news 2012

University Home Obese dogs at risk of same health condition experienced by humans Veterinary scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that, like humans, obese dogs can experience metabolic syndrome, a condition that describes multiple health issues that occur in the body at the same time.

Diet foods that offer thicker, creamier textures increase expectations that the food will be satisfying and suppress hunger, reveals new research by Sussex academics published today (31 October 2012) in the BioMed Central open access journal Flavour reveals. Low-calorie foods may help people lose weight, but there is often a problem that people using them do not feel full.

Medications used to treat hypertension, diabetes and skin conditions could be doubling as treatments for Alzheimer's within 10 years according to researchers. A groundbreaking new study funded by Alzheimer's Society and led by King's College London identifies four existing drugs and one drug class which could reduce risk or slow down symptoms of the disease.

First ever family tree for all living birds reveals evolution and diversification The world's first family tree linking all living bids and revealing when and where they evolved and diversified since dinosaurs walked the earth has been created by scientists from the University of Sheffield. Experts used the family tree to map out where the almost 10,000 species of birds live to show where the most diversification has taken place in the world.

PA 298/12 High birth weight, rapid weight gain and having an overweight mother who smokes can all increase the risk of a baby becoming obese later in childhood, research by experts at The University of Nottingham has found. The study, published in the latest edition of the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood , also discovered that children who were breastfed and were introduced to solid food later had a slightly reduced chance of becoming overweight.

Opsins, the light-sensitive proteins key to vision, may have evolved earlier and undergone fewer genetic changes than previously believed, according to a new study from the National University of Ireland Maynooth and the University of Bristol published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) .

Scientists have developed a prototype ultra-sensitive sensor that would enable doctors to detect the early stages of diseases and viruses with the naked eye, according to research published today Nanotechnology. The team, from Imperial College London, report that their visual sensor technology is ten times more sensitive than the current gold standard methods for measuring biomarkers.

Exercising before breakfast is better for you than exercising afterwards according to new research by scientists at the University of Glasgow. Jason Gill and Nor Farah of the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences conducted a study to compare the effects of exercise performed before and after breakfast on fat loss and metabolic health.

29 Oct 2012 Cancer of the prostate - the most common male cancer in the UK - presents in two distinct ways: a low-risk type, which may never cause any symptoms, and a high-risk form that needs treatment to prevent it spreading to other parts of the body. Knowing which type of prostate cancer each patient has - some 40,000 British men per year - is therefore essential to ensuring they receive the correct treatment.

University Home Study into sea level rise due to fossil fuels Study by scientists has found that burning all the Earth's reserves of fossil fuels could cause sea levels to rise by as much as five metres A study by University of Liverpool scientists has found that burning all the Earth's reserves of fossil fuels could cause sea levels to rise by as much as five metres - with levels continuing to rise for typically 500 years after carbon dioxide emissions ceased.

The largest-ever study of smoking among women in the UK has shown that female smokers lose at least 10 years of life on average. But stopping before the age of 40 - and preferably well before the age of 40 - avoids more than 90% of the increased risk of dying caused by continuing to smoke. The Oxford University-led study, published in the medical journal The Lancet , is timed to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Richard Doll, one of the first people to identify the link between lung cancer and smoking.

New imaging technology has revealed how the molecular machines that remodel genetic material inside cells 'grab onto' DNA like a rock climber looking for a handhold. The experiments, reported in this week's Science , use laser light to generate very bright patches close to single cells. When coupled with fluorescent tags this 'spotlight' makes it possible to image the inner workings of cells fast enough to see how the molecular machines inside change size, shape, and composition in the presence of DNA.

A new model developed by UCL researchers to predict the persistence of stuttering could be used to screen all children at school age, according to new research in the Journal of Fluency Disorders . Stuttering - also known as stammering - is thought to affect one in twenty children under the age of five, with onset generally occurring around the age of three years old.

An evaluation of the scientific evidence on the effects of global health initiatives on the health systems of developing countries concludes that the harmful effects have been exaggerated. The systematic review found that much of the research literature did not fulfil the requirements of rigorous scientific evidence.

Better ways to tackle birth defects will be championed at the official launch of the Newlife Birth Defects Research Centre (BDRC) on Thursday 25 October 2012. The centrepiece of the BDRC, based at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH), is a newly built £6.5 million laboratory and office space dedicated to researching the causes of birth defects, advancing their diagnosis and treatment and preventing such conditions in the future.

Researchers from UCL have found that lonely people have less grey matter in a part of the brain associated with decoding eye gaze and other social cues. Published in the journal of Current Biology, the study also suggests that through training people might be able to improve their social perception and become less lonely.

A major three-year trial led by researchers at UCL, in partnership with the Health Protection Agency, has shown that giving one-to-one feedback to healthcare workers makes them twice as likely to clean their hands or use soap. The Feedback Intervention Trial (FIT) is the first such trial to be done in a large number of hospitals anywhere in the world.

University Home Analysing ancient footprints in major BBC series Professor Robin Crompton, from the University's Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease , will appear in the final episode of the major BBC series, Prehistoric Autopsy , to discuss how ancient footprints found in Laetoli, Tanzania, could explain the history of human walking.

Because of its intriguing properties graphene could be the ideal material for building new kinds of electronic devices such as sensors, screens, or even quantum computers. One of the keys to exploiting graphene's potential is being able to create atomic-scale defects - where carbon atoms in its flat, honeycomb-like structure are rearranged or 'knocked out' - as these influence its electrical, chemical, magnetic, and mechanical properties.

Patients suffering from a distressing side-effect of radiotherapy for head and neck cancers can benefit from acupuncture treatment, reveals a new study published today (Wednesday 24 October 2012). Patients who have received radiotherapy for head and neck cancer often suffer from the unpleasant and distressing side-effect of a dry mouth, caused by damage to their salivary glands from the radiation.