Das and colleagues develop and evaluate a parallel discriminator generative adversarial network (P-GAN) for improved in-vivo imaging of retinal cellular structures. The P-GAN network improves retinal pigment epithelium contrast 3.5-fold and the overall throughput 99-fold.

Felton et al. conduct a systematic review to determine the utility of islet autoantibodies as biomarkers of type 1 diabetes heterogeneity. They find that islet autoantibodies are most likely to be useful for patient stratification prior to clinical diagnosis.

Esposito et al. investigate the genetic basis of response to BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in 1351 Italian subjects. They find variants in the human leukocyte antigen locus significantly associate with serum anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels, after vaccination.

Fredolini et al. present a proteomics analysis of home-sampled dried blood spots taken from the general population in Stockholm during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study provides insights into the molecular effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in non-hospitalized individuals and demonstrates the compatibility of self-sampled blood spots with proteomics.

Huo, Ong et al. present a comprehensive workflow to try to overcome key limitations in prior approaches for artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted prostate cancer Gleason grading. Their approach incorporates automated quality control, efficient annotation and visualization, and pathologist-AI interaction.

Stanley et al. use data from an online questionnaire to investigate the impact of COVID-19 symptoms on peoples’ everyday lives. Many consider their symptoms, which affect their physical and mental health and social lives, so severe as to constitute a disability, and report having unmet medical, psychological, or socio-professional support needs.

Varrelman et al. use participatory surveillance data to develop a method to identify changes in vaccine effectiveness and disease symptomatology. Using data from the COVID-19 pandemic, they identify a reduction in vaccine effectiveness during Omicron dominated waves of infections, and a shift towards upper respiratory type symptoms.

Wong et al. conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial on the effects of twelve weeks of exercise on the serum metabolome in older adults. The authors identify changes in metabolites related to mitochondrial fuel oxidation and amino acid pathways and relate these to imaging markers of cardiac aging in post-hoc analyses.

Knapen et al. apply consensus-independent transcriptional component analysis to dissect transcriptomes into statistically independent transcriptional components in early colorectal cancer. Their findings identify 43 biological processes associated with disease-free survival which enables stratification of patients into different subgroups.

Shi et al. describe a phenotypic, culture-free platform that completes the diagnosis of bloodstream infections about 15 hours faster than standard diagnostic technologies. Results from clinical blood samples that demonstrate near real-time diagnostic information suitable for clinicians is provided.

Thirunavukkarasu et al. discuss how standard lifestyle interventions prove ineffective in preventing type 2 diabetes in individuals with isolated impaired fasting glucose, a highly prevalent prediabetes phenotype globally. They propose low-calorie diets as a promising strategy for diabetes prevention in this high-risk population.

Zhang et al. discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to optimize clinical trial design and potentially boost the success rate of clinical trials. AI has unparalleled potential to leverage real-world data and unlock valuable insights for innovative trial design.

Ivancovsky-Wajcman et al. outline the need for a holistic preventive hepatology approach, involving social nutrition and social prescribing, to address the public health threat of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). They argue that this will facilitate individuals’ engagement in behavioural modifications to treat MASLD.

Macharia et al. discuss a Communications Medicine article on global healthcare accessibility and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They outline strengths in the comprehensive approach taken to studying revealed versus potential spatial accessibility, plus some limitations and wider context with which the results can be interpreted.

Pallett et al. discuss the impact of human conflict on development of antimicrobial resistance. They overview approaches to limit the spread of antimicrobial resistance, using the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as an example of the challenges and opportunities.

Dr. Kamilla Kamaruddin is a general practitioner in Transgender Health Care and Clinical Lead at the East of England Gender Service, Cambridge, UK. She is also a board member for sexual health and wellbeing organisation Spectra-London, trustee at LGBTQ+ cancer charity Live Through This, and health advisor for trans community organisation TransActual UK. In this Q&A, we ask Dr. Kamaruddin a series of questions on the difficulties transgender people face in accessing quality healthcare, with a particular focus on the UK.