radRounds December 31, 2007
Posted by tomography in Nuclear Medicine.add a comment
Check out radRounds.com, a social community site (similar to Facebook for example) created by radiologists for radiologists! Find people, job opportunities in your area, share ideas, discuss the latest topics or even tough cases. Membership is restricted, because you have to be a certified radiologist to join, but it is none the less a very useful tool. I have copy-pasted the following sentences from radrounds.com to illustrate their mission statements:
radRounds is a tool for radiologists. It was created by radiologists to help with clinical work and enriching one’s career. Some examples of uses might include:
- Finding another radiologist who can help with an MR imaging sequence, job search, or tough case
- Talking privately to an inside-connection about that practice you plan to join
- Establishing a new collaboration to start a multi-center clinical trial
- Leaving radiology and looking for an investment banking job
- Searching for the dream job or hiring the dream candidate / future partner
- Keeping in touch with alumni from your residency program and old friends from the RSNA
- Discussing the latest topics and turf battles of radiology
- Finding out the next time someone gives a lecture/CME on your area of interest
- Starting your own (private or public) group or blog
and, above all, sharing one’s interests, expertise, and connections with others. radRounds will most rapidly improve with the help of the people who use it. Spread the word too and invite a fellow radiologist. We are currently in beta mode so by the way, suggestions and comments are all strongly encouraged.
USEFUL online textbooks free of charge December 26, 2007
Posted by tomography in Nuclear Medicine.Tags: education, web 2.0
2 comments
We all love free stuff, right? What is even better if that which is free also proves to be a great resource. Tomographyblog.com deals with issues shaping Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, so I went looking for such books , and found these on
.com:
A-Z of Emergency Radiology is for those who have taken radiology, therefore are in possession of the basics, but it can also be a great supplement for your studies if you happen to be studying radiology at the moment. For residents of Radiology it is a must have!
Basic Physics of Nuclear Medicine provides clear explanations of the mechanism behind the image capturing processes of nuclear medicine. It starts at the core of the atom, and finishes by explaining how some of the more intricate, but popular diagnostic tools work, such as PET, SPECT.
No shooters anymore December 14, 2007
Posted by tomography in Off Topic.Tags: vein, veinviewer
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The VeinViewer by Luminetx™ uses a combination of near-infrared light and patented technologies to image vascular structures, thus allowing physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals to clearly see accessible vasculature (or lack thereof) in real time, directly on the surface of the skin.
It’s non-invasive, it has no risk of tissue damage or risk of crosscontamination because there is no patient contact with the device.
Reducing the number of sticks can also help patients, patients’ family and even the practitioner to avoid stress caused by the multiple sticks.
Colour X-ray December 8, 2007
Posted by tomography in Off Topic, Radiology, Tomography, X-ray, development.add a comment
Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed a new x-ray imaging technique. This new method aims to create colour x-ray pictures 3D. The new technique developed by the Manchester team is called tomographic energy dispersive diffraction imaging (TEDDI). It requires a synchrotron radiation white X-ray source so it is capable of producing structure composition profiles with resolutions approaching 1 micron. Such a facility would be ideal for studying a whole range of problems in materials and engineering science.
Current imaging systems such as spiral CAT scanners do not use all the information contained in the X-ray beam. We use all the wavelengths present to give a colour X-ray image. This extra information can be used to fingerprint the material present at each point in a 3D image. – says Professor Cernik
Nice expectations on biomaterials. Distinguishing normal tissue from abnormal.
We have demonstrated a new prototype X-ray imaging system that has exciting possibilities across a wide range of disciplines including medicine, security scanning and aerospace engineering.
Yet the problem is time. To create a scan takes hours, but scientists believe that it will be reduced to just a few minutes. The method could be useful in specific tissue identification in humans or even identifying heroin, cocaine in freight; or could be useful at car and aerospace engineering showing whether welds are damaged or have too much strain. So reaching the medical line is not that close, but what is late does not go by.
From pop to opera (sound works) December 1, 2007
Posted by tomography in Innovation, Ultrasound.add a comment
Advanced Imaging Technologies (AIT) presented it’s new ARIA ultrasound breast imaging system at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). This device is the winner of 2007 Frost & Sullivan’s Technology Innovation Award for ultrasound devices.
In essence, the ARIA imaging system uses the diffractive properties of sound combined with holography to create highly-detailed, dynamic 3D images of breast tissue. In transmission optical holography an image is obtained using the interference of two coherent acoustic sources, one being the transmitted wave and the other one, a reference wave. The resulting image is a true hologram!
Unlike reflective ultrasound the ARIA Breast Imaging System delivers 97% of the critical data you need for confident decision making. We use the whole wave to create our images, not he 3% that bounces back.
The company believes that its system delivers better sensitivity for detection of masses in women with dense breast tissue.
Think small December 1, 2007
Posted by tomography in Off Topic, Tomography, development.add a comment
A remarkably simple experiment devised by scientists yields important information about the mechanical properties of thin films (nanoscopically thin layers of material that are deposited onto a metal, ceramic or semiconductor base)
The findings impact a broad range of scientific disciplines and applications, from cosmetics to coatings, to micro- and nanoelectronics, filters, very low loss high density optical films etc. Understanding the mechanical properties of thin films is essential to their performance and optimization.
Until now, determining the mechanical properties of these thin films was either an expensive and time-consuming endeavor, requiring powerful microscopes to view the films, or scientists examined composite structures and made uncertain assumptions. This new research will give scientists a simple way to access the material properties of most thin films. Low-power optical microscope is used to observe what happens when they place a tiny drop of water on thin film as it floats in a Petri dish of water. The capillary tension of the drop of water produces a starburst of wrinkles in the film. The number and length of the wrinkles are determined by the elasticity and thickness of the film.
In some of the materials studied, the wrinkles in the ultrathin polymer films vanished with time. This vanishing provides insight into the relaxation process of an ultrathin film by yielding information on the way polymer chains move in the highly confined geometry.
Source: NSF
Greater contrast in detection November 28, 2007
Posted by tomography in Innovation, Off Topic, Radiology, development.2 comments
NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader of programmable graphics processor technologies, and Planar Systems, makers of specialty displays, are cooperating closely to produce display systems that will enable doctors to more effectively screen for breast cancer. The two companies are working to develop high-contrast, 10-bit grayscale display systems for use in mammography and other medical applications.
Currently, digital mammography displays that rely on standard PC workstations are limited to 8-bit grayscale, which provides only 256 possible shades of gray for each pixel. Being limited to 256 shades-of-gray can sometimes obscure valuable data when an image is displayed; mammography systems and other medical sensors, however, are capable of greater degrees of contrast.
Instead of developing specialty hardware, NVIDIA and Planar have developed a method of “pixel packing” that allows 10-bit or 12-bit grayscale data to be transmitted from an NVIDIA Quadro® graphics board to a Planar Dome display using a standard DVI cable. Instead of three 8-bit grayscale channels, now two 10- or 12-bit channels are transmitted, providing up to 864 possible shades of gray at more than three times the image contrast of an 8-bit system.
The best part of this display solution is that specialty hardware is not required, making it readily available for use with other radiology functions. Instead of developing a specialty graphics board that supports 10- or 12-bit grayscale, NVIDIA has incorporated the pixel packing functionality into its Quadro™ driver, allowing Quadro FX 4600 graphics or higher to support a wide range of grayscale panels from various manufacturers.
Soon, without a lot of increased costs, radiologists will be able to use these 10-bit display systems to screen for breast cancer more efficiently and with greater confidence!
Source: NVIDIA
Tomographyblog.com interview on Tiromed.com November 28, 2007
Posted by tomography in Nuclear Medicine, Off Topic.Tags: , interview, tiromed.com
1 comment so far
Tiromed.com is one of the largest online medical communities. Its members range from medical students to professionals. Here you will find all sorts of resources including forums, associations, classifieds, job opportunities, and much more. Last week, Max Sanel, one of the people at Tiromed.com, sent us a couple questions via email, and now the whole interview of shall I say blogterview is available on www.tiromed.com. Check it out today to find out more “behind the scenes” information on tomographyblog.com.
The full interview is available for reading on our “About us” page.
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