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Cardiovascular disease research receives one million euros in grant

Cardiovascular diseases are widespread in Finland. Although they have caused less fatalities since the 1970s, they are still responsible for nearly half of deaths in Finland’s working-age population. The most common cardiovascular diseases are coronary artery disease, heart insufficiency, and cerebrovascular disease.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation’s assets consist of donations and bequests received over the last 80 years. Many donors have wanted to support medical science or specifically cardiovascular disease research.

“Their donations have now enabled several simultaneous large grants to research, although large grants in this field are otherwise relatively rare in Finland”, says Mikko Niemi, member of the Board of Trustees of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and professor of pharmacogenetics at the University of Helsinki.

Hymyilevä silmälasipäinen mies seisoo käytävällä, taustalla ikkunoista tehty seinä.

Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala and a research group received €200,000 for research on developing gene therapy. Photo: The University of Eastern Finland

Applications for the cardiovascular disease research grants could be submitted during the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s regional funds’ application round in January. Grants were awarded to six projects.

Professor Juhani Knuuti and the KOVERI research project (Turku PET Centre) received €264,500 for research on imaging changes in other organs related to coronary artery disease. The research is producing unique information on the interaction between the heart and other organs and on the changes caused by coronary artery disease in the blood circulation of other organs.

Gene therapy opens up new possibilities for treating many serious diseases. Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala and a research group at the University of Eastern Finland’s Faculty of Health Sciences received €200,000 for research on developing gene therapy for improving the treatment of heart failure and the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion injury caused when opening up blocked coronary arteries.

Adjunct professor Katariina Öörni and a research group at the Wihuri Research Institute received €180,000 for research on the reasons for the qualitative characteristics of lipoproteins and research on their effects on the development of cardiovascular diseases. The research project can help improve individual risk analysis and help direct treatment to individuals that benefit the most from it.

Professor Katriina Aalto-Setälä and a research group from the University of Tampere’s Biomeditech (€168,000) are studying the modelling of cardiac ischemia and hereditary heart diseases using stem cells and iPS cell technology, Professor Jussi Hernesniemi and the AFFELECT research group (Tampere University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, €108,000) are studying the acute treatment of randomised and controlled clinical atrial fibrillation and flutter, and Professor Marja Hedman and her research group (University of Eastern Finland’s Faculty of Health Sciences, €79,500) are studying the prediction of aortic rupture by means of mathematical modelling.

Science knows no regional boundaries

The Finnish Cultural Foundation impacts every corner of Finland through its 17 regional funds. The regional funds are responsible for nurturing and developing the culture of their region.

“One million euros for cardiovascular diseases were collected from 14 donor funds in the areas of ten regional funds, and applications for the grants could be submitted throughout Finland. The aim was to get applications from larger research projects and to achieve effectiveness”, says Antti Niskanen, the fund officer in charge of the application process.

Of the one hundred applications received, some were directed to the normal evaluation of the regional funds, where it was felt they had better chances of success than in the application process meant for bigger cardiovascular disease projects.

Milk – crucial source of nutrients or threat to children’s health?

Runsaan maitovalmisteiden käytön todettiin olevan yhteydessä kohonneeseen tyypin 1 diabeteksen kehittymiseen. Kuva: Laura Iisalo

Text and photos: Laura Iisalo

The occurrence of type 1 diabetes has multiplied in Finland since the 1950’s, and excessive consumption of cow’s milk has been found to predispose individuals to the development of the disease.

Doctoral candidate at the University of Helsinki’s Doctoral Programme in Population Health, Katariina Koivusaari, has spent the past three and half years looking into the connection between the processing of milk and the development of type 1 diabetes in children. The possible link to asthma was included in the research later on.

– Cow’s milk is a source of protein, nutrients, and vitamins for children, including calcium, iodine, vitamin D, and some types of vitamin B, and milk products are very popular. On the other hand, the occurrence of type 1 diabetes is the highest in the world, which is why doing this research in Finland makes sense, Koivusaari says.

Prior to her thesis Koivusaari completed her master studies, and classified all milk-containing food products in the National Food Composition Database according to how they were heat-treated and homogenised during processing. 

In high pasteurisation the heat inactivates proteins in the milk, and in high-temperature treatment new compounds are also created. In homogenisation, the fat in milk is broken into smaller compounds, which changes the surface structure. This can, according to Koivusaari, affect the structure of the proteins attached to the fat. 

Apart from different types of commercial drinkable milk, the classification included quark, cheese, yoghurt, and other milk products. Extra attention was paid to children’s foods including formulas, porridges, and baby food products containing cow’s milk.

– Milk is a very complex matter and in previous research it has been left unclear what is the exact factor in milk that increases the risk of developing the illness. Understanding this would mean that it could be taken into consideration in processing, says Koivusaari.

High-temperature treatment is connected to asthma

Katariina Koivusaarelle myönnettiin vuonna 2018 keskusrahastosta 24 000 euron apuraha maidon prosessoinnin yhteyttä lasten tyypin 1 diabetekseen tutkivaan väitöskirjatyöhön. Kuva: Laura Iisalo

Koivusaari performed her thesis work at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. She made use of the research material collected since 1996 as part of the Finnish study, Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention, which according to Koivusaari, is one of the most important studies in the field.

Statistical analysis was prepared by a doctoral candidate at Tampere University, Essi Syrjälä and the research project was supervised by Tapani Alatossava at the University of Helsinki and Suvi Virtanen and Sari Niinistö at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

The study didn’t find any of the processing methods to be a significant marker but excessive consumption of milk products was connected to a higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

High-temperature treated milk products, which include infant formulas, seem to be linked to a higher asthma risk. This is the first study in which such connection has been found.

The study results are promising, yet more research is needed in order to verify the outcome. Koivusaari intends to defend her thesis by the end of this year, and after that she is going to embark on a new study that once again relates to children and food.

– The subject is always relevant because eating is mandatory. I find it meaningful to link the knowledge in my study field to children – for me that is important and interesting, she says.

Doctoral candidate Katariina Koivusaari, was awarded a grant worth 24 000 euros in 2018 from the Finnish Cultural Foundation. She studied the connection of milk processing and the outbreak of type 1 diabetes and asthma in children.