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Global Burden of Disease analysis found that in 2023, suboptimal diet was estimated to be responsible for 4 million deaths and 97 million morbidity burdens from ischemic heart disease.

Using cryo-EM, this study reveals the structures of amyloid fibrils from a patient with ALECT2 amyloidosis, uncovering structural polymorphism of full-length ALECT2 fibrils and identifying features that may inform future diagnostics and treatments.

High-latitude soils are future soil organic carbon loss hotspots, with losses dominated by particulate organic carbon (POC). The fraction of POC in total SOC (f_POC) is a key indicator, emphasizing the climate importance of preserving POC.

Leveraging multi-element symbiosis, protective interfacial nanolayers are engineered in an intermetallic alloy. This results in a high fatigue limit of ~1,100 MPa, far exceeding that of conventional intermetallic alloys.

When 100 social and behavioural science claims were examined, 34% of reanalyses closely matched the original results, with 74% reaching the same conclusion, revealing limited robustness of single-path analyses and the need to address analytical uncertainty.

Particle processing plays a critical role in advancing solid state batteries. Here, authors show how solvent-free mechanofusion enables mixed conducting matrix coatings on cathode particles and relate coating quality to macroscopic mixing stresses for scalable solid state battery manufacturing.

The impact of cooling through the Eocene-Oligocene transition on the marine biosphere is not well constrained. Here the authors construct a high-resolution record of foraminiferal species richness history spanning this transition that reveals differential diversity trends depending on foraminiferal habitat and life mode.

Staurolite-bearing layers can effectively capture lithium from crustal reworking processes, leading to the formation of enriched sources for producing lithium-rich melts during melting, according to geochemical analysis and phase equilibrium modelling of Barrovian metamorphic sequences and metamorphic country rocks.

A chromosome-level brachiopod genome reveals deep conservation of BMP-mediated dorsal–ventral patterning and neural inhibition, suggesting the spiralian ancestor retained the ancestral mechanism in bilaterians.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) biosynthetic enzymes have been reported to be oncogenic. Here, the authors show that NAPRT, a key enzyme in the deamidated NAD biosynthesis pathway, functions as a suppressor of colon inflammation and tumorigenesis by maintaining DNA repair capability.

Androgen activity in the male embryonic hindbrain prolongs hindbrain differentiation in male individuals and drives sex differences in the incidence and prognosis of posterior fossa type A (PFA) ependymoma, an aggressive childhood brain tumour.

Bimerons are magnetic solitons that are topologically equivalent to skyrmions in in-plane magnetized systems. This study demonstrates the room-temperature creation of bimerons in Co₈Zn₈Mn₄ via femtosecond laser pulse excitation, revealing dynamic topological control and morphological transitions of these solitons.

A new method for performing genome-wide fine-mapping with functional annotations outperforms current methods across several metrics, including error control, mapping power, resolution, precision, replication rate and cross-ancestry phenotype prediction.

Lithium-ion battery cathode lifetime is limited by large expansion and contraction during cycling. This study uses electrochemical activation to suppress collapse in LiNi_0.9Mn_0.1O₂ cathodes, achieving improved capacity and cycle life.

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.

The authors conduct a national inventory on individual tree carbon stocks in Rwanda using aerial imagery and deep learning. Most mapped trees are located in farmlands; new methods allow partitioning to any landscape categories, effective planning and optimization of carbon sequestration and the economic benefits of trees.

Target-directed microRNA degradation is driven by the atypical ZSWIM8–CUL3 E3 ubiquitin ligase that uses a two-RNA-factor authentication mechanism to specifically recognize AGO–miRNA–trigger RNA complexes and polyubiquitylate AGO.

Discharge in lithium–air batteries can be triggered by using solvents or salts that dissolve LiO₂ intermediate. Adding DBBQ to a weakly solvating electrolyte solution can help O₂ reduction to Li₂O₂ in solution and enhance electrochemical performance.

Recharging Li–O₂ batteries requires oxidation of the discharge product solid Li₂O₂. Now a redox-mediating molecule is shown to assist this process by transferring electron–holes between solid Li₂O₂ and the positive electrode in a non-aqueous Li–O₂ cell. This allows the cell to be charged at rates that are otherwise impossible.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

Here the authors present a compendium of avirulence genotypes for epidemiologically significant strains of wheat stem rust based on nuclear phased genome assemblies and functional assays to inform resistance gene deployment and pathogen surveillance.

Divergent white matter metabolic patterns reveal a mechanistic basis for cognitive resilience and enhance prediction of future cognitive decline beyond established aging and dementia biomarkers.

A fully automated methodology based on rubrics capturing a broad range of cognitive and intellectual demands is illustrated using LLMs and tasks, demonstrating a new way to evaluate the capabilities of AI systems and anticipate their performance.

Covert mortality nodavirus, a pathogen previously known to cause important losses in shrimp aquaculture, is identified as being a potential causative agent of an emerging and severe ocular disease in humans, specifically presenting as persistent ocular hypertensive viral anterior uveitis.

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

In a prospective multi-centre cohort in China, people living in areas of high soil selenium had a 35% increased risk of incident diabetes over a 3-year study period, with a stronger effect seen for men.

Here the authors compare genetic testing strategies in rare movement disorders, improve diagnostic yield with genome analysis, and establish CD99L2 as an X-linked spastic ataxia gene, showing that CD99L2–CAPN1 signaling disruption likely drives neurodegeneration.

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.

This work employs nano- to microscale characterization to identify different structural change pathways associated with non-homogeneous reactions within the particles, and explores differences in the failure mechanisms of lithium-rich transition metal oxide materials at different current densities.

Femtosecond laser pulse-induced coherent helicity switching of magnetic vortices in permalloy disks on picosecond timescales is reported.

ATF6α activation in human and preclinical models of hepatocellular carcinoma is significantly associated with an aggressive tumour phenotype characterized by reduced survival, glycolytic reprogramming and local immunosuppression.

There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.

Polymer thin films that emit and absorb circularly polarised light are promising in achieving important technological advances, but the origin of the large chiroptical effects in such films has remained elusive. Here the authors demonstrate that in non-aligned polymer thin films, large chiroptical effects are caused by magneto-electric coupling, not structural chirality as previously assumed.

It is unclear whether the harsh abiotic conditions of drylands hinder biological invasions. This global analysis shows that drylands are vulnerable to non-native plants and are likely to become more so as native plant diversity declines and grazing pressure intensifies.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

Bioactivity-guided isolation of specialized metabolites is an iterative process. Here, the authors demonstrate a native metabolomics approach that allows for fast screening of complex metabolite extracts against a protein of interest and simultaneous structure annotation.

Neuroinflammation triggers DNA damage and subsequent parthanatos-mediated neuron death. Inhibiting parthanatos in a mouse model of autoimmune inflammation is neuroprotective and reduces disease-associated paralysis.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

The excitatory neuron diversity and specialized connectivity of complex, multilayered mammalian neocortex are driven by mammalian-specific cis-regulatory elements bound by ZBTB18, deletion of which disrupts gene expression and results in projection patterns resembling those of non-mammalian brains.

NMR spectroscopy and imaging show that dendrites in a solid-state Li battery are formed from Li plating on the electrode and Li⁺ reduction at solid electrolyte grain boundaries, with an interlapped stalled growth period.

The authors mapped the continental-scale fraction of age-dependent leaf area index and revealed a widespread increase in the fraction of photosynthetically efficient young leaves across the majority of Amazon rainforests over the past decades.