- 2017
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What's on? - 16.05.2017
May 15 to 19: French skin cancer prevention and screening week
The French Federation of Dermatologists-Venereologists (SNDV) is proposing an information week on the precautions to take in the sun, along with free skin cancer screenings, to take place across the country. This initiative is also an opportunity to raise public awareness of the risk factors that can lead to skin cancer. According to the French […]
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Press releases - 10.05.2017
Friday May 12: International Fibromyalgia Awareness Day
Recognized as a rheumatic disease by the WHO in 1992, fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic widespread and persistent pain occurring in multiple areas of the body. This affects functional capacity, which varies over time and from individual to individual.
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What's on? - 10.05.2017
Friday May 12: International Fibromyalgia Awareness Day
Recognized as a rheumatic disease by the WHO in 1992, fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic widespread and persistent pain occurring in multiple areas of the body. This affects functional capacity, which varies over time and from individual to individual. In addition, sufferers very frequently experience chronic fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, attention and sleep disorders, as well […]
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Press releases - 09.05.2017
Organic pollutants and obesity are not a good combination
A team of researchers from Prof. Robert Barouki’s Inserm unit (Inserm Unit 1124/Université Paris Descartes), led by Prof. Xavier Coumoul, has recently shown that the Seveso dioxin, an organic pollutant found in our food and in the atmosphere, causes liver damage in mice fed a high-fat diet. This effect is related to its action on a signaling pathway also activated by diesel and tobacco particles. The results were published last March in Environment Health and Perspectives.
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What's on? - 05.05.2017
Wednesday, May 10, 2017: World Lupus Day
Let us take this opportunity, on World Lupus Day, to revisit this chronic autoimmune disease, which triggers an inflammatory response directed against affected patients’ own immune systems. One of the forms of the disease, known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), affects several organs of the body: skin, joints, kidneys, nervous system, etc. Treatment of SLE […]
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Press releases - 04.05.2017
Communication between neurons implicated in autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities
An international collaborative study coordinated by Frédéric Laumonnier (Unit 930 “Imaging and Brain” Inserm/University of Tours) and Yann Hérault of the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (Inserm/ CNRS/ University of Strasbourg) provides new and original findings on the pathophysiological role of the contact areas between neurons in certain brain disorders. The study reveals that mutation of one of the genes involved in intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder leads to dysfunction of the synapses, which are essential for neuronal communication.
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Press releases - 02.05.2017
Two blood tests for predicting the efficacy of a lung cancer treatment
ALK gene rearrangement is observed in 4% of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Researchers from Gustave Roussy, Inserm and Université Paris-Sud, have shown that two blood samples can now predict the efficacy of treatment (crizotinib). These blood samples (taken before treatment initiation and 2 months afterwards) are able to measure the changes in the number of circulating tumor cells[1] (CTC) with a specific genetic abnormality (abnormal number of ALK gene copies). A reduction in this cell count is predictive of longer relapse-free survival in these patients. This research was published in the Cancer Research journal on May 1st. It illustrates the potential of CTC as a liquid biopsy.
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Press releases - 28.04.2017
The creation of a pluridisciplinary Institute for the study of migration
The current migratory crisis in Europe shows the necessity to have solid scientific data to help public authorities take important decisions, in the context of emergencies and varied political situations. In response to these concerns, Inserm and the CNRS have enlisted five teaching and research institutions (Ined – French National Institute for demographic studies, IRD – French Institute for Development Research, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, EHESS – School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences – and EPHE – School of Advanced Practical Studies), with the aim of creating an interdisciplinary Institute for the study of migration. It will take shape in 2019 on the Condorcet Campus, and will bring together 200 researchers. This organisation will be financed by the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research as part of the ‘Instituts Convergence’ call for projects.
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Press releases - 27.04.2017
Endotoxic Shock: the Protective Role of Neutrophil Immune Cells
Researchers from Institut Pasteur and Inserm, in collaboration with Stanford University, have demonstrated the protective role of immune cells, called neutrophil granulocytes, in endotoxic shock – the component of septic shock related to the action of bacterial toxins. An effect thought to be based on the principal enzyme produced by these cells: myeloperoxidase. This discovery has been published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
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What's on? - 25.04.2017
Tuesday, 2 May: World Asthma Day
Asthme chez l’enfant : test de la fonction pulmonaire (spirométrie) On the initiative of WHO, World Vaccination Week is the opportunity to raise public awareness of the vital importance of vaccination throughout life. The number of children in the world who are not vaccinated or are inadequately vaccinated is 19.4 million, according to WHO. To […]