Backs under pressure: measuring and estimating lumbar spinal loads.

This issue of the Biomedical Journal examines lumbar spinal loading and current approaches to its assessment using invasive measurements, biomechanical modeling, imaging, wearable technologies, and AI-assisted methods. Other contributions address coumarin derivatives as modulators of autophagy and PI3K/mTOR signaling in cancer and apply multi-omics approaches to uric acid metabolism and cardiometabolic disease. Further studies investigate molecular mechanisms linking mechanical irritation to oral squamous cell carcinoma progression, predictors of HBsAg seroclearance after antiviral treatment withdrawal, and age-dependent effects of exercise and losartan. Additional contributions explore PD-L1 signaling in allergic asthma, the antiviral activity of BPR2-D2 against chikungunya virus replication, and differences in objective tear function between patients with and without mental disorders.