Loneliness is not a disease. And yet it is a significant health problem. Depression, heart disease or dementia - people who are permanently lonely have a higher risk of becoming ill. The team led by Dr. Jana Lieberz from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), who also conducts research at the University of Bonn, and Prof. Dr. Dirk Scheele (Ruhr University Bochum) have investigated how loneliness can be specifically combated. In a controlled study, in which the universities of Oldenburg, Bochum, Freiburg and Haifa (Israel) were also involved, 78 women and men who felt lonely were given the so-called "cuddle hormone" oxytocin as a nasal spray. The effects that the researchers observed could help to alleviate loneliness and its potentially serious consequences in the future.

Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark, the Novo Nordisk Center for Adipocyte Signaling (SDU), the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have found a protein that is responsible for turning off brown fat activity. This new discovery could lead to a promising strategy for safely activating brown fat and tackling obesity and related health problems. The results of the study have now been published in the journal „Nature Metabolism“.

Many bacteria produce substances to gain an advantage over competitors in their highly competitive natural environment. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) have discovered a new so-called lantibiotic, namely epilancin A37. It is produced by staphylococci that colonize the skin and acts specifically against their main competitors there, the corynebacteria. This specificity is presumably mediated by a very special mechanism of action, which the researchers were able to decipher in detail. Their results have now been published in the renowned ISME Journal.

Dendritic cells play an important role in setting the course of our immune system. However, what determines their heterogeneity and functional specialization is still not sufficiently understood. An international collaboration consisting of researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the Technical University of Denmark, among others, has investigated the role of the transcription factor Bcl6 in dendritic cells in a mouse model and discovered that a subgroup is highly dependent on this protein. The findings contribute to a better understanding of immunological processes during infections, vaccinations, allergies and autoimmunity. The results have now been published in the renowned scientific journal "Nature Communications".

Our lungs are bombarded by all manner of different particles every single day. Whilst some are perfectly safe for us, others—known as pathogens—have the potential to make us ill. The immune system trains its response whenever it encounters such a pathogen. Yet researchers at the University of Bonn have now shown that even harmless particles help to improve the immune response and have published their results in the journal “Nature Immunology.”

Chemokines are signalling proteins that orchestrate the interaction of immune cells against pathogens and tumours. To understand this complex network, various techniques have been developed to identify chemokine-producing cells. However, it has not yet been possible to determine which cells react to these chemokines. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have developed a new class of genetically modified mice that enables the simultaneous identification of chemokine producers and sensors. Using the chemokine Ccl3 as a “proof of principle”, they discovered that its function in the immune defence against viruses is different than had been previously assumed. Their results have now been published in the "Journal of Experimental Medicine".

Uveitis is a rare inflammatory eye disease. Posterior and panuveitis in particular are associated with a poor prognosis and a protracted course of the disease. Diagnosis and monitoring can be challenging for healthcare professionals. Fundus autofluorescence (FAF) is a fast and non-invasive imaging technique that supports this. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn, together with experts from Berlin, Münster and Mannheim, have drafted a review on how FAF can facilitate the diagnosis and monitoring of posterior uveitis and panuveitis. The results have now been published in the journal "Biomolecules".

While the adequate surgical treatment of cataract is guaranteed in high-income countries, the surgical results in the Global South are often inadequate. Video recording can be used to analyze possible surgical errors, improve training and demonstrably optimize surgical results. However, this has been very time-consuming up to now. There are now promising approaches to automating surgical video analysis using artificial intelligence (AI). However, no deep learning algorithms have yet been developed for video analysis of the surgical method commonly used in countries of the Global South. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn, the University of Bonn, the Sankara Eye Foundation India and Microsoft Research India want to change this and develop a corresponding algorithm. The aim is to improve the results of cataract surgery in the Global South in the long term. As a first important step, they have compiled an overview of previous AI approaches for analyzing cataract surgeries. The results have now been published in Translational Vision Science and Technology (TVST).