news 2022

Severe covid 19 disease is characterized by excessive immune and inflammatory processes in the body. Conversely, long covid syndrome is likely to have a strong anti-inflammatory immune status. Scientists have now found this out with extensive blood plasma analyses of vaccinated persons without subsequent disease, persons with completely survived covid 19 infection and long covid patients.

Researchers at the University of Vienna and ETH Zurich cultivate "missing link" microorganism How did the complex living things on earth come into being? This is one of the great unanswered questions in biology. A collaboration between the research groups of Christa Schleper at the University of Vienna and Martin Pilhofer at ETH Zurich has brought the answer one step closer.

A long-necked dinosaur from northern Germany was a so-called nest fledger Europasaurus was a long-necked, herbivorous dinosaur on four legs. The dinosaur lived in the late Jurassic period about 154 million years ago on a small island in what is now northern Germany. Researchers from the Universities of Vienna and Greifswald have now examined fossil skull remains of Europasaurus using computer tomography.

Using several million medical records, a research group from MedUni Vienna and the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) showed that there was a correlation between the dosage of statins and the diagnosis of osteoporosis as early as 2019. This finding has now been confirmed in a preclinical study, which was recently published in the journal Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy.

The diagnosis and treatment of long COVID syndrome (LCS) is still very difficult, and there is only little knowledge about the factors causing accompanying symptoms. Researchers at the Joint Metabolome Facility of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna have now presented new evidence of triggers for fatigue following SARS-COV-2 infection.

Leukemic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (L-CTCL) is a rare type of skin cancer that presents varied clinical features and symptoms. In a recently published study by the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the Medical Universities of Vienna and Graz, the researchers managed to integrate the genomic data from affected patients with pharmacologic studies.

The Austrian Society of Dermatology and Venereology (ÖGDV) honoured MedUni Vienna researchers for their scientific achievements at its annual conference. Georg Stary received the Ferdinand von Hebra award, while Johanna Strobl and Laura Marie Gail of Georg Stary's research group were awarded the Science Award for a research paper.

A scientific team led by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler and Hannah Metzler from MedUni Vienna and Complexity Science Hub Vienna analysed approximately seven million postings on the topic of suicide and suicide prevention on Twitter. In the process, it was shown that content on the prevention and management of suicidal crises increased the number of contacts with mental health services.

Complete abstinence from alcohol is considered a cornerstone in the treatment of patients with alcohol-related liver disease. It has not yet been sufficiently researched whether this measure can still improve the prognosis even in the case of advanced liver cirrhosis. Scientists at the Department of Internal Medicine III at MedUni Vienna and AKH Vienna have now provided evidence of the positive effects of alcohol abstinence even at very advanced stages of the disease.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is almost always accompanied by fatigue, a massive tiredness that is described by the vast majority of patients as the most distressing symptom. In a recent scientific study, a research group led by Stefan Seidel from the Department of Neurology at MedUni Vienna and AKH Vienna identified light therapy as a promising non-drug treatment option: patients included in the study showed a measurable improvement after just 14 days of use.

Two seemingly different areas of physics are related in subtle ways: Quantum theory and thermodynamics. How chaos theory mediates between them has now been studied at TU Wien. A single particle has no temperature. It has a certain energy or a certain speed - but it is not possible to translate that into a temperature.

Patients receiving emergency medical treatment for atrial fibrillation show a correlation between the intravenous administration of potassium and magnesium and a spontaneous return to a normal heart rhythm. This was discovered in a new study by the Department of Emergency Medicine at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna, which analysed patient data between 2009 and 2020.

Scientists have discovered for the first time a bacterium in Lake Gossenköllesee in Tyrol that uses two different mechanisms to obtain energy from light. This could be an adaptation to the very pronounced change of seasons in the Alps. The change of seasons is clearly noticeable in the Alps. Moderate temperatures with a high exposure to light in summer give way to months with great cold and only little sunlight in winter.

By Birgit Baustädter Peter Brunnhofer works at the Institute of Structural Durability and Railway Technology to make trains lighter, more robust and more efficient. An interview with the researcher talking about lightweight construction. News+Stories: Why is the idea of lightweight construction for railed vehicles so important? Peter Brunnhofer : The interplay between the vehicle and the rails in railway transport is much more important than with cars on a road.

Researchers at the University of Innsbruck investigated the effect of nuclear magnetic resonance on cryptochrome, an important protein of the "internal clock". To their surprise, the results of the experiments could only be explained by quantum mechanical principles - and could enable completely new therapeutic approaches.

New study shows how babies order visual perceptual impressions While adults sort visual impressions at lightning speed, babies have to learn this first. This ability is important for finding their way in everyday life. Until now, it was unclear whether visual perception in the brains of babies is fundamentally different from that of adults before language acquisition.

Monoamines are neurotransmitters in the central and peripheral nervous systems and they also transmit signals between cells and the brain. This transmission is followed by their reuptake into the cells by means of transporters. While the specific monoamine transporters have already been well studied, not enough is known about the organic cation transporters, which are high-capacity monoamine transporters.

Good leadership is like sex and chocolate ice cream: what goes on in the minds of motivated employees Who wouldn't want a boss like Barack Obama? A leader who carries the team along, communicates visions and inspires enthusiasm. But why are employees more motivated by such behavior? Scientists at the University of Graz know the answer: because good leadership activates the same areas of the brain as chocolate ice cream or sex, and can therefore have just as motivating an effect.

When charged particles are being shot through ultra-thin layers of material, sometimes spectacular micro-explosions occur, sometimes the material remains almost intact. This has now been explained at the TU Wien. It sounds a bit like a magic trick: Some materials can be shot through with fast, electrically charged ions without exhibiting holes afterwards.

A recently published international study involving the Medical University of Vienna demonstrated that a straight leg-raise on the part of the patient significantly improved diagnostic accuracy in the work-up of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD or GERD). The scientific study by researchers at the University of Milan was published in the journal "Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology".