Extensive bone defects pose substantial clinical challenges, frequently resulting in severe functional impairment and diminished quality of life for patients. Conventional therapeutic approaches, including autografts and allografts, remain widely utilized despite significant drawbacks such as donor site morbidity, limited availability, and potential immunogenic responses. Consequently, tissue engineering has emerged as an increasingly attractive alternative strategy. Bioceramic bone repair materials offer dual functionality by providing essential mechanical support while delivering bioactive properties that facilitate defect healing. A critical aspect of their therapeutic efficacy lies in their capacity to modulate the immune microenvironment, thereby promoting cellular behaviors and signaling pathways that favor bone regeneration. These immunoregulatory effects prove instrumental throughout the entire bone repair process and largely determine the ultimate success of regenerative outcomes. For example, hydroxyapatite demonstrates the ability to induce macrophage polarization toward the M2 phenotype, generating anti-inflammatory effects that enhance bone tissue repair. A comprehensive review published in Frontiers of Medicine systematically examines recent progress in bioceramic research for bone tissue engineering, encompassing material classification, immunomodulatory mechanisms, contemporary fabrication methodologies, and clinical translation status, with the objective of informing future investigations and improved therapeutic strategies.

Discovery reveals how drug-resistant tumours can shift into a state that responds better to chemotherapy.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide, necessitating deeper insights into its molecular underpinnings beyond genetic predisposition. Epigenetic modifications, particularly methylation changes affecting DNA, proteins, and RNA, have emerged as critical regulators of gene expression implicated in cardiac pathophysiology. These heritable yet reversible chemical alterations govern chromatin architecture, transcriptional activity, and post-transcriptional processing without changing underlying nucleotide sequences. Within the spectrum of cardiovascular pathology—including ischemic heart disease, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, and atherosclerosis—dysregulated methylation patterns contribute substantially to disease initiation, progression, and phenotypic manifestation. Understanding the distinct and convergent roles of these three major methylation modalities offers promising avenues for developing novel diagnostic biomarkers and targeted therapeutic interventions that could transform precision medicine in cardiology.

Researchers at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Monash University have developed a vaccine booster candidate administered via the nasal route, which confers strong immunity in the respiratory tract. The study offers a promising strategy to enhance immunity and inform future booster approaches.

Commonly prescribed heart medications, including statins and diuretics, do not negatively affect the survival of patients with multiple myeloma. This reassuring conclusion comes from an international team of researchers who analyzed data from three major Phase III clinical trials involving a total of 1,804 patients. 

New research led by University of Galway has found that burning "low smoke" manufactured fuels release tiny ultrafine particles that are potentially more harmful to human health.

Scientists at the University’s Ryan Institute carried out a series of controlled burn experiments using peat, wood, “low‑smoke” manufactured products, including “low‑smoke” coal - where smoky coal has been prohibited since 2022 - in domestic stoves to understand exactly what different home‑heating fuels release into the air.

The researchers measured the smoke using advanced instruments that track how many particles are produced, how big they are, and what they are made of.

The team also collected real‑world air measurements in Dublin and Birr, Co Offaly over several years, allowing them to compare laboratory results with what people actually breathe during winter pollution episodes.

By combining these measurements with statistical fingerprinting techniques and established lung‑deposition models, the researchers identified which fuels contribute most to harmful pollution and how deeply those particles can penetrate into the respiratory system.

The results - observed in a “low smoke” zone in Ireland but relevant across Europe and highly consequential for rapidly transitioning regions such as China and India - show that EU, international and national regulatory frameworks need to respond faster to the growing body of scientific evidence.

The research has been published in Nature Geosciences here.