Tag: research

New research demonstrates the importance of cinema-going in young people’s education, cultural enrichment and social wellbeing

Into Film, the UK’s leading charity for film, TV, and games in education, has released new research that found that school trips to the cinema provide a powerful cultural enrichment opportunity that supports young people’s educational, personal and social development. 

Into Film runs a renowned culturally valuable annual initiative, the Into Film Festival, which provides primary, secondary and SEND schools and colleges across the whole of the UK the chance to book free class visits to their local cinema.

The Into Film Festival runs in cinemas in every corner of the UK, from the Orkney Islands to Truro and everywhere in between. Events are often paired with additional live events and discussions alongside the film, with producers, directors and other professionals who work in the screen industry.

Every year, over half a million 5-19-year-olds and their educators share the joy of cinema through the Into Film Festival, which is taking place this year between 6-27 November. Over 100 different films will be shown in over 600 cinemas and community spaces. It is the UK’s largest free film festival for children and young people and is highly valued by schools wishing to provide quality cultural opportunities for pupils. 

The study, funded by Cinema First, gathered insights on their cinema experiences from 3,044 children and young people aged 7–18 across the November 2025 Into Film Festival and the 2026 Spring Cinema Programme. The research which was conducted as a pilot in 2025/26 will continue in 2026/27 to further understand the impact of school cinema trips for young people, including their cinema habits, motivations and barriers, and to identify practical opportunities for the cinema sector for the future.

The findings emphasise the critical role cinemas play in providing equitable access to cultural enrichment:

Cultural Access:  For 10% of attendees, the festival was their first ever cinema trip. Furthermore, 19% of respondents identified school as their primary decision-maker for film outings, making educators a key provider of theatrical exposure for nearly 1 in 5 children and young people. At present, one in five primary and secondary pupils receive no enrichment activities in an average week, rising to one in four for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.[1] School trips to the cinema offer individual and collective cultural experiences that extend far beyond a standard school outing.

Building Community, Belonging and Wellbeing: Amid growing concerns around youth isolation, cinema offers a powerful space for connection. 70% of respondents reported that being at the cinema made them feel part of something bigger, citing that the communal setting fostered feelings of safety, community, and belonging. Cinemas can offer a unique space for social connection and shared experiences amongst their peers.

Positive, Responsible Screen Time: Contrasting mainstream concerns about screen use, the research highlights that screen use—when time-limited, overseen by trusted adults, and embedded in an in-person social setting—supports critical reflection, literacy, and academic confidence.

Drivers of Attendance: Word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family proved to be the single strongest influence on film choice. While 74% described cinema visits as exciting special events, cost and winter seasonal factors heavily dictated personal leisure choices, with 11% choosing cinema as their top holiday activity.

Educational Impact & Focus:

  • 67% reported enhanced imagination after watching a film in the cinema.
  • 66% felt better equipped to communicate their thoughts.
  • 64% engaged in follow-up film discussions with peers or teachers.
  • 63% reported improved story comprehension and predictive skills.
  • 36% noted improved classroom focus and concentration.
  • Over 50% reported an increased capacity to understand others’ feelings and experiences.

Designing cinema experiences that combine the appeal of the big-screen experience with community and educational partnerships, can strengthen local relationships and help nurture the next generation of cinemagoers.

Fiona Evans, CEO, Into Film and former teacher, said: “The Into Film Festival is unique in delivering access to culture for UK schools on such an incredible scale. Going to the cinema is a magical experience, full of opportunities for learning, empathy and inspiration.”

The annual Into Film Festival educator bookings and programme are now live:

www.intofilm.org/festival

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Families feel neglected by housing providers in Edinburgh

Edinburgh councillors and Scottish Ministers must action to improve families’ experiences of social housing and temporary accommodation and private sector accommodation in the capital.

New research has uncovered how inadequate housing in the city is badly affecting families’ health, wellbeing, and overall quality of life.

This small study was carried out by parents living in social housing themselves, with support from The Poverty Alliance, and Muirhouse community organisation Low Income Families Together (LIFT).

The research was commissioned by the Scottish Health Equity Research Unit (SHERU) at the University of Strathclyde and funded by the Health Foundation.

Families in the research say that mould and damp are a common issue, with the solutions offered often feeling temporary, rather than getting to the root of the problem.

The research also highlights issues with repairs and maintenance processes with social housing providers not meeting standards under the ‘Right to Repair’ scheme, where tenants have the right to have small urgent repairs carried out within a given timescale.

Families shared experiences of jumping through hoops to get support with housing issues and parents described feeling ‘left in the dark’ when it comes to hearing back from housing officers.

The report says access to person-centred, timely and compassionate support from social housing providers is vital.

Pauline Nicol-Bowie MBE, Founder and CEO of LIFT, said: “LIFT has been supporting families in North Edinburgh for nine years, and it is heartbreaking that we are still hearing the same stories about housing, homelessness and families living in unsuitable accommodation. In fact, from what we see every day, the situation has become worse.

“Parents shared their experiences, not because it is easy to talk about their struggles, but because they desperately want things to change for their children and for other families.

“These parents have done their part. They have shared their stories, highlighted the problems and helped identify what needs to change. Now they deserve to see those voices turned into action.”

Fiona McHardy, Research Fellow, Scottish Health Equity Research Unit, said: “This community-led research highlights the troubling gap between Scotland’s national ambitions for improving housing and families’ everyday experience.

“Our research shows that the housing emergency is making it increasingly difficult for services to translate policy ambitions into support on the ground.

“In a challenging fiscal climate and wider public sector reform context, closing this implementation gap will require sustained national investment in prevention, stronger alignment between national and local priorities, and coordinated action across services.”

Poverty Alliance Research Manager Dr Laura Robertson said: “Homelessness statistics published last month show that Edinburgh continues to face housing pressures with 3,820 children living in temporary accommodation in the city.

“This research unveils the real, lived experiences of the housing emergency in Edinburgh. Housing is the foundation for health and wellbeing, but the effects of inadequate housing supply and conditions are affecting families’ physical and mental health.

“Families involved in the research want to see compassionate, consistent housing support, improved repairs and maintenance processes, and good quality, habitable housing and green spaces, where their children can play freely and safely. 

“Housing is a key driver of child poverty in Scotland and adequate funding of social homes by the Scottish Government is vital to ensure we end the injustice of child poverty in Scotland.” 

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Young mussels struggle as conditions change in Firth of Forth

Falling salt levels in seawater could be contributing to driving blue mussels from parts of the Firth of Forth, researchers say.

Scientists at Heriot-Watt University found that baby mussels are especially sensitive to fresher water, with their growth and development badly affected when the seawater becomes diluted.

The lab-based study was sparked by the sharp drop in mussel beds that were once common around Musselburgh and Cramond.

The team says their findings, published in the academic journal Frontiers in Ocean Sustainability, could also help explain falling blue mussel numbers across northern Europe. 

“Now there’s nothing there” 

Dr Mark Hartl, from Heriot-Watt’s School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, said the university’s marine science researchers had worked with mussels from the Firth of Forth for over 20 years and had observed the disappearance of the local populations. 

Dr Hartl said: “We noticed them disappearing from Cramond at first, where we used to be able to easily find and collect mussels.

“At Musselburgh, you could walk for a mile out at low tide and it would be full of mussels, even as recently as 2018. 

“It used to take me just a few minutes to find the mussels I needed. Now there’s nothing there.”

The researchers stressed that the experiments were carried out under controlled conditions in a laboratory and that long-term field work is required to conclusively show that changing local salinity has been a significant driver of the loss of mussels in the Firth of Forth.

However, they said the findings could help explain the absence of younger mussels that would normally replace older and larger adults. 

Dr Hartl said: “We had noticed in Musselburgh that the mussels were big, and old. There weren’t any smaller ones. 

“They were reproducing and producing larvae, but the larvae didn’t seem to be developing properly.”

Wetter winters mean less salty estuaries 

Isabella Jackson is undertaking the research as part of her PhD at Heriot-Watt University. 

Working with Dr Mark Hartl, Isabella looked at how pollution, temperature and salinity interacted during the first stages of mussel development.

Mussel embryos and larvae were exposed to different conditions in the laboratory over 48 hours. 

Lower salinity had one of the clearest detrimental effects on the mussels: reducing salinity from optimal conditions cut normal larval development by almost 29%. 

Isabella said: “Mussels in the Firth of Forth experience multiple stressors: pollution, temperature change and changes in salinity among them.

“We found that they are highly susceptible to changes in salinity, but pollution compounds the problem and amplifies the effects we saw under lower-salinity conditions.” 

“Reduced salinity is likely to happen as wetter winters bring more freshwater into estuaries, and it is not something that can easily be fixed. 

“But if we tackle some of the other problems, such as pollution, we may be able to alleviate the pressure on mussels.

“We may not be able to address every stressor at once, but reducing one of them could still make a difference.”

Isabella said the research also highlighted the importance of studying the early life stages of marine organisms.

“The early life stages are often the most sensitive to environmental stressors, but they are also easily overlooked, particularly in studies looking at multiple stressors,” she said.

“If larvae are not developing properly, this can create a bottleneck where a population is unable to sustain itself. 

“Understanding what happens at this critical stage is an important piece of the puzzle when investigating why blue mussel beds are declining.”

Impact on biodiversity 

Blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, were once widespread in estuaries around northern Europe.

Declines have been observed elsewhere in Scotland but some areas, like Orkney, still have healthy populations containing mussels of different ages. 

Dr Hartl said: “A decline in mussel beds could have several potential impacts. It could reduce biodiversity, as mussel beds act as habitat for lots of other species. And, as mussels clean the water by ingesting contaminants, it could have an impact on water quality. 

“Ideally we would set up field experiments to replicate what we did in the lab, and definitely determine that salinity levels are behind their decline.

“The Firth of Forth’s health has improved dramatically over the past few years, we’re seeing large mammals like humpback whales return now. But there are locations  where a decline in biodiversity is happening, as witnessed by the disappearance of mussels, and we should monitor and try to resolve this.” 

This research was funded by NERC Scottish Universities Partnership for Environmental Research (SUPER) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

(Grant reference number NE/S007342/1 and website https://superdtp.standrews.ac.uk).

Scots researchers to tackle bowel cancer mutation

Focus on patients with BRAF-mutation

A pioneering new Scottish study aims to better understand, and improve treatment, for patients with an aggressive form of bowel cancer associated with some of the poorest survival rates.

Scotland has the highest mortality rates of bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, in the UK. It remains the second most common cause of cancer death in Scotland, claiming around 1,700 (17,700 in the UK) lives annually.*

The new research will focus on the BRAF mutation-caused form of colorectal cancer, which is estimated to affect around 10-15 per cent of bowel cancers.** It will examine how two existing treatments, encorafenib and cetuximab, could be used to tackle the disease earlier.

Dr Mark White, of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre at the University of Glasgow, said: “The ability to analyse tumour samples before and after treatment provides invaluable insight into how cancers adapt and resist therapy.

“By understanding these changes, we hope to identify new strategies to improve outcomes for patients.”

While these treatments have already shown promise in treating advanced colorectal cancer, neither their impact earlier in the disease’s development nor how they potentially change the biology of the cancer, have been fully explored.

The research aspect of the study, led by Dr Mark White of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, will examine the cancer before and after the treatments in patients taking part in the FOxTROT4 clinical trial which will use advanced technologies to assess the cellular adaptions.

FOxTROT4 is part of the FOxTROT clinical trial platform led by the Clinical Trials Research Unit at the University of Leeds and will be among the first worldwide to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of this drug combination in patients with BRAF mutant colon cancer before they undergo surgery to remove tumours.

The research will employ breakthrough technology which maps changes in tumour cells with unprecedented precision.

By using this approach, researchers can examine tumours more effectively, offering a unique opportunity to observe how cancers respond in real time.

This new method will also allow scientists to track gene activity across cells and zoom in on individual cells to see what genes are switched on and where they are in the body.

A major focus of the project is uncovering why resistance to targeted therapies develops – a key focus for cancer research. Previous work using sophisticated laboratory models demonstrated that tumour cells can rapidly adapt to treatment by altering their biological state.

FOxTROT chief investigator, Professor Jenny Seligmann of the University of Leeds, said: “This is a valuable opportunity to maximise what we can learn from a clinical trial. By studying tumour samples before and after treatment, we can begin to understand how these cancers adapt, evolve and develop resistance to therapy.

“The commitment of patients participating in the trial, together with the expertise of research teams, will help generate knowledge that could shape future treatment approaches for this particularly challenging form of bowel cancer.”

Previously, tumours in preclinical model were observed to shift between different cell states, as quickly as within three days, even when key cancer-driving pathways were effectively suppressed.

This study will now validate those findings in human samples from patients enrolled in the FOxTROT4 trial, specifically examining whether similar adaptive changes occur in response to treatment prior to surgery.

Cancer Research UK director of research, Dr Catherine Elliott, said: “From understanding cancer’s triggers to developing world-first vaccines and testing anti-cancer drugs in studies like this one, we’re developing more personalised, precise and powerful prevention techniques to stop cancers before they start.”

Ultimately, the findings could help refine therapeutic strategies and lead to more effective, personalised treatments for patients facing this challenging form of colorectal cancer.

The FOxTROT 4 clinical trial funding has been provided by Yorkshire Cancer Research, Pierre Fabre and Merck Serono.

Decades-old worm treatment could help tackle rare childhood cancer

Glasgow woman who had cancer four times welcomes development

A drug commonly used to treat parasitic worm infections could offer a new way to tackle one of the most difficult childhood blood cancers to treat, research funded by Leukaemia UK has identified.

Dr Noelia Che and her colleagues at UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, investigated whether the drug mebendazole, could be repurposed and used in combination therapies to treat childhood acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).

While survival rates for childhood leukaemia have improved dramatically in recent decades, AML remains one of the most challenging forms of the disease.

Established treatments such as chemotherapy and stem-cell transplants, while effective, are intensive and can often lead to relapse and serious long-term side effects for patients.

This was the case for Nichola Smith, whose diagnosis of AML at aged 12 led to decades of difficult treatment, relapse and serious life-long consequences. “I was constantly tired and run down,” recalled Nichola, now 44, from Glasgow.  

“Then one day after playfighting with my cousins I noticed an enormous hand-shaped bruise where one of them had grabbed me. Then the next day I collapsed and my mum took me to Yorkhill Children’s Hospital where, to my shock, I was diagnosed with leukaemia”.

Nichola underwent intensive chemotherapy. After relapsing a year later months later, she also required a stem cell transplant and more chemotherapy.

While her treatment was successful, the impact on Nichola has been life-long. In 2006, a routine mammogram revealed pre-cancerous cells in both her breasts, a recognised long-term effect of the leukaemia treatment she had received as a child. She underwent a double mastectomy and several major operations.

Then, in 2022, Nichola was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood cancer that can develop into AML.

“I was devastated,” she said. “I kept saying to myself, ‘Here we go again’ and ‘Why me?’ I couldn’t believe I was going to have to fight another blood cancer after everything I’d already been through.”

Her condition later progressed and she once again required chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

Experiences like Nichola’s are driving researchers to find more targeted and less toxic ways of treating AML. Reducing the devastating long-term effects.

Dr Che, a recipient of the Leukaemia UK John Goldman Fellowship, is focusing her research on a protein called MYB, which AML cells rely on to survive and grow.

She and her colleagues found that mebendazole can reduce levels of MYB within leukaemia cells, depriving them of a key survival mechanism and causing them to die.

She hopes the approach could form part of a new generation of targeted therapies. Unlike chemotherapy, which attacks all rapidly dividing cells, targeted therapies attack cancer cells more precisely while reducing damage to healthy tissue.

Dr Che and her colleagues are now exploring further how mebendazole can be used with newer targeted therapies rather than chemotherapy, identifying a promising treatment strategy for children with AML. Potentially avoiding the increased toxicity associated with more intensive chemotherapy.

Dr Noelia Che said: “Our research is exploring whether mebendazole, a safe and well-established drug, could be used in a completely different way to target vulnerabilities within AML cells.

“We hope this work will contribute to gentler, more effective treatments, so that children survive without life altering complications.”

Simon Ridley, Director of Research and Advocacy, Leukaemia UK, said: “We’re proud to support innovative researchers such as Dr Che who are exploring bold new approaches to treatment.  

“It is important to note that this research is still in early stages, but it shows one of the many routes that researchers are working to fight leukaemia through new strategies, repurposed medications and innovative combinations. 

“Which, in the future, could reduce the long-term impact of treatment on patients and their families.”

NHS Lothian neurosurgeon featured on CNN for pioneering live brain tissue donation initiative

The Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Little France recently welcomed a news crew from CNN International to highlight a world‑leading partnership between the neurosurgery team and researchers at the University of Edinburgh.

Spearheaded by neurosurgeon Paul Brennan and Race Against Dementia Fellow Dr Claire Durrant, the programme involves keeping living human brain tissue – removed during routine neurosurgery – alive for study in the laboratory.

This pioneering research has enabled scientists to show, for the first time, how a toxic form of a protein linked to Alzheimer’s can attach to and damage the connections between brain cells.

The team hopes the discovery will help identify medications with the greatest potential to prevent the loss of synapses—the vital connections that allow messages to flow between brain cells and support healthy brain function.

Paul Brennan said: “During neurosurgery, there is always a small amount of healthy brain tissue that must be removed in order to reach, for example, a tumour and typically that tissue would be thrown away. Our partnership with Claire and her team means we can package up that healthy, living tissue and send it to the lab for testing.

“Even the tiniest piece “contains thousands of cells, and we can learn a great deal from it. Research of this type has been underway for some time, but this collaboration allows us to study living human brain tissue in a way that hasn’t routinely been possible before.”

The tissue is collected with the patient’s consent, in a process similar to organ donation. Aidan McAllister (28) chose to donate his healthy brain tissue during an operation to remove a tumour. He said: “My grandad passed away from Alzheimer’s a few years ago. We were really close – he lived just across the road and we saw each other every day. His dementia became so severe that he didn’t know who he was or who we were.

“It’s a really brutal disease. When Paul asked if I’d consider donating some of my brain tissue during surgery, I thought if it could help people like my grandad, then I wanted to do it.”

Dr Claire Durrant said: “We believe this research could accelerate the journey from lab findings to patient treatments, bringing us one step closer to a world free from the heartbreak of dementia.

“It was fantastic to be able to show the CNN team what we do and to highlight the vital, world-leading research taking place in Edinburgh.”

CPAG Survey on Two Child Cap

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE

The Child Poverty Action Group (UK) – CPAG are carrying out research to understand the impact of the two child policy on children and family life prior to abolition of the policy in April.

This is so they can conduct further comparative research later in the year on the impact of getting rid of the policy.

It would really help them if you can spare a few minutes to answer some questions about your experience of the two child limit.

They want to hear from parents who are not receiving tax credits or universal credit for a child born after April 6 2017.

The survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete.

No information will be used that could identify anyone involved.

Take the survey here: https://f.mtr.cool/mvoinbqtdb

You can find more information about the Child Poverty Action Group here – https://f.mtr.cool/pambkzwiyp

If you can spare a few minutes we’d be really grateful 💚

Newly discovered biological process could help repair MS damage

Researchers say previously unidentified feature of myelin could pave the way to new treatment options

Researchers in Edinburgh have discovered that myelin, the protective coating surrounding nerves, which is damaged in multiple sclerosis (MS), could potentially repair itself instead of being lost, thanks to a newly discovered biological response.

This might offer a significant new opportunity to help slow, stop or even prevent degeneration in MS and other conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. 

In MS, the immune system attacks myelin in the brain and spinal cord and disrupts messages being sent around the body. This impacts how people move, think and feel. While myelin loss is a hallmark of a range of conditions, there are still no treatments that can replace damaged or lost myelin.

Until now, research has been focused on regenerating new myelin after it has already been lost. But a team from the MS Society Edinburgh Centre for Myelin Research at the University of Edinburgh, led by Professor David Lyons and supported by international collaborators, has shown that when myelin is first damaged it undergoes a dynamic swelling phase.

This can, in principle, be followed by repair, rather than myelin loss. This potentially offers a window of opportunity to intervene before the myelin completely breaks down. 

Historically, although this myelin swelling had been observed, it had not been investigated in detail, as researchers thought that it might be an artefact of the way brain tissue is preserved in the lab. But this new study took advantage of advanced technology to observe live zebrafish and tissue from mice and humans who lived with MS to follow what happened to damaged myelin over time.

The team showed that this swelling is in fact a natural process in the body that can be followed by repair of the damaged myelin, and thus one that could be a critical step in the body’s fight to prevent complete myelin loss.

This suggests that the nervous system has a powerful – and until now unrecognised – ability to withstand early myelin damage. 

Professor David Lyons, Co-lead of the MS Society Edinburgh Centre for MS Research, at the University of Edinburgh, says: “These findings suggest that intervening during this early swelling phase could protect myelin before it is lost, offering us the opportunity to explore potential new treatment routes that could complement current treatments.

“For decades, scientists have focused on remyelination, the process of rebuilding myelin once it is already lost. This continues to hold promise. But now that we have this new avenue of exploration, it could be the start of something else very special.”

Over 150,000 people in the UK live with MS, with 135 diagnosed each week. More than 17,000 people with MS live in Scotland. The MS Society is the largest charitable funder of MS research in the UK. Its research has helped drive forward treatment options and dramatically improved public understanding of the condition.

The University of Edinburgh is home to one of Europe’s largest groupings of neuroscience researchers investigating the nervous system in health and disease. This includes one of two MS Society-funded Centres of Excellence in MS research.

Work at the Edinburgh Centre for MS Research, co-led by Professor Lyons and Professor Anna Williams, spans investigation of fundamental biological processes relevant to MS, drug discovery to identify treatments for MS, through clinical research and supporting clinical trials in people with disease.

Dr Emma Gray, Director of Research at the MS Society, says: “We know that the body has the ability to regenerate new myelin after it’s lost. But this study shows that existing myelin can sometimes self-heal before it’s fully lost, a process we hadn’t identified before.

“It doesn’t replace current strategies, but it adds another potential way to protect myelin early on. MS can be debilitating, exhausting and unpredictable and for tens of thousands of people there are still no treatments that work for them.

“There’s still a lot to learn, but discoveries like this are essential to help people with MS in the future.”

To read the full research paper visit: 

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr4661

‘Lucky’ stroke survivor joins study led by the University of Edinburgh

~ Warning not to ignore subtle stroke signs just because they are uncommon ~ 

A stroke survivor is warning others to watch out for unusual symptoms after joining a study funded by the British Heart Foundation. 

Gordon Robb had a stroke involving a bleed in his brain, but his only symptom was finding that written words suddenly looked as if they were in a foreign language. 

The 63-year-old is now taking the drug clopidogrel, as part of a clinical trial run by researchers at the University of Edinburgh. This study will examine if clopidogrel or aspirin, which are ‘antiplatelet’ drugs that reduce the risk of blood clotting, can prevent future strokes, heart attacks and premature deaths in people who have had a haemorrhagic stroke – a stroke caused by a bleed in the brain. 

Gordon only discovered his stroke had happened after his cousin, whose husband had died from a stroke a few weeks earlier, insisted he go to hospital. 

Having first thought his sudden inability to read was caused by tiredness, he now describes himself as an ‘extremely lucky man’. He had none of the more commonly known symptoms of a stroke, such as problems with his face, arm, speech, eyes or balance.  

Difficulty recognising written words on its own, without any other symptoms, affects fewer than one per cent of people at the time of their stroke, say researchers. 

A few months on, Gordon’s symptoms are improving, although it now takes him half an hour to read a chapter instead of his previous 10 minutes, and more recently he has noticed he occasionally can’t find the right word during a conversation. 

Gordon said: “I am incredibly lucky, and quite honestly felt like a fraud in the stroke ward because I was no different to how I am normally, except that I suddenly could not read words. 

“A group of student doctors in neurology who were brought to see me even said they would have struggled to diagnose that I had had a stroke. 

“I knew some of the classic signs of a stroke like facial weakness, being unable to raise my arms or speech issues, but had none of these.  

“It just shows the importance of paying attention to unusual symptoms, even if they aren’t ones you have heard of before. If I hadn’t gone to the hospital, and quickly received treatment, I could have been walking around with a ticking time-bomb in my head.” 

The stroke survivor, from Bonnyrigg in Midlothian, had only been to hospital once in his life previously. A keen cyclist and runner, who had climbed to base camp at Mount Everest two years ago, he felt in perfect health. 

So when, on September 27 last year, he checked his emails and could not read them, he put it down to tiredness. 

Gordon, the former vice-president of a biotech company, said: “I was in the garden, went in to have a cup of tea, listen to some music and check my emails on my phone – and it was like they were in a foreign language. 

“I could see them clearly, and see who they were from, but the words meant nothing to me. 

“I just assumed I was tired because I had been up late the night before. When friends were then messaging me about the Ryder Cup that evening and I couldn’t see the messages, I just gave myself an early night.” 

 The following evening, when he was unable to read the instructions on a cash machine to withdraw money, he resolved to go to see his GP the next day. 

However, when he told his cousin – whose husband had died from a sudden stroke just three weeks earlier – she drove straight to his house and insisted on taking him to A&E. There, doctors told him he had had a haemorrhagic stroke. 

Approximately 15 per cent of strokes are haemorrhagic. The majority of strokes are ischaemic strokes, caused by a blocked artery. 

While in hospital, Gordon signed up to a study being led by Professor Rustam Al-Shahi Salman at the University of Edinburgh, which is called ASPIRING (Antiplatelet Secondary Prevention International Randomised study after INtracerebral haemorrhaGe).  

The international study is recruiting people who have had a stroke due to bleeding in the brain, also known as a haemorrhagic stroke. Study participants in the UK will be given  ‘antiplatelet’ medicines like clopidogrel or aspirin, which reduce the chances of a stroke or heart attack by preventing cells in the bloodstream, called platelets, from sticking together and forming a blood clot.  

Antiplatelet medicines are not routinely prescribed for people who have had a haemorrhagic stroke, because of safety concerns that they may increase the risk of bleeding. But a small study called RESTART, led by the University of Edinburgh and also funded by the British Heart Foundation, found aspirin and clopidogrel are safe after a haemorrhagic stroke.  

In this new larger study, researchers in the UK now aim to understand if clopidogrel or aspirin can reduce the likelihood of having future strokes, heart attacks and other clotting and bleeding problems in people who have survived a haemorrhagic stroke.  

Major clotting or bleeding problems occur in around one in 10 haemorrhagic stroke survivors every year.  

Professor Salman said: “It has been hard to overcome the instinctive fear that if people have had a haemorrhagic stroke, taking aspirin or a drug like it might cause more bleeding. So we were very relieved when our research showed such drugs to be safe after a haemorrhagic stroke.  

“The ASPIRING study will gather further evidence to establish if aspirin and clopidogrel can help lower the risk of future strokes and heart attacks, and potentially save the lives of people like Gordon who have had a haemorrhagic stroke.

“I believe there is a huge amount more to be done to help these people, whose lives have been turned upside down and who may be concerned about the future.” 

Gordon is one of more than 4,000 people worldwide set to join the study, which is also funded by the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Research Foundation – Flanders and the Medical Research Future Fund in Australia. 

The study was endorsed by the Global Cardiovascular Research Funders Forum (GCRFF) multinational clinical trials initiative.  

Gordon said: “Being involved in this trial provides some reassurance, that this drug may reduce my risk of another stroke. 

“But it is also great to know that being involved could help improve treatment for people like me in the future, and relieve the pressure on the health system. 

“I feel extremely lucky that I did not have more long-term effects from my stroke, and that I have had the chance to try to help improve treatments.” 

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, the British Heart Foundation’s clinical director, said: “Facial weakness, arm or leg weakness and speech problems are well-known signs you or your loved one may be having a stroke, but there are some lesser-known symptoms like being unable to recognise the written word. 

“If you have a symptom that you feel is not right, however strange or unusual, it is really important to seek help. Every minute matters if you may be having a stroke or other medical emergency. 

“We know stroke survivors often fear having another stroke and how disabling this could be. That is why the BHF is funding clinical trials like ASPIRING, which will test whether prescribing antiplatelet drugs could protect more people.” 

The ASPIRING study is recruiting people from England, Wales and Scotland who have had a haemorrhagic stroke.

Volunteers can check their eligibility, depending on the hospital where they received treatment, and express interest by visiting www.ASPIRING.ed.ac.uk 

Lethal pandemic disease slowing down the extinction of amphibians in tropical climates, study shows

A new, global study led by Queen’s University Belfast reveals that tropical amphibians have evolved resistance to the most lethal wildlife pathogen recorded to date.

Chytridiomycosis is a devastating infectious disease, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, commonly associated with the alarming decline of amphibians worldwide.

These accelerating declines overtake the loss of most organisms on Earth, and this fungal pandemic disease, also referred to as a panzootic, is regarded as a predominant driver behind the massive global population declines and extinctions of frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders.

Published in the world-leading journal, Global Change Biology, the research compares previous data to more recent figures to examine the amphibian species infection status in tropical regions as well as in colder climates.

Dr Daniel Pincheira-Donoso from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s, the principal investigator on the project, said: “The idea that this infectious disease has been a dominant cause of the rapid loss of amphibian biodiversity has become a form of paradigm amongst the scientific community to produce volumes of data from thousands of species on a global scale.

“This collective effort created an opportunity for us to gather a comprehensive database spanning the global diversity of amphibian species, including the threatened and non-threatened, and all the thousands of species in which the presence of the disease has been tested.

“We now know that the role of this infectious disease in the extinction of amphibians is not exactly as we thought, with tropical species getting over the panzootic, while these panzootic effects are still ongoing in amphibians from colder climates.”

Dr Pincheira-Donoso adds: “An explanation is that the seasonality of colder climates added to the low density of amphibians in these regions may have acted as ‘natural lockdowns’ and ‘social distance’ effects that have made the impact of the pandemic slower, slowing down the evolution of their resistance.”

Many locations throughout the world have already been successfully invaded by one or more Bd variants, and these findings suggest that the most susceptible species have either already gone extinct or have undergone past declines and developed some form of tolerance to the disease.

This means there is the potential that these amphibian populations may coexist with Bd, and that a once declining species may have stabilised in numbers or even be in recovery.

This research indicates that there are region-specific and time-specific patterns of extinctions, with tropical amphibian species no longer experiencing declines of the same intensity and non-tropical amphibians continuing to decline further.

Luke Goodyear, a PhD Researcher from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s who led the research, commented: “This new research is very exciting as it shows two different ways this disease has affected amphibians.

“We see early signs of possible stabilisation in environments around the equator, which were initially hit very hard by the disease. Although many species are still at risk in these regions, it seems that the peak of devastation might be behind us.

“Then in colder climates, like Europe, we see the opposite. This is the first research to show the increasing impact on these amphibian species at this scale. Hopefully this can speed up conservation action while there is still time to prevent the mass declines we saw in tropical climates.”

The paper can be read in full here.