Benralizumab is a monoclonal antibody used in the maintenance treatment of severe asthma. Now, a phase 2 clinical trial has tested its use in asthma attacks or exacerbations of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in 158 patients. The results, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, indicate that it was more effective than standard corticosteroid-based treatment and that more patients responded to it. According to the authors, these data could be ‘a game changer’ in the treatment of this type of attack.

An analysis of the gut microbiota of children growing up on farms or with pets shows that early establishment of anaerobic commensal bacteria is associated with lower rates of allergy later in life. The study, which used data from 65 children aged between three days and 18 months, is published in the journal PLOS ONE. 

A study by Italian researchers has tested a treatment administered as a nasal spray to slow down early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Administered in mice, the treatment inhibits an enzyme linked to the disease and to insulin resistance. According to the researchers, who publish the work in the journal PNAS, application of the spray to the animals “can counteract the accumulation of harmful proteins in neurons and delay the onset and progression of cognitive decline”. 

Funding has been one of the major obstacles to agreement at the Baku Climate Summit. More sustainable science also depends on how research is funded. It is imperative that research institutions also develop strategies to incorporate more sustainable practices and contribute to climate neutrality.

En un parque nacional del norte de la India, una investigación ha revelado que hay hombres que usan las tecnologías de vigilancia de la fauna para observar a mujeres sin su consentimiento e intimidarlas. El estudio, realizado por la Universidad de Cambridge (Reino Unido), describe cómo individuos de pueblos cercanos al bosque y de gobiernos locales hacen un mal uso de cámaras, grabadoras de sonido y drones, originalmente destinados a vigilar áreas protegidas con fines de conservación de animales. Esas tecnologías “son fácilmente captadas para fines ajenos a la conservación que refuerzan normas patriarcales y propagan la violencia estructural de género”, denuncia la investigación, que se publica en Environment and Planning F. 

In the early hours of the morning, after more than two weeks of negotiations and on the verge of collapse, participants at COP29 in Baku (Azerbaijan) reached an agreement to set the new climate finance target. In the end, at least 300 billion dollars a year will be contributed by rich countries to the least developed countries until 2035, within a broader global commitment of up to 1.3 trillion dollars directed at these same countries. The renewal of this target was part of the Paris Agreement and will enable governments to support developing countries in their climate action on adaptation, mitigation and damage from the climate crisis. The previous target - set at the Copenhagen Summit in 2009 - was $100 billion per year.

A study published today in Science reveals a new plastic as durable as conventional plastics that decomposes in seawater. According to the authors, this new material could help reduce microplastic pollution accumulating in the oceans and eventually entering the food chain.

A US study analysed data from more than 110,000 women since 1993 and found that those with a history of endometriosis had a 31% higher risk of premature death (before the age of 70). In absolute terms, the rate of premature death in women with and without endometriosis was 2 and 1.4 per 1,000 person-years, respectively. In contrast, the presence of uterine fibroids was not associated with an overall increased risk, although the risk of death from gynaecological tumours was increased. The results are published in The BMJ.

The Human Cell Atlas, an international research consortium, publishes biological data from different cell types in the human body in a series of articles in Nature and other journals in its family. One of the articles integrates single-cell RNA sequencing datasets from the gastrointestinal tract of healthy people and others with different diseases. It describes inflammation-induced changes in stem cells that alter mucosal tissue architecture and promote increased inflammation, a concept that can be applied to other tissues and diseases.

Adipose tissue retains a ‘memory’ of obesity through cellular transcriptional and epigenetic changes that persist after weight loss, which may increase the likelihood of regaining weight, experiments in human and mouse cells show. The findings, published in Nature, could help explain the problematic ‘yo-yo effect’, the rapid weight rebound often seen with dieting.