news 2017

Adolescent cannabis use is an independent risk factor for future hypomania - often experienced as part of bipolar disorder - finds new research led by University of Warwick. First research to robustly test the association between adolescent cannabis use and hypomania (periods of elated mood, over-active and excited behaviour, reduced need for sleep) in early adulthood.

EPFL researchers have shown how human operators can maintain control over a system comprising several agents that are guided by artificial intelligence. In artificial intelligence (AI), machines carry out specific actions, observe the outcome, adapt their behavior accordingly, observe the new outcome, adapt their behavior once again, and so on, learning from this iterative process.

ETH researchers have developed a biocompatible ink for 3D printing using living bacteria. This makes it possible to produce biological materials capable of breaking down toxic substances or producing high-purity cellulose for biomedical applications. There will soon be nothing that cannot be produced with 3D printing.

Research news Medications which block enzymes belonging to the kinase family, are among the most effective pharmaceuticals for targeted cancer therapies. Scientists at the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have examined 243 kinase inhibitors which are either approved drugs or have been tested in clinical trials.

New research led by the University of Bristol has resolved evolutionary biology's most-heated debate, revealing it is the morphologically simple sponges, rather than the anatomically complex comb jellies, which represent the oldest lineage of living animals. Recent genomic analyses have "flip-flopped" between whether sponges or comb jellies are our deepest ancestors, leading experts to suggest available data might not have the power to resolve this specific problem.

In stressed newborn babies, behaviour alone is not a reliable way of assessing pain, according to new UCL and UCLH research. The study, published today in Current Biology and funded by the Medical Research Council UK, found that hospitalised newborns, who are already stressed by their environment have a much larger pain response in their brain following a routine clinical skin lance than non-stressed babies.

The HIV-1 mosaic vaccine in the trial was originally designed at Los Alamos National Laboratory by theoretical biologist Bette Korber and her team. My life's work has been devoted to developing strategies to create a global HIV vaccine; mosaics were a realization of one such strategy. Bette Korber Novel viral analysis approach leads to potential 'global vaccine' LOS ALAMOS, N.M. Nov.

The lifespans of flies and worms are prolonged by limiting the activity of an enzyme common to all animals, finds a UCL-led study. The enzyme - RNA polymerase III (Pol III) - is present in most cells across all animal species, including humans. While it is known to be essential for making proteins and for cell growth, its involvement in ageing was unexplored until now.

Imperial experts discuss a new way of combating EED, a debilitating disease in children that is prevalent in the developing world. Environmental Enteric Dysfunction , or EED, is widespread in developing countries and has severe negative impacts on children's physical and cognitive development. The condition is poorly understood, and the techniques currently used to study and identify the disease are invasive and difficult to administer.

Researchers from EPFL have developed a novel series of systems genetics tools to identify new links between genes and phenotypes. The work, a hallmark of EPFL's endeavors into the advancement of open science, brings biology to the cloud and sets the stage for the development of precision medicine. The study is published in Cell Systems.

Imperial has been awarded £2.2 million grant to trial a new treatment for a potentially deadly complication that affects some twin pregnancies. Dr Christoph Lees, Head of Fetal Medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Clinical Reader in Obstetrics at Imperial College London, was awarded the funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to carry out the first in human trials to treat twin-twin transfusion (TTTS).

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have identified new mechanisms used by bacteria to resist infection-fighting antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria evolve mechanisms to withstand the drugs which are used to treat infections. The team of experts at the University's Institute of Microbiology and Infection focussed their research on E. coli, which can cause urinary and blood stream infections.

o Evidence for impact on other complications of pregnancy less clear o Study conducted by University of Warwick Mums-to-be living in war zones/areas of armed conflict are at heightened risk of giving birth to low birthweight babies. However the evidence for any impact on the rate of other complications of pregnancy is less clear.

Marriage may lower the risk of developing dementia, concludes a UCL-led synthesis of the available evidence published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry . Lifelong singletons and widowers are at heightened risk of developing the disease, the findings indicate, although single status may no longer be quite the health hazard it once seemed to be, the researchers acknowledge.

In mammals, including humans, the cells that contract the heart muscle and enable it to beat do not regenerate after injury. After a heart attack, there is a dramatic loss of these heart muscle cells and those that survive cannot effectively replicate. With fewer of these contractile cells, known as cardiomyocytes, the heart pumps less blood with each beat, leading to the increased mortality associated with heart disease.

Making eye contact with an infant makes adults' and babies' brainwaves 'get in sync' with each other - which is likely to support communication and learning - according to researchers at the University of Cambridge.

Researchers from UHasselt and KU Leuven have developed a brand-new method to detect soot particles in the human body. Recent research has shown that, each year, over 4.2 million individuals around the world die prematurely due to air pollution. "This type of pollution can lead to a lower weight at birth, decreased cognitive functions in children, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases, among other things," says Professor Tim Nawrot (UHasselt).

One in seven Australian adults with a disability reports experiencing discrimination due to their impairment and this discrimination can affect their health, a new study has found. Rates were higher for those who were younger, unemployed or in low-status jobs. The University of Melbourne-led research, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health , was Australia's first population-level study of self-reported interpersonal disability-based discrimination and its relationship with health.

One of the UK's leading microbiologists is concerned that confusing language and a lack of specific objectives are hampering the global fight against antibiotic-resistant infections. Professor Laura Piddock , of the Institute of Microbiology and Infection, at the University of Birmingham, and her collaborators have written a report for the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antibiotics.

A five-year study aiming to reduce the risk of stomach bleeding in aspirin users, led by University of Nottingham researchers, is believed to be the UK's largest interventional academic drug trial. The HEAT study, which was led by Professor Chris Hawkey in the University's School of Medicine and Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, and funded and supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), recruited more than 30,000 patients.