Category: University of Newcastle
Web-based screening and personalized interventions for alcohol use may reduce drinking in undergraduate students, according to a report in the September 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
LA JOLLA, CA -- June 8, 2009 ?A team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and other institutions has discovered a new way by which DNA repairs itself, a process that is critical to the protection of the genome, and integral to prevention of cancer development.
New research has found that the answer to treating a rare inherited heart disorder could lie with a drug already on the market.
Associate Professor Derek Laver from the University of Newcastle and international colleagues have found that Flecainide - a drug used to treat heart arrhythmias - could also be used to treat Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia (CPVT).
More than 250 new examples of England's finest array of prehistoric rock art carvings, sited close to the Scottish border, have been discovered by archaeologists compiling a unique database. Now over one thousand of the 'cup and ring' carvings can be admired on a new website, which carries 6,000 images and is said to be the most comprehensive of its kind in the world. The site, which goes live today, includes the 250 panels unearthed during a two-and-a-half year trawl of some of England's remotest countryside, in the expansive moorlands of Northumberland.
Scientists have produced a potential solution to a problem fishing activity which costs the industry millions of pounds and has a major impact on the marine environment worldwide. A team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, writing in the academic journal Marine Policy, say fishermen should be given incentives not to return unwanted fish and other marine animals -- known as 'discards' -- back into the sea after they are caught in their trawlers' nets. The study focused on the North Sea, which is bordered by Norway and the European Union countries Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland and the UK. However, there are plenty of other places in the world, such as North America, which have similar problems with discards. The findings of the research are expected to inform European Union policy about discards.
Results of laboratory tests by a team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne found that green and black tea inhibit the activity of certain enzymes in the brain which are associated with memory. The findings, which are published in the academic journal, Phytotherapy Research, may lead to the development of a new treatment for a form of dementia which affects an estimated ten million people worldwide, Alzheimer's Disease.
Dental experts have developed a new sedation procedure which could relieve pressure on hospitals and allow patients to avoid potentially risky general anaesthetics. Clinical trials on more than 600 children with extreme dental problems who would usually attend hospital for a general anaesthetic for dental treatment, found the new procedure was completely successful in 93 per cent of cases. The results showed that giving patients a sedative known as midazolam and a measured amount of two gases with normal local anaesthetic was a viable alternative to a GA for dental procedures.
Archaeologists have found a trio of extraordinary stone carvings while charting the phenomenon of prehistoric rock markings in Northumberland, close to the Scottish border in the United Kingdom. Records and examples of over 950 prehistoric rock art panels exist in Northumberland, which are of the traditional 'cup and ring' variety, with a typical specimen featuring a series of cups and concentric circles pecked into sandstone outcrops and boulders. However, archaeologists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, who are studying prehistoric rock carvings, are baffled by three unusual markings found carved into rocks at separate locations.
Two major UK landmarks now count among the world's smallest objects. Scientists & engineers based at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne specialising in miniaturisation technology have recreated North East England's Tyne Bridge and the Angel of the North sculpture so they are smaller than a pinhead and invisible to the naked eye.
A project between academia and industry is aiming to spark a world electronics revolution by producing faster, cheaper and more reliable microchips. The University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, has joined forces with Amtel to create 'strained silicon' microchips, which involves adding a material called germanium to the traditional silicon used in semiconductor manufacturing. Atmel, whose silicon chips find applications in such diverse products as smart cards and game consoles like XBOX, is playing host to a team of five Newcastle University researchers led by top microelectronics professor Anthony O'Neill. "With this process we can create strained silicon microchips, which will be much faster or use less battery power than conventional microchips" explained Professor Anthony O'Neill, who leads a team of 5 researchers. The team, hosted by Atmel, aim to produce the world's first strained silicon technology.
