Tech

(Boston)- It is known that more intensive management of hypertension can improve blood pressure control and thus improve cardiovascular outcomes. However, there are several different systems of measuring the intensity of management of hypertension, and they have not been previously compared. If one system performs best, it would be important to use it to measure intensity of management for research and quality improvement purposes.

Computed tomographic (CT) colonography may offer patients at increased risk of colorectal cancer an alternative to colonoscopy that is less-invasive, is better-tolerated and has good diagnostic accuracy, according to a study in the June 17 issue of JAMA.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created bright, stable and bio-friendly nanocrystals that act as individual investigators of activity within a cell.

These ideal light emitting probes represent a significant step in scrutinizing the behaviors of proteins and other components in complex systems such as a living cell.

In the clothing industry it's common to mix natural and synthetic fibers. Take cotton and add polyester to make clothing that's soft, breathable and wrinkle free.

In revisiting a chemical reaction that's been in the literature for several decades and adding a new wrinkle of their own, researchers with Berkeley Lab and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have discovered a mild and relatively inexpensive procedure for removing oxygen from biomass. This procedure, if it can be effectively industrialized, could allow many of today's petrochemical products, including plastics, to instead be made from biomass.

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 16, 2009 – The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) announced that results of the largest meta-analysis to date comparing mortality rates for drug-eluting stents (DES) versus bare metal stents (BMS) were published online June 15 in the journal Circulation. The study also compared the rates of myocardial infarction (MI) and target vessel revascularization (TVR).

How much usable energy do wind turbines produce? It is a question that perplexes engineers and frustrates potential users, especially on windless days. A study published this month in the International Journal of Exergy provides a formula for answering this vexing question.

Abolfazl Ahmadi and Mehdi Ali Ehyaei of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Iran University of Science and Technology-Arak Branch, in Arak, have investigated the "exergy" of wind power. Exergy is a term from thermodynamics that measures that the energy a system that is available to do work.

Three-dimensional, real-time X-ray images of patients could be closer to reality because of research recently completed by scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a pair of Russian institutes.

In a paper to be published in an upcoming edition of Physical Review Letters, UNL Physics and Astronomy Professor Anthony Starace and his colleagues give scientists important clues into how to unleash coherent, high-powered X-rays.

"This could be a contributor to a number of innovations," Starace said.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A study of stickers peeling from windows could lead to a new way to precisely control the fabrication of stretchable electronics, according to a team of researchers including one at MIT.

Stretchable electronics, which would enable electronic devices embedded into clothing, surgical gloves, electronic paper or other flexible materials, have proven difficult to engineer because the electrical wiring tends to be damaged as the material twists.

PASADENA, Calif.—By squeezing a typical metal alloy at pressures hundreds of thousands of times greater than normal atmospheric pressure, scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a material that does not expand when heated, as does nearly every normal metal, and acts like a metal with an entirely different chemical composition.

Menlo Park, Calif. — Move over, silicon—it may be time to give the Valley a new name. Physicists at the Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have confirmed the existence of a type of material that could one day provide dramatically faster, more efficient computer chips.

TORONTO—A prototype breast imaging system combining positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies could greatly improve breast cancer imaging capabilities, according to researchers at SNM's 56th Annual Meeting. Although the system has not yet been tested on humans, initial results from the prototype indicate the system produces a fusion of detailed PET and MRI images that should allow a more accurate classification of lesions in the breast.

TORONTO—A new study shows that combining high resolution and high sensitivity collimation provides better quality images when using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans, said researchers at SNM's 56th Annual Meeting. Collimators—devices that filter a stream of rays so that only those traveling parallel to a specified direction are allowed through—are used in SPECT because it is not yet possible to focus radiation with such short wavelengths into an image with the use of lenses.

TORONTO—A new PET/MR imaging system has been developed that can successfully provide whole-body images of rats and other small animals, according to researchers at SNM's 56th Annual Meeting in Toronto. The new system could greatly improve imaging capabilities and advance research in many areas.

TORONTO—A new study shows that a radioactive skin patch can safely and successfully treat basal cell carcinoma, one of the most common types of skin cancers, according to researchers at the SNM's 56th Annual Meeting. The skin patch, which delivers the radioactive phosphorus-32, is nontoxic and could be an excellent alternative to surgery or radiotherapy in cases where carrying out these treatments is difficult.