Digestive signs and symptoms articles from across Nature Portfolio

Inflammation of the appendix, acute appendicitis, is one of the most common reasons for acute abdominal pain in children and adults and surgical emergency visits worldwide. In this Primer, Salminen and colleagues review the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of appendicitis, and discuss future research areas.

Traditionally underutilized human excreta have emerged as a rich source of digital biomarkers for disease prevention and early detection. In this Comment, we highlight the breadth of digital biomarkers that can be extracted from human excreta and their potential uses in the context of ‘precision health’.

Increasing evidence points to a mechanistic link between gut and joint pathology as the gut contains the largest number of immune cells of any tissue and trillions of commensals that contribute to immune development and homeostasis. New research is putting the role of Ruminococcus gnavus in arthritic disease in the spotlight.