A team of engineers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and including colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently announced in the journal Nature Communications that they had successfully built a tissue-like bioelectronic mesh system. The mesh can grow along with the cardiac cells, allowing researchers to observe how the heart's mechanical and electrical functions change during the developmental process.

Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst

Many companies are now developing isothermal genetic tests that can diagnose a wide array of respiratory diseases, sexually transmitted infections and more. These products aim to provide precise and prompt diagnostic information, enabling people to quickly seek appropriate medical treatment. Source: Nature

A multidisciplinary group of NIH-funded scientists have successfully captured real-time, high-resolution images of the developing mouse placenta during the course of pregnancy. Their technique, which combines a surgically implanted window with a next-generation imaging system, provides key insight into placental development under both healthy and pathological conditions.

UMass Chan Medical School researchers have documented a phenomenon that had confounded clinicians: Some people persistently test positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on rapid home antigen tests despite obtaining concurrent negative PCR tests. Source: Medical Xpress

"We didn't," says Dr. Carlo Pierpaoli, chief of the NIH's laboratory on quantitative medical imaging. The NIH study was larger, Pierpaoli says, and used a control group that was better matched — in terms of age, profession, and location — to the group being studied. It also was designed to produce highly consistent results.

Source: NPR

Carlo Pierpaoli, lead author on the neuroimaging study, said while there is no evidence of brain injury on the MRIs, it is still possible that those reporting AHIs “may be experiencing the results of an event that led to their symptoms, but the injury did not produce the long-term neuroimaging changes that are typically observed after severe trauma or stroke.”

Source: The Hill

The absence of signs of brain injuries does not rule out the possibility of an external adverse event causing the symptoms, said Carlo Pierpaoli, the lead author on the neuroimaging paper.

Source: Washington Post

After adjusting for multiple comparisons, no differences in MRI measures of brain structureopens in a new tab or window or function emerged between individuals with AHIs and matched controls, reported Carlo Pierpaoli, MD, PhD, of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering in Bethesda, Maryland, and co-authors in JAMA.

Source: MedPage Today

“We hope these results will alleviate concerns about AHIs being associated with severe neurodegenerative changes in the brain,” says Carlo Pierpaoli, chief of the Laboratory on Quantitative Medical Imaging at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Source: Science