news 2011

Scientists at University of Sheffield map out Britain's sun spots Britain is getting brighter according to solar experts at the University of Sheffield who have also revealed the coastal city of Portsmouth was the UK's sunniest place in 2011. At the other end of the sunshine scale, Loch Maree in North West Scotland was found to be the least sunny place in the UK last year.

New research published in The Lancet (9 December 2011) shows no consistent decrease in the maltreatment of children across several countries over the last two decades. Despite years of policy initiatives designed to achieve it, research revealed by a collaboration between Warwick Medical School and University College London Institute of Child Health (ICH) concludes that despite numerous government policy initiatives designed to achieve a reduction in child maltreatment, none has proved successful.

University of Warwick economics professor Christopher Woodruff will oversee a new initiative that plans to invest £15 million into research on private enterprise development in low-income countries. The initiative, the largest research endeavour undertaken on the subject, is a joint venture co-ordinated by the Centre for Economic Policy Research in partnership with the Department for International Development.

The molecular mechanism which makes some plants grow more rapidly when the temperature rises has been identified by researchers at the University of Bristol in a paper published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The Bristol scientists, led by Kerry Franklin, with colleagues at the University of Minnesota and the John Innes Centre in Norwich, found that raising ambient temperature from 20?C to 28?C promoted the rapid elongation of stems in plants with the gene PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4) .

America needs to listen to the Arab Spring protestors in Egypt and engage with their vision of the future rather than trying to impose a way of life, according to new research from the University of Warwick. In a paper just presented to state department staff at the Library of Congress in Washington DC and due to be personally presented to former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright next month, research fellow Oz Hassan claims the American idea of democracy is too focused on economics and there is a lack of innovation in US Middle East policy.

There has been a significant increase in the amount of negative reporting of disability issues in the print media, according to a new study by the University of Glasgow. The report, commissioned by disability equality organisation Inclusion London, compared print media articles from 2004/5 and 2010/11 and found a reduction in the proportion of articles which describe disabled people in sympathetic and deserving terms.

New research has shown for the first time that omega-3 in fish oil could "substantially and significantly" reduce the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis. According to the University of Bristol study, funded by Arthritis Research UK and published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage , omega-3-rich diets fed to guinea pigs, which naturally develop osteoarthritis, reduced disease by 50 per cent compared to a standard diet.

Professional interpreters are under-used in the NHS according to new research from the University of Birmingham. The researchers identify language barriers as an increasing obstacle to the provision of healthcare in a paper published in the journal PLoS ONE . Effective communication is instrumental in the delivery of healthcare support and a cross-sectional study of 41 general practices in the UK highlights language disparities between patients and healthcare professionals.

A team from the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's College London, partnered with South West Public Health Observatory and Whole Systems Partnership, has made a major contribution to the Palliative Care Funding Review for England, published today (1 July). The review has recommended to Government the introduction of the first ever per-patient funding structure for palliative care in England which could save the NHS up to £180 million a year.

A major study reveals for the first time the number of children being brought up by a relative instead of their mother or father. 'Spotlight on Kinship Care' is the first study to quantify the number of children being looked after by family members in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and is based on data from the 2001 Census.

PA 184/11 Offering Multiple Sclerosis sufferers emotional support through group therapy sessions could improve their quality of life and save the NHS almost £500 per patient, a study at The University of Nottingham has discovered. Researchers are now planning a larger multi-centre study into the issue to establish whether psychological therapy should be incorporated into the MS services currently provided by the NHS.

A cell therapy that could prevent transplanted organs being rejected, and remove the need for prolonged use of immunosuppressant drugs, has shown promise in early-stage studies in mice. The approach would involve transplant patients being re-injected with their own immune cells after the cells have been isolated from a blood sample.

A new study from Utrecht and Cambridge Universities has for the first time found that an administration of testosterone under the tongue in volunteers negatively affects a person's ability to 'mind read', an indication of empathy. In addition, the effects of testosterone administration are predicted by a fetal marker of prenatal testosterone, the 2D:4D ratio.