Tech

ATS 2010, NEW ORLEANS—Patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may no longer have to spend an expensive and uncomfortable night at a sleep center to monitor their sleep-disordered breathing. According to new research, those who performed sleep testing in their home with portable monitors showed similar improvements after three months of treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in daytime function as compared to patients who underwent overnight testing in a sleep center.

A new study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet presents a new technique that makes drug testing possible through exhaled air for the first time. By examining people who had received emergency care for an amphetamine overdose, the researchers found that in all cases there were traces of amphetamine and metamphetamine in the exhaled breath.

Ten years ago, ocean acidification was a phenomenon only known to small group of ocean scientists. It's now recognised as the hidden partner of climate change, prompting calls for an urgent, substantial reduction in carbon emissions to reduce future impacts.

Troy, N.Y. – Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new nanotechnology-based "microlens" that uses gold to boost the strength of infrared imaging and could lead to a new generation of ultra-powerful satellite cameras and night-vision devices.

Sinus surgery performed using an endoscope appears to be increasingly common for the management of chronic sinus disease among Medicare beneficiaries, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Using NASA satellite data and Google Earth, a Purdue University researcher has reported finding evidence that North Korea has been logging in what is designated as a protected United Nations forest preserve.

Guofan Shao, professor of geo-eco-informatics, studies the Mount Paekdu Biosphere Reserve, a 326,000-acre forest preserve in North Korea. Since many researchers are unable to visit North Korea, Shao studies changes in the forest using remote sensing data.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---At the scale of the very small, physics can get peculiar. A University of Michigan biomedical engineering professor has discovered a new instance of such a nanoscale phenomenon---one that could lead to faster, less expensive portable diagnostic devices and push back frontiers in building micro-mechanical and "lab on a chip" devices.

There's currently no reliable tool to help prosthetic developers fit artificial limbs without ensuing discomfort or pain, or tell medical personnel when bed-ridden patients need to be moved to avoid bedsores and other problems.

Scientists have for the first time successfully imaged the internal tissues of a soft bodied marine worm at high resolution using a technique borrowed from biomedical science. The findings are published in the Journal of Microscopy.

A debate published this week in PLoS Medicine examines new approaches to tackling neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), with three viewpoints from experts in the field arguing which approach shows most promise.

How high is the sky? Scientists have a pretty good handle on that one, what with their knowledge of the troposphere, stratosphere an the other "o-spheres." Now, thanks to new work headed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), they are closing in on the other half of that age-old query: How deep is the ocean?

NASA's Terra satellite continues to provide visible and infrared imagery of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano ash plume, and the most recent imagery showed the plume being pulled in a northeasterly direction over the island nation.

Profiles created for physicians based on the cost of the care they provide can vary widely depending upon the methods used by insurance companies to create the profiles, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Researchers say the findings add to the concern about the accuracy of physician cost profiles that are being created by insurance companies in order to encourage patients to visit low-cost physicians.

MADISON, WI, May 18, 2010 – Cover crops may be more effective at reducing soil erosion and runoff after maize harvest than rough tillage, according to scientists from the Université Catholique de Louvain, in collaboration with the Independent Center for the Promotion of Forage (CIPF).