news 2022

This study by scientists at the Institut des sciences du mouvement Etienne-Jules Marey (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université) reveals students' psychological distress during COVID-19-related lockdown and distance learning, as well as the effectiveness of an online mindfulness meditation practice in countering it.

Type 2 diabetes is a major public health problem that affects millions of people worldwide. Developing new drugs to help better treat its underlying causes is therefore a research priority. In a new study coordinated by Inserm researcher Vincent Marion in collaboration with the University of Birmingham (UK), Monash University (Australia), and along with Alexander Fleming, former senior endocrinologist the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the scientists have developed PATAS, a peptide that is part of a new class of antidiabetic drugs.

Scientists at Trinity College Dublin and the Institute Imagine at Necker Hospital, Paris, announced a significant advance in our understanding of a very rare condition called alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC). This is a devastating condition that can lead to repeated paralysis that affects one side of the body or the other or sometimes both at once.

Publication of the IGFL in the journal PNAS . CNRS-INSB communication on July 12, 2022. Some organisms have the fascinating capacity to regenerate lost body parts. To which extent regeneration entails the redeployment of an embryonic developmental program is a long-standing question of regenerative studies, with implications for development, evolution, and regenerative medicine.

How can we increase the efficacy of vaccines used to protect against viral respiratory diseases such as influenza and COVID-19? Scientists from Inserm, CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université at the Center of Immunology Marseille-Luminy are opening up new prospects in the field, with the triggering of memory B cells directly in the lungs looking to be a promising avenue.

Some endocrine disruptors have already been associated with an impaired quality of tooth enamel. After demonstrating the harmful effects of bisphenol A on tooth development, a team of researchers from Inserm, Université Paris Cité and Sorbonne Université, at the Cordeliers Research Center in Paris, in collaboration with CNRS went on to look at the effects of DEHP, an endocrine disruptor in the phthalate family, on dental development.

Hearing loss is a public health problem affecting billions of people in all countries. However, prevalence data (i.e., schematically, their frequency in the population), as well as data describing the use of hearing aids, remain imprecise. A new study conducted by a research team from Inserm and Université Paris Cité at PARCC (Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, unit Inserm Unit 970) , in collaboration with the AP-HP and the Foch Hospital in Suresnes, shows for the first time that 25% of adults in France are affected by some form of hearing impairment.

The cerebellum is essential for sensorimotor control but also contributes to higher cognitive functions including social behaviors. In a recent study, an international research consortium including scientists from Inserm – University of Montpellier (France), the Institut de Neurociències Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) (Spain), and the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) uncovered how dopamine in the cerebellum modulates social behaviors via its action on D2 receptors (D2R).

Researchers have demonstrated the role of a non-coding RNA in the development of aggressive tumors, particularly in breast cancer. The study, conducted in collaboration between the Institut Curie, Inserm, CNRS, Institut Paoli Calmettes and Aix-Marseille University , has just been published in the journal Cell .

Antibiotic resistance represents a major public health challenge, associated with a high mortality rate. While bacteriophages - viruses that kill bacteria - could be a solution for fighting antibiotic-resistant pathogens, various obstacles stand in the way of their clinical development.

Half of childhood cancers arise during the development of the human embryo, which greatly complicates research into these diseases. The team of Valérie Castellani, CNRS senior researcher at the Mechanisms in Integrated Life Sciences (MeLiS) laboratory (CNRS / INSERM / Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University) has thus developed a model that optimally simulates the human embryonic environment by grafting human cancer cells into a chick embryo.

Seasonal influenza is a major public health issue because it continues to remain associated with considerable mortality, particularly among people who are elderly, immunocompromised, or both. It also has a significant socioeconomic cost. With vaccination and current treatments still being of limited efficacy, research teams are trying to develop new therapeutic approaches.

Infertility is a public health problem affecting millions of couples in France. Among the possible causes, chemotherapy has been singled out as having particularly harmful effects on the fertility of both women and men. In order to better prevent and restore fertility in cancer survivors, understanding the mechanisms behind these negative effects is a priority.

Gut microbiota by-products circulate in the bloodstream, regulating host physiological processes including immunity, metabolism and brain functions. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur (a partner research organization of Université Paris Cité), Inserm and the CNRS have discovered that hypothalamic neurons in an animal model directly detect variations in bacterial activity and adapt appetite and body temperature accordingly.

Migrating human T lymphocytes revealing a broad protrusion at the leading edge and long adhesive protrusions at the rear. Image obtained by confocal fluorescence microscopy: filamentous actin, pink; VLA4 adhesion protein, blue. Institut Pasteur/Lymphocyte Cell Biology. Image by Marta Mastrogiovanni In patients with familial adenomatous polyposis, a genetic disease predisposing to colon cancer, mutations of the APC gene induce the formation of intestinal polyps, but also reduce immune system activity.

Several months after infection with SARS-CoV-2, some patients are still having symptoms - a phenomenon known as "long COVID” or "post-COVID-19 condition”. Still poorly understood, scientists are now attentively studying long COVID in order to improve knowledge and offer patients the best possible treatment.

A very small percentage of people with HIV-1, known as "post-treatment controllers” (PTCs), are able to control their infection after interrupting all antiretroviral therapy. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms that govern their immune response is essential in order to develop HIV-1 vaccines, novel therapeutic strategies to achieve remission, or both.

Artificial sweeteners are used to reduce the amounts of added sugar in foods and beverages, thereby maintaining sweetness without the extra calories. These products, such as diet sodas, yoghurts and sweetener tablets for drinks, are consumed by millions of people daily. However, the safety of these additives is the subject of debate.

Every year in France, 140,000 people have a stroke 1 . Around 80% are ischemic strokes or cerebral infarctions, which occur when a brain artery is obstructed by a blood clot. Studies have shown that the risk of ischemic stroke is increased by the use of antipsychotics: medications with antidopaminergic 2 properties that are commonly prescribed in psychiatry.

Although the majority of its population is fully vaccinated, the virus continues to actively circulate in France. As health restrictions are being lifted, fears of a resurgence of the epidemic and of the emergence of new more contagious variants are leading scientists to consider new strategies to continue to promote vaccination among populations that remain hesitant.