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The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tartu celebrates its 388th anniversary on October 15th-16th. On October 16, Jyrki Tapio Heinämäki, Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology at the Institute of Pharmacy, will give an academic lecture on pharmaceutical nanotechnology. You can take part of the academic lecture via www.uttv.ee.

Researchers of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences of the University of Tartu have conducted a survey to analyse how the university as an organisation responded to the crisis, and to what extent it is possible to use the gained experience to plan future work.

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tartu celebrates its 388th anniversary on October 15th-16th. Starting from today, e-poster presentations can be viewed online. Scientific conference

A study by the researchers of the University of Tartu revealed that in the years 1992–2015, the incidence of lung cancer among men living in the Estonian oil shale industrial regions was higher compared to the rest of Ida-Viru County and the Estonian average: 133.6 in industrial regions and 95.5 in Estonia as a whole per 100,000 men. Other cancer sites did not show any difference in incident rates between Ida-Viru County and the rest of Estonia. On the positive side, the lung cancer incidence rate in industrial regions has been decreasing.

The recently concluded Estonia-wide wave of the coronavirus prevalence study led by the University of Tartu indicates that the virus is also spreading outside the known outbreaks and mostly covertly, that is without notable symptoms. This is why it is increasingly important to follow general precautions such as safe distancing and wearing a mask in crowded indoor spaces.

Researchers of the University of Tartu Department of Nursing Science are leading an international study in Estonia focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on the nursing care service and nurses working in the local healthcare system. As nurses are the central human resource in healthcare, it is important to assess the nursing care provided in the crisis as well as the factors influencing it to foster the quality and safety of healthcare.

University of Tartu researchers participated in a study published in Science, indicating that about 10 per cent of young and healthy people who develop severe COVID-19 have misguided antibodies that attack not the virus, but the immune system itself.

The Simulation Centre of the University of Tartu has started to use a virtual reality device allowing future doctors to experience trauma situations they will have to face in their job and solve them in a safe environment. Riho Runnel, Specialist of Simulation Studies of the University of Tartu Institute of Clinical Medicine, says that many doctors, especially young ones, do not see trauma situations every day and may thus find them intimidating and stressful.

14% of elderly with dementia living at home think about suicide, as revealed by a study carried out in eight European countries, including Estonia, with the participation of researchers from the University of Tartu. It is essential to identify suicidal thoughts to give the patients appropriate treatment and support their caregivers. According to the World Health Organization, suicide and the related ideation and behaviour are a great problem across the globe. Both old age and mental disorders are considered as risk factors.

Studies have shown that a third of adolescents’ close relationships involve violent behaviour patterns, such as checking the other person’s phone, restricting meeting with friends, intimidation and influencing. Researchers of the University of Tartu are launching online courses to help teachers and hence adolescents to recognise different forms of violence as soon as possible and prevent the patterns of dating and relationship violence.

Immune-mediated diseases form a large group of diseases of more than one hundred diagnoses. These diseases continue to be researched by scientists and doctors across the world. We must not overlook any other medical problem while fighting against coronavirus, emphasised Professor of Immunology of the University of Tartu Raivo Uibo, who is leading a research group that contributes to research into the onset of immune-mediated diseases as a part of the major Horizon 2020 initiative HEDIMED.

Dear members of the university, To recover from the extraordinary situation that hit the world in spring, a summer holiday is vital for all of us. However, we must remember to exercise caution when returning to work to make sure our life at the university and in the country as a whole could continue as normally as possible.

On 28 and 29 August, second-year medical students of the University of Tartu are organising the International Anatomy Olympiad “Anatomy Theatre” in Tartu. Ten teams from six universities from Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will put their medical knowledge and creativity to test. The organisers hope the event becomes a lasting tradition.

On 15 February at 12:00, the popular Career Day will take place in the main building of the University of Tartu for the sixth time already. This year the event focuses on traineeships and labour market needs.

The results of the study on coronavirus antibodies KoroSero-EST-1 led by the University of Tartu indicate that the prevalence of the virus notably exceeded the national statistics based on nasal swab testing: by ten times in Tallinn and three and a half times in Saaremaa. Only 20% of people who had coronavirus antibodies in their blood had had a symptom of a viral disease. The population-based study on coronavirus antibodies KoroSero-EST-2 has already started.

The novel coronavirus has been circulating the world for seven months and there is no sign of it subsiding. This means, however, that we will very likely have to coexist with the virus for a very long time and it is up to humans, not the virus, to decide how we want or manage to do that, writes Irja Lutsar, Professor of Medical Microbiology of the University of Tartu. Spread of and infection with the virus In terms of the spread of the virus, countries can be divided as follows:

On Thursday, 6 August, the University of Tartu invites 2,400 residents of Estonia to participate in the fifth wave of the study on the prevalence of coronavirus to understand the impact of the recent weeks’ outbreaks on the wider spread of the virus.

A joint research study involving Estonian scientists has been published which describes in detail the delicate balance between the paternal and maternal genes during pregnancy. Due to the paternal contribution, the embryo is genetically foreign to the mother’s body, but is nevertheless perfectly capable of developing in the womb and normally does not suffer from any maternal immune attacks. However, this balance is not always ideal and may prove fatal for both the embryo and the mother.

The Faculty of Medicine will celebrate its anniversary on 15 and 16 October with a revised programme and schedule.

Estonian scientists and physicians have developed a preeclampsia screening test that enables to prognose the disease risk at the beginning of the 3rd trimester with a probability of 96.5%. Early accurate identification of high-risk pregnancies enables timely clinical monitoring of concerned women to minimize preeclampsia-related health consequences on the mother and the fetus.