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Day: 20 September 2015

University of Manchester ranked seventh in the UK

Written by Jennifer Sterne on . Posted in News.

The QS World University Rankings for 2015/16 have placed the University of Manchester 33rd in the world and 7th in the UK.

US universities still top the list, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology in first place for the fourth year running and Harvard University climbing two places to second position.

The University of Manchester has slipped three places in the world, but has risen since 2014 from 8th place in the UK. Since 2004, when the University of Manchester was officially born from UMIST and Victoria University, Manchester has risen from 43rd place.

QS’s annual rankings of the world’s top universities uses six performance indicators to assess institutions’ global reputation, research impact, staffing levels and international complexion.

Manchester’s academic reputation and employer reputation were the highest scoring performance indicators in the evaluation

The university’s highest ranked subject was Development Studies, ranked 3rd place in the world. The highest ranking Faculty was Social Sciences and Management, ranked 35th in the world.

The Mancunion spoke to a University of Manchester spokesperson about these results. They told us they were “pleased to see Manchester again ranked in the world’s top 50 universities, since we are in all the main international tables.” Each ranking system has its own methodology, none of which are perfect, but they can provide some indication of an institution’s performance compared to its competitors.

“Our position in these tables is further confirmation that we are on course to meet our ambitious plans to become one of the 25 leading universities in the world by 2020, recognised globally for our research excellence, outstanding learning and student experience, and our social, economic and cultural impact.”

Medical imaging technique could benefit cancer patients

Written by Andy van den Bent-Kelly on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

Scientists at the University of Manchester have discovered a potential new method for predicting if patients with head or neck cancer will benefit from chemotherapy.

By assessing tumour blood flow with an MRI scan, it is possible to determine if induction chemotherapy will be helpful on a patient-by-patient basis.

The technique itself is nothing new to the world of medicine; MRI is frequently used to investigate the anatomy and physiology of the human body. However, its use in this area of cancer research has only just come to light.

Patients suffering from head and neck cancer commonly undergo pre-treatment induction chemotherapy before starting surgery or radiotherapy, to try and ensure that the disease doesn’t spread. If the blood flow in the tumour is poor, however, the effectiveness of this treatment is reduced significantly.

Professor Catharine West, who led the study, said: “It’s also important to identify those patients who are unlikely to respond to induction therapy so that we can skip ahead in the treatment pathway and offer them potentially more effective treatments and hopefully improve their outcome.”

CT scans are currently used to investigate tumour blood flow, although there is concern that this technique has the potential to contribute to radiation-induced cancer. This problem doesn’t exist for MRI, since no ionising radiation is used. Even though the cost of MRI has fallen, at present there are not many scenarios in the world of medical imaging in which it can readily replace CT scanning.

However, researchers at the Manchester Cancer Research Centre have shown that a scenario in which MRI can replace CT is in the study of tumour blood flow.

A variant of traditional MRI called dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) was used. In this technique, a contrast agent tracer is injected into a vein of a patient whilst they are undergoing MRI scanning. Contrast agents are used to improve the visibility of internal body structures; in this case, tumours.

The MRI scans are therefore acquired dynamically, enabling scientists and doctors to investigate both the vessel structure and blood flow of the tumour in more precise detail.

The team found that the blood flow of the tumour prior to induction chemotherapy could be used to predict how successful the therapy would actually be. Their findings were published in the journal Oral Oncology, where they stated that patients with high tumour blood flow were more likely to respond to the treatment.

Jonathan Bernstein, a co-author on the paper, said: “Delivery and effectiveness of chemotherapy appears to be better in tumours with higher blood flow.

“However, amongst those patients with lower measured tumour blood flow, more work is needed to determine those who will and won’t respond.”

Cornelia Parker tells Manchester to rise up in a “call to arms”

Written by William Brown on . Posted in News.

Last Thursday, the Whitworth Art Gallery saw a private viewing of Cornelia Parker’s new Magna Carta (An Embroidery) attended by numerous dignitaries and senior figures from the arts world.

The newly elected chancellor of the University of Manchester, poet Lemn Sissay, made his opinions clear on both the Whitworth and the viewing, exclaiming “This place rocks!”

The Whitworth reopened its doors in February 2015 after a £15 million redevelopment. Since then it has been awarded the biggest museum prize in the world, the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015. It has also been shortlisted for The Stirling Prize, and received one national and one regional award from Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Last year, Parker’s artwork Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, more commonly known as ‘the exploding shed’ formed a mainstay of the Whitworth’s impressive collection.

This year, Parker’s new, innovative Magna Carta display commemorates the world famous document’s 800th anniversary. The thirteen-meter-long tapestry is an exact copy of the Wikipedia page of Magna Carta from the 15th June 2014—the document’s 799th anniversary.

In an exclusive interview with The Mancunion, Parker talked of how she admired the “crowd-sourced nature” of Wikipedia and the fact that it was not dry history written by academics or victors, but fresh and dynamic.

Parker said she had struggled with the idea of how to take this webpage and to turn it into a crowd-sourced piece of art, until eventually she arrived at the idea of a crowd-sourced, or co-operative tapestry.

Following the themes of freedom and law that run through the Magna Carta, Parker collaborated with over sixteen prisons to sew the bulk of the tapestry; however, key words were left to a range of individuals. Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower, has embroidered the poignant ‘freedom’ from his asylum in Russia. Other contributors include Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks; Moazzam Begg, a released inmate from Guantanamo Bay; the Head of MI5; Alan Rusbridger, the ex-editor of The Guardian newspaper; and the American Ambassador to the UK.

Parker declares that “there are lots people who would not want to be seen on the same page but they are all in the same embroidery.”

Towards the end of the interview Parker became passionate, calling for students to rise up: “Manchester University is lagging way behind Manchester Met in greenness. Manchester Met is third in the league while the University of Manchester is 122nd out of 150 universities.

“Manchester University is lagging behind. The University needs to divest from fossil fuels. This is a call to arms! You should be occupying the [Vice-Chancellor’s] office, standing on the table and making Manchester University shape up.”

Refugee crisis in Manchester

Written by William Brown on . Posted in News.

As the global refugee crisis unfolds, reports show that Greater Manchester is doing more to house and care for asylum seekers than other region in the UK.

The Manchester Evening News recently published a series of reports based on Home Office data showing that the North West region takes approximately one in six of all asylum seekers in the UK.

According to the MEN some 4000 asylum seekers are now being processed in the Greater Manchester area, with over 100 asylum seekers currently housed in cheap hotels around the Manchester area for lack of suitable housing.

The report shows Rochdale and Bolton alone taking a combined figure of 2024 refugees, a figure far exceeding the 1617 refugees taken by London and the rest of the South East.

Reaction to this news has been varied. Many have criticised the unequal distribution, claiming that wealthier areas of the country should do more to house those in need.

The Labour MP for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk, said the report highlights that the North West is taking a “disproportionately high number,” claiming that other regions of the country were “not pulling their weight.”

Interim Mayor of Greater Manchester Tony Lloyd has also condemned the government’s “spectacular inability” to settle refugees and asylum seekers proportionately across the UK.

However, Labour MP for Manchester Central Lucy Powell has welcomed the news stating that she thinks there is a “moral obligation” to do more for refugees and that in her view the “vast majority of Mancunians would welcome playing their part.”

The report comes as the Prime Minister announced earlier this month that the UK would take a further 20000 Syrian refugees over the next five years. Cameron’s position contrasts strongly with Germany, where some 20000 refugees have been granted asylum over one weekend this month.

The Guardian reports around 340000 asylum seekers have arrived in the EU so far in 2015. Syrian refugees fleeing the disastrous civil war are by far the largest contingent of refugees crossing into Europe. However, only 5000 Syrian asylum seekers have been granted legal asylum in the UK since 2011, with just over 200 Syrian refugees being granted asylum so far this year.

Popular support for refugee rights movements and rehousing projects have been widespread in Manchester. On the 12th of September hundreds of people rallied in frustration at Cameron’s proposal to take 20000 refugees over five years. Manchester also saw massive counter-demonstrations against far right, anti-immigration, anti-refugee groups including The Far Right Infidels and Combat 18 this August.

Sir Gerald Kaufman, Labour MP for Manchester Gorton and the longest-serving current MP, told the House of Commons that if MPs didn’t let more refugees in now they would “live to regret it” for the rest of their lives.

The leader of Oldham council has also condemned Cameron’s stance as “shameful and embarrassing.”

Many students angered by the government’s weak response to the crisis have taken matters into their own hands signing on to Student Action for Refugees (STAR).

Emily Crowley, Deputy Director of Student Action for Refugees told The Mancunion: “The world is facing the biggest refugee crisis since World War II and the UK government is simply not doing enough.

“If you want to make sure the UK welcomes refugees take action with STAR to campaign for increased resettlement of Syrians and safe routes to the UK for refugees. You can also provide a welcome for refugees in your local community by volunteering with STAR to teach English and much more. Together we can get the message out, Refugees Welcome Here!”

Michael Spence, Education Secretary at the University of Manchester Students’ Union told The Mancunion that the government’s response was “pathetic.

“We have a duty to take in far, far more; especially considering Britain had a hand in creating the crisis by constant interventions in the Middle East. Students should do everything to lobby MPs and the government to support taking in more refugees.”