Christmas is a time for donating. As the end of the year approaches, donation requests from various aid organizations tumble in almost daily. Which ones can be trusted and are most deserving? Researchers from the University of Basel were able to show that quality seals can help non-profit organizations to better serve their intended purpose.
A medication used to treat MS also has a beneficial effect on the composition of the intestinal flora, according to researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel. Conversely, the gut flora also plays a role in which side effects occur during treatment with the medication.
Previous research on social media has mainly focused on how often people use it. Researchers from the University of Basel and the University of Koblenz-Landau have developed a new construct for measuring why people spend so much time on these platforms – and what content they post.
Physicists at the University of Basel have experimentally demonstrated for the first time that there is a negative correlation between the two spins of an entangled pair of electrons from a superconductor. For their study, the researchers used spin filters made of nanomagnets and quantum dots, as they report in the scientific journal Nature.
Liver cancer is one of the most deadly types of cancer. A team of University of Basel researchers has now uncovered how a healthy liver cell turns into a tumor cell. Comprehensive metabolic changes convert mature liver cells into immature progenitor cells. These cells proliferate rapidly and tumors develop.
Although the complement system forms part of the innate immune system, it can cause damage to the body in some cases. This is because unwanted complement activation contributes to many autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases. Now, researchers have described molecular details of a recently approved class of drugs that can inhibit the complement system. These findings pave the way for further optimization of such inhibitors.
Although the coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 does not infect nerve cells, it can cause damage to the nervous system. Researchers from the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel have studied the mechanisms responsible for this effect, known as “neuro-Covid”, and identified starting points for its prevention.
An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel has studied the effects of the Covid-19 booster vaccination on the heart muscle. According to their findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, mild damage is more common than previously thought. Cardiologist Professor Christian Müller talks about the results in an interview.
Researchers at the University of Basel have uncovered a cell-intrinsic mechanism that controls the appropriate number of T cells in the organism and thus ensures that the immune system functions properly. This mechanism has also been found in slime molds, suggesting that this regulation of cell density is evolutionarily conserved.
