Log in
With childhood obesity now of global public health and clinical importance, attention had to be directed toward how best to identify the condition and more importantly those who are at further risk of serious obesity-related conditions. This case study illustrates how assessment has moved beyond the simple crude measure, challenging the accepted approach and developed more sensitive and specific assessment tools. Described is a new range of clinical assessment charts which allow practitioners and epidemiologists to evaluate a range of body characteristics known to be linked to morbidity, make a fuller assessment of individual risk and target better and specific intervention.
Dietary fat plays an important role in the causation of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Using randomized controlled trials of dietary fat modification, King's College London researchers have provided information about the effects of specific fatty acids on CVD risk which the Food Standards Agency have used to inform its policy decisions and future research strategy. The research also contributed to the development of international guidelines on the intakes of specific types of fatty acids and helped the food industry reformulate fats to be low in trans fatty acids. This research has also had an impact on dietary advice given by health professionals, the media and patient groups.
The University of Southampton's Food Additives and Behaviour in Children (FABIC) study has driven major changes in food processing and labelling policies. As a direct result of the research, the UK's Food Standards Agency recommended six artificial colourings — which have come to be known as the `Southampton Six' — be removed from food. In addition, the European Parliament now requires clear labelling to indicate the use of these colourings, as well as an accompanying warning about their effects on attention and behaviour in children. The risk of youngsters throughout Europe being exposed to potentially harmful additives has thus been significantly reduced.
Evershed and his research group in The School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, have pioneered a suite of novel molecular and stable isotope analytical chemical techniques for provenancing amorphous organic residues in archaeology, particularly for the elucidation of ancient diet and the origins of agriculture. Their on-going research continuously achieves impact worldwide at all levels. Impact has been actively enhanced via the involvement of Evershed and his entire team in hundreds of public engagement activities (art/science exhibitions and festivals, personal presentations, media interviews/articles/documentaries), school and college educational outreach activities (teacher/student conferences, items/articles in the educational literature and contributions to educational films/documentaries). Critically, their `fingerprinting' methods have found application in detecting food fraud in the vegetable oil trade, protecting the human population worldwide from consuming impure corn oil for ca. 15 years to the present day. Most poignantly, when called upon, their methods were pivotal in solving a murder case for the Metropolitan Police.
The Military Writing Network (MWN) was founded in 2009 by Siobhan Campbell, Principal Lecturer in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, Kingston University London. Drawing on research by Professor Rachel Cusk, Dr. Meg Jensen and Professor Vesna Goldsworthy into the interface between testimony, trauma literature, autobiographical fiction and recovery from trauma and related disorders, the MWN created and sustains partnerships with organisations working with veteran soldiers, sailors and airmen and their families toward investigating how creative writing practice can help them cope with issues relating to combat stress, both inside and outside mental health environments.