An article published in Nature describes how the first use of precision editing has shed light on a gene essential for embryonic development. The authors caution that the clinical application of genome editing in human embryos requires rigorous ethical analysis and oversight, as well as broad public debate and support.
Venezuela has been hit by a pair of earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The quakes struck less than a minute apart and have severely affected the city of Caracas and surrounding areas. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez reported that the death toll has risen from 32 to 164 and the number of injured from 700 to 971. She also declared the state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, a “disaster area” and announced the mobilization of the country’s entire public and private healthcare network.
An article published in Nature shows that the last Neanderthals in northwestern Europe exhibited greater genetic variability than previously thought, which, according to the authors, could call into question the idea that this was one of the causes of their extinction. The study included genetic data from 27 Neanderthals dating back about 52,500 years, found at ten sites in France and Belgium. The genome of a 45,000-year-old Neanderthal found in Belgium was also sequenced. According to the results, these Neanderthals lived in large, well-connected groups, as they showed no signs of inbreeding. Although they temporarily coexisted with early modern humans in that region, the study found no evidence of interbreeding with them.
The French Ministry of Health has reported, in a statement, the first case of Ebola in the country. The patient is a doctor who has returned from a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the outbreak has already claimed 277 lives.
A systematic review with a meta-analysis published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Women’s Health concludes that there is insufficient evidence that most complementary treatments for in vitro fertilization (IVF) improve fertility in patients undergoing this procedure. Some of these techniques involve introducing platelet-rich plasma into the uterus or ovaries, administering a lipid infusion into the bloodstream, administering corticosteroids, or performing preimplantation genetic testing to detect aneuploidies—that is, abnormalities in chromosome number. According to the study, which included 85 clinical trials, there is only evidence—albeit of low quality—suggesting a possible benefit from three treatments: EmbryoGlue—a method of embryo transfer containing hyaluronic acid—endometrial scraping, and physiological intracytoplasmic sperm injection—a technique for selecting sperm.
An article published in the journal Newton, part of the Cell Press group, has studied the optics of chicken eggs using a noninvasive technique known as time-domain diffuse optical spectroscopy. This technique is used to determine the absorption and scattering properties of the material based on the distribution of photons within the shell. The study shows that photons bounce off the shell numerous times inside the egg, making it possible to inspect its interior, determine whether the eggs have been fertilized, and detect the sex of the embryos. According to the research team, this technique could prevent the current culling of millions of male chicks at birth—since they do not lay eggs and are not profitable for the industry.
A team from the UK has analyzed body mass index (BMI) and genetic variants associated with obesity in four generations of Britons born in 1946, 1958, 1970, and 2001—that is, before and after the rise in obesity rates. The results indicate that people with a genetic predisposition to a high BMI are likely more susceptible than others to changes in their environment that promote obesity, such as those that have occurred in recent decades related to ultra-processed food and sedentary lifestyles. In other words, although genetics has not changed, the obesogenic environment has strengthened its association with obesity. The work is published in Plos Genetics.
On TikTok, the vast majority (86.8 %) of videos about sunscreen promote its use, according to a content analysis of 971 of the most-viewed videos on this topic on the platform. However, the minority (6 per cent) of videos that criticise these products generate more engagement (likes, comments and shares) on TikTok, the authors warn. This misinformation stems from “small but highly influential numbers of content producers, whose shock-provoking and “sticky” content can generate considerably and disproportionately greater attention or interaction among some viewers”, they write in PLoS Digital Health.
A team from the UK and the Netherlands has estimated the environmental cost attributed to the actions of the top 10% of spenders—generally the wealthiest—both globally and in the richest country on each continent. Globally, they are responsible for damages worth between US$1.7 trillion and US$5.7 trillion. These figures exceed the funding needed to meet the 2035 climate finance target agreed upon at COP30—US$993 billion—and to cover the funding needed to halt biodiversity loss by 2030—US$657 billion. The study is published in Communications Sustainability, a journal of the Nature group.
Nature has published two independent studies demonstrating the ability of large language models based on artificial intelligence (AI) to support different stages of patient management in controlled settings. The first study analysed MIRA, an AI agent that operates within electronic health records, which achieved a diagnostic accuracy of nearly 88%, compared with 78% for a panel of physicians. The second study evaluated AMIE, a conversational clinical reasoning model, against 21 primary care physicians across 100 multi-visit scenarios. AMIE achieved performance comparable to, and in some cases better than, that of physicians in terms of treatment accuracy, test ordering, and adherence to clinical guidelines. The models are based on simulations or retrospective data, which limits the strength of the conclusions that can be drawn. The findings are consistent with another model published in Science last April.