• 24Feb

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    Technology brings us to a new frontier in medicine – the 4D ultrasound which is now making prenatal screening much easier.

    The 4D ultrasound produces sound waves from many angles which shows moving images of the unborn. The images are more detailed and are captured at a much faster rate compared to 2D or 3D scanning.

    Expectant mothers (and fathers) have a better view of fetal movements inside the womb. They can even ask their doctors for a DVD copy or still images of the baby.

    Doctors also benefit from the use of 4D ultrasound. They have a better view of the fetal development inside the mother’s womb and note if there are any abnormalities or malformations, thus being able to be more prepared for any complications when the baby is born, or if possible, even mitigate any problems even while the baby is still in the womb.

  • 14Aug


    Image Source:www.ex-astris-scientia.org

    Rutherford-Appleton Laboratories have developed one of the World´s largest imagers that could form the heart of future medical scanners. The new technology will allow doctors to produce more sensitive and faster images of the human body at a lower-cost to the healthcare profession.

    The innovative technology, which has been developed as part of the £4.5m Basic Technology MI-3 Consortium, will help in providing instant analysis of medical screening tests and the early detection of cancer.

    Easier to use and faster than the imagers used in current body scanners, and with very large active pixel sensors with an imaging area of approximately 6cm square, the technology has been specifically developed to meet demanding clinical applications such as x-ray imaging and mammography. This silicon imager is about 15 times larger in area than the latest Intel processors.

    The next step of the project is to produce wafer-scale imagers which can produce images that approach the width of the human torso. This will eliminate the need for expensive and inefficient lenses and so enable lower-cost, more sensitive and faster medical imaging systems. Very large active pixel sensors could soon be making a major impact on medical imaging by further reducing the need for the old technology of film. The UK is a World-lead in such sensors for scientific and medical applications and this is a lead that UK intends to maintain.

  • 04Jun

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    Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans of the brains of Parkinson’s patients given an experimental gene therapy to improve muscular control showed that the treatment worked and had lasting results.

    The study was conducted by researchers from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and the Weill Cornell Medical Center in the US. In the study, genes for glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) were delivered into the subthalamic nucleus of the brain in a dozen Parkinson’s patients using a viral carrier. The genes were delivered to only one side of the brain to reduce risk and to better assess the treatment.

    The results from the brain scan study on the gene therapy patients show that only the motor networks were altered by the therapy. This study demonstrates that PET scanning can be a valuable marker in testing novel therapies for Parkinson’s disease.

    (Source)