news

Interventions such as mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), could be an effective treatment option for menopause-related mood symptoms, memory and concentration problems, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The research, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders , is the most up-to-date study of its kind, providing a meta-analysis of 30 studies involving 3,501 women who were going through the menopause in 14 countries, including the UK, USA, Iran, Australia, and China.

People in the UK were treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy less often than in comparable countries and faced long waits for treatments, according to two new studies led by UCL researchers. For the two papers, published in The Lancet Oncology and part-funded by Cancer Research UK, an international team of researchers examined data from over 780,000 people with cancer diagnosed between 2012 and 2017 in four comparable countries (Australia, Canada, Norway and the UK).

The currently recommended five-day course of molnupiravir, an antiviral treatment, may not be long enough to treat COVID-19, according to a new paper involving UCL researchers. The study, published in Nature Communications , was conducted as part of PANORAMIC, an ongoing clinical trial evaluating potential treatments for COVID-19.

Black children are four times more likely than white children to experience complications after having their appendix removed, but further assessment is needed to understand the cause of the association, according to research from UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital. The study, published in Anaesthesia , aimed to characterise the incidence and epidemiology of postoperative complications in children undergoing appendicectomy in the UK.

A reusable vest that can map the electric impulses of the heart in fine detail could detect abnormalities from a potentially fatal heart disease much earlier than is currently possible, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology , found that an electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) vest, developed by Dr Gaby Captur at UCL, could detect electrical changes associated with an inherited heart muscle condition at a stage when standard tests do not pick up signs of disease.

The unique signature of a star ingesting its surrounding planets and asteroids - a metal scar imprinted on the surface of a white dwarf star - has been found for the first time by a team including UCL researchers. White dwarfs are glowing embers of stars that have burned through all their hydrogen fuel.

Sight loss in certain inherited eye diseases may be caused by gut bacteria, and is potentially treatable by antimicrobials, finds a new study in mice co-led by a UCL and Moorfields researcher. The international study observed that in eyes with sight loss caused by a particular genetic mutation, known to cause eye diseases that lead to blindness, gut bacteria were found within the damaged areas of the eye.

A chemical compound essential to all living things has been synthesised in a lab in conditions that could have occurred on early Earth, suggesting it played a role at the outset of life, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The compound, pantetheine, is the active fragment of Coenzyme A. It is important for metabolism - the chemical processes that maintain life.

Introducing more movement into lessons led to an 8% reduction in children's waist-to-height ratio, according to new research from UCL and the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH). The study, published in Obesity Facts , is the first scientific assessment of the impact that reducing sedentary behaviour in the classroom has on obesity in primary school children.

A UCL-developed app that provides speech therapy for people with the language disorder aphasia has been found to significantly improve their ability to talk. iTalkBetter, developed by the Neurotherapeutics Group at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, provides users the digital platform to practice over 200 commonly used words, in their own time and without any limits on the amount of therapy they receive.

An enthusiastic response to food in early childhood may be linked to a higher likelihood of experiencing eating disorder symptoms in adolescence, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL and Erasmus University Rotterdam. The study, published in  The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health , looked at survey data from 3,670 young people in the UK and the Netherlands to investigate how appetite traits in early childhood might relate to the likelihood of developing eating disorder symptoms up to 10 years later.

Shining a specific frequency of red light on a person's back for 15 minutes can reduce blood sugar levels, according to a new study from City, University of London and UCL. The researchers found that 670 nm red light stimulated energy production within mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses within cells, leading to increased consumption of glucose.

Potassium deficiency in agricultural soils is a largely unrecognised but potentially significant threat to global food security if left unaddressed, finds new research involving researchers at UCL, University of Edinburgh and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. The study, published in Nature Food, found that more potassium is being removed from agricultural soils than is being added, throughout many regions of the world.

Only 17% of rural local planning authorities have made use of Rural Exception Sites, a planning policy mechanism designed to boost the supply of affordable housing in rural areas, finds a new study by UCL researchers in association with the Rural Housing Network. Rural Exception Sites were introduced in England in 1991 to enable the development of affordable homes on underdeveloped land that would otherwise be restricted for residential development.

Psychological distress increased among people with Black Caribbean heritage in the UK, relative to the White population, following the 2014 Immigration Act and the Windrush scandal, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The researchers say their findings, published in The Lancet Psychiatry , suggest a causal link between government policies and a subsequent decline in mental health.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) contain more calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt than minimally-processed foods - but not all'UPFs are unhealthy, according to new research from UCL. For the study, published in The British Journal of Nutrition , scientists wanted to investigate whether food processing information could be a useful indicator of what is healthy to eat.

For the first time, pollutants from burning fossil fuels have been found embedded in corals, offering scientists a potential new tool to track the history of pollution, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment , identified carbon particles emitted by burning fossil fuels embedded in the corals of Illa Grossa Bay, off the Columbretes Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

Drugs commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The authors of the new Neurology paper found that men prescribed erectile dysfunction drugs were 18% less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease years later. The study included 269,725 men who were diagnosed with erectile dysfunction and who did not have any memory or thinking problems at the start of the study.

People who have atypical work patterns, such as shift workers and those who work on the weekend, have worse quality and quantity of sleep, compared to those who work a typical 35-40 hour week, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in BMC Public Health and in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London and the University of Southampton, used data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, known as Understanding Society, to analyse the work and sleep patterns of over 25,000 men and women between 2012 and 2017.

Five cases of Alzheimer's disease are believed to have arisen as a result of medical treatments decades earlier, reports a team of UCL and UCLH researchers. Alzheimer's disease is caused by the amyloid-beta protein, and is usually a sporadic condition of late adult life, or more rarely an inherited condition that occurs due to a faulty gene.