Latest news

Obesity reduces the size of your brain
New research from Uppsala University shows that a specific brain region linked to appetite regulation is reduced in elderly people who are obese. Poor eating habits over a lifetime may therefore weaken brain function that helps us to control our desire to eat. The findings are published in The International Journal of Obesity.
Researchers Samantha Brooks and Helgi Schiöth, of the Department of Neuroscience at Uppsala University, and researchers in London, showed in an earlier article published in BMC Psychiatry that excessive regulation of appetite in those with anorexia nervosa is linked to greater brain volume in the same region. This research also showed that in anorexic females, the more they restrained their eating, the larger this brain region was.
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Prostate cancer risk halved for subfertile men
Involuntary childlessness owing to reduced fertility is a concern for many men. However, these men do have one advantage – they run a significantly lower risk of suffering from prostate cancer. Researchers are interested in whether this phenomenon could be used in the fight against cancer.
There is a clear link between male subfertility and a lower risk of prostate cancer. According to a new thesis from Lund University in Sweden, involuntarily childless men have around a 50 per cent lower risk of suffering from prostate cancer than men who have fathered at least one child.
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Sunlight could reduce risk of diabetes
Many people spend most of their life indoors. We work indoors during the day, perhaps sit in front of the television or computer in the evenings and go to bed late. This disrupts our natural body clock and in the long run could lead to obesity and diseases such as diabetes.
“I think a disrupted body clock disrupts the metabolism much more than we are aware.” These are the words of Mona Landin-Olsson, a professor and consultant at Lund University who works at the Medical Clinic in Helsingborg.
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Obesity operations a mystery for diabetes researchers
Within just a few days of having obesity surgery, the majority of patients cease to suffer from type 2 diabetes. At the Lund University Diabetes Centre, a research group is trying to get to grips with the apparently inexplicable connection. It is hoped that in the long run a cure could be developed.
“It is thrilling that the patients recover so quickly. This fact is so clear that it cannot be ignored”, says Nils Wierup, a Reader in Experimental Endocrinology
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Effective link between diabetes researches and business sector
The Lund University Diabetes centre has been conducting cutting-edge research on diabetes for a number of years. however, this has not been matched by corresponding success on the commercial side. Not a lot has happened – until now, when the centre has its own innovation expert as part of a new programme from the Lund University Innovation System, LUIS.
The expert is Sylvie Bove, who has long experience from the pharmaceutical industry. She sees herself as a link between the business sector and the researchers - an intermediary who can speak both parties’ language.
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Sobi: Wills Hughes-Wilson appointed Vice President Government Affairs & Policy
Wills Hughes-Wilson has been appointed Vice President, Government Affairs & Policy with responsibility for Sobi's contacts with all stakeholders in the health policy area.
Wills comes from Genzyme Corporation, now part of the French Sanofi Group, where she was Vice President Health/Market Access Policy, Europe. She joined Genzyme in 2005. Prior to Genzyme she was Executive Director of Emerging Biopharmaceutical Enterprises (EBE), a specialized group of the European Federation of Pharmaceuticals Industries & Associations (EFPIA) representing the interest of biotechnology companies in Europe. She has also worked in the animal health/veterinary medicines industry and at Ernst & Young Consulting.
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Anoto Group AB issues new shares
With reference to the authorization given by the annual shareholders´ meeting held on May 12, 2011 the Board of Anoto Group AB (publ.) has on January 11 decided to issue 4 706 324 new shares related to the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Ubiquitous Systems Ltd. The subscription price for each new share is 2,73 SEK and the share capital of the company will hereby increase by 94 126 SEK.
Also with reference to the authorization given by the annual shareholders´ meeting held on May 12, 2011 the Board of Anoto Group AB has on January 16 decided to issue 2 014 702 new shares related to the acquisition of Xpaper from Talario LLC. The subscription price for each new share is 2,52 SEK and the share capital of the company will hereby increase by 40 294 SEK.
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iNovacia announces collaboration with Agios Pharmaceuticals
iNovacia AB, the provider of small molecule drug discovery services, today announced that it has entered into a high-throughput screening collaboration with Agios Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge (MA), USA.
Under the agreement, iNovacia will provide small molecule lead generation services and use its proprietary screening library to identify modulators of pharmaceutical targets of interest to Agios Pharmaceuticals. Financial terms of the agreement are not disclosed.
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KI and AstraZeneca strengthen their collaboration in neuroscience
Karolinska Institutet and AstraZeneca today announced a three year collaborative research agreement that will apply state-of-the-art molecular imaging technologies to generate novel diagnostic imaging tools.
KI and AstraZeneca have collaborated since 2006 in the field of Positron Emission Tomography (PET), a modern imaging technique allowing for non-invasive examination of the human brain. This joint venture and application of complementary capabilities has led to the invention of numerous novel PET ligands, as well as aided in the development of a number of drug development programs.
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