The Bristol Neuroscience Network hosted its latest Research Showcase on 18 January 2024. The programme introduced new research and collaborations from across the University of Bristol to an audience of over 140 students and staff.
People with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment are already taking part in research to investigate whether improving oral health can slow memory loss but even more people are needed to help. The MySmile study, led by the University of Bristol, wants to find out if a daily brushing routine could help to protect against dementia.
During clinical trials, researchers at the University of Bristol will measure symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, such as mobility-related activities of daily living, to determine the effectivity of a new drug or treatment.
Rapid-acting antidepressants, including ketamine, scopolamine and psilocybin, have been found to have immediate and lasting positive effects on mood in patients with major depressive disorder but how these effects arise is unknown. New research led by the University of Bristol explored their neuropsychological effects and found that all three of these drugs can modulate affective biases associated with learning and memory.
Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research has appointed Professor Pat Kehoe as new Director it was announced today (Thursday 23 May 2024).
EBI are delighted to announce that Professor Pat Kehoe has been formally appointed as the Director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute. Pat’s research expertise is in dementia research, and he brings a wealth of experience in interdisciplinary health research through his role as Health and Life Science Faculty Research Director. Professor Pat Kehoe will take up the post of Institute Director from 1 August 2024.
Read the full story here: https://bristol.ac.uk/blackwell/news/2024/new-ebi-director.html
GP data can provide unique insights into common health conditions, new research looking at insomnia symptom prevalence in England has shown. The University of Bristol-led study also highlights the value of improving access to this data for future health research.
The study aimed to explore how useful GP records are in measuring how many people experience insomnia symptoms. The researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a database which contains health, genetic and lifestyle information on around half a million participants.
The research team directly compared the proportion of English participants reporting insomnia symptoms in a questionnaire completed when they signed up to the UK Biobank to the same people's linked GP records The study found 29 per cent of the sample reported having insomnia symptoms. Of those, only 10 per cent had insomnia symptoms documented in their GP records. Most notably, the research also revealed that over a quarter of people who had insomnia symptoms noted in their GP record in the month immediately before they completed the UK Biobank questionnaire, and had an accompanying prescription for insomnia medication, didn't report having insomnia symptoms in the questionnaire.
This could be due to the stigma associated with having insomnia or because medication reduced the symptoms. Either way, it suggests that GP data can play a vital role in identifying people with insomnia who are not captured by questionnaire data.
The researchers found that many of the characteristics of people visiting their GP with insomnia symptoms were similar to those reporting insomnia symptoms in the questionnaire. These included being female, older, having poorer physical and mental health, smoking, having a high caffeine intake and doing little exercise.
Read the full University of Bristol news item
Paper: ‘Insomnia symptom prevalence in England: a comparison of cross-sectional self-reported data and primary care records in the UK Biobank' by Melanie A de Lange, Sophie V Eastwood, Rebecca C Richmond and Neil M Davies in BMJ Open [open access]
