Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) News and Research

RSS

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.

Research shows promise for stopping progression of bipolar disorder

Changes in the brain that are important indicators of bipolar disorder are not prominent until young adulthood and are reduced in persons taking mood-stabilizing medications, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this month in Biological Psychiatry.

13 Feb 2006

Women more sensitive to pain during periods of low estrogen

Now researchers are going one step further by studying whether the difference in pain sensitivity is reflected in brain activity as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

7 Feb 2006

Imaging technology detects subtle brain changes in Type 1 diabetics

Although people with diabetes are twice as likely as the general population to develop depression, the cause of this increased risk is not well understood.

7 Feb 2006

Study finds brain changes begin gradually in 'middle age'

A study looking at brain function in young, middle-aged and older adults has identified changes in brain activity that begin gradually in middle age - and which may explain why older adults find it difficult to concentrate in busy environments and filter out irrelevant information.

7 Feb 2006

Women with low estrogen levels more sensitive to pain

Several recent studies have found that women are more sensitive to pain during periods of low estrogen.

2 Feb 2006

New treatment trials for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the PKD Foundation have launched two treatment trials for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

25 Jan 2006

Discovery puts scientists closer to understanding how visual awareness is generated

How do you know when you see something? Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix have made a breakthrough discovery that puts scientists closer to understanding how visual awareness is generated.

23 Jan 2006

Face perception is mediated by a distributed neural system in the human brain

New research indicates that an area of the brain thought to act in reward circuitry may represent a phase in visual processing during which sexual orientation modulates how we perceive individual faces. The findings are reported by Felicitas Kranz and Alumit Ishai of the University of Zurich.

11 Jan 2006

Study establishes two forms of mild cognitive impairment

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a transitional stage between normal cognition and Alzheimer's disease, exists in two different forms, according to a study published today by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles in the Archives of Neurology.

9 Jan 2006

Myelin breakdown appears to be key contributor to Alzheimer disease later in life

A new UCLA imaging study shows that age-related breakdown of myelin, the fatty insulation coating the brain's internal wiring, correlates strongly with the presence of a key genetic risk factor for Alzheimer disease.

8 Jan 2006

Breakdown of myelin linked to genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease

2 Jan 2006

Brain volume may be used as an early detection system for dementia

Reduced volume, or atrophy, in parts of the brain known as the amygdala and hippocampus may predict which cognitively healthy elderly people will develop dementia over a six-year period, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

2 Jan 2006

New techniques are able to detect and monitor Alzheimer's disease

The search for new measures, or "biomarkers," to detect Alzheimer's disease (AD) before signs of memory loss appear has advanced an important step in a study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and the University of Pittsburgh.

22 Dec 2005

Chronic pain sufferers may be able to reduce pain levels by studying their own live brain images

Chronic pain sufferers may be able to reduce pain levels by studying their own live brain images, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine report in a new study.

15 Dec 2005

It's all in the mind so think that pain away

According to U.S. researchers chronic discomfort can be reduced by brain manipulation and people in chronic pain can "think away" their suffering by learning to manipulate the activity of the brain.

14 Dec 2005

Surprising autism finding

New brain imaging research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill indicates that when people with autism look at a face, activity in the brain area that responds is similar to that of people without autism.

13 Dec 2005

Brain enlargement may indicate autism

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has found evidence of brain enlargement in a relatively large sample of children with autism, compared with children who do not have the disorder, according to a study in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

13 Dec 2005