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Spinal pain is a major clinical problem. Here the authors show that osteoclasts create porous area of endplates of the vertebrae and sensory innervation of porous endplates by Netrin-1 release from osteoclasts mediates PGE2-induced spinal hypersensitivity in mice.

This study presents an electrochemical approach to construct C–S bonds through the reaction of SO₃²⁻ with electrophilic intermediates generated from the electrochemical oxidation of biomass derivatives, including methanol. This method achieves high Faradaic efficiencies and industrial-scale production rates of organosulfur compounds, such as hydroxymethanesulfonate, sulfoacetate and methanesulfonate.

The FarmGTEx Project aims to understand genetic control of gene activity under diverse biological and environmental contexts in domestic animals, providing a foundation for improving animal precision breeding, adaptation and human health.

Calcium-permeable AMPA receptors are identified to have a role in maintaining low feature selectivity in a specific population of inhibitory interneurons, and this function is conserved across ferrets, rodents, marmosets and humans.

Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) enables nanoscale imaging and spectroscopy through elastic light scattering at a scanning probe tip. This Review highlights the fundamental principles, applications and recent advancements of s-SNOM across various sample environments.

Dirac magnetoexcitons with non-trivial nanoscale electrodynamics are formed from the excitation of Landau levels in charge-neutral graphene. Here, the Dirac magnetoexciton dispersion is directly imaged up to 7 T via a magneto cryogenic near-field microscope.

Andrew Morris, Mark McCarthy, Michael Boehnke and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for type 2 diabetes, including 26,488 cases and 83,964 controls from populations of European, east Asian, south Asian and Mexican and Mexican American ancestry. They identify seven loci newly associated with type 2 diabetes and examine the genetic architecture of disease across populations.

A silk drive can store digital and biological information with a capacity of about 64 GB inch⁻².

Excitons play an important role in the optical properties of 2D semiconductors, but their spatial characterization is usually constrained by the diffraction limit. Here, the authors report near-field optical spectroscopy of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides with 20 nm resolution, revealing their spatially dependent excitonic spectra and complex dielectric function.

Recent experiments have shown the formation of ferroelectric domains in twisted van der Waals bilayers. Here, the authors report near-field infrared nano-imaging and nano-photocurrent measurements to investigate ferroelectricity in minimally twisted WSe₂ by visualizing the plasmonic and photo-thermoelectric response of an adjacent graphene monolayer.

Graphene plasmons hold potential for infrared optoelectronic devices, but the interaction with the substrate often degrades their quality. Here, the authors report the characterization of plasmons in suspended graphene with tunable suspension height, showing enhanced quality factors and propagation lengths at room temperature.

John Chambers and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for type 2 diabetes in individuals of south Asian ancestry. They identify six loci newly associated with type 2 diabetes.

Anna Köttgen and colleagues report genome-wide association studies for serum urate in over 140,000 individuals from the Global Urate Genetics Consortium (GUGC). They identify 18 loci newly associated with serum urate concentrations and confirm 10 known loci, characterize their associations with gout and include a network analysis suggesting a role for inhibins-activins pathways in regulating urate homeostasis.

Moiré engineering has rapidly gained currency as a means to manipulate electronic states of matter in van der Waals heterostructures. Now, the feat is achieved in epitaxially grown oxide heterostructures, thus opening up fresh opportunities for strongly correlated electronic systems.

John Chambers and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for markers of liver function. They identify 42 loci associated with concentrations of one or more liver enzymes in plasma, and use a range of functional genomic analyses to suggest candidate genes at these loci.

Chemerin plays a protective role in acute kidney injury by repressing ferroptosis in renal tubular cells, which is likely through activation of the AMPK/NRF2/SLC7A11 axis.

The behaviour of Tungsten ditelluride (WTe2) in few-layer form is not yet fully characterized. Here the authors use a near-field terahertz microscopy technique to observe the electromagnetic responses of WTe2 flakes from one to several layers and to study their semimetallic/ semiconducting behavior.

A series of genetic studies have led to the discovery of novel independent loci and candidate genes associated with red blood cell phenotype; for a proportion of these genes potential single-nucleotide genetic variants are also identified, providing new insights into genetic pathways controlling red blood cell formation, function and pathology.

The authors show that Preso1 acts as a scaffolding protein that binds mGluR, Homer and proline-directed kinases. Deletion of Preso1 prevents phosphorylation of mGluR at the Homer binding site and leads to an increase in mGluR5-dependent inflammatory pain.

Dissolved inorganic carbon is buried in dryland basins that do not drain to the sea. Based on measurements of sediment chemistry in twelve of these sites, closed basins are estimated to store 0.15 Pg of dissolved inorganic carbon annually.

Dorsal root ganglion neurons respond to both painful and itchy stimuli, but whether itch-specific neurons exist was, up until now, unknown. Here the authors describe a group of MrgprA3-expressing neurons that innervate the superficial layers of the skin and selectively sense itch.

Zhao and colleagues find that neuropathic pain is accompanied by an increase in the expression of an antisense long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) that downregulates Kcna2 currents and increases excitability in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons. Preventing the expression of the so-called Kcna2 antisense RNA mitigates neuropathic pain symptoms.

Paul Elliott, Martin Tobin, Cornelia van Duijn and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure, identifying six new loci influencing these two traits.

The authors show that Mrgprs, vagal sensory neuron-expressing GPCRs, mediate bronchoconstriction and hyperresponsiveness, both of which are hallmark features of asthma. The results reveal novel potential neural mechanisms underlying asthma.