Tech

CHICAGO (May 3, 2010) – The results of new research results published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons show that a pilot pneumonia-prevention program significantly reduced postoperative pneumonia in a hospital surgical ward.

Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect breast lesions missed on mammography and ultrasound and help surgeons plan the most appropriate surgical treatment, improving patient outcomes, according to a study to be presented at the ARRS 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Breast MRI offers valuable information about many breast conditions that cannot be obtained by other imaging modalities, such as mammography or ultrasound. As a result, it is increasingly being used for the preoperative evaluation of patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

The use of preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prior to surgical intervention (for the treatment of breast cancer) can reduce the number of local (confined to the breast) cancer recurrences at follow-up, according to a study to be presented at the ARRS 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA. MRI of the breast is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and treat breast cancer.

In younger patients, the estimated radiation risks associated with abdominal and pelvic computed tomography (CT) scans are twice those of older patients, according to a study to be presented at the ARRS 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Short-term follow-up is often used to evaluate indeterminate breast lesions found on breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, researchers have found that indeterminate lesions (found in women with a high risk of breast cancer) should be evaluated sooner to exclude a possible malignancy, according to a study to be presented at the ARRS 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Air Force Office of Scientific Research-supported holographic, adaptive, optics research may help transform software into computer-free, electronics for unmanned aerial vehicles, high energy lasers and free-space optical communications that will enable each to run faster and more efficiently than before.

A simple salad spinner will save lives this summer. The spinner has been turned, so to speak, into a rudimentary centrifuge that medical clinics in developing countries can use to separate blood without electricity.

CORAL GABLES, FL (May 3, 2010)—Purple bacteria were among the first life forms on Earth. They are single celled microscopic organisms that play a vital role in sustaining the tree of life. This tiny organism lives in aquatic environments like the bottom of lakes and the colorful corals under the sea, using sunlight as their source of energy.

NEW ORLEANS, LA (May 3, 2010) – Undiagnosed and untreated pediatric hepatitis C is a grave concern, antibiotic use in the first year of life triples the risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), drugs used to treat IBD in pregnant women are beginning to show that children at nine months are slightly developmentally delayed compared to non-use of this medication during pregnancy, and drugs commonly used to treat reflux in pregnant women may be associated with cardiac birth defects, according to data being presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW®).

It looks like a piece of gel that slips into the sole of your sneaker, but it's a new nano-based technology that can make computers and the Internet hundreds of times faster ― a communications technology "enabler" that may be in use only five or ten years in the future, currently being created by Dr. Koby Scheuer of Tel Aviv University's School of Electrical Engineering.

A lack of attention to workspace ergonomics could be to blame for radiologists' musculoskeletal symptoms, including lower back pain, wrist pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, and headaches, according to a study to be presented at the ARRS 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

CHICAGO (May 3, 2010) – While timely care can reduce stress among breast cancer patients about their condition, the drive for expediency should not compromise other factors important to care, such as safety, effectiveness, efficiency, and equity, according to new research findings published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

ESA's Envisat has captured the changes in direction of the rapidly-growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as strong winds over the weekend pushed it around and hampered clean-up efforts.

Airmen's traumatic battlefield injuries may be more effectively treated by using a new light-activated technology developed as a result of research managed by Air Force Office of Scientific Research and supported by funds from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.