news 2022

Dementia is on the rise in Germany. In the absence of treatment options, the focus is shifting to preventing dementia. In particular, a healthy lifestyle is considered beneficial for brain health. A study by the Faculty of Medicine now shows that opportunities for a healthy lifestyle are unequally distributed: being socially disadvantaged is associated with a higher risk of dementia.

Researchers at the University of Bonn find clues to the causes of the condition Cleft lip and palate are among the most common congenital malformations, which are mainly due to genetic causes. It is not yet known exactly which genes are affected. A study led by the University of Bonn has now uncovered new correlations: New mutations near known genes such as SPRY1 could contribute to the increase in disease risk.

When prehistoric people re-sharpened cutting tools 300,000 years ago, they dropped tiny chips of flint - which today yield evidence of how wood was processed by early humans. The small flint flakes were discovered at the Lower Paleolithic site of Schöningen, Lower Saxony. Now, a multidisciplinary team led by the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP) in Tübingen has analyzed this very old material for the information it can provide.

Researchers including Göttingen University analyse resources, demographics and disruption in energy transition Research led by University of Queensland (UQ) and including the University of Göttingen analysed the effects of decarbonisation strategies by linking global resource inventories with demographic systems to generate a matrix showing the risks and benefits.

The efficacy and safety of taking aspirin before the eleventh week of pregnancy have not been demonstrated for this gestational problem, which affects about 5% of women Preeclampsia is a problem of pregnancy hypertension that increases the risk of premature delivery and leads to the death of approximately 60,000 women and 500,000 children worldwide each year, mainly in developing countries.

The diagnosis and treatment of long COVID syndrome (LCS) is still very difficult, and there is only little knowledge about the factors causing accompanying symptoms. Researchers at the Joint Metabolome Facility of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna have now presented new evidence of triggers for fatigue following SARS-COV-2 infection.

Leukemic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (L-CTCL) is a rare type of skin cancer that presents varied clinical features and symptoms. In a recently published study by the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the Medical Universities of Vienna and Graz, the researchers managed to integrate the genomic data from affected patients with pharmacologic studies.

Global warming is leading to longer growing seasons worldwide, with many plants growing earlier in spring and continuing longer in autumn thanks to warmer temperatures-so the general opinion. Now, however, plant ecologists at the University of Basel have been able to show that this is not the case for the most common type of alpine grassland in the European Alps, where an earlier start leads to earlier aging and leaves the grassland brown for months.

A consortium of bacteria form on the microfibers of the Mediterranean Sea, becoming "floating homes for bacteria". Maria Luiza Pedrotti, a CNRS researcher at the Villefranche-sur-Mer oceanography laboratory  has reported the presence of a pathogenic bacterium on the tiny textile fibers found in the deep blue sea.

Science, Health & Technology Lou Corpuz-Bosshart Chronic ship noise can lead to stress, hearing loss and feeding problems for marine mammals like whales, dolphins and porpoises. UBC researchers are diving in to help address the issue. According to project lead Dr. Rajeev Jaiman , an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering, propeller noise accounts for much of the acoustic barrage from ships.

Artificial intelligence chatbots that show positive feelings - such as adding an -I am excited to do so!- or a few exclamation marks - do not necessarily translate into positive reactions or contribute to higher customer satisfaction, according to a recent study by researchers from the University of South Florida, the Georgia Institute of Technology and McGill University.

Discovery will improve diagnosis and open treatment possibilities for thousands of people with this debilitating neurodegenerative condition worldwide New England Journal of Medicine reports the identification of a previously unknown genetic cause of a late-onset cerebellar ataxia, a discovery that will improve diagnosis and open new treatment avenues for this progressive condition.

A team led by UdeM astronomers has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are "water worlds," planets where water makes up a large fraction of the volume. These worlds, located in a planetary system 218 light-years away in the constellation Lyra, are unlike any planets found in our solar system.

Can restricting blood flow to athletes' limbs while training boost performance? University of Toronto researchers investigate Ischemic preconditioning (IPC), a technique used to prepare an organ or tissue for a lack of blood or oxygen supply, was originally developed for use in clinical settings where there is an expected lack of blood and oxygen supply, for example during surgery or after an adverse event like a heart attack.

Sediment cores obtained from Eifel maar sites provide insight into the presence of large Ice Age mammals in Central Europe over the past 60,000 years / Overkill hypothesis not confirmed Herds of megafauna, such as mammoth and bison, have roamed the prehistoric plains in what is today's Central Europe for several tens of thousands of years.

Climate change, rather than competition, played a key role in the ascendancy of dinosaurs through the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods. According to new research, changes in global climate associated with the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction - which wiped out many large terrestrial vertebrates such as the giant armadillo-like aetosaurs - actually benefitted the earliest dinosaurs.

Harmful fungal toxins are on the rise in Europe's wheat and affect almost half of crops, according to a new study led by the University of Bath. Wheat - the most widely cultivated crop in the world - is under growing attack from harmful toxins. Across Europe, almost half of wheat crops are impacted by the fungal infection that gives rise to these toxins, according to a study led by fungal biologist Dr Neil Brown from the University of Bath, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Exeter.

Dr Alexander Piel and Dr Fiona Stewart (both UCL Anthropology) discuss their new study in The Conversation which reveals the ability for humans to walk upright on two legs may have evolved in trees, and not on the ground as previously thought. There's no trait that distinguishes humans from all other mammals more clearly than the way we walk.

Though the telescopes can't directly observe the planets' surfaces, their densities indicate they're lighter than rock worlds but heavier than gas-dominated ones. A team led by of researchers at the University of Montreal has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are "water worlds," where water makes up a large fraction of the entire planet.

Antidepressants can increase the risk of preterm birth, but it's unclear why. A new Yale study shows inflammation may play a key role. A Yale study has found that exposure to the common antidepressant Prozac provoked an inflammatory response in human fetal membranes, also known as the amniotic sac. The effect may reveal an underlying factor in what has been found to be an increased risk of preterm birth among those who use antidepressants during pregnancy - and possible therapeutic targets to reduce that risk.