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Symmetry breaking is key to numerous notable effects, for instance, the emergence of a Rashba interaction at interfaces between two materials. Here, Zhang, Ding, and coauthors succeed in breaking in-plane mirror symmetries via crystallographic engineering, and observe a giant non-linear Hall effect and current induced magnetization at room temperature.

NatD is an acetyltransferase responsible for N-α-terminal acetylation of the histone H4 and H2A and has been linked to cell growth. Here the authors show that NatD-mediated acetylation of histone H4 serine 1 competes with the phosphorylation by CK2α at the same residue thus leading to the upregulation of Slug and tumor progression.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

This work identifies the key electron-transfer limitation in electrocatalytic contaminant removal and delivers a dual-function strategy that boosts efficiency by combining molecular enrichment with precisely controlled charging-discharging.

Skeletal muscle is central to whole-body energy balance. Here, Yang et al. show that MLL4-dependent enhancer activation is a key regulatory node for the governance of muscle metabolic efficiency and systemic metabolism via the control of muscle AMPK.

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) within the tumour microenvironment are important for prognostic and immunotherapeutic indications in cancer. Here the authors use a spatial and single cell transcriptomics analysis of gastric cancer (GC) samples and show transcriptomic differences grouped by types of TLS and generate a prognostic transcriptomic signature to help predict outcome in GC patients.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are involved in renal pathophysiology. Here the authors use genetic models to show that podocyte FGF4 is protective of diabetic kidney disease progression, and that treatment with recombinant FGF4 reduced renal injury and fibrosis in diabetic mouse models.

This study reports a conjugated polymer photocatalyst, TPM-DADK, that enables light-driven hydrogen peroxide production via stable ketyl radicals, achieving efficient electron storage and dynamic exfoliation for enhanced solar-to-chemical conversion.

Identifying jets originating from heavy quarks plays a fundamental role in hadronic collider experiments. In this work, the ATLAS Collaboration describes and tests a transformer-based neural network architecture for jet flavour tagging based on low-level input and physics-inspired constraints.

The rapid expansion of agricultural irrigation raises concerns about exacerbating water scarcity, but land–atmosphere interactions are often overlooked. This study isolates irrigation impacts from other drivers using a multi-model framework to reveal that historical irrigation expansion substantially reduces net atmospheric water influx, intensifying drying trends and accelerating terrestrial water storage depletion, urging immediate mitigation strategies.

Aberration of chromatin organisation is linked to cancer progression and cancer cell plasticity. Here, the authors investigate changes in chromatin state during the transition of cancer cells to cancer stem cells and, using a CTCF-cohesin contact reporter CRISPR screen, identify TLK2 as a driver of plasticity via regulation of chromatin loop formation.

B cell subsets expanding during tumor progression have been associated with impaired anti-tumor responses and resistance to immunotherapy. Here the authors report that STING agonism or anti-PD-1 induce intratumoral B cell infiltration, and that depleting B-cells improves response to immunotherapies in preclinical models of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Reversible protonic ceramic cells face electrode interface degradation challenges. This study introduces an atomic trapping strategy to restructure heterointerfaces, improving power output and long-term stability while reducing precious metal usage.

Metronomic photodynamic therapy is a long-term, low-dose treatment strategy limited by the need of continuous photosensitizer administration. Here this group reports combining the self-bioluminescent bacteria with a neutral red photosensitizer in alginate microcapsules as a self-driven metronomic photodynamic therapeutic system with preclinical anti-cancer effects.

It is uncertain how much life expectancy of the Chinese population would improve under current and greater policy targets on lifestyle-based risk factors for chronic diseases and mortality behaviours. Here we report a simulation of how improvements in four risk factors, namely smoking, alcohol use, physical activity and diet, could affect mortality. We show that in the ideal scenario, that is, all people who currently smokers quit smoking, excessive alcohol userswas reduced to moderate intake, people under 65 increased moderate physical activity by one hour and those aged 65 and older increased by half an hour per day, and all participants ate 200 g more fresh fruits and 50 g more fish/seafood per day, life expectancy at age 30 would increase by 4.83 and 5.39 years for men and women, respectively. In a more moderate risk reduction scenario referred to as the practical scenario, where improvements in each lifestyle factor were approximately halved, the gains in life expectancy at age 30 could be half those of the ideal scenario. However, the validity of these estimates in practise may be influenced by population-wide adherence to lifestyle recommendations. Our findings suggest that the current policy targets set by the Healthy China Initiative could be adjusted dynamically, and a greater increase in life expectancy would be achieved.

The red fluorescent protein mScarlet3-H is bright, photostable and very robust to high temperature, chaotropic conditions and oxidative environments. mScarlet3-H works well in correlative light and electron microscopy, tissue clearing and time-lapse super-resolution microscopy.

Serotonin (5-HT) and its derivative melatonin are versatile physiological regulators. Here, the authors report that abscisic acid induces 5-HT biosynthesis via the ABI5 transcription factor in rice.

Epsilon Fe2C is considered a promising catalyst for syngas conversion due to its inherently low CO2 selectivity, but its application is limited by poor high-temperature stability. Here the authors present a successful method for synthesizing highly stable ε-Fe2C using a nitrogen-induced strategy through the pyrolysis of Prussian blue analogs.

A DNA matrix material potentiates humoral response through multiple administration routes, generating neutralizing antibodies and conferring robust protection against infection.

Polymer-coated Ag2Se for high-performance thermoelectric composite films are developed via direct-ink printing. Flexible generators demonstrate high power density and applications in heat recovery, respiratory monitoring, and energy conversion.

Researchers demonstrate all-collinear antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions achieving up to 75% magnetoresistance through van der Waals interface effects, enabling spintronics with layer-tunable volatile or non-volatile behavior.

Patient-derived xenograft models (PDX) have been extensively used to study the molecular and clinical features of cancers. Here the authors present a cohort of 536 PDX models from 25 cancers, as well as their genomic and evolutionary profiles and their suitability for clinical trials.

Through binding mitochondrial ATP synthase, engineered nanomedicines rejuvenate aged bone stem cells and restore osteogenesis, reversing osteoporosis in mice and offering a potential senolytic therapy for skeletal ageing.

Ding et al. find a mechanism coordinating fatty acid and glucose supply. Glucose-driven Golgi phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate levels impact the assembly of E3 ligase complex CUL7–FBXW8, controlling adipose triglyceride lipase levels and lipolysis.

Full-color and high-resolution micro-quantum dot light emitting diodes (Micro-QLED) panel is fabricated by combining blue Micro-QLED electroluminescence (EL) device and red-green quantum dot color converter (QDCC).

Defects in perovskite materials are detrimental to their carrier dynamics and structural stability. Here, the authors incorporate 6H polytype perovskite into bulk to reduce defects and improve structural integrity, realizing efficient solar cells and modules with long-term stability.

A wearable microgrid powered solely by fingertip perspiration can monitor metabolic biomarkers over extended periods of time.

It is unclear how early-life urbanicity influences adult neurobehavioral traits. This study reveals that earlier menarche mediates the relationship between early-life urbanicity and adult neurobehavioral traits associated with mental disorders.

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.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

A cross-ancestry GWAS meta-analyses of brainstem structures identify 713 associations. It reveals shared/distinct genetic architectures across ancestries/substructures and overlaps with neuropsychiatric disorders and physiological functions.

The metabolite agmatine derived from the gut microbiota contributes to a polycystic ovary syndrome-like phenotype in female mice and inhibits the secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1, thereby contributing to metabolic and ovarian dysfunction.

Enfortumab vedotin (EV) is the current standard treatment for advanced bladder cancer, but resistance typically develops within a year, highlighting the need for new therapies. This study demonstrates that NECTIN4-targeting CAR T cells are effective against bladder cancer, including EV-resistant cells, and their potency can be further enhanced by using rosiglitazone to boost NECTIN4 expression.

Extracting rare earth elements (REEs) from wastewater is essential for the growth of an eco-friendly sustainable economy but separating individual rare earth elements remains challenging. Here, the authors report a REE nanotrap that features dense uncoordinated carboxyl groups and triazole N atoms in a two-fold interpenetrated metalorganic framework which is highly responsive to the size variation of rareearth ions.

Polymorphisms in the integrin gene CD11bare associated with susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus, but how this relates to the function of this integrin has not been fully investigated. Here, the authors report that CD11b has a role in the intrinsic maintenance of autoreactive B cell tolerance by regulating BCR signalling.

Ti-Sb-Te is a promising phase change memory material however its phase transition mechanism is poorly understood. Here, the authors use microscopic and spectroscopic techniques to show that titanium-centered octahedra play a major role in boosting the performance of Ti-Sb-Te based phase change memory.

The authors strengthen the elasticity of Ag₂Se by microstructure engineering approach, realizing bendability of the thermoelectric generator for at least 1,000,000 times at a tiny bending radius of 3 mm with a high power density.

Retaining high performance of perovskite solar cells over large areas is a challenge. Yang et al. use a thermotropic liquid crystal with high diffusivity that does not co-crystallize with the perovskite, suppressing defect formation and enabling large-area solar modules with improved stability and efficiency.

SARS-CoV-2 uses ACE2 as the entry receptor. Here, the authors show that an ACE2-Ig fusion protein inhibits entry of virus pseudotyped with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, show differential binding kinetics of SARS-CoV and SARSCoV-2 spike proteins to ACE2, and determine pharmakocinetic parameters of ACE2-Ig in mice.

Treg cells play a pivotal role in suppressing allograft rejection but their presence in tumours hamper antitumour immunity. Here authors show that T cells, in which Setdb1 is genomically deleted, give rise to Treg cells that prevent allograft rejection but don’t compromise the antitumour immune response.

The discovery of atomically precise metal nanoclusters is generally unpredictable, and there are few examples of their rational synthesis. Here, the authors report the de novo design of Au₃₆(SR)₂₄ nanoclusters, from theoretical prediction to experimental synthesis and characterization of physicochemical properties.

Interferon-γ (IFNγ)-activated calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CAMK2) phosphorylates phosphoserine aminotransferase 1 (PSAT1) at serine 337 (S337), enabling glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) interaction, promoting α-ketoglutarate-dependent PHD3-mediated GPX4 proline 159 (P159) hydroxylation and stabilizing GPX4 to counteract ferroptosis.

MassCube improves data processing for nontargeted metabolomics LC-MS/MS analyses. Its peak detection achieves 100% signal coverage and outperforms other software for speed, isomer detection, and accuracy, benchmarked against past studies and new types of MS/MS data.

Atropisomers with a chiral C-N axis are useful for natural products synthesis and as ligands in asymmetric catalysis. Here, the authors reportt a π-π interaction and dual H-bond concerted control strategy in enantioselective C-H amination affording configurationally stable N-C atropisomers.

Untargeted metabolomics reveals that 11,12-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid released from macrophages via gasdermin G pores has a key role in promoting fibroblast growth factor-dependent muscle regeneration following injury.

The mechanism of lipoprotein sorting to the bacterial cell surface is still unclear. Here, authors determine the crystal structures of paLptDE-LptM and apo-paLptDE, providing insights into how SLPs are transported to the cell surface via LptDE.