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Doctor self-referrals for advanced imaging cost Medicare $100M in 2010

According to a Government Accountability Office report, doctors who referred patients for tests involving advanced imaging machines that they or a family member owned cost Medicare more than $100 million in 2010.

2 Nov 2012

PET scans allow scientists to study link between caffeine and neurodegenerative disorders

Molecular imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) has enabled scientists for the first time to visualize binding sites of caffeine in the living human brain to explore possible positive and negative effects of caffeine consumption.

2 Nov 2012

Study explores impact of IL1β on brain function alterations associated with schizophrenia

There are a growing number of clues that immune and inflammatory mechanisms are important for the biology of schizophrenia. In a new study in Biological Psychiatry, Dr. Mar Fatjó-Vilas and colleagues explored the impact of the interleukin-1β gene (IL1β) on brain function alterations associated with schizophrenia.

2 Nov 2012

Transformatix Technologies, NCH partner to create BioLinQ

The latest significant biomedical informatics technology is not coming from the biotech industry or a university. In fact, it's coming from a children's hospital.

1 Nov 2012

Nitisinone treatment effectively prevents tyrosinemia in children

A consortium of Quebec researchers coordinated by the Medical Genetics Service of the Sainte-Justine UHC has just published the findings of a 25-year study on the treatment of tyrosinemia, a life-threatening liver disease of genetic origin, which is screened at birth in the province of Quebec, where it is much more frequent than anywhere else in the world.

1 Nov 2012

Varian highlights numerous lung cancer treatment systems at ASTRO meeting

Varian Medical Systems highlighted the company's technologies for the non-invasive treatment of lung cancer at the 54th annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Boston this week.

1 Nov 2012

Gene variant predicts lymphoma treatment response

German researchers have identified a gene variant that significantly influences the outcome of methotrexate therapy for primary central nervous system lymphoma.

31 Oct 2012

Biomarker discovery offers hope for lung cancer blood test

Blood levels of a variant form of the nuclear matrix protein Ciz1 are significantly higher in individuals with early- and late-stage lung cancer than in lung cancer-free individuals, researchers report.

31 Oct 2012

Vitamin D and multiple sclerosis: an interview with Ellen Mowry

Vitamin D is actually a hormone. For the most part, humans obtain vitamin D through sun exposure. Ultraviolet light from the sun promotes the conversion of a compound in the skin to pre-vitamin D.

31 Oct 2012

ACP urges use of performance measures targeting 'low-value services' to reduce overuse, misuse of these approaches

The American College of Physicians released a position paper Monday pressing for "valid, evidence-based measures" as a means of raising physician awareness and changing clinician behavior.

31 Oct 2012

Empathetic and analytic thinking mutually exclusive in the brain

New research shows a simple reason why even the most intelligent, complex brains can be taken by a swindler's story - one that upon a second look offers clues it was false.

31 Oct 2012

Diffusion tensor imaging detects complex muscle structures in 3D

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the Academic Medical Center (AMC) in Amsterdam have together developed a technique that allows detailed 3D imaging of complex muscle structures of patients.

31 Oct 2012

MRI gives clearer picture of COPD stroke risk

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients are at increased risk for carotid artery thickening, show the results of a study in elderly men.

30 Oct 2012

Women in disadvantaged neighborhoods less likely to live near mammography facility

Women in socioeconomically disadvantaged and less affluent areas of Chicago were less likely to live near a mammography facility with various aspects of care compared with women in less socioeconomically disadvantaged and more affluent areas.

30 Oct 2012

Low-dose radiation PCT developed for breast screening

US researchers have developed a high-resolution, low-dose phase contrast X-ray tomography for diagnosis of breast cancers that delivers a 74% reduced radiation dose compared with conventional PCT.

29 Oct 2012

Ultra-high performance SPECT systems announced by MILabs

MILabs, B.V. the Netherlands‐based innovator and manufacturer of pre‐clinical SPECT/PET/CT imaging devices announces the release of the Plus! Systems: the U‐SPECT+ and U‐SPECT+ /CT.

29 Oct 2012

Alternate method to precisely tag breast cancer tumors

When surgeons operate to remove a tumor, determining exactly where to cut can be tricky. Ideally, the entire tumor should be removed while leaving a continuous layer of healthy tissue, but current techniques for locating the tumors during surgery are imprecise. Now a multidisciplinary team from the University of California, San Diego, is developing an alternate means of precisely tagging breast cancer tumors for removal or targeted destruction.

29 Oct 2012