The sperm of men infected with high-risk genotypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV) suffers more damage from oxidative stress and has a weaker immune response, which can lead to reduced fertility. This is one of the conclusions of a study published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. The research compared the semen of 20 adults infected with high-risk genotypes, seven infected with low-risk genotypes, and 43 adults without infections.

Analysis of 1,500 climate policies implemented in 41 countries over the last two decades - between 1998 and 2022 - shows that a small proportion - 63 of them - achieved a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. The study, published in Science, indicates that a significant decrease in these emissions was recorded in the transport sector in Spain. According to the authors, the combination of several policy instruments is often more effective than the use of single measures.

A modelling study published in The Lancet Public Health using data from 854 European cities estimates that heat-related deaths will triple in Europe by 2100 under current climate policies. A slight decrease in cold-related deaths is projected, while heat-related deaths will increase in all parts of Europe. The most affected areas will include Spain, Italy, Greece and parts of France. Currently, around eight times as many people in Europe die from cold as from heat, but this proportion is projected to decrease considerably by the end of the century.

In research using a WHO database of adverse drug reactions, the authors identified a signal of disproportionality of suicidal ideation with semaglutide, one of the drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, did not find this signal for liraglutide, another drug indicated for these treatments.

With the increase in cases of mpox, the European Union's Health Security Committee met on Monday. According to the Ministry of Health, the meeting concluded ‘with recommendations very similar to those previously issued by the WHO and the ECDC’. The risk of the likelihood of mpox spreading to the general EU population is currently considered to be ‘low’, although it increases in populations with close contact with diagnosed cases and in particularly vulnerable people. Further imported cases in the EU are not excluded and vaccination of the general population is not recommended. In addition, the HSC does not recommend border control.  
 

The mental health of young people has deteriorated over the last two decades and is entering a dangerous phase, according to a new Commission by The Lancet Psychiatry. Several global factors are involved, including inaction on climate change, intergenerational inequality, and adversity linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Abandoned farmlands in Europe could find new life through rewilding, a movement aimed at restoring devastated landscapes to their wild state before human intervention. A quarter of the European continent, 117 million hectares, is ready for rewilding, according to a study published today in the journal Current Biology.

Sweden's public health agency issued a statement on Thursday indicating that a person has been diagnosed with mpox - formerly called monkeypox - caused by variant clade I. According to the Swedish agency, this is the first case of this variant to be diagnosed outside the African continent. The person would have been infected during a stay in a part of Africa where there is an outbreak of this variant of mpox, according to the statement. The announcement comes a day after the World Health Organisation declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

An international team of researchers has studied 241 brain-damaged people apparently unable to respond to external stimuli. Using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalogram, they have detected signs of brain activity in 25 % of them that, according to the authors, ‘suggest that they may be interacting with the outside world’. The results are published in the journal NEJM. 

A ketogenic diet improves the results of a pancreatic cancer therapy in mice, according to a study published in Nature. The US research team fed the animals a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet before administering them a new drug, currently in clinical trials; in the absence of glucose, the body converts fat into ketone bodies. The drug blocks the metabolism of fat - the cancer's only source of energy while the mice are on this diet - and slows the growth of pancreatic tumours.