Researchers at Uppsala University and SLU have found a new way of accelerating wound healing. The technology and the mode of action method published in PNAS involves using lactic acid bacteria as vectors to produce and deliver a human chemokine on site in the wounds.
Warding off the threats of future epidemics will be difficult without better cooperation and contingency plans that allow us to act before a crisis hits. This is one message in a new report summarising the discussions of the Uppsala Health Summit on the theme of Tackling Infectious Disease Threats: Prevent, Detect and Respond with a One Health Approach, which took place in October last year.
Over the last few decades, a wealth of evidence has accumulated to suggest that a lack of sleep is bad for mind and body. Working memory is important for keeping things in mind for briefer periods of time, which thereby facilitates reasoning and planning. A team of sleep scientists from Uppsala University now demonstrates that acute sleep loss impacts working memory differently in women and men.
Researchers at Uppsala University, Karolinska Institutet, and the University of Oxford, have used a new strategy to shut down specific enzymes to stop cells from dividing. The method, published in Cell Chemical Biology, can be used as a strategy to fight cancer.
A team of Swedish scientists have used national registries of more than 3.4 million Swedes aged 40 to 80 to study the association between dog ownership and cardiovascular health. Their study shows that dog owners had a lower risk of death due to cardiovascular disease or to other causes during the 12-year follow-up.
The effect of breastfeeding on the risk of developing asthma and allergy has been debated for a long time. In a recent study, Uppsala University researchers show that breastfeeding might in fact increase the risk of developing hay fever and eczema, while not having any clear effect on the risk of asthma. The results have been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The effect of combining clinically used drugs for the treatment of colon cancer can vary widely depending on concentrations, ranging from cases where the drugs counteract each other to cases where they reinforce each other. This is the main conclusion from a cell culture analysis in which collected data were analysed using novel open source software developed by Uppsala researchers.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed for depression and anxiety but their superiority over placebo has been questioned, generating considerable debate among researchers and clinicians. In a new study, Uppsala University researchers show that the way in which the treatment is described to the patient can be as important as the treatment itself.
A research group at Uppsala University has found out how CRISPR-Cas9 - also known as ‘molecular scissors’ - can search the genome for a specific DNA sequence. The new research findings show how Cas9 can be improved to make the molecular scissors faster and more reliable. The study is being published in Science.
Infectious diseases are among the biggest threats to health in the world. Recurrent alarms about the risk of disease spread, epidemics and pandemics make the subject highly topical and evoke anxiety in many of us. In a report published today, Uppsala Health Summit lays the basis for discussion at the summit on 10–11 October on how to manage the threats.
The risk for developing obesity is influenced by our lifestyle as well as our genes. In a new study from Uppsala University, researchers show that our genetic risk for obesity is not static, but is influenced by our lifestyle. Results from the study have been published in the scientific journal PLOS Genetics.
Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a new method for very rapidly determining whether infection-causing bacteria are resistant or susceptible to antibiotics. The findings have now been published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Some insulin is still produced in almost half of the patients that have had type 1 diabetes for more than ten years. The study conducted by researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden has now been published online by the medical journal Diabetes Care.
Epigenetic changes are chemical modifications that turn our genes off or on. In a new study from Uppsala University, researchers show that tea consumption in women leads to epigenetic changes in genes that are known to interact with cancer and estrogen metabolism. The results are published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.
Researchers from Uppsala University have studied betacells of type-2 diabetic donors, and find that a mislocalized calcium channel contributes to the failed insulin secretion associated with the disease.
Kidney dysfunction is a frequent complication in cancer patients, and is directly linked to poor survival. It is still not clear how presence of a tumour contributes to kidney dysfunction and how this can be prevented. A new study from researchers at Uppsala University shows that kidney dysfunction can be caused by the patient’s own immune system, ‘tricked’ by the tumour to become activated.
In rheumatoid arthritis, antibodies are formed that affect the inflammation in the joints. In an article published today in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, researchers at Uppsala University show that antibodies against the cartilage protein collagen II are associated with a good prognosis.
When many genes regulate a single trait, they commonly work together in large clusters or ‘networks’. Taking this into account allows better predictions of how an individual’s genetic make-up affects the trait concerned. The risk of perceiving the importance of an individual gene incorrectly is also reduced.
Patients with glioblastoma have very poor prognosis since there are no effective therapies. In a study published in Cell Reports, researchers at Uppsala University have discovered a correlation between the cell type from which the tumour originates and the growth and drug sensitivity of the tumour.
Immunotherapy has proven to be effective against many serious diseases. But to treat diseases in the brain, the antibodies must first get past the obstacle of the blood-brain barrier. In a new study, a research group at Uppsala University describes their development of a new antibody design that increases brain uptake of antibodies almost 100-fold.
