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Brain disorders cost the UK an estimated £112 billion (€134 billion) annually - more than the GDP of New Zealand

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Every year disorders of the brain, including dementia, stroke, and mental health issues, cost the UK an estimated £112 billion* (€134 billion), according to a new report out today by leading neuroscientists. The figure, which includes direct medical costs as well as indirect costs (i.e. lost production due to work absence or early retirement), is more than the GDP of New Zealand.

The research, led by scientists from the University of Cambridge, University of Hertfordshire and Imperial College London, is the most recent and comprehensive study conducted on the costs and prevalence of brain disorders in the UK.

Professor Barbara Sahakian, one of the lead researchers from the University of Cambridge and President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, said: “Given the ageing population, the prevalence and cost of UK brain disorders is likely to continue to increase, adding additional pressure on the NHS and Social Services, particularly in regard to the cost of institutionalised care.”

The study reveals that in 2010, the year for which the most recent data is available, there were approximately 45 million diagnoses of brain disorders in the UK, including 8,196,000 (18.17% of UK population) cases of anxiety disorder and 5,268,000 (11.68%) cases of sleep disorder and greater than one million cases of addiction (1,878,000 (4.16%)), mood disorder (i.e. unipolar depression and bipolar disorders) (3,937,000 (8.73%)) and somatoform disorder (2,396,000 (5.31%)), illness that cannot be attributed to a physical problem. Additionally, there were 26,000 cases of brain tumour and 18 million cases of headache requiring medical attention.

The researchers estimated that the total UK cost of disorders of the brain in 2010 was £112,825* million (€134,476 million). Because of limitations in data for some disorders, which was therefore not included, the scientists consider their total estimate of the cost to be conservative.

Annually, the cost of the five most expensive disorders were: dementia: €22,164 million (£18,595 million*); psychotic disorders: €16,717 million (£14,025 million*); mood disorders: €19,238 million (£16,140 million*); addiction: €11,719 million (£9,832 million*) and anxiety disorders: €11,687 million (£9,805 million*). Indirect costs associated with patients' productivity losses constituted by far the largest component of the total cost at €62,346 million (£52,308*), comprising 46.4% of the overall cost, whereas the remainder of the cost was divided into 26.8% each for direct non-medical (€36,077 million (£30,268*)) and direct health-care (€36,053 million (£30,248*)).

The cost of dementia on the social care system was significantly higher than that for cancer, coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. Combining the annual costs of health and social care, dementia cost £10.5 billion, compared to £4.5 billion for cancer, £2.7 billion for stroke and £2.3 billion for CHD. After combining health and social care, informal care and productivity losses, dementia also had the highest annual cost at £23 billion, followed by cancer (£12 billion), CHD (£8 billion) and stroke (£5 billion).

However, despite UK government recommendations saying health research priorities should be informed by the impact of disease on the population and economy, the majority of health research funding in the UK has historically been directed towards cancer (£590 million) while research spending on brain disorders, such as dementia (£50 million) and stroke (£23 million), has been comparatively seriously underfunded. As such, the neuroscientists and clinicians who led the study are advocating for a transformation of how funding is allocated, with the focus on distributing funding according to diseases’ economic burden.

Professor David Nutt, a lead author of the report and Edmond J Safra chair in Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, said: “Clinical and economic challenges posed by brain disorders requires coordinated effort at an EU and national level to transform the current scientific, healthcare and educational agenda. Diseases need to be ranked according to their economic burden to help more efficiently allocate current and future research funds.”

The researchers argue that brain disorders involve disproportionally high indirect costs (i.e. lost production due to work absence or early retirement) and relatively low direct health and social care costs. This means that the application of more effective treatment has the potential to considerably reduce the overall economic burden to society and improve patient quality of life, over and above any reductions in healthcare costs. They believe this is a clear argument for investing in research that leads to a better understanding of how to most effectively prevent, diagnose, treat and manage brain diseases.

Professor Sahakian, added: “No group of chronic diseases costs the world more than brain disorders, with one third of the adult population suffering from a mental disorder every year. However, although brain disorders affect more people than cancer and cardiovascular disease, they receive significantly less in research funding.”

The scientists also highlight an impending crisis in drug development. Major pharmaceutical companies have withdrawn from key areas of preclinical and clinical neuroscience research.

Professor Naomi Fineberg, a lead author of the report from the University of Hertfordshire and Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust stated: “It is very important that there is novel drug development as a key component of research in order to find effective treatments for all patients thereby allowing them to have a better quality of life and to return to their normal activities at work and at home.”

The findings were published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. The work was supported by the British Association for Psychopharmacology, European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the European Brain Council and the Wellcome Trust.

For more information about this story, please contact: Genevieve Maul, Office of Communications, University of Cambridge. Email: Genevieve.Maul@admin.cam.ac.uk; Tel: 01223 765542.

Experts believe that disorders of the brain pose the greatest economic challenge for UK health care.

No group of chronic diseases costs the world more than brain disorders, with one third of the adult population suffering from a mental disorder every year.
Barbara Sahakian
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Cambridge University Library launches design competition

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The competition, jointly run by the University Library and the Department of Architecture, is open to professionals and non-professionals alike and is looking for bold submissions that reimagine the open spaces and environment of the iconic Giles Gilbert Scott building.

University Librarian Anne Jarvis said: “We are delighted to launch this competition, which has been made possible by the generous gift from Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing. It offers an exciting opportunity to elicit fresh and unconventional ideas for the landscape surrounding the Library, which could transform not just the entrance sequence to the Library, but the way such open social spaces are being used.”

Entries to the competition will be judged on their innovative interpretation of the site, its context, use and history – as well as their ability to integrate contemporary ecological research.

Ingrid Schröder, from the Department of Architecture, said: “We’re looking to prompt a true diversity of responses from anyone who’d like to enter. This is an ideas competition and that’s exactly what we want to see from people – their ideas for how the area surrounding Cambridge University Library can be reimagined.”

“The University Library is a monumental presence both within the University and the City, not least on its skyline. We want new ideas for how to use this outside space, to promote new visibility for the Library and to encourage people to think about the role of the site on the western edge of the city.”

The competition will run a series of events and workshops hosted by the Department of Architecture. This will bring together cross-disciplinary groups from within the university and stimulate and capture ideas from primary, secondary and sixth-form colleges in Cambridge.

A free downloadable DIY competition brief is available on the competition website (http://www.cambridgelibrarylandscape.com/) for schools, groups or organisations that would like to use the competition as part of their curriculum.

The next stage will see fully registered participants produce proposals for the development of the landscape surrounding the University Library from which a shortlist of ten will be selected.

Finally, the ten shortlisted designers will team up with ten Cambridge academics to advance the detail of their design; the results of which will be exhibited and published as a book containing the final proposals and a critical academic response to each.

A landscape design competition to transform the space surrounding Cambridge University Library has been launched.

This is an ideas competition and that’s exactly what we want to see from people – their ideas for how the area surrounding Cambridge University Library can be reimagined.
Ingrid Schröder
Cambridge University Library

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Pembroke and St. Catharine’s Colleges Year 12 Summer Residentials offer a Cambridge experience

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Mathematics for the Physical Sciences participants

The first event, ‘Mathematics for the Physical Sciences’ was aimed at the engineers and physicists of the future. It gave participants the opportunity to apply their abilities in mathematics and physics to real-life problems, from simulating the landing of a probe on Mars to calculating the effectiveness of possible means of reducing CO2 emissions, and to explore the differences between Newtonian and relativistic physics.

One participant, Kate, from Melton Mowbray said: “It helped me see what university study would be like, and highlighted Cambridge as the place I would love to study!” Connor, from London said “It made my head hurt – but in a good way!”

Dr. Gábor Csányi, Director of Studies in Engineering at Pembroke College and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering said: “The students in attendance were a delight to teach, actively curious, and ready to participate in a detailed technical discussion of an unfamiliar topic.”

The focus of the second event was Languages, introducing participants to the different language and language-related degrees on offer in Cambridge, through the Modern and Medieval Languages, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic and Classics courses.

The event revealed the diversity of opportunities a languages degree can offer, through sessions and workshops covering literature, politics, history, and linguistics, spanning from stone carvings in ancient Greece to extremism in present-day Egypt, via werewolves in medieval France and nuns in Renaissance Italy. The participants also had a taste of learning a new language: Old English. Within 20 minutes, they were confidently reading and then telling each other out loud that “the man drank the broth”.

Dr. Abigail Brundin, Director of Studies in Modern and Medieval Languages at St. Catharine's College and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Italian said: “At a time when uptake of modern foreign languages is still on the wane in British schools, targeted events of this kind are an excellent opportunity to engage with students and get the message out there about the importance of language learning. This year's attendees were an exceptionally engaged and able group, who got stuck into all the activities with gusto. I really hope the experience will encourage them to consider seriously a languages degree in the future.”

Each event included presentations and question-and-answer sessions with Admissions Tutors Dr. Caroline Burt and Dr. David Bainbridge, and participants also took part in an academic interviews workshop. Pre- and post-event surveys show that participants’ overall confidence in applying to university and in applying to Cambridge increased following their time at the residentials.

Careers advisors from the University Careers Service outlined to the participants the varied destinations of recent University of Cambridge graduates, highlighting both those who use the subject matter of their degree in their work every day, and others who use their transferrable skills in a surprising range of other fields.

Schools Liaison Officer Laura McGarty said: “The Summer Residentials were designed as a chance for the participants to experience both teaching and student life at the University of Cambridge, and to equip them with skills and confidence to submit strong university applications and achieve highly in their Year 13 examinations. We have very much enjoyed having such enthusiastic and determined groups of young people at Pembroke and St. Catharine’s. The undergraduate students who worked on the programmes did a fantastic job of putting the participants at their ease, and of sharing their experiences of applying to university and studying here in Cambridge.”

Pembroke and St. Catharine’s Colleges are linked to Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Suffolk and the London Borough of Southwark through the University of Cambridge Area Links Scheme. The Schools Liaison Officer has worked with over 2700 secondary school students so far this academic year to raise aspirations and to encourage applications to Higher Education and to the University of Cambridge.

Pembroke and St. Catharine’s Colleges have this year hosted two Summer Residentials, attended by 44 sixth form students from state schools and colleges across the country.

Mathematics for the Physical Sciences participants

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“Nudity does not liberate me and I do not need saving”

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Earlier this year the radical feminist group Femen turned its attentions away from Europe to North Africa, targeting vast swathes of the Arab and Muslim world with its uncompromising messages. Up until this point the protestors, who dub themselves as “sextremist”, had focused their activities on Europe and primarily on issues affecting white European women.

Emerging in the Ukraine around five years ago, Femen made its name with its own brand of attention-grabbing publicity. Images of its topless protests, nipples blurred, appeared in media throughout the world and, to some extent, conformed to passively-held assumptions of what “radical feminism” might look like. In other words, it knowingly plays up to feminist stereotypes in the quest for publicity.

Femen argues that the female body can re-assert itself, and the meaning attached to it, through anti-patriarchal messages scrawled on bare breasts. The group seeks to challenge norms by inverting the hyper-sexualised signal that exposed breasts typically send. Whether you believe in its value or not, this mode of protest plays out in the real world as a dangerous strategy. The political message is often lost, indeed undermined, by the same widespread salacious interest in the naked female body that garners Femen so much media coverage.

Given the flurry of sensationalised media surrounding Femen’s nude protests, it’s not surprising that many feminists have distanced themselves from the group, arguing that its tactics reinforces the notion that women can only get attention for (and by means of) their physicality, not on the strength of the inherent merit of the feminist cause.

The catalyst for the shift in Femen’s focus was Amina Tyler, 19-year-old founder of the group’s Tunisian branch. In March this year Amina posted topless photos of herself on Femen’s Facebook page. One image, in the style that has become characteristic of Femen’s activism, depicts Amina with the slogan “My body belongs to me and is not the source of anyone’s honor” written in Arabic across her bare chest. Another shows her with “F**k your morals” in the same bold style.

These images triggered immediate reactions within Tunisia, with Amina reportedly receiving threats of death by stoning. Rumours circulated that she had been arrested by the local authorities; these turned out to be false. Femen’s rapid response was the organisation of “Topless Jihad Day” in support of Amina – and what began as feminist activism quickly slipped into what appeared to be anti-Muslim protest.

It became apparent that Femen is waging a campaign that shows little consideration for the vast majority of the community whose rights it claims to promote. The group that spoke up against Femen, Muslim Women Against Femen, sought to challenge the narrative that Muslim women are de facto oppressed by dressing a certain way or subscribing to a particular theology.

As many other commentators have noted, Femen have obvious representation issues outside Europe. White European women represent the vast majority of its supporters and, furthermore, they seem committed to advancing a particular brand of feminism as universal with little regard for local histories and efforts.

Many observers too baulked at the language of “Topless Jihad Day”. Jihad is not a word to be used lightly. One can only imagine how frustrating it must be for Muslims, who regularly insist that jihad is misunderstood by both terrorists and Western commentators, to have it thrown back at them in this effectively hollow sense. It seemed another instance of Femen prioritising attention-grabbing publicity over coherent message. But beyond this, seeking to “save” others implies superiority.

The Femen protests are more than simply unnecessarily provocative and culturally insensitive: they also expose deeper truths. In response to Femen, Muslim Women Against Femen instituted “Muslimah Pride Day”. The group described Femen as perpetuating and promoting Islamaphobia and accused it of cultural imperialism. Many individual voice spoke about issues of freedom and choice. One post displayed the message: “My hijab is my pride. Islam is my freedom. This is my choice. I don’t need you to be my voice. I have mine.” Another one tackled feminism head-on: “Feminism comes in many forms! You bare up, I cover up.”

The manager of Muslim Women Against Femen’s Facebook page regularly warns members against “slut shaming” Femen activists. Hundreds of responses illustrate complex, multi-faceted responses to Femen’s actions, not outright rejection.  The message is clear: freedom has to involve choice, and respect for the choices of others. The posts engage with feminist debates, while exposing how such protests ultimately struggle to engage with multiple forms of oppression. Two of the many messages that illustrate this are: “Nudity does not liberate me and I do not need saving” and “Let me tell YOU how oppressive your culture is.”

The issue with Femen’s representation is not just that white, European women are campaigning on ‘behalf of’ Muslim women. By its actions, Femen (perhaps unintentionally) deepened racial and religious divisions within the communities it sought to liberate. These tensions led to the alienation of many women who came to see themselves as having no place within the Western feminist movement, which they now associate with Femen’s radical protests.

Worse still, Femen, in the eyes of many Muslim and Arab women, has come to symbolise oppression. While attempting to liberate Muslim women, Femen has succeeded in oppressing them along religious and racial lines.

Femen misrepresents the complexity of both individuals and groups. A woman’s identity is shaped by an intricate web of influences – economic, cultural, sexual and religious, to name but a few. Many would argue that feminist movements do provide space for diversity among women. The problem, in Femen’s case, was that a woman could only be “in” – and by implication only be free – if she subscribed to a particular set of values that does not sit well with the lifestyles of many communities.

Across the political spectrum struggle, there is debate about what it means to be “free”. Whichever aspect is grasped, we commonly fail to see how we are simultaneously disadvantaging freedom in another respect. Femen is an archetypal example of this common occurrence. Its alienation of those it seeks to empower does not stem from uncharitability; indeed, often it comes from an overwhelming abundance of concern.

Femen activists mobilised in opposition of patriarchal control and the subjugation of women they perceived in North Africa. Many of these activists were horrified to find so many women speaking out against their campaign, and often insisted that there had been a misunderstanding.

Such a narrative ignores messy historical and political dynamics that make female empowerment different from place to place. People are products of different circumstances and choices. Can we honestly call the banning of the veil an advancement of freedom – or is it just the advancement of a particular view of what it means to be “free”? Similarly, does demonising women who choose (and also those who choose not) to wear a headscarf really liberate them? Or does it just place them in a category of “repressed”; a category that they have little power to escape without our consent.

Hardest for us to acknowledge is our own place in structures of injustice, and, at times, the place of a very particular concept of what it means to be free in those structures. While we seek to improve the lives of women by liberating them from dressing a particular way, we both willingly and unconsciously overlook that in other respects we play a role in their inequality.

A large part of this stems from our weakness at grasping multiple forms of oppression and inequality. Tunisian women are oppressed not just because they are female; this oppression intersects with poverty, religion, education, culture and other factors that may disadvantage them. It is naïve to target one aspect while refusing to see that you are simultaneously reinforcing another. Femen protests do just this; they seek to empower a group of women, and simultaneously worsen their oppression as Muslims.

When it comes to advocacy, protest and many kinds of charitable action, the start must be a long hard look in the mirror – honest self-reflection. This has to include understanding and admittance of the ways in which our position disadvantages those who we seek to help in other ways.

For the feminist movement, it is tempting to isolate sex as the crux of repression, which conveniently negates our role as wealthy (globally speaking), often white, often middle class, often Christo-agnostic, often well-educated individuals. We have to acknowledge the privilege and difference these factors endow to us, and that the women we are talking to, and often simply talking about, may also be affected by other factors, potentially to a greater degree.

We should start by working with people, with the awareness that they are as intricate, perhaps as contradictory, as we ourselves are, and that their situations are subject to personal and historical change as well. If you agree with a cause, support it – but rhetoric and ideology must flow from the repressed to the repressor. The other way around ultimately reinforces what we are seeking to overcome.

This is an edited version of an article by Raffaella Taylor-Seymour for the online magazine King’s Review. http://kingsreview.co.uk/magazine/

When radical feminists took their cause from Europe to North Africa, the outcome was a deepening of the divides they sought to break down. Social anthropology student Raffaella Taylor-Seymour argues for greater reflection about the meaning of freedom. 

When it comes to advocacy, protest and many kinds of charitable action, the start must be a long hard look in the mirror.
Raffaella Taylor-Seymour
Inna Shevchenko of Femen

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A response to Methane Mischief: Misleading Commentary Published In Nature

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The 25 July post by Jason Samenow on the global economic impacts of methane emissions in the East Siberian Sea portrays the findings of our research as misleading, a statement with which I strongly disagree. Our work is based on a prediction of the magnitude and timing of methane emissions from the thawing of Arctic offshore permafrost by a scientist who has done extensive field work on this part of the ocean bed and is a globally recognized expert. We calculated the financial implications of these emissions for the world economy over a century and also considered  the effect of the emissions on increasing overall global warming, obtaining a 0.6C figure by 2040. We rightly consider these to be substantial figures, which deserve wide circulation among climate scientists, and Nature and its referees agreed with us.

In our analysis we showed that the overall cost of a given volume of methane release is relatively insensitive to the rate of release or, within limits, its timing, BUT that the cost is roughly proportional to the overall volume of release. Thus, even if you worked with a different projection by a lesser qualified scientist than Shakhova, and revised down the figure and scale of the 60 trillion dollars accordingly, I suspect the cost will still be substantial – and that is one clear finding: The planetary cost of Arctic warming far outstrips any possible benefits to shipping or natural resource exploration.

In support of its skepticism about methane emissions the article quoted authors who wrote before the enormous retreat of summer Arctic sea ice and its oceanographic effects became so evident. The mechanism which is causing the observed mass of rising methane plumes in the East Siberian Sea is itself unprecedented and the scientists who dismissed the idea of extensive methane release in earlier research were simply not aware of the new mechanism that is causing it.

What is happening is that the summer sea ice now retreats so far, and for so long each summer, that there is a substantial ice-free season over the Siberian shelf, sufficient for solar irradiance to warm the surface water by a significant amount – up to 7C according to satellite data. That warming extends the 50 m or so to the seabed because we are dealing with only a polar surface water layer here (over the shelves the Arctic Ocean structure is one-layer rather than three layers)  and the surface warming is mixed down by wave-induced mixing because the extensive open water permits large fetches.  So long as some ice persisted on the shelf, the water mass was held to about 0C in summer because any further heat content in the water column was used for melting the ice underside. But once the ice disappears, as it has done, the temperature of the water can rise significantly, and the heat content reaching the seabed can melt the frozen sediments at a rate that was never before possible.

The 2008 US Climate Change Science Program report  needs to be seen in this context. Equally, David Archer’s 2010 comment that “so far no one has seen or proposed a mechanism to make that (a catastrophic methane release) happen” was not informed by the Semiletov/Shakhova field experiments and the mechanism described above. Carolyn Rupple’s review of 2011 equally does not reflect awareness of this new mechanism.

Therefore I robustly defend our research and commentary, and hope that rather than dismiss the substantial risk such a methane release poses, the response might be to support more intensive research on this problem.

The 24 July news story about the potential cost of Arctic methane release has provoked widespread coverage, including a critique in the Washington Post. Here, Professor Peter Wadhams responds to some of the comments that were made.  

The first sign of the spring melt - a stream is seen flowing on the ice in the Arctic.

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Can I afford University? Counting the cost with HE Partnership

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“Tuition fee debt is different to normal debt” explains Matt Diston, co-ordinator of the HE Partnership programme. “When I ask students about debt they mention repossession and they mention bailiffs. It’s really important for them to understand why these rules don’t apply to tuition fee loans.”

At Ely College, IAG Co-Ordinator Wendy Barnes introduces the session to Year 9 students: “Matt’s here to tell you the facts,” she explains. “You need the truth and the facts about university so that you can make good decisions when the time comes.”

The students work in small groups to brainstorm their ideas about how much university will cost and the different ways people pay for it.

“So we owe the Government £27,000 – how do we feel?” Matt asks the class, after a discussion of the real costs of university.

Scared, some say.  It feels like a trick.

Some see it as a good deal. “What you get for it – that’s all right, though. You can get more money for your job.”

“And if you’ve done university you’ve got a better chance of getting a job,” his classmate agrees.

Matt explains that repayments are based on income. If you don’t earn more than £21,000, you don’t have to repay the loan.  Some find this reassuring, though others are shocked.  “It’s not fair – what about the lazy people? We could work hard and pay it back, and they won’t – that would be really unfair.”

“What if I never earn more than £21,000, for the next 30 years,” one student asks. This gives Matt a chance to remind the group that, since the average graduate starting salary is around £25,000, staying under the repayment threshold for a whole career might be a challenge.

Some minds turn to cunning plans to escape repayment. “What if I go and hide from the taxman abroad?” To the Cayman Islands, to Australia, to Afghanistan...”They will find you,” says Matt. “And then there’s a special house with bars on the windows they’ll take you to – that might be a bit extreme, just to get out of repaying a student loan!”

“What if I fake my own death?” asks another creative individual. “Again – possibly a bit overkill!” Matt responds - It’s your loan and you’re responsible for paying it back. It can’t be passed on to another member of your family and it can’t be inherited if you get hit by a bus.”

“There might be a million reasons not to go to university, but we don’t want you to say ‘I’m not going to go because I don’t have the money’,” Matt concludes.

“For you guys, it doesn’t matter if you’re from a single parent family, or if your dad is Sir Alan Sugar. You’re all entitled to the full cost of your course as a loan, rather than having to pay it up front.

“You are entitled to this help if you choose it.”

•  HE Partnership is a collaborative project continuing the University of Cambridge’s work with local schools initiated under Aimhigher.  There is a particular focus within the programme on younger learners.

The benefits of higher education include better access to jobs, a rewarding social life, and the opportunity to live independently. But there’s no denying that the costs are also significant: university tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year quickly mount up. By running finance workshops in schools, the HE Partnership project aims to tackle the fear of debt which can be a barrier to staying on in education.

You need the truth and the facts about university so that you can make good decisions when the time comes.
Wendy Barnes, IAG Co-Ordinator, Ely Community College.

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Get ready to talk the Planck

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The live video stream has now finished but you can watch it again below.

Earlier this year, researchers unveiled the most detailed picture of the early Universe created to date – but it was far more than just a map. In time, their findings could change our ideas about the beginnings of the universe, and of existence itself.

This week, three leading members of the Planck research team who carried out the study will be taking part in a live webcast to answer people’s questions about what they found, and what it might mean.

We’ll be hosting the live video stream right here on Wednesday, 31 July, at 20:00 BST, and you can start sending your questions right now. Just Email info@kavlifoundation.org, or post on Twitter, using the hashtag #KavliAstro.

All the information you need to get involved is below. If you are reading this before the webcast itself, don’t forget to bookmark this page, so that you can tune in!


What’s happening?

Three leading members of the Planck research team will be taking part in the live webcast. They are: George Efstathiou and Anthony Lasenby (both from the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge), and Krzyszytof Gorski, Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, and faculty member at the Warsaw University Observatory in Poland.Planck Satellite - Wikimedia Commons

The discussion will be hosted by the Kavli Foundation in Oxnard, California. It will be chaired by Bruce Lieberman, a science reporter with 20 years experience working in the news media.


When and where can I tune in?

The webcast will be from 12 noon until 12.30pm, Pacific Daylight Time (20:00 – 20:30 BST here in the UK).

You can watch the webcast on this page, or at the Kavli Foundation’s own website, which is here. We will also be trailing the story on the front page of www.cam.ac.uk on the day itself, so that you can’t miss it.

If you cannot tune into the broadcast at that time, don’t worry – the recorded video will still be online in the same locations after the show has finished.


Can anyone get involved?

Pretty much – we’re expecting a wide spectrum of participants, from scientists, to schoolchildren, to get involved. Everyone is welcome to Email their questions through. The team at the Kavli Foundation will then choose the best ones to put to the researchers on the day.


What is this all about?

The Planck spacecraft, operated by the European Space Agency, has been used to create an incredibly detailed map of the universe. This image is more precise than ever before, because it shows the oldest light from our universe – the Cosmic Microwave Background (or CMB) – which is relic radiation left over from the Big Bang. By studying this, researchers hope to find out more about the origins, make-up, and the ultimate fate of our universe.Map of the cosmic microwave background. Credit: ESA/Planck collaboration

Earlier this year, when the map was created, researchers also spotted a number of large-scale features that they could not explain. The picture shows fluctuations in temperature in the CMB which are quite surprising. For example, the team have identified a large cold spot, which corresponds to a surprisingly large area of high density.

One of the underlying ideas about the Big Bang model of the universe’s origins is an idea called inflation. This proposes that a tiny fraction of a second  after the Big Bang itself, the universe expanded at a very fast, exponential rate. If this is true, however, then researchers would expect the fluctuations in the CMB to look rather different compared with the image created by the Planck spacecraft.

While the research is ongoing, any explanation of these anomalies is likely to change what we currently understand about how the universe – and therefore existence itself – began.

George Efstathiou has explained: “Even the most die-hard inflation advocate would have to accept that the universe, on large scales, looks odd. The big question is whether new physics is associated with that oddness.”


Where can I find out more?

You can read all about the map of the universe which the research team created using the Planck satellite on our own website here.

Plus, to whet your appetite for the webcast, the researchers involved have also taken part in a roundtable discussion on the Kavli Foundation website.

Don’t miss the chance to quiz leading scientists from the Planck research team about their work, and how it may change our understanding of the universe, in a live webcast this week

Even the most die-hard inflation advocate would have to accept that the universe, on large scales, looks odd
George Efstathiou
Infrared coronet cluster

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Monogamy evolved as a mating strategy

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Social monogamy, where one breeding female and one breeding male are closely associated with each other over several breeding seasons, appears to have evolved as a mating strategy, new research reveals. It was previously suspected that social monogamy resulted from a need for extra parental care by the father.

The comparative study, by University of Cambridge researchers Dieter Lukas and Tim Clutton-Brock, shows that the ancestral system for all mammalian groups is of females living in separate ranges with males defending overlapping territories, and that monogamy evolved where males were unable to monopolise and defend multiple females. The research is published in the journal Science.

For the study, the researchers classified all 2500 mammalian species for which information exists as either solitary, socially monogamous or group-living (several breeding females share a common range and either eat or sleep together). They showed that nine per cent of mammals are socially monogamous, including a few rodents, a number of primates, and some carnivores, like jackals, wolves, and meerkats. 

Previously, it had been suggested that monogamy evolved as a result of selection for paternal support in raising offspring (for example, if the female alone could not provide enough food or adequately defend the young). This study shows that paternal care usually evolved after monogamy was already present.

This advance in understanding was, says Lukas of Cambridge's Department of Zoology, due to the volume of information they collected and the availability of genetic information that allowed the researchers to determine the sequence in which different traits evolved.

"Up until now, there have been different ideas about how social monogamy in mammals evolved," says Lukas. "With this study we were able to test all these different hypotheses at once. Paternal care evolves after monogamy is present, and seems to be a consequence rather than a cause of the evolution of monogamy. It appears to occur in about half of all socially monogamous species, and once it does evolve, it provides a clear benefit to the female."

They found convincing support for the hypothesis that monogamy arose as a mating strategy where males could not defend access to more than one female. Monogamy is associated with low density of females, low levels of home-range overlap, and indirectly, with their diets. The study showed that monogamy evolves in species that rely on high quality but patchily distributed food sources, such as meat and fruit. In contrast, in herbivores, which rely on more abundant resources, social monogamy is rare.

"Where females are widely dispersed," says Clutton-Brock, "the best strategy for a male is to stick with one female, defend her, and make sure that he sires all her offspring. In short, a male's best strategy is to be monogamous."

The analysis did not include humans, and the researchers are sceptical that these results tell us much about the evolution of human breeding systems.

Clutton-Brock adds: "It is debatable whether humans should be classified as monogamous. Because all the African apes are polygamous and group living, it is likely that the common ancestor of hominids was also polygamous. One possibility is that the shift to monogamy in humans may be the result in the change of dietary patterns that reduce female density, and another is that slow development of juveniles required extended care by both sexes. However, reliance by humans on cultural adaptations means that it is difficult to extrapolate from ecological relationships in other animals."

For more information about this story, please contact: Genevieve Maul, Office of Communications, University of Cambridge. Email: Genevieve.Maul@admin.cam.ac.uk; Tel: 01223 765542.

New research indicates that social monogamy evolved as a result of competition for females.

Where females are widely dispersed, the best strategy for a male is to stick with one female, defend her, and make sure that he sires all her offspring. In short, a male's best strategy is to be monogamous.
Professor Tim Clutton-Brock
The socially monogamous dik-dik, a small antelope that lives in Africa.

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CHaOS visits Portsmouth with Trinity College

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From the 9-11 July, CHaOS ran three days of science events for Portsmouth schools, kindly hosted by Admiral Lord Nelson School and Hayling College.

CHaOS – or ‘Cambridge Hands-On Science’ – is a voluntary organisation led by students from the University of Cambridge, which provides public science events and sessions for schools as part of their Summer Roadshow.

Alex Davies, the current CHaOS President says, “CHaOS is all about breaking down the barriers that prevent children and families seeing that science is fun, relevant and something they can understand."

The Cambridge student volunteers, including three from Trinity, brought a variety of science activities to Portsmouth pupils in years 6, 7 and 8. Hands-on experiments ranged from getting messy with cornflour to discovering the physics of light and sound.

Trinity College contributed towards the cost of the events, so that Portsmouth students could experience the CHaOS Roadshow free of charge.

Stephen Labedz, Headteacher at ALNS, commented, “the feedback from our students, staff and partner schools has been glowing and I am sure we have managed to inspire some young scientists.”

Further praise for CHaOS was heard at Hayling College, with Martin Vugler, Head of Science, saying that CHaOS “gave pupils an insight into science beyond school and dispelled pre-conceived ideas of what scientists are like. The team were exceptionally talented in their areas and enthused every pupil they spoke to. It was a privilege to have them at the Hayling College.”

"Trinity College’s history of scientific excellence meant that we welcomed the chance to offer younger students in our link areas an opportunity to experience science beyond the school syllabus, as well as to meet Cambridge University students who are passionate about science," added Jess Munro, School Liaison Assistant at Trinity College.

 

This July, Trinity College teamed up with CHaOS, to deliver exciting and informative practical science sessions to 660 younger students from 10 Secondary schools and their feeder Primary Schools in their link area of Portsmouth.

CHaOS is all about breaking down the barriers that prevent children and families seeing that science is fun
Alex Davies, current CHaOS President
CHaOS demonstrators

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Remote takeover: How RealVNC conquered the world

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The idea was simple, but it promised to revolutionise the telecommunications industry forever. Instead of just calling people on your mobile phone, the device would also become a miniature, wireless computer. Using an innovative touchscreen design, users would be able to buy and download programs via an online store. The “broadband phone”, as researchers speculatively dubbed it, would put the power of a PC into the owner’s pocket, enabling them to take photos, make films, play games, listen to music, and surf the web.

This, though, was 1999 - and the place was not an Apple research lab, but Cambridge, UK. “We knew that the phones of the future would need to do a lot more than just make calls,” Andy Harter, responsible for the broadband phone project, remembers. “Around 2000, we demonstrated it at the famous Sun Valley summer camp for industry moguls. The room was packed with technology luminaries and CEOs. I’m pretty certain that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were there.”

Seven or eight years before Apple unveiled the iPhone, not everyone really got the point of this idea. Mobile companies, not to mention their customers, simply weren’t ready for the type of phone that was being proposed. Expense was a problem, wireless broadband was not commonplace, and there were some technical obstacles to resolve. “There is a saying in the investment community that being too early is a good as being wrong,” Harter says. “but the concepts we mapped out have undoubtedly lived on.”

Plans for the broadband phone were reluctantly shelved, but the technology that Harter had hoped might enable users to access programs through their mobile was already starting to flourish. In fact, the phone was just one of a wide range of possible uses that were being mooted around that time for his Virtual Network Computing (VNC) system.

It would be churlish, to say the least, were Harter or anyone else at RealVNC - the company which he co-founded in 2002 to exploit the technology, and of which he is CEO - to look back on such abortive opportunities with regret. The broadband phone might have been ahead of its time, but demand for VNC has been rising since day one. The software essentially allows a computer screen to be accessed remotely and controlled from another device. Invented for a purpose far more specific than the array of functions it now fulfils (“let your desktop follow you around” was an early proto-slogan), VNC is now so ubiquitous that it is an official part of the Internet, alongside web and email protocols. “At our best guess, it is being used in more than a billion devices.” Harter says.

Earlier this year, RealVNC won its third Queen’s Award for Enterprise in as many years. These awards are the most prestigious accolades for business in the UK. To win three is unusual - but holding three at once (each expires after five years) is rare indeed. This month, the company was also honoured with the MacRobert Award – the UK’s premier award for innovation in engineering.

This makes RealVNC one of the most successful companies in Cambridge’s technology cluster (the so-called “Silicon Fen”), and one of the biggest success stories among tech spin-outs with origins at the University. Today, RealVNC still has many informal links with the University of Cambridge, and it is clear that without it - and in particular without its Computer Laboratory – the business would never have existed.

Harter himself went to Cambridge in 1980, and would have been an organ scholar, only back then Colleges required organists to take music as a degree. “It was one of those crossroads in life, music or maths,” he reflects. “It took me about two seconds to choose maths.” A self-confessed computing nut who had taught himself how to build and program computers while still at school, he had his sights firmly set on further study in that field. “I wanted to come to Cambridge, because, even though it was the early days of Silicon Fen, I knew that there was an industry based around the Computer Laboratory. That was where I wanted to end up working.” In his first summer, he got a job at Acorn under the stewardship of Hermann Hauser and Andy Hopper, both pioneering figures in the cluster’s history. Hopper, who is now Director of the Computer Lab, would later become his PhD supervisor and a co-founder of RealVNC.

In 1986, the enterprise culture that Harter had perceived in and around the University’s Computer Lab was significantly enriched by the establishment of a Cambridge Research Lab owned by Olivetti. Carrying out projects on behalf of the Italian PC manufacturer, but free to select its own priorities, it was essentially a bridge between academia and industry. Any innovations that might prove worthy of commercial exploitation, particularly those which disrupted established technologies, were given a customised business model to help them to flourish.

In its lifetime, the Olivetti Research Lab (ORL) sponsored dozens of Cambridge computing students, and published more than 100 technical papers in partnership with members of the University. Harter was one of the graduates who helped to establish ORL in the early days, and it was there that he first started to develop VNC. “The Lab was very much on the edge of the University, and really it was a very happy and mutually beneficial collaboration,” he recalls. “The culture was one of building things on a reasonable scale and in a usable way. Our innovations were rooted in solving real problems, or fulfilling an unarticulated need.”

VNC clearly made the grade. By allowing one computer to access the screen of another, it offered the prospect of enabling IT teams in particular to provide users with remote technical support, troubleshooting problems from their own terminal, rather than having to visit the computer with the problem. To this day, helpdesk support remains VNC’s primary function and goes some distance to explaining why it is now so ubiquitous.

In 1998, however, Harter made what seems like a surprising move, releasing VNC as non-commercial, open-source software online. “It was the early days of open-source and search engines were not as omnipresent and omnipotent as they are now,” he says. “We really weren’t sure who would find it or what the effect would be. So it was amazing watching on day one, seeing about 100 people finding it all over the world. By the end of the first week, that had risen to a few thousand. It became viral.”

The numbers never stopped going up. Despite the unconventionality of the approach, starting VNC as an open-source venture successfully created a market for the commercial-grade versions which then followed. By the time RealVNC was founded, in 2002, there were already 100 million people using the product, many of whom were, as a result, interested in the company-wide support Harter’s firm was now offering.

The business model has diversified since, but direct sales remain a major part of it. A typical customer nowadays might be a relatively small IT team of about a dozen people managing a thousand computers on behalf of a firm. At the same time, the software is licensed out to the likes of the semiconductor chip manufacturing giant Intel, who pay royalties to RealVNC in return. And, while technical support remains VNC’s foremost application, its capacity to drive information-sharing between devices has led to uptake in sectors such as education, engineering and design. Even in healthcare, VNC now appears in MRI scanners and X-Ray machines. When they break down, technicians are often able to fix the problem remotely, rather than leaving patients and staff waiting while someone is sent to the hospital.

VNC’s open-source origins clearly help to explain its success. By releasing the software in this way, Harter and his colleagues were able to make millions of people from different walks of life aware of the product, and from that sprang a multitude of uses far beyond the original concept of a portable desktop within a single office. Harter also believes, however, that the global spread of the software was a result of the fact that it is “beguilingly simple - so simple that it’s almost profound.”

VNC works by replicating screens at the level of individual pixels, compressing these, and enabling them to be decoded by a second machine. By making the formula no more complex than that, the company’s product has become universal across a whole range of platforms, including those which did not even exist when it was first released in 1998. It is for this reason, for example, that it was possible to use VNC in a prototype “broadband phone” back at the turn of the 21st century, or in tablet computers once they appeared.

“We’ve always said that we don’t care what kind of computer is at either end, we have to make it work,” Harter adds. “In the end, that made VNC so universally adaptable that it anticipated devices that didn’t exist yet, and ones that are yet to come.” As a result, while RealVNC is in many ways a company exploiting the same product over and over again, opportunities for new applications are constantly appearing on the horizon.

At its Hills Road premises in Cambridge, the company employs about 100 people - an astonishingly small number when one considers the many, many millions now using the technology. A lot of effort is spent testing and checking the software on different platforms, to ensure that by enabling one machine to access another, VNC does not pose a security risk. The vast majority of the company’s work is, however, in research and development, focusing on future applications.

Harter is particularly interested in the prospect of a so-called “Internet Of Things” - the likelihood that, in the future, products and consumer appliances as diverse as washing machines, lighting, electric fans, cars, and television sets will be able to talk to each other in the same way that computers and smartphones can link up now.

This is new and fertile territory for his product. If, for example, you have ever arrived at work only to find yourself worrying about whether you locked the door, or switched on the dishwasher, it might be possible in the future to check and - if necessary - resolve the problem via a VNC-enabled desktop computer, laptop or phone. Similarly, manufacturers may soon be able to check and fix broken household appliances remotely, potentially putting an end to infuriating afternoons, sitting at home, waiting for a technician to arrive at an unspecified time somewhere between the hours of 12 and 6.

Just like the 1999 broadband phone, not all of the prototypes Harter’s staff are currently working on will necessarily see the light of day. What matters to Harter, however, is that the founding principles underpinning the original software have ensured that the company has time to explore such avenues fully. “There is an element of serendipity in what we have achieved, an element of bloody-mindedness, and an element of being just plain right,” he concludes. “If you grow organically, though, as we have, then you can afford to allow yourself a bit of long-termism, and develop a broader agenda. The result is that we are never simply about carrying on with things as they are. We’ve got plans.”

For more information about this story, please contact Tom Kirk, Tel: 01223 332300, thomas.kirk@admin.cam.ac.uk

First released in 1998, RealVNC’s remote access and control software is today used in more than a billion devices. After winning the UK’s main award for innovation in engineering, CEO and founder Andy Harter explains how it became one of the most successful Cambridge University spin-outs of all time.

In the end, what made VNC so universally adaptable is that it anticipated devices that didn’t exist yet, and ones that are yet to come.
Andy Harter
Spot the difference: In 1999, VNC technology was used to create a prototype “broadband phone” (left). In 2007, Apple launched the iPhone (right).

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Mangroves could survive sea-level rise if protected

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Mangroves, which provide a natural coastal defence to communities around the world, may be able to withstand a future rise in sea levels far more than previously thought, scientists have found.

Their report should serve to allay fears that many mangrove areas could be lost in the coming decades as sea levels go up because of global warming.

It comes, however, with a cautionary note: The authors, who have carried out a rare and detailed survey of how mangroves adapt to their environment, also argue that it is vital that they are managed and conserved so that they can continue to provide this protection.

The survey warns that human activity on land – such as the damming up of rivers or the felling of trees to create shrimp ponds – is currently a far greater threat to many mangrove habitats than the effects of climate change on sea level.

Mangroves – trees and shrubs which grow in saltwater, coastal environments – play a critical role in protecting thousands of shoreline communities in tropical and subtropical regions from floods, storms, and other hazards.

Their densely-packed, overground root systems can absorb wave energy and reduce the velocity of a sudden surge of water. In the 2004 tsunami, for example, mangroves were sometimes the difference between life and death for people whose homes lay in the path of the giant waves which crashed into shorelines around South Asia.

For some time, scientists have been concerned that if sea levels rise as predicted, they will kill off mangroves – removing these natural coastal defences at the very time they are expected to be needed most.

The new study suggests that this is far less likely than previously thought, however. Dr Anna McIvor, from the University of Cambridge, and the report’s lead author, said: “Although we can expect some mangrove areas to be lost as sea levels rise, many of them appear to be able to withstand it.”

“In fact, changes to mangrove habitats through human activity are likely to pose a bigger threat to these coastal defences than sea level rise as it stands. Our research has enabled us to find out more about how mangroves continue to flourish in spite of a rise in sea levels – but that information should be used as the basis for better management of these important ecosystems.”

The study was carried out by a team from The Nature Conservancy, Wetlands International, and the Cambridge Coastal Research Unit (based in the University’s Department of Geography). The researchers examined both recent reports looking at surface elevation in mangrove areas, and the historical reasons why mangroves have, in some places, persisted for thousands of years.

They found that the height of the soil surface in mangrove areas is often “surprisingly dynamic”, and in some cases appears to be building up at rates of between one and 10 millimetres every year. The global mean sea level rise is currently 3mm per year, meaning that many mangrove areas build up soil at a rate which keeps pace with the sea.

There are several reasons for this, but chief among them appear to be the ability of mangroves to trap sediment as it is carried down to them by rivers, and the work of their roots beneath the surface. “Mangroves provide much of the organic sediment matter that makes up the soil, their complex roots help to bind and trap the sediments on the soil surface, while the unseen growth of roots beneath helps to build up the soil from below,” McIvor said.

Despite this resistance to changes in sea level, however, the report cautions that the future stability of mangroves is by no means guaranteed. “Threshold rates of sea level rise are likely to exist, beyond which mangrove surfaces are no longer able to keep up,” the authors point out.

Perhaps more urgently, in some regions human activities like agriculture and construction are being authorised regardless of their impact on the ecosystems which enable mangroves to thrive.

In some countries, for example, rivers which play a vital role by carrying sediment to the mangrove areas so that the soil can be built up are being dammed or diverted. Another common threat is aquaculture: in Indonesia, and other South Asian countries, mangroves are often cut down without restriction to make way for shrimp ponds.

The report also warns that mangroves may need room to expand landward, especially where conditions are such that sea level rise may still be a threat to their growth. Communities which rely on them for coastal defence need to leave space to ensure that this can happen, the authors advise.

Dr Mark Spalding, from The Nature Conservancy and the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, said: “This report shows that well-managed mangroves in many places will continue to support and safeguard many vulnerable communities as sea levels rise. We still have lots to learn about them, but the sensible, precautionary approach is to look after them and restore them as a critical first line of defence.”

The full report can be downloaded at: http://coastalresilience.org/science/mangroves/surface-elevation-and-sea...

For more information about this story, please contact Tom Kirk, Tel: 01223 332300, thomas.kirk@admin.cam.ac.uk

Human activity is currently a bigger threat to mangroves, and the natural defences they provide against storm surges and other coastal disasters, than rising sea levels, according to a new study.

Although we can expect some mangrove areas to be lost as sea levels rise, many of them appear to be able to withstand it.
Anna McIvor
Mangrove trees along a coastline, Everglades National Park.

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West Wickham Big Village Dig

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The event, organised by West Wickham & District Local History Club with support from Access Cambridge Archaeology and Cambridge Community Heritage, was held on 13 – 14 July.

Supported by the University of Cambridge Public Engagement Team, the Cambridge Community Heritage project led by archaeologist Dr Carenza Lewis aims to bring university researchers and communities together to develop new ideas for projects investigating local heritage. The Cambridge Community Heritage project involves archaeologists and historians from the University of Cambridge with a wide range of interests who have considerable experience of working with community groups.

Overseen by resident Janet Morris, the Local History Club organised community members to take part in 18 test pit excavations to inspire, stimulate and engage wider interest in the history of the village, its environs, and discover when and where settlement had taken place in the parish of West Wickham.

One resident wrote to Cambridge Community Heritage after the event with glowing praise and sincere thanks for the team involved in organising and running the event:

Dear Sirs,

Our village, West Wickham, Cambridge had a village dig this past weekend. Thanks to the local historian, Janet Morris, much interest was generated and 18 test pits were dug all over our rather stretched-out village. The two days were hugely successful and generated much enthusiasm.

I would like to praise the excellent organisation and work of your archaeological team – Carenza Lewis, Alex Pryor and Britt Baillie. Their thoroughness, support, expertise and endless energy were essential to the success of the weekend. Somehow there were frequent visits from someone in the team. They appeared on bicycles regularly and were always full of advice, encouragement and instruction.

The follow-up meeting on Sunday afternoon was a good idea. Everyone’s finds were on display and Carenza Lewis summarised the finds. Of course, we all eagerly await the results of more careful analysis.
I have lived in this village since 1972 and have never seen the village come together so united in one common pursuit.

I understand that these projects are Lottery Funded and think that they are money well spent; the work furthers historical study and knowledge, brings history alive for ordinary people and boosts community feeling.

Many thanks to all concerned!

University of Cambridge archaeologists, Britt Baillie, Alex Pryor and Carenza Lewis, recently joined forces with residents of West Wickham for a successful weekend of test pit digging.

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Scientists discover a molecular ‘switch’ in cancers of the testis and ovary

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Cambridge scientists have identified an ‘on/off’ switch in a type of cancer which typically occurs in the testes and ovaries called ‘malignant germ cell tumours’. The research was published today, 01 August, in the journal Cancer Research.

Malignant germ cell tumours arise in sperm- or egg-forming cells and usually occur in the reproductive organs, the testes or ovaries. The cancerous tumours are seen in patients of all ages, both in childhood and adulthood.

Although many patients do well after treatment, current chemotherapy treatments can have severe long-term side effects, including hearing loss and damage to the kidneys, lungs and bone marrow. For some patients, outcomes remain poor and testicular cancer continues to be a leading cause of death in young men.

The scientists found that all malignant germ cell tumours contain large amounts of a protein called LIN28. This results in too little of a family of tiny regulator molecules called let-7. In turn, low levels of let-7 cause too much of numerous cancer-promoting proteins in cells. Importantly, the cancer-promoting proteins include LIN28 itself, so there is a vicious cycle that acts as an ‘on’ switch to promote malignancy. The researchers have likened these changes to a ‘cascade effect’, extending down from the large amounts of LIN28 to affect many properties of the cancer cells.

The researchers also discovered that by reducing amounts of the protein LIN28, or by directly increasing amounts of let-7, it is possible to reverse the vicious cycle. Both ways reduced levels of the cancer-promoting proteins and inhibited cell growth. Because the level of LIN28 itself goes down, the effects are reinforced and act as an ‘off’ switch to reduce cancerous behaviour.

Nick Coleman, Professor of Molecular Pathology, Cambridge University said: “We need new ways of treating patients with malignant germ cell tumours to minimise the toxic effects of chemotherapy and to improve survival rates when tumours are resistant to treatment. Having identified this ‘on/off’ switch, it will now be important to identify new drugs that can be used to keep it in the ‘off’ position.”

Dr Matthew Murray, Academic Consultant in Paediatric Oncology, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge said: “The switch effect that we have discovered is present in all malignant germ cell tumours, whether they occur in males or females, young or old. Such a fundamental abnormality makes an excellent new target for treating these tumours.”

Susanne Owers, Director of Fundraising at Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, which funded this research, said: “We are delighted to have supported this study, which has identified a key protein that triggers this type of cancer. ACT funds clinical academic researchers, like Dr Murray and Prof Coleman, because they are perfectly positioned to understand the clinical problems, working closely with patients, an insight not available to all researchers. Studies like this have the potential to make a tangible difference to patients, by identifying targets for the development of new drugs which may improve survival and have less side-effects compared with standard chemotherapy treatments. By funding this research, ACT – with the help of our supporters – can make a powerful contribution, enabling ground breaking research to be performed.”

Research could lead to new drugs to turn ‘switch’ off.

We need new ways of treating patients with malignant germ cell tumours to minimise the toxic effects of chemotherapy and to improve survival rates when tumours are resistant to treatment.
Professor Nick Coleman
Cancerous cells

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Cambridge University Press Museum tour

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9.30am - 10.30pm, Friday 13 September

Cambridge University Press, University Printing House, Shaftesbury Road, CB2 8BS

Opened in 2011, the Cambridge University Press Museum traces the history of the Press from its beginnings in 1534. Items on display nclude Buck and Daniel's 1638 Folio Bible, a selection of Baskervillepunches, printing machines and engraving tools. This tour complements Kevin Taylor's talk ‘The History of Cambridge University Press' on page 8, but you need not attend both.

Opened in 2011, the Cambridge University Press Museum traces the history of the Press from its beginnings in 1534

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Behind the Corpus Clock: the Taylor Library revealed

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2pm - 5pm, Friday 13 September

Taylor Library, Corpus Christi College, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RH

The building on the corner of Bene’t Street now supports 'the Corpus Clock', designed by the library's main benefactor Dr John C. Taylor. In the interior, the old building has been hollowed out and the cavity replaced by an entirely new structure of rooms and staircases. This intricately designed space now forms the main undergraduate study library for the College.

The building on the corner of Bene’t Street now supports 'the Corpus Clock', designed by the library's main benefactor Dr John C. Taylor.

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A cuckoo in the nest? Medieval Cambridge and its University

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10am - 11pm, Friday 13 September

The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RP

When the first scholars arrived from Oxford, Cambridge was already a thriving, longestablished administrative and trading centre. The new arrivals passed unnoticed, it seems, but as they formed themselves into a University – and acquired important friends in the wider world – tensions inevitably developed between town and gown, individually and institutionally. It is easy to trace the downside, from the town’s
point of view: the animosities that erupted on occasion into violence, the erosion of autonomy and the steady absorption of town-centre
property by the Colleges. But there may have been an upside as well. Tradesmen and suppliers of services to the scholars could profit even if the town authorities did not and the presence of the University may have helped the town to weather the 15th century recession.

Dr Rosemary Horrox is a medieval historian and Director of Studies. Her most recent book, co-edited with Professor Mark Ormrod, is A Social History of England, 1200 – 1500

When the first scholars arrived from Oxford, Cambridge was already a thriving, longestablished administrative and trading centre.

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Scientists discover a curable cause for some cases of high blood pressure

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Scientists have identified small, benign nodules in the hormone-producing adrenal gland which commonly cause high blood pressure (hypertension). If diagnosed at a young age, the nodules (small tumours) can be easily removed - avoiding the need for a life-time of blood pressure drugs. The research was published today, 04 August, in the journal Nature Genetics.

Since the discovery of the adrenal gland hormone, aldosterone, at the Middlesex Hospital, London in the 1950’s, adrenal tumours have been recognised as a rare cause of hypertension (diagnosed in fewer than 1 in 100 patients). Aldosterone stimulates the kidneys to retain more salt than is good for the body, and drives up blood pressure. More recent studies, in Brisbane, Australia and Padua, Italy, suggested that the adrenal tumours might be diagnosed in 1-in-20 patients, using CT scans to X-ray the adrenal glands.

However, new research led by clinical pharmacologists from the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Hospital found that there are smaller, benign tumours, or nodules, that cause hypertension and which are not visible using traditional CT scans. They now estimate that these nodules are responsible for 5 per cent of high blood pressure cases.

The researchers used state-of-the-art gene sequencing to show that nine out of ten small nodules have gene mutations which allow excess sodium and calcium into the adrenal cells and stimulate excess production of the aldosterone hormone. These mutations proved that the small nodules are a real hypertension-causing phenomenon. Additionally, the Cambridge team developed a modified PET-CT scan which enables the rapid diagnosis of these hormone-secreting nodules which are too small to see on a standard CT scan.

Morris Brown, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge and Honorary Consultant Physician at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, said: “This tremendous collaboration among laboratories in four European countries illustrates how gene technology can be used to identify specific causes for common diseases which can now be cured rather than requiring life-long drug treatment.”

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which part-funded the study, said: “Standard techniques are limited for detecting small adrenal nodules. But this brand-new combination of genetic testing and high-tech scanning will allow clinicians to work out quickly and accurately if someone has high blood pressure as a result of these problems with their adrenal gland.
“It is an exciting development, as this group of patients can be completely cured of high blood pressure once they have been identified, so the quicker they are diagnosed the better.” 

The research was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)*. 

For more information about this story, please contact: Genevieve Maul, Office of Communications, University of Cambridge. Email: Genevieve.Maul@admin.cam.ac.uk; Tel: 01223 765542.

*This paper summarises independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.

Five per cent of high blood pressure cases are caused by small nodules on hormone gland; now scientists have developed a scan which enables rapid diagnosis.

This tremendous collaboration illustrates how gene technology can be used to identify specific causes for common diseases which can now be cured rather than requiring life-long drug treatment.
Morris Brown, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge

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Breastfeeding may reduce Alzheimer’s risk

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Mothers who breastfeed their children may have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease, with longer periods of breastfeeding also lowering the overall risk, a new study suggests.

The report, newly published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, suggests that the link may be to do with certain biological effects of breastfeeding. For example, breastfeeding restores insulin tolerance which is significantly reduced during pregnancy, and Alzheimer’s is characterised by insulin resistance in the brain.

Although they used data gathered from a very small group of just 81 British women, the researchers observed a highly significant and consistent correlation between breastfeeding and Alzheimer’s risk. They argue that this was so strong that any potential sampling error was unlikely.

At the same time, however, the connection was much less pronounced in women who already had a history of dementia in their family. The research team hope that the study – which was intended merely as a pilot – will stimulate further research looking at the relationship between female reproductive history and disease risk.

The findings may point towards new directions for fighting the global Alzheimer’s epidemic – especially in developing countries where cheap, preventative measures are desperately needed.

More broadly, the study opens up new lines of enquiry in understanding what makes someone susceptible to Alzheimer’s in the first place. It may also act as an incentive for women to breastfeed, rather than bottle-feed – something which is already known to have wider health benefits for both mother and child.

Dr Molly Fox, from the Department of Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, who led the study, said: “Alzheimer’s is the world’s most common cognitive disorder and it already affects 35.6 million people. In the future, we expect it to spread most in low and middle-income countries. So it is vital that we develop low-cost, large-scale strategies to protect people against this devastating disease.”

Previous studies have already established that breastfeeding can reduce a mother’s risk of certain other diseases, and research has also shown that there may be a link between breastfeeding and a woman’s general cognitive decline later in life. Until now, however, little has been done to examine the impact of breastfeeding duration on Alzheimer’s risk.

Fox and her colleagues – Professor Carlo Berzuini and Professor Leslie Knapp – interviewed 81 British women aged between 70 and 100. These included both women with, and without, Alzheimer’s. In addition, the team also spoke to relatives, spouses and carers.

Through these interviews, the researchers collected information about the women’s reproductive history, their breastfeeding history, and their dementia status. They also gathered information about other factors that might account for their dementia, for example, a past stroke, or brain tumour.

Dementia status itself was measured using a standard rating scale called the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). The researchers also developed a method for estimating the age of Alzheimer’s sufferers at the onset of their disease, using the CDR as a basis and taking into account their age and existing, known patterns of Alzheimer’s progression. All of this information was then compared with the participants’ breastfeeding history.

Despite the small number of participants, the study revealed a number of clear links between breastfeeding and Alzheimer’s. These were not affected when the researchers took into account other potential variables such as age, education history, the age when the woman first gave birth, her age at menopause, or her smoking and drinking history.

The researchers observed three main trends:

• Women who breastfed exhibited a reduced Alzheimer’s Disease risk compared with women who did not.

• Longer breastfeeding history was significantly associated with a lower Alzheimer’s Risk.

• Women who had a higher ratio of total months pregnant during their life to total months breastfeeding had a higher Alzheimer’s risk.

The trends were, however, far less pronounced for women who had a parent or sibling with dementia. In these cases, the impact of breastfeeding on Alzheimer’s risk appeared to be significantly lower, compared with women whose families had no history of dementia.

The study argues that there may be a number of biological reasons for the connection between Alzheimer’s and breastfeeding, all of which require further investigation.

One theory is that breastfeeding deprives the body of the hormone progesterone, compensating for high levels of progesterone which are produced during pregnancy. Progesterone is known to desensitize the brain’s oestrogen receptors, and oestrogen may play a role in protecting the brain against Alzheimer’s.

Another possibility is that breastfeeding increases a woman’s glucose tolerance by restoring her insulin sensitivity after pregnancy. Pregnancy itself induces a natural state of insulin resistance. This is significant because Alzheimer’s is characterised by a resistance to insulin in the brain (and therefore glucose intolerance) to the extent that it is even sometimes referred to as “Type 3 diabetes”.

“Women who spent more time pregnant without a compensatory phase of breastfeeding therefore may have more impaired glucose tolerance, which is consistent with our observation that those women have an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” Fox added.

The full paper: Maternal Breastfeeding History and Alzheimer’s Disease Risk can be found here.

For more information about this story, please contact Tom Kirk, Tel: 01223 332300, thomas.kirk@admin.cam.ac.uk 

A new study suggests that mothers who breastfeed run a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s, with longer periods of breastfeeding further reducing the risk.

In the future, we expect Alzheimer's to spread most in low and middle-income countries, so it is vital that we develop low-cost, large-scale strategies to protect people against it.
Molly Fox
Breastfeeding.

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Girls with anorexia have elevated autistic traits

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In particular, compared to typical girls, girls with anorexia have an above average number of autistic traits, an above average interest in systems, whilst they score below average in empathy. This profile resembles – to a lesser degree – that seen in people with autism.

At first glance, anorexia and autism seem very different, but they both share certain features, such as rigid attitudes and behaviours, a tendency to be very self-focussed, and a fascination with detail. Both conditions also share similar alterations in structure and function of brain regions involved in social perception.

The team, led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, tested how 66 adolescent girls (aged 12-18) with anorexia but without autism scored on tests to measure traits related to autism. They compared them to over 1,600 typical teenagers in the same age range, and measured their autistic traits using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), their ‘systemizing’ using the Systemising Quotient (SQ), and their empathy using the Empathy Quotient (EQ).

They found that on the AQ, five times more girls with anorexia scored in the range that people with autism score in, compared to the typical girls. In addition, on the AQ, over half of the girls with anorexia showed the ‘broader autism phenotype’, compared to just 15% of typical girls. On the tests of empathy and systemising (how strong an interest the person has in repeating patterns and predictable rule-based systems), girls with anorexia had a higher SQ, and a reduced EQ, a profile that parallels that seen in autism.

Professor Baron-Cohen said: “Traditionally, anorexia has been viewed purely as an eating disorder. This is quite reasonable, since the girl’s dangerously low weight, and their risk of malnutrition or even death has to be the highest priority. But this new research is suggesting that underlying the surface behaviour, the mind of a person with anorexia may share a lot with the mind of a person with autism. In both conditions, there is a strong interest in systems. In girls with anorexia, they have latched onto a system that concerns body weight, shape, and food intake.”

Dr Bonnie Auyeung, a member of the research team, added: “Autism is diagnosed more often in males. This new research suggests that a proportion of females with autism may be being overlooked or misdiagnosed, because they present to clinics with anorexia”.

Dr Tony Jaffa, who co-led the study, said: “Acknowledging that some patients with anorexia may also have a raised number of autistic traits and a love of systems gives us new possibilities for intervention and management. For example, shifting their interest away from body weight and dieting on to a different but equally systematic topic may be helpful. Recognizing that some patients with anorexia may also need help with social skills and communication, and with adapting to change, also gives us a new treatment angle.”

For more information on the Autism Research Centre please visit: http://www.autismresearchcentre.com

Story adapted from BioMed press release.

Girls with anorexia nervosa show a mild echo of the characteristics of autism, suggests new research in the journal Molecular Autism.

This new research is suggesting that underlying the surface behaviour, the mind of a person with anorexia may share a lot with the mind of a person with autism
Simon Baron-Cohen

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Community photographic competition opens for all budding snappers

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The competition is open to all budding snappers to submit their images. This year, the theme is ‘community treasures’, which encourages staff, volunteers, supporters, beneficiaries and members of community groups to promote the activities and celebrate the work of charities and community groups in Cambridgeshire.

The application process couldn’t be simpler! Take a photo that encapsulates the valuable work that your favourite charity or community group in Cambridgeshire does and why it is a community treasure, and then submit the photo and an entry form to CCVS.

The shortlisted entries will be judged by a photographic judging panel, including University of Cambridge photographer Sir Cam. There will also be a public vote and prizes will be awarded to the group that is depicted.

You can work for, be a volunteer with, or be a member of the organisation you photograph, or you may simply think that the work of the community group is so special it deserves to win and want to submit a photo.
Two £150 donations will be made to the ‘community treasure’ group illustrated in each of the winning photos, based on the judges’ and public voting.

Technical information:

  • Photographs must be in a digital JPEG or JPG format.
  • Each entrant can only submit one image.
  • The community group that is illustrated must be from Cambridgeshire.
  • Consent forms from people in the photos should be sent with entries.

Images and entry forms should be sent as attachments to photo@cambridgecvs.org.uk

The closing date for receiving images will be Friday 18 October 2013.

The shortlisted images will also be displayed at the Community Treasures conference on Tuesday 12 November 2013 and then at exhibitions open to the public around Cambridgeshire.

The entries may be used for future promotion by the Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service and University of Cambridge Public Engagement team.

For more information, including competition rules, entry form and sample consent form, please visit: http://www.cambridgecvs.org.uk/Your-voice/Photo%20comp

 

The Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service and the University of Cambridge Public Engagement team have launched a photographic competition.

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