host genetics including germline and somatic mutation, plasma proteomics and metagenomics data reveals that immune cells are dynamically regulated in a cell state-dependent manner.

Genome-wide analyses in BioBank Japan, UK Biobank and FinnGen identify ~5,000 new loci associated with 220 human traits. Statistical decomposition of matrices of phenome-wide summary statistics further highlights variants underpinning diseases across populations.

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.

Protein condensates underlie various cellular events. Here, the authors developed short peptide tags that form reversible amyloids, which enable the fabrication of artificial protein condensates with different fluidities or multi-component properties in mammalian cells.

Heavy fermions are typically associated with f-electron Kondo systems but have been proposed to play a role also in d-electron systems, despite the observation of a flat d-orbital band near the Fermi level is elusive. Here, the authors use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to reveal flat bands near the Fermi level in Fe_5−xGeTe₂, demonstrating Kondo physics behavior and a transition from non-Fermi-liquid to a heavy mass Fermi-liquid state.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 73 Japanese patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 75 healthy controls were analyzed using single-cell transcriptomics. Combining these data with genotyping data highlights the interplay between host genetics and the immune response in modulating disease severity.

A genome-wide association study in Japanese patients with ALS identifies rs113161727 at the ADAM29-GPM6A locus as a modifier of age at onset and links it to GPM6A upregulation.

A total of 1074 patients with a history of ischemic stroke enrolled in The Recurrent Stroke Prevention Clinical Outcome (RESPECT) Study were assigned to intensive blood pressure (BP) control group (blood pressure < 120/80 mmHg) or standard blood pressure control group (blood pressure < 140/90 mmHg) and were followed up for a mean of 3.9 years. Seventy-eight first recurrent strokes occurred, including 70 ischemic stroke and 8 intracerebral hemorrhage. Intensive treatment did not change annual risk of ischemic stroke (1.74% vs. 1.75%, P = 0.999), but markedly reduced risk of hemorrhagic stroke (0.00% vs. 0.39%, P = 0.005). Beneficial effect of intensive BP control were observed for risk of hemorrhagic stroke in the patients with a history of ischemic stroke.

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy is a neuromuscular disease caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the androgen receptor gene. Here the authors show that Src kinase signaling is activated in a mouse model of the disease, and that Src inhibition improves pathology and behavioral symptoms in mice.

Investigating catalysts under their working conditions is crucial for understanding structure-performance relationships. Here, the authors utilize operando transmission electron microscopy and density functional theory calculations to explore the structure-performance correlations of a copper catalyst in ethylene oxidation.

Palladium-based catalysts are highly effective for the complete oxidation of methane. Here, the authors employ operando transmission electron microscopy, near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations to investigate the active state and catalytic function of Pd nanoparticles in methane oxidation.

Anthracyclines can induce cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD), of which occurrence remains unpredictable. Here, the authors develop an artificial intelligence model to robustly predict CTRCD from a single recording of 12-lead electrocardiogram taken before the initiation of chemotherapy in cancer patients treated with anthracyclines.

Self-assembling peptides (SAPs) can be used to build biomaterials, but genetically encoded SAPs have rarely been used as building blocks in cells. Here, the authors design a SAP that can be genetically fused to target proteins to induce their intracellular clustering and modulate their signaling functions.

This study shows that SARS-CoV-2 infection induces paracrine senescence in adjacent uninfected cells via virus-induced cytokine secretion. This resulted in a persistent inflammatory response associated with senescence even after SARS-CoV-2 disappearance.