Studies

Women show persistent memory impairment after concussion

Women may have a more difficult time than men in recovering from concussion, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

Protein capable of regulating DNA repair during sperm formation

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the UAB Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine discovered that the signalling route triggered by the ATM protein regulates DNA repair during the production of spermatocytes by meiosis, the cell division process which yields spermatozoa.

Article • Cancer diagnostics I

Ambiguity calls for a second opinion

Each year, approximately 1.6 million women in the USA have breast biopsies to diagnose or rule out cancer. Pathological diagnosis is considered the gold standard – how accurate are these diagnoses? Report: Cynthia E. Keen

News • DRUG resistance III

Antibiotic Armageddon in Europe by 2025

A group of leading scientists has warned that Britain and Europe collectively could face more than a million deaths in an impending "Antibiotic Armageddon” unless more is spent on developing new cures, rapid diagnostics and preventative measures to combat the spread of drug resistant diseases.

Article • Patient Safety

Expert highlights hospitals vulnerability to hacks

Is your network safe? This loaded question made delegates shiver during Inforsalud 2015, the annual meeting of the Spanish Health Informatics Society, which was held Feb 17 - 18 in Madrid. Report: Mélisande Rouger

Article • Telehealth study

England’s Florence looks like a winner

Given the increasing focus on telehealth and telecare services aimed at improving long-term patients’ living conditions and save costs, numerous pilots in various countries have been conducted for proof of concept purposes. Among these, the United Kingdom’s ‘Whole System Demonstrator’ (WSD) programme is the largest randomised controlled trial. Set up by the English National Health Service…

Researchers create 'Wikipedia' for neurons

The decades worth of data that has been collected about the billions of neurons in the brain is astounding. To help scientists make sense of this "brain big data," researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used data mining to create a publicly available website that acts like Wikipedia, indexing physiological information about neurons.

News • Plastic plus egg whites

Recipe for antibacterial plastic

Bioplastics made from protein sources such as albumin and whey have shown significant antibacterial properties, findings that could eventually lead to their use in plastics used in medical applications such as wound healing dressings, sutures, catheter tubes and drug delivery, according to a recent study.

News • Obesity

'Nurture' more important than 'nature' for overweight children

Parents’ lifestyles, rather than their genes, are primarily responsible for their children being overweight according to research by the Centre for Economic Performance, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Researchers compared the weight of biological and adopted children to that of their parents to determine whether children inherit their weight problems or…

News • Study

British lung transplant patients fare better than Americans

Publicly insured Americans who undergo lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis fare markedly worse in the long run than both publicly insured patients in the United Kingdom and privately insured Americans, according to the results of a study conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and U.K. colleagues working in that nation’s government-funded National Health Service.

Article • Frostbite

Chilled to the bone!

For people living in Chamonix-Mont Blanc medical services at the nearby community hospital have been reduced to little more than a stopover visit before being referred down the mountain to larger facilities in the network of the Hospitals of Mont Blanc Country. Report: John Brosky

News • Heart failure

Researchers identify 'missing culprit'

Working with lab animals and human heart cells, scientists from Johns Hopkins and other institutions have identified what they describe as "the long-sought culprit" in the mystery behind a cell-signaling breakdown that triggers heart failure.

News • Standards of clinical evidence

MedTech: New EU think-tank

The joint European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP) and MedTech Europe Working Party announced the launch of its Workshop Report and resulting “Roadmap for Medical Device Development in Europe” on March 13th 2015.

Study uncovers mechanisms of cancer-causing mutations

Researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, have described for the first time the molecular mechanism of cancer development caused by well-known "resistance" mutations in the gene called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

A speech-based system for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease

The ELEKIN research group of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country is working to develop various non-invasive methodologies for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.

Telemedicine allows acute stroke trial

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) were able to enroll patients at other hospitals into an acute stroke clinical trial.

Article • Population Imaging

Ethical considerations arise from incidental findings

ECR 2015 evoked Shakespeare´s repertoire as delegates were asked to ponder the ethical implications of incidental findings in large population imaging studies in Vienna. Report: Mélisande Rouger

Sponsored • Testing Bones

Osteoporosis risk assessments with DXR

Women over the age of 50 are not only at higher risk of developing breast cancer but also osteoporosis. Would it not be practical to use the same method to detect both diseases early on? Definitely, decided Sectra, the Swedish company specialising in PACS and mammography systems.

Article • Profession

Imager or doctor: that is the question

Delegates were asked an increasingly vital question during ECR 2015: do they rather want to be imagers or doctors? “This will probably be one of the most interesting sessions of this meeting and, after this congress, maybe even your career,” said Jim Reekers, professor of interventional radiology at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as he kick started the eponymous Professional…

News • Survey

Dutch doctors would consider assisted suicide

Around one in three Dutch doctors would be prepared to help someone with early dementia, mental illness, or who is ‘tired of living’ to die, reveals a small survey published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

News • Head and Neck

Therapy with radioactive beads used for tumors

Researchers at University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht are developing an innovative cancer treatment with the help of a grant from Alpe d’HuZes/Dutch Cancer Society (KWF) of nearly 300,000 euros. The treatment involves the injection of radioactive beads into tumors, thereby enabling a very precise localized radiotherapy.

News • Healthcare costs

Cancer patients rarely demand unnecessary tests and treatments

Physicians often blame patient demands for contributing to high medical costs, however, a new study involving more than 5,000 patient-clinician visits indicates that cancer patients rarely push for unnecessary tests and treatments from their health care providers.

Article • IT mobil

Mobile apps take students into the laboratory

Mobile apps have proved to be valuable educational tools, but laboratory instructors thus far have been limited to using mobile devices only for virtual laboratories with simulated experiments. Now, researchers at the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering have developed a series of mobile applications that allow students to remotely interact with real data and equipment in real laboratories.

News • ICU

Patients on ventilators often able to communicate

A new study reveals that more than half of patients in intensive care units (ICU) using ventilators to help them breathe could benefit from assistive communication tools.

News • ECR 2015

Carestream Scientist To Present Scientific Paper At ECR 2015

Carestream scientist Dr Samuel Richard will present a scientific paper documenting the impact of advanced imaging technologies on lung nodule conspicuity at the 2015 European Congress of Radiology (ECR).