news 2022

Domingo Carlos Salazar, CIDEGENT researcher at the University of Valencia (UV), has led a study that dates the occupation of the Neolithic site of Cova Bonica, located near the coast and the Llobregat River Delta. The results, published in the Frontiers magazine, confirm the important weight of an agricultural-livestock economy 7,400 years ago now, with a diet based on domesticated species of cereals and animals, and without the presence of fish.

Studies on diseases that affect the human brain are usually based on animal models which cannot reproduce the complexity of human neuropathies. Therefore, these methodologies often fail when applied in a clinical environment with patients. In this context, the findings of the cellular reprogramming techniques to generate cultures of human neurons using skin cells have revolutionised the study and development of innovative therapies in neurosciences.

A project of the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio, UV-CSIC) researches genetically modified bacteria so that they learn to decode a message.

The high mortality in the early stages of life is a common phenomenon in fish and other species, but it is little studied due to its complexity. A study by the University of Barcelona and the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC) has analysed whether this mortality in the sharpsnout seabream ( Diplodus puntazzo ), a species of the Mediterranean with an important commercial interest, occurs by chance or whether it is genetically determined.

Senescent cells, which emerge after tissue injury, create an aged-like inflamed microenvironment that is negative for stem cell function and tissue repair. The finding provides a basis for mitigating the loss of muscle regenerative capacity in elderly people and for improving muscle repair in young healthy people.

A team led by researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) has developed a new mathematical model to study changes in ecological interactions between microbe populations. One of the conclusions they have found is that there is a trend towards mutualism, that is, towards a relationship in which species benefit each other.

Every year, about a third of all food produced in the world —about 1.3 billion tonnes— is wasted in consumers' homes and retail businesses, according to the United Nations (UN). The food sector also accounts for around 30% of the world's total energy consumption and 22% of greenhouse gas emissions.

The University of Valencia develops a tool to improve research on molecular nanomagnets A team from the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) of the University of Valencia has developed an open interactive platform that brings together and makes available to science around 20,000 data relating to the chemical design of molecular nanomagnets of special interest in the field of magnetic memories.

Metformin, the most prescribed drug for treating diabetes mellitus, known as type 2 diabetes, requires the presence of the growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) —a protein whose expression increases in response to cellular stress— to present its antidiabetic effects.

A research conducted by the Parasites and Health group of the University of Valencia has found for the first time in continental Europe the nematode worm) Angiostrongylus cantonensis , a zoonotic (capable of being transmitted to humans) parasite present in the pulmonary arteries of rats and that it is the most common causative agent in humans of eosinophilic meningitis (EM).

A group of researchers from the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC, UV-CSIC) has collaborated in the publication of the first international manual of supportive therapies for cancer patients.

Researchers of the Faculty of Psychology, the Institute of Neurosciences ( UBNeuro ) and the Institute of Complex Systems ( UBICS ) of the University of Barcelona have identified, using functional magnetic resonance techniques, differences in the spontaneous activity of the brain in a resting state in people with Down syndrome (DS) compared to the general population.

A study carried out by the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio, UV-CSIC) reveals that enveloped viruses with a lipid envelope can better infect different species of animals, including humans. The flu, HIV or coronaviruses are enveloped viruses. This work makes it possible to refine surveillance tools to control zoonoses, the passage of these viruses from animals to people.

An international research team with prominent participation from the University of Valencia has discovered that, in the process of expression of genetic information, some proteins make a round trip aboard messenger RNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and vice versa, and exchange essential information so that cells can survive environmental changes.

LIFU's advantage comes from the large amount of information contained in each observation. Using small displacements of the pointer, the WEAVE spectrograph has produced, in two hours, spectra for 31,500 regions in and around these galaxies. The total light intensity of each of the fibres is used to form the image of the galaxies shown in the centre.

Glucocorticoids —such as cortisone— are among the most widely used anti-inflammatory drugs, and are used to treat asthma, psoriasis, organ transplantation and even COVID-19. Regarding their pharmacological action, the activity of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is crucial. The GR is a transcription factor that regulates vital processes in human physiology.

An international collaboration involving the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) has succeeded in bringing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to the femtosecond time scale. This advance, published in Nature Communications , will not only make it possible to investigate the effects on chemical bonds due to the movements of atomic nuclei, but also those caused by electronic dynamics.

Acadèmic The results of the survey "The students' living and study conditions" have been published.

Researchers Lorena Cano Orón (University of Valencia) and Emilia H. Lopera Pareja (Energy, Environmental and Technological Research Centre) highlight that the media have changed from a mainly favourable attitude towards alternative medicine, a series of practices deviant from integrated medicine in the western health system, to another more sceptical.

Researchers from 23 countries on 5 continents, coordinated by the Center for Research on Desertification (CIDE, UV/CSIC/GVA), collaborate and provide open data related to the processes of association between plants.