Strict COVID lockdowns in France improved cardiovascular health
A new paper in European Heart Journal - Digital Health, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that social-distancing measures like total lockdown have a measurable impact on vascular health. The study compared the impact on the health of people living in a partial vs. a total lockdown during the beginning of COVID-19. (Source: World Pharma News)
Source: World Pharma News - September 6, 2022 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Featured Research Research and Development Source Type: news
Heart failure risk is increased by gaining a few extra pounds on the waist, research suggests
Researchers from Oxford University have found that each extra inch on the waist pushes up the threat by 11 per cent and poses a greater danger to cardiac health than overall weight. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - August 29, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Scientists exposed plants to a yearlong drought. The result is worrying for climate change
Europe and many other parts of the world are currently grappling with extreme drought—and that could be bad news for efforts to curb climate change, concludes a new global study of how shrubs and grasses respond to parched conditions.
Grasslands and shrublands cover more than 40% of Earth’s terra firma, and they remove hefty amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. But by deliberately blocking precipitation from falling at 100 research sites around the world, researchers found that a single year of drought can reduce the growth of vegetation by more than 80%, greatly diminishing its ability to absorb carbon dioxid...
Source: ScienceNOW - August 24, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: news
Map may prove ‘Welsh Atlantis’ rooted in fact, say academics
Professors say two islands in Cardigan Bay are clearly marked on the Gough map held at Bodleian libraryIt is believed to be the Welsh Atlantis, a lost land lying below the water at Cardigan Bay. For at least 800 years, tales have been told of the legend of Cantre ’r Gwaelod, but evidence that it really existed has been scant.Now, a medieval map depicting two islands off the Ceredigion coast provides some proof that the legend may be rooted in historical fact, according to a BBC report.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - August 22, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Sophie Zeldin-O'Neill Tags: Wales Academics Education Folklore and mythology Culture University of Oxford Higher education Geology Science UK news Source Type: news
COVID-19 May Have Long-Term Effects on the Brain
COVID-19 has proven capable of affecting nearly every part of the body—including the brain. A study of 1.28 million people who had the disease, published Aug. 17 in the Lancet Psychiatry, sheds light on the often complex, and sometimes long-term, impacts of COVID-19 on the minds of kids and adults.
Analyzing data from patients in the U.S. and several other countries, researchers found that within the first two months of getting COVID-19, people were more likely to experience anxiety and depression than people who got a different type of respiratory infection. And for up to two years after, people remained at greater ...
Source: TIME: Health - August 18, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kyla Mandel Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Premature babies perform worse in secondary school, study finds
A study of 7,000 English children found those born preterm are at increased risk of doing poorly at both primary and secondary school according to a study by experts from Oxford University. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - August 17, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, antibody and vaccination data, UK: 10 August 2022, ONS
This study is jointly led by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) working with the University of Oxford and Lighthouse Laboratory to collect and test samples. (Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH))
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - August 11, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Shingles may raise your risk of Alzheimer's, study warns
A study led by Oxford University found varicella zoster virus (VZV), which causes chickenpox and shingles, can set off a chain reaction in the brain linked to dementia. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - August 1, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Covid waves will continue as sub-variants evolve: Experts
Virologist Shahid Jameel of the University of Oxford said he would be worried if the hospitalisations go up as well. (Source: The Economic Times)
Source: The Economic Times - August 1, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
U.K. charity gives $36 million boost to gene editing for inherited heart diseases
When a high school athlete dies from a heart attack or a young woman needs a heart transplant, it is often because they inherited a DNA mutation that causes heart muscle disease. Today, in the biggest research grant ever from the research charity, the British Heart Foundation announced an award of £30 million ($36 million) over 5 years to an international team to develop gene-editing treatments for these deadly diseases.
Called
CureHeart
, the project bested three others shortlisted by the Big Beat Challenge, a competition launched in 2019 to fund transformative heart disease research. Advances in gene edi...
Source: ScienceNOW - July 28, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: news
When will Covid really be over? Three things that will mark the end of the pandemic | Erica Charters
History tells us the end of a deadly outbreak isn ’t just about medical data – it’s about political and social changes tooMore than two years after the World Health Organization declared theCovid-19 outbreak a pandemic and more than 18 months afterCovid-19 vaccinations were first widely administered, it can still seem there is little consensus on what stage of the epidemic we are now at. Is the epidemic over, with British restrictions lifted a year ago andairline travel surging? Or dosoaring case rates and continued individual health measures suggest the epidemic is nowhere near its end?The trouble is that epidemics ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - July 28, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Erica Charters Tags: Coronavirus Infectious diseases Science Health UK news Source Type: news
Google ’s AI Lab, DeepMind, Offers ‘Gift to Humanity’ with Protein Structure Solution
Matt Higgins and his team of researchers at the University of Oxford had a problem.
For years, they had been studying the parasite that spreads malaria, a disease that still kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. They had identified an important protein on the surface of the parasite as a focal point for a potential future vaccine. They knew its underlying chemical code. But the protein’s all-important 3D structure was eluding them. That shape was the key to developing the right vaccine to slide in and block the parasite from infecting human cells.
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The team&rsqu...
Source: TIME: Science - July 28, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Billy Perrigo Tags: Uncategorized Artificial Intelligence biztech2030 Source Type: news
How drinking too much alcohol really does age you
Oxford University scientists say drinking more than five glasses of wine a week speeds up the body's biological clock by damaging tiny structures that protect out DNA. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - July 26, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK: 15 July 2022, ONS
This study is jointly led by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) working with the University of Oxford and Lighthouse Laboratory to collect and test samples. (Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH))
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - July 25, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Supercharged biotech rice yields 40% more grain
By giving a Chinese rice variety a second copy of one of its own genes, researchers have boosted its yield by up to 40%. The change helps the plant absorb more fertilizer, boosts photosynthesis, and accelerates flowering, all of which could contribute to larger harvests, the group
reports today in
Science
.
The yield gain from a single gene coordinating these multiple effects is “really impressive,” says Matthew Paul, a plant geneticist at Rothamsted Research who was not involved in the work. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like that before.” The approach could be tried in ...
Source: ScienceNOW - July 22, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: news
