Scientists at the University of York are to take part in research into a rare breed of sheep, which could yield clues for the development of a drug to treat a medical condition affecting one in 30,000 people worldwide.
The three-year study will be carried out by a collaborative team of researchers from the universities of Aberdeen, Liverpool and York, which has been awarded £413,000 by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The team will
A new study of back pain treatments, co-ordinated by researchers at the University of York, has found that spinal manipulation, in the form of chiropractic, osteopathy, or manipulative physiotherapy, followed by a programme of exercise, provides significant relief of symptoms and improvements in general health.
The study, backed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and co-ordinated by the Trials Unit in the University’s Department of Health Sciences, is the biggest of its t
Proposals to raise the retirement age continue to attract controversy in both the public and private sectors. However, according to Sarah Vickerstaff, Professor of Work and Employment at the University of Kent, the real issue is not so much whether individuals will want or need to work longer. It is whether employers are willing to continue to employ them.
Professor Vickerstaff, from the University’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research will be speaking at a conferen
Turbulent and Colourful LMC Region Imaged from La Silla The Tarantula Nebula is one of the most impressive views in the Southern sky, cf. ESO Press Photos 14a-g/02. Visible to the unaided eye in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way that is located in the direction of the southern constellation Doradus at a distance of about 170,000 light-years, this huge nebula is the prototype of what astronomers refer to as a “Giant HII region”. In this complex of
A new generation of devices to help people with joint disorders walk with ease and comfort are becoming a reality thanks to the work of GAIT, which is creating the world’s first ‘intelligent’ mechanical devices to support knee and ankle joints.
Due to end in August next year, the 36-month IST programme project is developing the most advanced leg supports designed to date, combining biomechanics with information technologies to produce more comfortable and effective devices that c
Physicists across the North of England were rejoicing today at the news that they had been chosen to host a prestigious conference on Particle Physics in 2007.
’The conference is run every two years by the European Physical Society’, said Professor Roger Barlow, of Manchester University. ’They’ve just had their meeting at the CERN laboratory in Geneva. We persuaded them that our facilities and reputation, together with strong support from the many universities an
Aircraft the size of bees that get the energy they need by feeding themselves a diet of dead flies could be buzzing around the battlefields and motorways of the future, thanks to research in southwest England.
The aircraft, up to 15cm long and equipped with sensors and cameras, could have a number of uses in civilian life and modern warfare, including reconnaissance missions, traffic monitoring or fire and rescue operations. By “digesting” its own fuel, the aircraft could become au
Going out and about in freezing conditions could become safer thanks to fundamental research at the University of Edinburgh into how we slip on ice.
Using funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) researchers at Edinburgh have built a device, known as a Tribometer, to measure the friction generated as different materials, such as rubber or metal, slip across a sample of ice. The Tribometer is designed to investigate how factors such as temperatur
Issue 43 of RTD info delves into the latest advances in European seismology as scientists grapple to crack the hidden secrets of earthquakes in their bid to minimise the devastating impact of this deadly phenomenon.
“The furies of the Earth can be awesome,” begins a special 11-page report on earthquakes in the latest issue of RTD info. “What can science do in the face of such cataclysms unleashed from the very depths of the Earth? The first step is to know and understand the phenomen
The novelty of the system lies in the possibility of having an on-site installation at the farm itself, thus avoiding the transport of the purines to other, off-site plants for their treatment.
ADE Biotec has undertaken the treatment of these residues in locations in Gipuzkoa, other areas of the Basque Country and a patented technology. In the case in hand, the purine treatment plant is installed on a pig farm at Egiluze in Renteria (Gipuzkoa).
Nowadays, the purine
An international trial comparing blood-pressure lowering treatments has been stopped early due to the significantly better performance of one of the treatments in the trial.
The 19,000 patient Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT) has been comparing a new treatment strategy for hypertension against an old one, in order to discover which is better at preventing various cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes.
The older treatment strategy based on
The UK should use its presidency of the G8 and EU to move forward international action to analyse future risks due to climate change and develop and implement evidence-based adaptation strategies for coping with the immediate impacts of climate change, the British Ecological Society has urged. Giving evidence to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on Wednesday 8 December 2004, Professor Alastair Fitter of York University and president of the British Ecological
Results of a preliminary study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest a step forward in our understanding of the processes behind narcolepsy; there appears to be an underlying autoimmune process for people with a certain genetic profile. Future diagnostic testing of people with this profile should lead to substantial improvements in disease treatment.
Narcolepsy is a chronic disabling sleep-wake disorder characterised by excessive daytime sleepiness, which is caused by changes in horm
Research from 19 European countries in this week’s issue of THE LANCET documents how childhood cancer, while still rare, has been slowly increasing over the past 3 decades.
Cancer is rare before age 20 years. Eva Steliarova-Foucher (International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France) and colleagues used the large European database of childhood and adolescent cancer cases to estimate patterns and trends of incidence and survival within Europe.
The investigators
Persistence pays off – for bacteria as well as people. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Rockefeller University in New York have demonstrated the constant presence of antibiotic-tolerant “persistent cells” within bacteria colonies and have shown, through mathematical modeling, how these cells develop into “normal” cells following their survival of even heavy dosages of antibiotics.
The findings have consequences for development of new tactics for overcoming t
When looking for a needle in a haystack, it’s helpful to know what a needle looks like. A new software tool developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) makes it possible to find chemical ’needles’ in data ’haystacks’ without having to know anything about the ’needle’ in advance.
The NIST software should be especially useful for analyzing ultrapure metals–recently shown to have superior strength, corrosion-resistance and other properties–
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