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The factors contributing to the onset of Barrett’s esophagus, a precancerous stage of the highly lethal esophageal cancer, remain elusive. Here, the authors identify inherited mutations in the VSIG10L gene as a key etiologic determinant affecting esophageal biology and facilitating the development of Barrett’s esophagus.

Geometrical frustration in confined systems can lead to the emergence of topological defects, which significantly influence the physical properties of materials. This study demonstrates that grain boundary scars in dense assemblies of active spinners can decouple edge flows from the bulk, resulting in spontaneous self-shearing and a chiral activity-mediated reentrant melting transition.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

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.

Nanoparticles sensing glycosaminoglycan loss in osteoarthritis enable disease-severity-responsive delivery of ghrelin messenger RNA to cartilage lesions, reducing cartilage damage, bone thickening and pain in animal models.

This study surveyed key informants across 26 countries on burning plastic for waste management and energy needs. It finds high awareness of this practice, with potential drivers including inadequate waste collection and a lack of affordable fuels.

Sidewinder enables high-fidelity DNA assembly by separating the information that guides assembly from the final assembled sequence.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

Murphy et al. reveal a unifying pathogenetic mechanism according to which diverse mutations in the muscle-specific ribosomal protein RPL3L cause severe neonatal dilated cardiomyopathy, establishing a framework for interpreting the growing spectrum of RPL3L variants.

The tightly closed conformation of the Spike helps SARS-CoV-2 evade the immune system. This cryptic conformation is shaped by increased mannosidic glycosylation and furin cleavage shielding conformational epitopes enable virus to persist in the presence of neutralizing antibodies.

Geospatial estimates of the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age across 82 low-income and middle-income countries reveals considerable heterogeneity and inequality at national and subnational levels, with few countries on track to meet the WHO Global Nutrition Targets by 2030.

Covalent KRAS inhibitors show initial responses but resistance limits durability. Here drug-induced hapten peptides are identified and characterized, enabling production of high affinity, cross-HLA T cell engagers that stabilize low density hapten peptide MHCs to drive tumor-specific killing.

CAR-T cell therapy has been shown to be effective in immunotherapy for treatment of several different tumours. Here the authors show pre-specified interim outcomes from a P-BCMA-ALLO1 trial with BCMA targeted CAR-T therapy in multiple myeloma.

Snakebite envenoming is a significant public health problem in India, particularly in rural tropical and subtropical regions. Here, the authors report findings from a community-based cross-sectional study in India on the incidence, clinical outcomes, and costs associated with snake bites.

Loss-of-function mutations in TECPR2 result in a form of hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy. Here, the authors report that TECPR2 is a Rab5 effector that mediates actin-dependent endocytic cargo recycling from early endosomes to the cell surface.

Activity in a set of parabranchial neurons in the mouse brain is increased during chronic pain, predicts coping behaviour, and can be modulated by circuits activated by survival threats.

Magnetic vortices in thin ferromagnetic films possess a core with out-of-plane magnetization whose polarity can be manipulated by magnetic fields or currents for technological applications. Here, the authors demonstrate local control of the core polarity in NiFe films via an imprinted maze domain pattern.

Lung and thymoma cancer patients often suffer from autoimmunity and related painful neuropathies. Here the authors show that patient-derived anti-CRMP5 autoantibody binds to rat dorsal root ganglia to cause pain, that immunizing rats with CRMP5 recapitulates these phenotypes, and that depleting rat B cells with anti-CD20 ameliorates related symptoms.

During photoionization, the recoil of the atom or molecule due to the ejected electron can subtly alter the observed photoelectron and Auger spectra from expectations. Here, the authors study Auger emission from isolated neon atoms and see a Doppler shift in the spectrum resulting from translation recoil.

In a large multi-ethnic Asian cohort, associations between over 1,000 plasma metabolites and specific foods and beverages are made. These diet–metabolite relationships were used to accurately predict clinical phenotypes such as diabetes and hypertension.

Inspired by the physics of bulk frustrated materials, arrays of coupled nanomagnets have been widely explored for the study of collective ordering and emergent behaviour. Here, the authors demonstrate interaction-driven charge screening in a thermally active artificial spin ice lattice.

Liver regeneration often fails during chronic liver disease. Here, the authors conduct multiomic profiling of human livers to demonstrate that RNA splicing is dysregulated in alcohol-associated liver disease, interfering with liver regeneration.

Intermolecular Coulombic decay (ICD) is a process whereby a photoexcited molecule relaxes while ionizing a neighbouring molecule. ICD is efficient when intermolecular interactions are active and consequently it is usually observed in weakly bound systems. Now, an efficient ICD is shown to occur even between unbound pyridine molecules excited at ambient-light intensities.

Mepolizumab (anti-IL-5 therapy) has been shown to reduce type 2 inflammation in asthma. Here the authors use bulk transcriptomics from nasal samples before and after mepolizumab treatment to assess the changes and associations with treatment outcomes.

Excessive apoptotic cell death and defective efferocytosis drive loss of tolerance and autoimmunity; however, a direct role for macrophage-specific defects in autoimmunity is underexplored. Here, the authors identify macrophage WDFY3 as a negative regulator of autoimmunity by enhancing efferocytosis and reducing MHC-II-mediated antigen presentation, T cell activation, and cytokine dysregulation.

Dense gas clumps from the time of the formation of the first stars in the Universe should affect the average intensity of radio waves on the sky. Numerical simulations show that this offers a new way to probe the nature of dark matter.

tRNA synthetases (RSs) have been implicated in functions beyond tRNA synthesis, and human TrpRS has been implicated in inhibiting angiogenesis. Tryptophan residues implicated in homotypic interactions on VE-cadherin are now shown to bind the active site of a naturally truncated TrpRS, indicating how this enzyme has been repurposed.

This study shows how Escherichia coli ApaH hydrolyzes enigmatic Np₄N alarmones and decaps Np₄-capped RNAs, thereby impacting their lifetimes. Key features enable ApaH to bind RNA substrates in two orientations, depending on the cap and the first RNA nucleotide.

Modifying or functionalizing transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) allows their properties to be altered and controlled. Now, non-defect-mediated covalent functionalization of single-layer semiconducting TMDs such as MoS₂, WS₂ and MoSe₂ has been demonstrated by reacting them with organohalides, utilizing the excess charge in the 1T metallic phase.

In this multicentered observational study, Rotavac, an indigenous, monovalent, live, attenuated, oral rotavirus vaccine, had an adjusted vaccine efficacy of 54% and protected against severe gastroenteritis in Indian children during its rollout between 2016 and 2020.

Fine-scale geospatial mapping of overweight and wasting (two components of the double burden of malnutrition) in 105 LMICs shows that overweight has increased from 5.2% in 2000 to 6.0% in children under 5 in 2017. Although overall wasting decreased over the same period, most countries are not on track to meet the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025.

Non-optimal electrical contacts can significantly limit the performance of MoS₂-based thin-film transistors. Transformation of semiconducting MoS₂ into its metallic phase is now shown as a viable strategy to decrease the metal–MoS₂ contact resistance.

Hsu, Wang, Manne et al. identify ALDH4A1 as a component of the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier complex, which plays a non-canonical role in regulating pyruvate homeostasis in mitochondria, TCA cycle entry and tumour suppression.