Many women experience cognitive fog or memory impairment during pregnancy or while taking oral contraceptives. A new study published in Science Bulletin reveals that sustained high levels of estrogen disturb a specific neural circuit connecting the lateral hypothalamus to the hippocampus, leading to temporary memory loss. This discovery provides a long-sought biological explanation for "mom brain" and reconciles decades of conflicting data on estrogen's effects on memory

Cystic fibrosis, one of the most common genetic diseases in Switzerland, promotes chronic bacterial infections by impairing the protective barrier of the airways. Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have discovered that this dysfunction is caused by the abnormal activation of a protein, connexin 43, which disrupts cellular organisation and compromises the integrity of the airways. The team has not only shed light on this molecular mechanism using 3D models of cells derived from human lungs, but has also succeeded in correcting the defect using molecules already undergoing clinical trials in dermatology and oncology. Preventing pathogenic bacteria from attaching to the airways of people with cystic fibrosis could therefore help limit serious complications. These findings are published in the journal Communications Biology.

Kyoto, Japan -- The Japanese island of Tsushima is home to the Tsushima leopard cat, a critically endangered species that can only be found on this isolated island. The most recent government survey estimated the population to be only around 150 individuals, and since domestic cats also inhabit the same landscape, introgression is a legitimate conservation concern.

That's why a team of researchers from Kyoto University became worried when, during a field survey, they spotted at least three Tsushima leopard cats with shortened tails, a trait relatively common in domestic cats but that had not yet been observed in leopard cats. The team was able to capture one of these cats for examination and discovered that its tail was half the normal length. This motivated them to investigate whether this tail abnormality reflected recent domestic cat ancestry, or a variation arising within the leopard cat population.

"An unusual phenotype can immediately raise concerns about hybridization, but we wanted to determine objectively what the genome actually tells us before drawing conclusions from appearance alone," says first author Yuki Matsumoto*.

As reproductive medicine evolves worldwide, traditional anonymity in sperm donation is giving way to a growing recognition of an individual's right to know their genetic origins. Hosted by Kumamoto University, this international hybrid symposium brings together leading experts from Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Join multidisciplinary discussions on legal frameworks, ethical challenges, and support systems shaping the global shift toward donor identity disclosure. Free and open to the public with simultaneous interpretation.

Malaria remains one of the most devastating infectious diseases globally, with Plasmodium falciparum responsible for the majority of malaria-related deaths, particularly among children under five in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite decades of intensive control efforts and the widespread deployment of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), the emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance in Southeast Asia and its potential dissemination to Africa represent an urgent threat to global malaria control, underscoring the critical need for novel antimalarial drugs with innovative mechanisms of action. This perspective article explores a novel therapeutic strategy targeting the hemozoin detoxification pathway in Plasmodium falciparum, a process that is essential for parasite survival within infected erythrocytes and that has been validated as a drug target by the clinical success of chloroquine and other quinoline antimalarials. The authors propose that chlorophyll derivatives, specifically chlorin e6 and related compounds, could act as tetrapyrrole mimics that disrupt hemozoin formation by interfering with the biomineralization process through which the parasite detoxifies the toxic free heme released from hemoglobin digestion.

Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 12 (PCH12) is an ultra-rare, perinatally lethal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by profound microcephaly, pontocerebellar hypoplasia, and arthrogryposis, with onset typically occurring during prenatal development. Previous reports have associated PCH12 with biallelic complete loss-of-function variants in the COASY gene, which encodes coenzyme A synthase, a critical enzyme in the coenzyme A biosynthetic pathway. These variants have been identified in 14 fetuses and newborns from eight unrelated families worldwide. In contrast, COASY partial loss-of-function variants have been linked to COASY protein-associated neurodegeneration (CoPAN), a subtype of neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) characterized by later onset and more protracted clinical course. Emerging evidence suggests COASY-related disorders may represent a phenotypic continuum between the severe PCH12 spectrum and the milder CoPAN spectrum, determined by the degree of residual COASY enzymatic activity. In this case report, the authors used exome sequencing to identify a novel variant combination in the COASY gene in a patient presenting with clinical features consistent with PCH12: a previously reported missense variant (c.641C>T, p.Ala214Val) in compound heterozygosity with a previously unreported rare nonsense variant (c.1015C>T, p.Arg339*).

Researchers have discovered that a bacterium from the human urinary tract can turn a common steroid precursor into testosterone. The finding does not show that bacteria cause prostate cancer, but it opens a new line of research into whether microbes can influence the hormone environment around the prostate. Computational biophysicists at Auburn University helped explain how the bacterial enzymes perform this surprising chemistry.