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Transcription factor osr2 is identified as a specific marker and regulator of mural lymphatic endothelial cell (muLEC) differentiation and maintenance, and muLECs and border-associated macrophages share functional analogies but are not homologous, providing an example of convergent evolution.

In a long-term follow-up of the FAME 2 trial, fractional flow reserve-guided percutaneous coronary intervention plus medical therapy in patients with stable coronary artery disease reduced cardiovascular events compared to medical therapy alone, primarily due to a decrease in urgent revascularization events.

Women of reproductive age may have specific concerns relating to perceived impacts on fertility and menstrual cycles that make them hesitant to receive COVID-19 vaccination. In this study, the authors explore COVID-19 vaccine uptake rates in women of reproductive age using linked data for ~13 million women in England.

Affinity-proteomics platforms often yield poorly correlated measurements. Here, the authors show that protein-altering variants drive a portion of inter-platform inconsistency and that accounting for genetic variants can improve concordance of protein measures and phenotypic associations across ancestries.

Nylon-11 is a common and durable polymer but possess low piezoelectric properties. Here, the authors use mechanical accelerations and strong electric fields to induce crystallization, hydrogen-bonding and dipole alignment in Nylon-11 films, achieving high piezoelectricity.

Climate change can alter when and how animals grow, breed, and migrate, but it is unclear whether this allows populations to persist. This global study shows that shifts in seasonal timing are key to helping vertebrate species maintain population growth under global warming.

Peter J. Smith, who once accepted a NATO Fellowship because it was the only support available for work in a nonuniversity research institution in the United States, discusses NATO's involvement in civil science.

cellSTAAR advances noncoding rare variant association analysis by integrating single-cell genomics data.

Atomic force microscopy is used to investigate the adsorption and organization of ions on charged surfaces. Trivalent ions adopt complex networks, clusters and layers associated with overcharging, whereas divalent ions follow classical predictions.

While the photoreceptor outer segments in the bird outer retina have access to oxygen, the inner retina operates under chronic anoxia, supported by anaerobic glycolysis in the retinal neurons.

The authors estimate genomic vulnerability for closely related species of rainbowfish. They find that narrow endemic species that have hybridized with a warm-adapted generalist show reduced vulnerability to climate change and that hybridization may facilitate evolutionary rescue for such species.

Oat consumption, particularly a short-term, high-dose oat diet, improves metabolic health in individuals with metabolic syndrome by increasing microbially produced phenolic metabolites, leading to lower blood cholesterol levels.

The effects of current protected areas on freshwater biodiversity are poorly understood. Here, the authors show that European protected areas have overall limited influence on changes in river biodiversity, underscoring the urgent need for improved effectiveness.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Here the authors perform longitudinal sampling of lymphoid organs along with fate mapping and matched single-cell RNA sequencing and TCR sequencing to define the developmental dynamics of follicular regulatory T (T_FR) cells. They find that T_FR cells undergo clonal expansion and progressive differentiation in a process that requires follicular helper T cells.

Uncertainty-aware machine learning models predict human toxicity for more than 100,000 chemicals, highlighting potency and uncertainty hotspots to guide safer use and to focus efforts to improve prediction confidence.

A Bayesian analysis of diagnostic data reported to the World Health Organization reveals that approximately 2 million people were incorrectly diagnosed with tuberculosis (received a false-positive result) and 1 million received a false-negative result, emphasizing the critical need for higher-sensitivity bacteriological tests in the future.

In targeted protein degradation, a degrader molecule brings a neosubstrate protein proximal to a hijacked E3 ligase for its ubiquitination. Here, pseudo-natural products derived from (−)-myrtanol—iDegs—are identified to inhibit and induce degradation of the immunomodulatory enzyme indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) by a distinct mechanism. iDegs prime apo-IDO1 ubiquitination and subsequent degradation using its native proteolytic pathway.

AvrPm4 is a chimeric powdery mildew effector that is recognized by the wheat kinase fusion resistance protein Pm4. The pathogen can evade Pm4 recognition by expressing the suppressor SvrPm4, an RNase-like effector with multiple roles.

Bruijns et al. present a modeling tool that enables the tracking of learning dynamics across subjects to reveal how behaviors emerge and adapt. Applying the tool to a decision-making task in mice uncovers similarities and differences across individuals.

The extreme hot and dry conditions of 2023 reduced soil respiration and enhanced net forest carbon sequestration in Canada, offsetting wildfire emissions, according to satellite-based and in situ observations of CO₂ fluxes.

The R21/Matrix-M vaccine, but not the ME-TRAP vaccine, was protective against intradermal challenge with Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites, while neither was protective against direct venous inoculation, potentially explaining previously observed differences in protection.

Here, the authors examine the mechanisms behind cheatgrass’s successful invasion of North American ecosystems. Their genetic analyses and common garden experiments demonstrate that multiple introductions and migrations facilitated cheatgrass local adaptation.

The long-term existence of diverse virulent phages within cultures of Escherichia coli and others challenges the virulent–temperate dichotomy and points to non-canonical phage lifestyles.

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.

The authors show that babies conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic have a different parental socioeconomic composition than expected had the pandemic not occurred.

Chan and colleagues report that tumor ecosystem and microbiome features are associated with response to anti-PD-L1 avelumab plus chemoradiotherapy in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Inspired by dynamic textural modulation in cephalopod skin, polymer films whose colour and surface texture can be dynamically and independently controlled are developed and demonstrated using standard electron-beam patterning tools.

Natural killer T (NKT) cell defects have been implicated in several diseases such as autoimmunity, asthma and cancer, but will targeting them really be of clinical benefit? Here, the authors investigate this question and conclude that more careful studies are needed before the true clinical potential of NKT cell-targeted therapies can be determined.

Concrete action at the political level is needed

High-resolution flare footpoint observations in the extreme ultraviolet and X-rays were taken by Solar Orbiter. Combined with simulations, the results reveal that the dominant mechanism carrying flare energy through the Sun’s atmosphere can vary on small spatial scales.

Lithium tantalate is heterogeneously integrated with silicon photonic integrated circuits via a micro-transfer printing process in a manner fully compatible with existing workflows. A Mach–Zehnder modulator with an insertion loss of 2.9 dB and 70 GHz operation is demonstrated.

The authors synthesize bee assemblage data from 681 crop fields across three continents, finding that local pesticide hazards and decreasing adjacent semi-natural habitats both negatively affected wild bee abundance and species richness in crop fields, while pesticides also reduced functional diversity.

The discovery of a vast reservoir of primordial neutral hydrogen gas surrounding a young galaxy cluster just one billion years after the Big Bang offers new insight into how the first large cosmic structures assembled.

Tree longevity is thought to increase in harsh environments, but global evidence of drivers is lacking. Here, the authors find two different pathways for tree longevity: slow growth in resource limited environments and increasing tree stature and/or slow growth in competitive environments.

Peter Forbes explores how poetry and science can mutually inspire.

Despite extensive structural studies elucidating how antigens are anchored to antigen-presenting molecules and presented to T cells, little is known about the display mechanism of the lipid-antigen-presenting molecule CD1c. Here, by combining structural immunology, lipidomics, and biophysical analysis, the authors reveal that the CD1c binding cleft accommodates two different lipids, one of them with a bulky headgroup positioned sideways for display to T cells, rather than upwards, different from the conventional upright antigen-presentation mode

The authors previously pinpointed OLAH (oleoyl-ACP-hydrolase) as a driver of life-threatening viral diseases. Here, the authors identify increased IL-18Rα expression on CD8⁺ T cells, which acquire a reduced cytotoxic signature, correlates with severe respiratory viral infection of influenza A virus, RSV and COVID-19.

The MiDAC complex regulates gene expression through histone deacetylation. Here, the authors identify a recurrent MIDEAS mutation that disrupts an auto-inhibitory loop, elevating deacetylase activity and causing a multisystem developmental disorder.

Mitochondrial dysfunction in dopaminergic neurons is a pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. Here, the authors find a conserved mechanism by which a single transcription factor controls mitochondrial health in dopaminergic neurons during the aging process.

Makwana, Tilley et al. generate human stem cell-based trunk-like structures approximating Carnegie stage 13–14 of development. They use them to model and study the development of the thoracic and lumbar trunk.

The North American southwest was dustier during interglacial climates, in contrast with global trends. Long-term regional dust emissions depend on the erosion of hillslope and tributary sediments into alluvial, river, and playa dust sources downstream.

The authors present DNA-Diffusion, a generative AI framework that designs synthetic regulatory elements with tunable cell-type specificity. Experimental validation demonstrates their ability to reactivate AXIN2 expression, a leukemia-protective gene, in its native genomic context.