Certain immune cell subtypes drive lupus, study finds

New immune cell suspects in lupus
scRNA-seq reveals altered cellular composition of CD4+ T cells in SLE. Credit: Nature Immunology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41590-025-02297-2

Detailed mapping of CD4⁺ T cells from children with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has revealed distinct immune cell subsets with likely roles in disease pathogenesis, according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings are poised to redirect lupus research and open the door to more precise therapies that avoid broad immune suppression.

Published in Nature Immunology, the study used single-cell RNA sequencing to profile CD4⁺ T-cell subtypes from children with SLE and healthy controls...

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Moisture-driven power generator delivers stable electricity even in dry air conditions

Mechanical engineering research team develops innovative moisture-driven power generator
Credit: Advanced Functional Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202419710

As artificial intelligence (AI) and smart gadgets become more common, our need for reliable power sources grows. Renewable energy options like solar and wind are great, but they depend on specific conditions. A research team led by Professor Dong-Myeong Shin from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has developed a novel moisture-activated electricity generator (MEG) that offers a fresh, eco-friendly way to generate electricity—just from moisture in the air.

Their findings have been published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials in an article titled “Long-Lasting Moisture Energy Scavenging in Dry Ambient Air Empowered by a Salt Concentration-Gradient Cationi...

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Boiling oceans may lurk beneath the ice of solar system’s smallest moons

Looking inside icy moons
Saturn’s moon Mimas, imaged by the Cassini spacecraft. A new study shows how such small ice moons could sustain a liquid ocean beneath an icy shell, and how that could give rise to surface features. Credit: By NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute – This image or video was catalogued by Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: PIA12570., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10371541

The outer planets of the solar system are swarmed by ice-wrapped moons. Some of these, such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus, are known to have oceans of liquid water between the ice shell and the rocky core and could be the best places in our solar system to look for extraterrestrial life...

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Kimchi acts as a ‘precision regulator’ for the immune system, 12-week clinical trial suggests

The world's first elucidation of the immunomodulatory effects of kimchi by the World Institute of Kimchi
Immunoregulatory mechanisms of kimchi. Credit: World Institute of Kimchi (WiKim)

Amid concerns about the simultaneous spread of multiple respiratory diseases, such as colds and influenza, with the change of seasons in current times, a clinical study has scientifically proven that kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented food, enhances the function of human immune cells and maintains the balance of the immune system.

The World Institute of Kimchi has reported the results of a single-cell genetic analysis that suggests that kimchi consumption has immunomodulatory effects, which include the suppression of excessive immune responses while simultaneously enhancing defense functions.

The results of the research are published in npj Science of Food.

This is the first study in the world...

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