news 2023

European Region. Against this background, international experts, including Georg Stary and Katja Knapp from MedUni Vienna, compiled a comprehensive overview of the situation and the challenges facing public health. The series of articles was recently published in the renowned journal "The Lancet Regional Health - Europe".

A study led by the Medical University of Vienna shows a sustained survival benefit of the so called antiangiogenic therapy at recurrence of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children and adolescents. The therapy starves the cancer by interfering mainly with the cancer microenvironment.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already widely used in medical diagnostics. An Austrian-Australian research team led by dermatologist Harald Kittler from MedUni Vienna investigated the extent to which diagnosis and therapy of pigmented skin lesions benefit from it in a realistic clinical scenario. In a study published by The Lancet Digital Health, the team compared the accuracy in diagnosis and therapy recommendation of two different algorithms in smartphone applications with that of doctors.

A large EU-funded study with the participation of experts from Graz has now shown that the removal of the causative blood clot with a catheter intervention in severe strokes can save lives. "Even in patients with severe strokes, treatment using a catheter to open the vessel occlusion is successful. In almost 20 percent of the patients treated, death or the need for nursing care could be prevented by a corresponding procedure," the Hamburg University Hospital (UKE) now reported.

An underlying liver disease can be found in 85% of patients with a new diagnosis of liver cancer. Due to the increasing incidence of fatty liver disease, the number of liver cancer diagnoses could increase by up to 50% by 2040. Affected people with advanced liver disease should be included in early detection programs.

A research team at the Comprehensive Cancer Center of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital has published a study investigating the influence of chronic diseases on the occurrence of surgical or medical complications in oncological bowel surgery and how these affect long-term survival. It was found that although the number and severity of concomitant diseases influences the occurrence of medical or surgical complications, this does not have a negative impact on long-term survival in sicker individuals.

The Department of Neurosurgery at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna has recently begun using a new laser-based imaging technique that enables much faster tissue diagnosis during tumor surgery. With "Stimulated Raman Histology", a digital tissue section can be created directly in the operating room, which can be accessed and diagnosed after just a few minutes.

Researchers from the University of Vienna, University of Konstanz, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine uncover a potential environmental trigger for Parkinson's disease. Published in Environment International , a groundbreaking study from the Institute of Biological Chemistry and Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna, in collaboration with the University of Konstanz and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, reveals a microbial metabolite's role in inducing Parkinson's-like symptoms.

Pleural mesothelioma (PM) is mainly caused by asbestos exposure and characterized by poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options. A recent research study led by Karin Schelch and Michael Grusch from MedUni Vienna identified the oncoprotein YB-1 as an attractive therapeutic target in PM and demonstrates that indirect targeting of YB-1 is a promising approach to enhance sensitivity to chemoand radiotherapy.

A research team from MedUni Vienna and the FWF-sponsored Special Research Area SFB F83 Immunometabolism has now demonstrated for the first time the central role of macrophages in the renewal of intestinal cells, which sheds light on the complex interplay between immune cells and tissue regeneration.

Ciara Burns crossed the Atlantic in a rowing boat - and collected scientific data about her own body under stress. Now the scientific analysis of the results has been published. Ciara Burns spent 42 days rowing across the Atlantic in 2021 as part of a team of twelve. Clearly, whoever ventures on such an adventure has to go to the extreme limits both physically and mentally.

A joint research group from the Medical University of Vienna and King's College London has presented a "proteome atlas" of atherosclerotic plaques that reveals important gender differences in the development and prognosis of atherosclerosis. The study identified four key proteins that are more predictive of future cardiovascular mortality than conventional methods.

The "Data" working group headed by Oliver Kimberger, Professor of Perioperative Information Management at MedUni Vienna's Department of Anesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Medicine, conducted a study to investigate the influence of artificial intelligence on doctors' covid triage decisions.

Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease in which immune cells form tissue nodules in various organs, which can drastically impair organ function. Now a MedUni Vienna research team led by Thomas Weichhart from the Center for Pathobiochemistry and Genetics has developed an animal model that replicates the development of the disease in the heart and can contribute to research into sarcoidosis.

A prediction model can be used to identify people affected by venous thromboembolism who have only a low risk of recurrence and may not require long-term blood thinning. The validity of this "Vienna Prediction Model" developed at MedUni Vienna has now been confirmed in a large-scale clinical study and the results have been published in the renowned European Heart Journal.

A team of researchers at the Medical University of Vienna has discovered that dormant tumor cells surviving chemotherapy can be targeted through the inhibition of a specific protein called P-glycoprotein (P-gp). This discovery opens up new possibilities for delaying relapse and is particularly relevant for aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), for which there are currently few effective treatments.

Up to 15 percent of children and five percent of adults are affected by the chronic inflammatory skin disease atopic dermatitis. Despite advanced therapy measures, the severe itching and eczema, especially on the elbows or knees, cause great distress to the patients. In the course of a study conducted at MedUni Wien a research team led by Wolfgang Weninger, Head of the Department of Dermatology, has discovered a new approach: bacteriophages, which colonize the skin as viral components of the microbiome and can drive the development of innovative atopic dermatitis therapies.

Small cell lung cancer accounts for about 15 percent of all diagnosed lung cancers and is still associated with a high mortality rate. SCLC tumours often develop resistance to chemotherapy and thus poor prognosis is due to tumour recurrence which occurs within only five to 14 months after initial diagnosis.

Taurine-degrading bacteria influence intestinal microbiome An international team of scientists led by microbiologist Alexander Loy from the University of Vienna has discovered a new intestinal microbe that feeds exclusively on taurine and produces the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide. The researchers have thus provided another building block in the understanding of those microbial processes that have fascinating effects on health.

Autoimmune diseases are complex conditions whose causes are diverse and have not been fully elucidated to date. A research team at MedUni Vienna has now discovered an immunoregulatory protein that could be linked to the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. -Rinl- is the name of the identified building block of the immune system, which may provide a new starting point for the development of immunomodulatory therapies.