GenevaLunch

swissinfo - A team at Zurich University, working with scientists in Sweden and Denmark, Thursday published in the New England Journal of Medicine their findings that anakinra, a medicine used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, blocks the action of Interleukin-1 beta, which has a key role in diabetes type 2.

Diabetes type 2 affects 90% of diabetics and is on the rise worldwide, especially in older people. It is linked in particular to excess weight and can lead to a variety of other health problems. In the US, national statistics show that 7% of the population has diabetes. According to the World Health Organization diabetes accounts for 5% of deaths globally every year and the number of cases is set to increase by 50% in the next 10 years unless urgent action is taken. (continue reading)→

swissinfo - The 57-year-old Swiss man who last month was sentenced to 10 years in a Thai prison for spraying paint on images of King Bhumibol of Thailand, has been pardoned and sent home.

Le Temps, Fre - Citigroup, the largest bank in the US, announced Wednesday that as part of a major restructuring plan it will lay off 17,000 employees, or 5% of its workforce around the world. The bank expects to save $10.4 billion in three years. The group employs 800 people in Geneva and Zurich. (continue reading)→

Interview: Ariel Ruiz i Altaba on silencing cancer stem cells

"The silencing of the wolves" could be the title of an uplifting film based on the work of a team of biologists in Geneva. Their most recent discovery, published 28 March in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, could shake the foundations of current approaches to cancer treatment.

"The survival rates for many cancers haven't really changed. Even though early detection has vastly improved and terminal patients live a little bit longet with current treatments, there is no cure for many cancer types, including glioblastoma – a deadly form of brain cancer, and metastatic tumors such as those of the prostate, lung or skin. We have nothing that cures cancer once metastis sets in," Ariel Ruiz i Altaba, professor of stem cells at the University of Geneva's medical school, who led the team of eight researchers. "We have only treatments that reduce the tumour burden with highly toxic and non-specific agents." (continue reading)→