This large-scale UK Biobank study of 89,935 individuals with MASLD demonstrates that accelerated biological aging—measured by PhenoAge, KDM-BA, and leukocyte telomere length—is associated with a higher risk of cirrhosis. Combined with polygenic risk scores (PRS), accelerated aging identifies high-risk individuals, and mitigating biological aging may substantially reduce cirrhosis risk, even among those with high genetic susceptibility.

Infection with the neurotropic pathogen Toxoplasma gondii induced release of extracellular vesicles (EVs) with microRNAs involved in regulating long term potentiation, depression and neuronal growth. The EVs down-regulated calcium-signaling calmodulin.

MSC-derived extracellular vesicles provide a novel cell-free nanotherapeutic strategy for hepatorenal syndrome and reveal a multi-organ protective mechanism through alleviating necroptosis, reprogramming immune responses, and resolving fibrosis.

A team of researchers led by the University of Plymouth have earned £3.7million from UK Research and Innovation to conduct an unprecedented assessment of the response and resilience of deep sea coral ecosystems. The five-year project will be delivered in collaboration with organisations across the Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius and will focus on coral reefs below the surface of the Indian Ocean, employing a number of methods to assess their vulnerability to climate change.

The mini review brings together emerging evidence showing that glial cells actively influence disease progression and treatment response. Once considered simple support cells, glia are now recognized as dynamic regulators of brain health, playing both protective and harmful roles in neural function.

A decade-long study led by Penguin Watch¹, at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, has uncovered a record shift in the breeding season of Antarctic penguins, likely in response to climate change. These changes threaten to disrupt penguins’ access to food and increase interspecies competition. The results have been published today (20 January - World Penguin Awareness Day) in the Journal of Animal Ecology.