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Network alignment is a fundamental problem in several domains that aims at mapping nodes across networks. Here, the authors develop a probabilistic approach that assumes that observed networks are errorful copies from a blueprint. The method samples the distribution of alignments, improving accuracy and enabling potential applications.
Chinese doctors have successfully implanted the world’s smallest and lightest artificial heart that uses magnetic levitation technology into a 7-year-old boy, giving him more time to wait for a heart transplant.
Weighing 45 grams and measuring just 2.9 centimeters in diameter, this tiny device is the size of a regular plastic water bottle cap and is about half the weight of the smallest maglev-powered heart pump designed for adults.
The Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province, said on Tuesday that the boy is now in stable condition and awaiting further treatment, following the operation which was carried out on March 30.
MIT engineers have fabricated a metamaterial that is not only strong but also stretchy. Their new method could enable stretchable ceramics, glass, and metals, for tear-proof textiles or stretchy semiconductors.
MIT engineers developed a technique to grow and peel ultrathin “skins” of electronic material that could be used in applications such as night-vision eyewear and autonomous driving in foggy conditions.
Physicists create the first device that can control a superconducting microwave qubit using only light
Hyperbaric oxygen treatment provides long-term relief for patients suffering from late radiation-induced injuries after treatment of cancer in the lower abdominal area. Five years after hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the positive effects remain. This has been shown in a study conducted at the University of Gothenburg.
Radiation therapy is a component of many cancer treatments in organs such as the prostate, colon, ovaries and cervix. While tumor cells are destroyed, 5%–10% of patients experience severe side effects due to healthy tissue being affected by the radiation therapy.
Symptoms may include urinary incontinence, bleeding and severe pain in the lower abdomen that becomes both physically and socially disabling. These problems can occur several years after radiation therapy and cause chronic and increasing discomfort.
Many animals show signs of high intelligence, including strong memory, self-awareness and communication skills.
Technology is giving us more options for plastic waste, but new methods are still far from perfect.
Limitations of the use of the MP-RAGE to identify neural changes in the brain: recent cigarette smoking alters gray matter indices in the striatum
Posted in biotech/medical, neuroscience | Leave a Comment on Limitations of the use of the MP-RAGE to identify neural changes in the brain: recent cigarette smoking alters gray matter indices in the striatum
The magnetization-prepared rapid gradient-echo (MP-RAGE) T1-weighted high resolution structural MRI is a mainstay tool used to identify morphometric biomarkers of disease conditions, progression and treatment effects despite a critical limitation: the relaxation signal on which inferences are based is nearly indistinguishable for gray matter vs. blood flow (Lu et al., 2004; Wright et al., 2008). Thus, apparent reported morphometric findings might be at least partially related to transient changes in blood flow or other physiological signals.
Consistent with this technical limitation, using a standard analysis technique, voxel based morphometry (VBM), we recently reported that a single dose of a medication had “apparent” effects on T1-weighted MRIs (Franklin et al., 2013). Specifically, we observed medication-induced decreases in gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate and other regions that overlapped with changes in brain blood flow (perfusion). Similarly, others have shown effects of medication on T1-weighted scans that are likely transient. For example, acute levodopa administration altered gray matter indices on T1-weighted images in the midbrain (Salgado-Pineda et al., 2006). Further, in a well-controlled longitudinal VBM study of patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Hoekzema et al.