Understanding how genetic variants influence disease risk through molecular mechanisms remains a central challenge in complex disease genetics. Nonsyndromic orofacial clefts (OFCs) exemplify this challenge, with most risk loci residing in non-coding regions. We hypothesized that common genetic variants influence OFC risk by modulating DNA methylation at regulatory elements through methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs)....

The urgent need for new molecules capable of targeting multidrug-resistant microorganisms has redirected bioprospecting efforts toward less explored marine environments and their associated communities, such as marine mycobiota. This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of endophytic fungi isolated from various seaweed species and infer the mechanisms of action and chemical profile of most potent fungal extracts...

The Asia region harbors exceptional chondrichthyan (shark, ray, and chimaera) diversity but faces intense fishing pressure. The Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRA) process provides a collaborative, evidence-based framework to identify critical habitats and inform spatial management. We assessed ISRAs across the Bay of Bengal, Southeast Asia, and the Northwest Pacific to characterize their extent, ecological significance, and...

The effectiveness of marine conservation networks depends on their ability to manage and safeguard against the many overlapping human activities and stressors influencing marine ecosystems. Cumulative impact mapping (CIM) combines information on the intensity and location of stressors with the spatial extent and vulnerability of marine habitats to generate a single, relative cumulative impact (CI) score. Despite its potential...

Predation risk induces a myriad of behavioral antipredator responses of prey. However, different antipredator behaviors exhibit different degrees of flexibility within a single prey species. Moreover, how predator species composition and traits interact with the flexibility of particular antipredator behaviors to determine spatiotemporal activity patterns of prey remains unknown. We examined geographic variation in multiple be...

Ageism refers to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination based on age. Ageism negatively impacts physical and mental health across the lifespan, yet knowledge about the experience of ageism in Singapore is limited. This study evaluated the prevalence of experienced ageism in Singapore and identified its key determinants within a nationally representative cohort. In the cross-sectional HEalthy LOngevity (HELO) survey ( N = 3...

The combined effects of multiple pressures pose critical threats to marine ecosystems. As an initial spatial assessment of cumulative pressures in the Skagerrak, we mapped where multiple pressures coincided with sensitive habitats and species, combining recent spatial data sets on 20 pressures and 39 habitats and species. The spatial data were linked with sensitivity weights obtained with a novel partly data-driven method. We...

Anthropogenic climate change is fuelling repeated marine heatwaves and has triggered the fourth global mass coral bleaching event in 2023–2025, causing widespread coral mortality worldwide. Here, we document the impacts of this event on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), where heat accumulation peaked in February–March 2024 and caused mass coral bleaching for the seventh time since 1998. We use data from the Australian Institute of...