Body

SALT LAKE CITY—Molecular imaging has uncovered what may be to blame for acid reflux disease, a painful and potentially dangerous illness that affects a sizeable percentage of the population. A study presented at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting provides further evidence that the disease of the digestive system is brought on by a lack of tone, or motility, in the esophageal muscles that clear and keep stomach acids and other gastric contents from backing up into the esophagus.

SALT LAKE CITY—A study presented at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting shows that using multiple imaging agents with a hybrid imaging technique can be a valuable tool for accurately diagnosing and determining treatment for a variety of diabetes-associated foot diseases. A common complication from Type 2 diabetes is the decreased ability to heal from even the most minor infections. Due to reduced blood circulation and nerve damage associated with the disease, infections of the feet are a major concern.

SALT LAKE CITY—Molecular imaging of the heart just got better, according to a study revealed at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting. Combining a potential new imaging agent with a molecular imaging technique that reduces blur caused by the motion of the heart and lungs could lead to unprecedented image quality when conducting myocardial perfusion imaging, a procedure used to evaluate blood flow to the heart.

SALT LAKE CITY—Molecular imaging has a powerful new weapon in the fight against prostate cancer. Research introduced at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting demonstrates how a novel peptide-targeted imaging agent could help clinicians detect a biological process that signals cancer in prostate cells. Information gathered about this process may even differentiate prostate tumor types and the progression of disease.

SALT LAKE CITY—According to research revealed at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting, a multi-tracer molecular imaging technique using positron emission tomography (PET) provides detailed information about the physiological processes of cancerous tumors—and could one day help radiation oncologists treat head and neck cancers with precision external-beam radiation therapy and improve the outcomes of therapy.

SALT LAKE CITY—According to a study presented at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting, molecular imaging can evaluate and optimize non-Hodgkin's lymphoma therapy with Zevalin, a front-line radioimmunotherapy drug that uses a dose of radioactive material and mimics the body's own immune response to target and kill cancer cells while sparing nearby healthy tissues.

SALT LAKE CITY—Research introduced at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting is expanding molecular imaging's role in determining the best course of treatment for recurring breast cancer patients, while offering a means of evaluating certain therapies for potentially positive impact on their chance of survival.

SALT LAKE CITY—The most widely used medical radioisotope, Technetium-99m (Tc-99m), is essential for an estimated 70,000 medical imaging procedures that take place daily around the world. Aging reactors, production intermittencies and threats of permanent reactor closures have researchers striving to develop alternative methods of supply. In a comparative study presented at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting, researchers show that medical cyclotrons could be capable of producing this medical isotope.

SALT LAKE CITY—For more than 15,000 Americans each year, a kidney transplant can mean a new lease on life without dialysis, but complications following surgery are not uncommon. A recent study presented at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting suggests that the use of both physiological and structural images acquired from single photon emission computed tomography and X-ray computed tomography (SPECT/CT) hybrid imaging can help clinicians to better diagnose and treat patients suffering from a number of renal-transplant associated complications.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University scientists have improved a strain of yeast that can produce more biofuel from cellulosic plant material by fermenting all five types of the plant's sugars.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Prostate cancer has become more common in younger men, and it's often more aggressive in these men. A new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that a series of genetic mutations could help detect this early onset prostate cancer.

Researchers believe that genetics and traditional screening methods could play a role in predicting the risk of prostate cancer in younger men.

A turn-off for cancer

Although plants and animals are very different organisms, they share a surprising number of biological mechanisms. A plant biologist at Tel Aviv University says that one of these mechanisms may be the answer for turning off cancer growth in humans.

SAN DIEGO – (June 7, 2010) If you think of diabetes onset like an elaborate molecular drama, then a research team led by a La Jolla Institute scientist has unmasked a previously unknown cellular player, which is critical to proper insulin secretion. "Defective insulin secretion is a hallmark of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes," said Catherine Hedrick, Ph.D., a scientist at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology, who led the team, which included researchers from the University of Virginia.

Ironing out inflammation

SALT LAKE CITY, June 7, 2010 – In a surprising discovery that someday may lead to new treatments for many inflammatory diseases, University of Utah scientists found that a hormone involved in iron metabolism can save mice from deadly acute inflammation.

A new emergency review tool will help research ethics boards and institutions to expedite research while respecting the procedures of ethics reviews, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj090976.pdf.