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Children and adolescents who stammer report elevated symptoms of anxiety compared with non-stammering peers, according to a new review of evidence led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research and also involving the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, combined and re-analysed findings from 11 previous studies that had compared children and adolescents (two to 18 years) who do and do not stammer on symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Northerners over 50 have a 13.5% higher prevalence of hearing loss than Southerners in England, reveal University of Manchester researchers. They examined socio-spatial patterns of hearing health among older adults in England, using objective hearing data of 8,263 participants aged 50-89 years old from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).

Researchers at Oxford University's Department of Psychiatry have found that people with schizophrenia and related disorders are at higher-than-average risk of perpetrating violence, but that the overall risk remains low (less than 1 in 20 in women, and less than 1 in 4 for men over a 35-year period for violent arrests and crimes).

Prisoners who are incarcerated in buildings located in green areas are less likely to engage in self-harming or violent behaviours, new research shows. According to a study by researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Utrecht, green areas outside prisons can have a positive effect on wellbeing, alongside the proven positive effects of greenspace inside the prison walls.

COVID-19 has had unprecedented impacts across the international community, with complex and far-reaching consequences. Measures to prevent transmission have led to substantial changes to everyday life, with lock-downs, stay-at-home orders and guidance lead This movement of activity has had profound impacts on daily practices, affecting the consumption of resources including water.

The global burden of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a group of common lung conditions that affects more than 300* million people, could be significantly reduced with a simple health assessment, concludes a large-scale international study led by UCL researchers. COPD includes serious lung conditions, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and is the world's third leading cause of morbidity with more than three million deaths a year.

In a new journal article Dr Torik Holmes introduces a novel relational-space-inspired approach for exploring how cities become energy demanding sites over time. Urban energy transitions have increasingly formed a central topic of research over the past two decades. This is, in part, because 'modern urbanised societies are massively dependent on energy' - cities are understood to account for close to '75% of global carbon dioxide emissions and 75% of energy consumption'.

Postgraduate researchers at UK universities suffer from high rates of mental ill-health, with female, non-binary and LGBTQ+ communities faring particularly badly, new research suggests. The findings, published in the journal Current Psychology , are drawn from a survey of 479 postgraduate researchers (PGRs) working at 48 UK universities.

Celebrities and famous people are seen as more "attractive" which helps to protect them much more than ordinary people when they are cyberabused, new research has revealed. While being a celebrity doesn't make them immune from the cyberbullies, when they do become targets of the trolls these incidents were seen as much more severe than those involving other people.

Smokers may become more socially isolated and lonely than non-smokers as they get older, according to a new study co-led by UCL researchers that suggests the idea of smoking as a sociable pastime may be a myth. Previous research has found that people who are isolated and lonely are more likely to smoke.

Lockdown affected people's sex lives in a variety of different ways with young people and those not living with a partner reporting the greatest changes, according to researchers from UCL, the University of Glasgow and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). The peer-reviewed paper, which is the largest national study of sexual behaviours since the beginning of the pandemic, is published today in BMJ Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Massive study of almost two million US residents reveals rising housing costs may drive increases in "openness" of character among both long-term and new inhabitants of a city. Substantial personality shifts within cities can and do occur within a couple of years Jason Rentfrow Rising house prices may change the personality make-up of US cities within a few years, with residents becoming increasingly open-minded - not just as wealthier people move in, but also among longer-term locals.

A global hacker "red team" and rewards for hunting algorithmic biases are just some of the recommendations from experts who argue that AI faces a "tech-lash" unless firm measures are taken to increase public trust. We need policy and public support to create an ecosystem of trust for AI Shahar Avin The Artificial Intelligence industry should create a global community of hackers and "threat modellers" dedicated to stress-testing the harm potential of new AI products in order to earn the trust of governments and the public before it's too late.

Companies must walk the talk: human rights policies must be backed by deeper engagement Multinational corporations must go beyond simply adopting human rights policies if they are to stop human rights abuses in their supply chains and avoid charges of ethical window-dressing, new research from the University of Bath School of Management shows.

The gender of a young father's firstborn child affects the likelihood of both him and his friends committing crime, a UCL-led study has found. For the first time, researchers established that young fathers who have a firstborn son rather than a daughter are convicted of fewer crimes in subsequent years, and crucially that this reduction also leads to a drop in criminal convictions among peers living in the same neighbourhood.

Women are more likely than men to struggle with both regular daily tasks and mobility activities as they age, according to new analysis of longitudinal cohort studies led by researchers at UCL and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in France. However, the researchers say disparities in ability to perform daily tasks have been steadily decreasing as the socioeconomic gap between the sexes has decreased.

New GW4 research led by Bath's Dr Max Western is published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Last updated on Friday 12 November 2021 Technology-based health and exercise programmes and apps, designed to offer a convenient and accessible way to boost physical activity, are dramatically less beneficial for users with low socio-economic status, a study has shown.

Help us measure the impact our staff have through volunteering in London The  Pro-Provost (London) Office  has released a survey, open to all staff at UCL, aimed at measuring the volunteering impact UCL staff have in London. We know that many of you already contribute a significant amount of your time to London and its communities, whether that is through sitting on a variety of boards and committees or volunteering for charities and in the local community.

Significant increases seen in teenagers' mental ill-health during secondary school is mostly likely linked to growing older, rather than academic and peer pressures associated with being in a more senior year group, finds a new study of over 40,000 young people led by UCL. Published in the British Educational Research Journal, the study provides one of the most detailed investigations into the link between mental health and school year, and finds mental ill-health is particularly prevalent among girls during secondary education.

A GW4-funded report that focused on what regional Green Recovery might look like argues that climate justice needs to be at the forefront of our thinking. Last updated on Friday 5 November 2021 A new report from researchers from the GW4 universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, and Exeter suggests that local green recovery debates need to find a way to better connect people's concerns about the climate, inequality, and prosperity in local areas.