̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham

Mother’s gut microbiome during pregnancy shapes baby’s brain development

jg533 — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 23:30:03 +0000

Researchers have compared the development of the fetal brain in mice whose mothers had no bacteria in their gut, to those whose mothers were given Bifidobacterium breve orally during pregnancy, but had no other bacteria in their gut.

Nutrient transport to the brain increased in fetuses of mothers given Bifidobacterium breve, and beneficial changes were also seen in other cell processes relating to growth.

Bifidobacterium breve is a ‘good bacteria’ that occurs naturally in our gut, and is available as a supplement in probiotic drinks and tablets.

Obesity or chronic stress can alter the gut microbiome of pregnant women, often resulting in fetal growth abnormalities. ̽��ֱ��babies of up to 10% of first-time mothers have low birth weight or fetal growth restriction. If a baby hasn't grown properly in the womb, there is an increased risk of conditions like cerebral palsy in infants and anxiety, depression, autism, and schizophrenia in later life.

These results suggest that improving fetal development - specifically fetal brain metabolism - by taking Bifidobacterium breve supplements while pregnant may support the development of a healthy baby.

̽��ֱ��results are published today in the journal Molecular Metabolism.

“Our study suggests that by providing ‘good bacteria’ to the mother we could improve the growth and development of her baby while she’s pregnant,” said Dr Jorge Lopez-Tello, a researcher in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Centre for Trophoblast Research, first author of the report.

He added: “This means future treatments for fetal growth restriction could potentially focus on altering the gut microbiome through probiotics, rather than offering pharmaceutical treatments - with the risk of side effects - to pregnant women.”

“ ̽��ֱ��design of therapies for fetal growth restriction are focused on improving blood flow pathways in the mother, but our results suggest we’ve been thinking about this the wrong way - perhaps we should be more focused on improving maternal gut health,” said Professor Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri, a researcher in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Centre for Trophoblast Research and senior author of the report, who is also a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge.

She added: “We know that good gut health - determined by the types of microbes in the gut - helps the body to absorb nutrients and protect against infections and diseases.”

̽��ֱ��study was carried out in mice, which allowed the effects of Bifidobacterium breve to be assessed in a way that would not be possible in humans - the researchers could precisely control the genetics, other microorganisms and the environment of the mice. But they say the effects they measured are likely to be similar in humans.

They now plan further work to monitor the brain development of the offspring after birth, and to understand how Bifidobacterium breve interacts with the other gut bacteria present in natural situations.

Previous work by the same team found that treating pregnant mice with Bifidobacterium breve improves the structure and function of the placenta. This also enables a better supply of glucose and other nutrients to the developing fetus and improves fetal growth.

“Although further research is needed to understand how these effects translate to humans, this exciting discovery may pave the way for future clinical studies that explore the critical role of the maternal microbiome in supporting healthy brain development before birth,” said Professor Lindsay Hall at the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham, who was also involved in the research.

While it is well known that the health of a pregnant mother is important for a healthy baby, the effect of her gut bacteria on the baby’s development has received little attention.

Reference

Lopez-Tello, J, et al: ‘Maternal gut Bifidobacterium breve modifies fetal brain metabolism in germ-free mice.’ Molecular Metabolism, August 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.molmet.2024.102004

A study in mice has found that the bacteria Bifidobacterium breve in the mother’s gut during pregnancy supports healthy brain development in the fetus.

AsiaVision on Getty

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Oxygen ‘holes’ could hold the key to higher performing EV batteries

sc604 — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 14:59:04 +0000

Nickel is already used in lithium-ion batteries, but increasing the proportion of nickel could significantly improve battery energy density, making them especially suitable for electric vehicles and grid-scale storage. However, practical applications for these materials have been limited by structural instability and the tendency to lose oxygen atoms, which cause battery degradation and failure.

̽��ֱ��researchers, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham, found that ‘oxygen hole’ formation – where an oxygen ion loses an electron – plays a crucial role in the degradation of nickel-rich battery materials. These oxygen holes accelerate the release of oxygen that can further degrade the battery’s cathode, one of its two electrodes. Their results are reported in the journal Joule.

Using a set of computational techniques on UK regional supercomputers, the researchers examined the behaviour of nickel-rich cathodes as they charged. They found that during charging, the oxygen in the material undergoes changes while the nickel charge remains essentially unchanged.

“We found that the charge of the nickel ions remains around +2, regardless of whether it’s in its charged or discharged form,” said Professor Andrew J Morris, from the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham, who co-led the research. “At the same time, the charge of the oxygen varies from -1.5 to about -1.

“This is unusual, the conventional model assumes that the oxygen remains at -2 throughout charging, but these changes show that the oxygen is not very stable, and we have found a pathway for it to leave the nickel-rich cathode.”

̽��ֱ��researchers compared their calculations with experimental data and found that their results aligned well with what was observed. They proposed a mechanism for how oxygen is lost during this process, involving the combination of oxygen radicals to form a peroxide ion, which is then converted into oxygen gas, leaving vacancies in the material. This process releases energy and forms singlet oxygen, a highly reactive form of oxygen.

“Potentially, by adding compounds that shift the electrochemical reactions from oxygen more to the transition metals, especially at the surface of the battery materials, we can prevent the formation of singlet oxygen,” said first author Dr Annalena Genreith-Schriever from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. “This will enhance the stability and longevity of these lithium-ion batteries, paving the way for more efficient and reliable energy storage systems.”

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used for various applications because of their high energy density and rechargeability, but challenges associated with the stability of cathode materials have hindered their overall performance and lifespan.

̽��ֱ��research was supported in part by the Faraday Institution, the UK’s flagship battery research programme.

Reference:
Annalena R Genreith-Schriever et al. ‘Oxygen Hole Formation Controls Stability in LiNiO2 Cathodes: DFT Studies of Oxygen Loss and Singlet Oxygen Formation in Li-Ion Batteries.’ Joule (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2023.06.017

Adapted from a ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham media release.

For more information on energy-related research in Cambridge, please visit Energy IRC, which brings together Cambridge’s research knowledge and expertise, in collaboration with global partners, to create solutions for a sustainable and resilient energy landscape for generations to come.

Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding and overcoming the challenges associated with nickel-rich materials used in lithium-ion batteries.

This will enhance the stability and longevity of these lithium-ion batteries, paving the way for more efficient and reliable energy storage systems

Annalena Genreith-Schriever

Cavan images via Getty Images

View of woman's hand plugging in charging lead to her electric car

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Risk of volcano catastrophe ‘a roll of the dice’, say experts

fpjl2 — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 15:05:49 +0000

̽��ֱ��world is “woefully underprepared” for a massive volcanic eruption and the likely repercussions on global supply chains, climate and food, according to experts from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER).

In an article published in the journal Nature, they say there is a “broad misconception” that risks of major eruptions are low, and describe current lack of governmental investment in monitoring and responding to potential volcano disasters as “reckless”.

However, the researchers argue that steps can be taken to protect against volcanic devastation – from improved surveillance to increased public education and magma manipulation – and the resources needed to do so are long overdue.

“Data gathered from ice cores on the frequency of eruptions over deep time suggests there is a one-in-six chance of a magnitude seven explosion in the next one hundred years. That’s a roll of the dice,” said article co-author and CSER researcher Dr Lara Mani, an expert in global risk.

“Such gigantic eruptions have caused abrupt climate change and collapse of civilisations in the distant past.”

Mani compares the risk of a giant eruption to that of a 1km-wide asteroid crashing into Earth. Such events would have similar climatic consequences, but the likelihood of a volcanic catastrophe is hundreds of times higher than the combined chances of an asteroid or comet collision.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars are pumped into asteroid threats every year, yet there is a severe lack of global financing and coordination for volcano preparedness,” Mani said. “This urgently needs to change. We are completely underestimating the risk to our societies that volcanoes pose.”

An eruption in Tonga in January was the largest ever instrumentally recorded. ̽��ֱ��researchers argue that if it had gone on longer, released more ash and gas, or occurred in an area full of critical infrastructure – such as the Mediterranean – then global shock waves could have been devastating.

“ ̽��ֱ��Tonga eruption was the volcanic equivalent of an asteroid just missing the Earth, and needs to be treated as a wake-up call,” said Mani.

̽��ֱ��CSER experts cite recent research detecting the regularity of major eruptions by analysing traces of sulphur spikes in ancient ice samples. An eruption ten to a hundred times larger than the Tonga blast occurs once every 625 years – twice as often as had been previously thought.

“ ̽��ֱ��last magnitude seven eruption was in 1815 in Indonesia,” said co-author Dr Mike Cassidy, a volcano expert and visiting CSER researcher, now based at the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham.

“An estimated 100,000 people died locally, and global temperatures dropped by a degree on average, causing mass crop failures that led to famine, violent uprisings and epidemics in what was known as the year without summer,” he said.

“We now live in a world with eight times the population and over forty times the level of trade. Our complex global networks could make us even more vulnerable to the shocks of a major eruption.”

Financial losses from a large magnitude eruption would be in the multi-trillions, and on a comparable scale to the pandemic, say the experts.

Mani and Cassidy outline steps they say need to be taken to help forecast and manage the possibility of a planet-altering eruption, and help mitigate damage from smaller, more frequent eruptions.

These include a more accurate pinpointing of risks. We only know locations of a handful of the 97 eruptions classed as large magnitude on the “Volcano Explosivity Index” over the last 60,000 years. This means there could be dozens of dangerous volcanoes dotted the world over with the potential for extreme destruction, about which humanity has no clue.

“We may not know about even relatively recent eruptions due to a lack of research into marine and lake cores, particularly in neglected regions such as Southeast Asia,” said Cassidy. “Volcanoes can lie dormant for a long time, but still be capable of sudden and extraordinary destruction.”

Monitoring must be improved, say the CSER experts. Only 27% of eruptions since 1950 have had a seismometer anywhere near them, and only a third of that data again has been fed into the global database for “volcanic unrest”.

“Volcanologists have been calling for a dedicated volcano-monitoring satellite for over twenty years,” said Mani. “Sometimes we have to rely on the generosity of private satellite companies for rapid imagery.”

̽��ֱ��experts also call for increased research into volcano “geoengineering”. This includes the need to study means of countering aerosols released by a massive eruption, which could lead to a “volcanic winter”. They also say that work to investigate manipulating pockets of magma beneath active volcanoes should be undertaken.

Added Mani: “Directly affecting volcanic behaviour may seem inconceivable, but so did the deflection of asteroids until the formation of the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office in 2016. ̽��ֱ��risks of a massive eruption that devastates global society is significant. ̽��ֱ��current underinvestment in responding to this risk is simply reckless.”

While funding is pumped into preventing low-probability scenarios such as asteroid collision, the far more likely threat of a large volcanic eruption is close to ignored – despite much that could be done to reduce the risks, say researchers.

̽��ֱ��risks of a massive eruption that devastates global society is significant

Lara Mani

Dr Mike Cassidy

Mount Rinjani in Indonesia, which had one of the largest eruptions in the last millennium in 1257 (magnitude 7).

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

One in twenty workers are in ‘useless’ jobs – far fewer than previously thought

cjb250 — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 09:31:10 +0000

Even so, writing in Work, Employment and Society, the academics applaud its proponent, American anthropologist David Graeber, who died in September 2020, for highlighting the link between a sense of purpose in one’s job and psychological wellbeing.

Graeber initially put forward the concept of ‘bullshit jobs’ – jobs that even those who do them view as worthless – in his 2013 essay ̽��ֱ��Democracy Project. He further expanded this theory in his 2018 book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, looking at possible reasons for the existence of such jobs.

Jobs that Graeber described as bullshit (BS) jobs range from doormen and receptionists to lobbyists and public relations specialists through to those in the legal profession, particularly corporate lawyers and legal consultants.

Dr Magdalena Soffia from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, one of the authors of the article, said: “There’s something appealing about the bullshit jobs theory. ̽��ֱ��fact that many people have worked in such jobs at some point may explain why Graeber’s work resonates with so many people who can relate to the accounts he gives. But his theory is not based on any reliable empirical data, even though he puts forward several propositions, all of which are testable.”

To test Graeber’s propositions, the researchers turned to the 2005–2015 European Working Conditions Surveys (EWCS), examining reasons that led to respondents answering ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ to the statement: ‘I have the feeling of doing useful work’. ̽��ֱ��surveys – taken in 2005, 2010 and 2015 – gather measures on the usefulness of the job, workers’ wellbeing and objective data on the quality of work. ̽��ֱ��number of respondents grew from over 21,000 in 2005 to almost 30,000 in 2015.

According to Graeber, somewhere between 20% and 50% of the workforce – possibly as many as 60% - are employed in BS jobs. Yet the EWCS found that just 4.8% of EU workers said they did not feel they were doing useful work. ̽��ֱ��figure was slightly higher in the UK and Ireland, but still only 5.6% of workers.

Graeber also claimed that the number of BS jobs has been ‘increasing rapidly in recent years’, despite presenting no empirical evidence. Again the researchers found no evidence to support this conjecture – in fact, the percentage of people in BS jobs fell from 7.8% in 2005 to just 4.8% in 2015 – exactly the opposite of Graeber’s prediction.

His next hypothesis was that BS jobs are concentrated in particular professions, such as finance, law, administration and marketing, and largely absent in others, such as those linked to public services and manual labour. “Many service workers hate their jobs; but even those who do are aware that what they do does make some sort of meaningful difference in the world . . . [Whereas] we can only assume that any office worker who one might suspect secretly believes themselves to have a bullshit job does, indeed, believe this,” he wrote.

When the researchers ranked the occupations by the proportion of people who rated their job as rarely or never useful, they found no evidence for the existence of occupations in which the majority of workers feel their work is not useful.

̽��ֱ��authors found that workers in some occupations, such as teachers and nurses, generally see themselves as doing useful jobs, while sales workers are above average in the proportion rating their job as not useful (7.7%). Even so, most of the results contradict Graeber’s assertion. For example, legal professionals and administration professionals are all low on this ranking, and jobs that Graeber rates as being examples of essential non-BS jobs, such as refuse collectors (9.7%) and cleaners and helpers (8.1%), are high on this scale.

Not everything that Graeber suggested was wrong, however. He argued, for example, that BS jobs are a form of ‘spiritual violence’ that lead to anxiety, depression and misery among workers. ̽��ֱ��team found strong evidence between the perception of one’s job as useless and an individual’s psychological wellbeing, albeit a correlation rather than necessarily a causal link. In the UK in 2015, workers who felt their job was not useful scored significantly lower on the World Health Organisation Well-Being Index than those who felt they were doing useful work (a mean average of 49.3 compared with 64.5). There was a similar gap across other EU nations.

Dr Alex Wood from the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham said: “When we looked at readily-available data from a large cohort of people across Europe, it quickly became apparent to us that very few of the key propositions in Graeber’s theory can be sustained – and this is the case in every country we looked at, to varying degrees. But one of his most important propositions – that BS jobs are a form of ‘spiritual violence’ – does seem to be supported by the data.”

Given that, in absolute terms, a substantial number of people do not view their jobs as useful, what then leads to this feeling? ̽��ֱ��team found that those individuals who felt respected and encouraged by management were less likely to report their work as useless. Conversely, when employees experience management that is disrespectful, inefficient or poor at giving feedback, they were less likely to perceive their work as useful.

Similarly, individuals who saw their job as useful tended to be able to use their own ideas at work – an important element for feeling that your job provides you with the ability to make the most of your skills – was correlated with a perception of usefulness. There was a clear relationship between the extent to which people felt that they had enough time to do their job well and their rating of the usefulness of their job, suggesting that one source of feeling a job to be useless is the pace at which one is working, affecting the ability to realise one’s potential and capabilities. Other factors correlated with feeling that a job was worthwhile included support by managers and colleagues and the ability to influence important decisions and the direction of an organization.

Professor Brendan Burchell from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge said: “Although the data doesn’t always support David Graeber’s claims, his insightful and imaginative work played an important role in raising awareness of the harms of useless jobs. He may have been way off the mark with regards how common BS jobs are, but he was right to link people’s attitudes towards their jobs to their psychological wellbeing, and this is something that employers – and society as a whole – should take seriously.

“Most importantly, employees need to be respected and valued if they in turn are to value – and benefit psychologically as well as financially from – their jobs.”

Reference
Soffia, M, Wood, AJ and Burchell, B. Alienation Is Not ‘Bullshit’: An Empirical Critique of Graeber’s Theory of BS Jobs. WES; 3 June 2021; DOI: 10.1177/09500170211015067

̽��ֱ��so-called ‘bullshit jobs theory’ – which argues that a large and rapidly increasing number of workers are undertaking jobs that they themselves recognise as being useless and of no social value – contains several major flaws, argue researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Birmingham.

Although the data doesn’t always support David Graeber’s claims, his insightful and imaginative work played an important role in raising awareness of the harms of useless jobs

Brendan Burchell

Bermix Studio

Man working at a laptop

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‘Terrible twos’ not inevitable: with engaged parenting, happy babies can become happy toddlers

jg533 — Wed, 06 May 2020 07:47:18 +0000

̽��ֱ��flexible method of parenting, known as ‘autonomy support’, places emphasis on the child taking the lead. As the child engages in tasks, parents should watch and adjust how they respond according to how the child is managing, say the researchers. They acknowledge that this method of helping the child to be in control is not necessarily easy.

“It’s not about doing everything for your child, or directing their actions. It’s more of a to-and-fro between parent and child. Parents who do best at this can sit back and watch when they see their child succeeding with something, but increase support or adapt the task when they see the child struggling,” said Professor Claire Hughes, Deputy Director of the Centre for Family Research at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and joint first author of the study with Dr Rory Devine at the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham’s School of Psychology.

̽��ֱ��study, published in the journal Developmental Science, found a link between parental autonomy support in 14-month-old children, and reduced behavioural problems ten months later. But this link only applied to children who had been rated as ‘easy babies’- those in a generally happy mood, who adapted easily to new experiences and quickly established routines. Children who demonstrated high levels of self-control at 14 months were less likely than their peers to have behaviour problems at 24 months.

“If you’re blessed with a happy baby, then you can get them through the ‘terrible twos’ without things getting too bad or lasting too long, by being flexible about the way you play with your child between the age of 14 and 24 months. A puzzle game, for example, can turn into quite a different game if you allow your child to take the lead,” said Hughes.

Many toddlers have temper tantrums and exhibit frustration and defiant behaviour, in what is commonly known as the ‘terrible twos’. Unfortunately, the autonomy support strategy isn’t equally effective for all children: those born with a more irritable temperament are still more likely to be difficult toddlers.

Parenting must be tailored according to the child, say the researchers. Parents who don’t remember their baby having an easy temperament should let go of the idea of achieving specific goals during play, and allow their children to develop at their own pace.

“As we cope with the upheavals of being in lockdown, we’re having to be patient with ourselves in so many ways. Parents particularly need to be more patient with the toddlers who found life a bit more challenging, even in ordinary times,” said Hughes.

Over 400 expectant couples were recruited for the study from the East of England, New York State and the Netherlands. Each couple was visited when their new baby was 4 months, 14 months and 24 months old, and filmed interacting as their young children carried out a range of specific tasks. ̽��ֱ��research team carefully rated the level of parental support for each interaction. In addition, parents rated their child’s temperament as a baby, and behavioural problems at 14 and 24 months.

Simple tasks were used to test the level of autonomy support parents gave to their child. In one, each child was given farm animal pieces that fitted into cut-out shapes on a board. Some of the parents appeared quite anxious for their child to put the pieces in the right places, and gave them a lot of help. Others spotted that the task was too difficult for their child, and let the game evolve by following the child’s lead.

“We had some children who took two animal pieces from a wooden farm puzzle and started clapping them together, and making a game out of the fact that they made a clapping noise. Here, parents might respond by encouraging the child to make animal noises that match the animals being clapped together,” said Devine. ”Autonomy supportive parenting is about being flexible, following a child’s lead, and providing just the right amount of challenge.”

During lockdown, many parents are having to look after young children at home rather than leaving them in nursery care during working hours. Trying to keep children motivated and engaged all day can be a daunting task. Yet having more time to spend with young children can also be seen as a rare opportunity to explore new ways of engaging with them, say the researchers.

“Rather than trying to make a child achieve a rigidly defined task, autonomy support is more of a playful interaction. It promotes the child’s problem solving and their ability to learn, by letting games or tasks evolve into experiences that engage them,” said Hughes.

Previous studies have looked at links between executive function and antisocial behaviour, and separately at family influences on conduct problems. This study is unique in its direct observational measures of parent-child interactions, in combination with a group of executive function tasks.

̽��ֱ��researchers found the link between executive function at 14 months and reduced problem behaviours at 24 months held up even when controlling for other factors like a child's language skills, and the quality of mother-child interactions.

This research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the National Science Foundation and the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Reference
Hughes, C., Devine, R.T., Mesman, J., & Blair, C.; ‘Understanding the Terrible Twos: A longitudinal investigation of the impact of early executive function and parent-child interactions.’ Developmental Science, April 2020. DOI: 10.1111/desc.12979

Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research is launching a new online study of parents with one or more child between the ages of four and seven, to explore how the coronavirus is affecting family relationships and home learning. This will help provide the evidence base to guide effective educational and health policies. Find out more.

How you can support Cambridge’s COVID-19 research

Parents should not feel pressured to make their young children undertake structured learning or achieve specific tasks, particularly during lockdown. A new study of children under the age of two has found that parents who take a more flexible approach to their child’s learning can - for children who were easy babies - minimise behavioural problems during toddlerhood.

Rather than trying to make a child achieve a rigidly defined task...promote the child’s problem solving and their ability to learn by letting games or tasks evolve into experiences that engage them

Claire Hughes

Maisie, by Sarah Foley

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Targeting hard-to-treat cancers

sc604 — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 09:06:34 +0000

While the survival rate for most cancers has doubled over the past 40 years, some cancers such as those of the pancreas, brain, lung and oesophagus still have low survival rates.

Such cancers are now the target of an Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC) led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and involving researchers from Imperial College London, ̽��ֱ�� College London and the Universities of Glasgow and Birmingham.

“Some cancers are difficult to remove by surgery and highly invasive, and they are also hard to treat because drugs often cannot reach them at high enough concentration,” explains George Malliaras, Prince Philip Professor of Technology in Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who leads the IRC. “Pancreatic tumour cells, for instance, are protected by dense stromal tissue, and tumours of the central nervous system by the blood-brain barrier.”

̽��ֱ��aim of the project, which is funded for six years by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is to develop an array of new delivery technologies that can deliver almost any drug to any tumour in a large enough concentration to kill the cancerous cells.

Chemists, engineers, material scientists and pharmacologists will focus on developing particles, injectable gels and implantable devices to deliver the drugs. Cancer scientists and clinicians from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre and partner sites will devise and carry out clinical trials. Experts in innovative manufacturing technologies will ensure the devices are able to be manufactured and robust enough to withstand surgical manipulation.

One technology the team will examine is the ability of advanced materials to self-assemble and entrap drugs inside metal-organic frameworks. These structures can carry enormous amounts of drugs, and be tuned both to target the tumour and to release the drug at an optimal rate.

“We are going to pierce through the body’s natural barriers,” says Malliaras, “and deliver anti-cancer drugs to the heart of the tumour.”

Cambridge leads a £10 million interdisciplinary collaboration to target the most challenging of cancers.

We are going to pierce through the body’s natural barriers and deliver anti-cancer drugs to the heart of the tumour.

George Malliaras

David Fairen-Jimenez

Crystalline metal–organic framework

Yes

Predicting gentrification through social networking data

sc604 — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 23:13:44 +0000

̽��ֱ��first network to look at the interconnected nature of people and places in large cities is not only able to quantify the social diversity of a particular place, but can also be used to predict when a neighbourhood will go through the process of gentrification, which is associated with the displacement of residents of a deprived area by an influx of a more affluent population.

̽��ֱ��researchers behind the study, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, will present their results today (13 April) at the 25^th International World Wide Web Conference in Montréal.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge researchers, working with colleagues from the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham, Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London, and ̽��ֱ�� College London, used data from approximately 37,000 users and 42,000 venues in London to build a network of Foursquare places and the parallel Twitter social network of visitors, adding up to more than half a million check-ins over a ten-month period. From this data, they were able to quantify the ‘social diversity’ of various neighbourhoods and venues by distinguishing between places that bring together strangers versus those that tend to bring together friends, as well as places that attract diverse individuals as opposed to those which attract regulars.

When these social diversity metrics were correlated with wellbeing indicators for various London neighbourhoods, the researchers discovered that signs of gentrification, such as rising housing prices and lower crime rates, were the strongest in deprived areas with high social diversity. These areas had an influx of more affluent and diverse visitors, represented by social media users, and pointed to an overall improvement of their rank, according to the UK Index of Multiple Deprivation.

̽��ֱ��UK Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is a statistical exercise conducted by the Department of Communities and Local Government, which measures the relative prosperity of neighbourhoods across England. ̽��ֱ��researchers compared IMD data for 2010, the year their social and place network data was gathered, with the IMD data for 2015, the most recent report.

“We’re looking at the social roles and properties of places,” said Desislava Hristova from the ̽��ֱ��’s Computer Laboratory, and the study’s lead author. “We found that the most socially cohesive and homogenous areas tend to be either very wealthy or very poor, but neighbourhoods with both high social diversity and high deprivation are the ones which are currently undergoing processes of gentrification.”

This aligns with previous research, which has found that tightly-knit communities are more resistant to changes and resources remain within the community. This suggests that affluent communities remain affluent and poor communities remain poor because they are relatively isolated.

Hristova and her co-authors found that of the 32 London boroughs, the borough of Hackney had the highest social diversity, and in 2010, had the second-highest deprivation. By 2015, it had also seen the most improvement on the IMD index, and is now an area undergoing intense gentrification, with house prices rising far above the London average, fast-decreasing crime rate and a highly diverse population.

In addition to Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Lambeth are also boroughs with high social diversity and high deprivation in 2010, and are now undergoing the process of gentrification, with all of the positive and negative effects that come along with it.

̽��ֱ��ability to predict the gentrification of neighbourhoods could help local governments and policy-makers improve urban development plans and alleviate the negative effects of gentrification while benefitting from economic growth.

In order to measure the social diversity of a given place or neighbourhood, the researchers defined four distinct measures: brokerage, serendipity, entropy and homogeneity. Brokerage is the ability of a place to connect people who are otherwise disconnected; serendipity is the extent to which a place can induce chance encounters between its visitors; entropy is the extent to which a place is diverse with respect to visits; and homogeneity is the extent to which the visitors to a place are homogenous in their characteristics.

Within categories of places, the researchers found that some places were more likely places for friends to meet, and some were for more fleeting encounters. For example, in the food category, strangers were more likely to meet at a dumpling restaurant while friends were more likely to meet at a fried chicken restaurant. Similarly, friends were more likely to meet at a B&B, football match or strip club, while strangers were more likely to meet at a motel, art museum or gay bar.

“We understand that people who diversify their contacts socially and geographically have high social capital, but what about places?” said Hristova. “We all have a general notion of the social diversity of places and the people that visit them, but we’ve attempted to formalise this – it could even be used as a specialised local search engine.”

For instance, while there are a number of ways a tourist can find a highly-recommended restaurant in a new city, the social role that a place plays in a city is normally only known by locals through experience. “Whether a place is touristy or quiet, artsy or mainstream could be integrated into mobile system design to help newcomers or tourists feel like locals,” said Hristova.

Reference:
Desislava Hristova et al. ‘Measuring Urban Social Diversity Using Interconnected Geo-Social Networks.’ Paper presented to the International World Wide Web Conference, Montréal, 11-15 April 2016. https://www2016.ca/ontario-online-casino/.

Data from location-based social networks may be able to predict when a neighbourhood will go through the process of gentrification, by identifying areas with high social diversity and high deprivation.

We understand that people who diversify their contacts socially and geographically have high social capital, but what about places?

Desislava Hristova

MsSaraKelly

Gentrification in Progress

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Opinion: Here’s how tweets and check-ins can be used to spot early signs of gentrification

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 08:20:34 +0000

When you walk through a neighbourhood undergoing gentrification, you can sense it – the area is dominated by strange contradictions. Public spaces are populated by vagabonds and cool kids; abandoned buildings sit in disrepair next to trendy coffee shops; blocks of council housing abut glassy new developments.

Urbanists describe gentrification as a form of urban migration, where a more affluent population displaces the original, lower-income population. In statistics, gentrification appears as the lowering of crime rates, rising housing prices and changes to the mix of people who live there.

If we could only predict where gentrification is likely to strike next, we might be able to alleviate its negative impacts – such as displacement – and take advantage of its more positive effects, which include economic growth. That’s why our latest study – conducted with colleagues at the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham, Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London, and ̽��ֱ�� College London – aimed to quantify the process of gentrification, and discover the warning signs.

Detecting urban diversity

We constructed four measures of urban social diversity using data from social media. By combining these measures with government statistics about deprivation, we were able to pinpoint a number of neighbourhoods undergoing gentrification in London.

Of course, social media is notoriously unsuitable for population studies, because of the “digital divide”: the split between people who can access the internet and those who can’t exists even within urban areas – so information from social media only captures part of the overall picture. Twitter users in particular are known to be predominantly young, affluent and living in urban areas.

But these are precisely the demographics responsible for gentrification. So, we used information from social media from 2010 and 2011 to define the “social diversity” of urban venues such as restaurants, bars, schools and parks.

Urban social diversity – in terms of population, economy and architecture – is known to be a factor in successful communities. In her famous book ̽��ֱ��Death and Life of Great American Cities, urban activist Jane Jacobs wrote that “cities differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of these is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers”.

Dropping in. David Abrahamovitch/Flickr, CC BY

In our work, we first measured the amount of strangers that a place brings together as the fraction of the social network of visitors who are connected on social media. This gave us an idea of whether a place tends to be frequented by strangers or friends. We further explored the diversity of these visitors in terms of their mobility preferences and spontaneity in choice of venues. Although we did not consider demographics or income levels, there is a known relationship between the wealth of people and the diversity of their geographical interactions.

We studied the social network of 37,000 London users of Twitter, and combined it with what we knew about their mobility patterns from geo-located Foursquare check-ins posted to their public profiles.

By studying the amount of strangers versus friends meeting at a bar, or the number of diverse versus similar individuals visiting an art gallery, we were able to quantify the overall diversity of London neighbourhoods, in terms of their visitors.

Networks are powerful representations of the relationships between people and places. Not only can we draw links between people where a relationship – such as friendship – exists between them; we can also draw connections between two places if a visitor has been to both. We can even connect the two networks, by drawing links between people in the social network who have visited specific spots in the place network.

In this way, we are able to extract the social network of a place, and the place network of a person. By the time we’d finished crunching the data, we could take stock of the range of people who had visited a specific place, and the different places visited by any individual.

When we compared the diversity of urban neighbourhoods with official government statistics on deprivation, we found that some highly deprived areas were also extremely socially diverse. In other words, there were lots of diverse social media users visiting some of London’s poorest neighbourhoods.

Diminishing deprivation

To find out what was going on, we took the newly published deprivation indices for 2015 and looked for changes in the levels of deprivation from our study period in 2011. ̽��ֱ��relationship was striking. ̽��ֱ��areas where we saw high levels of social diversity and extreme deprivation in 2011, were exactly the same areas that had experienced the greatest decreases in deprivation by 2016.

A prime example can be found in the London borough of Hackney. Anyone visiting Hackney might describe it in terms of the contradictions we mentioned before – but few of us could afford to live there today. In our study, Hackney was the highest ranking in deprivation and the highest ranking in social diversity in 2011. Between then and now, it has gone from the being the second most deprived neighbourhood in the country, to the 11th.

So, although social media may not be representative of the entire population, it can offer the key to measuring and understanding the processes of gentrification. Neither entirely good nor thoroughly bad, gentrification is a phenomenon that we should all watch out for. It will undoubtedly help to define how our cities transform in years to come.

Desislava Hristova, PhD Candidate, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Desislava Hristova (Computer Laboratory) discusses how data from location-based social networks can be used to predict when a neighbourhood will go through the process of gentrification.

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