A dormant overmassive black hole in the early Universe.

Recent observations have found a large number of supermassive black holes already in place in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang, many of which seem to be overmassive relative to their host galaxy stellar mass when compared with local relation. Several different models have been proposed to explain these findings, ranging from heavy seeds to light seeds experiencing bursts of high accretion rate. Yet, current datasets are unable to differentiate between these various scenarios.

Public good or climate washing? A guideline for climate and health researchers considering funding from carbon-intensive industries.

Should climate and health researchers accept funding from industries that profit from climate-damaging consumption? In this Personal View, we aim to ignite discussions on this key topic and to introduce a guideline to possibly help climate and health researchers grappling with this complex question. Drawing from existing tools focused on other public health issues and the conclusions of the 2023 Lancet Series on commercial determinants of health, we propose a guideline comprising six parts: meeting public health and climate goals; building credibility and trust; avoiding undue dependence on particular sources of funding; not inflating without good reason the public image of industry; embedding processes to ensure transparency and independence; and protecting the freedom to publish. We invite other climate and public health scientists to report their own experiences and provide feedback on this guideline.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the 'eco-cooler' for passive home cooling.

Constructed with used plastic bottles, the eco-cooler has been widely adopted in resource-poor communities in Bangladesh and other countries. We tested the eco-cooler under controlled conditions using a scientific wind tunnel in a climatic chamber. In our tests, we used seven eco-cooler designs in 27 climate conditions typical of Bangladesh (temperatures of 40 °C, 35 °C, and 30 °C; humidity levels of 70%, 60%, and 40%; and wind speeds of 4.

Spatial-temporal analysis of climate and socioeconomic conditions on cholera incidence in Mozambique from 2000 to 2018: an ecological longitudinal retrospective study.

Objectives: This study aims to assess both socioeconomic and climatic factors of cholera morbidity in Mozambique considering both spatial and temporal dimensions.

Design: An ecological longitudinal retrospective study using monthly provincial cholera cases from Mozambican Ministry of Health between 2000 and 2018. The cholera cases were linked to socioeconomic data from Mozambique Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in the period 2000-2018 and climatic data; relative humidity (RH), mean temperature, precipitation and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).

Spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at a redshift of 14.

The first observations of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revolutionized our understanding of the Universe by identifying galaxies at redshift z ≈ 13 (refs. ). In addition, the discovery of many luminous galaxies at Cosmic Dawn (z > 10) has suggested that galaxies developed rapidly, in apparent tension with many standard models.

Preferences regarding COVID-19 vaccination among 12,000 adults in China: A cross-sectional discrete choice experiment.

Understanding public preferences concerning vaccination is critical to inform pandemic response strategies. To investigate Chinese adults' preferences regarding COVID-19 vaccine attributes, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey in 12,000 Chinese adults in June-July, 2021. Participants were requested to answer a series of discrete choice questions related to hypothetical COVID-19 vaccines.

POxload: Machine Learning Estimates Drug Loadings of Polymeric Micelles.

Block copolymers, composed of poly(2-oxazoline)s and poly(2-oxazine)s, can serve as drug delivery systems; they form micelles that carry poorly water-soluble drugs. Many recent studies have investigated the effects of structural changes of the polymer and the hydrophobic cargo on drug loading. In this work, we combine these data to establish an extended formulation database.

Private vs. public emergency visits for mental health due to heat: An indirect socioeconomic assessment of heat vulnerability and healthcare access, in Curitiba, Brazil.

Few studies have explored the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on the heat vulnerability of mental health (MH) patients. As individual socioeconomic data was unavailable, we aimed to fill this gap by using the healthcare system type as a proxy for SES. Brazilian national statistics indicate that public patients have lower SES than private.

A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang.

Local and low-redshift (z < 3) galaxies are known to broadly follow a bimodal distribution: actively star-forming galaxies with relatively stable star-formation rates and passive systems. These two populations are connected by galaxies in relatively slow transition. By contrast, theory predicts that star formation was stochastic at early cosmic times and in low-mass systems.

A small and vigorous black hole in the early Universe.

Several theories have been proposed to describe the formation of black hole seeds in the early Universe and to explain the emergence of very massive black holes observed in the first thousand million years after the Big Bang. Models consider different seeding and accretion scenarios, which require the detection and characterization of black holes in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang to be validated. Here we present an extensive analysis of the JWST-NIRSpec spectrum of GN-z11, an exceptionally luminous galaxy at z = 10.

The effects of cool roofs on health, environmental, and economic outcomes in rural Africa: study protocol for a community-based cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: High ambient air temperatures in Africa pose significant health and behavioral challenges in populations with limited access to cooling adaptations. The built environment can exacerbate heat exposure, making passive home cooling adaptations a potential method for protecting occupants against indoor heat exposure.

Methods: We are conducting a 2-year community-based stratified cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) implementing sunlight-reflecting roof coatings, known as "cool roofs," as a climate change adaptation intervention for passive indoor home cooling.

Impact of heat on mental health emergency visits: a time series study from all public emergency centres, in Curitiba, Brazil.

Objectives: Quantify the risk of mental health (MH)-related emergency department visits (EDVs) due to heat, in the city of Curitiba, Brazil.

Design: Daily time series analysis, using quasi-Poisson combined with distributed lag non-linear model on EDV for MH disorders, from 2017 to 2021.

Setting: All nine emergency centres from the public health system, in Curitiba.

Assessing the Effect of Extreme Weather on Population Health Using Consumer-Grade Wearables in Rural Burkina Faso: Observational Panel Study.

Background: Extreme weather, including heat and extreme rainfall, is projected to increase owing to climate change, which can have adverse impacts on human health. In particular, rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk because of a high burden of climate-sensitive diseases and low adaptive capacities. However, there is a lack of data on the regions that are anticipated to be most exposed to climate change.

Decision-support tools to build climate resilience against emerging infectious diseases in Europe and beyond.

Climate change is one of several drivers of recurrent outbreaks and geographical range expansion of infectious diseases in Europe. We propose a framework for the co-production of policy-relevant indicators and decision-support tools that track past, present, and future climate-induced disease risks across hazard, exposure, and vulnerability domains at the animal, human, and environmental interface. This entails the co-development of early warning and response systems and tools to assess the costs and benefits of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures across sectors, to increase health system resilience at regional and local levels and reveal novel policy entry points and opportunities.

Carbonaceous dust grains seen in the first billion years of cosmic time.

Large dust reservoirs (up to approximately 10M) have been detected in galaxies out to redshift z ≃ 8, when the age of the Universe was only about 600 Myr. Generating substantial amounts of dust within such a short timescale has proven challenging for theories of dust formation and has prompted the revision of the modelling of potential sites of dust production, such as the atmospheres of asymptotic giant branch stars in low-metallicity environments, supernova ejecta and the accelerated growth of grains in the interstellar medium. However, degeneracies between different evolutionary pathways remain when the total dust mass of galaxies is the only available observable.

Unravel the Tangle: Atomistic Insight into Ultrahigh Curcumin-Loaded Polymer Micelles.

Amphiphilic ABA-triblock copolymers, comprised of poly(2-oxazoline) and poly(2-oxazine), can solubilize poorly water-soluble molecules in a structure-dependent manner forming micelles with exceptionally high drug loading. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations are conducted on previously experimentally characterized, curcumin-loaded micelles to dissect the structure-property relationships. Polymer-drug interactions for different levels of drug loading and variation in polymer structures of both the inner hydrophobic core and outer hydrophilic shell are investigated.

Climate variability, socio-economic conditions and vulnerability to malaria infections in Mozambique 2016-2018: a spatial temporal analysis.

Background: Temperature, precipitation, relative humidity (RH), and Normalized Different Vegetation Index (NDVI), influence malaria transmission dynamics. However, an understanding of interactions between socioeconomic indicators, environmental factors and malaria incidence can help design interventions to alleviate the high burden of malaria infections on vulnerable populations. Our study thus aimed to investigate the socioeconomic and climatological factors influencing spatial and temporal variability of malaria infections in Mozambique.

The effect of extreme temperature and precipitation on cause-specific deaths in rural Burkina Faso: a longitudinal study.

Background: Extreme weather is becoming more common due to climate change and threatens human health through climate-sensitive diseases, with very uneven effects around the globe. Low-income, rural populations in the Sahel region of west Africa are projected to be severely affected by climate change. Climate-sensitive disease burdens have been linked to weather conditions in areas of the Sahel, although comprehensive, disease-specific empirical evidence on these relationships is scarce.

Activity and potential mechanisms of action of persimmon tannins according to their structures: A review.

One distinguishing feature of the persimmon, that differentiates it from other fruits, is its high proanthocyanidins content, known as persimmon tannin (PT). Despite the poor absorption of PT in the small intestine, results from animal studies demonstrate that PT has many health benefits. Our goal in this review is to summarize the literature that elucidates the relationship between PT structure and activity.

Expanding the Paradigm of Structure-Based Drug Design: Molecular Dynamics Simulations Support the Development of New Pyridine-Based Protein Kinase C-Targeted Agonists.

Protein kinase C (PKC) modulators hold therapeutic potential for various diseases, including cancer, heart failure, and Alzheimer's disease. Targeting the C1 domain of PKC represents a promising strategy; the available protein structures warrant the design of PKC-targeted ligands via a structure-based approach. However, the PKC C1 domain penetrates the lipid membrane during binding, complicating the design of drug candidates.

Using wearable devices to generate real-world, individual-level data in rural, low-resource contexts in Burkina Faso, Africa: A case study.

Background: Wearable devices may generate valuable data for global health research for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, wearable studies in LMICs are scarce. This study aims to investigate the use of consumer-grade wearables to generate individual-level data in vulnerable populations in LMICs, focusing on the acceptability (quality of the devices being accepted or even liked) and feasibility (the state of being workable, realizable, and practical, including aspects of data completeness and plausibility).

Wearables for Measuring Health Effects of Climate Change-Induced Weather Extremes: Scoping Review.

Background: Although climate change is one of the biggest global health threats, individual-level and short-term data on direct exposure and health impacts are still scarce. Wearable electronic devices (wearables) present a potential solution to this research gap. Wearables have become widely accepted in various areas of health research for ecological momentary assessment, and some studies have used wearables in the field of climate change and health.