Epidemiology

No human being is the same. Everything, from our risk of getting sick to how we respond to treatment, varies from person to person. Professor of population genetics Joyce van Meurs and her team hope to fathom those differences between people with villages of stem cells. ‘I am very excited about this.’

A fragmented sleep-wake rhythm, where people often transition from rest to active during the day and night, is already visible in the brain before the accumulation of the Alzheimer’s protein amyloid-beta. That has been shown by research from Erasmus MC involving over 300 residents of the Ommoord district in Rotterdam.

As a young scientist, Siamala Sinnadurai dedicated her career to data science. Already during her PhD, she achieved success. She linked a gene for leukemia to cardiovascular disease prognosis. ‘Human diseases are so complex that a cross-disciplinary view is essential.’

Children who engage in sports as youth are less likely to experience anxiety and depressive problems than their peers who do not exercise. Their sense of self-esteem plays a key role. This is shown by research of Erasmus MC published in the scientific journal JAMA Psychiatry.

The number of people with dementia will not increase as much in the coming years as previously assumed. This was discovered by researchers at Erasmus MC who used a new, detailed computer model that looks beyond the effects of an aging population.

Elderly people with intellectual disabilities have more frequent and more severe sleep problems than their healthy peers. Their homes do not have enough daylight for a healthy sleep-wake rhythm. This is evident from the thesis written by Mylène Böhmer from Erasmus MC, which she will defend on 1 June.

Around 30 percent fewer strokes were diagnosed during the first corona wave than during similar periods in previous years. The number of heart attacks diagnosed remained the same. This is evident from research conducted by the Erasmus MC in the Rotterdam Rijnmond region.