Health Check

When did someone last touch you? Maybe they kissed you goodbye this morning or someone touched you on the arm on the bus because you’d dropped something. The Touch Test explores touch in its many forms and launches a major piece of research in which we want as many people as possible to take part. In the studio we have Professor Michael Banissey and Dr Natalie Bowling, both from Goldsmiths University of London, who have been commissioned by the Wellcome Collection in London to conduct this research in collaboration with the BBC. Professor Roger Kneebone and lace maker Fleur Oakes explain how medical students can learn to touch, and Claudia visits Dr Sarah Wilkes at the Institute of Making and encounters some extraordinary tactile materials. Our reporter Chhavi Sachdev has been to visit a project in the city of Mumbai where blind women are using their sense of touch to examine women for breast lumps. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath

The ongoing unrest in Hong Kong appears to be linked with a rise in mental health problems like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The mental health of adults in Hong Kong was already being monitored for a long-term study - and researchers noted that during the unrest that the probable depression rate was five times higher than usual. We hear from a psychologist who says that treating the symptoms alone will not help – if the underlying political issues are not addressed too. A child with a severe allergy to foods such as nuts can become seriously ill when they eat even tiny amounts of that food. Exposure can cause swelling around the mouth – and even the throat closing up, preventing breathing. Families have to learn not only to cope with the physical risks – but also manage their anxiety. We hear about the help for families trying to live as normal a life as possible. Oxytocin is sometimes known as the hormone of love – it’s a brain chemical that helps us to bond with babies and romantic partners. In her new book, Why Oxytocin Matters, Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg says it’s much more than that – helping to reduce stress and maybe even reduce inflammation. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath (Image: Protesters embrace during the Hong Kong demonstrations. Photo credit: Aidan Marzo/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images.)

As scientists try to identify a new respiratory illness in China we report on another medical mystery. German researchers who looked at the brains of people who died of encephalitis – an inflammation of the brain – found that they were infected with the same Borna virus carried by wild white-toothed shrews. They think that humans might catch the virus when their cats catch the rodents and bring them home. A new smartphone app is helping families and medical staff to understand the discomfort experienced every day by people living with inflammatory bowel disease. Patients with conditions like Crohns disease often need to get to a toilet quickly - so the charity Crohns and Colitis UK developed the app In My Shoes. Our reporter has tried it out along with staff from Southampton General hospital. We tend to think of students as being healthy - but a few years ago there were outbreaks of bacterial meningitis in colleges and universities across the UK. It’s spread by close physical contact including kissing and students are now encouraged to have a vaccine. But now a team of British researchers is developing an extra layer of protection - nose drops laced with friendly bacteria. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath (Photo: Bicolored White-toothed Shrew. Credit: CreativeNature nl/Getty Images)

Many people with autistic spectrum disorder learn techniques to overcome their difficulties interacting with others. The first study that has looked at the consequences of these compensatory strategies reveals some benefits but also significant downsides. The consequences can be stress, low self-esteem, mental illness and misdiagnosis. Claudia talks to lead researcher Professor Francesca Happé from King’s College London and Eloise Stark, a woman with autism. A new research programme at Imperial College London is investigating the link between obesity and infertility in men. Madeleine Finlay explores why weight gain and other factors of modern life might be influencing men’s sperm health. Tick-borne Lyme disease is on the rise in the northern hemisphere. Lyme disease can develop into a serious illness. It is hard to diagnosis early and delayed diagnosis means lengthy treatment and recovery. Dr Mollie Jewett at the University of Central Florida is working on a much faster means of diagnosis, and a more effective treatment. Deborah Cohen meets Dr Jewett and her ticks. Graham Easton is in the Health Check studio to talk about links between hearing loss and dementia, and the worrying spread of bacteria resistant to carbapenems, one of the most important kinds of antibiotic drugs. (Photo caption: A young woman standing in the middle of a crowded street – credit: Getty Images) Health Check was presented by Claudia Hammond with comments from Dr Graham Easton. Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker

Claudia Hammond visits the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Every year a minority of births goes wrong and the baby is deprived of oxygen, which can lead to long-term brain damage and conditions such as cerebral palsy. Early treatment can reduce the likelihood of permanent disability or even death, so a team at University College London have now developed a new portable device which uses harmless infra-red to detect signs of brain injury in newborn babies, minutes after birth. It is called Cyril and consultant neurologist Subhabrata Mitra and Dr Ilias Tachtsidis, Reader in Biomedical Engineering, demonstrate it to Claudia. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a well-known problem, with one insidious thriving place being medical implants, where they form impenetrable biofilms. But there could be a solution from scientists at Nottingham University. Kim Hardie, a molecular microbiologist, is part of a team that has developed special slippery coatings for biomedical devices, such as catheters, that stop bacteria attaching and sticking in the first place. It is hoped these super biomaterials will help in the fight against super bugs, which has huge implications for infection rates in hospitals globally. It is estimated that one in nine people experience some form of breathlessness, which is most common in conditions such as heart failure, lung disease, panic disorder and Parkinson’s. But there are also significant numbers of people who suffer from breathlessness which cannot be explained. A team at Oxford University hypothesise this might be driven by networks in the brain. So using brain scans and computational modelling, Breathe Oxford has examined breathlessness in athletes, healthy people and those with chronic lung disease, seeking clues as to why some individuals become disabled by their breathlessness, while others with the same lung function live normal healthy lives. Claudia discusses this relationship between breathlessness and brain perception with lead researcher and anaesthetist Professor Kyle Pattinson and research scientist Sarah Finnegan. They also, using a ‘Steppatron’, demonstrate what it is like to live with a chronic lung condition. Mirror-touch synaesthesia is a rare type of synaesthesia where people can actually feel something that they can see being done to someone else. For example they might seem to feel a brush on their hand whilst watching someone else having their hand stroked. Dr Natalie Bowling from the University of Sussex researches this condition. It is estimated that 30% of the population could experience some form of synaesthesia and Claudia also meets Kaitlyn Hova, a violinist with visual-auditory synaesthesia. She demonstrates her violin, which lights up with different colours according to how she sees the notes. (Photo caption: Members of the MetaboLight team working together to develop novel light technologies to assess brain injury severity in newborns within hours after birth - credit: MetaboLight) Producer: Helena Selby