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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.

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.

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.

This study reveals that MDS stem cells progressively acquire progenitor-like chromatin features during disease progression, and that a scoring system based on chromatin accessibility in MDS stem and progenitor cells correlates strongly with disease progression.

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 first-in-human clinical trial of iPS cell-derived invariant natural killer T cells in patients with recurrent head and neck cancer demonstrated safety and early signs of efficacy, showing tumor growth suppression and activation of immune pathways.

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.

Resistance to receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors is a major obstacle in treatment of lung adenocarcinoma. Yamaguchi et al.identify the orphan receptor ROR1 as a potential target to overcome this resistance, by virtue of its role in promoting cell survival through stabilisation of caveolae.

Using Si¹⁸O as a velocity tracer, evidence is reported for a rotating outflow driven by a magneto-centrifugal disk wind launched by a high-mass young stellar object. This rotation is a signature of the removal of angular momentum by an outflow.

This study analyses radio observations of the jet in galaxy M87, from which the existence of a spinning black hole that induces Lense–Thirring precession of a misaligned accretion disk is inferred.

Metabolic, immune and endocrine systems undergo seasonal changes in animals. Here the authors report the seasonal transcriptome of 80 tissues collected over 1 year from male and female rhesus macaques as well as sex differences in seasonally oscillating genes.

The authors establish the ChIP-CryoEM method, which combines chromatin immunopurification coupled with cryo-electron microscopy, to visualize native human RNAPII elongation complexes in action, with and without transcription elongation factors.

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.

Peptidyl-tRNAs (pep-tRNAs) frequently dissociate from ribosome, called as pep-tRNA drop-off. But, its function remained unclear. The authors proposed a new quality control mechanism of protein synthesis by active rejection of miscoded pep-tRNAs in the early stage of translation.

The enzymatic degradation of amorphous poly (ethylene terephthalate)(PET) films by a PET-degrading enzyme was analyzed using SAXS, WAXD, SEM, X-CT, and weight-loss measurements. FAST-PETase induced the emergence of hierarchical boring structures ranging from 10⁻⁵ m to 10⁻⁸ m on PET, revealing that enzymatic degradation proceeds through interfacial interactions within the evolving porous surface layer. This study contributes essential knowledge toward the sustainable use of plastics, responding to growing global concerns over microplastic pollution and the scarcity of fossil resources.

Diabetes is a major cause of kidney disease. Here Kikuchi et al. show that phenol sulfate, a gut microbiota-derived metabolite, is increased in diabetic kidney disease and contributes to the pathology by promoting kidney injury, suggesting phenyl sulfate could be used a marker and therapeutic target for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease.

The asteroid Ryugu samples are by far the freshest extraterrestrial carbonaceous material. The authors report soluble ions and organic sulfur molecules linked with primordial brine and prebiotic organic evolution of the primitive asteroid.

Using more than 100 independent iPSC lines derived from patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the authors discovered loci associated with the neuronal production of amyloid β and confirmed their influence using RNA interference.

Real-time geopotential measurements with two synchronously linked optical lattice clocks are demonstrated. A height difference between the two clocks separated by 15 km is determined, with an uncertainty of 5 cm, by means of a gravitational redshift.

Iodine transfer dispersion polymerization (dispersion ITP) with CHI₃ and reversible chain transfer-catalyzed dispersion polymerization (dispersion RTCP) with N-iodosuccimide (NIS) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) were successfully applied to supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) medium. Both polymerizations proceeded smoothly and yielded the polymeric product as a powder. In both systems, the number-average molecular weights increased with increasing conversion and polydispersity (M_w/M_n) was maintained at low values throughout the polymerizations. A chain extension test indicated that PMMA prepared by dispersion ITP and dispersion RTCP in scCO₂ had high degrees of livingness.

On-chip photonic neural network processors speed up image processing, but their scalability is limited by the number of input/output channels. Here, the authors develop a scalable image processing approach based on the compressive acquisition of real-world visual information via a single-input channel, and apply their setup as a compressive temporal encoder for highspeed imaging.

This paper reviews the development of zincate-complex metathesis polymerization (ZCMP) and its application to protection-free direct synthesis of poly(3-(6-hydroxyhexyl)thiophene) as well as block copolythiophene. The modified ZCMP system using Ni(dcpe)Cl₂ as a catalyst accomplished the preparation of well-defined poly(3-hexylthiophene)s (P3HTs) (M_n up to 35 000 g mol⁻¹) with extremely low PDI (1.03∼1.11). In addition, the first example of all-conjugated block copolythiophene, P3HT-b-poly(3-octadecylthiophene), could be synthesized on the basis of the sequential monomer addition approach based on ZCMP.