The Motor Activity - Subjective Energy (MASE) Project: Neurobiological and Digital Phenotyping Towards Digital Mental Health Interventions in Depression

This approach utilizes accelerometry to measure NEA and electronic diaries for real-time psychological assessments, overcoming limitations of traditional methods such as retrospective bias and low ecological validity. Brief episodes of physical activity in daily life, which are distinctly different from structured exercise sessions, are generally linked to improved affective well-being. Notably, feelings of energy are particularly associated with incidental, unstructured, and non-exercise activities. Clinically, psychomotor retardation and diminished mood are key diagnostic features of MDD, with evidence suggesting that lower motor activity differentiates MDD patients from controls and that increased activity correlates with treatment response. In this context, the MASE project aims to design personalized BA interventions that focus on increasing NEA and, in turn, enhancing subjective energy levels to reduce depressive symptoms and prevent relapse.

开始日期2025-09-01

申办/合作机构

University of Bern

[+5]

NCT05867706

/ RecruitingN/AIIT

The Psychobiological Adjustment to Bereavement Among Cancer Caregivers

The death of a spouse is considered one of the most stressful and impactful life events and is associated with increased morbidity and premature mortality. Early identification of individuals who are most at risk for poor health outcomes following bereavement is an important aim of precision medicine and disease prevention initiatives. A better understanding of caregiver burden and bereavement-related distress and its implication for health is a clinically-relevant step toward the development of treatments that improve health outcomes in bereaved spouses. This study aims to map profiles of individual differences in short- and long-term adjustment to loss, according to psychological (e.g., depression, stress, grief severity) and biological markers (e.g., inflammation, cortisol) over time.

开始日期2024-10-01

申办/合作机构

University of Zurich

[+2]

NCT06538675

/ Enrolling by invitationN/A

Process and Outcome Evaluation of Psychotherapeutic Approaches At the Outpatient Clinic for Psychotherapy of the Paris Lodron University Salzburg

In this study, adult patients and therapists at the Outpatient Clinic for Psychotherapy of the Paris Lodron University Salzburg will complete questionnaires throughout the course of psychotherapy in order to evaluate the course and outcome of psychotherapy.

开始日期2024-09-30

申办/合作机构

Universität Salzburg

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2025-12-31·International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being

„If you ask me … “: experienced cardiac rehabilitation patients’ perspectives on maintaining regular heart-healthy physical activity

Article

作者: Pfannerstill, Franziska ; Gutenberg, Johanna ; Crutzen, Rik ; Kulnik, Stefan Tino ; Propst, Eva Maria

PURPOSE:

Despite the proven benefits of regular exercise and physical activity (PA), engagement of cardiac patients and adherence to recommended PA remain challenging. This study aimed to interview cardiac patients who are experienced in maintaining a physically active lifestyle to gain insight into how regular PA can become part of one's life after a cardiac event.

METHODS:

Twenty-five cardiac patients (18 men and 7 women; age range 39-83 years) participated in audio-recorded, semi-structured qualitative interviews. Patients were recruited from a clinical site in Salzburg, Austria, which offers ongoing weekly exercise classes under medical supervision for cardiac patients. Interview transcripts were analysed against the background of the Reasoned Action Approach and coded inductively.

RESULTS:

Eight themes were generated that elucidated patients' long-term engagement with PA: well-being and physical benefits; health literacy; community, groups, and partners; attitude, expectation and mindset; professional supervision; digital technology; nice distractions; and possibility of personalized tailoring. These themes are linked to several elements of the Reasoned Action Approach, including attitude, norm, behavioural control, skills, and environment.

CONCLUSION:

This study highlights important aspects with respect to shaping a positive attitude towards PA and the significance of the social environment in establishing regular PA in cardiac patients.

2025-10-01·CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY

Brain-breathing interaction during MRI-related anxiety

Review

作者: Rassler, Beate ; Klimesch, Wolfgang ; Andrade, Alexandre ; Schwarz, Gerhard ; Pfurtscheller, Gert ; Kaminski, Maciej ; Pfurtscheller, Klaus

Nasal breathing can entrain fast oscillations in the prefrontal cortex and limbic systems, as experiments with rodents and intracranial EEG recordings in patients have shown. Recently, it was demonstrated that the activity of the amygdala and hippocampus can also be studied non-invasively, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When simultaneously recording BOLD signals, respiration and cardiac RR interval (RRI) time courses, and applying a multivariate autoregressive (MVAR) model combined with Granger causality analysis, it becomes possible to assess directed coupling, or information flow, between brain structures and the body organs (i.e., heart and lung). Klimesch's binary hierarchy model links fast neural oscillations in the gamma and beta range with medium-range rhythms of the heart and respiration, as well as with infra-slow BOLD oscillations (<0.1 Hz), all aimed to minimize the brain's energy demands. This model predicts three preferred breathing frequencies, 0.32 Hz, 0.16 Hz, and 0.08 Hz, as well as an infra-slow oscillation (ISO) at 0.02 Hz. Remarkably, the preferred breathing frequency of 0.32 Hz (∼20 cycles per minute) appears to be a universal marker of anxiety, which is observed in patients and healthy participants during MRI sessions.

2025-09-02·Nature Communications

Structural insights into proprotein convertase activation facilitate the engineering of highly specific furin inhibitors.

Article

作者: Brandstetter, Hans ; Klaushofer, Rupert ; Eder, Luisa Susanna ; Bloch, Konstantin ; Böttcher-Friebertshäuser, Eva ; Schubert, Mario ; Marzaro, Simone ; Dahms, Sven O

Proprotein convertases (PCs), including furin and PC1/3 among nine mammalian homologues, mediate the maturation of numerous secreted substrates by proteolytic cleavage. Disbalance of PC activity is associated with diseases like cancer, fibrosis, neurodegeneration and infections. Therefore, PCs are promising drug targets for the treatment of many diseases. However, the highly conserved active site of PCs complicates the development of specific inhibitors. Here we investigate the activation mechanism of PCs using X-ray crystallography and biochemical methods. The structure-based optimization of the multibasic secondary cleavage site loop not only prevents the prodomain's proteolytic cleavage but also increases its inhibition of furin. Combination of cleavage-resistant PC1/3-prodomain variants and a furin-specific nanobody in fusion proteins reveal very potent inhibitors (K_i = 1.2 pM) with a more than 25,000-fold higher specificity for furin compared to the closely related PC-member PCSK5. Such fusion proteins effectively suppress the replication of a furin-dependent H7N7-influenza virus in cell-based assays.

项与 Universität Salzburg 相关的新闻（医药）

2024-04-24

·Science Daily

Ready and vigilant: Immune cells on standby

When pathogens invade the body, the immune system must react immediately to prevent or contain an infection. But how do our defence cells stay ready when no attacker is in sight? Scientists have found a surprising explanation: They are constantly stimulated by healthy tissue. This keeps them active and ready to respond to pathogens. Based on this insight, future medications could be devised to selectively enhance our immune system's attention. When pathogens invade the body, the immune system must react immediately to prevent or contain an infection. But how do our defence cells stay ready when no attacker is in sight? Scientists from Vienna have found a surprising explanation: They are constantly stimulated by healthy tissue. This keeps them active and ready to respond to pathogens. Based on this insight, future medications could be devised to selectively enhance our immune system's attention. The study has been published in the journal Nature Immunology. Communication is crucial in immune defence. When a virus infects a cell, the cell releases signalling molecules. This alerts immune cells, and our immune system is rapidly activated. Immune cells process such signals through the JAK-STAT signalling pathway -- named after Janus, the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and endings. This pathway links signal detection on the cell surface to the core regulatory machinery of immune cells, activating a set of genes and putting the immune cells into attack mode. Even when there is no immediate threat, our immune cells must remain vigilant. At the same time, they should not cause damage through unnecessary activity, as it is the case with autoimmune diseases. How our defence cells maintain this balance is poorly understood. A team of research groups from Vienna ( ) has now put forward an explanation in the journal Nature Immunology: "The same JAK-STAT signalling pathway that activates immune cells during an infection also keeps them on standby when no pathogens are in sight," explains Christoph Bock, Principal Investigator at CeMM and Professor at the Medical University of Vienna. When encountering a pathogen, the immune cells thus only need to increase the signalling intensity, which is much faster than turning on a completely new signalling pathway. To reach this conclusion, the team examined twelve mutant mouse models, each with a genetically altered component of the JAK-STAT signalling pathway. These mice were raised free of diseases and compared with genetically unaltered mice. It was observed that the mutant mice lacked some of the characteristic gene activity and epigenetic regulation of the standby state. Something similar happened when defence cells were removed from their tissue environment and kept in cell culture: They lost their characteristic standby state and even parts of their identity as immune cells. The team analysed the gene expression and epigenetics of immune cells and tissue samples collected by seven research teams from Vienna. "Our analyses were only possible due to the establishment of uniform laboratory standards and robust statistical methods," explains bioinformatician Nikolaus Fortelny (first author and now Professor at the University of Salzburg). "We showed that JAK-STAT signalling has different functions when immune cells are on standby than during the active response to pathogens," explains Matthias Farlik (also a first author and now group leader at the Medical University of Vienna). "JAK-STAT signalling is a central mechanism of our body for communicating immune signals," summarizes Thomas Decker (Professor at the Max Perutz Labs and the University of Vienna) the relevance of the study. "Our study provides insights into the role of the immune system: not only does it react to attacks, but it also maintains vigilance without causing unnecessary damage," adds Mathias Müller (Professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna). Genes of the JAK-STAT signalling pathway are sometimes pathologically altered in individuals with immune diseases and cancer. Therefore, this research also provides possible approaches for future therapies.

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