Press releases

For the first time in the world, researchers at the Quantum Device Physics Laboratory of the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, have been able to measure a current by counting the single electrons that pass through a nanoelectronic circuit. This is a fundamentally new way of measuring electrical currents, and may find its application in measurements of extremely small currents with very good accuracy. The results are published in the scientific journal Nature.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, USA have found no association between acrylamide intake in foods and risk of breast cancer among Swedish women. The findings appear in the March 16, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Professor Anna Brunström, Karlstad University, is heading a research project that will lead to more reliable and secure telecommunications via the Internet. Reliability is an important aspect when telephony moves over to the Internet, so-called IP-telephony.

A new method for navigation at sea, independent of GPS, is being put forward in a dissertation from Linköping University.

Scientists at Uppsala University and the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences have been participating in an international collaborative project to map the wild origins of the domesticated pig. The findings show that the wild boar was domesticated several times in different parts of Europe and Asia. The study is being presented in tomorrow’s issue of the scientific journal Science.

A gene that, in different variants, increases or decreases the level of atherosclerosis has been identified in mice. The corresponding human gene has been shown to play a role in the development of myocardial infarction. The results of the study is published this week on Nature Genetics Online.

A dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy at Götenborg UNiversity in Sweden shows that 1.3 percent of those waiting for a bypass operation die waiting. Many more patients would survive if high risk cases were given top priority.

This year’s honorary doctors at Karolinska Institutet are Nelson Mandela, Sir Richard Doll, Margaretha Wallenius-Kleberg and Professor Reijo Vihko. Honorary doctorates are conferred to individuals in recognition of their contribution to the educational, business or research activities conducted at the university.

The avian or bird flu virus can probably use the eye as an entryway for infection in humans before possibly spreading to the lungs or other organs. This is reported in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases by a team of researchers including two Umeå University scientists.

Research scientists at Karolinska Institutet are planning an international initiative to map out the relationships between health, genes and lifestyle. Discussion partners include world-leading researchers from the USA, Britain, Singapore and Norway.