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  • Strong bonding - a long-term commitment or many brief relationships?

    In an article in the scientific journal Science, researchers at Uppsala University show how a DNA-binding protein can search the entire genome for its target sequence without getting held up on the way. The result contradicts our current understanding of gene regulation - the genetic code affects how often the proteins bind, but not for how long.

  • Curtailed sleep may alter how intense exercise stresses the heart

    In a new study, participants underwent an intense bout of exercise after both normal sleep and after three nights of curtailed sleep. When they exercised after curtailed sleep, the levels of the heart injury biomarker troponin increased slightly more, compared with when the participants performed exercise in their well-rested condition.

  • Why did ocean productivity decline abruptly 4.6 million years ago?

    By drilling deep down into sediments on the ocean floor researchers can travel back in time. A research team led from Uppsala University now presents new clues as to when and why a period often referred to as the ‘biogenic bloom’ came to an abrupt end. Changes in the shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun may have played a part in the dramatic change.

  • The focus of financial reporting influences business cycles

    Editorial choices can impact the amplitude of business cycles even if the information that is reported is correct. On reason is that the focus of the reports can be on sectors that are non-representative of the economy in general. A new study shows that financial reporting can explain up to 20 per cent of the business cycles for GDP and 40 per cent of the business cycles for unemployment.

  • Zebrafish and AI replace some mouse experiments in cancer research

    Researchers at Uppsala University have used AI to develop a new method to study brain cancer. The method is based on transplanting tumour cells from patients to fish embryos, followed by observation with AI. The method, which is described in the scientific journal Neuro-Oncology, can partly replace current mouse models for studying tumour growth and treatment.

  • Small measures can be a big help for children of mothers with depression

    Small measures can be a big help for children of mothers with depression

    Several new studies among Syrian refugee families in Turkey and families with infants in Sweden and Bhutan show that children of mothers in poor mental health risk falling behind in their cognitive development. However, very small changes can suffice to break this correlation and enable the children to return to their normal developmental level. The solutions where the same in all three countries

  • Hunt for the protein TGM1 led to disease discovery

    Searching for the protein TGM1 among patients with autoimmune skin diseases, researchers have identified a separate disease that can be linked to autoimmunity against TGM1. This backward method demonstrates a new way of identifying autoantigens as markers for serious diseases. By letting autoantigens point to the disease, diagnosis and treatment can be facilitated, shows study published in PNAS.

  • Several protein biomarkers protect against disease development

    A comprehensive study from Uppsala University shows that several disease-associated protein biomarkers protect healthy individuals from developing inflammatory diseases. The protective effects are attributed to the proteins’ function in preventing tissue damage, a function that might be very different from the effect in a tissue subjected to chronic or acute inflammation.

  • Super-resolution structured illumination microscopy (SR-SIM) show critical proteins in human hair cells associated with age-related hearing loss. Foto Dr Wei Liu

    Genes associated with hearing loss visualised in new study

    Researchers from Uppsala University have been able to document and visualise hearing loss-associated genes in the human inner ear, in a unique collaboration study between otosurgeons and geneticists. The findings illustrate that discrete subcellular structures in the human organ of hearing, the cochlea, are involved in the variation of risk of age-related hearing loss in the population.

  • Blocking inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection of human cells

    Blocking inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection of human cells

    Researchers have developed and used a new method to map interactions on a large scale between human proteins and coronavirus proteins, which has provided valuable new information. In collaborations with others, they show that blocking one of these interactions inhibited infection of human cells by SARS-CoV-2. They also confirmed the interaction between the viral protein and the human protein.

  • For the first time researchers have been able to measure spin mixing in a ferromagnetic material. Image: Ronny Knut.

    Spin Mixing in Ferromagnets Revealed

    For the first time through experiments and theory, Uppsala researchers, together with international collaborators, have been able to measure spin mixing in a ferromagnetic material. Through the experimental measurements, they discovered that a common factor in spin equations, in common use since the 1950s, has been significantly underestimated.

    In addition to the well known electric charge,

  • Expectations and dopamine can affect outcome of SSRI treatment

    Levels of dopamine and placebo effect can determine whether social anxieties improve when treated with SSRIs. The effect was four times higher for patients with high expectations compared with low expectations, even though the groups received the same medical treatment. Although SSRIs influence levels of serotonin in the brain, the effects on dopamine had the greatest impact for improvement.

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