news 2018

Smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure increase the risk of a heart attack more in women than in men, new research from The George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford has found. The study, of 472,000 participants aged 40-69, found that smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and having a BMI ≥25 puts both men and women at increased risk of having a heart attack.

Miniature devices for sensing biological molecules could be developed quicker thanks to a rapid prototyping method. Devices that sense and measure biological molecules important for healthcare, such as detecting diseases in blood samples, rely on electrodes to carry out their tasks. We hope this method will allow bioelectronics to benefit from that ecosystem of hackers getting hands-on with problems and solutions in healthcare.

Online labour platforms that connect freelance workers and clients around the world are emerging as an alternative to traditional offshoring, according to new Oxford University research. Workers from emerging economies in particular are benefitting from these networks according to the study conducted by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute.

Wanting your child to have the best chance in life is natural for any parent. But by focusing too much on the 'skill' of parenting, are we losing sight of things that matter more - how we talk to and play with children? Cambridge researchers are examining how parents can best help their children in their early years through nurturing rather than shaping.

Professor Tom Spencer from Cambridge's Department of Geography and Professor Gerd Masselink from the University of Plymouth say evidence suggests there should be far stricter controls on coastal developments. In October 2018, a stark report suggested that current methods being used to protect England's coastal communities are 'not fit for purpose'.

HORIBA Scientific has developed for QuantIC, the UK Quantum Technology Hub in Quantum Enhanced Imaging, Time-Correlated Single-Photon Counting (TCSPC), electronics to support its research into real-time computational 3D imaging and Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR). This research has the potential to result in faster, better quality and lower-cost 3D imaging for applications that include autonomous vehicles, machine learning, security and surveying.

New genetic analysis of white rhino populations suggests it could be possible to rescue the critically endangered northern white rhinoceros from extinction, using the genes of its less threatened southern cousin. Analysing genetic samples from 232 rhinos, researchers from Cardiff University and the University of Venda found that despite the northern and southern populations of white rhinos splitting from each other one million years ago they have occasionally shared genes during cold and arid periods, when African grasslands expanded, as recent as 14,000 years ago.

Our ability to selectively forget distracting memories is shared with other mammals, suggests new research from the University of Cambridge. The discovery that rats and humans share a common active forgetting ability - and in similar brain regions - suggests that the capacity to forget plays a vital role in adapting mammalian species to their environments, and that its evolution may date back at least to the time of our common ancestor.

Introducing a health tax on red and processed meat could prevent more than 220,000 deaths and save over US$40 billion in healthcare costs every year, new Oxford University research suggests. Published today in the journal PLoS One , the study conducted by the Oxford Martin School and the Nuffield Department of Population Health focused on optimal levels of taxation for red and processed meat in 149 world regions, to account for the cost burden on healthcare systems and spur changes in consumption patterns.

Galaxy evolution can be chaotic and messy, but it seems that streams of cold gas spraying out from the region around supermassive black holes may act to calm the storm. This is according to an international team of scientists who have provided the first clear and compelling evidence of this process in action.

Social care research in England is set to receive up to £20 million in new funding through the National Institute for Health Research, boosting research to improve adult social care across the country. The investment by the Department of Health and Social Care will fund the next five years of the NIHR School for Social Care Research (NIHR SSCR), of which researchers from the University of Bristol are members.

Up to one billion children worldwide are estimated to be victims of violence. Now, an intended study of 12,000 children in eight cities worldwide wants to discover what it really means to be a child of the city today - the adversities, the vulnerabilities, the resilience. By comparing a new generation from each city, we can build a scientific backbone for interventions to prevent violence against children Manuel Eisner It's 1960 and two boys are born into cities of different nations about to gain independence from the British.

Women who are 'larks', functioning better at the beginning of the day than the end of the day, have a lower of risk breast cancer, according to new research led by the University of Bristol presented at the 2018 NCRI Cancer Conference today [Tuesday 6 November]. The study of several hundred thousand women, which was investigating whether the way people sleep can contribute to the development of breast cancer, also found some evidence for a causal link between sleeping for longer and breast cancer.

Screens are now a fixture of modern childhood. As young people spend an increasing amount of time on electronic devices, the effects of these digital activities has become a prevalent concern among parents, caregivers, and policy-makers. Research indicating that between 50% to 90% of school-age children might not be getting enough sleep has prompted calls that technology use may be to blame.

Children who receive nursery vaccinations and development checks are less likely to be admitted to hospital during childhood years. This is the finding of the largest ever analysis examining how infant vaccinations and NHS development checks in primary care are linked to children's risk of emergency hospital admissions.

A chemical that highlights tumour cells has been used by surgeons to help spot and safely remove brain cancer in a trial presented by a University of Bristol academic at the 2018 NCRI Cancer Conference. The research was carried out with patients who had suspected glioma, the disease that killed Dame Tessa Jowell, and the most common form of brain cancer.

Dr Juliet Biggs, Dr Claire Haworth and Dr John Russo have each been awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize for their research. The Prize is awarded for 'achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising'. Dr Juliet Biggs (School of Earth Sciences) Dr Biggs studies active volcanoes and earthquakes to examine the physics of plate boundary development.

How a comet's dust tail forms bands stretching millions of kilometres across the sky has been observed for the first time by UCL scientists. The study, published today in Icarus, reveals the charged nature of the dust particles and the important role of the Sun in forming the characteristic patterns.

Treating the prostate with radiotherapy alongside standard treatment led to a 11 per cent* increase in survival for some men with advanced prostate cancer, show the results from a study carried out in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and funded by Cancer Research UK. These findings, from one of the largest ever clinical trials for the disease, are being presented at the 2018 ESMO Annual Meeting in Munich, Germany and published in The Lancet , today.

A new technique by which to 3D print metals, involving a widely used stainless steel, has been shown to achieve exceptional levels of both strength and ductility, when compared to counterparts from more conventional processes. The findings, published in Materials Today , outline how a joint research team from the University of Birmingham, UK, Stockholm University, Sweden and Zhejiang University, China were able to optimizing the process parameters during 3D printing to achieve the results.