news 2022

Scientists have unlocked key insights into virus evolution, revealing new information that could help develop treatments for a wide variety of genetic diseases. The research, which was led by scientists at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) and University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, focuses on a group of small, ubiquitous viruses called 'parvoviruses' (from the Latin word "parvus" meaning 'small', 'puny' or 'unimportant').

Many people who find it hard to wake up in the morning blame it on their constitution or their genes. But how you slept, what you ate for breakfast and the amount of physical activity you engaged in the day before have a lot more to do with your ability to wake up alert. (Shutterstock image) Do you feel groggy until you've had your morning joe? Do you battle sleepiness throughout the workday? You're not alone.

Waterloo researchers develop treatment scheduling method to target heterogeneous tumours Researchers at the University of Waterloo have identified a new method for scheduling radiation therapy that could be as much as 22 percent more effective at killing cancer cells than current standard radiation treatment regimens.

Flemish nursing homes that work with smaller residential groups that have permanent healthcare teams have had noticeably fewer infections or deaths related to COVID-19. This is true not only of the residents, but also the personnel. This was the conclusion reached by researchers from KU Leuven and Radboud University.

A recently published international study involving the Medical University of Vienna demonstrated that a straight leg-raise on the part of the patient significantly improved diagnostic accuracy in the work-up of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD or GERD). The scientific study by researchers at the University of Milan was published in the journal "Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology".

Women comprise about 20% of all astronomers worldwide, but their productivity, as measured by annual number of publications, has lagged behind that of their male colleagues. The COVID-19 pandemic set them back even more, a new study finds. Before the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly shut down labs and sent scientists home to work, female astronomers on average published about nine papers for every 10 published by men - a rate that has remained stagnant for decades.

A new study led by UB researchers shows that wasteosomes —structures that act as containers for brain waste products— indicate a malfunction of the glymphatic system, a recently discovered system that is an important brain-cleaning mechanism. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was carried out by a research team from the UB Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, the UB Institute of Neurosciences (UBNeuro) and the Network Center for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED).

Protein scissors activate defense function, a study shows For several years now, the CRISPR/Cas9 gene scissors have been causing a sensation in science and medicine. This new tool of molecular biology has its origins in an ancient bacterial immune system. It protects bacteria from attack by so-called phages, i. e.

MHH psychiatry coordinates largest German study to improve depression treatment Using biomarkers to find individual diagnostic and therapeutic paths - what already works in oncology is also to become possible in psychiatry. Under the leadership of Professor Dr Helge Frieling, Vice Head of the Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Hannover Medical School (MHH), a national research network is now being launched that aims to tailor the treatment of depression more closely to the individual patient than before.

Tuberculosis affects 1 million children each year; less than half of them are diagnosed and treated for the disease, which leads to more than 200,000 deaths.

Researchers of the University of Freiburg introduce biosensor for the nucleic acid amplification-free detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA CRISPR-Cas is versatile: Besides the controversial genetically modified organisms (GMOs), created through gene editing, various new scientific studies use different orthologues of the effector protein 'Cas' to detect nucleic acids such as DNA or RNA.

Researchers have found that a set of proteins have different shapes in the spinal fluid of healthy individuals and Parkinson's patients. These could be used in the future as a new type of biomarker for this disease. Many human diseases can be detected and diagnosed using biomarkers in blood or other body fluids.

People with depression benefit from contact with fellow sufferers. Such contacts can in fact contribute to recovering from depression. That was shown in the PhD research done by Dorien Smit, who will defend her thesis at Radboud University on 1 December. On the basis of Smit's research, an online platform for people with depression was set up.

Known as PASTE, the technique holds potential for treating a variety of diseases caused by faulty genes. Building on the CRISPR gene-editing system, MIT researchers have designed a new tool that can snip out faulty genes and replace them with new ones, in a safer and more efficient way. Using this system, the researchers showed that they could deliver genes as long as 36,000 DNA base pairs to several types of human cells, as well as to liver cells in mice.

Hollow spheres made of MYC proteins open new doors in cancer research. Würzburg scientists have discovered them and report about this breakthrough in the journal "Nature". MYC genes and their proteins play a central role in the emergence and development of almost all cancers. They drive the uncontrolled growth and altered metabolism of tumour cells.

Regular exercise may protect pancreatic beta cells from stresses that contribute to diabetes. Researchers from the ULB Center for Diabete Research observed this in a study published in Diabetologia . Diabetes is characterized by a progressive loss of pancreatic beta cells, the same cells that produce insulin and thus maintain the right level of sugar in the blood.

Due to the Western lifestyle with a high fat diet combined with little exercise, more and more people in the Netherlands are overweight or even obese. This causes an increased risk of type II diabetes. What can be done about this besides a healthier lifestyle? The answer comes from an unexpected source: shivering from the cold! Apart from the fact that this mechanism ensures that your body stays a bit warm, it also appears to improve sugar metabolism in type II diabetes patients.

A new study co-authored by Western researcher Anna Zajacova shows that racial and ethnic disparities in pain prevalence in the U.S. are far larger than previously realized, with multiracial and Indigenous (Native American/Alaska Native) adults reporting the highest levels of pain. She says this finding is significant because pain can be used as a barometer of mental and physical health of a population.  "We aren't talking about one particular type of pain, we are looking at pain overall," said Zajacova, sociology professor at Western.

New Curtin University-led research has found women who choose to conceive within three months after a miscarriage or induced abortion were no more likely to suffer pregnancy complications in their next pregnancy. Published in PLOS Medicine, the research team examined a total of 49,058 births following a miscarriage and 23,707 births following an induced abortion in Norway between 2008 and 2016 and investigated whether there was any increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preterm birth, low and high birth weight, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.

Study by the University of Bonn: Surgical tissue indicates rare secondary disease In severe epilepsies, surgical intervention is often the only remedy - usually with great success. While neuropsychological performance can recover in the long term after successful surgery, on rare occasions, unexpected declines in cognitive performance occur.