U3A Research Database

Projects registered under the topic Medical and Health

• How people can keep and update emotional and neutral information in working memory
• Veggi-eat project MORE INFORMATION NEEDED
• Attaching electrodes to legs?? MORE INFORMATION NEEDED
• Genetics of Alzheimers disease
• Active ageing - including balance, weakness and frailty and physical activity and inactivity in older age.
• Gaze & walking - how visual problems may limit physical activity
• How people use strategies to complete memory based tasks
• Various projects including elder abuse, pensions & poverty, housing & technology, end of life care, prevention of falls, biology of ageing
• Osteoporosis in men over 55
• Sleep research
• To measure differences in muscle power and motion of people with and without diabetes
• SAMS (Software Architecture for Mental Health Self-management)
• To look at health care for people over 55 with multiple health conditions and discover their experiences in order to make navigating the care system easier. Online survey
• Managing your health together: voluntary organisations, community groups and local networks of support
• Understanding networks of information needs for diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease
• Individual differences in the preference for musical consonance
• How the brain processing of information from hearing changes with age
• Thinking styles & brain changes related to clinical depression with & without Type 2 diabetes in older adults
• To study whether older volunteers can act as peer mentors to reduce number of falls in older people
• Use of brain imaging to understand changes in the brain associated with normal ageing
• How people with & without Parkinson's disease respond to objects and movements in their environment
• How people have their blood pressure measured during routine GP appointments which will involve 2 short online surveys.
• To find out whether systemic sclerosis also has gastrointestinal effects
• Research on Parkinsons disease
• Research into the effect of ageing on the immune system - to understand why this declines as people get older.
• Control participants for a study of Parkinson's disease
• Study on pathophysiology of dystonia - controls wanted
• Research project to understand neurological problems called movement disorders especially Parkinson’s disease
• Healthy volunteers needed for a research study into the optimal design of visual field test stimulus for the detection of retinal changes in glaucoma.research
• To establish baseline for language ability for aphasia treatment - controls wanted
• Impact of ageing on speech communication
• Comprehension of language
• What motivates people to do exercise when they have osteoarthritis? Online questionnaire.
• Driving Choices Survey: Keeping Older Drivers Safe and Mobile - online study
• Development of garments for active walkers, especially over age 65
• Exploring what people know and understand about cognitive impairment Paper and online versions
• Could techniques athletes use after injury could be adapted for older people?
• Evaluating care at the Hospice
• Reminiscence boxes - memory project in residential home in Lea Valley for dementia patients. The aim was to provide objects that could be handled to stimulate memory. Various themes eg Toys, Kitchen, Ladies' items, Gentlemen's items, Handicrafts etc
• History of NHS through eyes of its users based on Mass Observation archives
• Sleep questionnaire for older people
• Examining artefacts for inclusion in new Bethlem museum, Beckenham, and research to produce captions and guides.
• Cognition in Aging and Parkinsons Disease. Participants with either a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease or individuals without any known neurological impairment, took part in a study looking at measures of cognitive function and a measures of motor cognition.
• Developing Computerised Measures of Cognition in Aging. Individuals without any known neurological impairment took part in a large scale study validating the use the computerised assessments of cognition. This study will in part help inform the develop of tasks to aid early detection of cognitive decline. Participants were asked to compete a range of computerised tasks and paper and pen tasks
• Creation of resource material, trails for visitors at Hunterian Museum, London
• Creating resource material at Hunterian Museum, London. To create inter-generational learning, eg Top Ten Highlights guide, quizzes for children, CD-ROM of images
• British Nursing Assoc's Register, stories of nurses
• British Nursing Assoc's Register, social research on nurses
• History of N.Islington child welfare from 1913 - Manor Gardens Centre began as a School for Mothers and its history covers the period before the start of the NHS.
• History of N.Islington child welfare, 1945-2000History of N.Islington child welfare from 1913 - Manor Gardens Centre began as a School for Mothers and its history covers the period before the start of the NHS.
• Researching the nursing archives
• History of healthcare in Surbiton, for website
• Cataloguing collection of 130 nurses' badges at Queens Nursing Institute & writing a history of each nurse's career
• Assistance with Dental Students' Community Engagement Module which involves understanding different sectors of the communities within which they will work
• Nightingale Fellowship
• Research into the use of web based support for GP Exercise Referrals. The aim of the e-coachER study is to find out whether having access to a web-based support package in addition to the exercise referral encourages people to attend their exercise scheme, and helps to increase physical activity even more than just attending the scheme.
• Residents of Normansfield 1868-1997
• History of Earlswood, Surrey & other local asylums
• History of Normansfield’s buildings & development of site from 1868. Create site maps, timeline with photographs, research in archives and talk to local residents.
• History of Victorian mental health Institutions for people with learning disabilities
• Study to scan hearts of healthy men over 80, to look for abnormal protein deposits occurring in a condition called ATTR amyloidosis.
• Sensory re-weighting for balance control and the effects of ankle foot orthoses and stance width: A comparison of people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and healthy participants
• Clinical Psychology Research Study: developing more reliable and accurate ways of assessing thinking and behaviour in ageing using questionnaires, computerized tasks and pen-and-paper tasks. Participants included healthy over 60s as well as those with Parkinsons and Dementia
• Physiotherapy research project: To what extent are different sensations in the foot and ankle impaired as part of the ageing process?
• Department of Health Study into the diversity of providers in health care and their effectiveness
• Antibiotics Resistance Research - inqury into the historical impact of the introduction of antibiotics and what health care had been like before it.
• Research to compare eye movement control in healthy people with people who have Multiple Sclerosis.
• Survey of U3A members in Salisbury to identify patient healthcare concerns, by U3A Combined Healthcare Group
• Survey of hospital wards to check infection control, Salisbury
• A novel hypothesis for atherosclerosis as a cholesterol sulfate deficiency syndrome
• Sugar-Damage in the Lipid Nutrition Cycle
• Investigation into age and well being
• To measure psychological strengths of the well elderly, eg gratitude,hope, optimism, curiosity and forgiveness and how they relate to wellbeing
• Study of the quality of life for carers of people with dementia
• Age UK wants experiences of health care from over 65s with the aim of reforming the current system
• Study to track 50,000 Scots to understand why cancer, heart disease and mental health problems often run in families.
• Origins of rural nursing service in Gloucestershire, founded by Elizabeth Malleson
• Analysis of focus group transcripts for Singing and Health projects
• Research looking at how ageing influences muscle function and thus balance and mobility. We are looking to enrol frail men over 65 years old who suffer from weak muscles and are not as active and mobile as they used to be.
• Age-related changes in remembering and forgetting emotional words: an electrophysiological analysis
• Mental Wellbeing and Quality of Life research
• Annual lecture series provided for the U3A by DANA with current scientific researchers
• Annual lecture series provided for the U3A by National Institute for Medical Research with current scientific researchers
• Neural correlates of face blindness across different age groups to show a developmental trajectory.
• Study looking at whether brain stimulation can improve moods in healthy older adults
• The role of nor-adrenaline in cognition
• Creative problem solving - to get a better understanding of the interaction between language, culture and creativity in a sample of British native speakers
• Study to assess how older listeners perform in a speech test compared to younger listeners. The aim is to look at the processes people use to understand speech in difficult situations. The work may have important implications for older adults who experience increased difficulties communicating in a noisy environment. We hope that this study will provide guidance to future methods of diagnosis and rehabilitation in Audiology.
• The project is a collaboration with Imperial College and is aimed at developing and testing sound processing methods for hearing aids that will make speech easier to understand in noisy backgrounds.
• The acceptability of reducing sedentary behaviour to older adults. Volunteers were interviewed to ask the amount of physical activity that they do and why they may chooose to do little activity.
• The Wellcome Trust - The life and legacy of Sir Hanry Wellcome' The story of two 19th Century American salesmen establishing the first pharmaceutical firm in Britain to do original research, resulting in a fortune endowed and developed as the Wellcome Trust, the second largest funding charity in the world.
• Intolerance of uncertainty, worry and engagement in personally meaningful activities in older adults
• Best Foot Forward: The science of how we walk (and run!). As a result of disease or accident, some people have difficulty in walking. Gait analysis is the scientific method used to analyse their walking but can be applied to everyone, not just those with walking difficulties. This presentation describes the gait analysis method, details the underpinning mechanisms of gait and applies them to areas of interest to U3A members. Applications include the benefits of walking; the effects of ageing; demands of uphill walking; the advantages of walking poles and the mechanisms of running.
• A Study to better understand how ageing affects the eye
• A study in Parkinson's disease to investigate some of the cognitive and social symptoms
• The second part of a 3-year ESRC funded research project in which we investigate the impact of ageing on speech communication in good and difficult listening conditions. In the first part of the study, we focused on speech production, and in this second part, we are inviting volunteers to take part in a listening study.
• A project to relate participants' experience of exercise in green spaces and the natural environment in childhood to their resilience in older age, based on cortisol levels which will be tested through saliva sampling, as well as heart monitoring
• Researching the staff who worked at Normansfield between 1868 and 1997 and creating a series life stories of people in different periods of time with photographs and documents.
• Study investigating the effects of multilanguage acquisition on cognitive development. In particular, we are interested in how the brain learns to speak multiple languages.
• The acceptability of reducing sedentary behaviour to older adults: a qualitative study
• Individual cognitive stimulation therapy (ICST) for people with movement disorders
• The effects of motion on memory - we are interested in investigating the association between space and time. More specifically, we want to see how observing motion can induce mental time travel, and in turn whether this affects performance in a memory task.
• Investigating the impact of ageing on speech communication in good and difficult listening conditions.
• A study which investigates the effect of ageing on sound perception and listening abilities in busy environments (such as a bustling train station or a loud restaurant).
• Stem Cell Research This is a brief overview of “the State of the Art” regarding stem cells and their role in medicine in the 21st century, introducing what stem cells are and where they originate. Stem cell classification covers totipotent, pluripotent and multiple potent stem cells and their origins. What adult and embryonic stem cells including cord blood cells can provide to medicine is covered and the stem cell bank and some of the diseases potentially helped by treatment with stem cells is discussed. The talk includes the challenges posed by an ageing population and the use of stem cells in diseases that are becoming more prevalent, as the life expectancy of individuals increases, e.g. Parkinson’s disease with all its associated morbidity. Where research is likely to develop next for stem cells concludes the presentation.
• A research project that aims to assess whether a very mild, non-invasive form of brain stimulation can improve mood.
• Research into why some speakers are easier to understand than others are, and how age and hearing levels influence speech intelligibility.
• Although people talk about family size a lot, there is little research evidence about people's emotions around having children compared to not having children, and especially how much the choice not to have children is related to factors such as health, life stress etc. We also don't know how similar the opinions of men and women are on this subject. Although being a parent is a popular choice for many people, others prefer a life without children, and others find they are unable to have children. This survey is about people’s thoughts about being a parent, what makes people decide to be childless, and feelings around problems in having children.
• The Cambridge BioResource is a panel of around 16,000 volunteers, both with and without health conditions, who are willing to be approached to participate in research studies investigating the links between genes, the environment, health and disease. Volunteers who join the Cambridge BioResource donate their DNA via a blood or saliva sample which is used together with other information, such as gender and ethnicity, to match them to specific research studies. Volunteers are free to choose which studies they would like to take part in, allowing the CBR to provide researchers with groups of participants, tailor-made to the research study.
• To find out what happens to our mental capabilities and our calmness when we become dizzy or disorientated. This line of research may help us to appreciate the day-to-day difficulties experienced by people with dizziness secondary to vestibular (inner ear) dysfunction. It may also lead to a deeper understanding of why in-flight conditions, which render flight crew dizzy or disorientated, can lead to human error and air accidents.
• The FACTOID study is examining how acceptable and feasible it is to develop a new form of talking therapy for older people with generalised anxiety disorder or chronic worrying that has not responded well to treatment. It will be based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy which is a form of talking therapy that helps people to learn new ways of handling distressing thoughts and feelings. It also helps people to develop ways of taking part in activities that are important and meaningful to them.
• Comparison of cognitive profiles of individuals over the age of 50 with and without ASD. Although a lot of research has been done with younger people with autism, very little research has looked at older people with and without autism. Developing a better understanding of the memory and cognitive abilities of older adults with ASD will aid understanding of potential cognitive decline in this group and tailoring of psychosocial and support interventions for them.
• Face blindness is a neurological condition which is little known but surprisingly common - about 2% of the population have it at a severe level. This talk explains the impact of it on daily and social life for the million people in this country who have the condition and looks at current research by universities.
• Members of the Cultural Activities in Care Homes project work with local care homes to arrange events to enhance the quality of residents’ lives and encourage their inclusion in meaningful activities. The project offers a range of cultural and leisure opportunities to residents and includes performances by local musicians and school children; reminiscence sessions with small groups and life story work with individuals.
• Investigating Autism Spectrum Disorders across the lifespan
• Investigation of Autism Spectrum Disorders across the lifespan
• The All Adenomas Study aims to examine the long-term risk of bowel cancer and the requirement for regular bowel examinations in patients diagnosed with adenomas, which are benign (non-cancerous) polyps
• Focus group study on benefits of joint participation in Arts activities with carers and the cared for
• The role of music in restoring certain functions lost due to brain degeneration.
• Study is to investigate how people’s physical fitness is related to their mental abilities such as memory and attention.
• Chariot Register - long term project on dementia prevention research, with subjects not showing symptoms, in association with Charing Cross Hospital,
• a study investigating language and memory in people with brain damage
• The Suffragette Surgeons of World War One. At the outbreak of the First World War the Suffragettes not only ceased their military campaign, they actively threw themselves behind the national war effort. One way in which they did this was through their work as nurses, doctors, and surgeons.
• FIT for Screening study - to find Patient and Public Representatives with the Cancer Screening and Prevention Research Group (CSPRG). The CSPRG are particularly interested in involving individuals in our research who have an interest in the area of bowel cancer screening. The length of involvement will be one year initially and reviewed annually. The Patient and Public Representatives (PPR) will be:  Involved in reviewing research materials e.g. study protocol, grant applications and plain English summaries.  Expected to attend up to two workshops.  Providing advice to CSPRG researchers to ensure that patient and public involvement (PPI) is included throughout the study. There is also an opportunity for PPRs to have a role in the Trial Steering Committee meeting and Data Safety and Monitoring Committee, if they wish. Full training and support will be provided throughout the involvement by the CSPRG
• The New Science of the Teenage Brain. Find out the recent research that explains why teenagers think and behave so differently from us 'sensible' adults. Learn which parts of the brain are used for various functions and how the brains and attitudes of growing children develop at the stages they go through.
• Experimental design into the effect of psychosocial factors on postural control
• The happy accident – the adrenal gland and asthma treatment - this talk traces the history of asthma therapy and discuss how a happy accident paved the way for all our modern medicines for asthma. Scientists isolated a substance from the adrenal gland which they called adrenaline – asthmatics inhaled it and felt better. Adrenaline was transformed into Ventolin (Salbutamol) – the first effective treatment for asthma, but this was 70 years after the discovery of adrenaline – why did it take so long? But it was all a mistake as adrenaline is not absorbed from the stomach and intestines following ingestion so it can’t have been adrenaline in the adrenal gland extract that improved asthma symptoms in the Victorian era. What was improving asthma following eating of adrenal gland extracts?
• This presentation explains what a genome is and introduces the 100,000 Human Genome project. Chromosome abnormalities and genetic defects will be discussed and the way that modern medicine is starting to tackle these issues shown. The ethical, social and legal implications of these new technologies will be raised. Issues include 3 parent babies, designer babies, eugenics, possible eradication of disease, personalised, targeted treatments and the technique CRISP-R which uses “genetic scissors” to edit genes.
• Our study will be investigating attention and memory and how these change throughout our lives. It will use technology such as an eye tracker and the experiment will include an array of tasks.
• Isometric exercise for patients with hypertension- experimental design
• We are interested in how people with a normal history of reading and visual perception perform on a range of behavioural tests. This data will be compared to that of patients with reading and visual perception difficulties caused as a result of brain injury, such as stroke.
• For many people with a hearing loss, cochlear implants are used with the intention of improving hearing. However, large variations remain in the benefit provided by a cochlear implant on an individual basis. Predicting the differences has been a challenge, but being able to do so may help to alleviate some of the problems.
• We are interested in how the brain recovers following brain injury (e.g. Stroke). The knowledge will help us to understand why some people make a rapid recovery after brain damage but other people make a poor recovery. This research is conducted using structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
• We are interested in how the brain recovers following brain injury (e.g. Stroke). The knowledge will help us to understand why some people make a rapid recovery after brain damage but other people make a poor recovery. This research is conducted using structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
• The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of a new measures, known as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), to look at brain patterns to sound. We hope to compare this technique to EEG, and apply it with normal hearing adults, and adults with cochlear implants.
• In this study, we are interested in how participants with normal history of reading and visual perception development perform on a range of behavioural tests. We will also ask you to complete an MRI scan (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). This uses a strong magnetic field to take pictures of the brain and will take place at UCL. This data will be compared to results from patients with reading and visual perception impairments caused as a result of brain injury, such as stroke.
• PREDICT-PD is an innovative project that aims to identify people at high risk of Parkinson’s before the symptoms appear. We are using a set of simple online tests that screen for factors linked to increased risk of Parkinson’s. We want to know whether a person’s combined score in these tests can tell us about their risk of developing Parkinson’s.
• Designing for Low Dexterity -
• FIT kit perception and acceptability study and workshop. This is an opportunity to help to improve a bowel cancer detection test by making it easier and more acceptable for future patients to use. The purpose of the study is to better understand your views of a new stool (poo) sample test called the FIT kit.
• We are currently running a study that uses virtual reality to validate an assessment tool that will help with the assessment of cognitive deficits such as Dementia.
• A study investigatingwellbeing in retirement and how it is affected by psychological factors
• Qualitative survey of hearing experiences of members attending Worcester U3A groups
• West Wolds has provided volunteers for Lincoln's Pharmacy Department, for a project on Caring, and have approached another college to see if they can partner some of their Technical departments.
• Social prescribing is essentially about steps to keep healthy in your Third Age, with GPs guiding well people into paths or activities to help them stay that way. A plan that fits in well with that philosophy is maintaining a personal record of those activities that ensure a sound and balanced lifestyle that is right for you. Heswall U3A member, John Bews, has developed what he calls a MeMap (a simple chart with yourself in the centre). This is used as part of a memory workshop which we run together. The ideas are very much in line with recommendations from The Global Council on Brain Health, as the workshop always seeks to ensure that the best current medical advice is used. The presenters are essentially enablers – seeking to pass on expert guidance, with indication of the authoritative source.
• A research project investigating the influence of physical fitness and cognitive reserve on executive and olfactory functioning
• Quantification of vascular and neuronal pathology in dementia using PET and MRI
• Subjective benefits of a deeply inserted extended wear hearing aid compared to other in-canal sound-delivering hearing aids
• This is an online study exploring the link between visual imagery and memory. Visual imagery is the ability to form images within the mind without these images physically being in front of us
• A research study in older people who are experiencing problems with their memory and/or attention, but who have been told by a healthcare professional that their memory and/or attention is normal. I am particularly interested in finding out whether there is a relationship between how we think and feel about things and self-reported problems with memory and/or attention, satisfaction with life and mood.
• A study related to navigational ability among 50-70 year-olds. Investigating how people rely on their memory for navigating, as well as monitoring movement patterns, could give us important clues into what patterns could potentially be an indicator of early onset Alzheimer’s.
• This is research that is being conducted with Anthony Nolan, the charity that saves lives of people with blood cancer. Anthony Nolan is working with researchers at Lancaster University to understand how members of the public feel about the donation of stem cells for a variety of health conditions as well as for research. As part of this work, we'd like to invite members of the public to participate in a focus group to get their thoughts.
• Why doesn't your nose grow an ear? - a talk on why cells grow into the various parts of the body
• To explore use and perceived impacts of green space on urban older population in Manchester. UK
• U3Aness is good for you. Concern about the health effects of loneliness in older people is part of the motivation behind the government strategy on loneliness. Loneliness is a risk factor for poor health and dementia; some argue that it is worse than smoking. One proposal in the policy is the expansion of social prescribing services – “Social prescribing connects people to community groups and services” so that, for example, GPs can prescribe such things as dancing, gardening etc., according to an individual’s social, emotional or practical needs. It is predicted that social prescribing will be in every GP practise within the next two years.