MRI

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Scientists Recreate Movies From Brain Activity

Process could someday let us look in on dreams

(Newser) - Scientists at UC Berkeley have made a major advancement in the field of mind reading, reconstructing YouTube videos based on brain scans from people who’d seen them. Researchers would put subjects into an MRI machine and track their brain activity as they viewed videos. Once they’d build a...

Om My! Meditation Changes Brain Structure

Brain scans indicate permanent, positive development

(Newser) - This might already be obvious to enlightened souls, but researchers are discovering that meditation may permanently change the physical structure of the brain. Neural circuits linked to focus, happiness and empathy may be strengthened through long-term meditation, effectively rewiring the brain and "lighting up" certain sections with a life-long...

Computers Diagnose Autism From Scans

Program like facial recognition software recognizes signs of disorder

(Newser) - Scientists have taught a computer to recognize autism from a brain scan, and believe that from now on they could use a scan to diagnose the disorder with 90% accuracy. A London-based team of researchers ran MRI scans from 20 known autism sufferers and 20 normal brains through a program...

FDA Ignored Data on Risky MRI Dye
FDA Ignored Data on Risky MRI Dye

FDA Ignored Data on Risky MRI Dye

Failed to single out role of GE dye, Omniscan, in onset of disease

(Newser) - In May 2006, Danish medical regulators came to GE with troubling findings. Twenty-five patients with weak kidneys had developed NSF, a rare and sometimes fatal disease, after undergoing MRIs, and all 25 had been injected with GE’s Omniscan dye. Since then, the GE dye, along with other so-called “...

Costs Soar as Docs Order and Perform Tests
Costs Soar as Docs Order and Perform Tests
investigation

Costs Soar as Docs Order and Perform Tests

Fishy practice highlights challenge of medical regulation

(Newser) - As Congress wrestles with health-care reform, studies show it’s tough to regulate the status quo: Doctors’ “self-referrals” for medical imaging have continued despite efforts to legislate against them, the Washington Post reports. Doctors who own the equipment that scans patients stand to make more cash—and tend to...

Brain Scans May Predict Alzheimer's

(Newser) - Researchers have discovered a new link between Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment, a condition that often leads to the brain disorder, CNN reports. In a neuroimaging study, more than half of MCI patients showed brain atrophy similar to those with Alzheimer’s; indeed, a year later, 29% of...

It's Your Brain's Fault Your Family Drives You Nuts

(Newser) - If you ended your holiday visit home with frayed nerves, blame your brain, not your brother's snoring, Discovery reports. Family members prompt activity in a different part of the brain from friends and strangers, a new study shows. Researchers used MRIs to look at subjects' brains while they viewed photos...

Bush Gets Shoulder MRI, Visits Soldiers at Walter Reed

President's pain likely just result of wear and tear, docs say

(Newser) - President Bush underwent an MRI today after complaining of pain in his shoulder, the AP reports. The test was done at Walter Reed Medical Center where Bush was visiting convalescing Iraq war veterans, perhaps for the last time during his presidency. A White House doctor said the injury had not...

Multitasking Is a Myth
 Multitasking 
 Is a Myth 

Multitasking Is a Myth

Imaging shows brain quickly switches among tasks instead

(Newser) - Pull your ears away from that cell phone: Multitasking is a myth. New research shows we can’t really concentrate on two things at once; rather, the executive functions of the brain sweep quickly between multiple tasks. It’s thought that survival and the hunt made this rapid refocusing of...

MRIs Hold Promise of Early Alzheimer's Detection

Brain plaque spotted in rabbits

(Newser) - Researchers are a step closer to early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease using conventional MRI scanners. Plaque associated with Alzheimer's has been detected in rabbits by a team in Canada using MRI equipment, Reuters reports. Currently, the disease is diagnosed based on a series of tests, but a diagnosis can only...

Exercise May Slow Alzheimer's
 Exercise May Slow Alzheimer's 

Exercise May Slow Alzheimer's

Study finds fit patients have less brain atrophy

(Newser) - Alzheimer's patients may be able to slow the progression of the disease with exercise, a new study has discovered. Patients who were in poorer physical condition experienced up to four times more brain shrinkage than those who were physically fit, WebMD reports.

Brains Look Alike in Gay Men, Straight Women

Findings add to evidence that sexual orientation is innate

(Newser) - Gay men and straight women have similarly shaped brains, new research shows. Homosexual men and heterosexual women both have relatively symmetrical brains, while heterosexual men and lesbians have significantly larger right hemispheres, reports the Guardian. The research provides new evidence that sexual orientation is hardwired into the brain.

Tiny Shocks Win by a Nose
Tiny Shocks
Win by a Nose

Tiny Shocks Win by a Nose

Sense of smell shows electric response; technique could help PTSD patients

(Newser) - Electric shocks can sharpen the sense of smell, a finding that suggests new ways of altering sensory perception, the Chicago Tribune reports. MRIs showed subjects’ brains actually changing after researchers administered tiny shocks, which improved their ability to distinguish between similar smells. Because many psychological conditions relate to the senses,...

No Lie: Polygraphs On the Rise
 No Lie: Polygraphs On the Rise 

No Lie: Polygraphs On the Rise

Critics hold firm, but use of test growing nationwide

(Newser) - Despite lingering reservations about its effectiveness, the polygraph is gaining traction with law enforcement. The lie-detection program has spiked 53% in the last decade, and truth be told, just the threat of a test keeps convicts honest, drug addicts and sex offenders told the Wall Street Journal. “Don’t...

Virtual Surgery Coming Soon?
Virtual Surgery Coming Soon?

Virtual Surgery Coming Soon?

3D models of patients' bodies would let surgeons practice first

(Newser) - Within five years, surgeons may be able to create 3D virtual models of patients' bodies in order to practice surgeries ahead of time. While current virtual surgery lags far behind the realism of, say, combat video games, a UCLA assistant math professor believes this could change soon, reports Scientific American....

Brains of ADHD Kids Mature Later: Study

Cortex controlling action and attention lags three years behind

(Newser) - The brains of hyperactive children appear to develop more slowly than those of their peers,  researchers have discovered, with the cortex—the area that affects attention and action— maturing 3 years later than in other children. The finding accounts for the fact that many kids with ADHD grow out...

Do Vegetative Patients Dream of Comatose Sheep?

Research sheds light on impaired brain activity

(Newser) - New research into the way vegetative brains function is challenging the way the scientific community classifies cognitively impaired patients. Recent studies show that some vegetative patients can recognize faces, acquire new memories, and imagine physical movement—all mental activities long held to be out of reach for such patients, the...

MRIs Beat Mammograms at Spotting Earliest Breast Cancer

Researchers urge switch to save lives

(Newser) - MRIs significantly outperform mammograms in detecting pockets of abnormal cells that can lead to full-blown breast cancer, and the costly scans should be used routinely to save more women's lives, researchers say. A new study out today says MRIs detected 92% of the early lesions, called ductal carcinoma in situ,...

Stories 21 - 38 | << Prev