Imaging News and Research

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Imaging and percutaneous valve therapy

The scope of percutaneous cardiac therapy has expanded from percutaneous coronary and peripheral intervention to percutaneous valve intervention, first used in the mid- eighties. Today mitral regurgitation represents the second most important native valve disease in Europe (30%) as shown by the Euro Heart Survey.

3 Sep 2007

How to optimally prepare a patient for planned coronary angiography and subsequent angioplasty?

A Czech study compared two anti-clotting treatment regimens, currently used before coronary angiography / angioplasty to find the optimal balance between preventing ischemic versus bleeding complications of these procedures. The study was conducted in five Czech tertiary cardiology centers.

3 Sep 2007

Ultrasound to seal punctured lungs

A stretcher races through the entrance of a busy hospital. The car-accident victim lies on top and grimaces in pain. While surface injuries look gruesome, the real medical danger is invisible - internal organ damage caused by being crushed against the steering wheel.

30 Aug 2007

Small animal imaging facility is big boon to research

When powerful magnets line up the body's protons before radiofrequency waves can grab their attention away, it's called spin physics.

30 Aug 2007

Microfluidic chambers advance the science of growing neurons

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a method for culturing mammalian neurons in chambers not much larger than the neurons themselves.

30 Aug 2007

Influence of sex and handedness on brain is similar in capuchin monkeys and humans

Capuchin monkeys are playful, inquisitive primates known for their manual dexterity, complex social behavior, and cognitive abilities.

30 Aug 2007

Why we remember bad events

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

29 Aug 2007

Split-bolus MDCT urography technique for evaluating the urinary tract system reduces radiation dose

The split-bolus (cross sectional imaging) MDCT urography technique reduces both radiation dose and number of images produced, according to a recent study conducted by radiologists from Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, CA and VA Palo Alto Health Care System in Palo Alto, CA.

29 Aug 2007

Alcoholics tend to be deficient in both cognitive and emotional processes

Alcoholics tend to be deficient in both cognitive and emotional processes.

28 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

Insight into autism's origin in the brain

In the first study of its kind, researchers have discovered that in autistic individuals, connections between brain cells may be deficient within single regions, and not just between regions, as was previously believed.

23 Aug 2007

Study helps predict anesthesia-linked risks for children with chest tumors

Children with mediastinal masses - tumors in their chest outside the lungs - are at special risk for developing breathing problems when they undergo anesthesia. These young patients are of special concern to clinicians who must anesthetize them as part of their medical treatment.

23 Aug 2007

Near-infrared resonant nanoshells for combined optical imaging and photothermal cancer therapy

Using metal nanoshells designed to both absorb and scatter near-infrared light, a team of investigators at Rice University has shown that such nanoparticles can both image and treat tumors in animals. Their experiments revealed complete tumor destruction in more than 80 percent of animals treated with these nanoshells.

22 Aug 2007

Multifunctional nanoparticles for combining ultrasonic tumor imaging and targeted chemotherapy

A new targeted drug delivery method, which combines two nanoparticles into one larger one, uses ultrasound to image tumors and release the anticancer drug doxorubicin from "nanobubbles" into the same tumors.

22 Aug 2007

Targeted quantum dot conjugates for siRNA delivery

Take a quantum dot, add a coating of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and attach a homing peptide and a piece of small interfering RNA (siRNA), and the result is a targeted nanoparticle that can stop the production of a specific protein by a targeted cell.

22 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

X-ray radiation doses continue to fall

The amount of radiation to which patients are exposed when they have medical x-rays is continuing to fall, according to the Health Protection Agency's latest five-yearly review of the National Patient Dose Database.

21 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