news 2017

All babies across Europe should be routinely screened for critical congenital heart defects (CCHD) within 24 hours of their birth, say a group of experts led by a University of Birmingham Professor and Honorary Consultant Neonatologist at Birmingham Women's Hospital. The European Pulse Oximetry Screening Workgroup (EPOSW), a group of neonatologists and paediatric cardiologist, including Presidents of leading European Neonatal Scientific Societies, has published a consensus statement recommending screening with pulse oximetry for all babies across Europe.

For the first time researchers have quantified the number of cancers likely to be caused by diabetes and high body mass index (BMI) worldwide. The study , led by Imperial College London, found that nearly six per cent of new worldwide cancer cases in 2012 were caused by the combined effects of diabetes and being overweight (BMI of over 25 kg/m2) or obese (BMI of over 30 kg/m2).

The more times metastasised melanoma has mutated and the patient's immune system has been activated against the tumour - the better the chances of survival after immunotherapy. This is what emerges from a research collaboration between Lund University in Sweden and Herlev university hospital in Denmark.

New research has estimated that each year five babies in every 1,000 born in England suffer a condition or sign linked to brain injury. The study, conducted by researchers at the Neonatal Data Analysis Unit at Imperial College London and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust , analysed data on babies born between 2010 and 2015 to assess the number that may have sustained brain injury at or soon after birth.

UCLA bioengineers and their colleagues have discovered a new perspective on how cells regulate the sizes of mitochondria, the parts of cells that provide energy, by cutting them into smaller units. The researchers wrote that this finding, demonstrated with yeast proteins, could eventually be used to help address human diseases associated with an imbalanced regulation of mitochondria size — for example, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois researchers are sending tiny drug-laden nanoparticles on a mission to seek and destroy cancer stem cells, the elusive and rare cells that can cause cancer to come back even when years have passed since the initial tumor was treated. In a study led by Dipanjan Pan , an Illinois professor of bioengineering , researchers designed nanoparticles that specifically bind to a protein that marks the surface of breast cancer stem cells.

New findings will help to identify the genetic causes of brain disorders: researchers at the Universities of Basel, Bonn and Cologne have presented a systematic catalog of specific variable locations in the genome that influence gene activity in the human hippocampus, as they report Communications. Individual differences in gene regulation contribute to the development of numerous multifactorial disorders.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A drug that spurs cancer cells to self-destruct has been cleared for use in a clinical trial of patients with anaplastic astrocytoma, a rare malignant brain tumor, and glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive late-stage cancer of the brain. This phase Ib trial will determine if the experimental drug PAC-1 can be used safely in combination with a standard brain-cancer chemotherapy drug, temozolomide.

The number of connected devices may be on the rise, but large swaths of the global population still live in areas without telecom infrastructure or a reliable internet connection.

As part of the ongoing commitment to greater openness about animal research, the ten universities which conduct the most animal procedures have publicised their figures today, revealing that they collectively conducted a third of all UK animal research in 2016. All ten universities appear in the QS World University Ranking Top 100.

For the last several weekends I saw the following advertisement (disclaimer: I am a lifelong subscriber and avid supporter of our local newspaper - the San Francisco Chronicle ): Of course, being the father of three children, the lower right corner caught my attention: " Study: Mom's pot use doesn't hurt kids' future grades-Fears of maternal cannabis use are being overblown .

More surgeons should opt for keyhole surgery to repair ruptured blood vessels in the abdomen rather than using open surgery, a study has found. Abdominal aortic aneurysms occur when the aorta, the main vessel carrying blood from the heart to the rest of the body, swells and ruptures. If patients do not receive surgery to repair the artery they almost certainly will die from internal bleeding.

Researchers at Umeå University have made a novel discovery connecting genetic innate immunity deficiencies to rampant caries and increased risk of dental caries affecting about one in five children. The results could lead to a better way of identifying high-risk patients and treat their caries. The study has been published in the journal EBioMedicine .

Imperial researchers have modelled the number of additional malaria cases and deaths that will occur by 2020 following proposed cuts to US funding. Imperial researchers have modelled the number of additional malaria cases and deaths that will occur by 2020 following proposed cuts to US funding. The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) has been providing support to malaria control programmes in 19 African countries since 2005.

An experimental therapy which involves a face-to-face discussion between a person with schizophrenia and an avatar representing their auditory hallucination may help reduce symptoms, when provided alongside usual treatment, according to a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal. The randomised controlled trial compared the avatar therapy to a form of supportive counselling (adapted specifically for the study).

An experimental therapy which involves a face-to-face discussion between a person with schizophrenia and an avatar representing their auditory hallucination may help reduce symptoms, when provided alongside usual treatment, according to a study led by King's College London and published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal.

A new project to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) could improve breast screening could potentially lead to more accurate detection of cancers. The project will see a consortium of leading breast cancer experts, clinicians and academics partner with leaders in artificial intelligence (AI) research to explore whether AI could help detect and diagnose breast cancers more effectively.

Living close to a busy road can be bad for your respiratory health if you are middle aged, new Australian research has found. A study published in the European Respiratory Journal found Australians aged 45-50 who lived less than 200 metres from a major road had a 50 per cent higher risk of asthma, wheeze and lower lung function over a five-year period than those who lived more than 200 metres from a major road.

Charity Cancer Research UK has awarded the University of Birmingham £1.5 million to fund a five-year research programme aimed at finding new treatments for bowel cancer. The pioneering research, the first of its kind in the UK, will see scientists taking samples of 200 patients' bowel cancer in order to then grow avatars - or mini tumours - in the laboratory.

An immunotherapy drug can be used to cure women of a rare type of cancer arising from pregnancy when existing treatments have failed. We have been able to show for the first time that immunotherapy may be used to cure patients of cancerous GTD..These are landmark findings that have implications on how we treat the disease in the UK and around the world.