A new National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) is being developed at the University of Bristol that aims to reduce premature mortality by analysing data on all deaths in children in England. Around four thousand children and adolescents die every year before their nineteenth birthday in England, according to the Office for National Statistics. The UK … Continue reading New database to reduce childhood mortality announced

A new landmark report published by the MRC highlights the University of Bristol’s strengths in digital health research and other areas. Mapping the Landscape of UK Health Data Research and Innovation is a new landmark report published by the Medical Research Council. The University of Bristol reports the review, commissioned in 2017, encompasses twenty six … Continue reading Report on the University of Bristol’s digital health research

The more time a person spends in education the more likely they are to develop short sightedness, according to a study led by Cardiff University and the University of Bristol. Cardiff University reports the research, which provides new evidence that time spent in education is a causal risk factor for short sightedness, reveals that for … Continue reading Study suggests education causes short sightedness

Researchers from the University of Bristol’s Centre for Academic Primary Care and NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Evaluation of Interventions have found promising evidence that local real time surveillance of infectious disease, such as flu, could help GPs make better diagnostic and treatment decisions, reducing the amount of unnecessary antibiotic prescribing. GPs are more … Continue reading Real time surveillance of infectious diseases helps GPs

New research, led by cancer biologists from the University of Bristol, has shown that bone marrow cells can protect cancer cells from a plant derived anti-cancer agent called parthenolide. Current therapies for children with an aggressive type of cancer found in the blood, called t-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL), have increased survival rates to above … Continue reading Scientists use nature to fight childhood leukaemia

Researchers from the University of Bristol have devised a new DNA-based method that could better predict whether clinical trials will be effective, potentially saving millions of pounds and ultimately improving lives. The evolution of medicine relies heavily on the results of clinical trials, which while essential, are extremely costly and carry the potential of unintended … Continue reading Variations in DNA help improve clinical trial efficacy

A major study examining the fish eating habits of pregnant women has found that they are not linked to autism or autistic traits in their children. The University of Bristol reports its scientists looked at the assumption that mercury exposure during pregnancy is a major cause of autism, using evidence from nearly four thousand five … Continue reading Autism is not linked to eating fish in pregnancy

A UK-wide trial into Parkinson’s disease led by Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol is set to go ahead, thanks to a £2.1m grant from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The University of Bristol reports it will test whether a commonly prescribed dementia drug could prevent debilitating … Continue reading £2.1m trial into Parkinson’s at the University of Bristol

Professor Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel from the University of Bristol’s School of Biochemistry has won a £1.5m Wellcome Trust Investigator Award in Science Application to study an essential quality control mechanism in cells. The mechanism, known as nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is of fundamental importance for cellular function in health and disease. Messenger RNA (mRNA) carries … Continue reading Looking deeper into the cell’s quality control mechanism

A study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) provides new evidence that increased weight and obesity may result in increased smoking. The Cancer Research UK (CRUK) funded study, involving University of Bristol researchers and published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), found that increased body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, and … Continue reading Obese people at higher risk of smoking