- 2021
- Press releases - 04.01.2021
A New Mechanism Involved in the Development of Persistent Bacterial Infections
So-called “persistent” bacterial infections constitute a major public health problem and are linked to significant failures of antibiotic treatments. Researchers from Inserm and Université de Rennes 1, in collaboration with a team based in Switzerland, have identified a new mechanism to explain the persistence of Staphylococcus aureus.
- 2020
- Press releases - 18.12.2020
COVID-19 Causes 3 Times More Deaths Than Seasonal Flu
A study by Inserm and Dijon University Hospital based on French nationwide data on around 130,000 patients hospitalized for either COVID-19 or seasonal influenza shows that the mortality rate among those admitted for COVID is three times higher than that of seasonal influenza.
- Press releases - 09.12.2020
Discovery of a Mechanism Explaining the Beneficial Action of Cancer Drug Tamoxifen on the Cardiovascular System
A commonly used treatment in some forms of breast cancer, tamoxifen acts on the cancer cells by blocking the estrogen receptor (ER)a and thereby inhibiting their proliferation. However, the action of this drug appears to be more complex than that, with the addition of protective effects on the arteries that could reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
- Press releases - 08.12.2020
Study – Particularly active antibodies to act as a barrier to SARS-CoV-2
Teams from the Pitié-Salpêtrière AP-HP hospital, Sorbonne University, Inserm and the Pasteur Institute have carried out work to study the role that IgA-type antibodies play in the protection of body against Covid-19 in the mucous membranes, in particular respiratory.
- Press releases - 04.12.2020
Published Now in the New England Journal of Medicine: The Initial Results of the Solidarity/Discovery Clinical Trial
Back at the start of the pandemic, Inserm, through its REACTing consortium, set up Discovery: a European clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of four antiviral drugs repurposed for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir and interferon beta-1a). In parallel, the World Health Organization (WHO) set up Solidarity, a major consortium of clinical trials also aimed at testing the efficacy of these four treatments. Discovery then joined forces with Solidarity to help supply it with robust and rigorous data.
- Press releases - 03.12.2020
A Disruption of the Microbiota Is Linked to the Formation of a Molecule Promoting Type 2 Diabetes
An imbalanced diet has been linked to a disruption of the gut microbiota, which promotes metabolic diseases such as diabetes. Researchers have shown, in a large European cohort, that changes in the composition of the gut microbiota lead to increased blood levels of the molecule imidazole propionate. A molecule known to render the body’s cells resistant to insulin, thereby increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Press releases - 01.12.2020
Deciphering the energetic code of cells for better anticancer therapies
A procedure that may help personalise anticancer therapies has just been developed by the CNRS, Inserm, and Aix-Marseille University scientists at the Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, in association with colleagues from the University of California San Francisco and the Marseille Public University Hospital System (AP-HM), with support from Canceropôle Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur.
- Press releases - 01.12.2020
Neuroscience Provides New Ways to Understand the Origin of Our Emotions
Are our emotions innate or are they the product of our culture and environment? This question has long been the subject of debate in the field of neuroscience. Researchers provide robust clinical data in favor of the second hypothesis. Their work suggests that our ability to know and recognize emotions is built up gradually and depends on our knowledge of language.
- Press releases - 30.11.2020
Links between nutrition and the brain: how a maternal omega-3 deficiency can influence the behavioural development of offspring in animals
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential, necessarily supplied by the diet and indispensable to brain development. Scientists have focused in particular on the impact of the maternal diet during gestation and lactation on the brain development of their offspring. They have thus shown for the first time in mice how an insufficient intake of omega-3 in the mother can alter the development of neuronal networks in the offspring, causing memory deficits. They have also deciphered the molecular mechanisms underpinning these effects.
- Press releases - 27.11.2020
A new cerebral canalopathy associating intellectual disability and abnormal movements
Dysfunctions of ion channels – or channelopathies – in the brain are today associated with more than 30 neurological diseases such as epilepsy or cerebellar ataxias. A study conducted at the Brain Institute (Sorbonne University / Inserm / AP-HP / CNRS) identified a new cerebral channelopathy originating from dominant mutations in the KCNN2 gene, encoding the SK2 ion channel.