The contrast agent iopromide, which has been used on more than 70 million patients worldwide, can be used for all types of CT imaging, regardless of the volume or dosage required, according to a new study by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.
For the study, researchers analyzed 29,508 patients who underwent contrast-enhanced CT with iopromide for a variety of diagnostic reasons. Of the patients studied, 29,297 experienced no adverse
Exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke increases the risk of developing cervical tumors, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Medicine. The researchers’ results also corroborated past studies that found an association between active cigarette smoking and cervical neoplasia—the growth of a tumor. The concept of the Hopkins study was the result of collaboration between several researchers supported by the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund. T
Penn State engineers have developed a new model for high-speed broadband transmissions over U.S. overhead electric power lines and estimate that, at full data rate handling capacity, the lines can provide bit rates that far exceed DSL or cable over similar spans. Dr. Mohsen Kavehrad, the W. L. Weiss professor of electrical engineering and director of the Center for Information and Communications Technology Research, led the investigation. He says, “Although broadband power line (BPL) service tri
A portable imaging device currently in development by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) will produce clear, highly detailed pictures of bone and tissue, helping physicians manage bone health in space and on Earth. The Scanning Confocal Acoustic Diagnostic system, or SCAD, will enable doctors to determine the rate of loss and plan treatment options with the aid of high-quality images, taken noninvasively.
Studies of cosmonauts and astronauts who spent months o
Erupting volcanoes are among the most destructive forces in Mother Nature’s arsenal. But where many people live on or near the flanks of such mountains, the real disaster often doesn’t start until the eruption has subsided and the world has stopped paying attention. It is then that rain-swollen rivers emanating from volcanic peaks can send massive lahars – large waves of mud made up of water, ash and volcanic rock – careening down the mountainsides, often burying everything in their
Prevention is key, March of Dimes says
Death or severe cognitive and neuromotor impairment are common outcomes among extremely premature infants (fewer than 26 weeks’ gestation), according to a British study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine. “Prematurity is a common, serious problem in America and unfortunately, the number of preterm births is rising each year,” said Scott D. Berns, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, vice president for chapter programs of the March of D
Large, multi-center clinical trial planned in Lou Gehrig’s disease
A family of antibiotics that includes penicillin may help prevent nerve damage and death in a wide variety of neurological diseases, including Lou Gehrig’s disease, dementia, stroke, and epilepsy, Johns Hopkins researchers have found. The antibiotics’ beneficial effects, discovered in experiments in the lab and with mice, are unrelated to their ability to kill bacteria, the researchers report in the J
Glia appear essential for ’hair cells’ responsible for hearing and balance
Traditionally viewed as supporting actors, cells known as glia may be essential for the normal development of nerve cells responsible for hearing and balance, according to new University of Utah research. The study is reported in the January 6, 2005 issue of Neuron and is co-authored by scientists at the University of Washington.
“Using zebrafish as a model, we’ve demonstrated that gl
Millions of patients suffering from liver damage (cirrhosis) and failure may benefit from research by the Universities of Southampton and Edinburgh that could lead to new life-saving treatments. There is currently no cure for liver cirrhosis and a patient’s only hope of survival is to receive a liver transplant.
The Southampton scientists from the University’s Infection, Inflammation and Repair Division of the School of Medicine, in collaboration with colleagues from the Univers
Whether it’s the look of love, happiness, or the look of fear, humans use facial expressions to communicate important information to one another. But which parts of the brain read these cues, and how do they do it? A paper in this week’s Nature by a group of international scientists, including Professor Philippe Schyns from the University of Glasgow, offers new insights into how we recognize fear in people’s eyes.
The study focuses on a case study of a 38-year-old w
Bone-disorder experts from across Europe have turned to the web in a unique alliance that will improve patient care.
The European Skeletal Dysplasia Network (ESDN), which was developed by The University of Manchester, links eight institutions in six different countries by means of a secure web portal. The hi-tech referral system means a patient, say, in Italy could have their case referred to a bone specialist in Belgium and a genetics expert in Manchester, while a laboratory
Each year more than 45,000 Americans suffer burns serious enough to require a hospital stay, according to the American Burn Association. While the traditional therapy of using skin grafts to cover burn sites has improved, a number of problems including scarring, infection and poor adhesion remain.
“Skin grafts involve taking skin (both the upper epidermal and the underlying dermis) from an unburned site on the patient’s body or from a cadaver and grafting it on to the burn wound,”
Duct tape that never loses its stick. Bandages that come off without sticky residue or an “ouch.”
Gecko feet may hold the key to the development of synthetic self-cleaning adhesives, according to a biologist from Lewis & Clark College. The research is published in the online early edition of the Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, or PNAS (http://www.pnas.org) during the week of Jan. 3, 2005 (Article #08304: “Evidence for self-cleaning in geck
The binding of a viral RNA and a viral protein brings about a physical transformation that dupes host cells into enthusiastically copying the invading pathogen, according to a team of researchers from MIT, Harvard, and Harvard Medical School.
In the December 17 issue of Science, collaborators led by Professor Lee Gehrke of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology published dramatic three-dimensional images of RNA-protein interactions in alfalfa mosaic virus (A
MIT astrophysicists and their colleagues are excited about the latest milestone toward developing a giant telescope that among other things will allow direct observations of planets orbiting stars in solar systems beyond ours.
On Dec. 13 the Carnegie Observatories of the Carnegie Institution signed an agreement with the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab to produce the first mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). The telescope will have a diameter of
Scientists from MIT’s Center for Cancer Research have developed a new mouse model that closely resembles Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS) in humans, a syndrome that predisposes those affected to a broad range of cancers. Some 95 percent of LFS patients develop cancer by age 65.
This work, which was reported in the Dec. 17 issue of Cell, could lead to a treatment for LFS and aid in the development of treatments for other cancers.
The research shows that a single point mu
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