GRASSROOTS HEALTHCARE With an increased focus on informal care,it is possible to significantly improve the lives of diabetes patients.This is shown by the research project VALID,which has just completed its first phase in Vietnam.According to VALID‘s project leader,its results can also have abroader impact.Chronic diseases such as diabetes no longer just pose achallenge in wealthy,Western countries.They are also becoming more prevalent in low-and middle-income countries,such as in Vietnam,which is experiencing alarge increase in the number of diabetes patients.These people are the focus of the VALID research project.In March the project concluded its first phase,VALID I,which has focused on developing the informal support and care in everyday diabetes management.This care can improve the lives of people with diabetes and potentially also help to limit the spread of the disease.The chronic disease,which previously was relatively unknown in Vietnam,is currently escalating in the Southeast Asian country,with particularly serious consequences for families living far from the hospitals where they can receive treatment.The rise in the number of diabetes patients is partly due to lifestyle changes-but not just the ones we struggle with in Western countries.The Vietnamese situation is different-in just afew years,the population has gone from being underfed to adequately nourished.This transition is likely also arisk factor due to so-called foetal programming,says project manager Tine Gammeltoft,a professor at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen.According to this theory,the foetus‘body is‘programmed‘before birth to receive acertain amount of nutrition:"If you were born in the 1980s and 1990s or earlier,when Vietnam experienced enormous poverty,your body is geared to receive very little nutrition.When prosperity then increases so much over the course of the 90s that Vietnam in 2011 becomes amiddle-income country and the Vietnamese people get aregular diet,their bodies are not prepared for it.This may be one of the reasons why many are affected by chronic diseases such as diabetes." 查看详细>>

FOOD SCIENCE Consumer skepticism about the taste of vertically farmed greens is widespread.But the first scientific taste test from the University of Copenhagen and Plant Food&Research,New Zealand shows that respondents rate greens grown vertically and without soil as just as good as organic ones.Bland.Pale.Artificial.These are just afew of the prejudices that Danish consumers have about vertically farmed veggies.But plants grown indoors,stacked and without soil,have the potential to increase food security,provide more space for nature and ensure access to leafy greens and herbs year-round with short transport to consumers.In the first study of its kind,researchers from the Department of Food Science investigated whether consumer prejudices hold true.In the study,researchers asked 190 participants to blind taste and rate rocket(arugula),baby spinach,pea shoots,basil and parsley,which were all grown organically and compare them with the same veggies grown by way of vertical farming.The results of the study show that the test subjects like vertically-farmed products nearly as much as they do organic,soil-grown grown products."In terms of taste,we certainly have no reason to be skeptical.Indeed,the participants think that the vertically grown plants taste just as good as the ones we consider best–namely the organic ones,"says Associate Professor Michael Bom Frøst,one of the researchers behind the study.Close race in the vegetable battle Overall,the organic greens narrowly beat out the vertically grown ones in the study,but the participant ratings are very close.For example,it was an absolute dead heat when participants had to rate rocket on ascale of 1-9,with 9tasting best.Here,both rocket salads received ascore of 6.6.Also,the two varieties of baby spinach and basil were rated so closely that there was no real difference between them.Pea shoots were tested twice,with each type getting awin.The only clear winner for participants was organically grown parsley.As such,the study debunks some of the prejudices that previous studies have shown with regards to consumer attitudes about vertically grown vegetables.While consumers are generally positive about the technology,they also have very low expectations of vegetables grown this way. 查看详细>>

Important ocean currents that redistribute heat,cold and precipitation between the tropics and the northernmost parts of the Atlantic region will shut down around the year 2060 if current greenhouse gas emissions persist.This is the conclusion based on new calculations from the University of Copenhagen that contradict the latest report from the IPCC.Contrary to what we may imagine about the impact of climate change in Europe,a colder future may be in store.In anew study,researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute and Department of Mathematical Sciences predict that the system of ocean currents which currently distributes cold and heat between the North Atlantic region and tropics will completely stop if we continue to emit the same levels of greenhouse gases as we do today.Using advanced statistical tools and ocean temperature data from the last 150 years,the researchers calculated that the ocean current,known as the Thermohaline Circulation or the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation(AMOC),will collapse–with 95 percent certainty–between 2025 and 2095.This will most likely occur in 34 years,in 2057,and could result in major challenges,particularly warming in the tropics and increased storminess in the North Atlantic region."Shutting down the AMOC can have very serious consequences for Earth‘s climate,for example,by changing how heat and precipitation are distributed globally.While acooling of Europe may seem less severe as the globe as awhole becomes warmer and heat waves occur more frequently,this shutdown will contribute to an increased warming of the tropics,where rising temperatures have already given rise to challenging living conditions,"says Professor Peter Ditlevsen from the Niels Bohr Institute."Our result underscores the importance of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible,"says the researcher. 查看详细>>

While life expectancy has increased dramatically over the past 150 years,the age at which women go through natural menopause has remained relatively constant at about 50 years old.Women are born with all the eggs they will ever carry,and these are gradually lost with age.Menopause occurs once most of the eggs have gone,however natural fertility declines roughly ten years before that.Findings,published today in Nature,identify new genetic variations linked to reproductive lifespan,increasing the number known from 56 to 290.By either knocking out aspecific gene or overexpressing another,the researchers were able to prolong the reproductive lifespan in mice by 25 per cent.‘The average age of Danish women having their first child has risen from 23 to 29 over the past 60 years.This means that more people need fertility treatments such as IVF and 6percent of children are born after asuccessful treatment–but these are expensive,stressful and many people need to go through multiple cycles of treatment.Especially because the hormonal treatment does not always work.Our research has identified exciting new targets that could lead to new targets to improve fertility treatment’,says one of four co-leaders of the study,Professor Eva Hoffmann from the DNRF Center for Chromosome Stability,Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences,University of Copenhagen.Could help predict early menopause The genes identified by this work influence the age at natural menopause and can also be used to help predict which women are at highest risk of having menopause at ayoung age.‘We can see that genes which play akey role in DNA repair are also linked to reproductive lifespan.We predict,from our findings in mice,that they work in two different ways.When the activity of some genes is higher,females are born with more eggs and they take longer to deplete naturally,thus delaying the age at menopause.For others genes,inhibiting their activity allows eggs to survive longer.We hope our work will help provide new possibilities to help women plan for the future,’says Eva Hoffmann.The team also examined the health impacts of having an earlier or later menopause by using an approach that tests the effect of naturally-occurring genetic differences.They found that agenetically later menopause is protective against type 2diabetes and is linked to better bone health and lower risk of fractures.However,it increases the risk of some types of cancer,such as ovarian and breast cancer,that are known to be sensitive to sex hormones.‘This research is incredibly exciting.Although there’s still along way to go,we think it could open the first step to anew way of improving fertility treatment in women,and it also gives us insights into how to help avoid some health problems that are linked to the timing of menopause.’ 查看详细>>

For most people,everyday mobility is something concrete and easy to understand.On adaily basis,we typically move around in our local area,occasionally go to another city,and only more sporadically travel further away.With location data from mobile phones,it is has become easier to map these movements accurately,and such data has been used to develop completely new mathematical models for human movement patterns within the field of statistical physics.However,as revolutionary these models have been,they have also created deep scientific contradictions.While social scientists,like the rest of us,divide the world into geographical spaces such as cities and countries,the physicists’models have not been able to detect that we move within or between such places with typical scales.In fact,they have only found that our movements follow aso-called power law,in which the chance of being in aparticular place decreases exponentially with distance.They are scale free.It contradicts our everyday experience and it is actually misleading,according to researchers associated with DTU and the University of Copenhagen.In an article published in Nature,one of the world‘s leading journals,they now challenge the prevailing mathematical models. 查看详细>>

A new strategic agreement between the University of Copenhagen and the analytics company FOSS will use machine learning,spectroscopy and structural analysis,among other things,to develop improved analysis methods for food and agricultural production.Measurements and analysis are essential for producing sustainable,high-quality foods.A new cooperation agreement between FOSS and the University of Copenhagen will contribute to the development of new solutions that optimize the production and processing of raw materials in the food sector.FOSS has chosen to collaborate with the University of Copenhagen because of UCPH’s strengths in the fields of spectroscopy,process analysis and data processing based on artificial intelligence(AI)and chemometrics."Agreements like the one that FOSS and UCPH have just concluded are important because they create value for companies like FOSS,as well as for UCPH research and educational programmes,"says Erik Bisgaard Madsen,Associate Dean for Private and Public Sector Services at UCPH’s Faculty of Science."At the same time,the agreement demonstrates what amajor university with avery wide range of research specialties has to offer innovative and active companies.The breadth and strength of these specialties provides companies access to an integrated approach for solving various challenges."Mads Nielsen and Anna Haldrup,department managers at the Department of Computer Science and Department of Food Science,point out that the collaboration is particularly interesting for UCPH because it will bolster interdisciplinary collaboration between DIKU and FOOD in spectroscopy,artificial intelligence and structural analyses.In addition to the substantive aspects of the agreement,this collaboration also entails employee development and the opportunity for qualified sparring."We are not exclusively focused on individual results.We are also tremendously hopeful about focusing on collaboration with universities on capacity-building and competency development,by involving senior level university researchers to address issues that are are of interest to us and them,in efforts to develop new solutions.And at the same time,FOSS‘highly qualified specialists gain access to competent and equally footed sparring partners,"says FOSS senior manager,Lars Nørgaard. 查看详细>>

The EU‘s largest research projects are the so-called Flagships and today,Monday,29 October 2018,a new giant Flagship was launched in quantum technologies.The Flagship has just kicked off during ahuge Quantum Flagship Kickoff in Vienna,where the first 20 projects will be revealed.Over the next 10 years,1 billion euros will be spent on developing technologies that could fundamentally change the way we process information.Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute are right at the forefront and have received money in the first round.The quantum researchers at the institute on Blegdamsvej in Copenhagen have great expectations for the European collaboration with colleagues from Holland,Germany,Spain,France as well as other European countries."The EU Flagship provides aunique opportunity to engage in research alliances that link the strongest academic groups together in the effort to solve some of the major challenges facing society,such as security or supercomputing.The ultimate dream is to build is to build quantum computers that can solve problems that are impossible with existing computers–or aquantum internet,where unbreakable communication can take place risk free and security is guaranteed by the laws of quantum physics,"explains Peter Lodahl,Professor　at the Niels Bohr Institute.The future internet is aquantum internet Avital issue for our existing internet is security.It is essential to prevent financial transactions and confidential data from falling in the wrong hands.Quantum technology provides asolution to this problem in the form of quantum encryption,which is a100 per cent unbreakable method of communication,as the method utilises the laws of quantum mechanics that originate from the research of Niels Bohr at the beginning of the last century.It is about coding information in asingle photon–the fundamental component of light.If you measure an individual photon,the measurement will inevitably disturb the photon and thus you will know if someone has tried to"eavesdrop".On the other hand,if no disturbance is detected then you can be sure that the communication is completely secure.The great challenge is to apply it over long distances,which is why a‘quantum internet’is high up on the list. 查看详细>>

Metabolic diseases,such as obesity and type 2diabetes,are ahuge societal challenge and represent aglobal health problem.Nationally,Denmark has also seen asubstantial increase in the number of overweight people and people with type 2diabetes through the last couple of decades.The Center’s vision is to strengthen interdisciplinary research that transforms the basic understanding of mechanisms involved in metabolic health and disease,and to accelerate this knowledge toward new prevention and treatment strategies.The Center was established in 2010 and has since provided seminal discoveries regarding how genes,hormones,and environmental factors influence metabolic health and disease,from preconception and throughout the lifespan.The grant will allow the Center to develop new investigator-initiated“blue sky”research and integrative programs to unravel the complex biology behind the development of metabolic diseases.Technology platforms will also be established to radically empower the scientists to conduct cutting-edge research. 查看详细>>

A body implant provides anew habitat for bacteria and fungi,a new study conducted at the University of Copenhagen reveals.The researchers have examined anumber of implants such as screws implanted in the body in connection with surgery and discovered bacteria and fungi on them–despite the fact that the patients have shown no signs of infection.Each year alarge number of Danes get ahip or knee replacement or have broken bones fixed with screws.Previously the general assumption has been that implants inserted into the body are sterile.Now researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen have discovered bacteria and fungi on implants that have been inserted in patients.The new study has just been published in the scientific journal APMIS.The researchers have examined 106 implants and the surrounding tissue from different patient groups.They discovered that more than 70 per cent–corresponding to 78 implants–were colonised by bacteria,fungi or both.None of the patients in whom the implants had been implanted showed signs of infection,though.-This opens up abrand new field and understanding of the interplay between the body and bacteria and microbiomes.We have always believed implants to be completely sterile.It is easy to imagine,though,that when you insert aforeign body into the body,you create anew niche,a new habitat for bacteria.-Now the question is whether this is beneficial,like the rest of our microbiome,whether they are precursors to infection or whether it is insignificant,says Professor and co-author of the study Thomas Bjarnsholt,Department of Immunology and Microbiology. 查看详细>>

Professor Bente Merete Stallknecht will be the new Prorector of the University of Copenhagen.She will,among other things,help to bring education closer to research.She comes from aposition as Head of Department of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and has conducted research into what exercise means for overweight.The new Prorector of the University of Copenhagen knows how physical activity can help prevent and treat diseases,and she has extensive experience with interdisciplinary collaboration.The Board has unanimously decided to appoint 54-year-old Professor Bente Merete Stallknecht as the University‘s new Prorector.She comes from aposition as Head of Department at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences.On 1August 2018,Bente Merete Stallknecht will take office as Prorector with special responsibility for education for afive-year term.Exercise is the keyword As aresearcher,Bente Merete Stallknecht has investigated what exercise means for weight and health.Most recently she has focused on endurance training,appetite regulation and insulin sensitivity in overweight adults.Among other things,she has evidenced that"fat can be fit”–that fatty tissue can be trained to become healthier.Moreover,she has studied the effect of exercise on the body when there is no simultaneous weight loss.The result is that exercise has many other health benefits beyond aweight loss,and that fat and muscles are redistributed through training,providing ahealthier body weight.Bente Merete Stallknecht is particularly interested in how to get physical activity into everyday life.She is behind the interdisciplinary FINE project,which found that for weight and fat loss,30 minutes of daily exercise is just as effective as 60. 查看详细>>