news

Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin "defanging" bacteria, rendering them harmless In most cases, antibiotics are a reliable form of protection against bacterial infections. They have saved billions of human lives since their introduction. This protection, however, is threatened by bacteria's resistance to classical antibiotics and by their aggressive pathogenicity.

The system is already in use in retirement homes. Researchers from Bochum have tested how effective it is in a scientific study. Solving a quiz as a group while moving around the room at the same time - this combination is the basis of a new tool designed to prevent dementia. Researchers developed and evaluated it in the "go4cognition" project with industry partners and brought it to market maturity.

A newly identified compound prevents a cellular enzyme from cleaving the virus particle. As a result, the virus can no longer infect cells. At present, there is no specific active substance against hepatitis E. As the disease kills 70,000 people every year, researchers are actively searching for one.

Researchers at the University Alliance Ruhr have discovered new insights into how acute illness affects empathy. Their study confirms complex relationships between physical well-being and empathy. When people are ill, they feel less empathy for others than when they are healthy. This has been confirmed by a study conducted by Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a dangerous malformation of the lungs and diaphragm that causes almost a third of affected babies to die from underdeveloped lungs. Medical researchers in Leipzig have made important progress in understanding the condition. The team led by Dr Richard Wagner has discovered that the dangerous malformation of the newborn lungs is associated with inflammatory processes involving the increased presence of immune cells.

A new study shows that the cerebellum is involved in processing emotions. This is important to know when caring for people with ataxia. For a long time, the fact that the cerebellum also plays an important role in regulating our emotions - such as when processing fear - has been ignored. Professor Melanie Mark from Ruhr-University Bochum and Professor Dagmar Timmann from the University of Duisburg-Essen are two of the first researchers to provide experimental evidence that the cerebellum contributes towards both the learning and the extinction of conditioned fear responses.

The rapidly escalating prevalence of overweight and obesity poses a significant medical challenge worldwide. In addition to people's changing lifestyles, genetic factors also play a key role in the development of obesity. Scientists at Leipzig University and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf have now identified a new regulator of eating behaviour.

In Europe, 1.55 million people die every year due to a poor diet. This is the conclusion of a recent study by Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Economics (INL) and the nutriCARD Competence Cluster. The researchers analysed the importance of nutrition for cardiovascular-related deaths in the period between 1990 and 2019, and have published their findings in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark, the Novo Nordisk Center for Adipocyte Signaling (SDU), the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have found a protein that is responsible for turning off brown fat activity. This new discovery could lead to a promising strategy for safely activating brown fat and tackling obesity and related health problems.

Antibacterial substance from staphylococci discovered with new mechanism of action against natural competitors Many bacteria produce substances to gain an advantage over competitors in their highly competitive natural environment. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) have discovered a new so-called lantibiotic, namely epilancin A37.

Researchers the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg conducted the first systematic study of CRISPR-based antibiotics in Klebsiella pneumoniae. The antimicrobial potential of CRISPR-Cas systems is promising, yet how to best design or implement CRISPR nucleases remains poorly understood.

Newly discovered mechanism could significantly improve cancer immunotherapies Tumors actively prevent the formation of immune responses by so-called cytotoxic T cells, which are essential in combating cancer. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) Hospital have now uncovered for the first time how this exactly happens.

CAR T cell therapy has proven effective in treating various haematological cancers. However, not all patients respond equally well to treatment. In a recent clinical study, researchers from the University of Leipzig Medical Center and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology identified several biomarkers that are associated with the response to CAR T cell therapy in multiple myeloma, a malignant tumour disease in the bone marrow.

Genetic mechanisms uncovered Boron deficiency has a devastating effect on oilseed rape and related plants. However, little is known about the underlying genetic mechanisms. A study shows that the response to persistent or short-term acute boron deficiency is similar to that to pests and infections. The results lay the foundation for breeding plants that can better cope with boron deficiency and for avoiding related yield losses.

Prof. Patrique Fiedler and his team at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics (BMTI) at TU Ilmenau are working on an EEG system suitable for use in space. It is intended to accompany astronauts on long-term missions in order to recognize and counteract limitations in their performance in good time.

The transition from the esophagus to the stomach is a delicate region from a medical point of view, often associated with pathological disorders leading to cancer. An international research team has now gained new insights into this region. These pave the way for new prevention and treatment options.

Bonn researchers develop method for three-dimensional image processing to solve the mystery of kidney inflammation Many kidney diseases are manifested by protein in the urine. However, until now it was not possible to determine whether the protein excretion is caused by only a few, but severely damaged, or by many moderately damaged of the millions of small kidney filters, known as glomeruli.

A hug can have a beneficial effect. Even when it comes from a robot. Touch can do a lot of good - so far, so good. But to what extent do humans benefit from it? How much touch is allowed? Who should touch and where? When we experience physical contact - does it even have to be with another human? A research team from Bochum, Duisburg-Essen and Amsterdam analyzed over 130 international studies with around 10,000 participants to answer these questions.

A hug can have a soothing effect. Even if it comes from a robot . Touch can do a lot of good - so far, so good. But to what extent do people benefit from it? How much touch is allowed? Who should touch and where? Does it even have to be another person with whom we come into physical contact? A research team from Bochum, Duisburg-Essen and Amsterdam analyzed over 130 international studies with around 10,000 participants to answer these questions.

Researchers from the Institute of Experimental Molecular Imaging at RWTH Aachen University publish results on the identification of suitable tumor patients in clinical trials for nanoparticle-based cancer therapies . Nanomedical formulations have attracted increasing public attention since the development of coronavirus vaccines.