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Topics: Health, Health Care, Pharmaceuticals

  • New method to identify mutations in childhood brain tumors

    Researchers at Uppsala university have developed a new method to find mutations in brain tumors in children. They could also show that the mutations identified by them changes how cancer cells respond to a cancer drug. These findings could lead to better diagnostics and more individualized treatment of children with brain tumors. The study is published in the journal PNAS.

  • Gut bacteria linked to fatty deposits in heart arteries

    In a major Swedish study, researchers have discovered a link between the levels of certain bacteria living in the gut and coronary atherosclerotic plaques. Such atherosclerotic plaques constitute a major cause of heart attacks. The study was led by researchers at Uppsala University and Lund University and the findings have now been published in the scientific journal Circulation.

  • High BMI elevates risk of several rheumatic diseases – but not equally for everyone

    A new study by Uppsala University shows that a higher body mass index (BMI) increases the risk of five different rheumatic diseases: rheumatism, osteoarthritis, gout, psoriatic arthritis and inflammatory spondylitis. The researchers also noted that BMI was a stronger risk factor for women compared to men in terms of gout and psoriatic arthritis. The study will be presented in the journal Arthritis

  • New study links contraceptive pills and depression

    Women who used combined contraceptive pills were at greater risk of developing depression than women who did not, according to a new study. The pills increased women’s risk by 73 per cent during the first two years of use. “Since we only investigated combined contraceptive pills in this study, we cannot draw conclusions about other contraceptive options", says leading researcher Uppsala University

  • A pro-viral human protein is critical for embryo development

    A new study has discovered that the pro-viral host protein ZC3H11A has a critical role to maintain embryo viability during early development. The study has uncovered a previously unknown function of ZC3H11A in the intricate process of embryonic growth and highlights its impact on development. The study is led by Uppsala University and INRAE/Université Paris-Saclay, now published in journal PNAS.

  • Junk food may impair our deep sleep

    In a new study, researchers at Uppsala University have investigated how junk food affects sleep. Healthy participants consumed an unhealthier as well as a healthier diet in a randomised order. After the unhealthier diet, the quality of the participants’ deep sleep had deteriorated, compared with those who had followed the healthier diet. The results have been published in the journal Obesity.

  • New therapy helps immune system eradicate brain tumours

    Researchers from Uppsala University have developed a method that helps immune cells exit from blood vessels into the tumour and kill cancer cells. The aim is to improve treatment of aggressive brain tumours. The study has been published in the journal Cancer Cell.

  • Hijacking strategy mapped for hundreds of viruses

    One strategy that viruses use to take over a host cell is to mimic small parts of the cell's proteins called motifs. In a new study coordinated from Uppsala University, researchers have used a new method and doubled the available information on how viruses mimic human binding motifs. The results suggest new targets for the development of antiviral inhibitors.

  • Genomes from 240 mammal species explain human disease risks

    A major international research project, jointly led by Prof Kerstin Lindblad-Toh at Uppsala University and Broad Institute has surveyed and analysed the genomes of 240 different mammals. The results, now published in 11 articles in the journal Science, show how the genomes of humans and other mammals have developed over the course of evolution.

  • Increased risk of testicular cancer in people with neurodevelopmental disorders

    A new study by researchers at Uppsala University and Uppsala University Hospital shows that men who have a neurodevelopmental disorder, such as autism and ADHD, also have a slightly increased risk of testicular cancer, or seminoma. This is the first study to show such a link, with the results to be published in the British Journal of Cancer.

  • Personalised blood pressure treatment more effective

    Patients treated with blood pressure-lowering drugs can experience much greater improvements from a change of medication than from doubling the dose of their current medication. This is shown by a new study from Uppsala University, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In this study, 280 patients tested four different blood pressure-lowering drugs over the course of a year.

  • Autism may be linked to different perceptions of movement in infancy

    A new study from researchers at Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet shows that children who go on to develop symptoms of autism have different activity in their brain's visual cortex from as early as five months when looking at certain types of movement. This finding may indicate that autistic people perceive their surroundings in a different way even from a very young age.

  • Overweight in children increased during the pandemic

    Overweight and obesity among four-year-olds increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study by Uppsala University involving over 200,000 children in Sweden. The number of children with obesity increased by some 30 percent, and there are large regional differences. The study was published in the journal Acta Paediatrica.

  • “You throw up, then you cough, then you feel better or die”

    Detailed images of illness, death and cancelled activities; these were some of the common themes of children’s drawings during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new study from Uppsala University, in which researchers studied 91 drawings made by children aged between 4 and 6, shows that the pandemic affected the children significantly and that they had extensive knowledge about the disease.

  • New artificial model validates antibodies ability to reach the brain

    A research group at Uppsala University has developed a simple and effective artificial blood-brain barrier model that can be used to determine how well antibody-based therapies can enter the brain. Today animal experimentation is the most common method for testing an antibody’s function and the new model could reduce the need for animal testing.

  • Antibiotics hindered treatment of urinary tract bacteria during the pandemic

    The use of broad-spectrum antibiotics increased drastically in intensive care at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. At first, this helped patients and seemed to prevent the growth of most bacteria. However, it also contributed to a sharp growth in enterococci, an antibiotic-tolerant group of bacteria, which rendered the treatment of urinary tract infections more difficult.

  • Combination of immune cells could provide clearer prognoses for cancer

    Thanks to a new prognostic method for detecting cancers including cancer of the large intestine, doctors could provide clearer disease prognoses and predict which patients will respond best to immunotherapy. The method consists of a combination of two types of immune cells that characterise certain forms of cancer. This has been shown in a new study published in the journal eBioMedicine.

  • Early tastings shorten breastfeeding

    The earlier infants begin to taste small samples of solid food, the earlier they eat more food and stop breastfeeding. This is shown in a new study from Uppsala University and Sophiahemmet University, in which the mothers of 1,251 infants from all over Sweden participated. Almost half of the infants received tastings at the age of four months.

  • Perseverant bacteria challenge antibacterial treatment

    Bacterial perseverance is a new phenomenon that helps explain how bacteria adapt to survive antibiotic treatments. A group of researchers at Uppsala University have studied how individual bacteria react when exposed to different antibiotics. The result underlines the importance of adhering strictly to antibiotic prescriptions.

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