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Research has found that a reluctance among healthcare professionals to prescribe and dispense medications to women who are pregnant is placing their health at risk. The study conducted by researchers at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, Cardiff University, Pregnancy Sickness Support, and University College London, found that while prescribers need to balance maternal benefit with potential foetal harm when prescribing in pregnancy, women's individual circumstances were not always considered, and they were not fully engaged in decision making.

Professor Amitava Banerjee (UCL Institute of Health Informatics) describes in The Conversation his team's recent research finding that 59 percent of long Covid patients suffered organ damage, even in individuals with less-severe initial infections. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics suggests that more than 1.2 million people in the UK report living with long COVID for 12 months or more.

A new diagnostic technology, developed by scientists at UCL, that uses tiny fibre optic sensors to detect the causes of heart disease, more quickly and accurately than existing methods, has been used for the first time in patients. The iKOr device uses an ultra-thin microcatheter integrated with fibre optic sensors and allows doctors to check both blood pressure and blood flow around the heart and look for signs of narrowing and thickening of the arteries - a common sign of disease.

Basing specialist pharmacists in care homes can help make residents safer by cutting potential harm from medicines, according to research carried out by University of Leeds academics. The Care Home Independent Pharmacist Prescriber Study (CHIPPS), which involved researchers in Leeds and across the country, trialled onsite pharmacists in dozens of care homes.

International analysis has found that discordant results between two types of HPV test linked with worse outcomes for patients Patients who have head and neck cancer caused by the human papilloma virus should be double tested, after new research solves puzzle over worsening outcomes among some people.

The short-term effects of vaporised cannabis do not differ between adolescents and adults, while cannabidiol (CBD) does not dampen the effects of the drug, finds a new study led by UCL and King's College London researchers. For the experimental study published in Addiction , the researchers measured how regular cannabis users of different ages responded to inhaling cannabis with differing levels of CBD.

Sussex researchers use Artificial Intelligence to personalise cancer patient treatments Researchers at the University of Sussex are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to analyse different types of cancer cells to understand different gene dependencies, and to identify genes that are critical to a cell's survival.

The hormone kisspeptin could be used to treat women and men distressed by their low sexual desire, according to two new studies. The studies, both published in JAMA Network Open , found that giving kisspeptin can boost sexual responses in women and men who have hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) - a condition characterised by low sexual desire that is distressing to the individual.

Potentially life-saving steroids commonly given to preterm babies also increase the risk of long-term cardiovascular problems, but a new study in rats has found that if given in conjunction with statins, their positive effects remain while the potential negative side-effects are -weeded out-. "We are not saying to stop using glucocorticoids, as they are clearly a life-saving treatment.

A new method to aid in the development of antibiotics for tuberculosis (TB) infections has been devised. TB rivals covid-19 as the biggest infectious disease killer of humans, claiming millions of lives each year. Now, ground-breaking research from the Universities of Warwick and Toulouse has identified a new method to help tackle this global issue.

A global study involving three clinical trials will investigate the effectiveness of cannabidiol (CBD) in treating people with psychosis or psychotic symptoms, thanks to a multi-million pound grant to Oxford University. Wellcome has awarded Oxford's Department of Psychiatry £16.5 million for the STEP (Stratification & Treatment in Early Psychosis) programme, as part of its support for mental health research.

Researchers from the Herring group in Oxford's Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics have developed a blood test that measures stress hormone levels after heart attacks. The test - costing just £10 - could ensure patients receive timely life-saving treatment. Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in the UK.

Loyalty card data on over-the-counter medicine purchases could help spot ovarian cancer cases earlier, finds a new study involving UCL researchers. The first-of-its kind study, published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance , found that pain and indigestion medication purchases were higher in women who were subsequently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, compared to women who did not have ovarian cancer.

Loyalty card data on over-the-counter medicine purchases could help spot ovarian cancer cases earlier, an Imperial College London-led study suggests. The study of almost 300 women found that pain and indigestion medication purchases were higher in women who were subsequently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, compared to women who did not have ovarian cancer.

COVID-19 is associated with higher risks of cardiovascular disease and death in the shortand long-term, according to a study in nearly 160,000 unvaccinated participants co-led by a UCL researcher. The study, published today in Cardiovascular Research , a journal of the European Society of Cardiology, investigated outcomes in a group of adults mostly aged in their 60s.

Scientists have worked out why common anti-depressants cause around a half of users to feel emotionally -blunted-. In a study published today, they show that the drugs affect reinforcement learning, an important behavioural process that allows us to learn from our environment. According to the NHS, more than 8.3 million patients in England received an antidepressant drug in 2021/22.

Giving colon cancer patients chemotherapy before surgery cuts the risk of the disease coming back, according to the results of a new clinical trial. The FOxTROT trial, a collaborative study by scientists at Leeds and the University of Birmingham, showed that giving colon cancer patients chemotherapy before rather than after surgery reduced the chance of cancer returning within 2 years by 28%.

Over the past month or two, many northern hemisphere countries including the US and the UK have seen a large wave of respiratory viral infections. These include RSV ( respiratory syncytial virus ), flu and COVID in all ages, as well as bacterial infections such as strep A in children. Sometimes these infections can be very serious.

Patients with early stage colon cancer benefit from 6 weeks of chemotherapy before surgery Giving colon cancer patients chemotherapy before surgery cuts their risk of the disease coming back, according to the results of a Cancer Research UK-funded clinical trial. The FOxTROT trial showed that giving colon cancer patients chemotherapy before rather than after surgery reduced the chance of cancer returning within 2 years by 28%.

The global network led by the Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute (OMPHI) at the University of Oxford has today published, in The Lancet , the results of the ' 2022 INTERCOVID Study ' conducted in 41 hospitals across 18 countries. To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant on maternal and neonatal outcomes the researchers studied 1,545 pregnant women diagnosed with the variant and 3,073 non-diagnosed, concomitant pregnant women as controls.