Fitbits could lead to negative impact on pupils’ well-being

Research led by the University of Birmingham, published today in Science Translational Medicine, has discovered that a drug commonly used to treat patients with either obesity or Type II diabetes could be used as a novel new way to lower brain pressure. Raised brain pressure is common in emergency situations such as traumatic brain injury, hydrocephalus and stroke, and is also the cardinal feature of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH). IHH causes disabling daily headaches and severely raised pressure around the nerves in the eye. It also causes permanent vision loss in 25% of untreated people. Over a three-year period, researchers at the University of Birmingham examined whether GLP-1 agonist drugs - existing drugs used in the treatment of diabetes and obesity - could reduce intracranial pressure in an animal model of raised brain pressure. Corresponding author Dr Alexandra Sinclair , of the University of Birmingham's Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research , said: "Treatments to lower brain pressure are lacking and new treatments are desperately needed. "The current primary treatment in IIH is acetazolamide and this does not work well for many patients, while also having such severe side effects that our previous trials have shown that 48 per cent of patients stop taking it.