Scientists

In Rwanda, according to the latest ECDC data, 25 cases and 11 deaths have been detected in what is already the third largest outbreak of the Marburg virus to date. The WHO considers the overall risk to be low and possible imported cases from Belgium and Germany - reported only yesterday in Hamburg - have proved to be false alarms. What is of concern is the national and regional spread of a virus for which mortality can be as high as 88% and for which there is no treatment or vaccine. In this article we answer the main questions.

If lifetime tobacco consumption were banned among young people currently aged 14 to 18, 1,200,000 lung cancer deaths worldwide could be prevented in the future, according to a study with Spanish involvement published in the journal The Lancet Public Health. The greatest impact would occur in low- and middle-income countries, but in higher-income regions, more than 60% of lung cancer deaths in that age group would also be avoided.

A study published in the journal Frontiers in Aging claims to have developed an epigenetic tool to estimate the risk of death from cells in the mouth.

The U.S. FDA has approved a new drug—called Cobenfy—to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia. Unlike traditional treatments, which are based on blocking the effects of dopamine, its mechanism of action simulates the effects of another neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. It is the first drug to be approved with a different mechanism of action in over 70 years.

The relative risk of being born with a major heart defect is 36% in babies conceived using assisted reproductive techniques, such as in vitro fertilisation, compared to newborns not using these techniques, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal. The absolute risk was 1.84% versus 1.15%. The research, which included more than seven million babies born in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, also shows that the increased risk is especially associated with multiple births, which are more common in assisted reproduction.
 

Lithium, a material widely used for battery production, is typically extracted from rocks and concentrated brines, but these reserves are expected to run out by 2080. The alternative is to evaporate more diluted brines (such as seawater), but the traditional process is inefficient, polluting, and consumes large amounts of water. Two new studies published in Science propose two more viable and environmentally friendly alternative methods: the first uses a membrane that filters lithium through a transpiration system similar to that of plants, requiring only solar energy. The second combines electrodes to mimic a battery and move lithium from the brine (cathode) to fresh water (anode).

Burying woody biomass in wooden vaults would allow carbon to be extracted and stored from the atmosphere, according to a study published in Science. The authors were inspired by an eastern red cedar log preserved underground for more than 3,700 years in Canada. The team proposes burying wood from sustainable sources in a domed wooden structure designed to extend the duration of carbon storage. The authors estimate that up to 10 gigatonnes of CO₂ could be sequestered annually using this technique.

Prostate cancer screening tests using PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) are associated with overdiagnosis, which calls into question their use. A clinical trial in men aged 50-60 years published in the journal NEJM has studied the possibility of adding an MRI test in those with an elevated PSA level and dispensing with biopsy if imaging finds no suspicious lesions. The results indicate that the procedure avoids more than half of clinically irrelevant cancer diagnoses that would not need treatment and only slightly increases the risk of failing to identify those that may become incurable. The authors recommend, on the basis of the study, to review the recommendations for such screening.

Rituximab and ocrelizumab are two antibodies with a similar mechanism of action that are used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Although the former had not shown benefits in primary progressive multiple sclerosis — which affects between 10% and 15% of patients — the latter is approved for this form of the disease. Now, a study conducted in France with more than 1,000 patients has found no benefits with either treatment, as they did not slow the progression of disability in these individuals. The results are published in the journal Neurology.

Newborns with Down syndrome, as they grow, face a higher risk of developing leukemia compared to those without the syndrome. An international team has sequenced the genes of more than 1.1 million cells from fetuses with and without Down syndrome, and it has discovered that the extra chromosome 21 they have alters the way DNA is packaged inside cells. According to the authors, whose research is published in Nature, this difference affects the regulation of certain genes and may contribute to the development of leukemia.