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

OpenViBE2 : A major French project involving Brain-Computer Interfaces applied to video games

OpenViBE2 (2009-2013) is a collaborative research project, supported by finance from the ANR, that is based on the potential of the technologies known as “brain-computer interfaces”(ico) in the field of video games.This is a project that has brought together the scientific expertise needed through a multi-disciplinary consortium consisting of nine partners – the university laboratories who pioneered the field (INRIA, INSERM, cea, GIPSA-Lab), well-known video-game manufacturers (ubisoft, blacksheep studio, kylotonn games) and specialists in usage and transfer (lutin, clarte).After three years of work and achieving numerous scientific advances associated with the development of innovative industry prototypes, OpenViBE2 has made it possible to have greater control over the future of such technologies on the French market as well as internationally.

The skin aging regulator

Despite progress in regenerative medicine, with age, the skin loses its properties in an irreversible manner. The ATIP-Avenir team “Epidermal homeostasis and tumorigenesis” directed by Chloé Féral, an Inserm researcher at the French Cancer and Aging Research Institute (Inserm/CNRS/Université Sophia Antipolis), has just defined the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in maintaining skin cells and skin healing in advanced years. These mechanisms, described in vivo in mice, engage molecule CD98hc, which is involved in epidermis renewal and could be an indicator of the skin’s capacity for regeneration.

20) Eating fast food could increase the risks of eczema and asthma

A study led by Pr. Innes Asher from theUniversityofAucklandin theUnited Stateshas just demonstrated that the food served in fast-food restaurants could be implicated in respiratory diseases and in severe chronic allergies such as allergic rhinitis, eczema or severe asthma. This study, that was published in the review Thorax, involved around 319,000 adolescents aged between 11 […]

“Small” and “big” dreamers: what is happening inside our brains?

It is currently impossible, using the resources available to researchers, to make this distinction. Yet the INSERM researchers of Unit 1028 “Centre de recherche en neuroscience de Lyon) have succeeded in developing a test that makes it possible to analyse brain activity in small and big dreamers and to draw a few conclusions. Their work […]

Inauguration of TherA-Image, imaging technology-assisted treatment platform

Imagine, in this hybrid operating theatre, surgeons, physicians and engineers surrounded by control screens, using enhanced and roboticised reality systems, enabling interventions that are even more accurate and safe. At the Signal and Image Processing Laboratory (University of Rennes 1 / Inserm), researchers, engineers and doctors at the Rennes CHU Cardio-pneumological Centre have been working together to bring the TherA-Image platform into existence.

Harmful effects of bisphenol A proved experimentally

Weak concentrations of bisphenol A are sufficient to produce a negative reaction on the human testicle. This has just been shown experimentally for the first time by René Habert and his colleagues (UMR Cellules souches et Radiations [UMR Stem Cells and Radiation], Inserm U 967 – CEA – Paris Diderot University) in an article that appeared in the journal entitled Plos One.

Comment des souris subissant des agressions répétées développent une aversion sociale

In women, certain types of migraine appear to increase the risk of cardiovascular problems

According to a study due to be presented in detail to the next congress of the American Academy of Neurology, women who suffer from a certain type of migraine with visual troubles seems to be three times more likely than other women to develop a cardiovascular disease. The other main author of this study, Tobias […]

Food insecurity attributed to future behavioural disorders in children

When a household experiences financial difficulties, the portion of the budget allocated to food is often restricted. In some cases, these difficulties may lead to food insecurity, i.e. limited and irregular access to a healthy and balanced diet. Based on a case study of 2,120 children, a team of Inserm researchers coordinated by Maria Mechior (Inserm Unit 1017 “Research Centre into epidemiology and population health”) has shown that children in food-insecure families have a high risk of developing long-term behavioural disorders, such as hyperactivity and attention deficiency.

Regenerative medicine: clinical trials launched for the treatment of delayed union fractures

The REBORNE project, funded by the European Commission and coordinated by Inserm, has just received the green light from the French Medicinal Agency ANSM to begin orthopaedic surgery clinical trials.