Climate change promotes the settlement of non-native mosquitoes and pathogens in Bavaria. Scientists at the University of Bayreuth are working on an interdisciplinary project to develop a warning system that will provide different behavioural recommendations and protective measures for the population depending on the risk. The focus is on the West Nile virus, which can be transmitted by domestic mosquito species, and the Chikungunya virus, which can be transmitted by the Asian tiger mosquito.
So far, it has not been possible to explain the causes of around half of all rare hereditary diseases. A Munich research team has developed an algorithm that predicts the effects of genetic mutations on RNA formation six times more precisely than previous models. As a result, the genetic causes of rare hereditary diseases and cancer can be identified more precisely.
Diet drinks often contain a mix of non-nutritive sweeteners that also enter the bloodstream after consumption. As a new pilot study shows, even dietary intake levels of saccharin, acesulfame-K and cyclamate are enough to modulate the copy rate of various genes in white blood cells. "Our data suggest that this modulation sensitizes immune cells to certain immune stimuli," says Dietmar Krautwurst of the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich. He adds: “Likewise, they also suggest that taste receptors may act as sweetener sensors of the cellular immune system.”
The number of infections with the fungus Candida auris is also increasing in Germany. This is shown in a new study by research teams from Würzburg, Jena and Berlin. Despite low numbers, scientists advise precautionary measures.
Immunoglobulin G antibodies (IgB) play an important role as drivers of inflammation in infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. However, if the same immunoglobulin antibodies from the blood plasma of healthy donors are cleansed and injected into a patient’s bloodstream, they exhibit anti-inflammatory effects and have a positive effect on the immune system. The cause of this was unknown to a large extent up to now.
Materials made of spider silk can be specifically modified or processed in such a way that living cells of a certain type adhere to them, grow and proliferate. This has been discovered by researchers at the University of Bayreuth under the direction of Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel. Cell-specific effects of the materials can be generated by biochemical modifications of the silk proteins, but also by surface structuring of spider silk coatings. The research findings, published in "Advanced Healthcare Materials" and "Advanced Materials Interfaces", are pioneering for regenerative medicine and the production of artificial tissue.
A vitamin D3 deficiency can lead to severe symptoms, for example in people suffering from allergic asthma. This has already been shown in several studies. However, we still do not fully understand how exactly this vitamin influences the cellular inflammatory reaction in the body.
How do the nerve cells in our brain communicate with each other? What processes take place when T cells render cancer cells harmless? Details of the mechanisms at the cellular level remain hidden from view. Now, special reporter proteins developed by a research team led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) may help unveil these mechanisms.
Improving the quality of life of patients suffering from lung cancer is the goal of a new joint project of the University of Bayreuth, the University of Regensburg and the University Hospital Regensburg. The project is led by Prof. Dr. Martin Emmert, holder of the Chair of Health Economics, Quality Management and Preference Research in Oncology at the University of Bayreuth. It will be funded by the Innovation Fund of the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA), the highest body of self-administration in the German healthcare system, with a total of around 1.3 million euros over the next three years.
Hof University of Applied Sciences wants to recruit foreign nursing staff, strengthen their skills and integrate them. The reason: Bavaria alone is currently losing more than 1,000 nursing staff each year, while at the same time studies by the Free State of Bavaria assume a tenfold increase in the need for nursing staff by 2050 – mainly due to an aging society. One key to countering this plight will be to recruit foreign nursing professionals. To drive this forward, the master’s program “Cross Cultural Nursing Practice M.A.” – the only one of its kind in Germany – will start at Hof University of Applied Sciences in 2024.
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