Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS)

A team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany has analysed nearly 10,000 ancient genomes and found six cases of people with Down's syndrome and one with Edwards' syndrome. Most of them died before or shortly after birth. The findings correspond to different periods up to 5,500 years old and several of them have been found in Navarra. According to the authors, "the care with which the burials were carried out and the objects found with these individuals indicate that ancient societies probably treated people with trisomies 18 and 21 as members of their communities". The findings are published in Nature Communications.

The largest meta-analysis to date that studies the risk of children of people with a mental disorder also suffering from some type of mental disorder during their lifetime has been published, with Spanish participation. According to the study, the risk is more than double that of the rest of the population. To explain the study and resolve any doubts that may arise, the Science Media Centre Spain organised an information session with one of the authors, psychiatrist Joaquim Raduà.

An international team, led by the Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS in Barcelona together with King's College London (UK) and Dalhousie University (Canada), has published the largest meta-analysis to date studying the risk of children of people with mental disorders developing the same, or another type of disorder. The study included more than three million children of parents with different types of disorders and more than 20 million people as a control population. The results, published in the journal World Psychiatry, indicate that, overall, the former have a 1.5 to 3 times higher risk of developing a disorder in their lifetime. According to the authors, in the case of bipolar, depressive or anxiety disorders, the risk of their offspring suffering from some type of disorder is more than 50%.

A study of more than 5,000 patients has developed a method to predict the biological age of our organs. They have analysed more than 4,000 proteins present in the blood and used machine learning models adapted to 11 different organs. According to the authors, almost 20 % of the population has accelerated organ ageing, which in many cases is associated with an increased risk of mortality of between 20 and 50 %. The results are published in the journal Nature.

A study published by the company Rejuvenate Bio claims to have prolonged the life expectancy of healthy older mice, while improving other health parameters. The study used a gene therapy—introducing three genes, known as Yamanaka factors, that are particularly active in embryonic cells. According to the authors, the remaining life expectancy of the mice (whose age was equivalent to about 77 years in humans) was doubled, with a 7% increase in absolute terms. The results have been shared in a pre-print publication and have not yet been peer-reviewed. 

A genetic association study using data from more than three million people has found nearly 4,000 variants associated with smoking and alcohol consumption. The results are published in the journal Nature.

A study published in the journal Nature and conducted on mice has found that a communication between the gut and the brain stimulates the desire to consume fats, regardless of whether they can be tasted.