science wire

As of the winter semester of 2022/23, up to ten people can be recruited each year to the Austrian Armed Forces as military doctors via a special 20-year contract.

Cardiovascular disease is the most frequent cause of death in Austria. It includes diseases of the coronary vessels (with heart attack as the worst manifestation), diseases of the heart valves and of arrhythmias.

With the increasing number of cancer survivors, the medical community is becoming increasingly aware of a hitherto less noticed health risk: cancer therapy-related cardiovascular disease.

Pia Gattinger from MedUni Vienna's Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology has received the Life Science Research Award in the "Applied Research" category from the Austrian Society for Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology (ÖGMBT).

One of Austria's largest medical training centres, the University Simulation Center Vienna, opened its doors about a year ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in clinical routines throughout the world, including the preparation of children for anaesthesia.

Within the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 project "TTV GUIDE TX", MedUni Vienna was the first academic institution in Austria to submit a clinical trial to the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) under Europe's new harmonised Clinical Trials Regulation (Regulation (EU) 536/2014).

MedUni Vienna is coordinating an international research project to optimise the use of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for treating rheumatoid arthritis. The SQUEEZE project (Maximising Impact of Prescription Drugs in Rheumatoid Arthritis), with total funding of €10.2 million from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, includes 13 European consortium partners.

Breast, ovarian and uterine cancers account for about 40% of cancer diagnoses in women every year.

A study by MedUni Vienna's Department of Clinical Pharmacology has identified two transport proteins that can influence the permeability of the lung epithelial barrier for certain drugs.

Vera Vorstandlechner from the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery of MedUni Vienna received the award for her research, which focuses on the genetic landscape of hypertrophic scars and the identification of new therapeutic approaches. The study that impressed the expert jury was published in Nature Communications in October 2021 under the title "The serine proteases dipeptidyl-peptidase 4 and urokinase are key molecules in human and mouse scar formation" (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467'021 -26495-2).

Out of 15,788 applicants who had originally registered, a total of 11,643 candidates took part in today's (Friday's) MedAT joint entrance exam for a place at the medical universities of Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz or the Medical Faculty of Johannes Kepler University in Linz.

The Austrian Neonatal Screening Programme (ÖNGS) has been an ongoing success story since the 1960s.

The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) has accepted more young researchers onto its scholarship programmes.

Activating a circuit between the amygdala and brainstem relieves pain and reduces defensive behaviors in rats, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience by a study team at MedUni Vienna's Center for Brain Research.

In the wake of the pandemic, there have been fewer births in poorer, more disadvantaged areas, while there has hardly been any change in births in affluent and more advantaged areas.

Marta Rizzi took over the Chair in Clinical Experimental Immunology (§98) at MedUni Vienna at the beginning of June. The expert on human B-cell lymphocytes comes to Vienna from University Hospital Freiburg. Marta Rizzi is an expert in human B-cell lymphocyte development, activation both in physiological and disease context.

Bionic reconstruction, i.e. the replacement of missing limbs with artificial ones, has made great progress in recent years. However, the intuitive control of these prostheses and the perception of the artificial limb as a separate part of the body continue to pose challenges for researchers.

Around 1.9 million people in Austria suffer from chronic back pain - it is very widespread and the second most common reason for sick leave.

In a complex procedure, a team from the Department of Cardiac Surgery at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna has, for the first time, successfully inserted a novel implant for treating tricuspid valve regurgitation via a single access on one side of the groin.

On the Medical Research Mile on the Long Night of Research on 20 May 2022, MedUni Vienna's focus will be on two major organs of the human body.

To mark World Hypertension Day on 17 May, MedUni Vienna is raising awareness about the growing number of children and adolescents with high blood pressure.

Three-quarters of the products that German-speaking influencers post about on various social media channels are so unhealthy that they contravene the WHO (World Health Organization) advertising standards for children.

Aortic valve regurgitation is one of the commonest heart defects. If the aortic valve no longer closes tightly, the valve has to be reconstructed or replaced.

On 1 May 2022, Antonia Müller, an expert in stem cell and immune cell therapies, took over the Chair in Cell Therapy and Transfusion Medicine (§98) at MedUni Vienna and leadership of the Department of Blood Group Serology and Transfusion Medicine of MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna.

The end of March was the deadline for applications to take part in the joint admission procedures for the medical universities in Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz as well as the Medical Faculty of Johannes Kepler University in Linz.