news 2020

Researchers studying a group of UK healthcare workers discovered that non-white individuals recovering from COVID-19 displayed higher antibody levels than white individuals, with significantly greater levels observed in Asian individuals. Led by experts at the University of Birmingham, the researchers studied a cohort of 956 UK healthcare workers who self-isolated between March and June 2020 because of COVID-19.

Existing financial inequalities within society are widening as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, find UCL researchers as part of the Covid-19 Social Study. Almost half (47%) of those who were finding things "very difficult" financially before lockdown are now reporting things are "much worse", with a further 23% saying things are "worse".

Identifying and assessing frailty in people with diabetes should be a priority, in order to better treat and manage patients and reduce mortality. A new study, led by researchers at the University of Glasgow and published today in the Lancet Healthy Longevity, undertook a systematic review of more than 100 studies, and concluded that diabetes is a risk factor for the development and progression of frailty.

Testing the immune response of care home staff and residents to COVID-19 is to be expanded to help combat the spread of the virus among vulnerable people, as part of a UCL-led study. The Vivaldi 2 study will more than triple in size to provide a detailed picture of coronavirus infection in care homes in England.

New research into the HIV-1 virus has shed light on an important factor in the evolution of viruses, which is likely also to affect SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19). This new insight could have important implications for vaccine development. Differences in the cellular immune system in different human populations are now known to influence a virus's evolution.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Wolverhampton and the University of Sussex are investigating the possibility of 3D printing patient-specific silverbased implants to reduce infection and antimicrobial resistance. Despite substantial advances in invasive surgery and aseptic techniques, implant-related infection remains an all too common complication.

Testing the immune response of care home staff and residents to COVID-19 is to be expanded to help combat the spread of the virus among vulnerable people, as part of a UCL-led study. The Vivaldi 2 study will more than triple in size to provide a detailed picture of coronavirus infection in care homes in England.

Homeless adults are 1.8 times more likely to have pre-existing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) compared to other adults, putting them at higher risk of severe coronavirus and early death, according to UCL researchers who have led the first large-scale study of its kind. The study, published in the European Heart Journal , used primary care data collected between 1998 and 2019 to compare 8,482 homeless individuals with 32,134 housed people who were matched by age and gender and lived in the same general practice area in UK.

A team led by UCL researchers has demonstrated a new form of wearable, baby-friendly brain mapping technology that has important implications for understanding developmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy. The technology uses harmless levels of red and near-infrared light delivered via a wearable cap to generate detailed 3D images of babies' brain activity.

Oxford University and PHE confirm lateral flow tests show high specificity and are effective at identifying most individuals who are infectious Extensive clinical evaluation from Public Health England and the show Lateral Flow Tests are accurate and sensitive enough to be used in the community, including for asymptomatic people.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the point-of-care testing industry was investing millions of pounds to develop rapid tests to tell us the cause of respiratory infections. The pandemic has accelerated this process. In an editorial published in the British Journal of General Practice today [17 November], researchers from the University of Bristol's Centre for Academic Primary Care ask if we know enough about these tests to merit their widespread use in primary care.

A team led by researchers at UCL and Imperial College London have discovered how to engineer bacteria that normally attack human cells so that they kill other pathogens instead. Many pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria use specific proteins to punch holes in the cell membranes of their hosts, killing them.

New insights into the mechanisms behind how cancer-causing agents in the environment activate genetic recombination in DNA could help to explain some of the effects of exposure as well as predicting which individuals may be more susceptible to developing the disease, a new UK study has suggested. Everyone is exposed to low levels of carcinogens (substances or radiation that promote the formation of cancer) in the environment.

With a vision to develop new treatments and cures for seriously ill children, the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children, is celebrating its first year of work and achievements. Run jointly by UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) the purpose-built Zayed Centre for Research (ZCR) brings together pioneering research and clinical care under one roof - a world first for paediatric medicine.

Significantly higher numbers of Generation Z boys and girls in the UK are dieting to lose weight, and are likely to overestimate their own weight, finds a new UCL-led study. The research, published in JAMA Pediatrics , found that girls who are trying to lose weight are also more likely to experience depressive symptoms than in previous years.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow have furthered the understanding of how novel diabetes drugs can improve prognosis for patients with heart failure. The results of the SUGAR-DM-HF trial - published in Circulation and presented to the American Heart Association - showed that the drug empagliflozin, originally a treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes, was able to significantly reduce the size of abnormally large hearts, which helps explain how they reduce the risk of hospitalisation and cardiovascular death in patients with heart failure.

Dr Gul Deniz Salali, Lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology and Medicine at UCL, discusses new research which confirms findings from before the pandemic that vaccine hesitancy often coincides with broader anti-scientific thinking. While developing an effective vaccine  probably won't  bring an immediate end to the pandemic, it's clear that things can't begin to return to normal without one.

Computer modelling used to forecast Covid-19 mortality contains significant uncertainty in its predictions, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL and the CWI institute in the Netherlands. The authors of the study, performed for the Royal Society's RAMP initiative for Rapid Assistance in Modelling the Pandemic, highlighted that however well constructed such models are, they are only ever as robust as the "input" parameters - which include highly uncertain factors relating to how the disease is spread.

The accuracy of a rapid finger-prick antibody test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19 infection, may be considerably lower than previously suggested, finds a study led by scientists from Public Health England and the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Warwick and published in The BMJ.

Routine testing patients for COVID-19 before major surgery could reduce the risk of respiratory complications and save lives, a new study reveals. Researchers working together around the world found that using a nasal swab test to confirm that asymptomatic patient were not infected with SARS-CoV-2 was associated with a lower rate of post-operative complications.