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Oct 30 2024

Exercising on weekends only may cut risk of mental decline, study shows | UK News

Exercising at the weekends only may be just as beneficial for slowing mental decline as working out throughout the week, researchers have said.

A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that exercising on just one or two days was more effective at reducing the risk of mild dementia than more regular workouts.

It adds to a growing body of evidence that it is not when you exercise, but the fact you are doing it, that improves health.

A separate study published last month found that being a weekend exercise “warrior” cuts the risk of developing more than 200 diseases ranging from high blood pressure and diabetes to mood disorders and kidney disease.

The latest study concluded: “The weekend warrior physical activity pattern may be a more convenient option for busy people around the world.”

Researchers found that the risk of mild dementia was reduced by an average of 15% in the “weekend warriors” who exercised once or twice per week and by 10% in the “regularly active” who exercised more often.

After taking account of factors that might influence the results, such as age, smoking, sleep duration, diet and alcohol intake, the researchers suggested both exercise patterns had similar effects.

“We found that around 10% of [mild dementia] cases would be eliminated if all middle-aged adults were to take part in sport or exercise once or twice per week or more often,” they said.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first prospective cohort study to show that the weekend warrior physical activity pattern is associated with reduced risk of mild dementia.”

Academics from Colombia, Chile and Glasgow examined two sets of survey data from the Mexico City Prospective Study for the latest research.

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Some 10,033 people with an average age of 51 completed both surveys.

The authors suggested several possible explanations for why exercise may protect the brain.

“Exercise may increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations [molecules that support the growth and survival of neurons] and brain plasticity,” they said.

“Physical activity is also associated with greater brain volume, greater executive function and greater memory.”

A second study in the same journal also found that exercise of any intensity is linked to a 30% lower risk of death from any cause after a diagnosis of dementia.

Those researchers said people affected should be encouraged to keep up or start an exercise routine, especially as the average life expectancy after a diagnosis of dementia may be only about four to five years.

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Oct 28 2024

Digital avatars could help people suffering with psychosis stand up to distressing voices and find peace, study finds | Science, Climate & Tech News

People who hear bullying or abusive voices could find peace with the help of therapy using computer-generated avatars, according to new research.

The digital animations are created by people with psychosis to fit the voices they hear.

They then role-play with the avatar under the guidance of a therapist, learning to push back against their tormentor.

A study by clinical psychologists at Kings College London (KCL) shows just a few sessions of avatar therapy reduces both the distress and frequency of the voices.

Ruth spent more than five years in hospital because of her illness.

But after therapy with an avatar that she created, she’s now married and about to start a new job.

“When I hear the voices, I hear them as if they’re standing right behind me, hissing in my ear, making remarks,” she told Sky News.

She continued: “Sometimes they do a running commentary of everything I’m doing.

“And other times it’s like they are screaming and yelling directly into my ear. It can be exhausting.

“When I first started with the avatar it was pretty brutal at times, the stuff it would say.

“But over time, I learned that I could overpower that voice.”

‘Face to face’

Therapy begins with people creating a digital avatar to represent the voices they hear.

They first select the right vocal sound for the avatar.

Then, in a process similar to building a police identikit image of a suspect, they choose facial features to create an image that fits the voice they hear.

During therapy, they have a conversation with the avatar, which is under the control of a clinical psychologist, learning to stand up to the distressing voices.

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Dr Tom Ward, a clinical psychologist at KCL, said: “It’s typically a very powerful experience for the person.

“The voice is something that they might have been avoiding for many years, and they’re coming face to face with it so people can be understandably anxious.

“The job of the therapist is to make sure that it feels safe enough for them to interact with the avatar.”

‘Extremely important finding’

A study on 345 people, funded by the Wellcome Trust and published in the journal Nature, showed avatar therapy helped to push the voices into the background, allowing them to resume a more normal life.

Professor Philippa Garety, the lead researcher, said it was the first therapy shown to have a sustained impact on how often people hear voices.

“This is an extremely important finding,” she said.

“Hearing fewer voices, less often, or voices going away altogether can have a hugely positive impact on their day-to-day lives.”

NICE, the authority that regulates treatments on the NHS, has backed the therapy.

It will now be rolled out to clinics in England for more real-world testing.

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Apr 18 2024

EU proposing post-Brexit joint youth work and study scheme with UK | Politics News

Young people could be able to move more easily between the UK and Europe and stay longer to work, study and train under proposed plans by the European Union

Under the proposal, which has been put forward by the European Commission, new rules would be drawn up to allow for greater movement between the UK and EU countries for people aged between 18 and 30.

Formal negotiations have not yet begun, and a UK source told Sky News no formal proposal had been put forward by Brussels to begin negotiating on.

The proposal will be further discussed by the European Council, which represents all the nations, before negotiations start in earnest.

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The plans proposed by the EU would allow young people to stay in Europe for periods of four years, with the same rules extended to EU citizens coming to Britain.

It would also mean EU students paying the same fees as British ones. Since Brexit, UK universities have charged much higher fees to European students.

Announcing the move, the European Commission said it wanted to take an “innovative” approach to tackling the barriers experienced by young people looking to travel from the EU to the UK and vice versa for longer periods.

“The objective would be to facilitate youth exchanges, making it easier for young citizens to travel, work and live in the UK, with reciprocity for young UK nationals in a member state,” said the Commission, in a statement.

“The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union has hit young people in the EU and UK who would like to study, work and live abroad particularly hard,” claimed Maros Sefcovic, the Commission’s vice-president who oversees relations with the UK.

“Our aim is to rebuild human bridges between young Europeans on both sides of the Channel.”

This scheme is separate to the 90-day visa-less travel that UK citizens can take advantage of on the continent.

According to the Commission, they do not foresee the scheme allowing UK citizens to travel around the Schengen area unimpeded, but rather the visa would only be valid for a single state.

It added: “It is not about conferring to young UK nationals the benefits of the fundamental freedom of movement enjoyed by EU citizens.”

However, visas would not be “purpose-bound” and would allow people to work, travel or study.

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Rather than just being a free exchange, the EU also says it wants people taking part in the scheme to be subject to checks with the bloc or the UK able to reject applications – for example if someone was thought to be a threat to public policy, security or health.

The UK government currently has a series of agreements with 13 individual countries – including New Zealand, South Korea, Andorra, Iceland and India, which provide a similar pathway to what the EU is proposing.

The government has said it is open to the idea of extending those agreements with European countries, but has shied away from doing a pan-EU deal and there will be those who fear that an agreement such as this would be the first step towards the UK being drawn into a “freedom of movement” deal.

The EU said it wants a group deal to “ensure that all member states are treated equally in respect of mobility of young people to the UK” – but the current government seems to prefer its current set of agreements.

The Commission has rejected these fears, with sources insisting there is no intention of either pulling the UK into such a deal, or even offering it.

A Number 10 spokesperson said: “We have spoken about wanting to reduce legal migration and also about wanting to support UK talent and skills and that’s why we have a system in place whereby we have a number of agreements with individual EU member states where that works in our interests and we have that rather than a Commission-wide agreement.”

Labour denied it had plans for a youth mobility scheme.

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Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, a trade body representing the hospitality sector in the UK, welcomed the move.

She said: “Such an agreement would be a huge success for hospitality and tourism and, practically, it would solve challenges for the live music and events sectors.”

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Mar 27 2024

Free vapes given to smokers at hospitals could help thousands quit, study suggests | Science & Tech News

Free vapes in emergency departments could help thousands quit smoking, a study has suggested.

Research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) said that providing A&E patients with e-cigarettes and a referral to a stop smoking adviser helped them kick the habit more than those who were just pointed to advice.

Dr Ian Pope, of UEA’s Norwich Medical School, added that the scientists behind the study now believe that “if this intervention was widely implemented it could result in more than 22,000 extra people quitting smoking each year”.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that about 6.4 million adults in the UK were smokers in 2022, while the NHS says around 76,000 people in the UK die every year from smoking.

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In their study – carried out between January and August two years ago in six emergency departments across the UK – the team offered around 484 daily smokers brief advice from a dedicated adviser while at hospital, along with an e-cigarette starter kit, and a referral to stop smoking services.

A second group of 488 patients were only given written information on how to access stop smoking services.

After six months, researchers offered members of the study a carbon monoxide test to confirm if they had given up cigarettes. Those given vapes and a referral were 76% more likely to have stopped.

Comparing the groups, 7.2% of those given vapes stopped smoking at six months while 4.1% of those given just advice had quit.

The first group were also more likely to try to stop, and self-reported that their seven-day abstinence from smoking after six months was a little over 23% compared to 13% in the group signposted to services.

Hazel Cheeseman, deputy chief executive of public health charity Action on Smoking and Health, said that the findings “are compelling” and should be “carefully considered by those in the NHS and local government who are planning services for smokers”.

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An NHS spokesperson said in response to the report: “Smoking costs the NHS and the taxpayer billions every year in avoidable health and social care costs.

“Encouraging more people to stop smoking tobacco will support them to have healthier lives.”

It’s not the first time vapes have been suggested for Britain’s hospitals. In 2018, Public Health England recommended that hospitals should sell e-cigarettes and provide patients with vaping lounges.

However, it comes after another study recently found vaping damages the DNA of its users in a similar way to smokers who develop cancer.

And it follows Rishi Sunak’s announcement of plans to ban disposable vapes in a bid to crack down on their use among children.

Published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, the UEA study said that “while the evidence for using e-cigarettes as a cessation intervention is growing, not enough research is being done to understand how to most effectively prevent e-cigarette use among adolescents, while making them available in a targeted way for cessation”.

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Mar 21 2024

AI could predict patients’ future health conditions, study finds | Science & Tech News

Artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to predict the type of health conditions a patient is likely to develop in the future, a study has found.

The technology could be used to help doctors when it comes to monitoring patients or making decisions around diagnosis, researchers said.

The AI tool, known as Foresight, belongs to the same family of AI models as ChatGPT but has been trained using information from NHS electronic records.

It was developed by researchers from King’s College London (KCL), University College London (UCL), King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

The researchers trained three different models of Foresight using data from more than 811,000 patients from two NHS trusts in London and a publicly available dataset in the US.

It was given 10 possible disorders a patient may experience next based on their records.

When using data from NHS hospitals, Foresight was able to correctly identify the condition 68% and 76% of the time. It was accurate 88% of the time when using US data.

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Zeljko Kraljevic, research fellow in health informatics, biostatistics and health informatics at KCL and the first author of the study – published in The Lancet Digital Health – said the findings show the tool “can achieve high levels of precision in predicting health trajectories of patients, demonstrating it could be a valuable tool to aid decision-making and inform clinical research”.

Senior author Richard Dobson, a professor of medical informatics at KCL and UCL and theme lead for informatics at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), said: “It is an exciting time for AI in healthcare, and to develop effective tools we must ensure that we use appropriate data to train our models and work towards a shared purpose of supporting healthcare systems to support patients.”

The research team is now seeking more hospitals to be involved in developing Foresight 2, which Prof Dobson said will be “a more accurate language model”.

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Jan 23 2024

Blood test for Alzheimer’s disease could be as accurate as painful lumbar puncture, study suggests | Science & Tech News

A blood test could be just as good at detecting the signs of Alzheimer’s disease as painful and invasive lumbar punctures, research suggests.

Measuring levels of a protein called p-tau217 in the blood could be just as accurate at detecting signs of the progressive condition, experts say.

The protein is a marker for biological changes in the brain for people with Alzheimer’s disease, which is a form of dementia.

The new findings have the potential to “revolutionise” diagnosis for people who are suspected to have Alzheimer’s, experts say.

It could also be better than a range of other tests currently under development.

In the study of 786 people, the researchers were able to use the ALZpath p-tau217 test to identify patients as likely, intermediate and unlikely to have Alzheimer’s disease.

“This study is a hugely welcome step in the right direction as it shows that blood tests can be just as accurate as more invasive and expensive tests at predicting if someone has features of Alzheimer’s disease in their brain,” said Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of research and innovation at the Alzheimer’s Society.

“Furthermore, it suggests results from these tests could be clear enough to not require further follow-up investigations for some people living with Alzheimer’s disease, which could speed up the diagnosis pathway significantly in future.

“However, we still need to see more research across different communities to understand how effective these blood tests are across everyone who lives with Alzheimer’s disease.”

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Test could turn tide on devastating disease

This is a significant step towards a screening test for Alzheimer’s.

It detects a protein in the blood that is also found in the brains of people with the disease.

And the Swedish researchers say it is as accurate as existing tests.

At the moment Alzheimer’s is diagnosed either with special PET brain scans or samples of spinal fluid. The NHS doesn’t have enough machines or specialist staff to do that at the scale required.

It means that even if people ever get a diagnosis, it often comes when the disease has significantly progressed.

That matters because there are drugs coming down the tracks that have been shown in clinical trials to significantly slow the decline in memory and brain function.

But they have to be given at an early stage to be effective. That’s why doctors are excited about this test.

It needs to be validated in bigger clinical trials and in a diverse population.

But the hope is that in the near future it could be offered every few years to everyone over 50 to turn the tide on a devastating disease.

‘Huge potential’

Currently the only way to prove someone has a build-up of the proteins in the brain is to have a lumbar puncture or amyloid PET scan, which are available in only about one in 20 NHS memory clinics.

A lumbar puncture involves a needle being inserted into the lower back, between the bones in the spine.

Dr Sheona Scales, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “This study suggests that measuring levels of a protein called p-tau217 in the blood could be as accurate as currently used lumbar punctures for detecting the biological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, and superior to a range of other tests currently under development.

“This adds to a growing body of evidence that this particular test has huge potential to revolutionise diagnosis for people with suspected Alzheimer’s.”

However, she said a better picture is needed of how these types of blood tests perform day-to-day in real-world healthcare systems.

The study from Dr Nicholas Ashton at the University of Gothenburg, and colleagues, is published in the Jama Neurology journal.

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Dec 28 2023

RSV vaccine could cut baby hospital admissions by more than 80%, study suggests | Science & Tech News

A vaccine to combat a common seasonal virus among babies could reduce hospital admissions by more than 80%, a trial has shown.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) impacts 90% of children before they reach the age of two, often causing a mild cold-like illness.

But infection can also lead to severe lung problems like pneumonia, and an estimated 30,000 babies and youngsters are admitted to hospital in the UK each year – putting extra pressure on the NHS.

Scientists have said a jab called nirsevimab could offer a solution after a study suggested a single shot provided immediate protection against chest infections for up to six months.

The trial found this could lead to an 83% reduction in RSV-related hospital admissions.

It is already being rolled out in the US and Spain and is being considered for a UK rollout, where it has been approved but not yet made available on the NHS.

Experts who worked on the study said the findings showed it was safe and could protect thousands of babies.

What is nirsevimab?

Nirsevimab is a monoclonal antibody, which are man-made proteins designed to mimic the human immune system’s natural antibodies.

Like other vaccines, it is administered via an injection.

The study included 8,058 babies up to the age of 12 months, with a randomly assigned group of them given a single dose and the others given usual treatment.

Just 11 who got the jab ended up in hospital for RSV-related infections, compared to 60 in the standard group.

The researchers said this corresponded to an efficacy of 83.2%.

Jab could ‘dramatically’ help NHS

Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, said the jab could help combat a virus that places “huge pressure” on Britain’s health system.

During the past two winters, cases were higher than usual after COVID pandemic measures in previous years suppressed cases – meaning children had much lower immunity.

Sir Andrew said the jab could help “protect the youngest in society and dramatically alleviate winter strain in the NHS”.

One of the scientists involved in the study, Professor Saul Faust from the University of Southampton, said he hoped it would help the UK decide on how to proceed with a national vaccination rollout.

The University of Southampton was one of three UK universities whose experts worked on the research, along with University Hospital Southampton and St George’s University Hospital, London.

The research was funded by Sanofi and AstraZeneca and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Oct 18 2023

COVID-19: 167,000 people may have caught coronavirus in hospital in England during second wave, study suggests | UK News

Up to 167,000 people may have contracted coronavirus in hospitals in England during the second wave of the pandemic, a study of healthcare-related infections has suggested.

Scientists who assessed COVID infections between June 2020 and March 2021 said their findings show how many cases started in hospitals and why, noting factors such as limited numbers of single rooms.

They concluded that hospitals needed to be better equipped to limit the transmission of future viruses.

Hospital transmission puts vulnerable people at risk, affects healthcare workers and potentially drives transmission in the community.

But despite the obvious risks, there hasn’t been much work done to assess the extent of the problem.

A team from Oxford University, led by Professor of Epidemiology, Ben Cooper, have tried to put that right by studying data from 145 English NHS acute hospital trusts, representing a combined 356 hospitals with around 100,000 beds.

They looked at the number of COVID infections, how many staff working days were missed because of the virus and how the likely source of infection was classified at the time.

They found nearly 17,000 (16,950) infections in hospital patients were classed as having definite links to healthcare, and more than 19,000 (19,355) were thought to probably have a healthcare connection.

However, the researchers calculated that only around one in four (26%) of such infections might actually have been recorded, as many patients may have been discharged before testing positive, for example.

Once they factored that into their projections, they estimated that hospital-acquired infections in the period were between 95,000 and 167,000.

In other words, 1 to 2% of all hospital admissions likely resulted in such an infection over the study period.

Professor Cooper’s team found geographical variations in the incidence of infections, with the highest rates in northwest regions of England, and the lowest in the South West and London areas.

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They suggested the low availability of single rooms and reduced heating of hospital buildings could play a part.

The vaccination of healthcare workers was another driver of lower infection rates.

Their findings could show hospitals how to reduce transmissions, which in turn could protect vulnerable patients and healthcare workers, as well as reduce community transmission in the future, the authors said.

The COVID-19 public inquiry was told on Tuesday that fewer people might have died if lockdown had started sooner.

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Aug 24 2023

Women ‘suffer more from ME’, according to largest ever study into the disease | UK News

Not only are women far more likely to suffer from ME, they’re also more likely to have more symptoms, and co-occurring conditions that are more severe, according early results of the largest ever study into the disease.

The DecodeME study has so far recruited more than 17,000 people in the UK with a diagnosis of ME or myalgic encephalomyelitis – sometimes called chronic fatigue syndrome.

The researchers aim to study 20,000 DNA samples from this growing group to learn whether ME is partly genetic. Not only could it point to treatments but may also help de-mystify a neglected, and often maligned disease.

“For a long time, people didn’t even truly believe that this illness existed,” says study lead Professor Chris Ponting, from the University of Edinburgh.

“The fact this study is looking into the biological causes of ME… I think it will go a long way not just to help people find treatment eventually, but also debunk some of the really harmful stigma as well.”

It is estimated that more than 250,000 people in the UK have ME.

It leaves patients with debilitating and persistent exhaustion that’s made worse following normal levels of exertion.

But it also causes a wide range of other symptoms, conditions like brain fog, muscle pain even slurred speech. Many people are left house or bed bound by their illness.

Of the participants involved so far, more than 83% are women.

Women in the study were also significantly more likely to have one or more conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia or anaemia associated with their ME than men.

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Combining these findings with the genetic data they are collecting, the researchers hope to gain insights into why different groups of people are affected by ME, in what ways, and what its potential triggers could be.

Many cases of ME, for example, are preceded by an infection of some kind, a similar phenomenon as seen in people with long COVID.

‘A real stigma and mistreatment’

The initial findings, says Prof Ponting, suggest their genetic analysis will have to treat men and women differently. The gender bias may also point to why ME has been neglected for so long, despite affecting huge numbers of people.

There is good evidence from other diseases that less research and fewer drugs are devoted to those affecting women.

“At the real heart of this is [that there] has been a real stigma and mistreatment of people with ME for years,” says Sonya Chowdhury, chief executive of Action for ME.

The charity has coordinated recruitment for the study and hopes that this first large-scale investigation will change thinking about ME.

“Having the basic data and the basic science there means that researchers are more likely to take the illness seriously,” says Ms Chowdhury. “We should be shocked there hasn’t been investment in research for decades.”

Pippa Stacey was first diagnosed with ME at the age of 19 and now writes, blogs and campaigns about her illness.

She filmed herself giving her DNA sample for the DecodeME study and shared it with her 14,500 Instagram followers to encourage others to do the same.

“Knowing work of this magnitude is taking place – that in itself is a huge thing,” she says. ” I feel a level of hope that there’s something to reach for.”

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Aug 2 2023

AI tools can ‘safely’ read breast cancer scans, preliminary study suggests | Science & Tech News

Artificial intelligence (AI) can “safely” read breast cancer screening images, a preliminary study suggests.

Researchers found computer-aided detection could spot cancer in mammograms – X-ray pictures of the breast – at a “similar rate” to two radiologists.

The NHS is already looking at how it can implement such technology in its breast screening programme.

However, the authors of the study said the results are “not enough on their own to confirm that AI is ready to be implemented in mammography screening”.

Previous studies into whether AI can accurately diagnose breast cancer in mammograms have been carried out retrospectively – where the technology assesses scans already examined by doctors.

But the new interim study pit AI-supported screening against standard care.

The randomised control trial, published in the journal Lancet Oncology, involved more than 80,000 women from Sweden with an average age of 54.

Half of the scans were assessed by two radiologists, known as standard care, while the other half were assessed by the AI-supported screening tool, followed by interpretation by one or two radiologists.

In total 244 women from AI-supported screening were found to have cancer compared with 203 women recalled from standard screening.

Also, the use of AI did not generate more “false positives” – where a scan is incorrectly diagnosed as abnormal. The false-positive rate was 1.5% in both the AI group and the group assessed by radiologists.

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AI could halve screening workload

Researchers said the use of AI could potentially almost halve the screening workload.

There were 36,886 fewer screen readings by radiologists in the AI-supported group compared with the group who received standard care, resulting in a 44% reduction in the screen-reading workload of radiologists, the authors said.

The study is continuing to assess whether AI tools can reduce cancers diagnosed between screenings, with the results not expected for a few years.

But the authors’ interim analysis concludes: “AI-supported mammography screening resulted in a similar cancer detection rate compared with standard double reading, with a substantially lower screen-reading workload, indicating that the use of AI in mammography screening is safe.”

Radiologists could be ‘less burdened by excessive amount of reading’

Lead author Dr Kristina Lang, from Lund University in Sweden, said: “These promising interim safety results should be used to inform new trials and programme-based evaluations to address the pronounced radiologist shortage in many countries, but they are not enough on their own to confirm that AI is ready to be implemented in mammography screening.

“We still need to understand the implications on patients’ outcomes, especially whether combining radiologists’ expertise with AI can help detect interval cancers that are often missed by traditional screening, as well as the cost-effectiveness of the technology.”

She added: “The greatest potential of AI right now is that it could allow radiologists to be less burdened by the excessive amount of reading.

“While our AI-supported screening system requires at least one radiologist in charge of detection, it could potentially do away with the need for double reading of the majority of mammograms, easing the pressure on workloads and enabling radiologists to focus on more advanced diagnostics while shortening waiting times for patients.”

NHS exploring implementing AI

Commenting on the study, an NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS is already exploring how AI could help in breast screening by enabling complicated image analysis very quickly and at scale, which, if proven effective, could in future help speed up diagnosis for many women, detect cancers at an earlier stage, and ultimately save more lives.

“This research is very encouraging, and plans are underway to assess the best ways of implementing this technology into the NHS Breast Screening Programme.”

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Test could turn tide on devastating disease