Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by DMD gene mutations. Delandistrogene moxeparvovec is an investigational gene transfer therapy, developed to address the underlying cause of DMD. We report findings from Part 1 (52 weeks) of the two-part EMBARK trial (NCT05096221). Methods: Key inclusion criteria: Ambulatory patients aged ≥4-<8 years with a confirmed DMD mutation within exons 18–79 (inclusive); North Star Ambulatory Assessment (NSAA) score >16 and <29 at screening. Eligible patients were randomized 1:1 to intravenous delandistrogene moxeparvovec (1.33×1014 vg/kg) or placebo. The primary endpoint was change from baseline in NSAA total score to Week 52. Results: At Week 52 (n=125), the primary endpoint did not reach statistical significance, although there was a nominal difference in change from baseline in NSAA total score in the delandistrogene moxeparvovec (2.6, n=63) versus placebo groups (1.9, n=61). Key secondary endpoints (time to rise, micro-dystrophin expression, 10-meter walk/run) demonstrated treatment benefit in both age groups (4-5 and 6-7 years; p<0.05).There were no new safety signals, reinforcing the favorable and manageable safety profile observed to date. Conclusions: Based on the totality of functional assessments including the timed function tests, treatment with delandistrogene moxeparvovec indicates beneficial modification of disease trajectory.

Approximately 80 million people live with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the WHO Africa Region. The natural history of HBV infection in this population is poorly characterised, and may differ from patterns observed elsewhere due to differences in prevailing genotypes, environmental exposures, co-infections, and host genetics. Existing research is largely drawn from small, single-centre cohorts, with limited follow-up time. The Hepatitis B in Africa Collaborative Network (HEPSANET) was established in 2022 to harmonise the process of ongoing data collection, analysis, and dissemination from 13 collaborating HBV cohorts in eight African countries. Research priorities for the next 5 years were agreed upon through a modified Delphi survey prior to baseline data analysis being conducted. Baseline data on 4,173 participants with chronic HBV mono-infection were collected, of whom 38.3% were women and the median age was 34 years (interquartile range 28–42). In total, 81.3% of cases were identified through testing of asymptomatic individuals. HBeAg-positivity was seen in 9.6% of participants. Follow-up of HEPSANET participants will generate evidence to improve the diagnosis and management of HBV in this region.

The steady advances in computer performance and in programming raise the concern that the ability of computers would overtake that of the human brain, an occurrence termed ‘the Singularity’. While comparing the size of the human brain and the advance in computer capacity, the Singularity has been estimated to occur within a few decades although the capacity of conventional computers may reach its limits in the near future. However, in the last few years, there have been rapid advances in artificial intelligence. There are already programs that carry out pattern recognition and self-learning which, at least in limited fields such as chess and other games, are superior to the best human players. Furthermore, the quantum computing revolution, which is expected to vastly increase computer capacities, is already on our doorstep. It now seems inevitable that the Singularity will arrive within the foreseeable future. Biological life, on Earth and on extraterrestrial planets and their satellites, may continue as before, but humanity could be ‘replaced’ by computers. Older and more advanced intelligent life forms, possibly evolved elsewhere in the Universe, may have passed their Singularity a long time ago. Post Singularity life would probably be based not on biochemical reactions but on electronics. Their communication may use effects such as quantum entanglement and be undetectable to us. This may explain the Fermi paradox or at least the ‘Big Silence’ problem in SETI.

The Kepler data show that habitable small planets orbiting Red Dwarf stars (RDs) are abundant, and hence might be promising targets to look at for biomarkers and life. Planets orbiting within the habitable zone of RDs are close enough to be tidally locked. Some recent works have cast doubt on the ability of planets orbiting RDs to support life. In contrast, it is shown that temperatures suitable for liquid water and even for organic molecules may exist on tidally locked planets (TLPs) of RDs for a wide range of atmospheres. We chart the surface temperature distribution as a function of the irradiation, greenhouse factor and heat circulation. The habitability boundaries and their dependence on the atmospheric properties are derived. By extending our previous analyses of TLPs, we find that tidally locked as well as synchronous (not completely locked) planets of RDs and K-type stars may support life, for a wider range of orbital distance and atmospheric conditions than previously thought. In particular, it is argued that life clement environments may be possible on tidally locked and synchronously orbiting planets of RDs and K-type stars, with conditions supporting oxygenic photosynthesis, which on Earth was a key to complex life. Different climate projections and the biological significance of tidal locking on putative complex life are reviewed. We show that when the effect of continuous radiation is taken into account, the photo-synthetically active radiation available on TLPs, even of RDs, could produce a high-potential plant productivity, in analogy to mid-summer growth at high latitudes on Earth. Awaiting the findings of TESS and JWST, we discuss the implications of the above arguments to the detection of biomarkers such as liquid water and oxygen, as well as to the abundance of biotic planets and life.

This article takes up what and how maps might have taught a Crown Prince in the century before maps became a part of classrooms and Mercator’s system of projection engendered those collective perceptions of space and person that have become a part of a modern shared spatial imagination. The focus of this article is a single codex, utterly unique, which scholars have posited was compiled in 1570 to accompany the Crown Prince of Jülich-Cleves-Berg on his Italian trip. This article argues that this codex was designed to teach him practices of spatial imagination, a concept this article introduces.

The recent detection of Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, Trappist-1, and many other nearby M-type stars (which consist some 75% of the stars) has led to speculations, whether liquid water and life actually exist on these planets. Defining the bio-habitable zone, where liquid water and complex organic molecules can survive on at least part of the planetary surface, we suggest that planets orbiting M-type stars may have life-supporting conditions for a wide range of atmospheric properties (Wandel2018). We extend this analysis to synchronously orbiting planets of K- and G-type stars and discuss the implications for the evolution and sustaining of life on planets of M- to G-type stars, in analogy to Earth.

We analyze the fluctuations in the X-ray flux of 20 AGN (mainly Seyfert 1 galaxies) monitored by RXTE and XMM-Newton with a sampling frequency ranging from hours to years, using structure function (SF) analysis. We derive SFs over four orders of magnitude in the time domain (0.03-300 days). Most objects show a characteristic time scale, where the SF flattens or changes slope. For 10 objects with published power-spectral density (PSD) the break time scales in the SF and PSD are similar and show a good correlation. We also find a significant correlation between the SF timescale and the mass of the central black hole, determined for most objects by reverberation mapping.

We review the latest findings on extra-solar planets and their potential of having environmental conditions that could support Earth-like life. Focusing on planets orbiting red dwarf (RD) stars, the most abundant stellar type in the Milky Way, we show that including RDs as potential life supporting host stars could increase the probability of finding biotic planets by a factor of up to a thousand, and reduce the estimate of the distance to our nearest biotic neighbour by up to 10. We argue that binary and multiple star systems need to be taken into account when discussing habitability and the abundance of biotic exoplanets, in particular RDs in such systems. Early considerations indicated that conditions on RD planets would be inimical to life, as their habitable zones would be so close to the host star as to make planets tidally locked. This was thought to cause an erratic climate and expose life forms to flares of ionizing radiation. Recent calculations show that these negative factors are less severe than originally thought. It has also been argued that the lesser photon energy of the radiation of the relatively cool RDs would not suffice for oxygenic photosynthesis (OP) and other related energy expending reactions. Numerous authors suggest that OP on RD planets may evolve to utilize photons in the infrared. We however argue, by analogy to the evolution of OP and the environmental physiology and distribution of land-based vegetation on Earth, that the evolutionary pressure to utilize infrared radiation would be small. This is because vegetation on RD planets could enjoy continuous illumination of moderate intensity, containing a significant component of photosynthetic 400–700 nm radiation. We conclude that conditions for OP could exist on RD planets and consequently the evolution of complex life might be possible. Furthermore, the huge number and the long lifetime of RDs make it more likely to find planets with photosynthesis and life around RDs than around Solar type stars.

Some progress has been achieved in reducing the prevalence of undernutrition among children under 5 years of age in Tanzania. In the Rukwa region (2010), the level of stunted and underweight children was 50·4 and 13·5 %, respectively. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age, feeding practices and risk factors of undernutrition in a rural village in the Rukwa region, as well as to discuss the results in light of a similar study conducted in 1987/1988. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 152 households with children under 5 years of age. Data were obtained from the child’s main caretaker and the household head, using a structured questionnaire and a 24 h dietary recall. Children’s length/height and weight were measured. The prevalence of stunting and underweight was found to be 63·8 and 33·6 % (Z-score<−2 of WHO 2006 CGS), respectively. Sugar-water was given to 72·3 % of the children on the first day after birth. A thin gruel was introduced after a median of 2 months (25th–75th percentiles; 1–3). The time mothers spent farming was a significant risk factor for stunting (P=0·04). Illness, food shortage and dry-season cultivation were significant risk factors for underweight (P<0·01). Using the NCHS/WHO 1983 growth reference (<75 % of the median), the prevalence of underweight was 25·0 %, similar to that reported in 1987/1988 (26·4 %). In conclusion, the underweight prevalence was found to be at the same level in 2010 as was recorded in 1987/1988. Current child-feeding practices were not in line with WHO recommendations. Women working in farms, food shortage, dry-season cultivation and diseases partly explain the children’s poor nutritional status.

The data recently accumulated by the Kepler mission have demonstrated that small planets are quite common and that a significant fraction of all stars may have an Earth-like planet within their habitable zone. These results are combined with a Drake-equation formalism to derive the space density of biotic planets as a function of the relatively modest uncertainty in the astronomical data and of the (yet unknown) probability for the evolution of biotic life, F b. I suggest that F b may be estimated by future spectral observations of exoplanet biomarkers. If F b is in the range 0.001–1, then a biotic planet may be expected within 10–100 light years from Earth. Extending the biotic results to advanced life I derive expressions for the distance to putative civilizations in terms of two additional Drake parameters – the probability for evolution of a civilization, F c, and its average longevity. For instance, assuming optimistic probability values (F b~F c~1) and a broadcasting longevity of a few thousand years, the likely distance to the nearest civilizations detectable by searching for intelligent electromagnetic signals is of the order of a few thousand light years. The probability of detecting intelligent signals with present and future radio telescopes is calculated as a function of the Drake parameters. Finally, I describe how the detection of intelligent signals would constrain the Drake parameters.

Let (X, H) be a polarized smooth projective surface satisfying H 1(Χ, OΧ ) = 0, and let Ƒ be either a rank 1 torsion-free sheaf or a rank 2 μH -stable vector bundle on Χ. Assume that c 1(Ƒ) ≠ 0. This article shows that the rank 2—respectively, rank 4—tautological sheaf Ƒ [2] associated with Ƒ on the Hilbert square Χ [2] is μ-stable with respect to a certain polarization.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) leads to elevated plasma levels of LDL-cholesterol and increased risk of premature atherosclerosis. Dietary treatment is recommended to all patients with FH in combination with lipid-lowering drug therapy. Little is known about how children with FH and their parents respond to dietary advice. The aim of the present study was to characterise the dietary habits in children with FH. A total of 112 children and young adults with FH and a non-FH group of children (n 36) were included. The children with FH had previously received dietary counselling. The FH subjects were grouped as: 12–14 years (FH (12–14)) and 18–28 years (FH (18–28)). Dietary data were collected by SmartDiet, a short self-instructing questionnaire on diet and lifestyle where the total score forms the basis for an overall assessment of the diet. Clinical and biochemical data were retrieved from medical records. The SmartDiet scores were significantly improved in the FH (12–14) subjects compared with the non-FH subjects (SmartDiet score of 31 v. 28, respectively). More FH (12–14) subjects compared with non-FH children consumed low-fat milk (64 v. 18 %, respectively), low-fat cheese (29 v. 3%, respectively), used margarine with highly unsaturated fat (74 v. 14 %, respectively). In all, 68 % of the FH (12–14) subjects and 55 % of the non-FH children had fish for dinner twice or more per week. The FH (18–28) subjects showed the same pattern in dietary choices as the FH (12–14) children. In contrast to the choices of low-fat dietary items, 50 % of the FH (12–14) subjects consumed sweet spreads or sweet drinks twice or more per week compared with only 21 % in the non-FH group. In conclusion, ordinary out-patient dietary counselling of children with FH seems to have a long-lasting effect, as the diet of children and young adults with FH consisted of more products that are favourable with regard to the fatty acid composition of the diet.