Brain-based method to determine impairment from cannabis intoxication

Published: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 15:36:05 EST

A new study shows that imaging of brain activity with functional near-infrared spectroscopy might offer a more accurate and reliable way to distinguish impairment from cannabis intoxication.

New hope for sight recovery in stroke survivors

Published: Thu, 06 Jan 2022 10:59:57 EST

Researchers have used MRI imaging to map visual brain activity in stroke survivors with sight loss that gives new hope for rehabilitation and recovery.

Mapping the musical mind

Published: Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:14:14 EST

Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to study the brains of secondary school students during a task focused on musical observation. They found that students trained to play music from a young age exhibited certain kinds of brain activity more strongly than other students. The researchers also observed a specific link between musical processing and areas of the brain associated with language processing for the first time.

Innovative X-ray imaging shows COVID-19 can cause vascular damage to the heart

Published: Wed, 22 Dec 2021 10:49:57 EST

Researchers have detected significant changes in the heart muscle tissue of people who died from COVID-19. The study underpins the involvement of the heart in COVID-19 at the microscopic level by imaging and analyzing the affected tissue in the three dimensions.

Cancer-spotting AI and human experts can be fooled by image-tampering attacks

Published: Tue, 14 Dec 2021 08:45:41 EST

Artificial intelligence (AI) models that evaluate medical images have potential to speed up and improve accuracy of cancer diagnoses, but they may also be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Researchers simulated an attack that falsified mammogram images, fooling both an AI breast cancer diagnosis model and human breast imaging radiologist experts.

A new spin on MRI

Published: Mon, 13 Dec 2021 12:18:32 EST

Researchers have demonstrated a proof-of-concept modification to enable standard MRI systems to detect frequencies associated with the presence of sodium-23 ions. This low-cost and convenient approach requires the installation of a radio-frequency repeater inside the magnetic bore of an MRI machine. The wide applicability of this method for sodium and other nuclei may allow advanced medical imaging to be performed on existing machines, and substantially reduce MRI scanner upgrade costs for hospitals.

Atomic structure of antifungal drug confirms unusual mechanism, opens door to less-toxic derivatives

Published: Thu, 09 Dec 2021 12:42:10 EST

Advanced molecular imaging technology has now mapped the structure of a drug widely used to treat fungal infections but whose workings have mystified researchers and physicians for nearly 70 years. Researchers now described in atomistic detail the structure of the drug amphotericin B, a powerful but toxic antifungal agent. Seeing the structure provides illumination in the researchers' quest to formulate less-toxic AmB derivatives.

MRI, hybrid imaging outperform conventional tests for small cell lung cancer staging

Published: Thu, 09 Dec 2021 09:56:34 EST

MRI -- with or without FDG PET coregistration --c an improve the staging of patients with small cell lung cancer.

Soft tissue destruction and lower back pain

Published: Wed, 08 Dec 2021 12:31:03 EST

Back pain affects many people at some point in their lives, and a common cause is damage to the squishy discs or flexible, rubbery tissues of the spine. However, observing this damage at an early stage is difficult with current imaging methods. Now, researchers report they can see microscopic soft tissue destruction in animal spines by targeting denatured collagen with fluorescent molecules.

MRI’s may be initial window into CTE diagnosis in living; approach may shave years off diagnosis

Published: Wed, 08 Dec 2021 09:01:30 EST

While chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) cannot yet be diagnosed during life, a new study provides the best evidence to date that a commonly used brain imaging technique, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), may expedite the ability to diagnose CTE with confidence in the living.