Author Archives: Science Media Centre
expert reaction to study on long working hours, stroke and coronary heart disease
A possible link between working hours and risk of cardiovascular disease is explored in a paper published in The Lancet journal, with the authors reporting a higher risk for stroke and coronary heart disease in those who worked longer than standard working hours. read more
expert reaction to ‘GMOs, Herbicides, and Public Health’
In an opinion piece in The New England Journal of Medicine, two scientists have recommended that the US delay implementing use of a specific herbicide to be used on GM plants, and also that wider labeling takes place of foods which contain GM components. read more
expert reaction to new analysis of China’s carbon emissions
A group of researchers publishing in the journal Nature has attempted to quantify a range of factors related to Chinese energy consumption and carbon emissions, and report lower CO2 emissions for the period 2000-13 than other inventories. read more
expert reaction to study on e-cigarette use and subsequent smoking in US teenagers
Publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a group of researchers has investigated a possible connection between e-cigarettes and initiation of smoking, reporting that users of e-cigarettes were more likely than non-users to subsequently try combustible smoking products in the following year. read more
expert reaction to DECC’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) announcement of potential shale gas sites (the 14th onshore oil and gas licensing round)
The Oil and Gas Authority and the Department for Energy and Climate Change have announced that 27 sites for shale gas extraction will be formally offered to companies following the latest round of licensing. read more
expert reaction to study on the effect of aspirin on Lynch Syndrome sufferers’ risk of cancer
Attempting to investigate the association between body mass index and cancer risk in patients with lynch syndrome, a team of researchers have published their work in the journal of Clinical Oncology. They report that obesity is associated with a substantial increase in risk of developing colorectal cancer in patients with lynch syndrome, but this risk is reduced in those taking aspirin. read more
geological disposal of radioactive waste – meet the experts
Every society generating electricity through nuclear power shares the same issue of how to safely manage and permanently dispose of those wastes which remain highly radioactive over a long period of time. Over the past 30 years there has been significant research and analysis across the world on how best to approach and resolve this issue. A common consensus has emerged in science that geological disposal is the safest known way to manage these wastes but the issue remains controversial and recent local government decisions suggest that the public remain unconvinced by reassurances about safety. In the UK, an independent committee of experts, the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), reviewed the evidence and options and recommended in 2006 that the UK adopt geological disposal. Successive Governments of all Parties have re-affirmed the policy, and a new White Paper was published last summer setting out a revised process for selecting a site for a geological disposal facility (GDF) based on the continuing principle of ‘volunteerism’ – ie a GDF cannot be imposed on a community, but that the community hosting a GDF must be a willing partner. read more
expert reaction to survey on e-cigarette use among young people in the UK
The effects of e-cigarettes in terms of helping people quit smoking and (positive or negative) health impacts are the focus of strong debate, and a paper in the journal Public Health has published the results of a survey of 11-18 year olds in Great Britain. The article reports that the proportion of young people who have tried e-cigarettes rose between 2013-14 (though was rare in people who have never smoked), as did the proportion who thought that e-cigarettes are as harmful as conventional cigarettes. read more
food shocks: expert task force reports on threats to food stocks from extreme weather
An independent expert taskforce from the UK and USA have outlined key recommendations to safeguard against threats to food supplies in a new report for the Global Food Security programme today. The report highlights an increasing risk of global food supply disruptions and price spikes that could result from extreme weather events – such as heatwaves, droughts and floods – and offers new recommendations for mitigation. Although further work is needed to reduce uncertainty and better understand the way extreme weather may change, there is good evidence that extreme weather events, from intense storms to droughts and heatwaves, are increasing in frequency and severity. The report shows that severe ‘production shocks’ caused by extreme weather– whereby global food production is seriously disrupted – of a scale likely to occur once in a century under past conditions, may occur as frequently as once every 30 years as the world’s climate and global food supply systems change in the coming decades. read more
expert reaction to study comparing low-fat and low-carb diets and body fat loss
Publishing in the journal Cell Metabolism, a group of researchers has described their work into the differences between diets which are low in fat or those which are low in carbohydrates. They report that in the 19 obese people which they studied both diets resulted in loss of body fat, but that this loss was greater in the low fat diet. read more
expert reaction to study investigating improving IVF success rates for women aged 43 and above
Attempting to investigate possible reasons for the decline in pregnancy rates for older women who undergo IVF, a team of researchers have published their work in the Journal of Endocrinology. In a specific type of cell which surrounds the egg they report the expression of several genes to be different between older and younger women, and also that this cell type replicated less frequently in older women. read more
expert reaction to review investigating the effects of trans unsaturated fats and saturated fats on health
Exactly how much of different types of nutrients should be part of our diets is the focus of much research, advice and controversy. Publishing in the BMJ, a group has investigated the effects of saturated and unsaturated fats and they report that total trans unsaturated fat intake was associated with increased mortality and death from coronary heart disease, while this was not the case for saturated fats. read more
expert reaction to claims that using frozen eggs for IVF, rather than fresh eggs, is associated with lower live birth rates
Publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a group of researchers has compared the use of eggs which are “fresh” with those with are frozen before IVF, and report that IVF cycles which used fresh eggs were associated with a higher rate of live births. read more
expert reaction to study looking at iodine supplementation in pregnancy and estimated health care cost savings
A team of researchers, writing in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, have examined the cost effectiveness of iodine supplementation compared to no supplementation in pregnant women, who are mildly to moderately iodine deficient. They report that iodine supplementation for pregnant women in the UK is potentially cost saving. read more
expert reaction to Scottish government announcement on ban of GM crops
The Scottish government has announced that it is to ban the growing of genetically modified (GM) crops. read more
expert reaction to two papers reporting having converted skin cells into neurons using chemicals
Two independent labs in China have claimed to be successful in transforming skin cells into neurons using only a chemical approach. Both sets of findings have been published in Cell Stem Cell, with one study using human cells* from healthy individuals and Alzheimer’s patients, and the other using mouse cells‡. read more
expert reaction to study investigating consumption of spicy food and risk of death
Writing in the BMJ, a group of researchers have published their work into possible associations between consumption of spicy food and mortality in a Chinese population, reporting that those who regularly ate spicy food had a lower risk of death. read more
expert reaction to study reporting potential clinical biomarker associated with breast cancer risk
It is becoming increasingly clear that genes can be turned on and off by having different molecular tags added or removed; these epigenetic changes allow fine tuning of the DNA code. In a paper published in the journal Clinical Epigenetics, a group of scientists has studied one such epigenetic change in several hundred women in relation to breast cancer and reported that high levels of it were related to lower levels of breast cancer. read more
expert reaction to study investigating young fatherhood and likelihood of death in midlife
Publishing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, a team of researchers has investigated a possible connection between age of fatherhood and mortality using data from the 1950 Finnish census, reporting that younger fathers (under 25) had higher mortality than men who had children later in life. read more