Most recent news releases
Feb 9, 2012 Tell me how you are – and I know how long you will live
The way people rate their health determines their probability of survival in the following decades. Researchers from the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Zurich demonstrate that for ratings ranging from “excellent”, “good”, “fair” and “poor” to “very poor”, the risk of mortality increases steadily – independently of such known risk factors as smoking, low education levels or pre-existing diseases.
Jan 17, 2012 Arm in plaster changes brain in 16 days
People who only use their left hand after breaking their right arm already exhibit significant anatomical changes in particular areas of the brain within 16 days. Researchers from the University of Zurich have demonstrated that the thickness of the left brain areas is reduced while the areas on the right hand side that compensate for the injury increase in size. The fine motor skills of the compensating hand also improve considerably. The results of the study are significant for the treatment of strokes, in which the immobilization of an arm or a leg is central.
Jan 12, 2012 Active compounds against Alzheimer’s disease: new insights thanks to simulations
Various molecules have been synthesized that inhibit self-assembly of the amyloid beta peptide in vitro. This peptide is strongly linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Based on computer simulations, biochemists from the University of Zurich have recently shown how the active compounds and fragments of this disease-causing peptide interact with each other: it is the disordered structure of the peptide that determines the interactions with active compounds.
Dec 27, 2011 Oxidative DNA damage repair
Oxidative stress damages DNA. Researchers in the Vetsuisse Faculty have now decoded the mechanism that repairs DNA damaged in this way. This repair mechanism could lead to less invasive approaches in cancer therapy and contribute to the development of new tests for the early diagnosis of cancer.
Dec 15, 2011 First low-mass star detected in globular cluster
Even the most powerful high-tech telescopes are barely able to record remote low-mass and thus faint stars. Together with researchers from Poland and Chile, an astrophysicist from the University of Zurich has now detected a low-mass star in globular cluster M22 for the first time through microlensing. The result indicates that the overall mass of globular clusters might well be explained without enigmatic dark matter.
Dec 14, 2011 Continued weak earnings in Swiss Private Banking
Demanding and well-informed customers are causing the margins in international wealth management to shrink. In addition, successful measures against tax evasion as well as tightening regulatory rules have intensified global competition. Swiss private bankers are painfully aware of these issues and the resulting decline in revenues and stagnation in costs. In particular, small-sized Swiss institutions report high cost/income ratios. Nevertheless, Swiss wealth managers were successful in acquiring new client assets in 2010. This and more is demonstrated in the latest edition of “The International Private Banking Study”, published by the Department of Banking and Finance of the University of Zurich.
Dec 13, 2011 Visualization of DNA-Synthesis in vivo
Researchers of the University of Zurich have discovered a new substance for labelling and visualization of DNA synthesis in whole animals. Applications for this technique include identifying the sites of virus infections and cancer growth, due to the abundance of DNA replication in these tissues. This approach should therefore lead to new strategies in drug development.
Dec 5, 2011 How muscle fatigue originates in the head
Researchers from the University of Zurich have now studied in detail what sportsmen and women know from experience: The head plays a key role in tiring endurance performances. They have discovered a mechanism in the brain that triggers a reduction in muscle performance during tiring activities and ensures that one’s own physiological limits are not exceeded. For the first time, the study demonstrates empirically that muscle fatigue and changes in the interaction between neuronal structures are linked.
Dec 1, 2011 When the ladybug has to count her spots
Children also suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In order to help with their treatment, the Center of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Zurich has developed the cognitive-behavioral computer game “Ricky and the Spider”. The game makes it easier for six to twelve-year-olds to understand their condition, its consequences and the treatment.
Nov 23, 2011 Blossom end rot: transport protein identified
Poor calcium distribution in agricultural crops causes substantial loss of income every year. Now a Korean-Swiss research team under the co-leadership of plant physiologists at the University of Zurich identified a protein that regulates calcium transport in the plant root and up to the shoot. For plant breeding, the specific transport protein provides a first step toward correcting deficiency symptoms in food plants.
Nov 9, 2011 No need to shrink guts to have a larger brain
The so-called expensive-tissue hypothesis, which suggests a trade-off between the size of the brain and the size of the digestive tract, has been challenged by researchers at the University of Zurich. They have shown that brains in mammals have grown over the course of evolution without the digestive organs having to become smaller. The researchers have further demonstrated that the potential to store fat often goes hand in hand with relatively small brains – except in humans, who owe their increased energy intake and correspondingly large brain to communal child care, better diet and their ability to walk upright.
Nov 8, 2011 Molecular corkscrew
Scientists from the universities of Zurich and Duisburg-Essen have discovered a specific function of the protein p97/VCP. They demonstrate that the protein repairs DNA breaks like a corkscrew, a repair mechanism that could also prove significant for cancer therapy.
Oct 24, 2011 Great Honors for Surgeon of Zurich
Dr. Pierre-Alain Clavien, MD, PhD – full Professor at the University of Zurich and Chairman of the Department for Surgery and Transplantation, University Hospital Zurich – has received two prestigious awards in recognition of his scientific and clinical achievements in the field of liver and pancreatic surgery.
Oct 20, 2011 Culture in humans and apes has the same evolutionary roots
Culture is not a trait that is unique to humans. By studying orangutan populations, a team of researchers headed by anthropologist Michael Krützen from the University of Zurich has demonstrated that great apes also have the ability to learn socially and pass them down through a great many generations. The researchers provide the first evidence that culture in humans and great apes has the same evolutionary roots, thus answering the contentious question as to whether variation in behavioral patterns in orangutans are culturally driven, or caused by genetic factors and environmental influences.
Oct 13, 2011 Meerkats recognize each other from their calls
Wild meerkats living in the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa recognize group members from their calls, behavior researchers at the University of Zurich have established for the first time. The researchers assume that meerkats can tell the individual group members apart.
Oct 6, 2011 How fair sanctions are orchestrated in the brain
Scientists from the universities of Zurich and Basel reveal that two frontal regions of the brain need to interact with one another when people punish unfair partners at their own expense. Neuroscientists Thomas Baumgartner and Daria Knoch and economist Ernst Fehr combined a brain stimulation method with a method for measuring brain activity in order to explore this neuronal network. The new findings could also be significant for therapeutic use in psychiatric and forensic patients.
Oct 5, 2011 Rethinking connection between soil as a carbon reservoir and global warming
The soil plays a key role in the ecosystem, economy and global carbon cycle. After the oceans, the humus is the largest carbon reservoir. If the humus decreases, additional CO2 gets into the atmosphere. A research team headed by the University of Zurich has now discovered that the soil environment determines humus depletion, which means the question as to how soils respond to global climate change needs to be re-addressed.
Oct 4, 2011 Long bone shape: a family affair
Although humans and chimpanzees move quite differently, muscle attachment sites at their thighbones are similar. This result, which has recently been published by anthropologists of Zurich University in the scientific journal «Anatomical Record», has major consequences for the interpretation of fossil hominin finds.
Oct 3, 2011 Manipulated gatekeeper: how viruses find their way into the cell nucleus
Adenoviruses cause respiratory diseases and are more dangerous for humans than previously assumed. They manipulate gatekeeper molecules and infiltrate the cell nucleus with the aid of the host cell. A team of researchers headed by cell biologists and virologists from the University of Zurich have succeeded in demonstrating this mechanism in detail for the first time.
Sep 30, 2011 Reefs recovered faster after mass extinction than first thought
Metazoan-dominated reefs only took 1.5 million years to recover after the largest species extinction 252 million years ago, an international research team including paleontologists from the University of Zurich has established based on fossils from the southwestern USA.