news 2022

UK analysis raises need for awareness of health implications for patients following abuse and neglect Children who experience a form of abuse or neglect may be more likely to suffer with diseases such as asthma, eczema or conjunctivitis compared to those who have not experienced abuse or neglect according to a new analysis.

Fluoridation of the water supply may confer a modest benefit to the dental health of children, a seven-year-study led by University of Manchester researchers has concluded. However, the benefits are smaller than shown in previous studies - carried out 50 years ago - when fluoride toothpaste was less widely available in the UK.

Researchers did not detect any SARS-CoV-2 in Thames water after raw sewage discharge, suggesting it is unlikely to be a route of transmission. SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, has been detected in wastewater and can be used to track outbreaks in populations. This has led researchers to question whether wastewater can also be a source of disease transmission.

Offering a booster dose or changing the vaccination schedule available to infants in sub-Saharan Africa could greatly reduce the risk of them contracting potentially fatal diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis, a UCL-led study has found.

New research has found variable voltages in the membranes of breast cancer cells, revealing clues about how they grow and spread. The research, led by Imperial College London and The Institute of Cancer Research, London , could help us better understand how cancer cells 'decide' when to multiply and where to spread to.

The water flow where adult fish live can affect the body shape and survival of their offspring, according to new research. The study - led by an international collaboration between CRIOBE and the University of Glasgow, and published today in Functional Ecology - found that the survival of fish born from parents living under high water flow was reduced by half compared to fish born from those living under low water flow.

Policy analysts and planners will be able to -communicate smarter- about climate change action by using a new online decision-support tool which has been launched at COP27. Developed by researchers at the University of Leeds and the Met Office , it synthesises the latest scientific evidence on the broader effects of climate change initiatives.

Two treatment regimens for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), containing the first new drug to have been discovered for the disease in 40 years, are more effective than a previously recommended treatment, according to results from a global trial led by UCL researchers. The study, published by The Lancet , found that a six-month treatment regimen including injections and a nine-month regimen taken only in tablets, both of which used the new drug bedaquiline, were more effective than a nine-month regimen that until two years ago was regarded as the best standard of care.

Researchers have created a laser system based on a network like a spider's web, which can be precisely controlled to produce different light colours. The system, invented by a team led by researchers at Imperial College London with partners in Italy and Switzerland, could be used in new sensing and computing applications.

Workplace cafeteria study finds no evidence that physical activity calorie-equivalent labelling changes food purchasing An experiment carried out across ten workplace cafeterias found no significant change in the overall number of calories purchased when food and drink labels showed the amount of physical activity required to burn off their calories.

New research suggests that current clinical evidence on heated tobacco products is inadequate and at high risk of bias. The quality of evidence available about heated tobacco products is substandard and policymakers should be wary of claims made about their role in harm reduction, say the authors of a new study.

A new and more efficient way of modelling and designing power electronic converters using artificial intelligence (AI) has been created by a team of experts from Cardiff University and the Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult. The method has reduced design times for technology by up to 78% compared to traditional approaches and was used to create a device with an efficiency of over 98%.

An international research coalition has verified safe surgical access to the central core of the human cochlea for the very first time. The team of surgeons and scientists from the UK, Sweden and Canada, funded by Rinri Therapeutics, has confirmed secure surgical access to the central core of the human cochlea.

A first-of-its-kind gene-editing therapy for people with a disorder that causes heart failure is safe in the short term and may stop disease progression, according to early results of a UCL-led trial. Transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is characterised by a build up in the heart of misfolded transthyretin (TTR) protein.

Researchers, led by the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences , University of Oxford, have developed a new tool for doctors to identify patients at high risk of serious falls. The tool could have a big impact on the way older patients are managed in primary care, improving targeting of drug treatment and fall prevention strategies for high-risk individuals.

The largest analysis of data on antibody therapies for protecting clinically extremely vulnerable people from Covid-19 shows that they are effective. The largest analysis of data on antibody therapies for protecting clinically extremely vulnerable people from Covid-19 shows that they are effective, a new study has found.

A first-of-its-kind gene-editing therapy for people with a disorder that causes heart failure is safe in the short term and may stop disease progression, according to early results of a UCL-led trial. Transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is characterised by a build up in the heart of misfolded transthyretin (TTR) protein.

Revolutionary X-ray technology co-developed by UCL has been used to identify a link between the damage that severe Covid-19 can inflict on lungs and pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that causes severe scarring of lung tissue. The high-energy X-ray technique, Hierarchical Phase-Contrast Tomography (HiP-CT), scans whole organs down to cellular level, allowing clinicians to view blood vessels about a tenth of the diameter of a human hair.

The University of Oxford has led the largest and most comprehensive analysis of the entire genomic landscape of the commonest type of blood cancer called chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) as part of the UK's 100,000 Genomes Project. This work defines five genomic subgroups of CLL and associates these with clinical outcomes, and these subgroups provide a better estimation of patient prognosis than achieved by previous single gene analyses, allowing more tailored patient care.

Imperial scientists have shared how working directly with mountain communities could drive adaptation to the loss of their main water sources. Nearly two billion people globally rely on mountain water for drinking and irrigation, but this water source is under threat due to global heating. Mountainous regions are particularly impacted by the effects of the climate crisis , with melting glaciers and snow adding to water scarcity in regions such as the Himalayas, Central Asia, and Andes.