Infection and Immunity nieuws
Sep 13: World Sepsis Day: investigating a new vaccine against sepsis
Urinary tract infections are common, especially in the elderly. The Escherichia coli bacterium is the main pathogen in urinary tract infections and also responsible for up to one-third of all cases of sepsis worldwide. Prevention of such invasive E. coli infections through vaccination could lead to significant health gains. However, no such vaccine is currently available. Therefore, in a large European study, scientists are investigating whether a new vaccine could prevent sepsis.
Read moreFirst children participate in UMC Utrecht-led study: Is one COVID-19 vaccination dose enough for kids?
Protect children from 5 to 11 years old against COVID-19? UMC Utrecht is investigating whether one shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine protects as well as two shots in children who have had COVID-19 and want to be vaccinated. It is still possible to register for this study. Elsa, seven, is the first child to have recently participated in this CoVacc study.
Read moreAug 18: Innovative drug research involving patients with rare auto-immune diseases
ARCH Foundation, Galapagos, and UMC Utrecht are launching a patient-public-private consortium called DRIMID, with funding from ReumaNederland (Netherlands Arthritis Foundation) and Health Holland.
Read moreAug 12: Inflammatory bowel disease: unraveling a mystery
On June 20, 2022, Bas Oldenburg, as a professor of inflammatory bowel disease affiliated with UMC Utrecht, held his inaugural lecture entitled "Unraveling the IBD enigma." In this lecture he discussed the developments in the field of diagnosis, treatment, research and education with regard to chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Partly due to the research that Oldenburg leads in Utrecht, the etiology of IBD is coming into clearer focus and patients can increasingly receive tailor-made treatment.
Read moreJul 8: Grant for research into chronic pain
Researchers Niels Eijkelkamp and Michiel van der Vlist from UMC Utrecht have received a so-called 'ENW-M-2 grant' of over € 700,000 from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). They will use this grant to study how the body eliminates inflammatory pain. In this way they hope to understand what goes wrong in people with chronic pain that does not disappear. With the ultimate long-term goal: new treatments for chronic pain.
Read moreVidi for clinical microbiologist András Spaan
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded 101 experienced researchers a Vidi grant of € 800,000.
Read moreJun 29: Early warning score for chronic pain after surgery helps with prevention
Orthopedic surgery, preoperative use of opioids, pain that persisted for two weeks after surgery and painful cold stimuli are the most important risk factors for developing chronic pain after surgery. These are the findings of a Dutch-German team involving researchers from University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht who investigated which early warning signs are predictive for the development of chronic pain after surgery.
Read moreJun 29: Impaired innate immune response increases risk of severe RSV bronchiolitis
Severe RSV bronchiolitis is caused by a delayed, deranged or prolonged innate immune response. Defects in innate immunity can contribute to these processes in several ways: a deficit in detectors/sensors will result in impaired recognition of the virus with an impaired or delayed response as a result. In addition, dysfunctional neutrophils can determine disease outcome by inducing immune pathology. According to Sjanna Besteman in her PhD thesis, both of these effects can lead to impaired resolution of disease.
Read moreJun 6: Long covid patients show extensive brain inflammation
Several studies are underway on the relationship between 'long covid' and specific involvement of organs such as heart or respiratory muscle. These new findings demonstrate extensive brain damage 'in vivo' (in living people) for the first time. Researchers from Amsterdam UMC and UMC Utrecht saw inflammation throughout the brain region in two patients with long-term symptoms after a coronavirus infection. This has not been shown in living people with pulmonary covid. The findings were published on a preprint server and therefore not yet peer-reviewed.
Read moreJun 1: Improved clinical care in children with JIA associated uveitis resulted in fewer complications
Novel treatment regimens and new international multidisciplinary guidelines have shown major improvements over the last decade, resulting in less complications and blindness and less visual impairment in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) associated uveitis. Also, a better insight in the pathogenesis was achieved and successful diagnostic and treatment modalities were introduced. These findings were presented by Roos Wennink (UMC Utrecht) who defended her PhD thesis on May 17th.
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