Precisely how do we distinguish the texture of objects by touch? This is what has just been decoded by a study led by Clément Léna, research director at Inserm and Daniela Popa, a researcher at Inserm in Mixed Research Unit 1024: Biology Institute, École Normale Supérieure (Inserm, ENS, CNRS) and published in the journal Nature […]
Patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease complain of severe sleep disturbances such as inability to fall asleep or, in contrast, periods of drowsiness during the day. While dopaminergic treatment dramatically improves the disease’s motor symptoms (calming tremors, for instance), its effects on sleep continued to be challenged, suggesting that the alteration of other (non-dopaminergic) neurons might […]
An international team involving researchers from INSERM, CEA and APHP in France have successfully modelled the risk factors for alcohol abuse during adolescence. The results of the study were published on Nature Magazine’s website on 2 July. In France, alcohol consumption most often begins in adolescence. Today, 80% of 17-year-olds admit to having consumed alcohol […]
It has been known for about ten years that some oestrogen/progestin menopausal hormone therapies (MHT) are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Studies have nonetheless suggested that this risk is rapidly attenuated or even eliminated in 2-5 years if the patients stop their treatment. However, questions remain regarding this attenuation, and its relationship […]
One of the major challenges for therapeutic science is to optimise the accurate distribution of drugs in the affected organs. Targeted delivery methods are needed to accomplish this. In a new study published in The American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Olivier Meilhac’s team (Inserm Unit 1148, the “Laboratory for Vascular Translational Science,” […]
The microbiota, which is the term used to describe all micro-organisms living in the mucous membranes, is vital for our health and affects our development, metabolism, immune system etc. However, most of the mechanisms which allow it to play this important role have yet to be discovered. Researchers in Inserm Unit 892 “Nantes-Angers regional cancer […]
Some cells in our bodies need to increase their surface area significantly in order to perform their functions. This is particularly true of neurons, whose cell membrane surface area increases by 20% every day during development. When neurons reach maturity, their membrane surface area is 250,000 µm², totalling 25000 m² when all the neurons in […]
When we perform an action for a specific purpose, or in response to a stimulus, it is imperative that we be able to correct it while carrying it out if it turns out to be inappropriate. Such an ability affects the quality of our daily lives, both in our immediate motor activity (not “running” a […]
Leptin is a hormone secreted by adipose cells, sending the satiety signal to the brain. Sometimes, certain overweight or obese individuals develop resistance to this hormone, which is no longer able to deliver its message. A team led by Vincent Prévot, Inserm Research Director at the Jean Pierre Aubert Research Centre in Lille, has used […]
A €6 million grant awarded to the HumEn project by the European Commission has helped bring together the main institutes carrying out stem cell research, including Inserm, and European industrial partners wishing to develop insulin-producing cells as a future cell replacement therapy for diabetes. The complete maturation of human pluripotent stem cells into transplantable beta […]
Despite its beneficial effects against pain, morphine use is accompanied by adverse effects such as constipation, nausea, vomiting, respiratory depression, and potential dependence on the drug. A research team led by Alain Eschalier, Director of Inserm Unit 1107, Neuro-Dol, in Clermont Ferrand, has just shown that it is possible to separate these two types of […]
