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Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is almost always accompanied by fatigue, a massive tiredness that is described by the vast majority of patients as the most distressing symptom. In a recent scientific study, a research group led by Stefan Seidel from the Department of Neurology at MedUni Vienna and AKH Vienna identified light therapy as a promising non-drug treatment option: patients included in the study showed a measurable improvement after just 14 days of use.

Patients receiving emergency medical treatment for atrial fibrillation show a correlation between the intravenous administration of potassium and magnesium and a spontaneous return to a normal heart rhythm. This was discovered in a new study by the Department of Emergency Medicine at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna, which analysed patient data between 2009 and 2020.

Monoamines are neurotransmitters in the central and peripheral nervous systems and they also transmit signals between cells and the brain. This transmission is followed by their reuptake into the cells by means of transporters. While the specific monoamine transporters have already been well studied, not enough is known about the organic cation transporters, which are high-capacity monoamine transporters.

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".

In a recent study, researchers from Joanna Loizou's group from CeMM, the Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the Medical University of Vienna investigated the POL? enzyme and the role it plays in DNA repair. Inhibiting POL? represents a new approach for developing specific therapies, in particular for patients with BRCA1 mutations.

As the number of obese people suffering from related conditions such as liver disease increases, so does the need for research to develop interventions to improve patient care. The Christian Doppler Laboratory, which opened today at MedUni Vienna, is investigating the physiological basis of the consequences of obesity.

Thyroid dysfunction has a significant impact on human health and can promote obesity, diabetes and even cancer. In a recent overview study, a MedUni Vienna research team investigated the role played by a specific protein, the thyroid-hormone-binding protein µ-crystallin (CRYM). This has an important damping effect on hyperthyroidism and the diseases associated with it.

Currently, various classes of drugs are available for the treatment of mental illnesses - such as depression and anxiety disorders. However, although these drugs confer benefits, they are also associated with adverse side-effects. Conseqeuntly, medical researchers continuously thrive to improve the pharmacological properties of therapeutic agents to optimize the benefit-to-side-effect ratio.

The autonomic nervous system is known as the control centre for involuntary bodily processes such as the beating of our hearts and our breathing. The fact that this part of the nervous system also has the ability to spontaneously restore muscle function following a nerve injury was discovered by a research group at MedUni Vienna's Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery as part of their study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

In an animal model, a study, led by EPFL Lausanne with the participation of MedUni Vienna's Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, has identified a class of neurons that provides the crucial impetus for restoring walking ability after spinal cord injuries resulting in paralysis. This study was recently published in the leading journal "Nature".

Various conditions such as postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis can lead to an alteration in maternal behaviour and disrupt the mother-child bonding process. A research team led by Daniela Pollak from MedUni Vienna's Center for Physiology and Pharmacology has conducted a study in which they were able to identify the neuronal circuits in the brain that are activated during the learning of maternal behaviour.

Even after chronic hepatitis C has been cured, portal hypertension remains the major factor driving the development of complications in advanced liver disease. In cooperation with researchers from Spain, a research team led by Georg Semmler and Mattias Mandorfer from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at MedUni Vienna's Department of Medicine III showed that the non-invasive tests explored in their earlier studies accurately estimate the probability of sequelae.

Fewer men than women are diagnosed as having depression. One possible reason for this is that there is still a lack of awareness that this mental illness is characterised by different symptoms in men than in women.

Malignant tumours in the head and neck region are very heterogeneous and therefore difficult to treat. In addition, the lack of prognostic markers is a significant impediment to personalised treatment. A joint study by MedUni Vienna and the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Applied Metabolomics focused on the development and identification of specific markers to improve risk assessment for patients.

Organ damage occurs in up to 70 percent of patients in the first few months following stem cell transplant. The precise reasons for this potentially life-threatening reaction have long been the subject of scientific research. Researchers led by Georg Stary from the Department of Dermatology at MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital in collaboration with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases have recently identified bacterial proliferation on the skin as a factor associated with the occurrence of the complication.

A study group at MedUni Vienna has identified a regulatory loop controlled by leptin, by which this adipocyte-derived hormone regulates hepatic lipid metabolism via the autonomic nervous system. The study provides evidence that this adipose tissue-brain-liver axis, previously identified in animal models, also exists in humans and is opening up new approaches for treating metabolic diseases such as fatty liver disease.

It is now well known that viruses can cause infectious diseases ranging from COVID-19 to AIDS to Ebola. However, medical science also assumes that viruses play a role in about ten percent of cancers. An international research team led by MedUni Vienna and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna has now shown that human papillomavirus 42 (HPV42) drives the development of a particular type of skin cancer.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a particularly aggressive tumour, which has so far been treated with standardised measures. A study led by MedUni Vienna has shown for the first time that different SCLC subtypes have specific molecular characteristics, which is why those affected respond in different ways to cancer treatment.

As early as 2018, a research team of the MedUni Vienna showed that strict avoidance of all types of fish is in fact only necessary for few fish-allergy sufferers. However, reliable tests to determine which types could be tolerated and eaten have not been available until now. In their current study, the researchers demonstrate that a new and effective diagnostic procedure.

Hitherto, scientists have not fully understood why ticks are such dangerous disease vectors. A research team led by Johanna Strobl and Georg Stary from MedUni Vienna's Department of Dermatology shows that tick saliva inhibits the skin's defence function, thereby increasing the risk of diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) or Lyme disease.