HUN-REN-DE Public Health Research Group

Full name of member institute/department or working group: HUN-REN-DE Public Health Research Group
Address: Debrecen, Kassai str 26/B, H-4028
Head/Leader: Prof. Dr. János Sándor
Leader’s contact (e-mail address, phone): sandor.janos [at] med.unideb [dot] hu; +36 20 9323 140

 

 
Head of Research Group Dr. János Sándor  Professor, Doctor ot the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (D.Sc.)
Research Professor

Dr. Róza Ádány Professor Emeritus, Doctor ot the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (D.Sc.)

Dr. Margit Balázs Professor, Doctor ot the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (D.Sc.)
Scientific Advisor Dr. Zoltán Ungvári Professor, PhD
Reserarch Fellow Dr. István Szász PhD
Assistant Research Fellow 

Ágnes Berecz

Dr. Nóra Kovács PhD
Researchers

Habib Al Ashkar

Elehamer Nafisa Mhna Kmbo

 

Description of the activities of the member institution as follows:

Main profile
The MTA-DE Research Group funded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences started to operate by the year of 2007. Its mission is to investigate and explore the health and health behavior of the Hungarian population (including Roma) in international comparison. The aim is to identify the main public health problems and their background, as well as the evidence-based interventions applicable to solve or at least mitigate them.

Main (research) activities

  • identification and characterization of health determinants (especially nutritional and health behaviour factors) behind the early death of the Hungarian population
  • Socio-economical inequalities and anomalies in preventive medication in the background of premature mortality caused by diseases with high public health importance
  • Epidemiological characterization (morbidity and mortality burden) of cardiometabolic diseases with special focus on cardiovascular diseases and diabetes 
  • Genetic susceptibility of the Hungarian general and Roma populations to different non-communicable diseases using the methodological arsenal of public health genomics
  • Studying genomic alterations associated with progression of malignant diseases
  • Investigating molecular background of drug-resistance in therapy of malignancies 

Educational activities

  • Organizing the work (delegating head and secretary) of the Doctoral School of Health Sciences
  • Coordinating education in the framework of subjects “Basic oncology” (for medical students), “Public health” (for students in master courses of health psychology and complex rehabilitation), “Public health genomics” (for students in master course of complex rehabilitation), “Basic genetics” (for students in master course of health psychology), and participation in training activities   
  • Participation in teaching preventive medicine and public health for medical students
  • Participation in teaching environmental health for dentistry and pharmacy students 
  • Supervising PhD students

Consultancy activities

  • Ministry of the Interior: Health monitoring of Roma adults living in segregated settlements that can be incorporated into the routine health statistics system (János Sándor)
  • Ministry of the Interior: Continuous health monitoring of people living in segregated settlements built into routine health statistics system (János Sándor)
  • Health care of adults living in segregated settlements (https://estat.unideb.hu/)
  • Journal of Health Promotion - Editorial Board Membership
  • member of the Public Health Society (from 1995)
  • NKFIH (OTKA) Evaluation of proposals
  • Evaluation of Hungarian and English Diploma Thesis
  • Evaluation of Hungarian and English PhD Thesis
  • Active participation in organizing local TDK conferences
  • Evaluation of Hungarian and English scientific student entries
  • Jury President Tasks at the Semmelweis University Scientific Student Conference
  • Participation as a jury president and chairman in conducting local scientific student conferences
  • Members of the Committee of Preventive Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (János Sándor, Róza Ádány, Margit Balázs)
  • Doctoral representative of the V. Section of Medical Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Margit Balázs)
  • Member of the I. Doctoral Committee of the V. Section of Medical Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Róza Ádány)
  • Member of the Medical and Health Sciences Committee of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee (Margit Balázs)
  • Member of the Expert Committee of Bólyai János Research Fellowship of Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Margit Balázs)
  • Member of the Honorary Committee of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (Ádány Róza)
  • European Journal of Public Health – member of the Editorial Board (Róza Ádány)
  • Frontiers in Public Health - Associate Editor (Róza Ádány)

Projects (ongoing)

  • Scientific Mecenatúra Project: Publication of the ‘Preventive medicine and public health’ textbook, 2022-2023, (János Sándor)
  • Horizon Europe Programme: SOLACE - Developing lung screening in Europe, 2023-2026, (János Sándor)
  • HUN-REN-UD Research Group of Public Health, Identification and characterization of evidence -based procedures to improve the Hungarian public health situation, 2022-2027 (János Sándor)
  • OTKA 135752 Molecular background of organ specific metastasis formation of human malignant melanoma, 2020-2023 (Margit Balázs) 
  • OTKA K135784  Genetic susceptibility and enviromental risk factors to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases int he Hungarian population,  2020-2024  (Ádány Róza)
  • Horizon Europe Programme: PROPHET – Personalized Prevention Roadmap for the Future Healthcare, 2022-2026 (Róza Ádány)
  • 2023-1.2.1-ERA-NET - CANCER MULTI-OMICS AVATARS FOR INTEGRATED PRECISION MEDICINE, 2024-2026 (Róza Ádány)

6.    Publications

2023

  1. Merzah M, Póliska S, Balogh L, Sándor J, Szász I, Natae S, Fiatal S. A Transcriptomic Analysis of Smoking-Induced Gene Expression Alterations in Coronary Artery Disease Patients. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 10;24(18):13920. doi: 10.3390/ijms241813920. PMID: 37762221; PMCID: PMC10530857.
  2. Diószegi J, Rihmer Z, Torzsa P, Pál L, Czifra Á, Gonda X, Sándor J. Psychiatric health care need in Hungary identified by the short screening algorithm of depression and suicide risk used in general medical practices. Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 31;13(1):14249. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41437-2. PMID: 37652947; PMCID: PMC10471575.
  3. Wasnik RN, Győri-Dani V, Vincze F, Papp M, Pálinkás A, Sándor J. Screening for Patients with Visual Acuity Loss in Primary Health Care: A Cross Sectional Study in a Deprived Hungarian Population. Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Jul 5;11(13):1941. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11131941. PMID: 37444777; PMCID: PMC10341402.
  4. Pandics T, Major D, Fazekas-Pongor V, Szarvas Z, Peterfi A, Mukli P, Gulej R, Ungvari A, Fekete M, Tompa A, Tarantini S, Yabluchanskiy A, Conley S, Csiszar A, Tabak AG, Benyo Z, Adany R, Ungvari Z. Exposome and unhealthy aging: environmental drivers from air pollution to occupational exposures. Geroscience. 2023 Dec;45(6):3381-3408. doi: 10.1007/s11357-023-00913-3. Epub 2023 Sep 9. PMID: 37688657; PMCID: PMC10643494.
  5. Lococo F, Boldrini L, Diepriye CD, Evangelista J, Nero C, Flamini S, Minucci A, De Paolis E, Vita E, Cesario A, Annunziata S, Calcagni ML, Chiappetta M, Cancellieri A, Larici AR, Cicchetti G, Troost EGC, Ádány R, Farré N, Öztürk E, Van Doorne D, Leoncini F, Urbani A, Trisolini R, Bria E, Giordano A, Rindi G, Sala E, Tortora G, Valentini V, Boccia S, Margaritora S, Scambia G. Lung cancer multi-omics digital human avatars for integrating precision medicine into clinical practice: the LANTERN study. BMC Cancer. 2023 Jun 13;23(1):540. doi: 10.1186/s12885-023-10997-x. Erratum in: BMC Cancer. 2023 Nov 9;23(1):1082. PMID: 37312079; PMCID: PMC10262371.
  6. Kurshed AAM, Vincze F, Pikó P, Kósa Z, Sándor J, Ádány R, Diószegi J. Alcohol consumption patterns of the Hungarian general and Roma populations. Front Public Health. 2023 Jan 10;10:1003129. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1003129. PMID: 36703826; PMCID: PMC9871455.
  7. Bíró É, Vincze F, Nagy-Pénzes G, Ádány R. Investigation of the relationship of general and digital health literacy with various health-related outcomes. Front Public Health. 2023 Jul 31;11:1229734. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1229734. PMID: 37588120; PMCID: PMC10426797.
  8. Szász I, Kiss T, Mokánszki A, Koroknai V, Deák J, Patel V, Jámbor K, Ádány R, Balázs M. 
    Identification of liquid biopsy-based mutations in colorectal cancer by targeted sequencing assays. Mol Cell Probes. 2023 Feb;67:101888. doi: 10.1016/j.mcp.2022.101888. Epub 2022 Dec 10. PMID: 36513244.
  9. Piko P, Jenei T, Kosa Z, Sandor J, Kovacs N, Seres I, Paragh G, Adany R. Association of CETP Gene Polymorphisms and Haplotypes with Cardiovascular Risk. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jun 17;24(12):10281. doi: 10.3390/ijms241210281. PMID: 37373432; PMCID: PMC10299660.
  10. Piko P, Jenei T, Kosa Z, Sandor J, Kovacs N, Seres I, Paragh G, Adany R. Association of HDL Subfraction Profile with the Progression of Insulin Resistance. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 1;24(17):13563. doi: 10.3390/ijms241713563. PMID: 37686368; PMCID: PMC10488248.
  11. Kurshed AAM, Vincze F, Pikó P, Kósa Z, Sándor J, Ádány R, Diószegi J. Taste Preference-Related Genetic Polymorphisms Modify Alcohol Consumption Behavior of the Hungarian General and Roma Populations. Genes (Basel). 2023 Mar 7;14(3):666. doi: 10.3390/genes14030666. PMID: 36980937; PMCID: PMC10048713.
  12. Pikó P, Bácsné Bába É, Kósa Z, Sándor J, Kovács N, Bács Z, Ádány R. Genetic Determinants of Leisure-Time Physical Activity in the Hungarian General and Roma Populations. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Feb 26;24(5):4566. doi: 10.3390/ijms24054566. PMID: 36901996; PMCID: PMC10003125.
  13. Piko P, Llanaj E, Nagy K, Adany R. Genetic Background of Metabolically Healthy and Unhealthy Obesity Phenotypes in Hungarian Adult Sample Population. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Mar 8;24(6):5209. doi: 10.3390/ijms24065209. PMID: 36982283; PMCID: PMC10049500.
  14. Muhollari T, Szűcs S, Sajtos Z, McKee M, Baranyai E, Ádány R, Pál L. Heavy metals in unrecorded Albanian rakia: A pilot study on a potential public health risk. Heliyon. 2023 Feb 15;9(3):e13717. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13717. PMID: 36873485; PMCID: PMC9981896.
  15. Nasr N, Soltész B, Sándor J, Ádány R, Fiatal S. Comparison of Genetic Susceptibility to Coronary Heart Disease in the Hungarian Populations: Risk Prediction Models for Coronary Heart Disease. Genes (Basel). 2023 Apr 30;14(5):1033. doi: 10.3390/genes14051033. PMID: 37239393; PMCID: PMC10218435.
  16. Natae SF, Merzah MA, Sándor J, Ádány R, Bereczky Z, Fiatal S. A combination of strongly associated prothrombotic single nucleotide polymorphisms could efficiently predict venous thrombosis risk. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Sep 6;10:1224462. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1224462. PMID: 37745125; PMCID: PMC10511882.
  17. Lococo F, Boldrini L, Diepriye CD, Evangelista J, Nero C, Flamini S, Minucci A, De Paolis E, Vita E, Cesario A, Annunziata S, Calcagni ML, Chiappetta M, Cancellieri A, Larici AR, Cicchetti G, Troost EGC, Ádány R, Farré N, Öztürk E, Van Doorne D, Leoncini F, Urbani A, Trisolini R, Bria E, Giordano A, Rindi G, Sala E, Tortora G, Valentini V, Boccia S, Margaritora S, Scambia G. Correction: Lung cancer multi-omics digital human avatars for integrating precision medicine into clinical practice: the LANTERN study. BMC Cancer. 2023 Nov 9;23(1):1082. doi: 10.1186/s12885-023-11606-7. Erratum for: BMC Cancer. 2023 Jun 13;23(1):540. PMID: 37946178; PMCID: PMC10636981.
  18. Koroknai V, Szász I, Balázs M. Gene Expression Changes in Cytokine and Chemokine Receptors in Association with Melanoma Liver Metastasis. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 May 17;24(10):8901. doi: 10.3390/ijms24108901. PMID: 37240247; PMCID: PMC10219520.

Members 

János Sándor, MD, PhD, DSc, Professor - sandor.janos [at] med.unideb [dot] hu
Róza Ádány, MD, PhD, DSc, Professor - adany.roza [at] med.unideb [dot] hu 
Balázs Margit, PhD, DSc, Professor - balazs.margit [at] med.unideb [dot] hu 
István Szász, Senior Research Fellow - szasz.istvan [at] med.unideb [dot] hu

The most important news, events and results of the last two years:
Hungarian Order of Merit Cross (2022) – presented to Róza Ádány and Margit Balázs

17 February, 2023 - the 70th birthday celebration of Professor Roza Adany and Professor Margit Balazs, former Deans of the Faculty of Public Health at the University of Debrecen

Award of the European Regional Director of the World Health Organization for outstanding work in the field of improvement of the health of the European population – presented to Róza Ádány.