Researchers have, for the first time, acquired optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of the curved layers of a person's cornea with cell-level detail and a large viewing area. The new OCT instrument enables improved monitoring of eye diseases as well as general health conditions such as diabetes, which alter the density of nerves in the cornea. "As the curved outermost part of the eye, the cornea offers a transparent window into both ocular and general health conditions," said corresponding author Viacheslav Mazlin, from The Langevin Institute, a joint research unit between ESPCI Paris and CNRS in France. "The cell-level ...

A novel study aims to evaluate whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters may predict fractional flow reserve (FFR) values and assess if OCT parameters may predict clinical outcome in patients with negative FFR. The study was presented as late-breaking science at the SCAI 2020 Scientific Sessions Virtual Conference. OCT imaging, a cutting-edge high-resolution intracoronary imaging technique generally used to characterize plaque morphology and to guide optimization of percutaneous coronary intervention, may also provide some insights into the functional significance of a stenosis. "The idea of predicting hemodynamic relevance of coronary lesions from imaging is extremely appealing. In this collaborative study ...

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have devised a new imaging device capable of measuring both the thickness and texture of the various layers of the retina at the back of the eye. The advance could be used to detect a biomarker of Alzheimer's disease, potentially offering a widespread early warning system for the disease. The results appear online on May 13 in the journal Scientific Reports . "Previous research has seen a thinning of the retina in Alzheimer's patients, but by adding a light-scattering technique to the measurement, we've found that the retinal nerve fiber layer is also ...

An unforeseen consequence of normalization of marijuana use is that adolescents and adults of childbearing age are increasingly engaged in a practice of Simultaneous Alcohol and Cannabinoid (SAC) use, or co-ingestion. A recent U.S. hospital-based assessment revealed that at the time of birth, about 22% of assessed umbilical cords were positive for marijuana. "It is likely, given the documented synergy between ethanol and cannabinoids, that their combined ingestion will, as hypothesized, result in increased neurogenic and neurovascular deficits in exposed offspring," said Kirill Larin, University of Houston professor of biomedical engineering. Larin and collaborator Rajesh Miranda of Texas A ...

Bottom Line: A high-resolution, three-dimensional imaging technique, when combined with quantitative measurement of tissue elasticity, could accurately detect cancer within the resected margins of surgical specimens taken from patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Research , a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research Authors: Brendan F. Kennedy, PhD, associate professor in the School of Engineering at The University of Western Australia (UWA) and laboratory head of BRITElab at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Perth, Western Australia; and Christobel Saunders, MBBS, professor in the School of Medicine at UWA Background: "Despite ...

Researchers from Cambridge University and University of California San Diego have 3D printed coral-inspired structures that are capable of growing dense populations of microscopic algae. Their results, reported in the journal Nature Communications , open the door to new bio-inspired materials and their applications for coral conservation. In the ocean, corals and algae have an intricate symbiotic relationship. The coral provides a host for the algae, while the algae produce sugars to the coral through photosynthesis. This relationship is responsible for one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth, the coral reef. "Corals are highly efficient at collecting and ...

NTU scientists develop handheld, high-resolution medical imaging device with potential for bedside scanning Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed the prototype of a handheld medical imaging device that can produce images down to resolutions of 1 to 2 micrometres. This is detailed enough to spot the first signs of tumours in specific cells and is about 100 times higher resolution than what X-Ray, computed tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines can provide. The technology behind the device is a result of six years of optical imaging research and was jointly developed by a team ...

- A new approach that uses artificial intelligence to analyze retinal images could one day help doctors select the best treatment for patients with vision loss from diabetic macular edema. This diabetes complication is a major cause of vision loss among working-age adults. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents are widely used as the first line of therapy for diabetic macular edema, but they don't work for everyone. There's a need to identify who would benefit from the therapy because it requires multiple injections that are costly and burdensome for both patients and physicians. "We developed an algorithm that ...

As coral reefs deteriorate in the face of climate change, an interdisciplinary Northwestern Engineering research team has developed an innovative method to image coral nanoscale structures and quantify pigment absorption in live corals, an indicator of coral health. The imaging platform could become a valuable tool to help marine biologists better understand coral physiology as well measure and monitor coral health. Reef building corals provide a home to more than 1 million species in our oceans. Yet increasing ocean temperatures have given rise to coral bleaching, a phenomenon where corals expel their life-providing algae, jeopardizing the health and sustainability of ...

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have devised a method for increasing the resolution of optical coherence tomography (OCT) down to a single micrometer in all directions, even in a living patient. The new technique, called optical coherence refraction tomography (OCRT), could improve medical images obtained in the multibillion-dollar OCT industry for medical fields ranging from cardiology to oncology. The results appear in a paper published online on August 19 in the journal Nature Photonics . "An historic issue with OCT is that the depth resolution is typically several times better than the lateral resolution," said Joseph Izatt, the Michael J. Fitzpatrick ...

Inserting air into hot glass to form a bubble has been used to make glass objects since Roman times. In new work, researchers apply these same glass blowing principles on a microscopic scale to make specialized miniature cone-shaped lenses known as axicons. Axicons are used to shape laser light in a way that is beneficial for optical drilling, imaging and creating optical traps for manipulating particles or cells. These lenses have been known for more than 60 years, but their fabrication, especially when small, is not easy. "Our technique has the potential of producing robust miniature axicons in glass at ...

More than 40 billion capillaries -- tiny, hair-like blood vessels -- are tasked with carrying oxygen and nutrients to the far reaches of the human body. But despite their sheer number and monumental importance to basic functions and metabolism, not much is known about their inner workings. Now a Northwestern University team has developed a new tool that images blood flow through these tiny vessels, giving insight into this central portion of the human circulatory system. Called spectral contrast optical coherence tomography angiography (SC-OCTA), the 3D-imaging technique can detect subtle changes in capillary organization for early diagnosis of disease. "There has been ...

Although currently laser surgery is a very popular tool for various vision disorders correction, it is still difficult to ensure proper control over the accuracy, efficiency and safety of such procedures. Therefore, Russian scientists proposed a new method that helps to describe tissue changes after such operations. This method was described in a series of publications in the Journal of Biophotonics , Journal of Biomedical Optics and Laser Physics Letters . For the widespread and safe clinical use of lasers for eye surgeries, it is crucial to ensure high-precision control of the given shape of the fabric and its stability. At the ...

Researchers have used artificial intelligence to support the instant diagnosis of one of the top causes of blindness, diabetes-related eye disease, in its earliest stages. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of vision loss in adults* and its impact is growing worldwide, with 191 million people set to be affected by 2030**. There are no early-stage symptoms and the disease may already be advanced by the time people start losing their sight. Early diagnosis and treatment can make a dramatic difference to how much vision a patient retains. Now a team of Australian-Brazilian researchers led by RMIT University have developed ...

Researchers at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, have created a noninvasive technology that detects when nerve cells fire based on changes in shape. The method could be used to observe nerve activity in light-accessible parts of the body, such as the eye, which would allow physicians to quantitatively monitor visual function at the cellular level. The study was published in the journal Light: Science and Applications . The work was funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. When nerves fire, there's a change in the electrical potential (trans-membrane voltage) in the cell. Current techniques ...

To understand cardiovascular failures, the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths in infants, UH professor of biomedical engineering Kirill Larin is teaming up with Baylor College of Medicine professor of cellular and molecular physiology Irina Larina on a chicken and egg hunt. "When the heart develops, it becomes stiffer as required for ability to contract and pump blood," said Larin. "So the question is - does it become stiff because it's contracting, or is it stiff to begin with because it is genetically predefined?" Surprisingly, very little is known about an embryo's developing heart. "Defining how these mechanical factors ...

Non-invasive stent monitoring techniques tested University of Barcelona IMAGE: Barcelona researchers team from the Research Institute Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), the Biomedical Research Networking Center on Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV), the University of Barcelona and the the Universitat Politècnica... view more Credit: IGTP Researchers from the Research Institute Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), the Biomedical Research Networking Center on Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV), the University of Barcelona and the the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have created a new field probe to detect in a non-invasive and non-ionizing way the presence of metallic stents as well as their potential structural ...

In those precious weeks before a woman even realizes she's pregnant, an embryo will have already developed a neural tube, a hollow structure made of cells which will eventually become the brain and spinal cord. Now, with $3.2 million from the National Institutes of Health, UH professor of biomedical engineering Kirill Larin will tackle the evolutionary anomaly of why the neural tube closes in most embryos but remains open in others, leading to birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly. Neural Tube Defects (NTD) are the second most common structural birth defect in humans, affecting upwards of ...

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, researchers at Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health and University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in China, Germany and Texas, have developed a new computational tool to screen patients with common but blinding retinal diseases, potentially speeding diagnoses and treatment. The findings are published in the February 22 issue of Cell . "Artificial intelligence (AI) has huge potential to revolutionize disease diagnosis and management by doing analyses and classifications involving immense amounts of data that are difficult for human experts -- and doing them rapidly," said senior author Kang ...

Researchers have developed the first instrument that can provide a detailed image of the entire eye. By incorporating a lens that changes optical parameters in response to an electric current, the innovative technology can produce higher quality images than currently available and could make eye examinations faster and more comfortable for patients by avoiding the need to undergo imaging with multiple instruments to look at different areas of the eye. "Diseases such as glaucoma affect both the front and back portions of the eye," said Ireneusz Grulkowski, whose research team at Nicolaus Copernicus University , Poland, worked with Pablo Artal's ...

Chulhong Kim, Associate Professor of Creative IT Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has been selected to receive the 2017 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) Academic Early Career Achievement Award for his contributions to 'multi-scale photoacoustic imaging from super-resolution atomic force photoactivated microscopy for research to systems for clinical applications.' This highly prestigious award is given annually to an individual "for significant contributions to the field of biomedical engineering as evidenced by innovative research design, product development, patents, and/or publications made by an individual who is within 10 years of completing their highest ...

The Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging at Helmholtz Zentrum München is heading the "Hybrid optical and optoacoustic endoscope for esophageal tracking" (ESOTRAC) research project, in which engineers and physicians together develop a novel hybrid endoscopic instrument for early diagnosis and staging of esophageal cancer. The device may reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies and, importantly, facilitate early-disease detection leading to earlier start of therapy, which improves therapeutic efficacy over late-disease treatment and leads to immense cost-savings for the health care system. ESOTRAC has been awarded four million Euros from Horizon 2020, the EU framework program for research and ...

An industry-academic collaboration has achieved the first optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of cubic meter volumes. With OCT's ability to provide difficult-to-obtain information on material composition, subsurface structure, coatings, surface roughness and other properties, this advance could open up many new uses for OCT in industry, manufacturing and medicine. The achievement also represents important progress toward developing a high-speed, low-cost OCT system on a single integrated circuit chip. "Our study demonstrates world-record results in cubic meter volume imaging, with at least an order of magnitude larger depth range and volume compared to previous demonstrations of three-dimensional OCT," said James ...

Lehigh University bio-engineers are first to explore the use of highly-sensitive, non-invasive optical coherence tomography (OCT) to examine neuron-to-neuron communication in live tissue. Scientific progress has provided a solid understanding of the anatomy of the brain. However, there is still no reliable way to examine neuron to neuron communication, as it happens--a key to understanding the correlation between brain structure and brain function. Chao Zhou , assistant professor of bioengineering at Lehigh University, likens our current brain-mapping ability to a Global Positioning System (GPS) that can help a user locate a city, but cannot offer a street-level view. With current imaging ...