Life sciences: genetics, neuroscience, ecology and molecular biology.
Antidepressant prescribing increased from 1997 to 2023 for autistic and non-autistic adults in UK primary care records, but it rose faster among autistic adults. By 2023, 30% of autistic adults had been prescribed an antidepressant, compared with 14.7% of non-autistic adults.
Researchers studied how SGLT2 medicines might affect the heart, using heart tissue and cells from people with heart failure, purified laboratory components, and computer modeling. They found that the medicines activated an enzyme involved in making coenzyme A, a substance needed for several fuel-use pathways, but this study did not test patient outcomes or establish that the mechanism explains clinical benefits.
Computer tools and laboratory tests often agree on the effects of genetic changes, but a study of 37 human proteins found that their disagreements follow consistent patterns. The results show how protein features, laboratory design and the type of variant can shape those differences.
Doctors used ultrasound, gentle larval removal and DNA sequencing to diagnose a rare Hypoderma sinense infestation in a child from a cattle-raising region of China. The case shows how this livestock-associated parasite can resemble common skin infections.
In trained mice, deep-layer neurons in the auditory cortex developed categorical responses to sounds that differed in their temporal rate. These neurons also carried strong signals related to the animals’ choices, linking sound classification with behavior.
A study in Nature Communications identifies a conserved group of plant genes that produces small RNAs involved in defense against fungal and oomycete pathogens. In Arabidopsis, these genes are clustered together and have diversified through duplication, sequence changes and gene loss.
Two studies of active gamers suggest that returning smoothly from gameplay to daily life is linked to better mood, vitality and life satisfaction, and to fewer symptoms of gaming disorder. The findings point to a way of studying escapism that looks beyond why people play to what happens when they stop.
Lepcha farmers in Sikkim use flowering plants, bird behaviour, insect activity, frog calls, fish movements and other ecological signs to track seasonal changes. A study documents a 12-month traditional calendar linked to sowing, harvesting, gathering and other livelihood activities.
The dry-season shrub Wigandia urens can produce seeds through autonomous self-pollination when pollinators are less active. Researchers found that animal pollinators still contributed substantially to seed production, giving the plant both reproductive backup and opportunities for cross-pollination.
Researchers have described a new freshwater amoeba species from Budamu Stream near Cape Coast, Ghana. Their analysis also identified an additional lineage and up to seven possible Mayorella groups, many made up of unnamed or environmental sequences.
Researchers reviewed 16 randomized trials involving 5,668 people with vascular dementia. Galantamine and memantine were linked with small changes on some cognitive test scores over the short term, but consistent benefits for daily functioning, overall condition, or behavior were not established.
Researchers found that cohesin regulates several steps in gene transcription, including how RNA-producing machinery is recruited and how long it pauses before continuing. Although losing cohesin can leave steady gene activity only modestly changed, it reduces the strength and reliability of gene activation after outside signals.
In the tiny roundworm C. elegans, hairlike sensory structures called cilia form repeated contact patterns inside a sense organ. Experiments suggest these contacts can form through instructive mechanisms, rather than arising only from the structures’ positions.
In male rats, dexmedetomidine reduced the overheating and excessive movement caused by methamphetamine. It also suppressed methamphetamine-related increases in dopamine and noradrenaline in the anterior hypothalamus, but did not significantly change serotonin levels.
A study of eight European Union member states found no alternative herbicide that met its criteria for replacing phenmedipham in post-emergence weed control for sugar beet. The researchers estimate that withdrawal could lead to 15–25% yield losses and increase annual costs by €120–375 million.
