UCL in the media
NHS still funding homeopathy despite new guidelines
Emeritus Professor David Colquhoun (UCL Biosciences) questions the use of NHS funds on homeopathy, saying £55,000 a year is “extraordinarily high”. An NHS England review in 2017 found “no clear or robust evidence” to support the alternative treatment.
Debunking myths about video games
A game developed by Professor Hugo Spiers (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) to gather data about navigational abilities and cognitive decline around the world is cited in an article defending video games against negative myths.
Guidance for the medical use of cannabis
A clinical review co-authored by Dr Michael Bloomfield (UCL Psychiatry) and Dr Chandni Hindocha (UCL Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit) offers advice to help patients and doctors considering the use of medicinal cannabis.
No-deal Brexit is now Leavers’ preference
A UCL-YouGov survey shows that “no-deal” is now Leavers’ preferred Brexit outcome. Dr Uta Staiger (UCL European Institute), Professor Christina Pagel (UCL Mathematics) and data scientist Christabel Cooper analyse the implications.
Read: Huffington Post, More: Guardian, Yahoo! News, New Statesman
Politics of compromise
Professor Meg Russell (UCL Constitution Unit) says that, without a majority in the Commons, MPs need to embrace a different kind of politics, working across party lines, which “ironically our partners on the European continent are quite used to”.
Electric pulses reverse memory decline
Professor Robert Howard (UCL Psychiatry) comments on a study which found that applying an electric current to the brain can temporarily improve working memory among older people. He says this may not translate into any clinical benefit.
Alzheimer’s comes with a number of brain anomalies
People with Alzheimer’s often have a mix of brain anomalies - Professor John Hardy (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) says this may complicate treatment, meaning drugs only have a very tiny effect.
Cycling can give older people a mental boost
A study led by Dr Louise Leyland (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) found that cycling an hour and a half a week appeared to improve mental function among a group of people aged over 50.
Nutritional supplements ‘don’t work’
Professor Hugh Montgomery (UCL Medicine) comments on a study assessing the benefits of nutritional supplements, saying it adds to evidence that “routine vitamin supplementation offers little if any benefit to health and may cause harm”.
Concerns about antidepressant use
Dr Joanna Moncrieff (UCL Psychiatry) raises concerns about antidepressant use and the severity of withdrawal symptoms, after the latest figures showed 70 million prescriptions in England last year.