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Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) contain more calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt than minimally-processed foods - but not all'UPFs are unhealthy, according to new research from UCL. For the study, published in The British Journal of Nutrition , scientists wanted to investigate whether food processing information could be a useful indicator of what is healthy to eat.

For the first time, pollutants from burning fossil fuels have been found embedded in corals, offering scientists a potential new tool to track the history of pollution, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment , identified carbon particles emitted by burning fossil fuels embedded in the corals of Illa Grossa Bay, off the Columbretes Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

Drugs commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The authors of the new Neurology paper found that men prescribed erectile dysfunction drugs were 18% less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease years later. The study included 269,725 men who were diagnosed with erectile dysfunction and who did not have any memory or thinking problems at the start of the study.

People who have atypical work patterns, such as shift workers and those who work on the weekend, have worse quality and quantity of sleep, compared to those who work a typical 35-40 hour week, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in BMC Public Health and in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London and the University of Southampton, used data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, known as Understanding Society, to analyse the work and sleep patterns of over 25,000 men and women between 2012 and 2017.

Five cases of Alzheimer's disease are believed to have arisen as a result of medical treatments decades earlier, reports a team of UCL and UCLH researchers. Alzheimer's disease is caused by the amyloid-beta protein, and is usually a sporadic condition of late adult life, or more rarely an inherited condition that occurs due to a faulty gene.

A commercial blood test could detect Alzheimer's disease as accurately as standard lumbar punctures, finds a new study involving a UCL researcher. The research, published in JAMA Neurology, found that the ALZpath's Blood-Based Test was capable of detecting 'p-tau217', a form of the protein tau, which is a hallmark protein of Alzheimer's disease.

A gene that causes heart defects in Down syndrome has been identified by researchers at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute. The team found that reducing the overactivity of this gene partially reversed these defects in mice, paving the way for potential future therapies for heart conditions in people with Down syndrome.

Menopausal women who regularly swim in cold water report significant improvements to their physical and mental symptoms, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Post Reproductive Health , surveyed 1114 women, 785 of which were going through the menopause, to examine the effects of cold water swimming on their health and wellbeing.

Groundwater levels are declining at rapid and accelerating rates in numerous aquifers around the world, but the decline can be reversed in some cases, finds a new study involving researchers from University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), UCL and ETH Zürich. The research, published in Nature , analysed measurements taken over the last two decades from 170,000 wells in 1,693 aquifer systems across more than 40 countries.

People who experience stressful life events or circumstances are more likely to have worse biological health, as indicated by biomarkers involved in the interaction between our immune, nervous and endocrine systems, according to a new study by UCL researchers. The study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity , found that not only major stressful experiences such as bereavement but chronic challenges such as financial strain were detrimental to the healthy interaction of these systems.

There is a difference between how the brains of healthy older adults perceive colour compared to younger adults, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Scientific Reports , compared how the pupils of younger and older people reacted to different aspects of colour in the environment.

The global Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration involving UCL researcher Dr Ziri Younsi has released new images of M87*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87. The new images are from observations taken in April 2018, one year after the first observations of M87* in April 2017 which resulted in the first ever image of a black hole.

Recent SARS-CoV-2 variants such as BA.4 and BA.5 developed abilities missing from the first Omicron variants that allowed them to overcome humans' innate immunity, according to research from UCL. The study, published in Nature Microbiology , examined viral evolution in eight Omicron variants to better understand how the virus has reacted since the introduction of vaccinations 1 .

An experiment outlined by a UCL-led team of scientists from the UK and India could test whether relatively large masses have a quantum nature, resolving the question of whether quantum mechanical description works at a much larger scale than that of particles and atoms. Quantum theory is typically seen as describing nature at the tiniest scales and quantum effects have not been observed in a laboratory for objects more massive than about a quintillionth of a gram, or more precisely 10^(-20)g.

Children whose irritability does not reduce between three and seven years are at higher risk of depression and self-harm as teenagers, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The new findings, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ( JAACAP ), suggest that interventions helping parents and caregivers to support children with high irritability could help to reduce the future risk of mental illness.

More than 200 genes linked to depression have been newly identified in a worldwide study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Nature Genetics , found more than 50 new genetic loci (a locus is a specific position on a chromosome) and 205 novel genes that are associated with depression, in the first large-scale global study of the genetics of major depression in participants of diverse ancestry groups.

By exploiting the technology used in Covid-19 vaccines, a team led by UCL, King's College London and Moderna scientists has created an effective therapy for a rare disease, in a study in mice, demonstrating the technology's potential therapeutic use in people. The research, published in Science Translational Medicine , found that messenger RNA (mRNA) could be used to correct a rare liver genetic disease known as argininosuccinic aciduria in a mouse model of the disease.

International students do not importantly affect education and labour market outcomes of domestic students in higher education in England, finds a new study involving UCL. The study, published in the European Economic Review by researchers at UCL and the Universities of Surrey and Essex, investigated whether international students in undergraduate programmes affect the educational performances and early labour market outcomes of their UK-domiciled peers.

A major international collaboration of 356 scientists led by UCL researchers has found almost identical patterns of tree diversity across the world's tropical forests. The study of over one million trees across 1,568 locations, published in Nature , found that just 2.2% of tree species make up 50% of the total number of trees in tropical forests across Africa, the Amazon, and Southeast Asia.

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration involving UCL researchers has achieved one of the most robust measurements of the constraints on the universe's expansion to date. The international group of researchers, led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), analysed nearly 1,500 supernovae using machine learning techniques.