Scientists from the Department of Chemistry, in collaboration with the Healing Foundation Children
Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have set out to help build the world’s first total-body positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, a medical imaging device that could change the way cancers and other diseases are diagnosed and treated.
The project is a consortium led by a UC Davis research team and includes scientists from Berkeley Lab and the University of Pennsylvania. It’s supported by a recently announced five-year, $15.5 million ( Euro 13 million) Transformative Research Award from the National Institutes of Health.
The consortium’s goal is to build a PET scanner that images the entire human body simultaneously, a big jump from today’s PET scanners that only scan 20-cm segments at a time. In addition to being able to diagnose and track the trajectory of a disease in a way not possible today, a total-body PET scanner would reduce a patient’s radiation dose by a factor of 40, or decrease scanning time from 20 minutes to just 30 seconds.
Berkeley Lab’s contribution, led by William Moses of the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, is to develop electronics that send data collected by the scanner’s detectors to a computer, which converts the data into a three-dimensional image of the patient. The new scanner will have half a million detectors, and the data from each detector must be electronically transmitted to a computer, so the task is incredibly complex.
‘We’re developing the electronic interface between the detectors and the computer algorithm-and the electronics for this scanner is an order of magnitude more complicated than what’s been done before,’ says Moses. ‘But Berkeley Lab has a long history developing instrumentation for nuclear medical imaging, including PET scanners, and this project is another milestone in our research.’
The total-body PET scanner is the latest project in Berkeley Lab’s PET-related research, coming at a time when technology has advanced to the point that it s possible to efficiently process the data generated from the scanner’s half a million detectors.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratoryhttp://tinyurl.com/zyqhukj
The lab of Patrick Aebischer at EPFL has developed a bioactive capsule containing cells that have been genetically engineered to produce antibodies against Abeta. The capsule is implanted in the tissue under the skin, and over time the cells produce and release a steady flow of antibodies into the bloodstream, from where they cross over into the brain to target the Abeta plaques.
Before going into capsule, the cells are first genetically engineered to produce antibodies that specifically recognize and target Abeta. The cells of choice are taken from muscle tissue, and the permeable membranes let them interact with the surrounding tissue to get all the nutrients and molecules they need.
A new study conducted at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) has revealed some of the underlying mechanisms that may increase the risk of heart disease in people with sleep apnoea. The study also found that statins
A recent study found that cervical cancer patients without enlarged lymph nodes could benefit from SPECT-MRI imaging of their sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) to assess whether metastases are present.
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide, with more than 500,000 new cases globally each year. According to a 2014 University of Maryland study, cervical cancer affects 18.6 women per 100,000 in the United States. Early diagnosis is critical. Although surgical removal and examination of the sentinel lymph nodes remains the most accurate way to determine whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, SPECT-MRI imaging may reduce false negative MRI findings in early-stage patients and potentially save some from invasive diagnostic procedures.
Researchers at the University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands, used Tc-99m-nanocolloid SPECT-MRI fusion for the assessment of SLNs (for size and absence of sharp demarcation) in patients with early-stage cervical cancer.
Jacob P. Hoogendam, MD, the corresponding author of the study, notes,
At conhIT – Connecting Healthcare IT, Europe’s leading event for the Health IT industry which takes place from 19 to 21 April in Berlin – a competition will be presenting an award for the best health app once again.
This event, part of the internationally recognized AppCircus series, will be taking place for the second time, and is regarded as the world’s biggest competition for mHealth apps. Taking part gives companies and mHealth app developers an opportunity to present their products to an outstanding audience and to increase awareness of their companies in the Health IT sector. At conhIT 2016 more than 7,500 visitors and some 400 exhibitors are expected to attend.
The competition will be looking for an app that assists the daily work of medical professionals, nurses and patients and can be used in Europe in hospitals, rehab centres, care homes and general patient care.
The award ceremony will take place on 20 April 2016 in the mobile health zone at conhIT. This section of the exhibition focuses on innovations and trends in mobile health applications.
The winner of the conhIT AppCircus competition will be nominated for the Mobile Premier Awards, the world’s biggest app exhibition at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
www.conhit.com
In a paper recently published, EORTC researchers identified health related quality of life (HRQOL) components that should be considered as most relevant for achieving optimal care for older cancer patients.
Dr. Andrew Bottomley, Head of the EORTC Quality of Life Department and senior investigator of this study says,
A new hybrid molecule developed in the lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering shows promise for treating breast cancer by serving as a
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is described as a very early form of breast cancer, where cancer cells are present in milk ducts, but have not yet invaded the surrounding breast tissue. Around 4,800 people are diagnosed with DCIS in the UK each year and the main form of treatment is surgery followed by radiotherapy.
Ongoing public debate about the harm caused by mammography screening through over-diagnosis has led to controversy over the value of screening for and treatment of DCIS. A major question has been the extent to which diagnosis and treatment of DCIS may prevent the occurrence of invasive breast cancer in the future.
The researchers analysed data on 5,243,658 women aged 50-64 who were screened over a four year period across 84 screening units in the UK
Researchers examined the internal design of syringes to see if variations affected the transmission of hepatitis C virus.
As many as 21 million people worldwide inject drugs, putting them at heightened risk for infection from blood-borne pathogens such as the hepatitis C virus (HCV), especially if syringes are shared.
A newer type of syringe designed to reduce HCV transmission by decreasing the so-called dead space
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