The research, which was conducted on mice, demonstrates how these tiny nanomachines are propelled by urea present in urine and precisely target the tumour, attacking it with a radioisotope carried on their surface. Bladder cancer has one of the highest incidence rates in the world and ranks as the fourth most common tumour in men. Despite its relatively low mortality rate, nearly half of bladder tumours resurface within 5 years, requiring ongoing patient monitoring. Frequent hospital visits and the need…
In a study, researchers found a clear link between pupil response and loss of pleasure. This discovery contributes to a better understanding of the physiological mechanisms behind depression. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry measured the pupillary reaction of participants while they were solving a task. In healthy participants, the pupils dilated during the task in anticipation of a reward, but this reaction was less pronounced in participants with depression: “The reduced pupil reaction was particularly noticeable in…
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a neural implant that provides information about activity deep inside the brain while sitting on its surface. The implant is made up of a thin, transparent and flexible polymer strip that is packed with a dense array of graphene electrodes. The technology, tested in transgenic mice, brings the researchers a step closer to building a minimally invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that provides high-resolution data about deep neural activity by using…
The world’s first prototype for real-time tracking of moving tumors using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during proton therapy goes into scientific application. On January 9th, 2024, a scientific prototype for MRI-guided proton therapy was inaugurated in Dresden. With this installation, experts from the fields of medicine, medical physics, biology and engineering are embarking on the scientific testing of a new form of radiotherapy for treating cancer. For the first time globally, a full-body MRI device for real-time imaging is combined…
Fraunhofer Austria and the AULSS2 Marca Trevigiana Institute in Treviso have developed a method based on artificial intelligence that can reduce the workload of laboratories. Urinary tract infections are usually diagnosed by means of urine culture: an extract of the urine sample is applied to a plate and examined for bacterial growth under a microscope for the following 24 to 48 hours. After this time-consuming procedure, however, more than two thirds of samples turn out to be negative. Being able…
Medical technology innovations achieved by integrating science and medicine have improved the quality of life for patients. Especially noteworthy is the emergence of electronic devices implanted in the body, such as in the heart or brain, which enable real-time measurement and regulation of physiological signals, presenting new solutions for challenging conditions like Parkinson’s disease. However, technical constraints have hindered the semi-permanent use of electronic devices after their implantation. A collaborative research team led by Professor Sung-Min Park from the Departments…
PET imaging with 68Ga-FAPI can more effectively detect and stage pancreatic cancer as compared with 18F-FDG imaging or contrast-enhanced CT, according to new research published in the December issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. In a head-to-head study, 68Ga-FAPI detected more pancreatic tumors on a per-lesion, per-patient, or per-region basis and led to major and minor changes to clinical management of patients. In addition to enhancing precise detection of pancreatic cancer, 68Ga-FAPI imaging also paves the way for future targeted radiopharmaceutical therapies. Approximately 64,000…
… that might help treat obesity. Swallowing the device before a meal could create a sense of fullness, tricking the brain into thinking it’s time to stop eating. When you eat a large meal, your stomach sends signals to your brain that create a feeling of fullness, which helps you realize it’s time to stop eating. A stomach full of liquid can also send these messages, which is why dieters are often advised to drink a glass of water before…
… using a microsurgery robot at USZ. Because it was not possible to remove a hard-to-reach bulge in the central lymphatic system, a team of doctors from the Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) created a new drain to relieve the patient’s agonizing lymph congestion. For the first time, a microsurgical operating system was used for such a procedure. By the time the patient came to the Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand…
Best Paper Award: Outstanding Publication by TU Researchers Recognised. One application area of artificial intelligence (AI) is in medicine, especially in medical diagnostics. For instance, scans can be analysed automatically with the help of algorithms. An international and interdisciplinary team led by researchers from TU Darmstadt recently investigated whether AI can better evaluate images of brain tumours. For this publication, the team won the Best Paper Award at the world’s largest information systems conference ICIS, prevailing over more than 1,300…
The University Hospital Zurich, the University of Zurich and the diagnostics company Roche are expanding their collaboration in cancer research. In the fully digitalized Morphomolecular Pathology Laboratory, they are developing algorithms that can further improve the effectiveness of immunotherapies. The treatment of patients with cancer has made enormous progress in recent years. A major step forward has been the development of immunotherapies, which are used with great success in some types of cancer, even at an advanced stage. However, a…
With 98% accuracy, new metric predicted aneurysm development on average three years prior to occurrence. Northwestern University researchers have developed the first physics-based metric to predict whether or not a person might someday suffer an aortic aneurysm, a deadly condition that often causes no symptoms until it ruptures. In the new study, the researchers forecasted abnormal aortic growth by measuring subtle “fluttering” in a patient’s blood vessel. As blood flows through the aorta, it can cause the vessel wall to…
…enable Faster Migration Analysis of Immune Cells. Immune cells fight infectious intruders, for example, or search for incipient cancers. Therefor, they are constantly migrating through the tissues of our body. But in the wrong place, immune cells like neutrophil granulocytes can cause damage: If these white blood cells infiltrate tumours, this is often associated with a poor prognosis for patients. This is why they could benefit from drugs that prevent neutrophils from migrating into tumours. Until now, this migration has…
Advanced control of prosthetic hands. Artificial hands can be operated via app or with sensors placed in the muscles of the forearm. New research at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) shows: a better understanding of muscle activity patterns in the forearm supports a more intuitive and natural control of artificial limbs. This requires a network of 128 sensors and artificial intelligence based techniques. Modern prostheses offer access to multiple grip patterns, which can be controlled by detecting muscle activity…
A simple-to-apply, needle-free vaccine patch is being developed to protect people from the potentially deadly mosquito-borne Zika virus. A prototype using The University of Queensland-developed and Vaxxas-commercialised high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) has delivered a University of Adelaide-developed vaccine and elicited an effective immune response to Zika virus in mice. UQ alum and Vaxxas researcher Dr Danushka Wijesundara said Zika virus was a risk to people across the Pacific, Southeast Asia, India, Africa and South and Central America. “We can change the way…
New research being presented this week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) links soccer heading – where players hit the ball with their head – to a measurable decline in the microstructure and function of the brain over a two-year period. “There is enormous worldwide concern for brain injury in general and in the potential for soccer heading to cause long-term adverse brain effects in particular,” said senior author Michael L. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D.,…
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