Every year, nearly 5,000 pregnancies in Europe are affected by neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly (malformations of the brain and skull), with serious consequences for the newborn infants. Taking nutritional supplements containing folic acid (or vitamin B9) before and during early pregnancy may considerably reduce the risk, but studies show that only a minority of women do so. A study published today in The British...
Don’t have room for dessert? The bacteria in your gut may be telling you something. Twenty minutes after a meal, gut microbes produce proteins that can suppress food intake in animals, reports a study published November 24 in Cell Metabolism. The researchers also show how these proteins injected into mice and rats act on the brain reducing appetite, suggesting that gut bacteria may help control when and how much...
Researchers at Neurocentre Magendie (Inserm/University of Bordeaux) have just shown how altered connections between cells of the nervous system are involved in fragile X syndrome, a cause of severe autistic spectrum disorders. Using MRI, Andreas Frick, Inserm Research Fellow, and his team have actually observed, in a mouse model of this syndrome, an alteration in the connections and communication between different areas of the brain. These new data are...
On 8 December next, at Collège de France, the Inserm Prizes for 2015 will be awarded to eight outstanding researchers and research engineers. The Inserm Grand Prix 2015 will be awarded to Pier-Vincenzo Piazza, in recognition for his body of work on the physiopathology of psychiatric illnesses, in the presence of Marisol Touraine, Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Thierry Mandon, Secretary of State for Higher Education and Research,...
The team led by Claire Wyart, an Inserm researcher at the Brain and Spine Institute, has just demonstrated the ability of sensory neurons located in the spinal cord to modulate movement. In the zebrafish, the researchers have shown that activation of these neurons triggers locomotion when the animal is at rest, and inhibits it when the animal is moving. These results offer hope that it will one day be...
In one year’s time, French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet will take off for the International Space Station (ISS), on board which he will conduct scientific experiments prepared by researchers from Inserm. The scientific and technical programme for this ESA (European Space Agency) mission includes significant participation by France, managed by CNES (National Centre for Space Studies). Research projects from 3 Inserm laboratories will be conducted in orbit. Their purpose...
Researchers from Unit 825, “Brain imaging and neurological handicaps” show that the quality of communication between two structures in the brain predicts patient recovery at 3 months.
Initiated by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization, World Diabetes Day, which takes place next Saturday, 14 November, is aimed at sensitising and informing the general public about diabetes prevention and management. Diabetes, type 1 or type 2, is a chronic disease characterised by insufficient production of insulin, or by poor […]
Two Inserm research teams have just shown that failure of the intestine to produce a lipid “messenger” is associated with Crohn’s disease, a common and highly disabling inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The vital role of the intestinal flora in successful immunotherapy has just been revealed in a study published in the journal Science. Intestinal bacteria have been identified that can improve the therapeutic response to this drug and reduce a side-effect, “inflammatory colitis,” regularly encountered with this treatment.This research implies that the efficacy of immunotherapy in oncology might in future be dictated by the composition of the patient’s intestinal flora....
L’Inserm s’engage dans le cadre de la COP21 : symposiums scientifiques, conférences pour le grand public.
