Latest News from the BSU
- May 2013- Medical Research Council Centenary celebrations kick off at MRC Biostatistics Unit
- April 2013- Celebrating '100 years of life-changing discoveries'
- March 2013- MRC Biostatistics Unit joined 'the exploration' at Cambridge Science Festival 2013
- February 2013- HIV incidence in England and Wales among men who have sex with men
- January 2013- Sheila Bird appears on Ben Goldacre's "Bad Evidence" programme
- More News from the BSU please click here.
May 2013
Medical Research Council Centenary celebrations kick off at MRC Biostatistics Unit
This year the Medical Research Council is celebrating a hundred years of life-changing discoveries and taking time to reflect on our achievements in medical research, acknowledging those who have supported us along the way and looking forward to what medical research will deliver in the future.
As one of the Medical Research Council's four foundation units, the MRC Biostatistics Unit is playing a key role putting together an exceptional series of Free Public Lectures, co-hosted with the Cambridge Statistical Laboratory.
The first of the four celebratory lectures was held on April 29th, with Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, former Chair of Advisory Council of Misuse of Drugs 1998-2008, Chair of NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) 1999-2013, as speaker.
In his lecture Sir Michael Rawlins talked about how evidence affects health policy, and considered the respective places of experimentation and observation in deciding whether therapeutic interventions are fit for purpose. Around 150 people attended and many members of the audience had their say.
The next talks will see Tim Harford, host of Radio 4's More or Less programme, presenting 'a self-defence guide for the statistical battlefield'. Meanwhile Professor Sir John Beddington, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government, will address the question: What's happening to the world? And Professor David Spiegelhalter of the Statistical Laboratory will discuss how statistical science has transformed healthcare.
These lectures are particularly suited for sixth-formers and adults, researchers and community members. All welcome!
The event programme with further details, dates and venues is available here.
For a pdf copy of the programme please click here.
For more information on the MRC Centenary visit the microsite: http://www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk/
April 2013
Celebrating '100 years of life-changing discoveries'
As one of the Medical Research Council's four foundation units, the MRC Biostatistics Unit will be playing a key role in helping to celebrate the MRC Centenary this year.
Commemorative events will be taking place across the UK and in Africa for people of all ages and all levels of scientific knowledge programme. Together, these activities will celebrate and explain the MRC's greatest achievements as well as illustrating some of the current projects that are likely to contribute to the UK's continuing success as one of the world's leading nations in medical research.
Exceptional series of Free Public Lectures co-hosted by the MRC Biostatistics Unit and the Statistical Laboratory will be held between April and June to celebrate the wonders of Statistics.
Starting on 29 April, the talks will discuss from a variety of perspectives how the use of statistical evidence in health, media, science and policy affects our world. And there will be plenty of time for questions from the audience to have its say!
The former chair of NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), Sir Michael Rawlins, will talk about how evidence affects health policy, while Tim Harford, presenter of Radio 4's More or Less programme, will present 'a self-defence guide for the statistical battlefield'.
Sir John Beddington, former chief scientific advisor to the UK government, will address the question: What's happening to the world? And Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge's Statistical Laboratory will discuss how statistical science has transformed healthcare.
The talks are particularly suited for sixth-formers and adults, although all are welcome.
The event programme with further details, dates and venues is available here.
For a pdf copy of the programme please click here.
For more information on the MRC Centenary visit the microsite: http://www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk/
Mar 2013
MRC Biostatistics Unit joined 'the exploration' at Cambridge Science Festival 2013
The exhibit showed how statistics has changed over the last century
“During the two-week extravaganza, the doors to the science world were opened wide and visitors were offered the best that Cambridge has to offer; a staggering 200-plus events, from walks and workshops to exhibitions and debates. There really was something for everyone – adults and children, researchers and community members.” (Taken form CSF website)
It took many months of preparation to put on the exhibit the MRC Biostatistics Unit showed this year at the Biology Zone. 'The wonders of biostatistics – how biostatistics can impact on health', had visitors trying different activities to test their creativity and thinking abilities as a way to explore how biostatistics has met the challenges of the different health priorities and new technologies over the last 100 years.
Commenting on the 2013 Cambridge Science Festival, visitors said:
“The Biology Zone was amazing! I am an aspiring doctor and I learnt so much, which has further inspired me to start a career in medicine. I will definitely be returning next year.”
The Science Festival Co-ordinator, Dr Lucinda Spokes, said:
“This hard work is all worthwhile when we see so many people enjoying and being inspired by the science and engineering undertaken here in Cambridge. And if Cambridge Science Festival encourages people to consider a career in science or engineering, or see how important these subjects are to all our lives, we know the Festival is serving a useful purpose.” (Taken form CSF website)
We would like to say a big thank you and congratulations to everyone involved including the volunteers, scientists, activity leaders, festival team, and most of all the visitors.
The Festival team will soon start working on the 2014 Science Festival. Next year marks the MRC Biostatistics Unit’s centenary, as one of the Medical Research Council's four foundation units. In the meantime, keep an eye on this site for the MRC Centenary events we will hold this spring/summer 2013.
For details please visit http://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/NewsandEvents/events.htmlFebruary 2013
HIV incidence in England and Wales among men who have sex with men not falling
Despite a significant increase in HIV testing and treatment, the number of new HIV infections in men who have sex with men (MSM) has remained unchanged over the last 10 years in England and Wales, according to a new study by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Health Protection Agency (HPA). The research also reports undiagnosed HIV infections remained high and annual new diagnoses rose steadily from 2001-2010. These results show that HIV transmission amongst MSM remains a significant public health issue.
Dr Daniela De Angelis, lead investigator at the MRC Biostatistics Unit, comments:
“Unlike previous publications, our modelling approach was used to disentangle the competing contributions of increased rates of diagnosis of existing HIV infections and of HIV incidence (new infections) to observed HIV diagnoses in MSM. By applying the model to the latest surveillance data we were able to provide a comprehensive picture of the HIV epidemic amongst MSM in England and Wales over the past 10 years.”Published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, the research found no evidence of a decline in levels of HIV over the last decade, with new infections plateauing at 2,300-2,500 annually from 2006 onwards. Undiagnosed HIV infections in MSM increased from 7,370 in 2001 to 7,690 in 2010. Despite a 20 per cent reduction in the average time between infection and diagnosis, from 4 years to 3.2 years, 38 per cent of infections in 2010 were still diagnosed after the time patients should have started antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.
Analysing additional HPA surveillance data from the same period, the authors found these trends occurred despite the fact that MSM HIV testing had increased by 3.7 times to 59,300 STI clinic tests per year in 2010, and that the proportion of MSM receiving HIV care had risen from 69 per cent to 80 per cent) with a greater proportion of MSM eligible for ARV treatment accessing it (from 75 per cent to 84 per cent).
Dr Valerie Delpech, HPA head of HIV surveillance, said:
“We are seriously concerned about the level of ongoing HIV transmission and the significant impact this is having within the MSM community. The most plausible explanation for these results is continuing unsafe sexual behaviour coupled with insufficient HIV testing, showing us just how vital safe sex programmes engaging MSM remain. ”
“MSM should get an HIV and STI screen at least annually, and every three months if having unprotected sex with new or casual partners– and we urge clinicians to take every opportunity to offer the test to this group. By coupling earlier and more frequent testing with programmes that reduce unsafe sexual behaviour in MSM, whilst maintaining high levels of treatment and retention in care, we could substantially reduce HIV transmission.”
Original Lancet Infectious Diseases Article
Press coverage of this story:
January 2013
Sheila Bird appears on Ben Goldacre's "Bad Evidence" Radio Programme
Sheila Bird joined Medic and author Ben Goldacre on his recent "Bad Evidence" Radio 4 programme. On the programme the idea of evidence-based policy was explored and the question of whether it can ever become a reality in the UK was discussed.
This programme is available on the BBC website here
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