Magnetic Resonance Imaging News and Research

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging technique which physicians use for the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions.

Researchers pinpoint brain region linked to placebo effect

Researchers have pinpointed a brain region central to the machinery of the placebo effect, the often controversial phenomenon in which a person's belief in the efficacy of a treatment such as a painkilling drug influences its effect.

19 Jul 2007

Cancer risk from radiation during cardiac CT scans studied

An analysis based on computerized simulation models suggests that the lifetime risk of cancer associated with radiation exposure from a computed tomography (CT scan) coronary angiography varies widely, with the risk greater for women and younger patients, according to a study in the July 18 issue of JAMA .

18 Jul 2007

New method for early disease diagnosis

Purdue University researchers worked with the Indiana University School of Medicine to establish a technique that provides a new approach for detecting a number of genetic disorders found in infants and young children.

18 Jul 2007

Insulin resistance in skeletal muscle can be countered through exercise

Abdominal fat, the spare tire that many of us carry, has long been implicated as a primary suspect in causing the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that includes the most dangerous heart attack risk factors: prediabetes, diabetes, high blood pressure, and changes in cholesterol.

17 Jul 2007

Paint helps surgeons see where a tumor begins and ends

A tumor paint developed by researchers at Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center will help surgeons see where a tumor begins and ends more precisely by illuminating the cancerous cells.

16 Jul 2007

3-D microscopic views of tiny mouse brains available online

A multi-institutional consortium including Duke University has created startlingly crisp 3-D microscopic views of tiny mouse brains - unveiled layer by layer - by extending the capabilities of conventional magnetic resonance imaging.

10 Jul 2007

The brain predicts our perception of the outside world

The human brain anticipates our perception of the outside world. For example, it is capable of predicting if we are going to perceive tactile stimulation of weak intensity or, on the contrary, if a more intense stimulation will be perceived more or less painfully.

9 Jul 2007

Researchers pinpoint brain region responsible for pain's ability to affect cognitive processing

Anybody who's tried to concentrate on work while suffering a headache knows that pain compellingly commands attention,which is how evolution helped ensure survival in a painful world.

9 Jul 2007

Hearing loss and von Hippel-Lindau disease

Patients with the genetic disorder von Hippel-Lindau disease may suddenly experience hearing loss because of a tumor-associated hemorrhage in the inner ear, according to a study in the July 4 issue of JAMA.

4 Jul 2007

Training autistic brains to recognize visual and vocal cues

To understand the meaning of a conversation, kids automatically do what adults do - besides processing the meaning of words, they unconsciously "read" the expression on a person's face and listen to their tone of voice, then integrate that information with the context at hand to discern meaning, be it humor, anger, irony or straightforwardness.

28 Jun 2007

Software enhances breast MRI scans - helps radiologists reduce false positives

Using commercially available software to enhance breast scans done by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reduces the number of false positive identifications of malignant tumors and the subsequent need for biopsies, according to a new study.

23 Jun 2007

Neurological reason for doing mindfulness meditation

Talking with a therapist or friend, writing in a journal, help us to feel better! A new brain imaging study by UCLA psychologists reveals why verbalizing our feelings makes our sadness, anger and pain less intense.

23 Jun 2007

Three-dimensional ultrasound scanner provides in-depth view of the brain

Biomedical engineers at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering have adapted a three-dimensional ultrasound scanner that might guide minimally invasive brain surgeries and provide better detection of a brain tumor's location.

23 Jun 2007

Hypnosis reduces pain perception

Hypnosis can offer significant reduction in pain awareness without any effect on non-painful aspects of the subject's perception.

20 Jun 2007

Two complementary commanders in charge of the brain

A probe of the upper echelons of the human brain's chain-of-command has found strong evidence that there are not one but two complementary commanders in charge of the brain, according to neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

20 Jun 2007

Doubt cast on reliabilty of current models for breast cancer risk

A new study has challenged the accuracy of models currently used to predict a woman's risk of breast cancer.

20 Jun 2007

Remicade helps those with ankylosing spondylitis

Data presented at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual European Congress of Rheumatology showed that patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) who received REMICADE, (infliximab) over two years experienced significant improvement in spinal mobility.

19 Jun 2007

Breakdown of myelin may be the cause of Huntington's disease

Last month, Dr. George Bartzokis, director of the UCLA Memory Disorders and Alzheimer's Disease Clinic, suggested in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia that the breakdown of a type of myelin that develops late in life promotes the buildup of toxic amyloid plaques long associated with Alzheimer's disease.

16 Jun 2007

Simple test predicts a person's risk for developing dementia within six years with 87 percent accuracy

The test, developed in the study by the researchers, is a 14-point index combining medical history, cognitive testing, and physical examination. It requires no special equipment and can be given in a clinical setting such as a doctor's office or at a patient's bedside.

16 Jun 2007

New genetic cause for Joubert syndrome

An international study by researchers at Seattle Children?s Hospital Research Institute, the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands has identified a new genetic cause for Joubert syndrome (JS).

15 Jun 2007