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

Action on dietary behaviours, a collective expert review by Inserm

Le rôle des facteurs nutritionnels (alimentation et activité physique) dans le développement du surpoids et de l’obésité et dans la survenue de nombreuses maladies chroniques telles que les cancers, les maladies cardiovasculaires, le diabète et l’arthrose est à ce jour scientifiquement bien établi. Ces maladies constituent la première cause de mortalité à l’échelle de la planète et le nombre de patients concernés ne cesse d’augmenter.

Friday 7 April: World Health Day 2017, focus on depression

Each year on the same date, so as to mark the date of its creation, the World Health Organisation alerts politicians and the media to a public health problem. This year it is depression which is in the spotlight. This affects individuals of any age from any country in the world. If depression can be […]

High-throughput genomic analyses enhance cancer prognosis !

In a study published on 1 April 2017 in the prestigious journal Cancer Discovery, research teams at Gustave Roussy, Inserm and Paris-Sud University demonstrate that analysing the molecular portrait of a malignant tumour makes it possible to identify the appropriate therapy and improve the prognosis of patients with cancer. MOSCATO, the biggest precision medicine study conducted to date, proves it for the first time.

Decision-making, a contagious process

Les individus apprennent à évaluer le niveau de prudence, de patience ou de fainéantise dont font preuve les autres après avoir observé leur comportement, mais surtout, cela influe sur leurs propres décisions, sans même qu’ils s’en rendent compte. Une découverte qui pourrait avoir des retombées en neurosciences. Les décisions de nos voisins inspirent-elles les nôtres ? C’est ce que laissent entendre les travaux de Jean Daunizeau et Marie Devaine, deux chercheurs Inserm à l’Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière à Paris (Inserm/ CNRS/ UPMC). Ils ont étudié le comportement de personnes soumises à des choix faisant appel à la prudence, la patience ou l’effort et montrent qu’après avoir observé le comportement d’autres individus, elles se mettent à les imiter, sans même s’en rendre compte !

Sunday 2 April: World Autism Awareness Day

On 2 April, World Autism Awareness Day takes place with the aim of raising awareness and better informing the general public on the realities of this development disorder.
Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that appears during childhood and continues into adulthood. It presents as an altered ability to establish social interactions and communicate, and as behavioural problems.

France has about 100 young people under 20 who have Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). Childhood autism affects about 30,000 of them

Sunday 2 April: World Autism Awareness Day

On 2 April, World Autism Awareness Day takes place with the aim of raising awareness and better informing the general public on the realities of this development disorder.  Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that appears during childhood and continues into adulthood. It presents as an altered ability to establish social interactions and communicate, and […]

Measuring gray matter to predict recovery from coma

Predicting recovery from coma following cardiac arrest remains a question to which physicians do not have an exact response. When – and if – a critical care patient will recover consciousness is evaluated essentially by means of recurrent clinical examinations and the recording of brain activity. Researchers at Inserm (Inserm Unit 1214 Toulouse NeuroImaging Center) […]

François DABIS appointed Director of ANRS

Prof. François Dabis has just been appointed Director of ANRS, an autonomous agency of Inserm, by the Ministers responsible for Research and Health, on the proposal of the Chairman and CEO of Inserm. A physician, academic and internationally renowned researcher, Prof. Dabis specialises in epidemiology and public health. He succeeds Prof. Jean-François Delfraissy, the new President of the National Consultative Ethics Committee.

Moving to summer time: how does it impact our health?

During the last weekend in March we moved to summer time.

During the night of Saturday into Sunday, we put our clocks forward one hour.

Does this change in the hour, whose benefit lies mainly in energy savings, have an impact on our health? Does it disturb our biological clock and the quality of our sleep ?

Moving to summer time: how does it impact our health?

During the last weekend in March we moved to summer time. During the night of Saturday into Sunday, we put our clocks forward one hour. Claude Gronfier, a neurobiologist and researcher at Inserm (Unit 1208), has shown that the biological functions of the body are regulated by the circadian rhythm, a cycle of 24 hours […]