Physical inactivity: A systemic implementation failure, not just a lifestyle choice

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Journal Center

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Infographic of this Editorial.

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Credit: Yannis P. Pitsiladis, Daria Obratov, Fabio Pigozzi and Uğur Erdener.

A new Editorial published in Translational Exercise Biomedicine (ISSN: 2942-6812), an official partner journal of International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS), argues that physical inactivity can no longer be described merely as a public-health crisis. Instead, the authors contend, it represents a persistent implementation failure of modern societies to align with fundamental human biology with consequences that strain global health systems, economic sustainability, and long-term human resilience. The editorial was authored by Yannis P. Pitsiladis, Daria Obratov, Fabio Pigozzi and Ugur Erdener.

Human physiology evolved over approximately 200,000 years in environments that demanded regular physical activity for survival. Yet within little more than a century, societies have constructed environments dense urbanization, motorized transport, sedentary occupations, and digital services that systematically eliminate the need to move. This evolutionary mismatch, the authors warn, is being amplified at population scale as urbanization accelerates and physical inactivity becomes embedded within social, occupational, and educational systems. Global surveillance data up to 2016 already showed that more than one quarter of adults worldwide did not meet recommended physical activity levels, with higher prevalence among women and in high-income and rapidly urbanizing regions. Among adolescents, more than 80% were insufficiently active. Crucially, these figures describe the situation before the COVID-19 pandemic, which further reduced physical activity levels with recovery incomplete and uncertain. Despite decades of unequivocal evidence and well-developed policy frameworks including the World Health Organization's Global Action Plan on Physical Activity and its target of a 15% relative reduction in inactivity by 2030, population-level outcomes have remained stagnant. "This gap reflects not a lack of evidence, but persistent implementation challenges," Prof. Yannis P. Pitsiladis highlights "Policy has been adopted but not consistently delivered at scale".

The editorial also addresses the growing prominence of GLP-1 receptor agonists for obesity management. While acknowledging that these therapies are evidence-based and clinically appropriate for selected individuals, the authors express concern that normalizing long-term pharmacological management at population scale risks displacing sustained investment in environments and systems that support routine physical activity. They emphasize that physical exercise, particularly resistance training, should be positioned as an essential adjunct to pharmacotherapy to preserve muscle mass and maintain functional capacity.  

To bridge the persistent gap between policy and action, the authors propose the formation of an independent Global Alliance for the Promotion of Physical Activity. Unlike normative bodies, this alliance would focus specifically on translating policy commitments into sustained population-level change through capacity-building, cross-sector collaboration and measurable implementation outcomes. Corresponding author Yannis P. Pitsiladis commented on the significance of the work: "Physical inactivity is no longer an emerging challenge; it is entrenched, systemic, and accelerating." Prof. Fabio Pigozzi, president of FIMS, added: "When evidence has been unequivocal for decades, policy frameworks are well developed, and yet population-level outcomes remain stagnant, restraint of language risks obscuring reality. The time for implementation-focused collaboration is now."  

The authors call for renewed international coordination, structural reform, and implementation accountability to translate policy into population-level change. The editorial serves as both a stark warning and a roadmap for action, arguing that without fundamental changes to the environments and systems that shape daily life, the global inactivity crisis will continue to accelerate with predictable consequences for health systems and society.

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Journal

Translational Exercise Biomedicine

DOI

10.1515/teb-2025-0041 

Method of Research

News article

Article Title

Physical inactivity as a critical global challenge: escalating consequences for health systems and society

 

Promising single-dose malaria treatment advances toward pan-African clinical trial

DZIF project aims to overcome major barriers to malaria control. Study principal investigator Prof. Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma named to TIME100 Health 2026.

German Center for Infection Research

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Treatment of a patient as part of the clinical SPAP study in Gabon. Pictured are nurse Merleye Nongou (standing), data clerk Naomie Badinga (seated), and physician Dr. Alex Hounmenou Zinsou. The photo was taken at the satellite site of the Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL) in Mighoma, Tchibanga.

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Credit: Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma/BNITM/CERMEL

Researchers at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) have developed a promising single-dose malaria treatment that could help address growing drug resistance and simplify treatment for patients. The four-drug combination treatment, known as SPAP, is now being prepared for large-scale clinical testing across Africa. Prof. Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma, who was named to the 2026 TIME100 Health list in recognition of his contributions to global health research, is co-leading the project.

Despite major progress in recent decades, malaria continues to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths every year, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. Drug resistance is increasing, and many patients struggle to complete treatment regimens that require medication over several days. While new antimalarial drugs are being developed, it may take years before they become widely available.

To address these challenges, researchers supported by DZIF are investigating how to combine existing medicines more effectively. They have developed SPAP, a new single-dose combination therapy based on the four already approved antimalarial drugs, sulfadoxine, pyrimethamine, artesunate and pyronaridine. 

Results from a clinical trial conducted in Gabon suggest that SPAP could significantly improve malaria treatment. By targeting the malaria parasite through multiple mechanisms, SPAP has the potential to overcome two major barriers to malaria control: increasing drug resistance and poor adherence to multi-day treatment schedules.

"Efforts are underway to develop next-generation antimalarial medicines, but it will take many years for them to reach the market," explains Prof. Peter Kremsner, a world-renowned malaria researcher at University Hospital Tübingen, regarding the objective of the study. "It is paramount to establish a regimen for an optimal use of combinations of existing medicines to cover this period."

Next step: a pan-African clinical trial

To validate the promising findings of the previous study, the researchers are planning a large, multi-country clinical trial in Africa to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of SPAP under real-world conditions. The potential of SPAP has also been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has included the therapy on its list of priority malaria medicines under development. Production of fixed-dose SPAP tablets for the pan-African clinical study is expected to begin this year. If the clinical trial confirms these results, SPAP could be a significant advancement in malaria treatment in sub-Saharan Africa, offering a simpler, more effective therapy.

"This study addresses one of the most pressing challenges in malaria treatment: maintaining effectiveness while reducing the risk of resistance development," says co-project leader Prof. Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma of the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM). "A single-dose regimen could considerably simplify treatment and improve access for patients in endemic regions," Mombo-Ngoma, who is also a group leader at the Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL) in Gabon, adds. CERMEL is one of four African Partner Institutions with which DZIF scientists already have long-standing collaborations.

"The strength of this project lies in the close collaboration between research institutions across Africa and Europe," says Dr. Oumou Maïga Ascofaré, a group leader at BNITM and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Ghana and the third principal investigator (PI) behind the pan-African clinical study. "Together, we aim to generate evidence that can support future malaria treatment strategies where they are needed most."

The pan-African clinical trial is receiving significant support from the DZIF. All three principal investigators are scientists in the DZIF research area Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma named to TIME100 Health 2026

The international visibility of this work is reflected in a recent honor for one of its lead investigators. Prof. Mombo-Ngoma was named to the TIME100 Health 2026 list, which recognizes the 100 most influential individuals shaping the future of health worldwide. 

Through this award, TIME not only highlights individual leadership, but also emphasizes the critical importance of translating biomedical research into sustainable health improvements for populations worldwide. This recognition underscores the value of international research partnerships in addressing some of the world's most pressing health challenges.

"I am deeply honored to be included in the TIME100 Health list," says Prof. Mombo-Ngoma. "This recognition reflects the efforts of many colleagues and partners in Africa and Europe who are committed to reducing the burden of neglected infectious diseases. Our work is driven by the belief that scientific excellence must translate into real health benefits for communities that need it most."

Prof. Mombo-Ngoma is an internationally recognized expert in clinical and implementation research on poverty-related infectious diseases. He leads the Drug Implementation Research Group at BNITM in Hamburg and the Medicines for Poverty-Related Infectious Diseases and Implementation Research Group at CERMEL, an African partner institution of DZIF, and holds a joint professorship with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). His research focuses on developing and evaluating new treatments for malaria, schistosomiasis, and other infectious diseases that disproportionately affect women, children, and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition to leading multinational clinical trials, Prof. Mombo-Ngoma is committed to strengthening research capacity in Africa and improving maternal and child health through evidence-based interventions. His work unites research institutions across Africa and Europe to accelerate the development and implementation of new health solutions.

The complete TIME100 Health 2026 list and a portrait of Prof. Mombo-Ngoma can be found under the respective links.

Source: Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) press release on the TIME100 Health 2026 award.

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Journal

Malaria Journal

DOI

10.1186/s12936-025-05559-4 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Algorithms for species conservation

New AI tool identifies wild animals by their unique patterns in real time

Universitaet Stuttgart

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András Zábó: He developed the innovative RAPID algorithm.

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Credit: Dorothya Nemeth

Monitoring is necessary to track the status of wildlife populations, to assess whether they are stable or under pressure. Naturalists observe zebras, giraffes, jaguars, and other animals over the course of months and years using drones or camera traps. The problem is that the animals are constantly on the move, disappearing and reappearing elsewhere. To be able to capture this highly dynamic environment, animals must be individually identifiable. Specifically, this means that it must be possible to clearly distinguish a single jaguar from other jaguars, and a single giraffe from other giraffes. While conventional technologies do provide accurate results in this regard, they are too slow and require too much computing power.

The Flight Robotics Group led by tenure-track professor Aamir Ahmad, based at the Institute of Flight Mechanics and Controls (IFR) at the University of Stuttgart, together with collaborators, among them the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, created an algorithm that makes the re-identification of wild animals easier, faster, and more reliable.  The scientists explain how it works in the journal "Methods in Ecology and Evolution".

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.70332

Like a fingerprint: Every pattern is unique

The acronym RAPID stands for “Real-Time Animal Pattern Re-Identification on Edge Devices.”  RAPID uses a 100 percent reliable characteristic for recognition: the coat patterns of wild animals. After all, whether it's the spots on a giraffe or the stripes on a zebra—the pattern is always unique, just like a human fingerprint.

But how exactly does RAPID work? “First, we need a reference database,” says Aamir Ahmad. This database contains images of wild animals – such as zebras – whose individual identities are already known. Over time, newly observed individuals can also be added to this database, allowing it to grow during monitoring. Once deployed in the field, for example on image data from a research drone circling over the savanna, RAPID scans these images for distinctive visual cues in each zebra’s stripe pattern. “To do this, we use descriptor vectors, a kind of mathematical profile,” explains András Zábó, researcher at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest and first author of the publication. He developed RAPID during his research stay in the Flight Robotics Group. The algorithm compares the descriptor vectors of the drone-observed animal with the descriptor vectors of known animals stored in the database. “In this way, we can identify a newly observed individual — provided it is represented in the reference database — in a fraction of a second,” says Zábó.

A promising module: fast, precise, and practical

The research team tested RAPID on six datasets: four public datasets containing images of, among other animals, Amur tigers, and two new datasets containing videos of zebras and jaguars. The footage of the zebras was captured by drones flying over the savanna in Mpala, Kenya; the jaguar footage comes from the Jocotoco Foundation and consists of camera trap videos recorded in the rainforest in Ecuador. On the four public datasets, RAPID achieved accuracies ranging from 89 to 99 percent; on the new datasets, accuracy was 80 percent (zebras) and 93 percent (jaguars). The algorithm also demonstrated its strengths in terms of speed. On a standard PC, it processed 40 to 60 cropped query images per second, and on a basic edge device, about ten images per second. “That's an important point: Our recognition system works even on hardware with very limited processing power and without a GPU,” says Ahmad.

Open-source and modular: A key component for wildlife monitoring and ecological analyses

The AI tool is available as open source and has a modular design. If park rangers or research groups want to use RAPID, they can easily integrate it into their own drones, camera traps, airships, or other monitoring devices. The only requirement: the animals being observed must have patterned coat; for example, the technology does not work with elephants. The new algorithm is an important technical component for future wildlife monitoring and ecological analyses. “With RAPID, it's much easier for us to determine whether a particular individual is repeatedly sighted in a specific area. We can also observe whether its behavior changes over time as its environment changes, or whether an injured animal continues to move and interact normally,” Ahmad explains. Next, he plans to further develop the AI so that it can also recognize other wild animal species without depending on their coat patterns. In addition, the algorithm is to be made even more robust so that it functions reliably even under particularly difficult conditions like partially occluded individuals. It is also conceivable that, with the help of RAPID, entirely new databases will eventually be created.

About the research project „Wildcap“:

The new RAPID algorithm was developed as part of the “Wildcap” research project (duration: May 2021 – April 2026). The Flight Robotics Group at the Institute for Flight Mechanics and Controls (IFR) at the University of Stuttgart collaborated on the project with researchers in Kenya and Hungary. Partners included, among others, Princeton University in the United States and Hortobágy National Park in Hungary. The goal was to use artificial intelligence and autonomous aerial robots—a drone and an airship—to monitor endangered wildlife species.  “Wildcap” was funded by the Cyber Valley Research Fund.

 

Aamir Ahmad: His team develops precise and fast AI tools for species conservation and nature observation.

Credit

Quing Zao

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Journal

Methods in Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1111/2041-210x.70332 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Real-time animal pattern re-identification on edge devices, an open-source tool for field deployment.

Article Publication Date

22-Jun-2026

 

China deploys first 24-hour rapid intensification forecast model for typhoons

Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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The deployment of a new 24-hour rapid intensification forecast model for typhoons and its 12-hour rapid intensification forecast service now offers China significantly enhanced forecasting performance, according to Shenzhen-based researchers in south China.

The model, developed at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently completed operational deployment and real-world application testing at the country's National Meteorological Center.

In meteorology, a typhoon is defined as undergoing rapid intensification when its maximum sustained wind speed increases by more than 15 meters per second within 24 hours, or by more than 10 meters per second within 12 hours.

The weather events can be highly destructive. Typhoons such as Rammasun in 2014, Hato in 2017, and Yagi in 2024 all underwent rapid intensification before landfall, causing significant casualties and economic losses.

In 2025, forecasting typhoon rapid intensification was selected as one of the top 10 frontier scientific problems by the China Association for Science and Technology.

The new model, "Machine Learning Ensemble Model for Tropical Cyclone Rapid Intensification Forecast," was developed by a SIAT team led by LI Qinglan.

According to LI, the evolution of typhoon intensity is controlled by multiple interacting factors that include inner-core structure, environmental background and land-sea surface interactions, making accurate forecast extremely difficult.

Conventional statistical-dynamical methods also fail to capture the nonlinear characteristics of intensity changes. As a result, forecasting typhoon intensity, especially rapid intensification, remains a persistent challenge in the field.

To solve this, the team established two quantitative indices -- the sea-land ratio, which captures variations in land-sea distribution along a typhoon track, and the symmetric ratio, which describes inner-core convective symmetry. The indices reveal physical links between inner-core symmetry and rapid intensification.

"Prior to rapid intensification, a typhoon's inner core typically develops a highly symmetric ring-like structure. A more symmetric inner core indicates a higher likelihood of rapid intensification occurrence," LI explained.

As part of this innovation, the research team integrated four machine-learning algorithms into an ensemble forecast model. When more than half of the sub-models predict rapid intensification, the system issues a rapid intensification forecast, effectively improving forecast accuracy.

The team tested the new model by simulating 24-hour rapid intensification events of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic from 2016 to 2020 and compared its performance with the operational forecast system from the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The results showed that the new model achieved a higher probability of detection and a lower false alarm rate, demonstrating enhanced forecasting performance and operational viability.

The 24-hour rapid intensification forecast technology now provides an important reference for China's typhoon intensity forecasting, said LYU Xinyan, senior engineer of the National Meteorological Center.

 

Harvesting UV Light from sunlight just got ‘solid’

New solid-state material from Kyushu University turns visible light into high-energy UV at sunlight intensity, expanding solar energy potential

Kyushu University

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A new solid-state material from Kyushu University turns visible light into high-energy UV at sunlight intensity. By attaching alkyl chains to the sp³ carbon atoms of an organic molecule, the researchers create precisely controlled gaps between neighboring molecules. This spacing enables efficient triplet energy transfer, achieving a quantum yield above 60% in the solid state. When combined with a donor molecule, the system reaches 1.9% visible-to-UV upconversion efficiency.

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Credit: Naoyuki Harada / Kyushu University

Fukuoka, Japan—Two cups of warm water don’t make one cup of boiling water. But in the quantum world, multiple low-energy photons can combine to produce a single, higher-energy photon.

A research team at Kyushu University has developed a solid-state molecular material that “upgrades” visible light into ultraviolet (UV) light under ordinary outdoor sunlight, achieving a conversion efficiency of 1.9%. The study was published in Nature Communications on June 23.

Harsh UV light is something most people try to avoid in summer, yet it is indispensable across fields ranging from air purification and resin curing in 3D printing to gel hardening in dental fillings and nail art. Despite its importance, UV accounts for only about 6% of the sunlight reaching Earth’s surface, with only a fraction of that being practically usable.

“What we do here is ‘add together’ the energy from two visible light photons to make one ultraviolet photon. It’s a fascinating process called photo upconversion,” explains Yoichi Sasaki, Associate Professor at Kyushu University’s Faculty of Engineering and the study’s corresponding author.

One mechanism that enables such upconversion is triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA). A “donor” molecule absorbs visible light and excites its electrons into a high-energy triplet state, then passes it to a neighboring “acceptor” molecule. When two triplets meet, they annihilate each other, releasing their combined energy as a UV photon. TTA works well in liquids, where molecules move freely, and triplets collide easily. But those systems often rely on toxic solvents and can evaporate, limiting their practical use. That is why scientists have long searched for solid alternatives.

“In solids, molecules are packed tightly, and the π electron clouds—regions of high electron density hovering above and below each molecular plane—can overlap,” says Sasaki. “When that happens, triplets easily fizzle out before they ever meet. Molecules must be close enough for energy to transfer but separated enough to prevent quenching of excitons.”

The team found their answer in an organic semiconductor called dihydroindenoindenedene (DHI). By attaching alkyl chains to DHI’s sp³ carbon atoms—which have four bonds pointing in fixed 3D directions—the researchers created precisely controlled gaps between neighboring molecules, keeping them close enough for energy transfer without unwanted strong electronic interaction.

The optimized material shows strong light emission, long-lived excited states, and efficient energy transfer, achieving a solid-state fluorescence quantum yield above 60%. With a donor molecule, the system reaches an upconversion efficiency of 1.9%.

“This means roughly two UV photons are produced for every hundred visible-light photons absorbed,” Sasaki adds. “It may sound low, but it runs on natural sunlight alone. Most solid-state materials cannot realize this even at much higher light intensity.”

The material has been filed for a patent. Beyond efficiency, it offers advantages for real-world use, including straightforward synthesis and low-cost starting materials. The team sees potential applications in solar-driven photocatalysis, indoor air purification, and low-intensity 3D printing.

For the research team, the work also carries personal weight.

In 2012, Nobuo Kimizuka, now Professor Emeritus at Kyushu University’s Research Center for Negative Emissions Technologies, pioneered research into photon upconversion via triplet energy migration in self-assemblies, seeking to establish a molecular systems chemistry where self-assembly performs useful functions. His team made steady progress in both solution and gel systems, yet developing efficient solid-state upconversion systems remained challenging. A breakthrough finally came in May 2024, less than a year before Kimizuka’s retirement.

What followed was a sprint driven as much by shared bonds and gratitude as by science. At that time, graduate students Naoyuki Harada, Hayato Shoyama, Nutnicha Boonmong, along with then-Assistant Professor Kiichi Mizukami of Kyushu University’s Faculty of Engineering, worked alongside Sasaki to compress years of work into one.

“We handed the draft to Professor Kimizuka just 11 days before he left the lab, which for us felt like a heartfelt retirement gift,” Sasaki notes.

“This discovery is the culmination of over 14 years of our research and marks a major milestone in photon-upconversion and molecular self-assembly research,” concludes Kimizuka.

 

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For more information about this research, see “Sterically protected π-electron systems for efficient solid-state photon upconversion,” Naoyuki Harada, Hayato Shoyama, Nutnicha Boonmong, Kiichi Mizukami, Yuya Watanabe, Pei Zhao, Masahiro Ehara, Yoichi Sasaki, Nobuo Kimizuka, Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73898-0

About Kyushu University 
Founded in 1911, Kyushu University is one of Japan's leading research-oriented institutions of higher education, consistently ranking as one of the top ten Japanese universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World Rankings. Located in Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu—the most southwestern of Japan’s four main islands—Kyushu U sits in a coastal metropolis frequently ranked among the world’s most livable cities and historically known as Japan’s gateway to Asia. Its multiple campuses are home to around 19,000 students and 8,000 faculty and staff. Through its VISION 2030, Kyushu U will “drive social change with integrative knowledge.” By fusing the spectrum of knowledge, from the humanities and arts to engineering and medical sciences, Kyushu U will strengthen its research in the key areas of decarbonization, medicine and health, and environment and food, to tackle society’s most pressing issues.

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-026-73898-0 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Sterically protected π-electron systems for efficient solid-state photon upconversion

Article Publication Date

23-Jun-2026