The elderly
The project database currently holds 51 relevant grants.
- Amputation and phantom limb pain - evaluating a new treatment
- Finding out whether long term phantom limb pain can be reduced by treatment in the first days after leg amputation
- Back pain - posture control training
- Evaluation of posture control and co-ordination treatment for patients with low back pain for improved rehabilitation.
- Bladder pressure check for men
- Around 40 per cent of older men suffer troublesome urinary symptoms. These researchers have developed a new device for painless and simple measuring of bladder pressure. They will test whether this can be used to determine the best treatment for patients.
- Blindness- prevention using new anti-scarring treatment strategies
- Studying the formation of scar tissue on the surface of the eye in patients with mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP), which may lead to new treatments to prevent blindness in this severely disabling condition.
- Bowel control problems — a new therapy
- Scientific evaluation of whether electrical stimulation can increase the strength of the anal sphincter muscle and thus improve bowel control.
- Breathing problems — improving assessment and management of breathlessness
- Looking into more accurate assessment of breathlessness to assist patients with breathing problems.
- Cerebral palsy — new ways to get joints moving
- Studying a new way of increasing movement of joints using the combined effects of heat and stretching with a specially designed splint.
- Crohn’s disease - fibrosis
- Studying mechanisms of scar tissue formation in the intestine to improve understanding of Crohn’s disease, and looking for ways to block this process.
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Researching the causes of diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes that affects the light sensitive layer at the back of the eye called the retina.
- Dupuytren’s Contractures
- Investigating whether hand splints have a beneficial effect on hand function, mobility and the rate of disease recurrence in the treatment of Dupuytren’s contractures.
- Electrical stimulation to improve arm function after a stroke
- Each year around 130,000 people in the UK suffer a stroke and often lose the ability to walk and use their hands. This research team will investigate whether treatment with electrical stimulation can help recovery of arm function following stroke.
- Epilepsy, Episodic Ataxia and faulty genes
- To study molecular genetic and cellular expression studies of the calcium channel CACNA1A in human epilepsy.
- Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Investigating the molecular mechanisms causing nerve damage in Guillain-Barré Syndrome (which causes acute neuromuscular paralysis).
- Hip replacements — developing new evaluation methods
- Developing new methods for predicting the performance of hip replacements which may lead to fewer operations and longer lasting implants.
- Huntington’s Disease
- Investigating the inheritance of Huntington’s disease to help determine whether an individual with the disease gene will develop the condition by a specific age.
- Improving flu vaccine protection through exercise
- Incontinence - improving treatment
- Investigating the use of pelvic floor exercises and electrotherapy for patients with stress incontinence to improve the strength and endurance characteristics of pelvic floor musculature.
- Investigating the effects of rheumatoid arthritis
- Knee joint replacement — developing a computer model
- Developing a computer model to measure the effect of surgical technique on the performance of total knee joint replacements with the aim of helping surgeons and improving implant design
- Learning to communicate after stroke
- Learning to communicate after stroke
- Motor neurone disease
- Investigating the blood from patients with motor neurone disease to find the causes of nerve cell death that occurs in this debilitating condition.
- Motor neurone disease
- Studying mechanisms of nerve cell death in cell models and tissue-based studies to increase our understanding of motor neurone disease.
- Osteoarthritis
- Investigating why cartilage no longer protects the joint in osteoarthritis which may lead to improved treatment.
- Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis — mechanical factors
- Osteoporosis
- Using a technique to identify patients at greatest risk of osteoporosis, which may allow preventative treatment to be used.
- Osteoporosis
- Investigating why microscopic disconnections appear in osteoporotic bones, which may provide a new clinical perspective on why some patients are more likely to break their bones.
- Osteoporosis - improved prediction by ultrasound assessment
- Developing an improved ultrasound measurement to enhance the ability to predict who is likely to suffer an osteoporotic hip fracture in the future and so prescribe preventative treatment.
- Osteoporosis - prevention by vibration and circulatory stimulation
- Osteoporosis - studying the combined benefits of exercise and calcium
- Studying the benefits of calcium and exercise on growing bone in children.
- Osteoporosis - the production of bone models
- Creating replicas of bone samples which may increase our understanding of some bone diseases.
- Osteoporosis and spinal deformity
- Investigating how gradual changes in the vertebrae of people with osteoporosis can lead to spinal deformity.
- Osteoporosis and spinal fractures
- Investigating whether vertebroplasty can restore the normal load-bearing properties of fractured vertebrae
- Osteoporosis — spinal fractures
- Investigate the benefits of injecting bone cement into vertebrae before fractures occur but where the fracture risk is high, which could improve the treatment of osteoporosis.
- Parkinson’s and MSA — development of an accurate diagnostic test
- Developing an accurate test which can distinguish Parkinson’s disease from another condition with similar symptoms.
- Parkinson’s disease — exercise programmes to reduce the risk of falling
- Evaluating the effectiveness of personalised exercise programmes for patients that are unstable and at risk of falling and injury.
- Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy & cerebellar ataxia - improving mobility
- Investigating whether walking and balance can be improved when patients rehearse their intended steps with eye movements.
- Skin itching
- Spasticity a reliable method of measurement
- Development of a method to assess spasticity, with the aim of providing a tool to help doctors in the clinic make a more accurate diagnosis
- Speech Disorders
- Developing special computer programs and investigating the use of the computer as a speech practice tool.
- Speech restoration
- Studying and developing new speech valves used to restore speech to patients who have had surgery to treat throat cancer.
- Stroke - re-connecting the brain and hand
- Studying the nerve connections between the brain and spinal cord which should provide valuable insight into what promotes effective rehabilitation for stroke patients.
- Stroke - alternative control of movement
- Investigating whether alternative pathways from undamaged parts of the brain play an important role in recovery from stroke.
- Stroke - helping brain tissue recover
- Stroke and epilepsy - developing a wearable brain imaging system for diagnosis.
- The development of a lightweight portable system for neuroimaging in stroke or epilepsy using EIT (Electrical Impedence Tomography), using innovative wireless electrodes.
- Stroke and incomplete spinal injury — therapy with a tricycle
- Investigating the use of a specially adapted tricycle to provide rehabilitation for patients with stroke or incomplete spinal injury.
- Stroke and problems with food inhalation
- Determining how common it is to inhale food after stroke and whether it affects patient recovery.
- Stroke rehabilitation — exercise training
- Assessing the benefits of exercise which may strengthen arms and legs and help people to recover more quickly form stroke.
- Swallowing problems — can brain stimulation help?
- Investigating if using a new brain stimulation technology called transcranial direct current stimulation could help stroke patients who are unable to swallow recover their swallowing ability.
- Urinary catheters - improving long-term care
- Wound Healing
- Studying the role of a particular enzyme in wound healing which could lead to treatments for chronic skin wounds such as those that affect the quality of life of thousands of elderly people.
- Wound healing — a study of leg ulcers
- Studying how an inadequate supply of oxygenated blood can affect the healing of chronic leg ulcers in the elderly
