IntroductionThe perinatal period represents a vulnerable period in which women may experience high psychic distress due to psychological, biological and social changes. The prevalence of perinatal depression (PND) is estimated around 15%-20% during pregnancy and 16%-18% after childbirth. Although several risk factors have been investigated in the PND development, few studies explored the role of affective temperaments, well known to exert a role in any mood disorders. The aim of our study was to explore which is the most represented affective temperamental profile in PND as well as which is its role in the development and severity of depressive symptoms during perinatal period.MethodsAll pregnant women admitted at the Perinatal Mental Health Outpatient Service, Unit of Clinical Psychiatry, University Hospital of Marche, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy, between April 2021 and July 2025, were screened for PND through Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and a semi-structured clinical interview (SCID-5-CV). Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego (TEMPS-M) was administered to all pregnant women. ResultsThe PND prevalence was 33.1%. PND was significantly associated with higher cyclothymic (B = 0.356, p = 0.001) and anxious TEMPS-M scores (B = 0.247, p = 0.026) and a positive psychiatric history (B = 5.245, p < 0.001) (R = 0.6, R2 = 0.36, F(3,129) = 24.189, p < 0.001). Logistic regression indicated that cyclothymic (Exp(B)=1.118, p=0.008), hyperthymic (Exp(B)=0.911, p=0.049), anxious temperaments (Exp(B)=1.109, p=0.029), presence of medical comorbidities (Exp(B)=0.224, p=0.003) and psychiatric history (Exp(B)=5.144, p=0.001) were independent predictors of PND.DiscussionAffective temperaments, particularly cyclothymic and anxious profiles, and prior psychiatric history are predictors of perinatal depression. Incorporating temperament assessment alongside standard screening tools such as the EPDS may improve early identification of women at risk, supporting tailored preventive and therapeutic strategies.
Genome editing of phylogenetically distinct bacteria using cross-species retron-mediated recombineering
Nature Biotechnology, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41587-026-03076-6
Retron-based systems for genome editing are functional across bacterial species.
High-fidelity intravital imaging of biological dynamics with latent-space-enhanced digital adaptive optics
Nature Biotechnology, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41587-026-03107-2
Intravital imaging is improved by applying deep learning to wave-optics modeling.
Africa’s moment for health security
Nature Medicine, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04330-9
Advancing pandemic readiness to secure Africa’s health sovereignty.
How to meaningfully evaluate AI in clinical medicine
Nature Medicine, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04350-5
How to meaningfully evaluate AI in clinical medicine
Intestinal metaplasia is the only precursor to esophageal adenocarcinoma
Nature Medicine, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04332-7
We integrated large-scale epidemiological and genomic data from patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma to compare cancers with and without Barrett’s esophagus (BE). We found shared risk factors, molecular features, evolutionary trajectories and BE lineage markers in both cancer phenotypes. Our findings support a single intestinal metaplasia-mediated pathway and have direct implications for early detection and prevention strategies.
BOLD fMRI reflects both vascular and metabolic signals
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02288-y
A recent study by Epp et al. uses advanced, quantitative functional MRI measures to demonstrate that the ‘canonical’ interpretation of blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) — that increases and decreases in brain activation are accompanied by corresponding changes in blood flow and oxygen metabolism — does not strictly hold across the human brain. Although the authors provided a balanced interpretation, this has been viewed by others as undermining fMRI. We discuss whether the findings bring into question the validity of fMRI-based measures of brain function.
Early dopamine disruption in the entorhinal cortex of a knock-in model of Alzheimer’s disease
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02260-w
The authors reveal entorhinal cortex dopaminergic and behavioral dysfunction in Alzheimer’s model mice, suggesting the possibility that entorhinal dopamine loss may contribute to aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.
Across 7 hearings, RFK Jr. talks a new, more moderate MAHA
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STAT+: Can Erasca be biotech’s next big thing? We’ll see
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I wore my Tottenham Hotspur hoodie while shopping at Market Basket last Sunday. One fellow shopper laughed at me. He must have been an Arsenal fan. But another guy commiserated.
If none of this means anything to you, I’m sorry. My favorite soccer team is circling the drain and I feel sad.
The promise of a better pan-RAS inhibitor
Erasca has been described as the poor man’s Revolution Medicines. Impoverished doesn’t exactly fit, not with Erasca’s market value nearing $7 billion on the promise of a better pan-RAS inhibitor for pancreatic cancer. But RevMed’s value now tops $30 billion, so you can see why biotech investors are motivated to find the next big thing.
Whether Erasca is worthy of that description will become clearer in May when the company reports initial results from an early stage study of its drug, called ERAS-0015.
“RevMed has been a real pioneer in this space,” Erasca co-founder and CEO Jonathan Lim told me when we spoke on Tuesday. “What a day it was last week seeing their data with 13.2 months of median overall survival. It’s great for patients with pancreatic cancer.”