Lead exposure in children can affect their neurodevelopment. In the United States, the maximum blood concentration limit for this metal was lowered to 3.5 μg/dL (micrograms per decilitre) in 2021, down from 10 μg/dL in 2012. Now, a study has analysed data from more than 300,000 children in Iowa and found an association between higher concentrations and poorer school performance in reading and maths, even below the 3.5 μg/dL limit, prompting the researchers to reconsider this figure. The results are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has reported that a warm weather will bring temperatures 6 to 7 ºC higher than normal for this time of year throughout Spain. According to AEMET, 29 May to 1 June could be the warmest days for this time of year since at least 1950.

A study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution concludes that the global economic cost of invasive species may be, in the case of some of them, more than 1,600% higher than previously estimated. By region, the highest costs were recorded in Europe, and by species, invasive plants generated the greatest impacts. According to the authors, these results - based on data from 162 species - could help countries to plan cost-effective management. 

Large language models—artificial intelligence systems based on deep learning—could be useful in detecting mental health risks such as depression and suicide risk in narrative tests of patients undergoing psychiatric treatment. This is one of the conclusions of research published in JAMA Network Open, which also shows the potential of embeddings — a natural language processing technique that converts human language into mathematical vectors — to achieve the same end.

Prenatal exposure to triptans—alone or in combination with other migraine medications—does not increase the risk of developmental disorders in children up to age 14, according to research published in Neurology. The study is based on data from more than 26,000 pregnancies in a national registry in Norway and includes autism spectrum disorders, language disorders, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, among other diagnoses.

Gonorrhoea is the second most common sexually transmitted disease in the world, with 80 million cases each year. There is no effective vaccine, and the bacteria responsible are becoming resistant to common antibiotics. Some studies have suggested that the meningococcal B vaccine, a unrelated bacterium, may offer partial protection against gonorrhoea. Now, an Italian team has identified 17 antibodies that could explain this cross-immunity, which, according to the authors, could be used to develop treatments and vaccines. The results are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

A technique developed under the coordination of researchers from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Institute for Biomedical Research (IRB) in Barcelona has made it possible to track methylation patterns or “barcodes” in blood cells and construct their epigenetic family tree. This has enabled them to trace their evolution and changes with age, which could be useful for disease prevention and for the study or even development of specific therapies against ageing. The results are published in the journal Nature.

A study has identified and tested 22 compounds that inhibit the development of Plasmodium falciparum—one of the parasites that cause malaria—in the mosquitoes that transmit it. The most effective molecule killed 100% of the parasites present within six minutes, even in insecticide-resistant mosquitoes, according to the study published in Nature. These compounds could be used to treat bed nets.

A team from China has analysed the genetic data of more than 450,000 people and identified a variant in a gene that contributed to increased height and basal metabolic rate in modern humans, especially when meat consumption increases. In addition to providing insight into evolutionary processes, the finding ‘also has important implications for understanding susceptibility and resistance to contemporary metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome,’ according to the authors. The results are published in the journal Cell Genomics.

Research analyzing data from more than 200 countries concludes that people over the age of 65 will face an increase in skin cancer cases over the next two decades. The study, published in JAMA Dermatology, used data from 1990 to 2021 and made estimates through 2050. Men and people living in countries with higher sociodemographic indices showed a higher incidence.