A wild vegetable treasured in Northeast China for both its nutritional value and medicinal properties has had its entire genetic code deciphered for the first time.

For decades, plant breeders have worked with collapsed genome assemblies that merge two parental haplotypes into one, losing critical genetic information in the process. 

Endometriosis (EM) and uterine leiomyoma (UL) are common gynecological disorders with substantial clinical overlap; however, their shared epidemiological and genetic underpinnings remain poorly understood. This study investigated comorbidity between EM and UL using epidemiological, genetic, and molecular analyses.

This review highlights microneedle-based cosmetic delivery as a minimally invasive strategy for overcoming the skin barrier and improving intradermal delivery of active ingredients. It summarizes advances in solid, coated, dissolving, hollow, and hydrogel-forming microneedles, together with their materials, fabrication methods, and delivery mechanisms. Key cosmetic applications include anti-aging, skin rejuvenation, pigmentation control, acne management, hydration, barrier repair, and hair-growth treatments. The review also discusses safety, regulation, consumer acceptance, commercialization, and emerging innovations such as smart, stimuli-responsive, personalized, wearable, and IoT-integrated microneedle systems, emphasizing their potential to transform conventional topical skincare into precise, controlled, next-generation dermal delivery platforms for aesthetic dermatology.

A research team has uncovered the genetic mechanism behind hairlessness in wucai, a leafy vegetable widely grown in southern China. 

DNA methylation typically silences genes, but in citrus, a surprising reversal occurs.

Nipah virus (NiV), a highly pathogenic zoonotic paramyxovirus, has emerged as a significant global public health threat due to its high mortality rate, potential for human-to-human transmission, and the absence of licensed vaccines or specific antiviral treatments. Since its initial identification in 1998 during an outbreak in Malaysia and Singapore, NiV has caused recurrent outbreaks in Bangladesh and India, with case fatality rates ranging from 40% to over 90%, and has been classified as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. This perspective article provides a comprehensive international risk assessment of Nipah virus outbreaks and evaluates the medium- to long-term prevention and control prospects for China, a country that shares borders with endemic regions and possesses ecological conditions conducive to NiV transmission. The authors analyze the global epidemiology of NiV, including the natural reservoir (fruit bats of the Pteropus genus), transmission dynamics, and the factors driving outbreak emergence, such as deforestation, agricultural intensification, and increasing human-animal interface.

Congenital muscular dystrophies (CMDs) represent a genetically heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by muscle weakness, dystrophic changes on muscle biopsy, and onset typically in infancy or childhood. Variants in the INPP5K gene, which encodes a phosphoinositide 5-phosphatase that regulates phosphoinositide signaling, have recently been identified as a rare cause of congenital muscular dystrophy, commonly associated with early-onset cataracts and intellectual disability. This case report describes the first Chinese patient with INPP5K-related muscular dystrophy, a 28-year-old male with a notably mild phenotype that lacked intellectual disability, expanding the clinical spectrum of this disorder. The patient presented with bilateral cataracts requiring surgical correction at age 5, followed by adolescent-onset limb girdle weakness with postural hand tremors beginning at age 15 and progressive lower limb weakness at age 16. Muscle magnetic resonance imaging revealed a characteristic pattern of selective fatty infiltration, with severe involvement of gluteal and thigh muscles and striking sparing of the rectus femoris, sartorius, and gracilis muscles, a pattern that provides important diagnostic clues. Genetic analysis identified compound heterozygous novel INPP5K variants: a missense variant c.274C>T, p.(Arg92Cys), and a synonymous variant c.261G>A, p.(Lys87=).

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based immunotherapy has emerged as a transformative treatment strategy for stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), significantly improving outcomes in both neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings. However, predictive biomarkers of response to immunotherapy remain limited, and identifying patients most likely to benefit from these treatments remains a critical unmet need. DNA polymerase epsilon (POLE) mutations, although rare in NSCLC, are associated with an increased tumor mutational burden (TMB) and enhanced neoantigen presentation, both of which are mechanistically linked to increased sensitivity to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. This case report describes a 52-year-old woman diagnosed with stage IIIA NSCLC whose tumor demonstrated negative programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, a factor typically associated with reduced likelihood of response to immunotherapy. Molecular profiling revealed a somatic POLE mutation (NM_006231.4: c.1270C>G, p.Leu424Val) in the absence of additional targetable tumor alterations. A perioperative chemo-immunotherapy approach was implemented, consisting of three cycles of neoadjuvant carboplatin, pemetrexed, and pembrolizumab, followed by curative-intent surgery. Restaging computed tomography after neoadjuvant therapy revealed a significant radiographic response, and histopathological examination of the surgical specimen demonstrated a pathological complete response (pCR), with no viable tumor cells identified.