Research News

A research team comprised of members from the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, School of Public Health, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), and Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D²4H) have conducted one of the first real-world studies to explore the inpatient use of oral antivirals during a pandemic wave dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant.

A study group at MedUni Vienna has identified a regulatory loop controlled by leptin, by which this adipocyte-derived hormone regulates hepatic lipid metabolism via the autonomic nervous system. The study provides evidence that this adipose tissue-brain-liver axis, previously identified in animal models, also exists in humans and is opening up new approaches for treating metabolic diseases such as fatty liver disease.

Paediatric encephalopathies of genetic origin cause severe motor and intellectual disabilities from birth. One of these diseases, first identified in 2013, is caused by mutations in the GNAO1 gene. In order to understand the finer details of the resulting disturbances, scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) conducted atomic, molecular and cellular analyses. They discovered that a mutation in GNAO1 leads to the replacement of one amino acid by another in protein sequence.

Researchers from Hokkaido University and Toppan have developed a method to detect build-up of amyloid β in the brain, a characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease, from biomarkers in blood samples.

Using state of the art techniques, researchers from Uppsala University have shown that the metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes was much more disturbed than previously known, and that it varied between organs and severity of the disease. The study is a collaboration with e.g. Copenhagen University and AstraZeneca and it has been published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

Simple nasal washes with mild saline water can prevent hospitalisation and deaths from COVID-19, if applied twice daily following a positive diagnosis, according to research led by the US-based Augusta University.

Epileptic seizures are frequent among patients with cerebral venous thrombosis - a blood clot affecting the venous system of the brain. A thesis from University of Gothenburg suggests that some of these patients should be diagnosed with epilepsy and offered medication to prevent further seizures.

In a recent study, researchers from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and other universities in China have reported that brain stimulation combined with a nose spray containing nanoparticles can improve recovery after ischemic stroke in an animal model.

Demand for donor livers for transplant patients outstrips supply with over 15% of waitlist patients dying after a year. A new international study offers support for increasing the use of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in Western countries and reducing the imbalance between organ supply and demand. This study is reported in the Journal of Hepatology, the official journal of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, published by Elsevier.