cancer

New frontier for NASA imaging software: Breasts

It all started more than 25 years ago, when James C. Tilton, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, began investigating a novel way to analyze the pixels that comprise digital images.

He devised an algorithm that took image segmentation (grouping pixels at different levels of detail) to a whole new level; he not only found regional objects, but also grouped spatially separate objects into region classes. In other words, applied to a satellite image, it could not only identify and separate lakes of varying depths, but could recognize lakes as a class of objects spatially distinguishable from, say, trees.

He calls this Recursive Hierarchical Segmentation, and it has been used to analyze Earth-imaging data from NASA's Landsat and Terra spacecraft to improve snow and ice maps, find potential locations for archeological digs, etc. It is now being applied to medical imaging to improve mammograms, ultrasounds, digital x-rays, and more.

"My original concept was geared to Earth science," says Tilton, who was at first skeptical that his algorithm could enhance, say, mammography. "I never thought it would be used for medical imaging."

Then he processed cell images and saw details not visible in unprocessed displays of those images. "The cell features stood out real clearly, and this made me realize that Bartron was onto to something."

Bartron Medical Imaging, based out of Connecticut, has since developed the new MED-SEG system, which the FDA recently cleared for use by trained professionals to process images alongside other images, though stipulated that the system should not (at least yet) be used for primary image diagnosis.

Bartron, which first studied the software through Goddard's Innovative Partnerships Program Office, licensed the patented technology in 2003 to create a system that would differentiate hard-to-see medical image details. It then began to work with doctors to analyze CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, etc.… Read more

'Toasted Skin Syndrome': Are laptop users at risk?

"Hot legs" isn't just another term for good-looking gams. It can be a warning sign of a medical condition that affects users of laptop computers.

The condition, dubbed erythema ab igne or "Toasted Skin Syndrome," arises when people rest a hot laptop on their laps for an extended period of time.

Sounds ridiculous, but recent cases suggest it's no joke.

In one case, a 12-year-old boy developed a sponge-patterned skin discoloration on his left thigh after playing computer games a few hours every day for several months.

In another case, a Virginia law student … Read more

Radiation machine could cut cancer treatments in half

The Stanford Cancer Center today unveiled a breakthrough radiation machine it hopes will let patients spend less time getting treatments and more time living their lives.

By delivering radiation at a faster dose rate, the TrueBeam linear accelerator can shorten individual treatment times by up to a half compared with treatments from traditional machines, according to a statement from the center.

The TrueBeam's treatments can also more accurately target cancerous tumors than typical machines do. That's thanks, in part, to a 4D imaging system that captures views in 60 percent less time than in previous machines, which results … Read more

Behold the strength of carbon nanotubes

New tests of carbon nanotubes--those tiny cylinders expected to revolutionize medicine, electronics, warfare, and more--reveal that, ounce-for-ounce, they are 117 times stronger than steel and 30 times stronger than Kevlar used in bicycle tires and bulletproof vests.

The nanotubes, roughly 50,000 of which add up to the width of an average strand of human hair, are already known for their strength. But this latest research, led by Stephen Cronin, electrical engineering assistant professor at the University of Southern California, tested individual carbon nanotubes of various lengths and widths by applying what is being rather unscientifically described as "… Read more

'Belly Armor' expands maternity apparel line to SF

Back in 2008, Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, had an announcement to make:

[There is a] growing body of literature linking long-term cell phone use to possible adverse health effects, including cancer. We shouldn't wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later.

Herberman joined a growing chorus of cancer and radiation experts who, without yet establishing a definitive causal relationship between cell phone use and cancer, warns that it's too soon to know for sure how safe cell phones are, especially … Read more

More evidence that light at night ups cancer risk

I woke up at 2 this morning to the red glow of the Netflix end-of-movie screen again. To my own peril, it seems.

New research out of the University of Haifa shows a clear link between light at night and cancer in mice, with the suppression of melatonin playing a key role.

Earlier studies at Haifa demonstrate that, of people living in areas with higher nighttime illumination, men are more susceptible to prostate cancer and women to breast cancer than those who live in darker areas.

In this study, which involves many of the same researchers, the team wanted to … Read more

Scientists to develop nanochip to detect oral cancer

In early 2010, a research project found a simple swipe of a diagnostic biochip to be 93 percent "specific" in detecting which of 52 patients being studied had malignant oral cancer lesions.

Now, the international research team announces that it has been awarded $2 million from the National Institutes of Health to develop the test, which involves removing cells with a brush, placing them on a chip, and inserting that chip much like a credit card into an analyzer, with results ready in 8 to 10 minutes.

Such a fast turnaround should result in shorter waiting times, fewer … Read more

Post-prostate erections? This laser tech may help

Removing the prostate during prostate cancer surgery can cause long-term sexual dysfunction in men who undergo the procedure. It is far too easy to damage the nerves necessary for erections and urinary continence.

But there are early signs that the carbon dioxide laser technology often used in surgery to treat head and neck cancers may reduce the risk of nerve damage in prostate cancer patients as well, according to research by urologic surgeons at the New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

The results of the small, 10-patient pilot study--which used a new, flexible, fiber-based delivery system--appear in the July issue … Read more

How video game processors could save lives

Are you dreading upgrading your graphics processor yet again just so you can get lost in the alien-infested urban jungle of Crysis 2? Rest assured that the immersive power of these state-of-the-art video processors is now being used for more than just visual pleasure.

A new technique for processing X-rays appears to lower the radiation patients are exposed to during cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans by a factor of 10 or more, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego.

The research is being presented this week at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine's 52nd annual meeting in Philadelphia.

Lead author Xun Jia, a UCSD postdoctoral fellow, based his team's work on recent advances in compressed sensing by developing a CT reconstruction algorithm for graphics processing unit platforms (GPU cards being used for 3D computer graphics, often in video games), thereby increasing computational efficiency to reconstruct a cone beam CT scan in just minutes.… Read more