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Our research showed that powered rotation oscillation toothbrushes were superior to manual toothbrushes for the removal of plaque and reduction of gingivitis. This information has had impacts on national public policy, on commerce and on society.
In 2007, as part of a major update of the national alcohol strategy, the UK Government announced that it would commission an independent national review of the evidence on the relationship between alcohol price, promotion and harm. Subsequently, in 2008, researchers from the University of Sheffield (UoS) were commissioned by the UK Department of Health (DoH) for an `Independent Review of the Effects of Alcohol Pricing and Promotion'.
The UoS research has played a crucial role in informing the debate and deliberations on the available Government options for interventions on alcohol consumption in England and Wales, by providing a robust evidence base to underpin the debate. The UoS research findings have been used to inform policy by senior decision-making bodies e.g. the House of Commons Health Select Committee and the UK Chief Medical Officer to inform policy. The findings have also stimulated the potential for policy intervention beyond England and Wales, e.g. in Scotland and Australia.
A unified design methodology for tuning gas turbine engine controllers, developed by researchers in the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (ACSE), is being used by Rolls- Royce across its latest fleet of Civil Aero Trent engines. Trent engines are used to power, for example, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 aircraft that have been adopted by the world's leading airlines.
This new methodology has made economic impact through the introduction of a new process for tuning gas turbine engine controllers leading to the adoption of a significantly changed technology. Indicators of impact are:
i) a new control law and design practice, resulting in a unified approach for different projects;
ii) reduced development effort by shortening and simplifying the design exercise and rendering it suitable for modular insertion; and
iii) streamlined verification requirements.
As a result of University of Sheffield research in 1995-2002, a new gold standard treatment for major bleeding on warfarin has been established, ensuring the more effective treatment of tens of thousands of patients requiring emergency anticoagulation reversal each year in the UK alone. The treatment, using prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) was demonstrated to be superior to fresh frozen plasma (FFP), the standard alternative at the time, and two PCCs have now been licensed for this indication in the UK.
UK and international guidelines now recommend PCC over FFP.
The decision about whether to fund new health care interventions is increasingly being informed by evidence of cost-effectiveness in terms of the cost per Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY). The SF-6D health index is widely used internationally for calculating QALYs from patient reported health outcomes collected in clinical trials and other surveys. It contributes to health system efficiency from being used by health technology agencies around the world (including Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland and Norway) to calculate QALYs to facilitate decisions about the most efficient use of limited health care resources. The SF-6D is freely available to non-commercial bodies, including researchers and policy makers. Commercial benefits come from the licensing of the measure to pharmaceutical companies, health insurers and others to assess the cost-effectiveness of their products with 460 licenses being sold since 2008. A further 521 licenses are distributed on a non-commercial basis to academic researchers, public sector and charitable organisations.
Our research `In the City' has uncovered new histories of post-medieval and modern Sheffield. We have worked with local charities, heritage groups, arts organisations and Sheffield City Council, to transform the historic environment, to make places safer and more accessible for people to enjoy and value, and have used our research to benefit economically and socially deprived communities and particularly young people. Our initiatives have delivered cultural, social, educational, economic and environmental impacts for the people of Sheffield.
The Arctic is undergoing faster rates of climate change than most other regions of the world, with major global consequences. Since the 1990s, Professor Callaghan and co-workers at Sheffield have been at the forefront of determining climate change impacts on Arctic ecosystems. This research has directly led to, and fed into, invited authorship and major co-ordination roles in the authoritative international synthesis reports on climate change impacts commissioned by the Arctic Council and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Through these reports our findings have been widely communicated to international policymakers, the media and society. Callaghan and colleagues have provided policy advice directly to ministers, ambassadors, climate negotiators, and other leaders through face-to-face meetings and presentations, and influenced policy debates at regional to international levels. They have actively engaged in knowledge- exchange activities with Arctic indigenous societies, which are improving those societies' strategies for adaptation to climate change. Through public lectures, the media and authorship of a commissioned textbook, the Sheffield research findings have increased public understanding and influenced the A-level Geography curriculum.
One of the world-leading systems for large-vocabulary Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) has been developed by a team led from the University of Sheffield. This system, which won the international evaluation campaigns for rich speech transcription organised by the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2007 and 2009, has led directly to the creation of one spin-out, been largely instrumental in the launch of a second, has had significant impact on the development and growth of three existing companies, and has made highly advanced technology available free for the first time to a broad range of individual and organisational users, with applications including language learning, speech-to-speech translation and access to education for those with reading and writing difficulties.
Research investigating genetic and environmental interactions leading to skin barrier breakdown in atopic eczema has delivered health benefits by improving the prevention and treatment of this condition. We found that established emollient formulations (e.g. Aqueous Cream BP) containing the harsh emulsifier sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) damage the skin barrier in patients with atopic eczema and identified an underlying molecular mechanism. Consequently, the NICE Quality Standard and Guidelines now reflect our advice that Aqueous Cream should not be used as a leave-on emollient, SLS has been removed from all emollient formulations in the UK and we have helped develop the next generation of `SLS-free' skin-care products. Medicines regulators including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and New Zealand MedSafe have also issued new advice as a result of our research.
The BUGS research project (1999-2007) at Sheffield was the first large-scale study to reveal the importance of domestic gardens for urban biodiversity. The evidence gathered showed, for the first time, that the extent of gardens, their unique features, and the biodiversity they support makes them a nationally important ecological resource, contributing enormously to conservation and human-nature interactions in urban environments. The results were reported in a series of 13 ISI-listed papers, a popular book and two articles in British Wildlife. The research has had impacts across many audiences and applications ranging from evidence for planning policy changes, through the science to support advisory and campaign groups, to informing public awareness of the merits of individual garden management practices. BUGS research has been a key catalyst in the increased recognition of the importance of gardens in supporting urban biodiversity.