news 2017

Starving a childhood brain tumour of the amino acid glutamine could improve the effect of chemotherapy, according to an early study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and funded by Children with Cancer UK and the Medical Research Council. Wednesday 1 November 2017 Medulloblastoma is the most common solid primary brain tumour in children and a major cause of mortality in childhood cancers.

A new study suggests a drug that was used in the past to treat gonorrhoea could help tackle infections that are resistant to current treatments. Cases of the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea have been rising in recent years and the bacteria that cause it are becoming increasingly resistant to the antibiotics currently used, in some cases making it impossible to treat.

Hollywood films and science fiction literature fuel the belief that aliens are monster-like beings, who are very different to humans. But new research suggests that we could have more in common with our extra-terrestrial neighbours, than initially thought. In a new study published in the International Journal of Astrobiology scientists from the University of Oxford show for the first time how evolutionary theory can be used to support alien predictions and better understand their behaviour.

Three major pulses of increased mobility in Europe over the last 10,000 years and a general upward trend in migration have been uncovered in a new study led by researchers from UCL, University of Cambridge and King's College London. The new method, published today in PNAS , allows, for the first time, to directly quantify changes in prehistoric migration rates using ancient genetic data over the last 30,000 years.

A giant planet - the existence of which previously thought extremely unlikely - discovered around a small star by an international collaboration of astronomers, with University of Warwick taking a leading role NGTS-1b is the largest planet compared to the size of its companion star ever discovered in universe - contradicts theories that a planet of this size could not be formed by such a small star Discovered using the state-of-the-art Next-Gene

Implications of livestock farming on climate change should not be drawn from aggregate statistics, reveals a study based on a new method of carbon footprinting for pasture-based cattle production systems that can assess the impacts of individual animals. The new method, developed by a team from the University of Bristol and Rothamsted Research, records the environmental impact of each animal separately before calculating the overall burden of a farm.

A major international study has pinpointed more than 100 genetic risk factors that explain why some people suffer from asthma, hay fever and eczema. The study was led by a team of scientists, including Dr Manuel Ferreira from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane Australia and Dr Lavinia Paternoster , MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, UK.

Around 1,000 children are born with cleft lip and/or palate in the UK each year, with many children requiring long-term multi-disciplinary care. A University of Bristol study, which assessed whether the centralisation of cleft lip and palate care services improved child outcomes, 15 years after centralisation took place, is published.

Scientists have found a way of mimicking our body's natural healing process, using cell derived nano-sized particles called vesicles, to repair damaged tissue. The paper, published in Scientific Reports , describes a new approach to bone regeneration; stimulating cells to produce vesicles which can then be delivered to facilitate tissue regeneration.

UK and Canadian scientists have shown how patients with a rare cardiovascular condition could be treated with a drug normally used to treat cancer. Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening disease that affects the blood vessels of the lung and causes heart failure. In a paper the team from Imperial College London and the University of Alberta report promising results from an early-phase clinical trial in a small group of patients with PAH already under treatment with approved drugs, as well as lung tissue from PAH patients.

The American Diabetes Association has issued a statement on improving the clinical value and use of continues glucose monitoring systems. Professor John Petrie, Professor of Diabetic Medicine at the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, was the lead and corresponding author on the statement, which included a team of medical and research experts from the American Diabetes Association (Association) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), who convened to evaluate CGM and related technologies.

Scientists have developed a tiny cantilever that can weigh individual cells, which has enabled them to detect that a cell stops growing after catching a virus. Researchers from the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology (LMCB) at UCL say the project shows how international collaborations between biologists and technology experts can drive new discoveries in biology.

Skin plays a surprising role in helping regulate blood pressure and heart rate, according to scientists at the University of Cambridge and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. While this discovery was made in mice, the researchers believe it is likely to be true also in humans.

New analysis reveals that billions of dollars spent on habitat and species conservation have resulted in substantial reductions in biodiversity loss. Government spending on conservation efforts, such as management of national parks, has been patchy across the world, in part due to a lack of solid evidence of success.

Billions of dollars of financial investment in global conservation has significantly reduced biodiversity loss, according to a new Oxford University research. Image credit: Shutterstock Billions of dollars of financial investment in global conservation has significantly reduced biodiversity loss, according to a new Oxford University research.

A new study from Kyoto and Oxford universities and Indianapolis Zoo has shown chimpanzees spontaneously taking turns to complete a number sequencing task. Previous studies have shown chimps working together in strictly alternating turn-taking scenarios. However, these results are the first to demonstrate that chimpanzees can cope with more complex permutations of turn-taking, with no external cues to help time their behaviour.

A materials expert says quantum computers may be able to come out of the cold, thanks to his research breakthrough. Dr Jonathan Breeze is from the Department of Materials at Imperial College London. He says his research breakthrough may help scientists overcome a major obstacle with quantum computers - the fact that they have to operate in conditions that are colder than deep space.

Fears of inter-generational tension between young and old are unfounded, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Birmingham say that social, economic and demographic factors are generally pushing UK families together, rather than driving them apart along generational lines. Their key findings were: Instead of falling victim to inter-generational tensions, families are determined to support their own members financially.

Researchers at the Universities of Dundee and Oxford have shown how combining the tetanus vaccine with a viral particle that normally affects cucumbers can be used to treat psoriasis and allergies, and may even protect against Alzheimer's disease. Scientists led by Dundee's Dr John Foerster and Oxford's Professor Martin Bachmann, were able to take the protein coat of cucumber mosaic virus and incorporate a tetanus vaccine-derived protein structure known to stimulate the immune system in order to create vaccines to treat multiple chronic diseases.

Researchers have developed a solution to a longstanding problem in the field of end-to-end encryption, a technique that ensures that only sender and recipient can read a message. With current end-to-end encryption, if an attacker compromises a recipient's device, they can then put themselves in a position to intercept, read and alter all future communications without sender or recipient ever knowing.