A team of researchers from CEA, Inserm, and the Paris-Sud and Paris Diderot universities has shown that exposure to low doses of irradiation (0.02 Gy) leads of a loss of hematopoietic stem cell[1] (HSC) function. The team has also shown that irradiation at this low dose facilitates efficient bone marrow transplantation without myeloablation[2]. These results, published in Cell Reports on September 26, 2017, show both the positive and negative...
Between 2010 and 2012, 256 women died in France from causes linked to pregnancy, labor, or following childbirth, amounting to 85 such cases a year. Although inequalities remain, improvements have been observed in the provision of labor care, with the death rate from hemorrhage halving. These epidemiological results have been made public by the triennial report of the Confidential Inquiry into Maternal Deaths (Enquête Confidentielle sur les Morts Maternelles, ENCMM) in...
The ANRS consortium "Humanized Mouse Models for Viral Hepatitis"1, made up of 6 teams of researchers, has developed a mouse model for studying the interaction between the immune system and the liver following infection by the hepatitis B virus. This research, coordinated by Dr. Hélène Strick-Marchand (Inserm joint unit 1223, "Physiopathology of the Immune System", Institut Pasteur), responds to a real lack of animal models for studying this disease...
Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, the CNRS, Collège de France, University Pierre et Marie Curie, and University Clermont Auvergne*, have recently restored hearing and balance in a mouse model of Usher syndrome type 1G (USH1G) characterized by profound congenital deafness and vestibular disorders caused by severe dysmorphogenesis of the mechanoelectrical transduction apparatus of the inner ear’s sensory cells. By locally injecting the USH1G gene, critical for the formation...
A new study led by Inserm researchers from Irset, the Research Institute for Environmental and Occupational Health,[1] shows for the first time in humans that simultaneous exposure to endocrine disruptors exacerbates the effects observed from exposure to each chemical independently. This study focused principally on the human fetal testes and the potential consequences of these mixtures on development of the reproductive system, as the selected chemicals inhibited testosterone production....
Clinician-researchers from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) and Inserm, in collaboration with the Biological Therapy Department of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (AP-HP), have revealed a new mechanism for regulating antibody production. The results of this study were published in Science Immunology on Friday, September 8, 2017.
Inserm researchers have succeeded in producing a human protein in laboratory conditions and to use it against bacterial infections and for the treatment of sepsis. Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response by the body to a serious infection. Should the inflammation reach a critical stage (septic shock), the condition becomes life-threatening. Sepsis kills one person every 3 to 4 seconds worldwide. This research, published in Scientific Reports, therefore represents...
Suicide is the cause of over 800,000 deaths around the world each year according to estimates from the World Health Organization, amounting to one death every 40 seconds. It affects all age groups and all parts of the world[1]. In France, the emergency services handle 220,000 suicide attempts every year[2], and 10,500 individuals take their own lives.
Researchers from Inserm, the Université Paris Diderot, King’s College London, and the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore have identified a gene that may be associated with brain lesions that can be caused by preterm birth. This study is published today in Nature Communications.
In 2014, Inserm researcher Jean-Philippe Lachaux launched the ATOL (Attentif à l'écOLe or Attention at School) program, which aims to use neuroscientific knowledge to improve children's attention span in school. A thousand children from 40 classes, spanning the French equivalents of kindergarten to the 7th grade, have now benefited from this program, which is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR).