Improve reading skills to help transition to secondary school, says report

Reading skills are critical for children to succeed at school, but many are not getting the targeted support they need, new research has found.

The Reading and Vocabulary project, by researchers from Aston University and Royal Holloway, University of London, found that about one in five children enter secondary school with their reading or vocabulary skills two years or more behind expected levels.

The findings, and recommendations based on them, are published today in a report funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

Weaknesses in reading proficiency, vocabulary or comprehension each require different types of support, but tests typically used in school fail to differentiate between them.

The researchers say that increased monitoring and more targeted support for reading and vocabulary are needed in upper primary and secondary schools.

They also call for better continuity between primary and secondary school basic skills curricula to help students make a successful transition.

The Reading and Vocabulary project tracked 598 children from age 10-13, testing their reading skills at five points during their transition from primary to secondary school and over the following summer holidays. The study involved children from 16 primary schools and 53 secondary schools in Birmingham, just over half of whom were girls.

The team looked at whether the summer between primary and secondary schools was any different to other summers in terms of children’s development in reading and vocabulary.

Secondary school teachers often report that children’s attainment in their first year is below what would be expected from their national curriculum test (SATs) results in year 6. This has led to the theory of a slump in attainment during the transition from primary to secondary school.

In fact, the Reading and Vocabulary project found that children’s development followed a similar pattern in all summers. Children continued to learn everyday vocabulary at the same rate all year round (words like adjustable, citrus, foundation), but their learning of specialist vocabulary linked to the curriculum slowed down each summer, compared to during the school year (words like hibernate, periscope, translucent).

Study lead, Dr Laura Shapiro, reader in the School of Psychology at Aston University, said: “Our results show that the issue is not a slump in attainment, but a jump in expectations. In secondary school, students need to learn a wide range of vocabulary, across different subject areas taught by specialist teachers. If students don’t have the reading proficiency to learn in this new environment, then that presents a barrier to accessing the secondary curriculum. Closer coordination between primary and secondary schools, such as a basic skills curriculum that continues through the transition, could help to mitigate this.”

As part of the Reading and Vocabulary project, the team tracked the books children were reading in their leisure time, and the number of times they encountered particular words (e.g., “tempest”, “courtroom”, “rogue”). They found a direct relationship between the number of times children read a word, and their ability to understand and remember it. This shows how important leisure reading is for vocabulary learning. The team also found that children who were more proficient at reading were more inclined to read in their leisure time. More proficient readers also found it easier to learn new words.

Study co-lead from Royal Holloway, University of London, Professor Jessie Ricketts said: “The connection between reading proficiency and learning new words might seem obvious, but this is the first time this has been demonstrated in a real-life context. We show that, if we can help children to read more proficiently, then other benefits are likely to follow, such as better learning of new vocabulary and more time spent reading. Similarly, if reading proficiency is low, then children are going to be struggling to learn new words, which will disadvantage them in the transition to secondary school.”

The team recommends that reading skills continue to be monitored during secondary school so that children’s needs can be addressed with targeted support and interventions. They also recommend a two-step process with initial screening using broad group-level tests to identify children with difficulties. These children can then be given diagnostic assessments that pinpoint the nature of their reading needs, such as lack of fluency, difficulty decoding words, challenges with reading comprehension or a limited vocabulary.

Ruth Maisy, Programme Head of Education at the Nuffield Foundation said “Time spent reading improves children’s vocabulary and understanding. So, it is clearly important to encourage children to read for pleasure. We hope this work will assure teachers and parents that anything they can do to encourage a love of reading will be time well spent.”

Ovarian cancer study identifies key genes for potential treatments

New research is increasing our understanding about why some women with the most lethal form of ovarian cancer respond much better to treatment than others.

Researchers at Imperial College London have confirmed that the tumours of some women with high-grade serious ovarian cancer (HGSOC) contain a type of lymphoid tissue – known as tertiary lymphoid structures, or TLS – and that the presence of this tissue gives women a significantly better prognosis. They have also identified genes in HGSOC that are important for TLS formation and function.

The lymphatic system in our bodies helps fight off infection by producing immune cells such as T cells and antibodies. But TLS, which are in some ways similar to ‘normal’ lymphatic tissues, are being found by researchers in different types of tumours.

By analysing tumours from 242 HGSOC patients before treatment and comparing them to progression free survival rates, the researchers found that women that had TLS in their tumours had a significantly better outcome. The study, published in Cell Reports Medicine and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, is one of the first times scientists have found TLS in women with high grade serious ovarian cancer and linked them to a better outcome.

Lead researcher Dr Haonan Lu, from the Department of Surgery and Cancer, said:

“People tend to think of all cancer cell activity as purely malignant – but the reality is less clear-cut. Tumours can hijack a number of normal body processes and here, they seem to be hijacking the formation of normal human lymph tissue within themselves. Some of these lymphoid structures are able to then mature and activate T cells, which could attack the cancer itself.”

Approximately 7,500 women are diagnosed with HGSOC each year, and because it is often discovered late, many patients experience disease relapse, leading to a five-year survival rate of below 40 per cent. It’s presently treated with surgery and chemotherapy.

The team was able to pinpoint the relevant genetic mutations involved in the cancer’s TLS formation, some of which are known to have immune-suppressing functions. The researchers found that copy mutations in the genes IL15 and CXCL10 in HGSOC can inhibit the lymphoid tissue forming. They also found that another set of genes, DCAF15, plays a role in interacting with the TLS tissues after they have been formed, probably making them more or less active.

Dr Lu said: “There is great potential for targeting these genes for benefits in ovarian cancer treatment. It’s now becoming clear how the genetic background of the tumour type interacts with a TLS to have more or less TLS function, and that will help us identify potential targets for therapy.”

The researchers have also, for the very first time, developed a potential method of identifying patients with high levels of TLS from standard CT scans, using artificial intelligence. This could ensure that those women who would benefit from different treatments are found more quickly.

Although CT scans form part of standard treatment of the condition, TLS tissues are not visible to the human eye from a normal CT scan. But the research team has developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that was trained to detect the structures within the tumours and have successfully tested the algorithm on scans of patients at Hammersmith Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, known to have TLS tissues.

Professor Eric Aboagye, Professor of Cancer Pharmacology & Molecular Imaging at Imperial College London, said: “This non-invasive identification test means that oncologists will be able to determine if a patient has high or low TLS in future and treat them accordingly.”

The researchers have now received a project grant from Target Ovarian Cancer to further investigate the relevant genetic mutations identified, and explore whether it’s possible to activate anti-tumour immunity for all HGSOC patients, even those without TLS in tumours.

Ukrainian employment remaining stable despite war, study finds

The jobs market in Ukraine has remained relatively stable despite a fall in GDP of almost 30% following the Russian invasion of the country in February 2022.

Researchers from the Universities of York and Birmingham analysed more than 5.4 million job listings to provide a real-time picture of fluctuations in employment opportunities in Ukraine – and for Ukrainians in Poland – since the escalation of the conflict.

The researchers hope that their model could provide useful information to help Ukraine rebuild its economy once the fighting is over, in the absence of official employment statistics during the war.

The data used in the study was sourced from the Jooble Ukraine job search website (ua.jooble.org), looking at job listings posted up to one year prior to the Russian invasion and eight months after. Jooble mainly shows vacancies in certain sectors, including IT, engineering, manufacturing and the service industry, but not the public sector.

The researchers used the data to analyse vacancies based in Ukraine and those based in Poland – which prior to the Russian invasion, would be targeting economic migrants, then refugees in the subsequent months.

They found that, while the number of jobs advertised in Ukraine remained stable, the majority were in the Western part of the country, furthest from the actual combat. They also found that after February 2022, the demand for soft and analytical skills rose in Ukraine, but wages dropped for posts at all levels.

Dr Tho Pham from the University of York explained: “Although you’d expect vacancies to all but dry up during times of conflict, our study has shown that isn’t the case. However, job adverts don’t mean new jobs are being created, simply that a role needs to be filled, such as if the previous worker was called up for armed service or the company has relocated further from the front line.”

In Poland, the number of vacancies targeting Ukrainians rose following the Russian invasion, with the largest increase in medium and high-skilled roles, as well as jobs targeting female applicants. However, wages for these positions fell. Compared to pre-war economic migrants, Ukrainian refugees are now being offered more lower-paid jobs, or lower wages for similar jobs.

Co-researcher Professor Oleksandr Talavera, from the University of Birmingham said: “While online vacancies don’t give the whole picture, they can give us an idea about the state of the economy, such as the shifts in the demand for skills and the impact of increased supply on wages. One advantage of online data is that it’s constantly updated, and so our findings can be continually updated as well.”

Dr Pham added: “Analysing online adverts could compensate for the lack of official statistics in the labour market in Ukraine, helping to understand the shifts in demand for different skills. We hope that the technique we have developed and the data it provides could be valuable when Ukraine eventually comes to rebuild its economy after the war has ended.”

The study, Labor Markets during War Time: Evidence from Online Job Ads is published in the Journal of comparative economics https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147596723000550

World’s first picture of the molecular machinery that makes cilia beat

The first picture of the structures that power human cilia – the tiny, hairlike projections that line our airways – has been produced by a team involving UCL researchers. The information revealed could lead to much-needed treatments for people with rare cilial diseases.

The study, published in Nature on, combined advanced microscopy and artificial intelligence techniques to create a detailed snapshot of the structure of human cilia. These are the microscopic projections on the cells that line our lungs, ears and sinuses and beat rhythmically to keep the lungs clear from mucus and bacteria. People who inherit the rare condition primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) have defective cilia that can’t effectively remove debris from the airways, and so suffer from breathing difficulties and chronic lung infections.

For the first time, the scientists visualised the molecular ‘nano-machinery’ that causes cilia to beat, visible as identical structures dotted every 96 nanometres along the cilia length. These structures come together to form the axoneme. In healthy airways, this complex structure is tightly controlled, with molecules precisely arranged to make cilia beat in a rhythmic, wave-like motion, around a million times a day.

In people with PCD, the team found that cilia don’t beat correctly because key elements of the axoneme structure are missing, caused by genetic mutations. This new information could lead to new medicines that target these defects, making cilia beat properly.

Study co-author, Professor Hannah Mitchison (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), said: “Treatments for PCD currently work to clear people’s airways and prevent infection. Our findings offer the possibility of molecular medicines to precisely target tiny defects in the axoneme and make cilia beat as they should.

“Molecular medicines are showing promise for other rare diseases, and COVID-19 research has unlocked new ways to deliver these drugs directly to the lung. If we can combine these advances with our new findings, my hope is that we’ll bring molecular medicines to people with PCD within the next 5 to 10 years.”

The team’s research could also prove useful for infertility, as sperm cells rely on a similar axoneme structure in their tails to propel themselves forward.

The research team was a global collaboration, with scientists based across the UK, US, Netherlands, China and Egypt. “It can be difficult to study rare diseases like PCD, because patients are spread thinly across the world. In the UK, we think around 9,000 families may be affected by PCD,” said Professor Mitchison. “Our study was made possible by a fantastic international collaboration between clinical scientists, biologists and members of the rare disease community willing to take part in our research.”

In addition to human cilia, the team examined the axoneme structure of a single-celled alga called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which uses two tail-like projections on its surface to swim. Despite being separated by more than 1 billion years of evolution, the alga’s tails shared structural similarities with the human airway cilia, highlighting the importance of the axoneme throughout evolution.

This study involved collaborators at Harvard Medical School, Alexandria University, University of Leicester, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London.

At UCL, the study was supported by NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre, the Ministry of Higher Education in Egypt and a MRC UCL Confidence in Concept grant.

Mixing with better educated families improves life chances of lower income children

Children from low education backgrounds are more likely to enrol in ‘elite’ degree programmes that lead to high paying jobs if they go to school with children whose parents have those degrees themselves, says new research.

These high-paying degrees, such as medicine, economics and law from top universities (Ivy League equivalents), lead to higher lifetime earnings for graduates. This means the findings could be useful for shaping government policy to increase social mobility, say researchers.

The study of Norwegian schoolchildren found that classes where children from both low- and high-education families are more equally mixed have higher enrolment in elite programmes at top universities, equivalent to studying subjects like medicine or law at Ivy League institutions (US) or Oxford and Cambridge (UK).

The research was carried out by Professor Emma Tominey from the University of York, Dr Sarah Cattan from the Institute of Fiscal Studies, and Professor Kjell Salvanes from the Norwegian School of Economics. It is being presented today [07 June] by Professor Tominey at the Society of the Economics of the Household (SEHO) conference in Copenhagen.

In Norway, higher education is free and there are no private schools. Yet, inequalities in higher education are stark: nearly half of those attending elite institutions come from families in the top 20% of earnings, whereas only 7% come from the lowest 20%. In Norway, children’s educational records can be linked to data on their parents, including occupation, education and income. The researchers analysed data on nearly 180,000 schoolchildren who started high school between 2002 and 2012.

The researchers were able to track these children through school, onto university (where relevant) and onto the labour market. Only 3% of students in Norway study subjects such as medicine, law, economics or engineering at the top institutions – programmes which lead to the greatest earnings in Norway.

The researchers particularly looked at two groups of students: those from lower income families whose parents did not have an elite degree and where at least one parent had no further education beyond school; and those students who had at least one parent who had achieved one of the top medical, engineering, law or economics degrees.

In a school cohort, the greater the number of students whose parents had an elite degree, the more likely it was that both groups would enrol on an elite programme themselves. The presence of the more affluent students had two main effects on lower income students: it lowered their grades in some exams but increased their likelihood of applying to one of the top degree programmes. The second factor was the stronger force, leading to them being more likely to enrol into an elite degree and for students from a low educated background, to become the first in their families to do so.

The researchers found that the effect of ‘elite peers’ was to improve grades of lower income students when exams were externally ‘blind’ marked. But when grades were teacher-assessed, the effect was that lower income students were marked down, creating a negative effect on overall grades.

In the UK, students who attend private secondary schools are around 100 times more likely to attend Oxford or Cambridge than students who are eligible for free school meals. The university a student attends can make a substantial difference to their career prospects and lifetime earnings. According to Department of Education figures from 2017, graduates of business, computing or law degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics and Imperial College London earn more than double the typical UK salary within five years of graduating.

Professor Tominey believes that governments should consider policies that could ensure greater integration between students from different economic backgrounds as a means of increasing social mobility.

She said: “The UK’s state school system is currently very segregated by income, with little mixing between children from lower and higher income families. Our research shows how important it is for students to mix with others who have experience of these elite institutions, whose parents have attended them, and who can therefore act both as role models and as a source of information about that academic route.

“In policy terms, this is something that is within the power of government to influence, by changing how school places are allocated to ensure a more even mix of students from different economic and educational backgrounds. While this would not necessarily be easy to implement, it could have a major impact on social mobility and educational equality.”

Personal finances increasingly play second fiddle to personality, finds study

Personality has become a more important factor than finances when it comes to dating, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of York and the University of Essex analysed more than a million lonely hearts ads and found that in the USA, France, and Canada, there was a sharp decline in economic factors when choosing a partner. However, finances remained an important issue in India when it came to relationships.

To see how partner preferences changed over time, the researchers analysed lonely hearts ads from various major news outlets from Canada, France, and India. They collected data from publications from 1950 to 1995, the year that most of these ads shifted to being online. Also, they also looked at ads from 41 regional newspapers from Canada and the USA in 1995.

The researchers analysed the language of these ads and categorised them into four distinct preferences.

The first of these was economic, which focused on a potential partner’s financial situation. The second was personality, which covered traits such as openness or extroversion. The third category was physical, in which ads expressed a preference for body types, and the final was taste, which covered issues like hobbies or habits.

This allowed the researchers to identify broader trends of how partner preferences changed over time in a range of countries.

The researchers found that between 1950 and 1995, personality played a much greater role in partner preference in Western countries, while economic factors declined in importance, particularly after the 1960s. However, in India, finances remained a key issue for people searching for love, becoming more prominent after 1970, while personality factors remained stable.

In the sample of ads from Canada and the USA, by 1995 around 40-45% of the words used by women to describe their ideal partner related to personality criteria. At the same time, only around 10% mentioned finances. Similarly, 35-40% of words in lonely hearts ads placed by men by 1995 focused on personality traits, while only 5% were related to economic factors.

The researchers found that up until the 1970s, the share of words relating to finances in Indian ads remained stable at around 35%, but after the 1970s this started to rise. By 1995, this had increased to around 60%.

There was some gender disparity in the data from the ads, with a greater rise in the importance of economic factors in ads placed by women than those placed by men.

Study co-author Khushboo Surana, from the University of York, said: “The data we have found supports Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs. In this framework, material needs – i.e. financial factors – have to be satisfied before you can focus on the immaterial ones, such as personality traits. It is possible that unlike in the west, people’s first order needs still haven’t been satisfied, which is why we see a focus on economic criteria.”

Co-researcher Quentin Lippmann, from the University of Essex, also argued that “Our study shows personality becoming more and more important in western countries such as the United States, but we don’t see the same trend in India. Once India’s economy develops further, and the current generation are more secure financially, they may show a change in preference for personality factors as well. This would align them with the trends we see in the western countries we sampled.”

This research is being presented today at the Royal Economic Society annual conference in Glasgow.

New glass sensors could make commercial nuclear fusion viable

A new generation of durable sensors capable of monitoring commercial nuclear fusion reactors in real time is being developed by UK researchers.

The team, led by Bangor University in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, plan to identify whether glass sensors developed in 1960s could function in the extreme conditions of a nuclear fusion reaction. If not, the researchers will design and develop new glass sensors.

In December 2022, researchers in the United States for the first time generated more energy from a nuclear fusion reaction than was put in, opening up the possibility that the technology could be both commercially viable, and able to supply abundant, clean energy. But one of the requirements to move from experimental reactions to commercial power generation is reliable monitoring. This means overcoming the extreme conditions created in a fusion reaction: temperatures of 150-200 million degrees Centigrade and highly energetic fast-moving neutrons.

One way of monitoring a fusion reaction is to count the number of neutrons it gives off using scintillators – blocks of material in which a sparkle of light is created each time it is hit by a neutron. By counting the flashes of light, it’s possible to calculate the number of neutrons and the amount of energy being produced – helping to ensure everything is working as intended.

However, existing scintillators are mostly made from either crystal or polymer, which are either difficult to make and limited in size and shape, or lack the durability to withstand the more extreme conditions created by fusion reactions. The sensors currently used to calculate the energy output from fusion reactions tend to be cumbersome and awkward, and do not allow real-time and long term monitoring of the fusion process. For commercial nuclear fusion reactors to be run safely and efficiently, sensors will need to work reliably for years.

Dr Michael Rushton from Bangor University’s Nuclear Futures Institute is leading the new project. He said: “Glass has intrinsic radiation tolerance, so can survive well in very harsh conditions. It also has the advantage that it can be made in very different shapes, from fibres to plates which means sensors can be made for a range of situations within a reactor. And it’s fairly low cost to manufacture. We also hope to be able to ‘tune’ the sensors to work with different types of radioactive particle, so they may also be used for other applications, such as airport or medical scanners.”

Glass sensors able to register radioactive particles were first developed in the 1960s, but they only work if particles are travelling relatively slowly. The Bangor University team is initially seeing if particles emanating from a fusion reaction could be slowed down sufficiently to allow these sensors to work based on their existing composition. If this isn’t possible, then they will use machine learning approaches to identify new configurations of glass that could be effective in the conditions found within nuclear fusion. The new sensor designs will then by manufactured by their colleagues at Sheffield Hallam University.

Professor Paul Bingham from Sheffield Hallam University said: “This research will develop an entirely new range of glass-based sensors for some of the most extreme environments on Earth. This means it could not only help accelerate safe development and deployment of fusion energy technologies, but also have wide-ranging applications in other fields in the future.”

The two-year research project is funded through UK Research and Innovation’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. It involves Bangor and Sheffield Hallam Universities, the University of Birmingham, the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory as well as a number of commercial partners.

World Water Quality Alliance calls for urgent action on world’s damaged lakes

Photo credit: Bryan Spears

Scientists are calling for a raft of urgent measures – including a dedicated Global Green Finance Fund – to help restore degraded freshwater lakes, at the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York today.

The call forms part of a White Paper produced by the World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA), which is convened by the United Nations Environment Programme.

The White Paper calls for the establishment of a Global Coalition to set the international agenda on lake restoration, to draw evidence from practitioners to feed into international policy through the UN, building on a recently adopted United Nations Environment Assembly resolution calling for all countries to protect, conserve, restore and ensure the sustainable use of lakes through their integrated management to safeguard society and nature.

There are over 100 million freshwater lakes worldwide, making up just under 4% of the Earth’s surface that is not covered by ice. These lakes provide vital resources including food, drinking water, irrigation, energy production, navigation and recreation. They are also critical for global biodiversity, yet they contribute to the global decline in freshwater species loss estimated at 84% over the last fifty years.

The ‘Embedding Lakes into the Global Sustainability Agenda’ White Paper has been written by a taskforce convened under the Ecosystems workstream of the WWQA, led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. It draws on a survey of practitioners of lake restoration from 63 countries, who were asked about the challenges they face in restoring lakes and what additional measures are needed.

The most common issue facing restoration practitioners globally is nutrient pollution – including phosphorus and nitrogen from agriculture and wastewater – which causes harmful algal blooms, disrupting drinking water supplies, and increasing emissions of methane to the atmosphere. Pollution from agriculture and wastewater is expected to increase globally in the future to meet growing food demands.

Other challenges facing lakes include the effects of plastic pollution, industrial waste discharges, invasive species infestations, and habitat destruction. Climate change will make matters worse; algal blooms will increase with warming and drought as will oxygen depletion leading to dead zones.

White paper author, Professor Bryan Spears from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology said: “This scientific assessment shows the many, and growing, pressures affecting lakes from human activity. Long-term and remote monitoring systems to better understand lake health and provide early warning of deterioration are vital. Restoring lakes has an important role to play in reversing biodiversity decline and in supporting communities who rely upon them.”

The White Paper identifies key solutions to enhancing lake restoration including mobilising policymakers, investment and public support for change and supporting communities in the protection and restoration of the ecosystems on which they rely. It presents four key actions for consideration at the UN Water Conference 2023:

1. Build capacity in monitoring – this is critical to guide management, but resources to effectively monitor lakes are lacking in some countries

2. Embed sustainable lake management within national policy – with countries drawing on the experience of others who already have these in place

3. Foster green finance partnerships – including a Global Green Finance Fund for Lakes and increased funding for disaster response

4. Raise global awareness of the benefits of change – including establishing a Global Coalition for Lakes which would coordinate action on lakes and connect a global set of practitioners and experts to the international policy community.

The authors of the White Paper suggest that the Global Green Finance Fund for Lakes could mirror the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, which has successfully catalysed nearly three billion US dollars from global public and private institutions to support low-income countries in protecting their coral reefs.

Co-author, Professor Ken Irvine from IHE Delft said: “There is currently no global policy specific to lake management, yet many drivers of ecosystem degradation are international in scope and require international leadership. Management of lakes as a resource for people almost universally neglects the biodiversity that they contain. This is why a global policy that integrates lake restoration with biodiversity and climate change is urgently needed.”

Co-author Dr Konstantina Katsanou, also from IHE Delft said: “Lakes and reservoirs are undervalued, understudied and often overlooked. Yet, they are of crucial importance for food security, the provision of clean water for drinking and irrigation, energy production, navigation, recreation and biodiversity. We know that recovery of lakes can be achieved through careful management of the causes of degradation, but that can take years to decades, so we need to act now.”

The White Paper highlights some of the major global ambitions that back the need for transformative global action to protect lakes, including the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in December 2022.

Nina Raasakka, from the Global Environmental Monitoring Systems of UNEP and Coordinator of the WWQA said, “Sustainable management of lakes is a critical element to addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. This White Paper is an urgent call for all stakeholders to work together and build a common understanding of the threats and impacts facing lakes so as to restore and preserve these precious ecosystems that are being degraded at such an alarming rate worldwide.”

Loch Leven monitoring data now available through new online portal

Photo credit: Linda May, August 2022

An online portal to help local people, policy-makers and regulators understand the ecology of Loch Leven better is being launched today by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).

Situated in Perth and Kinross, Loch Leven is the largest shallow loch in lowland Scotland and is of international importance as a brown trout fishery, wildlife haven and recreational site.

The Loch Leven portal provides current and historical information about the loch, together with an array of useful resources for schools.

By sharing high quality data on the past and current condition of the loch, the portal will ensure that decisions on how to protect, maintain and manage the loch for the benefit of people and nature are based on strong evidence. These decisions include how to reduce toxic algal blooms.

Loch Leven hosts one of the longest running lake monitoring programmes in the world and the data being made available through the portal are extensive. UKCEH and its predecessors have been sampling Loch Leven every two weeks, all year round, since 1968. Also, every ten years since 1985, UKCEH has carried out detailed weekly assessments, over a 12-month period of the amount of nutrients entering the loch from its catchment. The next survey is due in 2025.

Excess amounts of nutrients – such as nitrogen and phosphorus – can lead to a rapid accumulation (bloom) of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) in all types of lakes, and this has been a well-documented problem at Loch Leven since the 1970s. Blue-green algae have a serious detrimental effect on water quality, not least because some species produce toxins that can cause health problems if touched or swallowed. These include skin rashes, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhoea. These toxins can be particularly dangerous to dogs, if ingested.

The nutrients that fuel algal growth come from a variety of sources. These include agricultural runoff, industrial discharges, and effluent from septic tanks and other types of wastewater treatment systems. In the 1980s and 1990s, massive outbreaks of blue-green algae at Loch Leven were tackled by working with farmers, Scottish Water and the local planning department to reduce the levels of nutrients entering the loch. This improved water quality.

However, additional steps are likely to be needed to tackle the current increase in blue-green algae. This is because climate change is making the loch more sensitive to these nutrients. For example, higher temperatures are causing phosphorus that has been stored in the loch sediments over many years to be recycled back into the water. This increases nutrient levels and encourages the algae to grow. A recent report published by the Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) shows that this problem is occurring across Scotland and is not specific to Loch Leven.

Dr Linda May, a freshwater ecologist at UKCEH, who leads the Loch Leven long-term monitoring programme, said: “Blue-green algal growth can be caused by a variety of factors, so it is often difficult to find the right solution to the problem. We hope that, by sharing the Loch Leven data through this portal, we can provide high-quality data to ensure that well-informed decisions are made about measures to reduce these algal blooms.”

The portal will provide an overview of the changing environmental conditions at Loch Leven, with the full data sets available on request for those who require more detail.

As well as being important for the management of the loch at a local level, the data collected at Loch Leven are of national and international significance, according to Dr May.

“Loch Leven is one of a small number of lakes around the world that have this level of detailed, long-term monitoring in place,” she said. “Analysing and comparing the data that we are gathering helps us understand how lake ecosystems are responding to change, given the multiple environmental, climatic and human pressures they face. This knowledge can then inform evidence-based decisions on the restoration and sustainable management of similar lakes worldwide.”

UKCEH collect data on Loch Leven through the UK-SCAPE programme, a National Capability initiative funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation. The Loch Leven portal was funded by the William Grant Foundation, which supports numerous environmental and community projects across Scotland.

Urine gene test can predict bladder cancer years before diagnosis

Testing for genetic mutations in urine can detect bladder cancer years before the disease shows clinical symptoms, new research has shown.

The study, by researchers from France, Iran and the United States, identified mutations across ten genes that were able to predict the most common type of bladder cancer up to 12 years in advance of diagnosis.

The findings are presented today at the European Association of Urology (EAU) annual Congress in Milan.

Bladder cancer is not a rare disease – it is one of the top ten most common cancers in the UK and the fifth most common in the European Union, with over 200,000 cases in the EU each year. Only around half of those diagnosed with the advanced disease will survive more than five years, mainly due to late diagnosis and recurrence of the disease. By contrast, if their cancer is detected at early stage, more than 80% of patients survive for at least five years.

Lead researcher Dr Florence Le Calvez-Kelm, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, said: “Diagnosis of bladder cancer relies on expensive and invasive procedures such as cystoscopy, which involves inserting a camera into the bladder. Having a simpler urine test that could accurately diagnose and even predict the likelihood of cancer years in advance could help to spot more cancers at an early stage and avoid unnecessary cystoscopies in healthy patients.”

The study was based on the UroAmp test, a general urine test that identifies mutations in 60 genes, developed by the Oregon Health Science University spin out company, Convergent Genomics. Drawing on previous research to identify genetic mutations linked to bladder cancer, the research team narrowed the new test down to focus on mutations within just ten genes.

Working with colleagues from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran, they trialled the potential new test using samples from the Golestan Cohort Study, which has tracked the health of more than 50,000 participants over ten years, all of whom provided urine samples at recruitment. Forty people within the study developed bladder cancer during that decade, and the team were able to test urine samples from twenty-nine of them, along with samples from 98 other similar participants as controls.

Of the 29 participants who’d developed bladder cancer within the Golestan cohort, the test was able to accurately predict future bladder cancer in 19 (66%) of them, even though urine samples had been taken up to 12 years before clinical diagnosis. Fourteen of these participants were diagnosed with bladder cancer within seven years of urine collection, and the test was able to predict cancer in 12 (86%) of these. The test was accurately negative in 94 of the 98 participants (96%) who would not develop cancer in the future. Among those where the test was negative but who did eventually develop bladder cancer, no cancer was diagnosed until at least six years after the urine collection.

The test was also trialled with colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital and Ohio State University using samples from 70 bladder cancer patients and 96 controls, taken prior to a cystoscopy. In contrast with the Golestan study, some of these samples were provided by cancer patients on the day they were diagnosed, rather than many years before.

Mutations were found in urine samples from 50 of the 70 patients (71%) whose tumours were visible during the cystoscopy. Some of these were new diagnoses and others involved a cancer recurring. Mutations were not found in 90 of the 96 (94%) patients with a negative cystoscopy.

Dr Le Calvez-Kelm believes these results demonstrate the potential of a genetic urine test for early detection of bladder cancer. She said: “We’ve clearly identified which are the most important acquired genetic mutations that can significantly increase the risk of cancer developing within ten years. Our results were consistent across two very different groups – those with known risk factors undergoing cystoscopy and individuals who were assumed to be healthy.

“Should the results be replicated in larger cohorts, urine tests for these mutations could enable routine screening for high-risk groups, such as smokers or those exposed to known bladder carcinogens through their work.

“This kind of test could also be used when patients come to their doctors with blood in the urine, to help reduce unnecessary cystoscopies. If we can identify bladder cancer early on, before the disease has advanced, then we can save more lives.”

Dr Joost Boormans, a member of the EAU Scientific Congress Office and a urologist at the Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, said: “Research of this nature is very encouraging as it shows that our ability to identify molecular alterations in liquid biopsies such as urine that might indicate cancer is constantly improving.

“While we do need to develop more accurate diagnostics, it’s unlikely that we’ll have a mass screening programme for bladder cancer in the near future. Where a urine test for genetic mutations could show its value is in reducing cystoscopies and scans in bladder cancer patients who are being monitored for recurrence, as well as those referred for blood in their urine. A simple urine test would be far easier for patients to undergo than invasive procedures or scans, as well as being less costly for health services.”

Difference between “growers” and “showers” revealed

A scientific definition to determine whether a man’s erection can be deemed a “grower” or a “shower” has been produced by researchers.

The findings are presented today at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Milan.

Urologists based at three hospitals and a clinic in Madrid conducted ultrasound scans on 225 men in both flaccid and then erect states.

The researchers, led by Dr Manuel Alonso-Isa, a urologist at the University Hospital HM Puerta del Sur in Madrid, Spain, had hoped to find factors among the men that would predict if they fell into one of these categories, which could be used to help make surgical decisions.

“It is important to be able to predict if a patient is a grower or a shower as when we see them, they are usually in a flaccid state,” he said. “If they grow a lot when they get an erection, it might mean they need a different surgical approach compared to someone who doesn’t grow much.”

When they examined the data, the extent of the men’s penis growth followed a pattern – a standard distribution curve – that allowed them to set parameters on each category.

They found that men whose penis increases in size by more than 56% when erect compared to a flaccid state could be considered “growers”. Those who saw an increase in size of less than 31% were “showers”.

Most men in the study, however, fell into a “grey zone” in between the two categories. Only 24% of the men were growers while 25% were classified as showers.

Unfortunately, the researchers, who also included urologists at the HM hospitals and the ROC Clinic in Madrid, found no correlations between age, weight, smoking status or other co-morbidities, and penis growth. Men who were showers, however, tended to have longer penises when flaccid than growers – an average of 11.3cm compared to 8.8cm.

They also found that the size of the fibrous tissue known as the tunica albuginea, which surrounds the spongy erectile tissue inside the penis, did not predict how much a man’s penis might grow. But they did find in men who were growers, the tunica albuginea became thinner than in men who were showers.

“This makes sense as the tissue is being stretched further,” said Dr Alonso-Isa. “So it could be that this tissue has more elastic fibres in men who are growers than those who are showers. But we need to do more research to prove this hypothesis.”

He said there may also be other factors they didn’t look at that play a role.

“In the meantime we have defined what constitutes a ‘grower’ or a ‘shower’ in a scientific way, which will be important for the future,” said Dr Alonso-Isa.

Commenting on behalf of the European Association of Urology, Professor Maarten Albersen, a urologist at the University of Leuven, Belgium, said while there may not be any medical consequences to being a shower or a grower, it was something that often weighed on the minds of patients.

He said: “This is a frequent area of concern for our patients and the emphasis should be on normalising baseline and erectile length for all.”

New technique reduces postoperative complications in prostate cancer surgery

Surgeons in Germany have shown a small technical change to keyhole surgery for prostate cancer can more than halve one of the most common post-operative complications – where lymphatic fluid collects in the pelvis.

The technique involves creating a small flap in the peritoneum – the lining of the abdomen – and attaching this flap down into the pelvis. This creates a route for lymphatic fluid to escape from the pelvis into the abdomen where it can be more easily absorbed.

The findings are presented at the 2023 European Association of Urology annual Congress in Milan.

Around 10 percent of patients whose prostate cancer and lymph nodes are removed through robot-assisted keyhole surgery require treatment for symptoms caused by lymphatic fluid collecting in the pelvis, known as lymphocele. Lymphocele can also be seen in nearly a third of patients when they were systematically checked, without them reporting symptoms.

Symptoms include superinfection, pain in the pelvis, pressure on the bladder, and swollen legs due to compression of the veins. If left untreated, symptomatic lymphocele can lead to serious infections or deep vein thrombosis.

Draining a lymphocele can take from three days to three weeks, with treatment complete only when the fluid is no longer accumulating. For some patients, this requires a stay in hospital.

Urology specialist Manuel Neuberger from University Medical Centre Mannheim and Heidelberg University said: “When they’ve only just returned home following a cancer operation, the last thing patients need is to return to hospital with this kind of complication, which unfortunately is fairly common. If drainage doesn’t cure the problem, then – in rare cases – the final treatment is to create an artificial opening in the peritoneum, which provides a route out for the lymph so it’s no longer stuck in the pelvis. As it’s such a simple step, why not create a flap as standard, to prevent the condition in the first place?

“Previous studies of the technique have been inconclusive, so we designed a larger, more robust trial to ensure our findings were statistically significant.”

The trial involved over 550 patients and four different surgeons working at University Medical Centre Mannheim, who were only informed whether a patient was to have a peritoneal flap once the rest of the operation had been completed. Patients were also randomised between the two groups – with flap or without – taking into account other factors that might increase the risk of lymphocele, such as diabetes, the extent to which lymph nodes were removed, whether they took anti-coagulants and the surgeon doing the operation. The patients were followed up for six months following the operation.

During the six month follow-up period, only 10 patients in the peritoneal flap group had developed a symptomatic lymphocele, compared to 25 in the control group. At the time of discharge, 20 patients in the flap group had lymphocele with no symptoms, compared to 46 in the control group. During the follow-up, this had risen to just 27 in the flap group, but 74 in the control group.

Professor Philip Nuhn, Professor of Urology at University Medical Centre Mannheim, who led the research, said: “Using the peritoneal flap reduced the incidence of lymphocele from nine percent to less than four percent. We now use this as the new standard in Mannheim, and hope that – following these results – it will become common practice elsewhere as well.”

Professor Jochen Walz, from the EAU Scientific Congress Office and the Institut Paoli-Calmettes Cancer Center in Marseille said: “Most problems in these operations are linked to the lymph node removal, rather than the prostate surgery itself. Removal of the lymph nodes allows us to see if the cancer has spread, so it’s important to do, particularly as surgery is now mainly used in higher risk patients. Creating a peritoneal flap is a simple, small, easy and quick procedure that takes about five minutes to complete. It is totally safe and this trial has shown it can substantially reduce complications, so there’s no reason why surgeons should not now do this as standard.

“Randomised control trials to evaluate technical changes in surgery are notoriously difficult to do – but this study has shown that they are both possible and effective. That’s good news for surgeons and for patients, who will benefit from better outcomes as a result.”

UK study finds vasectomies are even safer than reported

Vasectomies are much less likely to cause complications than expected, according to a new UK study reviewing the outcomes from over 90,000 vasectomies performed over 15 years.

The study, led by researchers from Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is being presented today at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Milan.

It shows that existing leaflets explaining the potential complications to patients are based on outdated figures.

Around 11,000 vasectomy operations are performed every year in the United Kingdom, the majority in primary care settings by specialist general practitioners.

The Association of Surgeons of Primary Care, led by Dr Gareth James, gathered data from 94,082 vasectomies between 2006 and 2021, mostly through patient questionnaires; one completed on the day of surgery and the second sent to patients four months post-operation.

Over 80% (around 77,000) of patients filled out the initial questionnaire and just under 40% (36,500) of patients completed the second.

Mr Julian Peacock, a Senior Registrar at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who headed the review along with Mr John Henderson, Consultant Urological Surgeon, said: “This large dataset had never been independently analysed, and doing so has enabled us to update the standard complication rates, some of which dated back to the 1980s.”

For example, one of the most significant complications of a vasectomy is chronic scrotal pain, which is quoted as affecting ‘up to 5% of all patients’ in the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS)’ patient information leaflet about vasectomies. Reviewing the more recent data, the team found that the rate was in fact as low as 0.12% of patients.

Mr Peacock says: “The chances of chronic scrotal pain could be very off-putting, especially as it’s a difficult condition to manage. So we hope that this more up-to-date rate gives a better picture of the small chance of this happening.”

The chances of post-operative infection, and of haematoma – when blood forms a clot in the scrotal tissue – were also reviewed. The rates of infection – taken as any case or condition that had been treated with antibiotics – are quoted as 2-10% of patients in the BAUS statistics, but the team found this was closer to 1.3%.

Haematoma rates in patients is quoted at 2-10% in BAUS statistics, but the updated information suggested this could be as low as 1.4%.

Vasectomy failure rates were available for 70,947 patients. The early failure rate – that’s finding motile sperm at 3 months – was very slightly higher than previously quoted, occurring in 360 patients, or 0.5%, vs BAUS’s figure of 0.4%. Late failure – which occurs when the severed ends of the vas deferens join up – occurred in just 10 patients – or 0.014%. vs BAUS figure of 0.05%.

Mr Peacock added: “Vasectomy is a very reliable and safe contraception method. These figures might encourage more men to undergo the procedure, so we hope our research will be incorporated in the guidelines that provide information for pre-vasectomy counselling and leaflets. “

Dr. Marij Dinkelman-Smit, Assistant Professor of Urology at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and a member of the EAU’s section of Andrological Urology, said: “Although other countries’ standard information may be more up-to-date, nevertheless it is very useful for us as urologists to see large datasets of patient perspectives on this frequent procedure. As specialists, we mainly see the problems that arise from vasectomies, so it’s relevant for us to fill in the complete picture.”

Male or female urologist? Depends how much it hurts, research shows

Urology involves some of the most intimate medical conditions, yet patients don’t necessarily always prefer to be treated by a urologist of their own gender, new research has found.

In some situations, male and female patients would prefer a male urologist but in others – if they have a painful condition, for example – both men and women would choose to be treated by a female doctor.

The study, by researchers from University Hospital Munich, is being presented today at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Milan.

Based on a survey of over 1000 patients, the team found that around two thirds of patients expressed some preference as to the gender of their urologist.

Lead researcher Dr Alexander Tamalunas, from University Hospital Munich, said: “Previous research – including a survey we ran a few years ago – found that only around a third of patients have a preference as to whether their urologist is male or female. But these results were based on a single question on the subject.

“Our recent study is more nuanced, looking at whether patients attribute different skills to certain genders or what their choice would be depending on their own symptoms or in certain situations. That leads to a much higher number expressing a preference.”

The study analysed questionnaires from 1012 patients visiting the hospital during 2021, around three quarters of whom were male and just under a quarter female. Three patients were non-binary – an insufficient number to allow the researchers to draw statistically significant conclusions as to the preferences of this group.

The cohort included patients of all ages – although the majority were over 60 – and from all educational and economic backgrounds. Patients were being treated for a range of conditions, and were asked about the impact of these on their lives, as well as whether they felt a male or female urologist would understand them better.

Overall, two thirds of patients expressed a preference for a urologist of a particular gender in at least one scenario – double the numbers found in previous research. In general, where patients expressed a preference, it was for a urologist of their own gender. However, there were certain scenarios where that didn’t hold true.

Both male and female patients preferred to see a male urologist when their conditions were either: embarrassing; limited their daily activities; or caused them concern or inconvenience. However, both male and female patients with any condition with painful symptoms were more likely to choose a female urologist.

For both consultations and surgery, around a third of patients expressed a preference for a particular gender. Of these, the split was about 60:40 in favour of a male urologist for consultations, but this changed to 80:20 for operations.

Men were more likely to deem male urologists as having more practical skills than females, whereas women were more likely to think that a female urologist would be more empathetic.

Both men and women said urologists of their own gender would understand their body better and that it would be easier to talk to them about their condition.

Urology remains a male-dominated profession, but this study highlights the need for a more equal mix of male and female clinicians, say the researchers. University Hospital Munich has fairly equal numbers of male and female doctors in their urology department, but that’s not the case in all hospitals, according to Dr Tamalunas.

“Urology involves very sensitive issues, such as erectile disfunction, incontinence and genital infections, and these conditions are highly personal and sometimes embarrassing to patients,” he said.

“Patients will already find it hard to speak openly to urologists about these conditions and this may be exacerbated by cultural sensitivities in some communities. It’s vitally important that any additional barriers which we can control – such as the gender of the consultant – are removed and for that we need to encourage and support more women in the profession.”

According to Dr Carme Mir Maresma, from the EAU Scientific Congress Office, these findings confirm her own experience.

“Patients’ preferences for their urologist tend to depend on their condition,” she said. “I mainly treat patients with cancer, who are often very ill, and they don’t usually care about the gender of who is treating them, so long as they are well qualified. Patients with conditions that are not life-threatening may be more likely to express a preference.

“However, there are probably also cultural factors at play and it would be interesting to see this research replicated in other countries, to understand their influence.

“Urology is becoming more gender balanced, with fairly equal numbers of men and women at lower levels of the profession. Although men still tend to hold the majority of senior positions, I think that this will change over the next ten years.”

Advanced imaging may help in clinical treatment of prostate cancer

An advanced imaging method is showing promise as a way to improve the diagnosis of prostate cancer by giving clinicians a clearer view of suspected tumours during biopsy.

A trial conducted at the University Hospital Bonn, in Germany, has been testing the benefit of a scanning method known as PSMA-PET/CT to help target where to take biopsy samples.

Interim results reveal that when used alongside standard imaging techniques, the additional scans might help clinicians make improved decisions about subsequent courses of treatment.

Compared to the standard scans alone, when PSMA-PET/CT was used clinicians changed how they might treat a patient with clinically significant prostate cancer in 19% of cases.

The technique also helped to detect significantly more clinically significant prostate cancers.

The findings are presented today at the European Association of Urology Annual Congress in Milan.

“The normal standard of care, which is an MRI scan and then a biopsy, is already good at detecting of prostate cancer, but we wanted to see if PSMA-PET/CT could offer additional information to help with treatment plans,” said Dr Philipp Krausewitz, a urologist at University Hospital Bonn who led the study. “It appears to be having an impact in high-risk patients, but we also saw false positives in 6% of patients that meant we needed further investigations. The question we are considering is whether the additional diagnostics are worthwhile.”

The study, known as the DEPROMP trial, has recruited around 200 men to take part since March 2021. The researchers are hoping to have 230 patients enrolled by the end of the trial. The preliminary results used data from 219 men who all underwent MRI, PSMA-PET/CT and biopsy.

Their scans were then randomly looked at by two separate teams of urologists – one was given the results from the MRI, PSMA-PET/CT and biopsy, while the other group were given the results without the PSMA-PET/CT data. The researchers then compared how the two teams would choose to proceed with treatment based on the information they had.

For example, the clinicians might choose to do surgery to remove the cancer or give the patient chemotherapy.

But it is not yet clear how these decisions might ultimately affect patient outcomes as it can take years and even decades for cancer to return if treated correctly.

“We are seeing a change in cancer detection and management plans in these early results, but we have to wait to see if the final results reflect this,” said Dr Krausewitz. “PSMA-PET/CT is not yet available everywhere as it is expensive, so it is important we understand how it can be effectively used.”

With healthcare systems already under financial strain, the technique will need to offer a substantial improvement in diagnostic capability to be cost effective, added Jochen Walz, associate professor of Urology at the Institut Paoli-Calmettes Cancer Centre in Marseille, France, who commented on the research on behalf of the EAU.

He said: “In the meantime, PSMA-PET/CT could be considered a solution for selected challenging diagnostic cases or those where MRI cannot be done.”

Digital rectal examination is not useful to early detect prostate cancer

A common method of detecting prostate cancer may not be accurate enough as a reliable screening tool by itself, scientists have warned.

The digital rectal exam (DRE) is widely used by medical professionals to check the prostate gland with a finger for unusual swelling or lumps in the rectum as an initial check for the signs of prostate cancer in men.

In some countries, such as Germany, it is the sole method used in a national screening programme for the disease.

But new research by scientists of the PROBASE trial coordinated at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in Heidelberg, suggests the technique may be missing many cancers in their early stages.

The findings, which are presented today at the European Association of Urology Annual Congress in Milan, could have implications for the early detection of prostate cancer, say the researchers. They are calling for other testing methods to be used in routine screening instead.

“One of the main reasons for screening for prostate cancer is to detect it in patients as early as possible as this can lead to better outcomes from treatment,” said Dr Agne Krilaviciute, a researcher at DKFZ and lead author of the study. “But our study suggests that the DRE is simply not sensitive enough to detect those early stage cancers.”

The PROBASE trial is a multicenter German prostate cancer screening study across four university sites (TU Munich, Hannover, Heidelberg, Düsseldorf) and involves 46,495 men aged 45 years who were enrolled between 2014 and 2019. The men have since been had follow ups to assess their health in the years after the screening. Half of the participants in the trial were offered prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test immediately at age 45 while the other half were initially offered DRE with delayed PSA screening at age 50.

Ultimately, 6,537 men in the delayed screening group underwent DRE and only 57 of these men were referred for a follow-up biopsy due to suspicious findings. Only three were found to have cancer.

When compared to the detection rate using other methods, such as a PSA test, the rate of detection using DRE was substantially lower, says Dr Krilaviciute.

“The DRE was giving a negative result in 99% of cases and even those that were deemed to be suspicious had a low detection rate,” says Dr Krilaviciute. “Results we’ve seen from the PROBASE trial show that PSA testing at the age of 45 detected four times more prostate cancers.”

The researchers believe one of the reasons why the DRE might be failing to detect cancers, particularly in younger men, is because the changes in the tissue in the prostate may be too slight to detect with a finger. In addition, some cancers occur in a part of the prostate that cannot be easily reached by a finger.

“Early stage cancer may not have the size and stiffness to be palpable,” said Professor Peter Albers, a urologist at Düsseldorf University who was the senior author of the study.

“Separate analysis that used MRI scans before biopsies to locate cancers in the prostate showed that about 80% of these are in an area that should be easy to reach with a finger and still cancers were not detectable by DRE.”

The researchers are now calling for widespread use of PSA testing and MRI scans as part of screening programmes instead of DRE.

“If the aim of a screening programme is to pick up cancers as early as possible and the current screening tool isn’t doing that job, then that is a fundamental failure of that approach,” said Professor Albers. “We speculate in our paper that not only is the DRE not useful for detecting cancer, but it may also be one reason why people don’t come to screening visits – the examination probably puts a lot of men off.

“In Germany, for example, the participation rate is less than 20% in the screening programme for men 45 to 50 years. If we were to offer PSA testing instead, more of them might be willing to come.”

Long Covid smell loss linked to changes in the brain

People living with long Covid who suffer from loss of smell show different patterns of activity in certain regions of the brain, a new study led by UCL researchers has found.

The research used MRI scanning to compare the brain activity of people with long Covid who lost their sense of smell, those whose smell had returned to normal after Covid infection, and people who had never tested positive for COVID-19.

Published in eClinicalMedicine, the observational study found that the people with long Covid smell loss had reduced brain activity and impaired communication between two parts of the brain which process important smell information: the orbitofrontal cortex and the pre-frontal cortex. This connection was not impaired in people who had regained their sense of smell after Covid.

The findings suggest smell loss, known as anosmia, caused by long Covid is linked to a reversible change in the brain that stops smells from being processed properly. Because it’s clinically reversible, as shown in some subjects, it may be possible to retrain the brain to recover its sense of smell in people suffering the side effects of long Covid.

Dr Jed Wingrove (UCL Department of Medicine) the lead author of the study, said: “Persistent loss of smell is just one way long Covid is still impacting people’s quality of life – smell is something we take for granted, but it guides us in lots of ways and is closely tied to our overall wellbeing. Our study gives reassurance that, for the majority of people whose sense of smell comes back, there are no permanent changes to brain activity.”

MRI study lead and joint senior author Professor Claudia Wheeler-Kingshott (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology), said: “Our findings highlight the impact COVID-19 is having on brain function. They raise the intriguing possibility that olfactory training – that is, retraining the brain to process different scents – could help the brain to recover lost pathways, and help people with long Covid recover their sense of smell.”

Researchers say their findings also suggest that the brains of people with long Covid smell loss might be compensating for this lost sense by boosting connections with other sensory regions: their brains had increased activity between the parts of the brain that process smell and areas that process sight (the visual cortex).

“This tells us that the neurons that would normally process smell are still there, but they’re just working in a different way,” said Dr Wingrove.

Professor Rachel Batterham (UCL Department of Medicine), also joint senior author of the study said: “This is the first study to our knowledge that looks at how brain activity changes in people with long Covid smell loss. It builds on the work we undertook during the first wave of the pandemic, which was one of the first to describe the link between COVID-19 infection with both loss of smell and taste.”

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Neighbourly cooperation can ensure your genes survive, new research finds

Image Alt Text: Photo of Derbyshire wood ant field site (Credit: Sam Ellis)

Cooperating with your neighbours, especially if they are distant relatives, can be an effective evolutionary strategy, new research has found.

The study found that social animals that work closely with their nearest neighbours to repel other groups can maximise the chance of their genes surviving, because those neighbours are likely to carry the same genes too.

The team of UK and US scientists have developed a mathematical model to explain unusual behaviour identified in some ants and primates. Although most species are highly competitive and fight with neighbouring groups, some will work with their neighbours and actively share resources.

Dr Elva Robinson from the University of York has seen this phenomenon amongst groups of wood ant nests in Derbyshire, which she has been studying for the last decade.

“Wood ants are known to be highly aggressive, spraying acid if ants from other nests encroach on their territory,” said Dr Robinson. “Yet sometimes multiple nests live peacefully side by side in the same ‘colony’, fighting off outsider ants that come near. The colonies I study have taken this one step further in that they also share food between nests. Some nests gather no food themselves, but rely purely on food supplied by workers from other nests.”

Most primates are aggressively territorial, and only bonobos and humans have been known to share resources in this way. Bonobos will meet neighbouring groups at the boundaries of their territory to exchange high value food such as meat.

Dr Robinson worked with colleagues Dr António Rodrigues from Yale University and Dr Jessica Barker from Aarhus University and the University of Alaska Anchorage to try and explain how this level of cooperation could come about and what benefits it might offer to those involved.

They developed the following hypothesis. Firstly, plentiful food means that the group gets bigger but also reduces conflict between its members. When offspring move away to establish satellite groups they don’t move far, in order to remain close to food sources. Kinship and plentiful resources results in little conflict between these different, but related, groups, and makes it in their interest to prevent new groups getting settled nearby. Finally sharing of resources ensures that all the cooperating groups thrive.

To test this hypothesis, Dr Rodrigues created a model that can mathematically quantify the evolutionary consequences of different levels of cooperation. The model allows the researchers to change a number of variables – such as how far offspring move from the parent group – to see how this affects the outcome.

Dr Rodrigues said: “It’s not possible to manipulate these variables in the field, so the only way to see if the theory makes sense is to create this kind of model. Using the model, we can also see how groups could benefit from this kind of cooperation, particularly in terms of ensuring the survival of their genes.”

The team found that when offspring stayed close to the main group, it was advantageous to all involved to cooperate and prevent others entering the area. Even if fighting off an aggressor in collaboration with your neighbours resulted in all your own group dying, your genes would still have a higher chance of continuing through your more distant relatives.

Dr Barker studies human behaviour, but warns against reading too much from the study into levels of cooperation and aggression between human groups. “Our model looks at the evolutionary benefits of behaviour over a long timescale, rather than the decisions we make over shorter timescales to unconsciously maximise such evolutionary advantages,” she said.

“Where the model might have relevance is in trading between early humans, where groups might more readily trade with nearby groups that were related, rather than those where there was no familial connection. That probably would have provided an evolutionary advantage to those families, and still seems likely to us today.”

The research is published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

Wildlife recording is good for people, as well as for science

Photo credit: Michael Pocock

Science is not the only beneficiary of nature-based ‘citizen science’ projects – taking part also boosts the wellbeing of participants and their connection to nature, according to research published today in People and Nature journal.

The study, ‘Nature Up Close and Personal: A Wellbeing Experiment’, is the first large-scale study to measure the wellbeing benefits to the volunteers taking part in citizen science projects – such as the wildlife recording activities providing data that are vital to assess environmental change. It was conducted during the pandemic restrictions of 2020 by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), the University of Derby and the British Science Association.

Five hundred volunteers from across the UK were randomly assigned to carry out a 10-minute nature-based activity at least five times over eight days: a pollinating insects survey, a butterfly survey, simply spending time in nature and writing down three good things they noticed, or a combination of both. The groups were surveyed both before and after taking part to assess differences in their connection to nature, wellbeing and pro-nature behaviour.

The researchers found that all volunteers showed increased scores in wellbeing and feeling connected to nature after completing their activities. Participants’ comments included:

“It gave me permission to slow down”; “It made me more aware of nature in all aspects of the environment”, and “It reminded me that small things can make a big difference to my mood”.

In addition, those writing down three good things they noticed, either alone or when combined nature recording activities, reported they were more likely to adopt pro-nature behaviours beyond their involvement in the project, such as planting more pollinator-friendly plants in their gardens, or creating shelters for wildlife, showing that taking part in citizen science has even more benefits for nature.

Dr Michael Pocock, ecologist and academic lead for public engagement with research at UKCEH, said: “Being in and around nature is good for our wellbeing, and we’ve shown that focused, active engagement with nature is just as important – whether that is ‘mindful moments’ in nature or taking part in citizen science.”

He adds: “This has been a valuable exercise for us in exploring how we can make citizen science even better. We now know that if we design future projects with additional nature-noticing activities, for example, we can enhance people’s own connection to nature, while still collecting valuable data.”

Co-author Professor Miles Richardson, who leads the Nature Connectedness Research Group at the University of Derby, said: “People connect with nature in different ways, so it’s great to see nature-based citizen science can provide another form of active engagement that can strengthen the human-nature relationship. When combined with noticing the positive emotions nature can bring, citizen science and help unite both human and nature’s wellbeing.”

There are many nature-based citizen science projects run by different organisations across the year. UKCEH welcomes support from anyone interested in volunteering to get involved with recording wildlife via the iRecord website, and free-to-use apps for butterflies, and the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme. Records from these citizen science projects are used in vital scientific research to understand changes in our wildlife.

UK’s Overseas Territories at risk from wide range of invasive species

A new study has for the first time predicted which invasive species could pose a future threat to the UK’s ecologically unique Overseas Territories.

The 14 Territories – many of them small, remote islands such as St Helena and Pitcairn – are home to species found nowhere else in the world. This makes them extremely vulnerable to biological invasions – in the oceans or on land – which could lead to the extinction of these endemic species or irrevocably change their unique ecosystems.

Researchers at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and Durham University, working in partnership with communities on the Overseas Territories, assessed thousands of potential invasive non-native species, to predict which are most likely to arrive and impact these environments within the next 10 years.

The resulting research, published in the journal ‘Conservation Letters’, provides a reference for authorities, conservation ecologists and the public to guide them in preventing these invasive non-native species from becoming established and causing ecological and economic damage.

UKCEH ecologist Professor Helen Roy, who led the work, says: “These Territories are exceptionally biodiverse. St Helena, for example, has over 400 invertebrates found nowhere else in world – it is simply unique. We hope that this study draws attention to these Overseas Territories and the inspiring people on them who are working so hard to protect their incredible wildlife and habitats.”

To produce the list, experts from each UK Overseas Territory collaborated with the wider project team of experts from around the world to predict which invasive non-native species were likely to arrive, establish and impact on biodiversity, ecosystems, human health and the economy within the next 10 years. The report also examines how the species are most likely to arrive, with shipping containers identified as a key route for many animal species.

Gibraltar and Saint Helena are threatened by biological invasion from the greatest number of species overall. St Helena is most at risk from a high number of plant species, while the Falkland Islands and Tristan da Cunha are threatened by the most marine invasive non-native species.

One of the invasive non-native species that could pose a threat to many of the UK Overseas Territories is the green mussel (Perna viridis). It can ‘hitchhike’ around the world on ships and boats, and form dense colonies in places where it establishes outcompeting other species by, for example, reducing levels of phytoplankton – a key component of aquatic ecosystems.

Other invasive non-native species that present a major threat to many UK Overseas Territories include the little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata), the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), and the mesquite tree (Prosopis juliflora) .

Dr Wayne Dawson of Durham University said: ““The knowledge and experience of local experts was central to identifying the non-native species that pose the highest threats to each Territory, and it was a great privilege to work with a wide range of contributors on the project.”

Ecologists and other experts on the UK Overseas Territories are aware of the challenges of invasive non-native species and in many cases have robust biosecurity measures in place, but Professor Roy hopes that the report will draw attention to their vital work.

Professor Roy added: “Preventing the introduction of invasive non-native species is key, because management of species that have established and spread is often extremely expensive and in some cases there are no options available. We hope that this list will help inform action, including supporting biosecurity activities, to safeguard the wildlife in these precious places.”