Work to expand Sheffield neuroscience research centre begins
She said: "Over 20 years ago a lady with MND asked me what I would do with £20m of funding for MND research."I didn't think it was a serious question, but I described SITraN - a dedicated facility to bring together scientists, doctors and patients from all over the world under one roof with a shared ambition to improve the lives of people living with neurodegenerative diseases."It is quite remarkable how far we have come since SITraN first opened."Established in 2010, the university said SITraN had outgrown its current capacity, with an initial research team of 64 now exceeding 300.The expanded building will be constructed adjacent to the current facility, opposite the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.Representatives of the The Ian Pratt MND Foundation and the Mel Evans Foundation attended for the brick laying ceremony as well as the family and friends of Tim Shone and Gemma Middleton, who both died with MND.
A university spokesperson said the project would not have been possible "without the unwavering generosity of a number of dedicated families whose lives have been forever changed by the cruelty of MND".Gemma's father, Nigel, said: "Gemma believed in Sheffield's research, she did everything she could to help SITraN's researchers to find a cure for MND."We have an amazing team who continue to raise funds in Gemma's memory and we know that research into new treatments, and ultimately a cure, is the only way we can end the pain MND causes to families like ours."Last month a charity walk raised more than £100,000 for the new building, in which 400 staff, students and friends of the university trekked 20 or 30 miles through the Peak District.
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The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Astronomers capture birth of planets around baby sun outside our solar system
Astronomers have discovered the earliest seeds of rocky planets forming in the gas around a baby sun-like star, providing a precious peek into the dawn of our own solar system. It's an unprecedented snapshot of 'time zero', scientists reported on Wednesday, when new worlds begin to gel. 'We've captured a direct glimpse of the hot region where rocky planets like Earth are born around young protostars,' said Leiden Observatory's Melissa McClure from the Netherlands, who led the international research team. 'For the first time, we can conclusively say that the first steps of planet formation are happening right now.' The observations offer a unique glimpse into the inner workings of an emerging planetary system, said the University of Chicago's Fred Ciesla, who was not involved in the study appearing in the journal Nature. 'This is one of the things we've been waiting for. Astronomers have been thinking about how planetary systems form for a long period of time,' Ciesla said. 'There's a rich opportunity here.' Nasa's Webb Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory in Chile teamed up to reveal these early nuggets of planetary formation around the young star known as Hops-315. It's a yellow dwarf in the making like the sun, yet much younger at 100,000 to 200,000 years old and some 1,370 light-years away. A single light-year is 6tn miles. In a cosmic first, McClure and her team stared deep into the gas disk around the baby star and detected solid specks condensing – signs of early planet formation. A gap in the outer part of the disk gave allowed them to gaze inside, thanks to the way the star tilts toward Earth. They detected silicon monoxide gas as well as crystalline silicate minerals, the ingredients for what's believed to be the first solid materials to form in our solar system more than 4.5bn years ago. The action is unfolding in a location comparable to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter containing the leftover building blocks of our solar system's planets. The condensing of hot minerals was never detected before around other young stars, 'so we didn't know if it was a universal feature of planet formation or a weird feature of our solar system,' McClure said in an email. 'Our study shows that it could be a common process during the earliest stage of planet formation.' While other research has looked at younger gas disks and, more commonly, mature disks with potential planet wannabes, there's been no specific evidence for the start of planet formation until now, McClure said. In a stunning picture taken by the ESO's Alma telescope network, the emerging planetary system resembles a lightning bug glowing against the black void. It's impossible to know how many planets might form around Hops-315. With a gas disk as huge as the sun's might have been, it could also wind up with eight planets a million or more years from now, according to McClure. Purdue University's Merel van 't Hoff, a co-author, is eager to find more budding planetary systems. By casting a wider net, astronomers can look for similarities and determine which processes might be crucial to forming Earth-like worlds. 'Are there Earth-like planets out there or are we like so special that we might not expect it to occur very often?'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Sam Thompson supports sister Louise as they take to parliament to discuss her harrowing birth trauma ordeal
Sam Thompson supported his sister Louise as they took to Parliament to discuss her harrowing birth trauma ordeal on Wednesday. Louise, 35, nearly died when she welcomed her son Leo-Hunter in 2021 after a emergency caesarean in which she lost '12 and a half litres of blood.' She went on to suffer with PTSD and post-natal anxiety due to her near-death experience and has since then been diagnosed with Lupus, Asherman's syndrome, suffered a second Hemorrhage, and has also had a stoma bag fitted. The former Made In Chelsea stars spoke with Birth Trauma APPG, who raises awareness of the experiences of parents who have experienced physical and psychological harm from childbirth. While Louise discussed her emotional birth trauma, Sam also shared how it impacts surrounding family members. Following the meeting, the pair captured the moment in a picture alongside Theo Clarke, the founder of the Global Birth Trauma Alliance and former Chair of the UK's Birth Trauma Inquiry. In April, Louise revealed she suffered a devastating miscarriage last year in a heartbreaking post. Louise also opened up about the miscarriage in her new book Lucky: Learning to live again, as well as her Daily Mail column. Louise shared a photo of a positive pregnancy test, and wrote: 'Tw: lots of stuff. This is not now, this was last January. The night before I got on a flight. As if things needed to get more complicated. 'I only told a handful of people, but I wrote a bit about it in the book and now that it is out there in the big bad world I thought it was easier to share on here than to have anyone question it behind my back. 'I often find it easier to write this sort of stuff down than to speak about it out loud. And hopefully this will help me process it. Sharing can feel quite liberating. 'So much has happened in the past 3 years as we all know and v v quickly. It feels like such a dense time in my life. 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I've noticed some weird avoidance behaviours, some silly distractions seeping in, and also have found it really hard to focus on things properly. 'I've felt a little confused between the then and now and I've also had some rather bizarre memories pop in and I've cried a little bit most days which feels alien (even though I used to be called tears Thompson) because I've been so happy. 'I'll be honest I think there is a need for more processing. I haven't spoken to a therapist since the stoma surgery. 'I think it might be time to try some dreaded EMDR. Please can someone give me confidence that it won't be dreaded?!?' She continued: 'I talk a wee bit about it in the extra chapter of my book, but it's crazy to think that Leo could have had a sibling born last September. I doubt that it was ever going to work. Probably a mere chemical pregnancy. 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It is highly unlikely that you will ever know the actual cause of a one-off miscarriage, but most are due to the following problems: • ABNORMAL FETUS The most common cause of miscarriages in the first couple of months is a one-off abnormal development in the fetus, often due to chromosome anomalies. 'It's not as though the baby is fine one minute and suddenly dies the next,' says Professor James Walker, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Leeds. 'These pregnancies fail from the outset and were never destined to succeed.' Most miscarriages like this happen by eight weeks, although bleeding may not start until three or four weeks later, which is worth remembering in subsequent pregnancies. 'If a scan at eight weeks shows a healthy heart beat, you have a 95 per cent chance of a successful pregnancy,' says Professor Walker. • HORMONAL FACTORS A hormonal blip could cause a sporadic miscarriage and never be a problem again. 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Once you're over 40, and know that you're pregnant, the figure rises to one in four] • AUTO-IMMUNE BLOOD DISORDERS Around 20 per cent of recurrent miscarriers suffer from lupus or a similar auto-immune disorder that causes blood clots to form in the developing placenta. A simple blood test, which may need to be repeated several times, can reveal whether or not this is the problem.'One negative test does not mean that a women is okay,' warns Mr Roy Farquharson, consultant gynaecologist who runs an early pregnancy unit at the Liverpool Women's Hospital. Often pregnancy can be a trigger for these disorders, so a test should be done as soon as possible,' he it can easily be treated with low dose aspirin or heparin injections, which help to thin the blood and prevent blood clots forming - a recent trial also showed that women do equally well on either. 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It is an expensive and stressful procedure - and pregnancy rates tend to be quite low - but for some this is preferable to repeated miscarriages or a genetically abnormal baby.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Physician associates should ‘never be used to replace doctors'
Patient safety will be at the forefront of changes to the roles of NHS physician associates (PAs), who should 'never be used to replace doctors', the Health Secretary has said. Wes Streeting pledged to implement in full the findings of a review which said PAs must not diagnose patients when they come into A&E or GP practices and must be renamed as 'physician assistants'. Mr Streeting ordered the review into PAs and anaesthesia associates (AAs) after concerns were raised over whether they were safe and the impact on the training of junior doctors. The review, chaired by Professor Gillian Leng, who is president of the Royal Society of Medicine, made 18 recommendations. Mr Streeting said: ' Patients should always know who they are being treated by and should always receive appropriate care. 'Legitimate concerns about patient safety have been ignored for too long – that's why I sought out the very best clinical advice to review physician associates and anaesthesia associates' roles in the NHS. 'We're accepting all of the recommendations of the Leng review, which will provide clarity for the public and make sure we've got the right staff, in the right place, doing the right thing. Patients can be confident that those who treat them are qualified to do so. 'Physician assistants, as they will now be known, will continue to play an important role in the NHS. They should assist doctors, but they should never be used to replace doctors.' Prof Leng's review suggested a major change to the role of PAs after it acknowledged they have been used as substitutes for doctors, despite having significantly less training. More than 3,500 PAs and 100 anaesthesia associates (AAs) are working in the NHS and there have been previous calls for an expansion in their number. But a general lack of support for both roles from the medical profession – plus high-profile deaths of patients who were misdiagnosed by PAs – led to the review. Presenting her findings, Prof Leng said: 'Crucially I'm recommending that PAs should not see undifferentiated or untriaged patients. 'If (patients) are triaged, they (PAs) should be able to see adult patients with minor ailments in line with relevant guidance from the Royal College of GPs.' She said more detail was needed on which patients can be seen by PAs and national clinical protocols will now be developed in this area. She added: 'Let's be clear, (the role of PAs) is working well in some places, but there indeed has been some substitution and any substitution is clearly risky and confusing for patients.' Newly qualified PAs will also now work in hospitals for two years before they are allowed to work in GP surgeries or mental health trusts. The study said safety concerns in relation to PAs were 'almost always about making a diagnosis and deciding the initial treatment, particularly in primary care or the emergency department, where patients first present with new symptoms'. It added: 'It is here that the risk of missing an unusual disease or condition is highest, and where the more extensive training of doctors across a breadth of specialties is important. 'Making the wrong initial diagnosis and putting patients on an inappropriate pathway can be catastrophic.' Despite the shorter two years of training for PAs, where local NHS services have struggled with filling roles, 'the easy option in some cases was simply to fill gaps in medical rotas with PAs', the report went on. When it comes to the safety of PAs and AAs, Prof Leng said the 'evidence is poor', with 'no compelling evidence' in published research 'that PAs were safe to work as doctor substitutes in primary care'. Prof Leng concluded there were 'no convincing reasons to abolish the roles of AA or PA' but there is also no case 'for continuing with the roles unchanged'. She recommended that both PAs and AAs should have the opportunity for ongoing training and development, with potential to prescribe medicines in the future, and they should also should have the opportunity to become an 'advanced' PA or AA. Six patient deaths linked to contact with PAs have been recorded by coroners in England. One high-profile death involved Emily Chesterton, 30, who died from a pulmonary embolism. She was misdiagnosed by a PA on two occasions and told she had anxiety. NHS England has written to NHS trusts setting out the new changes, saying PAs currently working in primary care, emergency departments or any other setting must not triage patients or see undifferentiated patients without a diagnosis.
