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

Development of an alternative to bone grafting for edentate patients

Decreased jaw bone volume in edentate patients is the main difficulty which arises when fitting dental implants. Bone grafting is currently the most frequent solution for this problem. However, this method has several disadvantages, such as deterioration of the bone graft over time. Between 2010 and 2015, Pierre Layrolle, Inserm researcher, working with Norwegian and German teams as part of the REBORNE European project, tested an innovative technique for bone augmentation in 11 edentate patients, by combining a biomaterial with stem cells. The results, published in the journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy, demonstrate sufficient growth of viable bone in the treated area to allow implants to be fitted, together with the durable preservation of this bone after fitting dental prostheses.

An Unbalanced Maternal Diet Affects the Digestive System of Offspring

Inadequate protein intake in a gestating female is linked to lasting digestive abnormalities in her offspring. When studying the link between perinatal malnutrition and digestive system in rats, a team of researchers from Inserm in conjunction with Inra, Université de Nantes and University Hospital Nantes discovered functional digestive abnormalities in young rats and an inappropriate response to stress. Although conducted in animals, this research once again demonstrates the incidence of perinatal stress on health in adulthood and draws our attention to the impacts of restrictive diet-related or involuntary deficiencies during pregnancy. This research has been published in The FASEB Journal.

Fewer cases of cancer in organic food consumers?

A 25% reduction in cancer risk has been observed among “regular” organic food consumers, compared to consumers who eat organic less often. These were the findings of an epidemiological study conducted by a team from Inra, Inserm, University of Paris 13, CNAM, following analysis of a sample of 68,946 participants in the NutriNet‐Santé cohort.

Identifying a genetic factor causing lung fibrosis complicating rheumatoid arthritis

Teams of rheumatology, respiratory medicine, genetics and the university hospital department FIRE Hospital Bichat Claude Bernard AP-HP, in collaboration with INSERM, Université Paris Diderot, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, have discovered that a rare allele of rs35705950 variant gene MUC5B multiply by six the risk of occurrence of pulmonary fibrosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This broad study of genetic association demonstrates the existence of a common genetic basis between pulmonary fibrosis associated with rheumatoid arthritis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

These results, obtained with the participation of national and international network of pulmonologists and rheumatologists, are published in the journal The New England Journal of Medicine October 20, 2018.

They are a first step in understanding the diffuse interstitial lung disease (PID) of rheumatoid arthritis, a serious complication whose therapeutic management is not currently codified.

Outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis undetected by standard tests

Amid a plan announced by the United Nations to eradicate tuberculosis by 2030, a new study has revealed the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of the disease which go undetected by WHO-endorsed tests. These findings, from an international research team co-directed by CNRS researcher Philip Supply at the Center of Infection and Immunity of Lille (CNRS/INSERM/Institut Pasteur de Lille/Université de Lille), are published in the 17 October 2018 edition of The Lancet Infectious Diseases. This follows another article, published in the 26 September edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, proposing a new algorithm to detect resistant strains of tuberculosis.

Tools: Sensory Organs in Their Own Right ?

What if by holding a tool we could perceive our environment through touch – using the whole tool, and not just the tip? A study by Inserm researchers at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (Inserm/Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1/CNRS) has shown just that – the capacity of the human brain to incorporate a tool as an actual sensory organ. This research, published in Nature, raises the question of a new paradigm concerning the sense of touch, its interpretation when developing our use of tools, and in its medical applications – particularly prosthetics.

An Improved Diet Could Protect Against Depression

Researchers from Inserm and Université de Montpellier have produced a meta-analysis of the links between a simple-to-use score measuring adherence to dietary guidelines and the development of depressive disorders. The researchers were able to show that adopting a Mediterranean diet (high in fruit, vegetables, fish and whole grains) was linked to a 33% reduction in the risk of depression. These results were published in Molecular Psychiatry.

NONO, “The Red Flag System” That Detects HIV

There is not one but several types of HIV. Although HIV-1, which is the most common, wreaks havoc in infected populations, this is not the case for HIV-2 which less frequently leads to the development of AIDS. But why does the immune system do a better job of fighting this version of the virus? Researchers from Inserm and Institut Curie looked at this question. Researchers from Inserm and Institut Curie identified the NONO protein, a detector which is more sensitive to HIV-2 and responsible for direct recognition of the virus by the immune system. This work, published in the journal Cell, provides a better understanding of the natural control of HIV and paves the way for new progress in the search for a vaccine for this virus.

Center-based and Other Forms of Childcare: An Impact on the Behavioral and Emotional Development of Children.

Researchers from Inserm, Sorbonne Université and Université de Bordeaux have published a study based on data from 1,428 children showing that access to a center-based form of childcare between the ages of 0 and 3 years is linked to fewer emotional and peer relationship problems in later life compared with other forms of childcare. These findings were published on October 1, 2018 in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

20% of reactions to radiologic contrast media are real allergies

A team of Pole-Imaging Research Explorations-European Hospital Georges Pompidou AP-HP, Paris Descartes University and INSERM led by Professor Olivier Clément, and a team from Caen University Hospital and the University of Caen Normandy, led by Dr Dominique Laroche, conducted the first national prospective multicenter study on allergic reactions to contrast media in radiology. 31 centers in France bringing together radiologists investigators, allergists, anesthetists and biologists have investigated 245 cases of hypersensitivity to contrast media.