news

A genetic trait formerly linked to some cases of female infertility is also linked to some male infertility, according to new research from UCL Institute of Child Health scientists working with the Institut Pasteur in Paris. One in seven couples worldwide has difficulty conceiving a child, and male infertility is thought to account for nearly half of those cases.

Researchers at the UCL Institute of Child Health have demonstrated for the first time in humans that feeding babies enriched milk led to statistically significant increases in body fat at age 5-8 years. The new study is published today online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . This key finding of the link between overnutrition in infancy and body fat was independent of confounding factors such as maternal Body Mass Index.

There may be a very good reason that people naturally clutch their hand after receiving an injury. A new report shows that self-touch offers significant relief for acute pain under experimental conditions. Researchers from UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience suggest that the relief comes from a change in the brain's representation of the rest of the body.

New research has found that a genetic variant which reduces the chance of contracting diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy is more prevalent in populations with long histories of urban living. The research, published in the journal Evolution, shows that in areas with a long history of urban settlements, today's inhabitants are more likely to possess the genetic variant which provides resistance to infection.

Our ability to reflect on our own thoughts, emotions and behaviour is one of the key aspects of consciousness and what makes us human, but the biological basis of this process - known as 'introspection' - has until now been unknown. Now, researchers at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London) have identified an area of the brain that is larger in people who are good at introspection, suggesting that this area may play a key role in the process.

Astronomers at UCL, using the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, have observed water vapour being formed somewhere it was previously thought to be impossible: in the atmosphere of a red giant carbon star. The major building blocks of life on Earth are water and carbon-based molecules, both of which are synthesised in large quantities by stars like the Sun as they reach the end of their lives.

Sugar given to newborn babies as a routine form of pain relief does not work, according to a new study led by UCL researchers and published today in The Lancet . Instead, sucrose changes the facial expressions of some babies giving the impression that pain is being relieved. The finding could lead to future changes in healthcare policy as oral sucrose is frequently given to relieve procedural pain in newborn babies who must undergo invasive procedures, such as taking blood from a vein or heel lances.

The number of 16- and 17-year-old smokers has dropped since it became illegal to sell cigarettes to under-18s according to new UCL research published today in the journal Addiction . In the first study of its kind, more than 1,100 16- and 17-year-olds were interviewed from across England before and after the age rise in October 2007.

Researchers have made a discovery that could lead to a brand new class of drugs to treat chronic pain caused by inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and back pain without numbing the whole body. The team, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and working at UCL (University College London), have shown for the first time that genes involved in chronic pain are regulated by molecules inside cells called small RNAs.

Single neurons in the brain are surprisingly good at distinguishing different sequences of incoming information, according to new research by UCL neuroscientists. The study shows that single neurons, and indeed even single dendrites, the tiny receiving elements of neurons, can very effectively distinguish between different temporal sequences of incoming information.

The mechanism that cells use to group together and move around the body has been discovered by scientists at UCL - a finding that has implications for the development of new cancer treatments. The study, which used embryonic cells, points to a new way of treating cancer where therapy is targeted at the process of cancer cells grouping together.

Scientists have discovered the part of the brain that tracks the position of our limbs as we move through space. When a mosquito lands on your hand, you can rapidly and effortlessly make a movement of the other hand to brush it away, even in darkness. But performing this seemingly simple action involves a surprisingly complex coordination of different types of sensory information in order for your brain to construct a constantly updated 'map' of the body in space.

Astrocytes - brain cells named after their characteristic star-shape and previously thought to act only as the 'glue' between neurons, have a central role in the regulation of breathing, according to scientists. The finding provides a new dimension for research into fundamental principles of brain organization and function and may be relevant for understanding causes of devastating conditions associated with respiratory failure such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

UCL researchers have discovered that two genes, called Mahjong and Lgl, could be star players in helping to identify how the body's own cells fight back against cancer cells. This discovery could lead to future treatments to make healthy cells better-equipped to attack cancer cells, an entirely new concept for cancer research.

A UCL archaeologist is part of a team who have unearthed the earliest evidence of human occupation in Britain. Simon Parfitt was part of a team of archaeologists, palaeontologists and earth scientists from the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, UCL, and Queen Mary, University of London, who unearthed the new evidence at an archaeological dig in East Anglia.

A new UCL study has revealed that a gene that normally protects against ovarian cancer is switched off in two-thirds of cases and switching it back on arrests tumour growth. The researchers found that the 'protector gene', known as EPB41L3, is inactivated in 65 per cent of ovarian cancers and reactivating the gene halted tumour growth and triggered large numbers of the cancer cells to commit suicide.

Next time your brain plays tricks on you the brain is intrinsically unreliable. This may not seem surprising to most of us, but it has puzzled neuroscientists for decades. Given that the brain is the most powerful computing device known, how can it perform so well even though the behaviour of its circuits is variable? A long-standing hypothesis is that the brain's circuitry actually is reliable - and the apparently high variability is because your brain is engaged in many tasks simultaneously, which affect each other.

Scientists at UCL have explained Parkinson's patients' risky behaviour, a rare side effect of standard treatments for the disease. The finding has implications for future medication of patients. The standard treatments for Parkinson's disease, which work by increasing dopamine signalling in the brain, can trigger highly risky behaviours, known as 'impulsive-compulsive spectrum behaviours? (ICBs) in approximately 5-10% of patients.

Cosmologists at UCL are a step closer to determining the mass of the elusive neutrino particle, not by using a giant particle detector, but by gazing up into space. Although it has been shown that a neutrino has a mass, it is vanishingly small and extremely hard to measure - a neutrino is capable of passing through a light year (about six trillion miles) of lead without hitting a single atom.

A new clinical trial at UCL is investigating whether light therapy could benefit people with epilepsy who continue to have seizures after trying several types of medication. The research, which is being carried out at the UCL Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, is being funded by children's health charity Action Medical Research.