- 2014
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News in brief - 07.05.2014
Using “good cholesterol” as a therapeutic vector for treating the lungs
One of the major challenges for therapeutic science is to optimise the accurate distribution of drugs in the affected organs. Targeted delivery methods are needed to accomplish this. In a new study published in The American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Olivier Meilhac’s team (Inserm Unit 1148, the “Laboratory for Vascular Translational Science,” […]
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Press releases - 30.04.2014
Metastases: Tumour Cell Dissemination
Carine Rossé, INSERM research fellow and Philippe Chavrier, Research Director at CNRS, working alongside Dr. Anne Vincent-Salomon, medical researcher at the Institut Curie, have recently discovered one of the mechanisms that allow triple negative breast cancer cells to exit the mammary gland.
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What's on? - 30.04.2014
World Asthma Day
World Asthma Day will take place on 6 May next. This chronic inflammatory respiratory disease is caused by an abnormal reactivity to environmental substances known as “allergens,” since they are liable to provoke an allergic reaction or irritation of the respiratory tract (pollutants, mites, pollens, etc.). It is characterised by recurrent attacks during which the […]
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What's on? - 23.04.2014
25 April 2014 – World Malaria Day
According to WHO, malaria in pregnant women (Pregnancy Associated Malaria) constitutes a major public health problem, involving substantial risks for the mother and foetus, and hence the newborn. The main consequences of infection with Plasmodium falciparum are a malaria-related pathology in the mother and low birth weight in the infant, an important factor in infant […]
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Press releases - 22.04.2014
Discovery of two types of adrenal cancer
Adrenocortical carcinoma (also known as adrenal cortex cancer or ACC), is a generally aggressive tumour, with a mean survival rate of less than five years for those affected. Apart from metastasis, it exposes the patients to manifestations such as high blood pressure, diabetes, decreased potassium level, infections, etc. There is, however, some patient-dependent variation in tumour development. The team led by Prof. Bertherat at the Cochin Institute (Inserm – CNRS – Paris Descartes University) and the Expert Centre for Rare Adrenal Cancers at Cochin Hospital (AP-HP) has just published a molecular classification for this cancer in the journal Nature Genetics. The researchers identify many molecular abnormalities in these cancers that have not been well known until now, and thus reveal a new classification for these tumours.
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Press releases - 18.04.2014
Inserm and the Institut Pasteur identify a new variant of Ebola virus in Guinea
In an article which appeared in The New England journal of Medicine on 16 April, researchers from Inserm (Jean Mérieux-Inserm BSL-4 Laboratory, Lyon) and the Institut Pasteur have published their initial findings on the characteristics of the Ebola virus discovered in Guinea. Initial virological investigations enabled them to identify Zaire ebolavirus as the pathogen responsible for this epidemic. Performed in less than a month, sequencing of the complete genome and subsequent phylogenetic analysis show that the virus present in Guinea forms a clade (variant) that is distinct from strains previously identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Gabon. Epidemiological investigations also linked the laboratory confirmed cases with the initial deaths recorded during the December 2013 outbreak.
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What's on? - 17.04.2014
Juno : the secret of the egg finally revealed
After a decade of research, a team of researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has identified Juno, a protein located on the membrane of the egg cell that enables the sperm cell to recognise it. Its presence, and that of Izumo (its counterpart on the sperm cell), is essential for fertilisation. Fusion of the […]
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Press releases - 17.04.2014
Innovative strategy to facilitate organ repair
A team led by Ludwik Leibler from the Laboratoire Matière Molle et Chimie (CNRS/ESPCI Paris Tech) and Didier Letourneur from the Laboratoire Recherche Vasculaire Translationnelle (INSERM/Universités Paris Diderot and Paris 13), has just demonstrated that the principle of adhesion by aqueous solutions of nanoparticles can be used in vivo to repair soft-tissue organs and tissues.
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Press releases - 10.04.2014
Confirmation of the neurobiological origin of attention – deficit disorder
A study, carried out on mice, has just confirmed the neurobiological origin of attention – deficit disorder (ADD), a syndrome whose causes are poorly understood.
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News in brief - 10.04.2014
A microbiota bacterium protects the large intestine from inflammation
The microbiota, which is the term used to describe all micro-organisms living in the mucous membranes, is vital for our health and affects our development, metabolism, immune system etc. However, most of the mechanisms which allow it to play this important role have yet to be discovered. Researchers in Inserm Unit 892 “Nantes-Angers regional cancer […]