CLARITY News and Research

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The lipid-exchanged, anatomically rigid, imaging/immunostaining compatible, tissue hydrogel (CLARITY) method was initially designed in 2013 by Chung and Deisseroth at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Using this process, post-mortem organs can be labeled for proteins and nucleic acids, enabling analysis of intact samples to create detailed 3D images.

Opinion pieces, editorial respond to nomination of Jim Yong Kim to lead World Bank

On Friday, March 23, President Obama nominated Jim Yong Kim to be the next president of the World Bank. The following is a summary of several opinion pieces and an editorial published in response to his nomination.

27 Mar 2012

The health law officially turns two -- now what?

Supporters are marking the health law's second birthday today even as questions swirl about whether it will get to celebrate a third. Meanwhile, media outlets examine where implementation stands and what is yet to come.

23 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 23, 2012

Today's health policy headlines are full of previews of next week's health law action at the Supreme Court.

23 Mar 2012

HCD implements HLI's Language Engine

Health Language, Inc. (HLI), the global leader in healthcare terminology management, today announced its Language Engine has been selected by Health Care DataWorks, Inc. (HCD), to map disparate data entered into its KnowledgeEdge brand Enterprise Data Warehouse, providing health systems with standard code sets, enhanced analytics, reporting and business intelligence.

21 Mar 2012

Ampio receives U.S. patent allowance for lead drug Ampion

Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company conducting clinical trials on its three lead drugs, licensing distribution of these drugs and engaged in further drug development, today announced that it has received notice of allowance from the US Patent Office of an additional patent that complements and expands its anti inflammatory patent portfolio for its lead drug Ampion.

20 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: The fight against IPAB; Chinks in GOP armor on health care law

As part of their broader campaign to repeal health care reform, House Republicans are determined to kill off an independent board that is supposed to help rein in federal spending on Medicare. Their rhetoric is predictably distorted: charging that "15 unelected bureaucrats" should not be able to "ration care." In truth, the independent payment advisory board of nongovernmental experts is specifically precluded from rationing care, and Congress, not the board, has the final say on what cuts should be made.

11 Mar 2012

Elekta Clarity 3D system transforms prostate radiotherapy at UHG

Soft tissue imaging with 3D ultrasound both at therapy simulation and just before treatment has transformed prostate radiotherapy at University Hospital Galway.

From Elekta 9 Mar 2012

BioLineRx receives European patent for BL-1020 to treat schizophrenia

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced today that a European patent has been granted claiming BL-1020's composition and its use for the treatment of schizophrenia.

8 Mar 2012

New, freely available Web-based program helps predict effect of mutations on mRNA splicing

In a brief paper in the journal Bioinformatics, Brown University researchers describe a new, freely available Web-based program called Spliceman for predicting whether genetic mutations are likely to disrupt the splicing of messenger RNA, potentially leading to disease.

6 Mar 2012

HDFT scan can show broken neural connections caused by TBI

A powerful new imaging technique called High Definition Fiber Tracking (HDFT) will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other disorders, much like X-rays show a fractured bone, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in a report published online today in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

2 Mar 2012

Actuarial value, health disparities draw attention as part of health law implementation

The Department of Health and Human Services offered a bulletin last week to provide guidance on how insurers should calculate actuarial value. Also, some health policy experts are beginning to question whether the health law's quality provisions might exacerbate the nation's health disparities.

28 Feb 2012

Study finds genetic variants that elevate risk for skin lesions in people exposed to arsenic

One of the first large-scale genomic studies conducted in a developing country has discovered genetic variants that elevate the risk for skin lesions in people chronically exposed to arsenic. Genetic changes found near the enzyme for metabolizing the chemical into a less toxic form can significantly increase an individual's risk for developing arsenic-related disease.

26 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: A missing contraception question, Obama's budget blind spot, NEJM on Medicare Advantage

David Brooks and Gail Collins discuss the surprising role debates over contraception, abortion and unwed mothers have played so far in the campaign.

23 Feb 2012

Academic and industry leaders team up to develop next generation medical imaging technology

For over a decade, GE Healthcare has partnered with academic researchers from Purdue, Notre Dame and Michigan, and experts from Intel, to develop Veo – the world’s first Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction (MBiR) technique. Available on GE’s Discovery CT750 HD, Veo changes the rules of CT imaging by helping physicians provide accurate diagnoses with high quality images while enabling them to lower patients’ radiation dose levels.

22 Feb 2012

Contraception opinions: We're all Catholics now, a sex tax? And the 'safe, legal, rare' illusion

Because when the state comes against the Catholics, or the Jews, or the Muslims, or the Pentecostals, or the Mormons or those of any other faith – exotic or familiar – we must all stand up as one: We are all Catholics now. ... Perhaps this is a hard line. But when it comes to the separation of church and state, we need absolutes.

22 Feb 2012

Elekta to highlight Clarity with Autoscan at Radiosurgery Society meeting

Clarity soft tissue visualization system now provides an Autoscan option for automated ultrasound scanning from outside of the treatment room, employing a motorized probe positioned at the patient's perineum.

From Elekta 20 Feb 2012

Only about 1 in 7 older individuals use hearing aid

Though an estimated 26.7 million Americans age 50 and older have hearing loss, only about one in seven use a hearing aid, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.

14 Feb 2012

Cannabis and automobile accidents: Analysis finds link

A new Canadian study suggests that drivers who use cannabis up to three hours before driving are twice as likely to cause a collision as those not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The researchers say that this is because cannabis impairs brain and motor functions needed for safe driving. The study in bmj.com reviewed nine studies of 50,000 people worldwide who had been in serious or fatal crashes.

13 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Political furor on contraceptive policy; Confusing estimates of Medicare's costs

The political furor over President Obama's birth-control mandate continues to grow, even among those for whom contraception poses no moral qualms, and one needn't be a theologian to understand why. The country is being exposed to the raw political control that is the core of the Obama health-care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty.

9 Feb 2012

New editorial offers clarity on confusing drug and alcohol addiction terminology

A new editorial released this week offers clarity and structure on confusing drug and alcohol addiction terminology for prescribers, users and regulators. "Through a glass darkly: can we improve clarity about mechanism and aims of medications in drug and alcohol treatments?" is published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the official journal of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE.

4 Feb 2012