Latest Population Health Sciences News

Breastfeeding boosts ability to climb social ladder

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Breastfeeding by Fikirbaz on Flickr (square)

Breastfeeding not only boosts children’s chances of climbing the social ladder, but it also reduces the chances of downwards mobility, suggests a large study published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Professor Anne Johnson receives damehood in Queen's Birthday Honours

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Professor Anne Johnson

Anne M. Johnson (MD FMedSci FRCP FFPH FRCGP), Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, has been awarded a damehood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for 2013.

Grassroots women’s groups could halve maternal death rate

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Womens groups for maternal health

Women’s groups can dramatically reduce the number of maternal and newborn deaths in some of the world’s poorest communities, according to a new meta-analysis published in The Lancet.

Global health policy fails to address burden of disease on men

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Occupational health risks in Mumbai

Men experience a higher burden of disease and lower life expectancy than women, but policies focusing on the health needs of men are notably absent from the strategies of global health organisations, according to a Viewpoint article in this week’s Lancet.

Post-mortem MRI: a viable alternative to an autopsy

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MRI image Lancet paper

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and blood tests to establish the cause of death in fetuses and newborn babies is virtually as accurate as a standard autopsy, according to a paper published in The Lancet.

Stress and unhealthy lifestyle increase risk of heart disease

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Stressball from Yuri on Flickr

People with job stress and an unhealthy lifestyle are at higher risk of coronary artery disease than people who have job stress but lead healthy lifestyles, according to work published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) by researchers from UCL's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.

Mobile health technologies to rapidly test and track infectious diseases

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EPSRC IRC

Early-warning sensor systems that can test and track serious infectious diseases – such as major flu epidemics, MRSA and HIV – using mobile phones and the internet are being developed by a major new Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC) led by UCL.

UCL awarded record number of ESRC studentships

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18 multidisciplinary studentships worth an estimated £1.6 million have been awarded to UCL’s Doctoral Training Centre by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Light drinking during pregnancy not linked to developmental problems in childhood

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Pregnant woman

Light drinking during pregnancy is not linked to adverse behavioural or cognitive outcomes in childhood, suggests a new study published today.

Study finds strong genetic component to childhood obesity

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Obesity

Childhood body weight is strongly influenced by genes according to new research published today in the International Journal of Obesity.

Call for proposals: UCL–French Embassy science and technology workshops

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Studying brain-cooling for birth asphyxia

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Sudhin Thayyil

In high income countries brain cooling is standard treatment for neonatal encephalopathy - unexpected, devastating brain injury due to low oxygen and blood in the baby’s brain at birth. This therapy reduces mortality and disability.

UCL Open Access Guidelines and Publishing Guide

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UCL guidelines on open access and a publishing guide are available to UCL researchers.

The RCUK Policy on Open Access introduces, with effect from 1 April 2013, new open access requirements for research papers funded by the Research Councils.

Alcohol consumption higher than reported in England

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Beer glass by Tim Dobson on Flickr (square)

Alcohol consumption could be much higher than previously thought, with more than three quarters of people in England drinking in excess of the recommended daily alcohol limit, according to a new paper in the European Journal of Public Health.

Study questions effectiveness of genetic testing strategy for inherited high cholesterol

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Prof Steve Humphries

A substantial proportion of individuals with a clinical diagnosis of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) inherit a combination of small-effect changes in several genes (polygenic) rather than a large-effect mutation in a single gene (monogenic), according to a new paper in The Lancet.

Collaboration points way towards improved treatment for women's cancers

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Prof Martin Widschwendter

UCL researchers have recently commenced an academic-industrial collaboration – EpiFemCare – to develop new methods for screening, diagnosing and personalising treatment of breast and ovarian cancers.

Improvement in child cancer survival rates threatened by lack of new drug development

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Kathy Pritchard-Jones

Some of the biggest challenges to the improvement of cancer care for children and young people are set out in a series of studies published in today's Lancet Oncology.

Stress at work very unlikely to cause cancer

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Stressball from Yuri on Flickr

Work-related stress is not directly linked to the development of colorectal, lung, breast or prostate cancers, but can cause other contributing factors, according to a new study published on bmj.com

Doctors 'should give lifestyle advice' to cancer patients

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Dr and patient (from Alex E. Proimos on Flickr

More than 80 per cent of cancer patients’ close friends and family think that doctors should give their cancer patients lifestyle advice on eating habits, weight-loss and exercise, according to a new study in the British Journal of Cancer.

Obesity leads to vitamin D deficiency

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Vitamin D the sunshine vitamin

Obesity can lead to a lack of vitamin D circulating in the body, according to a study led by the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH). Efforts to tackle obesity should thus also help to reduce levels of vitamin D deficiency in the population, says the lead investigator of the study, Dr Elina Hypponen.

Global Food Security symposia: Creating resilience in the face of catastrophic climate change

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Global Health marque

Friday 8 February, 9am-5pm
Denys Holland Lecture Theatre

British ‘stiff upper lip’ may prevent early presentation for cancer symptoms

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Doctors sign from Victoria Reay on Flickr (square)


Embarrassment and not wanting to waste their doctors’ time are more frequently reported by British people than in other countries, according to new research led by UCL and King’s College London. This may be holding British people back from presenting early with symptoms of cancer.

€6 million for research in to fetal growth restriction

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Baby with severe fetal growth restriction

UCL researchers in a successful academic-industrial collaboration have been awarded an EU Framework Programme 7 Grant of almost €6 million to develop a therapy for fetal growth restriction.

Health Survey for England reveals a nation in pain

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Quad

Today's Health Survey for England reveals more than 14 million sufferers of chronic pain - pain which has lasted for more than three months. The study found that pain is more common among some groups than others, pain incurs significant costs and has serious mental health and wellbeing implications.

Record number of Marie Curie Fellowships for research at UCL

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23 postdoctoral researchers from 14 different countries have been awarded Marie Curie Individual Fellowships. The awards will enable researchers to spend up to two years working with research teams across all schools at UCL.

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