Issue 73
19 January 1999
STAFF NEWSPAPER OF IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Media mentions
Undercover agent
The Times Higher Education Supplement (1.1.99) has revealed that an Imperial physicist has been selected for a secret mission. Preferring to remain anonymous, the academic’s mission is to advise the makers of the next James Bond film, The World is Not Enough, on the technical details of the weapons. The IC secret agent did, however, reveal his motives to the THES: “Clearly it is important to show the world that we have the best secret agents. If I can help, I am happy to do so.”Icelanders under the microscope
An entire nation is to be placed under the genomic microscope after a parliamentary bill was passed allowing the population of Iceland to take part in a unique genetic experiment. Medical records, family trees and genetic information of all Icelanders are to be entered into a single, computerised database. On hearing the news, the Guardian (22.12.98) sought the expert opinion of Anna Kessling, Primary Care and Population Health Sciences Division. Professor Kessling expressed her enthusiasm for the project explaining that it will not only make a unique resource for epidemiologists but could also help clinicians to offer faster diagnoses of genetic conditions. She added: “If someone were at risk of, say breast cancer, and a relative had had a test, a doctor would be able to look up the exact mutation at the click of a mouse.” Well aware of the negative implications that such a database could hold for patient confidentiality, she underlined the need for legislation which stipulates who can use the information and how.Migraines linked to strokes
Young women who suffer from migraines run a greater risk of a stroke according to research published in the BMJ (2.1.99). Dr Lemmie Chang and Professor Neil Poulter, NHLI Division, worked with the Radcliffe Infirmary at Oxford on a study of 291 women under 45 who had suffered a stroke. The group found that women who have a history of migraine are three and half times more likely to suffer ischaemic stroke - one caused by a blockage of a blood vessel in the brain. The news of the results was picked up by many newspapers at national and regional levels. Neil Poulter said to the Express: “If you get migraines do something about the risk of stroke. If you smoke, don’t. I wouldn’t say don’t take the pill as it is the best form of contraception for many, but low-dose pills are best. The absolute level of risk, however, is very small.” (1.1.99)Top of the class?
Imperial has been ranked sixth in a ‘posh top 10’ table of students accepted by socio/economic background in a survey compiled by the Higher Education Management Statistics group. This first breakdown of social class backgrounds of students reveals that higher education is polarised by class divisions. The Guardian (12.1.99) reported that “as expected in the posh stakes, it is the universities of Cambridge and Oxford which come out as top of the elite.” It went on to say that IC students, along with Bristol, Edinburgh and Nottingham, are “skewed towards the middle classes”.
© Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, 1999
Last Revised: 19 January 1999