A new generation of brain scanner, that can be worn like a helmet allowing patients to move naturally whilst being scanned, has been developed by researchers at the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, University of Nottingham and the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL. It is part of a five-year Wellcome funded project which has the potential to revolutionise the world of human brain imaging.
The researchers demonstrate that they can measure brain activity while people make natural movements, including nodding, stretching, drinking tea and even playing ping pong. Not only can this new, light-weight, magnetoencephalography (MEG) system be worn, but it is also more sensitive than currently available systems.
The researchers hope this new scanner will improve research and treatment for patients who can’t use traditional fixed MEG scanners, such as young children with epilepsy or patients with neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease.
Dr Matt Brookes leads the MEG work in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham, where the prototype was built, he said: “This new technology raises exciting new opportunities for a new generation of functional brain imaging. Being able to scan individuals whilst they move around offers new possibilities, for example to measure brain function during real world tasks, or genuine social interactions. This has significant potential for impact on our understanding of not only healthy brain function but also on a range of neurological, neurodegenerative and mental health conditions.”
Brain cells operate and communicate by producing electrical currents. These currents generate tiny magnetic fields that are detected outside the head. Researchers use MEG to map brain function by measuring these magnetic fields. This allows for a millisecond-by-millisecond picture of which parts of the brain are engaged when we undertake different tasks, such as speaking or moving.
Current MEG scanners are large and weigh around half a ton. This is because the sensors used to measure the brain’s magnetic field need to be kept very cold (-269°C), which requires bulky cooling technology. With current scanners, the patient must remain very still whilst being scanned, as even a 5-mm movement can make the images unusable. This means it is often difficult to scan people who find it hard to remain still such as young children, or patients with movement disorders. It also poses problems when one might need a patient to remain still for a long time in order to capture a rarely occurring event in the brain, such as an epileptic seizure.
These problems have been solved in the new scanner by scaling down the technology and taking advantage of new ‘quantum’ sensors that can be mounted in a 3D-printed prototype helmet. As the new sensors are very light in weight and can work at room temperature, they can be placed directly onto the scalp surface. Positioning the sensors much closer to the brain increases the amount of signal that they can pick up.
The light-weight nature of the new scanner also means that, for the first time, subjects can move their heads during the scanning. However, the quantum sensors will only operate in this way when the Earth’s magnetic field has been reduced by a factor of around 50,000. To solve this problem, the research team developed special electromagnetic coils, which helped to reduce the Earth’s field around the scanner. These coils were designed specifically to sit either side of the subject, and close to the walls of the room, to ensure that the scanner environment is not claustrophobic.
The scanner is based around helmets that can be made to fit anyone who needs to be scanned. Following success of their prototype system, the researchers are now working towards new styles of helmet, which will have the appearance of a bicycle helmet, that will be suitable for babies and children as well as adults. The researchers predict this new type of scanner will provide a four-fold increase in sensitivity in adults, potentially increasing to 15 or 20-fold with infants.
University of Nottinghamwww.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2018/march/new-brain-scanner-allows-patients-to-move-freely-for-the-first-time.aspx

Esaote SpA, active in the biomedical equipment sector – in particular the areas of ultrasound, dedicated MRI and software for managing the diagnostic process – has announced the completion of the acquisition of its share capital by a consortium of leading Chinese investors. The Consortium is composed of major companies in the medical and healthcare technology sectors as well as investment funds with significant experience in this field.
As a result of this change in ownership, Esaote will be in a stronger position and have the opportunity to accelerate its development plans, and in particular its growth projects in China. In addition to its current worldwide presence, Esaote is to benefit from the widespread distribution networks of the new shareholders, relying on the full complementarity of its products with those of the Consortium. Significant synergies will also derive from the distribution of the Consortium’s main products in the international markets in which Esaote operates.
The Consortium is composed of Yufeng Capital (a leading private equity fund co-founded by Mr. Jack MA and Mr. David YU), Wandong (China’s largest listed medical equipment manufacturer), Shanghai FTZ Fund (China’s first Free Trade Zone fund), Tianyi (an investment group focused on the healthcare sector), Yuyue (the holding company of the largest homecare medical equipment manufacturer in China) and Kangda (a leading OEM manufacturer and distributor of medical imaging equipment).
Under the agreement Esaote will continue to operate as an independent international company, with its headquarter in Italy (Genoa) and R&D and production centres in Italy (Genova and Florence) and the Netherlands (Maastricht).
www.esaote.com

Methods from optogenetics and machine learning should help improve treatment options for stroke patients. Researchers from Heidelberg University have developed a computer vision technique to analyse the changes in motor skills that result from targeted stimulation of healthy areas of the brain. Movements recorded with a video camera are automatically analysed to monitor the rehabilitation process and evaluate and adjust the optogenetic stimulation. Researchers from the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) in Heidelberg worked with neurobiologists from Switzerland to develop the method.
Along with speech and vision problems, motor paralyses are the most common symptoms post-stroke. According to lead author Dr Dr Anna-Sophia Wahl, a neuroscientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, neurorehabilitation is the only treatment option for the majority of stroke victims. “Many approaches in basic science and in the clinic aim to trigger regeneration processes post-stroke by stimulating healthy brain regions of indeterminate size. However, we use optogenetics to systematically stimulate certain unaffected areas of the brain so that they sprout connections into the damaged hemisphere in order to assume its functions.” So-called corticospinal circuits from the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord are specifically activated.
In optogenetics, light is used to control genetically modified cells. The cooperation partners in Switzerland – researchers from the ETH and the University of Zurich – used optogenetic stimulation in combination with intensive rehabilitation training to restore the paralysed paw function in rats. “Using our automatic evaluation of the movement processes, we were able to demonstrate a full recovery,” explains Prof. Dr Björn Ommer, IWR researcher and head of the Heidelberg team. The new computer vision technique is able to quantify even the slightest changes in motor functions. “By recording and analysing the movements, we can objectively assess whether there was true restoration of the original function or merely compensation.”
University of Heidelberghttps://tinyurl.com/y778zzk9

The first keynote speakers for the 42nd World Hospital Congress have been announced! The World Hospital Congress will be held on 10-12 October in Brisbane, Australia and health sector leaders and patients will be examining the question “How can healthcare evolve to meet 21st century demands?”

Each day will look at this question from a different angle. On day one, under the sub-theme “From Volume to Value” the topics covered will address the global movement that is changing the focus of hospitals from volume of services and activities to the value of outcomes achieved.

Along with respected leaders from the value-based healthcare movement you will hear from Chris Pointon, co-founder of #hellomynameis as he shares the inspiring story of the campaign that he and his late wife Dr Kate Granger MBE founded to improve patient care through the basic message of introductions.

Day two’s sub-theme “From Four Walls to the Neighbourhood” will examine the role of hospitals in the broader medical community, how primary, acute and community care can be better integrated and how integrated approaches can provide better health outcomes.

Integrated care innovation, education and research expert Prof Claire Jackson from the University of Queensland will provide insights into health system reform and integration during her keynote speech.

Nigel Edwards, Chief Executive of Nuffield Trust will share his views, along with many he has collected from the clinicians and managers he meets and works with, on the transformation required to build high-performing health systems.

The sub-theme for the final day of the congress “From Information to Intelligence” will look at the impact the information and technology revolution has had, but more importantly the impact it will have in the future.

Prof Jeffrey Braithwaite, Foundation Director of the Australian Institute of Health Innovation in Macquarie University will bring together research on health reform in 152 countries and territories to examine how health systems are heading towards and dealing with issues such as universal healthcare, affordability and resource allocation and coping with shifting population dynamics.

Other keynote speakers confirmed to date are Dr Daphne Khoo, Deputy Director Medical Services (Healthcare Performance Group) of the Ministry of Health Singapore, Harold F. Wolf III, President & CEO of HIMSS, Melissa Thomason, Patient and Family Advisor from the USA, and Dr Karen Knight, General Manager Advocacy and Engagement / QLD, NSW & NT Client Services at Vision Australia.

More will be announced soon. To find out more about these speakers, click here.

The early bird registration ends on 30 June. IHF members get bigger discounts. To find out if your hospital or association is a member, click here or email 2018congress@ihf-fih.org to get your discount code.

For more information about the Congress and to register visit: www.hospitalcongress2018.com

Heart disease is a major global health problem—myocardial infarction annually affects more than one million people in the U.S. alone, and there is still no effective treatment. The adult human heart cannot regenerate itself after injury, and the death of cardiac muscle cells, known as cardiomyocytes, irreversibly weakens the heart and limits its ability to pump blood.
Researchers have turned their focus to stem cell transplantation for cardiomyocyte replacement and recovery of heart function, but studies have shown that implanted stem cells have difficulty surviving and differentiating into cardiomyocytes to repair the damaged muscle. When stem cells were differentiated into cardiomyocytes before implantation, heart function improved, but with a complication: the implanted cardiomyocytes did not contract synchronously with the heart, thus causing potentially lethal arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythm).
A team of Columbia University investigators, led by Biomedical Engineering Professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, has designed a creative new approach to help injured hearts regenerate by applying extracellular vesicles secreted by cardiomyocytes rather than implanting the cells. The study  shows that the cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells (derived in turn from a small sample of blood) could be a powerful, untapped source of therapeutic microvesicles that could lead to safe and effective treatments of damaged hearts.
Cell-secreted microvesicles are easy to isolate and can be frozen and stored over long periods of time. Such an “off-the-shelf” product has several major advantages over cell therapy—1) it can be used immediately in an acute-care setting, unlike cells that can take months to isolate and grow; 2) it does not cause arrhythmia (which often occurs when cells are transplanted); and 3) the regulatory path towards clinical application is much simpler than for a cell-based therapy.
It is well known from numerous clinical studies that most of the implanted stem cells are washed away within hours of the treatment, but there still are beneficial effects. This has led to the informal “hit-and-run” hypothesis, meaning that the cells deliver their cargo of regulatory molecules before leaving the site of injury. “Consistent with this hypothesis, we postulated that the benefits of cell therapy of the heart could be coming from the secreted bioactive molecules (such as micro RNAs), rather than the cells themselves,” says Vunjak-Novakovic, the study’s senior author, University Professor, The Mikati Foundation Professor at Columbia Engineering, and professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “So we explored whether the benefits of cell therapy of the injured heart could be achieved without using the cells. This way, we would largely simplify the translation into the clinic, and avoid the burden of arrhythmia associated with implantation of contractile cells.”
Nearly all cells secrete and uptake tiny extracellular vesicles that are filled with genetic messages that can influence recipient cells. These extracellular vesicles are like letters that cells use naturally to communicate with their neighbours, both near and far, within the body.
“We reasoned that the cardiomyocytes would be the best source of molecules driving the recovery of injured heart, as it is well known that these cells can build muscle when used in tissue-engineering models,” says Bohao Liu, the paper’s co-lead author and MD/PhD candidate in Columbia Engineering’s department of biomedical engineering. “I’m very excited about our promising results, and I believe that the cell-free therapy represents a step in the right direction for developing safe and effective treatments of the infarcted heart.”
The interdisciplinary team, which included bioengineers, clinicians, and systems biology scientists, derived cardiomyocytes from adult human stem cells and cultured these cells to allow them to secrete extracellular vesicles. The vesicles secreted by undiffereniated stem cells were used for comparison. The researchers then used next-generation sequencing to read their messages and instructions. They found that the extracellular vesicles from cardiomyocytes—but not from stem cells—contained cardiogenic and vasculogenic microRNAs that are very powerful regulatory molecules.
Building on the expertise of Vunjak-Novakovic’s lab in biomaterials and hydrogels, the team encapsulated the vesicles in a collagen-based patch that slowly released them over the course of four weeks when implanted onto the injured heart in rat models of myocardial infarction. The researchers monitored the heart to measure blood-pumping function and look for any signs of arrhythmia.
“We were really excited to find that not only did the hearts treated with cardiomyocyte extracellular vesicles experienced much fewer arrhythmias, but they also recovered cardiac function most effectively and most completely,” says Vunjak-Novakovic. “In fact, by four weeks after treatment, the hearts treated with extracellular vesicles had similar cardiac function as those that were never injured.”

Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciencehttps://tinyurl.com/y9vtbj6q