Even before carbohydrates reach the bloodstream, the very sight and smell of a meal trigger the release of insulin. For the first time, researchers from the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel have shown that this insulin release depends on a short-term inflammatory response that takes place in these circumstances. In overweight individuals, however, this inflammatory response is so excessive that it can impair insulin secretion.

Researchers at the University of Bern have developed a therapy option that activates the body's own defense system against black skin cancer. Components of a bacterium are embedded in gel and applied directly to the area of the tumor. In the model, the gel was shown to reduce tumor growth, inhibit its spread to other organs and thereby prolong survival. In a next step, the gel will be tested for its efficacy in patients in clinical trials.

Infants undergoing heart surgery are connected to a heart-lung machine and given nitric oxide as an anti-inflammatory. Researchers from the Universities of Zurich and Queensland have now conducted the world's largest study of its kind, showing that using nitric oxide does not improve children's recovery after surgery.

Using DNA data, researchers from ETH and Eawag have examined seawater to find not only new species of bacteria, but also previously unknown natural products that may one day prove beneficial as they report today.