Making ultrasound or MRI part of the annual mammography regimen boosts breast cancer detection in women with dense breasts who are at elevated risk, but also increases false positives, a clinical trial affirmed. After the initial dual screening looking for prevalent cancers, incidence screening with ultrasound found an additional 3.7 cancers per 1,000 screens (P<0.001 ), Wendie A. Berg, MD, PhD, of Magee-Women... (read more)
Distinct patterns of activity -- which may indicate a predisposition to care for infants-- appear in the brains of adults who view an image of an infant face -- even when the child is not theirs, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and in Germany, Italy, and Japan. Seeing images of infant faces appeared to activate in the adult's brains circuits that r... (read more)
Brain changes in infants as young as six months of age suggest that MRIs could be used to detect autism in children at least half a year before the emergence of other symptoms, according to a new study published online Friday in the American Journal of Psychiatry. According to Lara Salahi of ABC News, Dr. Joe Piven, director of the University of North Carolina’s (UNC) Carolina Institute for De... (read more)
Experts in China scanned the brains of 17 young web addicts and found disruption in the way their brains were wired up. They say the discovery, published in Plos One, could lead to new treatments for addictive behaviour. Internet addiction is a clinical disorder marked by out-of-control internet use. A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan carried out brain scans of... (read more)
The perceptual feature of sound known as pitch is fundamental to human hearing, allowing us to enjoy the melodies and harmonies of music and recognize the inflection of speech. Previous studies have suggested that a particular hotspot in the brain might be responsible for perceiving pitch. However, auditory neuroscientists are still hotly debating whether this "pi... (read more)
Three severely brain-injured people thought to be in an irreversible “vegetative” state showed signs of full consciousness when tested with a relatively inexpensive and commonly used method of measuring brain waves, doctors reported Wednesday. Experts said the findings, if replicated, would change standards in treating such patients. Scientists have seen meaningful, responsive brain activity in suc... (read more)
In a first study, researchers have shown autistic brains develop more slowly than healthy brains. The finding may explain why children with autism think differently than their peers. In their study, researchers from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences found slower growth in brain areas that could explain social impairment, communication deficits and repetitive ... (read more)
Full data from a late-stage clinical trial of Biogen Idec Inc's experimental multiple sclerosis drug, BG-12, showed robust results across multiple measures and revealed no new safety concerns. The news sent the biotech company's shares soaring as much as 6.7 percent on Friday. Earlier this year the company released initial data from the trial, known as DEFINE, which showed the drug, when given twice a day, cut t... (read more)
Scientists have found a direct link between the number of "friends" a person has on Facebook and the size of certain brain regions, raising the possibility that using online social networks might change our brains. The four brain areas involved are known to play a role in memory, emotional responses and social interactions. So far, however, it is not possible to say whether having more Faceb... (read more)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures. MRI makes use of the property of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to image nuclei of atoms inside the body.
An MRI machine uses a powerful magnetic field to align the magnetization of some atoms in the body, and radio frequency fields to systematically alter the alignment of this magnetization. This causes the nuclei to produce a rotating magnetic field detectable by the scanner—and this information is recorded to construct an image of the scanned area of the body. Strong magnetic field gradients cause nuclei at different locations to rotate at different speeds. 3-D spatial information can be obtained by providing gradients in each direction.
MRI provides good contrast between the different soft tissues of the body, which makes it especially useful in imaging the brain, muscles, the heart, and cancers compared with other medical imaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT) or X-rays. Unlike CT scans or traditional X-rays, MRI uses no ionizing radiation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRI
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