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Imperial College London Media Release Patients' ratings of hospitals tally with objective measures of the hospital's performance, according to an independent study published today in Archives of Internal Medicine . Since 2008, patients have been able to post comments on and rate hospitals using the NHS Choices website, in the same way as they might rate a hotel on Tripadvisor.

An assistant professor at Penn State has created a new statistical model that may enable fingerprint evidence to withstand greater scrutiny in court. Currently, some fingerprints that could be key pieces of evidence in court are not being considered because of shortcomings in the way this evidence is reported.

University of Warwick and National Trust : Research into possible Woodchester wild cat finds no cat DNA on deer Extensive DNA tests by experts at the University of Warwick on two deer carcasses found in Gloucestershire have not found any indication of a big cat presence. The National Trust asked the University to test a roe deer carcass found near Woodchester Park, Gloucestershire in early January after examination of the wounds led to speculation that it may have been killed by a big cat.

Here is a news release issued today by the journal Nature: The author of an upcoming Nature paper about H5N1 argues in a Nature Comment article today that research into deadly pathogenic viruses must continue if pandemics are to be prevented. Yoshihiro Kawaoka suggests, after reviewing many factors, that pursuing studies of highly pathogenic viruses must be done with urgency.

New evidence links inequality in England to increased crime Research carried out at the University of Sheffield shows areas where there is more inequality suffer from more cases of burglary, robbery, violence, vehicle crime and criminal damage. The study compared Home Office figures for a wide range of crimes from 2002-2009 in Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP) against factors including inequality, unemployment, residential turnover and educational achievement in the same areas.

Cold turkey is the preferred method for giving up smoking according to public health researchers at the University of Sydney. With more than two-thirds of smokers giving up permanently this way, the research team wants to know why. Led by Sally Dunlop , a research specialist in the determinants of health-related behaviours, the team is launching a study that will investigate how and why smokers choose different methods for giving up.

Scientists at University of Sheffield map out Britain's sun spots Britain is getting brighter according to solar experts at the University of Sheffield who have also revealed the coastal city of Portsmouth was the UK's sunniest place in 2011. At the other end of the sunshine scale, Loch Maree in North West Scotland was found to be the least sunny place in the UK last year.

New study shows how integrated institutions can lead diverse populations to cooperate in rebuilding countries. One of the most pressing issues in world affairs today is state building: how countries can construct stable, inclusive governments in which a variety of religious and ethnic groups coexist.

New research published in The Lancet (9 December 2011) shows no consistent decrease in the maltreatment of children across several countries over the last two decades. Despite years of policy initiatives designed to achieve it, research revealed by a collaboration between Warwick Medical School and University College London Institute of Child Health (ICH) concludes that despite numerous government policy initiatives designed to achieve a reduction in child maltreatment, none has proved successful.

University of Warwick economics professor Christopher Woodruff will oversee a new initiative that plans to invest £15 million into research on private enterprise development in low-income countries. The initiative, the largest research endeavour undertaken on the subject, is a joint venture co-ordinated by the Centre for Economic Policy Research in partnership with the Department for International Development.

Yale is sponsoring the December issue of the journal Health Services Research (HSR) which is dedicated to global health issues. Elizabeth Bradley, faculty director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute, and Mary Fennell, professor at Brown University, reviewed and selected all articles, along with the HSR editorial board.

The molecular mechanism which makes some plants grow more rapidly when the temperature rises has been identified by researchers at the University of Bristol in a paper published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The Bristol scientists, led by Kerry Franklin, with colleagues at the University of Minnesota and the John Innes Centre in Norwich, found that raising ambient temperature from 20?C to 28?C promoted the rapid elongation of stems in plants with the gene PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4) .

Among young American adults, relationships between white men and minority women move into sexual intimacy and from sex to cohabitation significantly faster than white-white couples or minority-minority pairings, reports a new study by a Cornell demographer. Despite rising intermarriage rates in recent decades - a sign of declining social distance between race groups in the United States - the new paper suggests that racial hierarchies remain an influence on the pace and durability of young adult relationships.

America needs to listen to the Arab Spring protestors in Egypt and engage with their vision of the future rather than trying to impose a way of life, according to new research from the University of Warwick. In a paper just presented to state department staff at the Library of Congress in Washington DC and due to be personally presented to former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright next month, research fellow Oz Hassan claims the American idea of democracy is too focused on economics and there is a lack of innovation in US Middle East policy.

The first ever comprehensive report on people's experiences of the adoption process in Victoria reveals that many found the current system to be inflexible and focused almost exclusively on administrative tasks and bureaucratic formalities. For many prospective applicants, the mismatch between their emotional experiences and the bureaucratic processes caused tension and anxiety the report found.

There has been a significant increase in the amount of negative reporting of disability issues in the print media, according to a new study by the University of Glasgow. The report, commissioned by disability equality organisation Inclusion London, compared print media articles from 2004/5 and 2010/11 and found a reduction in the proportion of articles which describe disabled people in sympathetic and deserving terms.

New research has shown for the first time that omega-3 in fish oil could "substantially and significantly" reduce the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis. According to the University of Bristol study, funded by Arthritis Research UK and published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage , omega-3-rich diets fed to guinea pigs, which naturally develop osteoarthritis, reduced disease by 50 per cent compared to a standard diet.

In the first study to examine American foreign aid restrictions for abortion services, Stanford researchers Eran Bendavid and Grant Miller find that restricting funding for family planning organizations that support abortions actually increased abortions in Africa. Two days after taking office as president, George W. Bush did what was widely expected: He adopted a Reagan-era policy that cut cash to all nongovernmental organizations operating abroad that provided or counseled women on abortion.

Professional interpreters are under-used in the NHS according to new research from the University of Birmingham. The researchers identify language barriers as an increasing obstacle to the provision of healthcare in a paper published in the journal PLoS ONE . Effective communication is instrumental in the delivery of healthcare support and a cross-sectional study of 41 general practices in the UK highlights language disparities between patients and healthcare professionals.

A new study reveals significant gaps in services for sexual assault victims and calls for improvements, including additional funding. Increasing the availability of local sexual assault services and lessening emergency room wait times will lead to stronger cases for prosecution, the researchers said.