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A breast cancer therapy that requires just one shot of radiotherapy is as effective as traditional radiotherapy, and avoids potential damage to nearby organs, according to a paper by UCL experts.
The results, published in the
British Journal of Cancer, mean that eight out of ten patients who receive the treatment, TARGIT-IORT, will not need a long course of post-operative external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). These results strengthen and expand previously published outcomes.
Patients who received the treatment are less likely to go on to experience fatal cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks, lung problems or other cancers. As well as avoiding scattered radiation from EBRT that can damage nearby vital organs, delivering TARGIT-IORT during the lumpectomy procedure seems to lower the likelihood of death if patients do go on to develop cardiovascular disease, protecting in a drug-like manner. This was the case even when EBRT was also given post-operatively, and is th
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Scientists and clinicians at UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) studying the effectiveness of CAR T-cell therapies in children with leukaemia, have discovered a small sub-set of T-cells that are likely to play a key role in whether the treatment is successful.
Researchers say stem cell memory T-cells appear critical in both destroying the cancer at the outset and for long term immune surveillance and exploiting this quality could improve the design and performance of CAR T therapies.
Explaining the study, published in
Nature Cancer, lead author Dr Luca Biasco (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), said: During clinical trials we have seen some very encouraging results in young patients with leukaemia, however it s still not clear why CAR T-cells continue to be present in the long-term for some patients, stopping the cancer from returning, while others remain at a high risk of relapse.
Posted on
May 11, 2021 by joeym
Researchers from London’s Global University documented smartphone use in older adults around the world, from Ireland to Italy, over the course of a year. They found that rather than using their phones as a way to kill time, people treat their smartphones like their home, a place where they live. Lead study author Professor Daniel Miller says smartphone use is leading to “death of proximity,” or an end in face-to-face interaction among all age groups. He adds, “We are learning to live with the jeopardy that even when we are physically together, we can be socially, emotionally or professionally alone.” The experts believe this is due to messaging apps allowing families and friends to stay in touch from a distance. Miller adds, “The smartphone is perhaps the first object to challenge the house itself in terms of the amount of time we dwell in it while awake. We have become human snails carrying our home in our pockets.” (Daily Mail)
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Almost half (47.5%) of women with babies aged six months or younger met the threshold for postnatal depression during the first COVID-19 lockdown, more than double average rates for Europe before the pandemic (23%), finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
Women described feelings of isolation, exhaustion, worry, inadequacy, guilt, and increased stress. Many grieved for what they felt were lost opportunities for them and their baby, and worried about the developmental impact of social isolation on their new little one.
Those whose partners were unable or unavailable to help with parenting and domestic tasks, particularly where they were also dealing with the demands of home schooling, felt the negative impacts of lockdown most acutely.
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Systemic inequalities mean that low-income households in London are more likely to be exposed to higher levels of indoor air pollution, according to a report by UCL researchers.
The biggest factors are the quality of housing and the characteristics of the surrounding environment, taking location and levels of outdoor air pollution into account - factors beyond occupants control.
Air pollution exposure is the greatest environmental health threat in the UK, with long-term exposures estimated to cause 28,000-36,000 premature deaths a year.
In the paper, published in
Buildings and Cities, researchers used available data and models, assembling evidence to examine five factors explaining why lower socio-economic groups may be exposed to higher levels of indoor air pollution in their homes, focusing on London and the pollutants PM2.5, NOx and CO. These pollutants were selected as they are primarily produced by combustion processes, such as cooking or burning fuel, and are t