Can clay help struggling teenagers?

Researchers are to investigate whether the therapeutic effects of clay modelling could help teenagers struggling with mental health problems.

Academics are teaming up with professionals in the NHS, Nottingham Contemporary and local artists for the innovative £25,000 one-year project. It will focus on young people who are accessing local mental health services through the NHS and may be dealing with a range of psychosocial personality problems, anger issues, anxiety and depression.

Dr Gary Winship, of the University’s School of Education, part of the project team, said: “Anecdotally, it may offer potential therapeutic effects through the cathartic venting of emotions through banging, squashing, bending or breaking the clay.”

Read more at: http://tiny.cc/UoNclay

Research partnerships awarded £13.5m

Two University and NHS research partnerships in Nottingham have been awarded a combined £13.5m to help them develop and translate scientific discoveries into ground-breaking medicines, treatments and better care for all NHS patients.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) has secured two awards with the University, looking at gastrointestinal disease and hearing problems. The Biomedical Research Units are supported by the National Institute for Health Research. The funding is part of £800m awarded nationally.
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Alzheimer’s funding

Researchers have been awarded £670,000 to develop an early warning system for Alzheimer’s disease.

Funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) will be used to develop a diagnostic test that will pick up Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias much sooner than is currently possible.

The number of people with dementia are set to soar, with 1m people in the UK predicted to have the condition within the next 10 years.

Professor Paul O’Shea, who leads the Nottingham team, and clinical colleague Dr Nin Bajaj of the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, said: “We are thrilled that the MRC has agreed funding for this project to develop a cost-effective, highly accurate screening technique for dementia that may ultimately pave the way for earlier therapeutic interventions in this devastating condition.”

Read more at:  http://tiny.cc/UoNAlzheimers

New tool to predict blood clots risk

A new risk prediction tool can identify patients at high risk of serious blood clots who might need preventative treatment, according to a study published on bmj.com.

Nottingham researchers developed and validated a new clinical risk prediction algorithm (QThrombosis).

The tool, which can be found at: www.qthrombosis.org, is based on simple variables which the patient is likely to know and could be easily integrated into GP computer systems to risk assess patients prior to hospital admission, long-haul flights, or starting medications that carry an increased clotting risk.

The condition, known as venous thromboembolism, is a common potentially lethal disease which can be prevented. In England alone, it claims more than 25,000 lives each year and, of those who survive, almost a third experience long-term effects.
Read more at: http://tiny.cc/UoNclots