Medical Bulletin 18/ February/ 2025 - Video

Feeling supported and listened to by our partner improves physical and emotional health, according to a study carried out by researchers from the Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior Research (CIMCYC) at the University of Granada (UGR).

The study has been published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

“The quality of our relationships not only affects our satisfaction and emotional stability, but also has a significant impact on our general health and well-being. “Feeling understood, validated and cared for by one’s partner is a fundamental pillar of a healthy relationship, and the perception that our partner responds to our emotional needs influences long-term intimacy and stability”, explains one of the authors of the research.

Despite the growing evidence of the importance of this aspect of life as a couple, until now there has been no validated tool to measure it. To fill this gap, the team of researchers from CIMCYC, in collaboration with the University of Almería and the University of Texas at Austin (United States), has adapted and validated the Perceived Responsiveness and Insensitivity Scale (PRIS) in Spanish. This tool, called PRIS-SA (Spanish Adaptation), makes it possible to evaluate the degree to which a person feels understood, validated and cared for by their partner.

Ref: Alonso-Ferres, M., Valor-Segura, I., & Williamson, H. C. (2025). Spanish adaptation of the perceived responsiveness and insensitivity scale. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075251318461

Cancer cells have special adaptation mechanisms that allow them to proliferate despite changes in their genetic makeup. Researchers at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Southwest Germany, have now helped to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved. The findings could be an important milestone in the development of targeted cancer therapies.

The nucleus of every human cell contains chromosomes - 23 pairs, to be exact. These carry our genetic material, known as the genome, and are composed of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and proteins.

DNA stores genetic information and is therefore central to the inheritance of traits. Chromosomal changes can have serious consequences for the affected cells, including the development of cancer.

How such changes can occur and what exactly the consequences are, is the focus of the research of Professor Zuzana Storchová, Head of the Molecular Genetics Department at RPTU.

In a recent article published in the EMBO Journal, the researchers took a closer look at a common genetic feature of cancer cells, known as aneuploidy. “When a cell is aneuploid, it has an altered set of chromosomes,” explains Storchová.

The researchers carried out many different experiments to understand the molecular mechanisms that enable aneuploid cells to adapt in this way. For this, they used modern methods of biotechnology and bioinformatics, such as next-generation DNA sequencing and mass spectrometry.

Therefore, they concluded that there are three ways in which cancer cells adapt to the presence of extra chromosomes:

Ref: Jan-Eric Bökenkamp, Kristina Keuper, Stefan Redel, Karen Barthel, Leah Johnson, Amelie Becker, Angela Wieland, Markus Räschle, Zuzana Storchová (2025). Proteogenomic analysis reveals adaptive strategies for alleviating the consequences

In a surprising discovery, scientists have found that the heart possesses "sweet taste" receptors, similar to those on our tongues, and that stimulating these receptors with sweet substances can modulate the heartbeat. This research opens new avenues for understanding heart function and potentially for developing novel treatments for heart failure.

While taste receptors are traditionally associated with the tongue and our ability to perceive flavors, recent studies have shown that these receptors exist in other parts of the body, where they likely play different roles. This new study is the first to identify specific "sweet taste" receptors, known as TAS1R2 and TAS1R3, on the surface of heart muscle cells

The new research found that these receptors are not just present on heart muscle, but also functional. When the researchers stimulated these receptors in both human and mouse heart cells using aspartame, a common artificial sweetener, they observed a significant increase in the force of heart muscle contraction and accelerated calcium handling – key processes for a healthy heartbeat.

Additionally, their research may explain why high consumption of artificially sweetened beverages is linked to arrhythmogenesis, or an irregular heartbeat. Not only are these sweet taste receptors particularly stimulated by artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

But further research is needed to fully understand the long-term effects of stimulating these receptors in the heart as well as how these receptors might be targeted to strengthen the heart in the case of heart failure.

Ref: 69th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, held between February 15 - 19, 2025 in Los Angeles.