Many fertility clinics offer immune cell tests to women who have a history of subfertility or who have had a number of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycles in which embryos failed to implant (known as recurrent implantation failure (RIF)). The tests offered are usually to look at different immune cell types in the blood or in the lining of the womb (the endometrium.) These tests are very controversial as many scientists believe immune cells are unrelated to subfertility and failed ...

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Peripheral neuropathy (injury to peripheral nerve fibres) and can be caused for instance by mechanical nerve compression (e.g., entrapment neuropathies), metabolic neuropathies (e.g., diabetes mellitus) or genetic neuropathies (e.g., channelopathies). A subset of patients with a neuropathy develops nerve related (neuropathic) pain. Why some individuals develop neuropathic pain as a consequence of peripheral neuropathy and others do not is currently unclear. The PIPL study will help us to determine whether factors such as the severity of neuropathy, psychological factors or ...

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The normal heart can use either sugar or fat to produce the energy needed to pump. If the amount of sugar and fat change in the blood (for example after eating or fasting) the normal heart is flexible and will use either depending on what is available in the blood. When the heart speeds up during exercise it prefers to use glucose as this is readily available and provides energy quickly. One of the changes that occurs in heart failure ...

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Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an immune-mediated disease in which insulin-producing betacells are completely or near completely destroyed, resulting in life-long dependence on exogenous insulin. It is a chronic and potentially disabling disease that represents a major public health and clinical concern. The number of patients diagnosed with T1D each year is increasing and is approaching an epidemic level in some countries that track this information The POInT study examines whether the development of T1D can be prevented in children with an increased risk ...

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Ultrasound is a mandatory tool for safely monitoring the growth and development of fetuses during pregnancy. Although pregnancy ultrasound is routinely used, it has a major disadvantage, namely a high level of operator dependence: non-experts (or infrequent) users of the technology are often not able to acquire and interpret diagnostic ultrasound images consistently and reliably. Consequently, there is a significant requirement for training, and lack of adequately trained staff is the most commonly reported barrier to the use of ultrasound ...

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Sleep disorders are increasingly recognised as an important feature of various neurodegenerative diseases. They contribute to reduced quality of life and are associated with other poor outcome measures. Furthermore, it is now clear that sleep disorders can precede the onset of neurodegenerative disease and can therefore act as a marker of prodromal disease. The most important example of this relates to PD. Up to half of PD patients are thought to suffer from RBD, and many of these people develop ...

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The primary objective is to identify blood and/or bone marrow samples from adults with CHIP and evaluate the mechanisms by which mutations confer a competitive advantage to blood stem and progenitor cells. This includes determining where mutations occur in the cellular hierarchy of blood production,assessing their functional consequences,and analysing their effects on gene expression through RNA-sequencing and epigenetic analysis. Secondary objectives include measuring cell division and differentiation rates in normal human haematopoiesis,evaluating how these dynamics change during aging,and examining correlations between ...

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Millions of women suffer from the consequences of endometriosis and uterine fibroids. These include severe pain, abnormal uterine bleeding, infertility and miscarriages. Current treatment is associated with significant side effects and risks. To better understand the underlying mechanisms of these conditions, this prospective study will use biological samples such as blood, saliva, urine, peritoneal fluid and endometrial or fibroid tissue in state-of-the-art biomedical assays together with detailed clinical and intraoperative data from participants. Women of reproductive age (18 years until ...

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Patients receiving solid organ transplants must be maintained on drugs that suppress the immune system in order to prevent the immune system from rejecting the transplant. These medicines are highly efficacious, with one-year kidney transplant survival in the UK being > 95%. However long term outcomes are significantly limited by the serious and life-threatening side-effects of immunosuppressive drugs, which include enhanced rates of infection, malignancy and cardiovascular and metabolic disease such as heart attacks and diabetes. Long term maintenance on ...

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Psychosis and schizophrenia are caused by factors associated with excess dopamine and abnormally low N-methyl D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) functioning. There is increasing evidence for the role of inflammation in these disorders. We propose that one possible cause of psychosis and schizophrenia is the presence of antibodies in the blood that bind to the neuronal membrane in the brain. Since discovery of antibodies that bind to the NMDAR (NMDAR-ab) that cause encephalitis, we have discovered NMDAR-ab or voltage-gated potassium channel complex ...

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