Inserm Newsroom - Press room of the French national institute of health and medical research

November 14th 2015: world diabetes day

Initiated by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization, World Diabetes Day, which takes place next Saturday, 14 November, is aimed at sensitising and informing the general public about diabetes prevention and management.   Diabetes, type 1 or type 2, is a chronic disease characterised by insufficient production of insulin, or by poor […]

Fatty acids, essential for the nervous system… of the gut (as well)

Two Inserm research teams have just shown that failure of the intestine to produce a lipid “messenger” is associated with Crohn’s disease, a common and highly disabling inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

THE INTESTINAL FLORA AS A COMPLEMENT TO IMMUNOTHERAPY IN ONCOLOGY

The vital role of the intestinal flora in successful immunotherapy has just been revealed in a study published in the journal Science. Intestinal bacteria have been identified that can improve the therapeutic response to this drug and reduce a side-effect, “inflammatory colitis,” regularly encountered with this treatment.

This research implies that the efficacy of immunotherapy in oncology might in future be dictated by the composition of the patient’s intestinal flora. The researchers hope to develop a test for predicting the response to these treatments by analysing the intestinal flora. They also hope to offer those patients who need it the opportunity to reconstitute a flora which will restore the anti-tumour effect of the immunotherapy.

Inserm at COP21

L’Inserm s’engage dans le cadre de la COP21 : symposiums scientifiques, conférences pour le grand public.

An anti-diabetic drug corrects dyspraxia associated with neonatal diabetes

Researchers from Inserm and physicians from the Department of Paediatric Endocrinology, Gynaecology and Diabetology at Necker Hospital for Sick Children (AP-HP, Inserm U1016, Paris Descartes University, Imagine Institute) have developed an improved treatment for a rare form of early childhood diabetes associated with cognitive disorders. Their work, conducted in collaboration with the Neurophysiology Department of Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, shows that a drug used for decades to treat type 2 diabetes in older subjects acts on the brain of these children. It reduces their hyperactivity and improves their ability to perform precise movements such as writing. The work has recently been the subject of a publication in the journal Diabetes Care.

October 29th 2015: World Stroke Day

A Cerebrovascular Accident results from the interruption of blood flow to the brain. The deprivation of oxygen and essential nutrients causes brain cells to die, leading to permanent damage (speech or writing difficulty, memory problems, bodily paralysis to a greater or lesser extent), or even sudden death.

October 29th 2015: World Stroke Day

A Cerebrovascular Accident results from the interruption of blood flow to the brain. The deprivation of oxygen and essential nutrients causes brain cells to die, leading to permanent damage (speech or writing difficulty, memory problems, bodily paralysis to a greater or lesser extent), or even sudden death. World Cerebrovascular Accident Day is organised on 29 […]

Obesity: surgery corrects diabetes even before weight loss occurs

Each year, obesity kills 2.8 million people worldwide. When confronting morbid overweight—and its direct consequence, type 2 diabetes—surgery is used as a last resort. Strangely, in patients who have had such an operation, the diabetes disappears before and independently of weight loss. Inserm researchers, with the help of physicians from Bichat Hospital, AP-HP, have shown that the surgically reconfigured intestine might be at the root of this improved glycaemic control. This study is published in Gastroenterology.

Radioactive sources discovered at the University of Bordeaux

Inserm is paying close attention to the level 2 incident, declared on 21 October 2015 by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), which occurred in a joint Inserm/University of Bordeaux laboratory.

Fresh insight into the causes of infant and perinatal mortality in the Seine-Saint-Denis district

In 2012, the Île-de-France Regional Health Agency initiated a regional project aimed at Reducing Infant and Perinatal Mortality (RéMI). This initiative was primarily focused on Seine-Saint-Denis, a district characterised by excess infant mortality (death before one year of age) and perinatal mortality (foetal deaths and deaths in the first week of life).