Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) News and Research

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a large magnet and radio waves to look at organs and structures inside your body. Health care professionals use MRI scans to diagnose a variety of conditions, from torn ligaments to tumors. MRIs are very useful for examining the brain and spinal cord. Also called: Magnetic resonance imaging, NMR, Nuclear magnetic resonance.

Why we remember bad events

Do you remember exactly where you were when you learned of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks?

29 Aug 2007

Alcoholics carry untold liability for brain damage

Researchers know that heavy alcohol intake can lead to structural and functional changes in the brain, but have not been able to establish direct links between these changes and specific cognitive functions.

28 Aug 2007

High-density diffuse optical tomography helps scan infant brains

Researchers hoping to better understand the development of the infant brain have long been stymied by a formidable obstacle: babies just don't want to sit still for brain scans.

22 Aug 2007

New understanding of neural basis for decision making, or free will

The area of the brain responsible for self-control, where the decision not to do something occurs after thinking about doing it, is separate from the area associated with taking action, scientists say in the August 22 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

22 Aug 2007

Pronouns light up brain!

New research suggests that pronouns may play a far greater role than simply replacing a proper name in a sentence. A University of South Carolina study suggests that pronouns help keep the brain's complex circuitry and limited memory system from being overloaded.

17 Aug 2007

Brain imaging reveals breakdown of normal emotional processing

Brain imaging has revealed a breakdown in normal patterns of emotional processing that impairs the ability of people with clinical depression to suppress negative emotional states.

17 Aug 2007

Vision restoration therapy shown to help brain injured patients recover lost vision

Columbia University Medical Center researchers have demonstrated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), that brain activity was increased in stroke and traumatic brain injury survivors who underwent Vision Restoration Therapy (VRT), a rehabilitative treatment that helps these patients recover lost vision.

16 Aug 2007

That pot belly puts you at risk of heart disease

According to researchers in the U.S. people with pot bellies are more at risk of having heart disease than those whose fat is spread evenly over the rest of their body.

14 Aug 2007

MRI could help prevent breast cancer progression

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose breast cancer in its intraductal stage could help prevent the development of invasive cancer, conclude authors of an Article in The Lancet.

13 Aug 2007

High-tech diagnosis pinpoints causes of behavioral and psychiatric problems in patients

Is there a definitive test for mental illness? Not yet, but using advanced neuropsychiatric diagnostic tools including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), mental health professionals at The Menninger Clinic in Houston are pinpointing the causes of behavioral and psychiatric problems in patients.

12 Aug 2007

Leptin controls our fondness for food

Scientists have discovered that leptin, one of the key hormones responsible for reducing hunger and increasing the feeling of fullness, also controls our fondness for food.

12 Aug 2007

Prophylaxis effective at preventing joint bleeds and preserving joint function and structure in young boys with hemophilia A

According to a new landmark study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, infusions of clotting factor VIII used preventively can significantly reduce the risk of developing joint damage associated with joint bleeding in young children with hemophilia A.

9 Aug 2007

Variant of the dopamine receptor gene may be associated with ADHD

A variant of the dopamine receptor gene may be associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and with thinner tissue in areas of the brain that handle attention, but also appears associated with better clinical outcomes among individuals with the disorder, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry , one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

7 Aug 2007

Brain areas that control attention thinnest in children with ADHD

Brain areas that control attention were thinnest in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who carried a particular version of a gene in a study by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

7 Aug 2007