Longstanding challenges in biomedical research such as monitoring brain chemistry and tracking the spread of drugs through the body require much smaller and more precise sensors. A new nanoscale sensor that can monitor areas 1,000 times smaller than current technology and can track subtle changes in the chemical content of biological tissue with sub-second resolution, greatly outperforming standard technologies. The device, developed by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is silicon-based and takes advantage of techniques developed for microelectronics manufacturing. The small device…
The CI hearing prosthesis does not improve speech comprehension equally quickly and well for everyone. A research team from MHH and the University of Oldenburg is now investigating how the brain adapts to electrical hearing. When hearing aids are of little or no help, so-called auditory implants are also used to treat hearing loss. The most widespread of these is the cochlear implant (CI). In Germany alone, this hearing prosthesis gives around 50,000 people who were born deaf or have…
Compact photoacoustic sensing instrument for breast tissue characterization. A compact, cost-effective photoacoustic sensing instrument promises to enhance clinical diagnostics with greater speed and accuracy, for improved patient care and outcomes. In the realm of biomedical sciences, the quest for accurate and efficient diagnostic tools is ever-evolving. One such promising innovation making waves is the photoacoustic (PA) technique. In the past decade, PA imaging has emerged as a viable imaging modality demonstrated in many clinical applications with promising outcomes. Unlike traditional…
An innovative breast imaging technique provides high sensitivity for detecting cancer while significantly reducing the likelihood of false positive results, according to a study published today in Radiology: Imaging Cancer, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Researchers said the technique has the potential to offer more reliable breast cancer screening for a broader range of patients. Mammography is an effective screening tool for early detection of breast cancer, but its sensitivity is reduced in dense breast…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that usually leads to permanent disabilities. It affects around 2.9 million people worldwide, and around 15,000 in Switzerland alone. One key feature of the disease is that it causes the patient’s own immune system to attack and destroy the myelin sheaths in the central nervous system. These protective sheaths insulate the nerve fibres, much like the plastic coating around a copper wire. Myelin sheaths ensure that electrical impulses travel quickly and efficiently from…
A novel PET imaging technique can noninvasively detect active inflammation in the body before clinical symptoms arise, according to research published in the February issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Using a PET tracer that binds to proteins present on activated immune cells, the technique produces images of ongoing inflammation throughout the body, such as rheumatoid arthritis. This makes it easier for physicians to correctly diagnose and treat patients. Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis and…
Scientists develop a low-cost imaging device suitable for endoscopic screening programs. Gastrointestinal cancers (GCs) are among the most common forms of cancer and account for as much as one-third of all cancer deaths worldwide. Early diagnosis is an effective way of reducing the mortality associated with GCs, and endoscopic screening has proved to be an excellent approach for detecting potentially malignant tumors. To extend the benefits of screening programs to as many people as possible, the imaging systems used should…
KIMM develops technology for detecting injection of medication to prevent medical accidents related to analgesic drug infusion pump in hospitals. KIMM develops technology for a sensor to measure low flow rate and bubbles during drug infusion. Mass production of the world’s first safe electric drug infusion pump equipped with a flow sensor is in progress. Excessive administration of analgesic drugs frequently results in medical accidents. To prevent the occurrence of these accidents, a drug infusion pump featuring a technology for…
Researchers at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences have embarked on a revolutionary new research study that could improve the detection of a deadly disease — pancreatic cancer — and give patients a chance to live longer, healthier lives. The research focuses on an innovative combination of imaging techniques: a newly created contrast agent that recognizes pancreatic cancer cells, paired with Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography, or MSOT. Together, the approach can detect pancreatic cancer cells…
Researchers develop implantable device that can record a collection of individual neurons over months. Recording the activity of large populations of single neurons in the brain over long periods of time is crucial to further our understanding of neural circuits, to enable novel medical device-based therapies and, in the future, for brain–computer interfaces requiring high-resolution electrophysiological information. But today there is a tradeoff between how much high-resolution information an implanted device can measure and how long it can maintain recording…
EfficientBioAI – New Open-Source Software Makes AI Models Lighter & Greener. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an indispensable component in the analysis of microscopic data. However, while AI models are becoming better and more complex, the computing power and associated energy consumption are also increasing. Researchers at the Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften (ISAS) and Peking University have therefore created a free compression software that allows scientists to run existing bioimaging AI models faster and with significantly lower energy consumption. The…
A common powerful mutation found in melanoma can push heart muscle cells to multiply in laboratory models of heart tissue. Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that one of the most dangerous mutations found in skin cancers might moonlight as a pathway to mending a broken heart. The genetic mutation in the protein BRAF, a part of the MAPK signaling pathway that can promote cell division, is one of the most common and most aggressive found in melanoma patients….
Research suggests that a wearable patch featuring electrically triggered microneedles for on-demand drug delivery could be the next frontier in treatment of neurodegenerative disorders and neurological injuries. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists created a new drug delivery system, called the Spatiotemporal On-Demand Patch (SOP), which can receive commands wirelessly from a smartphone or computer to schedule and trigger the release of drugs from individual microneedles. The patch’s thin, soft platform resembles a Band-Aid and was designed to…
Adaptive form of deep brain stimulation with twice the number of electrodes improved the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in six patients. A team of physicians, neuroscientists and engineers at Duke University has demonstrated two new strategies that use deep brain stimulation to improve the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. By simultaneously targeting two key brain structures and using a novel self-adjusting device, the team showed that they can efficiently target and improve disruptive symptoms caused by the movement disorder. The research…
Further TOSYMA analysis underpins advantages of DBT+SM use. Early detection of disease is considered positive – but what if it finds “too much”? While early diagnosis can improve the chances of recovery, early detection can also have unwanted side effects. After all, not everything that is found would have become life-threatening in the course of the disease. TOSYMA, the world’s largest randomized diagnostic superiority study on early breast cancer detection, has now investigated whether the innovative DBT+SM method for early…
Pitt Engineer receives $557K NIH funding for world’s first in vivo trials of metamaterial orthopedic implants. A civil engineer at the University of Pittsburgh is applying his expertise in bridges and infrastructure to develop new materials that better treat spinal injury, repair, and recovery. Amir Alavi’s proposal received a $557,000 boost from the National Institutes of Health to test the first “metamaterial” orthopedic implants. With an estimated 342,000 procedures per year in the U.S.1, interbody spinal fusion is a popular procedure to treat…
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