Major study into pre-eclampsia

June 28th, 2012

Researchers are leading the largest ever international research project into the genetics of the potentially fatal condition pre-eclampsia.

The research aims to provide new insights into the prevention, prediction and treatment of the disease, which kills up to 40,000 women and almost one million babies every year worldwide.

As part of the study, DNA collected from thousands of pregnant women, including many from Nottingham, will be studied in an attempt to find genetic clues which may predict which women are more at risk of developing the illness.

Dr Linda Morgan, associate professor in the University’s School of Molecular Medical Sciences, said: “We are studying the genes which lead women to develop pre-eclampsia. By understanding which genes cause the disease, it may be possible to prevent pre-eclampsia or improve treatment.”

Pre-eclampsia affects around five per cent of pregnancies, developing in the second half of pregnancy, often without warning. It is detected when the mother is found to have high blood pressure and protein in her urine. If left untreated, it can have devastating consequences for both mother and child and can be fatal. It is associated with small babies and premature births and in the mother can lead to convulsions, bleeding and liver damage.

Nottingham is co-ordinating theInterPregGen (International Pregnancy Genetics) study, which also involves obstetricians, midwives and geneticists from Finland, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Norway, Uzbekistan and the universities of Leeds and Glasgow, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK.

Funded with a €6m grant from the European Union, the project will run for four-and-a-half years and aims to develop our understanding of the genetic link which scientists believe plays a major role in pre-eclampsia.

The condition runs in families — a woman whose mother or sister has had pre-eclampsia is at least three time more likely to develop the disease. As babies inherit genes from both parents the study will be looking at the genetic makeup of mother, father and child.

Once the researchers find a gene that is connected with pre-eclampsia, they can identify in detail what that particular gene does and find out when it is active during pregnancy. The academics will then be able to decide whether it is at work in the mother, baby or the placenta. When they understand the genetic mechanisms influencing the condition, they will be in a better position to prevent and treat it.

It will also help to identify those at the highest risk, so that additional ante-natal care can be provided for them.

As part of the international study, researchers will be undertaking whole genome sequencing of people from Central Asia for the first time, in a similar way to the 1,000 Genomes project, which will also provide long-term biological information for future research in these populations.

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On the trail of the wild elephants

June 28th, 2012

A hundred years ago wild elephants on the Malay Peninsular numbered in the thousands; now there are fewer than 1,500. Over the last century around 50% of forest cover in Peninsular Malaysia has been lost.

Using GPS and satellite communication technology, experts from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) and the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks are tracking elephants to assess the effectiveness of the Malaysian Government’s elephant conservation and management practices.

The Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources through its Department of Wildlife and National Parks has signed memorandums of understanding on research collaboration with the UNMC and 10 public Malaysian universities. The Department and UNMC are also signing a Memorandum of Agreement specifically for the Management & Ecology of Malaysian Elephants research project (MEME). MEME is a five-year research project led by Dr Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, an ecologist and conservation expert, in the School of Geography. The project has received funding of RM3.36m (£700,000) from a foundation set up by the Malaysian-based multinational Sime Darby to help MEME develop a long-term strategy to protect the country’s elephant population. Other important donors are Singapore Zoo, Copenhagen Zoo, the National Zoo (US), US Fish & Wildlife Service and philanthropists.

Dr Campos-Arceiz said: “If we lose the elephants we lose a unique element of tropical ecosystems. When elephants walk they trample the soil and impact the forest in a way that no other animal does. When elephants eat, they modify the structure of vegetation, releasing plant parts that can be consumed by other herbivores. When elephants eat fruits, they disperse seeds. Ultimately, elephants create habitat heterogeneity and promote forest regeneration. All this will be lost and we will have a much more simplified ecosystem that is less resilient and has lost a lot of its diversity.”

Hunted for their tusks and with their natural habitat stripped to make way for crops, roads and settlements, the Asian elephant is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. MEME will produce information on how elephants move in natural habitats as well as in human-dominated landscapes and how they respond to translocation, one of the practices used to move elephants away from areas of human-elephant conflict (HEC). The project is also looking at non-invasive techniques to extract DNA and hormones from elephant faeces, developing cost-effective strategies to mitigate human-elephant conflict and improving our understanding of elephant ecological function in tropical rainforests. MEME and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks aim to develop a conservation strategy based on scientifically sound knowledge of elephant behaviour, ecology and an understanding of the underlying causes of human-elephant conflict. They will fit 50 elephants (three per cent of the Malaysian population) with GPS-satellite tracking devices to monitor how they respond to habitat changes and translocation, and what effect conservation measures are having on the elephant population on the Malay Peninsula.

GPS collars allow an elephant’s location to be tracked using VHF radio signal or at any location with internet connection to access the GPS locations transmitted by the collar via satellite phone.

Research led by Dr Campos-Arceiz has shown that the elimination of seed-dispersing animals puts the structural integrity and biodiversity of the tropical forest of South-East Asia at risk. His team has confirmed that other herbivores cannot replace elephants in this essential job. Their research Asian Tapirs Are NO Elephants When it Comes To Seed Dispersal has just been published in Biotropica.

Dr Campos-Arceiz said: “Elephants and rhinoceroses play a unique ecological role that cannot be replaced by other species. These mega herbivores act as the ‘gardeners’ of humid tropical forests. They are vital to forest regeneration and maintain its structure and biodiversity. If the elephants and rhinoceroses are lost the ecological trajectories of the ecosystem will change irreversibly.”

Dr Campos-Arceiz and his team work in collaboration with the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Peninsular Malaysia. They have a field centre in the Malaysian jungle, a field project manager and a team of research assistants and field assistants who are monitoring nine elephants fitted with tracking collars.

The funding will help to support three PhDs for Malaysian students to study elephant stress levels, the development of genetic molecular tools to study elephant populations in tropical rainforests and the characterisation and mitigation of HECs. Dr Campos-Arceiz said: “These scholarships will help to establish a bigger pool of local experts in wildlife management. We also employ staff from the Orang Asli community, Malaysian indigenous people, to tap into their expertise and knowledge of the elephants and their habitat in the rainforests of Peninsular Malaysia.”

For more information go to: www.camposarceiz.com.

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Making head way

June 28th, 2012

A campaign involving University of Nottingham experts that aims to reduce the time it takes doctors to diagnose a brain tumour in children and young people is showing positive results within a year of its launch.

The HeadSmart campaign, launched last June, is showing laudable results in reducing diagnosis times, based on data revealed at The Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health Conference in Glasgow last month.

The UK data collected in the months before and after the campaign launch and compared to previous data showed a statistically significant reduction in the time taken to diagnosis. The long-term target is to reduce the interval from 14.4 weeks to five weeks. The campaign can already report a reduction to 7.5 weeks.

The campaign was the brainchild of the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre at The University of Nottingham, Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

“Brain tumours in children can be very difficult to diagnose,” said Dr Sophie Wilne, a consultant paediatric oncologist at Nottingham Children’s Hospital. “The initial symptoms are often non-specific and can occur with other more common and less serious childhood illnesses. There is also lack of awareness among healthcare professionals that brain tumours do occur in children. Most childhood brain tumours are curable and we know that if we reduce the time taken to diagnosis we will reduce the likelihood of a child suffering from long-term, life-altering disability.”

A study of 155 children diagnosed before the launch last year showed that the average interval between onset of symptoms and diagnosis was 9.3 weeks. Recent figures from 219 children diagnosed since the launch show a reduction to 7.5 weeks. These figures are encouraging but highlight the need for further education for both parents and health professionals.

The campaign is based on a clinical guideline endorsed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and accredited by NHS Evidence and aims to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of childhood brain tumours.HeadSmart also includes an online education module to teach doctors about the symptoms of brain tumours and how to decide which children can be reassured, which should be reviewed and which need immediate scanning.

Dr David Walker, Professor of Paediatric Oncology at The University of Nottingham’s Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre and lead clinician on the HeadSmart campaign, was pleased to have had so much support from colleagues from the children brain tumour centres across the UK and Ireland. The campaign has been shortlisted for the BMJ’s Improving Healthcare Award for Excellence in Healthcare Education.

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