Researchers led by Jean-Charles Guéry of the Centre for Pathophysiology Toulouse Purpan (Inserm/Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier/ CNRS) are providing new insights into the possible link between male hormones and differences in gender in susceptibility to allergic asthma. This study demonstrates that hormones such as testosterone act on the immune system. The results are to be published in the scientific review The Journal of Experimental Medicine on 1...
Known to be a possible cause of certain chronic diseases, vitamin D deficiency is also believed to lead to a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, especially where the diet is also poor in 'good fats' and antioxidant carotenoids. This is what two studies led by Catherine Féart and Cécilia Samieri, researchers at Inserm unit 1219 Bordeaux Population Health (BPH) (Inserm/ Bordeaux University), have shown. The research was published...
The hypothesis that cannabis consumption has a direct effect on concentration, motivation, and the academic success of young people in the long-term is supported by neuroscience research data which demonstrates specific lesions in teenage users. Maria Melchior, Inserm Research Director (Pierre Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health, Inserm-Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris), and her French and North American colleagues wished to study the possible existence of a...
Do our childhood experiences shape our political attitudes? A team of Inserm researchers from Unit 960 "Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory" (Inserm/ENS) have discovered the answer to this question, the results of which have recently been published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. Childhood poverty is associated with stronger adherence to authoritarian political attitudes in adulthood, not only in the French population, but also in a sample of 46 European...
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.
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
