news 2016

The University of Nottingham has developed a novel and easy-to-use test for measuring the airtightness of buildings in order to help eliminate draughts, improve energy efficiency and reduce heating bills. The testing of airtightness is needed to help establish and minimise the infiltration rate of cold air into buildings and the loss of heated air out through gaps, holes and cracks in the building fabric.

Permanent marine protected areas and wilderness are critical to the effective protection of marine fish, according to a study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society, James Cook University, and Lancaster University. Unlike previous research that focused primarily on the weight of fish (biomass) as a measure of reef recovery, this study evaluated the life histories of fish, such as growth rates and length.

Scientists have formulated a system that uses ultrasound images to accurately work out the likelihood of an ovarian growth being cancerous. The team - from international institutions including Imperial College London and the University of Leuven - say the system could allow medics to classify a tumour as cancerous before surgery, and could potentially improve outcomes for patients.

A breakthrough in the transformation of human cells by an international team led by researchers at the University of Bristol could open the door to a new range of treatments for a variety of medical conditions. Their paper, published today , demonstrates the creation of a system that predicts how to create any human cell type from another cell type directly, without the need for experimental trial and error.

3D printing techniques have quickly become some of the most widely used tools to rapidly design and build new components. A team of engineers at the University of Bristol has developed a new type of 3D printing that can print composite materials, which are used in many high performance products such as tennis rackets, golf clubs and aeroplanes.

Jen's doctoral success came straight from the horse's mouth Jen Wathan's doctoral research that identified how horses and humans share facial expressions created a stampede of interest last year. Not only did she have journalists hot-hoofing to about the way horses use their lips, nostrils and mouths in social communication, she even had an inquiry from an animation artist keen to use her research tools to help create an equine character in a forthcoming adaptation of a Terry Pratchett novel.

While research has already established that B vitamin supplements can help slow mental decline in older people with memory problems, an international team have now found that having higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids in your body could boost the B vitamins' effect. The team, from the Universities of Cape Town, Oslo, Oxford and the UAE, studied more than 250 people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Oxford.

A new app called QUiPP could help doctors to better identify women at risk of giving birth prematurely. The app, developed at King's College London, was tested in two studies of high-risk women being monitored at antenatal clinics. Worldwide 15 million babies are born preterm (before 37 weeks) each year and over a million of these die of prematurity-related complications.

The forests of Central Africa could be home to up to 920,000 Pygmies, according to researchers from UCL, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Malaga, who have conducted the first measured estimate of the population and distribution of these indigenous groups. Up until now it has not been possible to determine the numbers and actual geographic ranges of Pygmy communities, because of their location in remote forest areas, mobility, lack of census data, and imprecise and partial sources of information.

The first major evaluation of the NHS Health Check in England, carried out by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), has found that the programme is effectively identifying people at risk of developing major cardiovascular incidents. The NHS Health Check programme is the first in the world to tackle prevention of heart attacks and strokes by offering a free check to every adult aged 40-74 years.

The world's first national tissue bank for pancreatic cancer is to launch in the UK, to help push forward research into the cancer with the bleakest prognosis. The Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank brings together surgeons, pathologists, oncologists, researchers and database experts to co-ordinate a national - and ultimately international - resource that will help to develop new treatments and bring these to patients much faster.

A new King's College London study examines suicide deaths within and outside the period surrounding childbirth, specifically in women who had been in recent with mental health services. Suicide in pregnant and postnatal women is an important cause of maternal death, yet evidence to guide suicide prevention in this group is scarce.

The complex pattern of 'chatter' between different areas of an individual's brain while they are awake could help doctors better track and even predict their response to general anaesthesia - and better identify the amount of anaesthetic necessary - according to new research from the University of Cambridge.

Political centre ground could be further to the left than thought, research suggests The centre ground of British politics could be further to the left than we think, according to new research by the University of Sussex and Queen Mary University of London. A study into the views of supporters of the main political parties in the country suggests that many are more left wing than they think they are.

Factors regulating the biological age of a transplanted kidney (miles on the clock ) as opposed to the chronological age (calendar years) are key to determining how well it will work after transplantation, a new study has revealed. Researchers from the Glasgow Ageing Research Network (GARNER), based at the University of Glasgow's Institute of Cancer Sciences and the NHS GG&C Renal Unit, have found that these factors can provide doctors with a more accurate advanced indication of post-transplant outcomes and thus better patient management.

Medical researchers at the University of Bristol have uncovered a fundamental mechanism that explains the interaction between brain state and the neural triggers responsible for learning. The discoveries, made by researchers in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co., could lead to new ways of boosting cognitive function to counteract the effects of diseases such as Alzheimer's, as well as enhancing memory in healthy people.

Scientists re-engineer body's immune system for safer and more effective cancer treatment Scientists have demonstrated a new way of re-engineering the body's immune system to target cancer, paving the way for a new generation of drugs, unprecedented in safety and effectiveness. Researchers from Cardiff used powerful X-ray technology to engineer an enhanced kind of white blood cell - known as a T-Cell- capable of targeting cancerous tissue while minimising with healthy tissue, which can be fatal to patients receiving this kind of experimental therapy.

The world's largest canyon may lie beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, according to an analysis of new satellite data. The previously unknown canyon is thought to be over 1,000 kilometres long and in places as much as a kilometre deep, which would make it comparable in depth to the Grand Canyon in United States, but many times longer.

Scientists in Bristol have discovered that a commonly prescribed dementia drug could hold the key to helping prevent debilitating falls for people with Parkinson's. The research, published today in The Lancet Neurology, shows people with Parkinson's who were given the oral drug rivastigmine were 45% less likely to fall and were considerably steadier when walking, compared to those on the placebo.

More than half of all HIV infections among men having sex with men could be prevented by ramping up existing strategies, suggests new research. The study, lead by Imperial College London researchers, suggests that using a combination of more comprehensive annual HIV testing, together with rapidly treating infected men, and even treating some uninfected men (known as prophylactic treatment), could reduce new cases of HIV infections.