- 2017
- Press releases - 13.06.2017
Prenatal stress affects life expectancy in offspring
Major prenatal stress reduces the lifespan of adult offspring by over 2 years. Inserm researchers have obtained these results by studying a cohort of children born between 1914 and 1916, some of whom lost their father in combat before they were even born. Stress suffered by the mother seems to weaken the fetus, at a developmental stage characterized by a high level of plasticity. These results were published in PNAS by a team from Inserm Unit 1169, “Gene Therapy, Genetics and Epigenetics in Neurology, Endocrinology, Cardiology, and Child Development”: Nicolas Todd, Pierre Bougnères, and Alain-Jacques Valleron.
- Press releases - 12.06.2017
Blood test developed to detect rare neurological disease
Teams from the AP-HP Paris public hospitals network, in collaboration with researchers from the Brain & Spine Institute (ICM) (Inserm/CNRS/UPMC), and Metafora biosystems, a start-up with links to the CNRS, have recently developed a diagnostic blood test for a rare but treatable condition called De Vivo disease.
It was tested on 30 patients with the disease, which causes neurological deficits such as epilepsy and movement disorders.
Compared with current diagnostic tests that use an invasive procedure (lumbar puncture) or complex DNA analysis, this new test[1], the results of which have been published in Annals of Neurology, will be able to screen for the condition rapidly (within 48h) and with ease in both adults and children.
- Press releases - 09.06.2017
We’re all a bit Neanderthal… or are we?
A study conducted by Inserm researchers at the Research Institute for Environmental and Occupational Health (Irset)[1] has shown that natural selection has “purged” our bodies of many of the traces of our ancient Neanderthal and Denisovan cousins in the genes responsible for the genetic mixing essential to reproduction. The researchers have shown that the genes expressed during meiosis in the cells that produce gametes (reproductive cells) are strongly deficient in genetic variations of Neanderthal origin that were the result of the interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. These results have been published in Molecular Biology and Evolution.
- Press releases - 08.06.2017
Cough syrup effective in stroke
N-acetylcysteine (Mucomyst®, Exomuc®, Fluimucyl®) is commonly used as a treatment for clearing mucus from the airways, but researchers from Inserm Unit 1237, “Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders” (Inserm/ UNICAEN), led by Denis Vivien, have shown that it is also capable of unblocking arteries obstructed by a blood clot. This study, coordinated by Maxime Gauberti and Sara Martinez de Lizarrondo, opens the way to a new treatment strategy in stroke. The work was published in May in Circulation.
- Press releases - 06.06.2017
Students at Increased Risk of Consuming Stimulants
With exam time looming, a certain number of students with intense workloads are succumbing to the use of stimulants to boost their intellectual capacities. Classified as psychotropics, stimulants are medicinal doping agents that boost the brain’s function by increasing its capacity for alertness and performance. A study by Inserm published in April 2016 showed that one third of the 1,700 medical students questioned were taking stimulants. Among them, 29.7% were consuming readily-available products (energy drinks, caffeine tablets), 6.7% prescribed stimulants, and 5.2% illicit drugs.
- What's on? - 06.06.2017
Students at Increased Risk of Consuming Stimulants
With exam time looming, a certain number of students with intense workloads are succumbing to the use of stimulants to boost their intellectual capacities. Classified as psychotropics, stimulants are medicinal doping agents that boost the brain’s function by increasing its capacity for alertness and performance. Used to enhance memory and concentration at exam time, the […]
- Press releases - 04.06.2017
Refractory cardiac arrest: an aggressive ECPR strategy significantly increases patient survival
Multidisciplinary teams from the AP-HP Paris public hospitals network (SAMU75 emergency response dispatch centers and Hôpital européen Georges-Pompidou), as well as from Inserm, the Université Paris-Descartes, and the Paris BSPP medical emergency service, compared, in the French capital, two strategies of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) used in patients suffering refractory cardiac arrest (defined as lack of return of spontaneous circulation after 30 minutes of resuscitation). The results of this study, which took place between November 2011 and December 2015 and involved 156 patients, were published on the website of the journal Resuscitation on April 14, 2017 and show that an aggressive strategy significantly increases patient survival following discharge from intensive care and with a favorable neurological prognosis. It is the largest cohort to be studied in Europe and the United States.
- Press releases - 02.06.2017
Twin Pregnancies in France: is Vaginal Delivery Preferable After All?
JUMODA, a prospective study sponsored by the Paris public hospitals (AP-HP) and conducted between 2014 and 2015 by teams of researchers and clinicians from Inserm, Université Paris Descartes and AP-HP, has shed new light on the mode of delivering twins. According to the coordinators of JUMODA (“MOde D’Accouchement des JUmeaux”), Professors Thomas Schmitz and François Goffinet, vaginal delivery is associated with decreased neonatal morbidity and mortality rates for both twins. These results have been published in the June issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
- Press releases - 31.05.2017
The Imminent Return of Astronaut Thomas Pesquet
After 6 months of life in space as part of the Proxima mission, French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet will land on Friday, June 2, 2017, in the middle of the afternoon (4:08 p.m. Paris time), aboard the Soyuz capsule which is expected to touch down in the Kazakhstani steppes.
- What's on? - 31.05.2017
The Imminent Return of Astronaut Thomas Pesquet
After 6 months of life in space as part of the Proxima mission, French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet will land on Friday, June 2, 2017, in the middle of the afternoon (4:08 p.m. Paris time), aboard the Soyuz capsule which is expected to touch down in the Kazakhstani steppes. On the station, he carried out […]