Latest News Releases 14 April

People with a certain heart valve abnormality are at increased risk of severe heart rhythm disorders, even after successful valve surgery. This is according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden published in the European Heart Journal. The condition is more common in women and younger patients with valve disorder and can, in the worst case, lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

A global study by experts at the University of Sydney has shown that countries which consume more plant-based proteins – such as chickpeas, tofu and peas – have longer adult life expectancies. 

 

Published in Nature Communications, Dr Alistair Senior, PhD candidate Caitlin Andrews and their team in the Charles Perkins Centre studied food supply and demographic data between 1961-2018 from 101 countries, with the data corrected to account for population size and wealth, to understand whether the type of protein a population consumed had an impact on longevity. 

Precarious housing, financial hardship, and disadvantages based on ethnicity are just some of the factors that can result in negative pregnancy outcomes. They are also the reality that many women in one of the UK’s most diverse and deprived cities find themselves in. Researchers in Birmingham have examined how demographics, deprivation, and lifestyle factors impact the odds of babies being born too early or too small, as well as the odds of neonatal mortality. They estimated that if all women had the same odds of adverse pregnancy outcomes as White women living in less deprived areas, 211 low-weight and 191 premature births could be prevented each year in Birmingham and Solihull.