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Here is another interesting case that appeared in the Images in Clinical Medicine section of the New England Journal of Medicine a short while ago.

A healthy 54-year-old woman presented with progressive abnormal acoustic sensations, aphasia, and visual-field disturbances. She reported no head trauma or recent infection, such as otitis media. An initial cranial radiograph revealed air in the left temporal region without evidence of a fracture (Panel A, arrow). A computed tomographic scan of the head showed a large amount of air in the left temporal lobe; the involved area was approximately 4 cm by 3 cm by 5 cm (Panel B, arrow).

Source/Further reading:

• The original NEJM article
• Pneumocephalus definition
  
• A case of dural puncture
• Pneumocephalus caused by Valsalva’s maneuver
• TomographyBlog.com Forum

- Andras

Tags: pneumocephalus

Summer is on the corner, so it is high time to go shopping for hip, new clothing! Let us see what is in store for the diagnostic imaging professional this season:
1. We start off by a classic; a classic imaging technique that is:

2. Then, here is what the ideal patient wears during Sunday afternoon shopping when the two of you pass each other.:

3. Isn’t it nice to put your head down onto a comfy pillow after a 24 hour shift? But watch out, this pillow has a sweet spot, just like a tennis racket! So read the users manual beforehand because misuse of this product may result in lost hours of precious sleep!

4. If you want to look super cool in a club, I recommend this one:

5. Or, if you are a real show off, try this one:

Happy shopping everyone!

Source/Further reading:

• Cafepress.com
• Time to brush off the dust on your closet

- Andras

Tags: clothing, radiology

I stumbled on Locoindex.com today, and I thought I would share it with you, because it could be a very useful tool for your next search query or it might be a nice example just how different search engines could be merged on one well designed page.

Locoindex is a simple way of searching things across the internet.

With Locoindex you can use a variety of different search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, Aeiou, Sapo, Alexa, Ask.com, A9, Exalead, Accona, Mahalo, Excite, Snap, Uol Brasil, Lycos and so on. Some of these names might be familiar to you, they might be new, or you may have known them a long time ago, before the Google Era.

It is very simple to use: just type your key words in the search box located on the top left hand corner, and then click on the logo of the search engine you wish to use. There is no need to type in your key words again if you wish to switch between the search engines. In my example I used the keyword “megaureter.”

If you wish to search for images or videos for example, just make that selection on the top menu bar, and another list of possible choices will pop up. There is no need to type in your key word again, as you can see in the example, and you can choose from a variety of other options such as: Directories, News, Videos, Images, Music, Knowledge, Social, Utilities, Bookmarks, Shopping and others.

I highly recommend Locoindex to you, because it is a truely useful site, in my opinion, and I hope to see similar all-in-one search sites emerge for diagnostic imaging. Let’s take Yottalook, Goldminer, RadiologySearch.net, and the rest of them on one page, shall we?

Further reading:

• All Search Box
• 10 great web 2.0 tools for diagnostic imaging professionals
• Imaging 2.0

- Andras

I have been blogging for about a year now, and as a student I do not have to face this issue, yet, but soon, hopefully in about a year, I may also have a problem with my boss. I have come across two interesting articles both going into detail on how to write a medical blog and not get fired.
Why should bloggers even deal with this issue? Because a blog is a means of communication, a medium of self expression, and all that is written in a blog is considered to be not only the work, but also the opinion of the author him/herself.

So, here is a good general guideline for bloggers as appears on casesblog.blogspot.com.

- Write as if your boss and your patients are reading your blog every day
- Comply with HIPAA
- Do not blog anonymously. List your name and contact information.
- If your blog is work-related, it is probably better to let your employer know.
- Inquire if there are any blogging guidelines. If there are, comply with them strictly.
- Use a disclaimer, e.g. ” All opinions expressed here are those of their authors and not of their employer. Information provided here is for medical education only. It is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice.”
- Get your blog accredited by the Heath on the Net Foundation”

There is no need to be frightened by this, just keep in mind these guidelines when writing your next post and most importantly, check with your boss!

References, and more on this topic:

• HIPAA Rules
• How to blog and not get fired?
• Advice for bloggers

- Andras

Here is yet another social website for all involved in the field of Radiology including students, doctors and technicians: Filmjacket!

Filmjacket.com is a website for all professionals affiliated with the field of radiology. You can post and browse radiology jobs, submit and read the latest radiology news, participate in discussion forums, read radiology-related articles and browse radiologic images and cases.

I liked their image gallery the most. There are tons of great images there, the categories are clear, and in whole it is easy to use. Their video gallery, called Video Jacket already has some interesting videos, but at the time of this writing there are a total of 24 videos, which is not much compared to the volume of this website. They have a Journal Watch, but it is not always clear how the different articles found their way to be featured on this page. The Free Software Tools section is great. I have found a couple useful tools myself. These are mostly software for everyday use, but some may actually make our lives easier. The site features a handy tool for those looking for a job in the field of Radiology. Then their is the physicians lounge to share your opinion.

Unfortunately, the author of this site has stopped working on this site regularly, so the website is not updated frequently. Here is what he has to say about this:

I have finally come to terms with my lack of interest in updating this website with any reasonable frequency. It’s been 2 years and the site nad a good run. I learned many things about web design and now can put up a site in about 10 minutes. I began work on other projects that presently hold my interest; filmjacket.com will remain up with minor changes and I will update it essentially whenever I feel like it.

If someone out there has more enthusiasm than I do, I will consider all reasonable offers.

I hope someone does have more enthusiasm and this great project will not be another dead URL.
- Andras

Tags: Radiology

Researchers at Hewlett Packard have transfered a theoretical object into reality. Memristors were first theorized in the 1970s, but it took almost 20 years for them to find their way onto designers’ desks and into our PCs.

The device, a nanoscale component called a “memristor,” requires no power to retain data, which it can store more densely than a hard drive and access about as fast as a computer’s RAM memory—potentially allowing it to replace both components in the future.

We can expect memristors to show up in everyday technology in the next two to three years when they will catalyze information transfer in our personal computers. First they will act as a “catch” between the hard disc drive and the DRAM, which will allow shorter loading times of large files such as complicated applications and images. “Stan Williams, who leads the HP research team, thinks a memristor can hold scads more data than a hard drive and access about as fast as DRAM.” Their future plan is to replace both the hard drive and the RAM by one single device: the memristor.

This new technology will help ease the burden of the hard drives at work in diagnostic imaging, where large images are acquired, stored, opened and recorded many times over throughout a day. Memristors will make loading a patients full picturesque medical history a flash.

But memristors have more in store for us. Since they can function both in digital (on/off) and analogue mode, different types of tasks requiring different computational modes can be carried out by that which fits best. For example, facial recognition is best carried out in analogue mode that closely resembles the way the human brain works.

Williams proposes a CPU with multiple processing cores: Some digital for the number crunching that today’s computers do so well, and others using analog memristors.

In fact, in an article that appears on the HP Research website you may read that their goal is to develop a highly energy efficient computer with pattern recognition capabilities that closely matches that of the human brain!

For further reading on this hot topic I recommend you the following articles:

• Article published in Nature 453, 80-83 ( 1 May 2008 )
• News and Views in Nature
• Popular Science
  
• HP Labs

I personally cannot wait to see this technology at work. Its been a long way coming!

- Andras

Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and discoverer of LSD died at the age of 102 due to a hearth attack in his home. He discovered LSD or lysergic acid diethylamide by accident while conducting research on the alkaloid compounds of ergot. He himself experienced a trip when he accidentally digested a small amount of the compound. He would have liked to see the compound used in psychiatry as a means to access the fundamentals of human consciousness. Unfortunately, LSD was never used for such purposes, since shortly after its discovery, it took off as one of the most powerful hallucinogenic drug, and was deemed illegal afterwards.

While Hofmann is understandably most well known for LSD, his work was also key to developing many new drugs for treating postpartum hemorrhaging, stabilizing blood pressure, and improving circulation and cerebral function.

Make sure to read the following articles about the work and life of Mr. Hofmann:

• A conversation with Mr. Hofmann
• Popular Science
• Telegraph
• Albert Hofmann Foundation
• Associate Press

- Andras

Every now and then a topic pops-up that has nothing to do with diagnostic imaging, but is one that I still feel has a place on these pages, because as a medical student I believe that I am obliged to shine some light on certain aspects of medicine again and again. One such aspect is the importance of breastfeeding.
Today, the Department of Gynecology at the University of Debrecen Medical and Health Science Center was the location for an important initiative called Breastfeeding Awareness Day. This event was organized and carried out by my fellow medical students with the help of the local Student Body and the nurses from Gynecology. Mothers and soon-to-be mothers from the city of Debrecen were invited to attend an hour long musical performance and a short lecture on the importance of breastfeeding. The event was opened and closed by Zoltán Tóth, head of Gynecology at at my University who at the end of the night reiterated the importance of breastfeeding with the following slide that I translated for you. You are welcome to use this slide, but all the information presented here is the sole work of the above mentioned author, and as such I am not in the position to answer any questions regarding that. I only take credit for taking pictures of the newborn babies, and some technical help with the slide show.

The advantages of breastfeeding:
1. From the baby’s point of view:
- smaller morbidity and mortality
- less pulmonary and middle ear canal infection
- less digestive problems
- less prone to allergies
- less chance for diabetes
- less chance for malignant tumors
- higher IQ
- more beautiful face
- better teeth
- better vision
- faster and better speech development
- more harmonic baby-mother relationship

2. From the mother’s point of view:
- the involution of the uterus is faster
- less chance for premenopausal breast cancer
- less chance for anemia
- less chance for osteoporosis
- less chance for ovarian cancer

I must tell you, it makes me feel great to think back how delighted some of the new mothers were to see their babies’ faces projected onto a large screen in front of a large audience.

- Andras

Tags: breastfeeding, gynecology