What We Do
Local researchers and clinicians are working in partnership on a broad range of health and medical topics which include:
• Autoimmune Disease
• Artificial Blood
• Cancer
• Cardiac Rehabilitation
• Childhood Obesity and Fitness
• Dementia
• Drug design
• Heart Disease
• Hospital Acquired Infections
• Infectious Disease
•Physical Activity and the Environment (Green Exercise)
Below are just some examples of the current projects.
Childhood Fitness and Obesity
Childhood
obesity is rapidly becoming a global health problem and a key factor that
contributes to obesity, is inactivity. Children today are less engaged in
physical activity than ever before. Researchers at the University of Essex have
carried out the ‘East of England Healthy Hearts Study’ which has assessed over
8000 school children from Essex and Suffolk for fitness, body composition, blood
pressure and physical activity levels. This study is one of the largest
paediatric health studies in the UK. Recent studies have shown worrying declines
in children's fitness and researchers at the University, working with local
Health Care Trusts and the local community, have been able to show that shown
that fitness is related to the way children travel to school and have also shown
that children who eat breakfast are fitter and more active than those who do
not. The study's findings have been widely covered by the media and were even
cited in the UK Chief Medical
Officer’s annual report 2009 and it is hoped that they can be used to
promote an initiative to lobby for national assessment of fitness in schools.
Using the Nintendo Wii to improve balance and quality-of-life in elderly fallers
Having
a fall can have a huge impact on our lives, destroying our confidence,
increasing isolation, and reducing our independence. Sometimes falls can even
lead to disability or even death. The cost of falls is approximately £5 million
per annum in North Essex and for the UK, falls are reported to cost the NHS £980
million. However, with the right services, such as strength and balance
training, many falls can be prevented. Researchers at the University of Essex,
together with a clinical team from Colchester hospital’s falls prevention
clinic, are evaluating the use of the Nintendo Wii-Fit™ to complement the
standard NHS treatment for elderly fallers. This is a novel approach for balance
rehabilitation for those elderly patients who are repeat fallers and could help
prevent further falls, improving their quality of life.
Biomarkers of Breast Cancer
Breast
cancer is one of the most common diseases in the Western world. Great efforts to
find the means to detect and monitor breast cancer have been made in recent
years. One of the most promising developments involves identification of cancer
biomarkers. Biomarkers are molecules that are associated with the disease: they
can be measured in body fluids and tissues and serve as valuable indicators and
tools for diagnosing cancer and monitoring the outcome of treatment. Researchers
at the University of Essex have discovered that a protein called BORIS, which
was found in blood cells of breast cancer patients, has a good potential to be
an early biomarker of breast cancer and as a biomarker to monitor the efficacy
of pre-operative chemotherapy. In collaboration with local clinicians
researchers are now evaluating these findings and hope to apply them in clinical
practice in the future.
Hospital Acquired Infections
One
of the most common hospital acquired infections is urinary tract infection (UTI).
The widespread use of urinary catheters in hospitals is a major factor
contributing to the prevalence of UTIs. Within the general community there are
many post-operative patients with long-term experience of using catheters, some
of whom will require further hospitalisation and as a consequence suffer
re-infection. Because microorganisms isolated from urinary catheters tend to be
more resistant to antibiotics and they form biofilms on the surface of these
devices, treatment is problematic. It has been found that the formation of a
bacterial biofilm greatly encourages the survival of free-living parasites, such
as Acanthamoeba and these amoebae and bacteria engage in a complex interaction,
which may play a significant role in recurrent UTIs. Researchers from the
University of Essex are currently working with local clinicians to study these
interactions with a view to developing a more successful treatment for recurrent
urinary tract infections.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer's
disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, which causes
thinking and memory to become seriously impaired. It is the most common cause of
dementia, affecting around 465,000 people in the UK. One of the hallmarks of
Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of ‘amyloid’ proteins into ‘plaques’
between nerve cells in the brain. These amyloid plaques are thought to
contribute to nerve cell damage in the brain. Currently no drug therapies exist
to control the formation of these amyloid plaques. Researchers at the University
are trying to combat this problem by designing, screening and selecting peptide
drugs that can slow down, or even prevent, this process from occurring. This
ongoing cutting-edge research could lead to a more effective treatment for
Alzheimer’s disease and it is hoped that similar technology could be applied to
other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease.
