Court permits Robert Vadra to travel US
New Delhi: A Delhi Court on Monday allowed Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra, who is facing an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe, to visit the US and the Netherlands for six weeks for his medical check-up. Special Judge Arvind Kumar’s order came on Vadra’s plea seeking to travel abroad for a medical check-up. Vadra has said a tumour has been detected in his large intestine and he needs to travel abroad for a medical check-up. Also Read – Pak activated 20 terror camps & 20 launch pads along LoC The court imposed certain conditions against Vadra while allowing his plea including a direction to submit address with contact numbers and to inform the court about his arrival in India within 24 hours. The court directed him neither to tamper with the evidence nor try to influence any witnesses in the case. The court also asked him to join the investigation within 72 hours if so informed by the investigating officer. The court also asked him to furnish a fixed deposit receipt (FDR) of Rs 25 lakh. Also Read – Two squadrons which participated in Balakot airstrike awarded citations The ED had strongly objected his plea mainly for London, apprehending that Vadra might tamper with the evidence if he was allowed to go there. The case against Vadra relates to alleged ownership of overseas assets worth 1.9 million pounds. The charges against him pertain to undisclosed foreign assets and entities to evade tax. Vadra was granted anticipatory bail on April 1 on the condition that he would not leave the country without permission and join the probe whenever required. Vadra has submitted a medical certificate from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here. He had told the court that his doctor had advised him to get a second opinion and therefore he wanted to go to London. Representing the ED, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has told the court that the doctor had not essentially asked Vadra to take a second opinion in London but only mentioned he can take it “if he wishes so”. He said the investigation in the case was at a crucial stage and there were chances Vadra may not return. The ED argued that there were treatment facilities available in India. Countering the ED’s submission, Vadra’s counsel said Vadra will not go to those places where the agency has objections. The defence counsel said Vadra’s medical condition can worsen with the passing of time.
MONTREAL – Hundreds of Quebec forestry workers are experiencing the first sour tastes from the softwood lumber battle with the United States as they prepare for the start of layoffs.Starting Monday, Resolute Forest Products is cutting shifts at seven sawmills and delaying the start of forest operations that will affect 1,282 workers.Pierrot Fortin, who experienced such heartache during the last impasse in the early 2000s, is again preparing for lost income and uncertainty.“Work stoppages like this are never easy,” said the truck driver who hauls wood from forests in the Lac-Saint-Jean region.“It has an impact on families and everyone is worried.”But the 48-year-old says he’s luckier than some — his house is almost paid and his two children are no longer babies.Fortin feels for young families and older workers who have few employment alternatives in one-industry towns.The big worry is that temporary curtailments will be extended as companies feel growing pressure from retroactive duties and the prospect of additional preliminary charges to be announced next month.During the last softwood lumber dispute, Canada shed 20,000 forestry jobs between 2000 and 2006, and about 400 sawmills closed entirely between 2004 and 2009.Unifor, which represents 24,000 forestry workers at 134 companies, fears duties this time will hurt 25,000 Canadian jobs.La Tuque mayor Normand Beaudoin says any downtime longer than two weeks currently planned for about 100 mill employees would be difficult for families in the small town about 200 kilometres south of the Lac-Saint-Jean region.“In the short-term I don’t have a lot of worries, but if it goes on for one or two years it will do a lot of harm,” Beaudoin said.Although workers were aware of the challenges facing the industry, they were surprised by the speed with which Resolute moved to cut costs — especially since the company’s preliminary duties are below the 20 per cent Canadian average with no retroactivity, said Daniel Leblond, president of the Unifor local at the Dolbeau-Mistassini sawmill.Resolute said the immediate impact on the industry is largely because of volatility in market pricing thanks to the duties, and the fact that some U.S. customers had built up some supply in anticipation of the duties.Still, it has created anxiety because there are no answers to questions if the layoffs will be extended.“These families are devastated, just like if they were struck by a hurricane,” said Leblond.He fears that more job cuts are coming at two paper mills if there’s no relief from punishing duties on supercalendered paper.The Quebec mills are among the first in Canada to feel the effects of softwood duties. However, a cedar mill in New Brunswick recently closed, affecting six workers.Danny Stillwell, owner of Hainesville Sawmill Ltd., northwest of Fredericton, said he’s closing for at least six months until a dispute over the new tariffs is resolved.There’s no word of any mill closures in Western Canada, but workers are very nervous, said Bob Matters, wood council chairman for the United Steelworkers union.“Many of the workers, probably most of them, have been through the last round of softwood lumber negotiations, and the uncertainty around how long this will last is what is causing the grief,” he said.With many families having several members employed in the forest sector, Matters added, any cuts cause widespread pain and have far-reaching ramifications for forest-dependent communities.“The major employer in town is the mill or manufacturing facility so it is a very big deal.”Follow @RossMarowits on Twitter.
The Waterloo Cup was Britain’s premier hare coursing event before the sport was bannedCredit:David Burges 
Tens of thousands of pounds is being gambled on illegal hare coursing events being live-streamed across the country via mobile phones, police have said.Landowners have reported a “terrifying” increase in illicit gatherings fuelled by the emerging technology-enabled black market in betting.More than a thousand incidents were reported in Lincolnshire alone during the 2017-18 season, despite a police crackdown, and the activity is believed to be increasingly prevalent across the east of England.Illegal trophies such as the “Fir Cup” now come with £6,000 of prize money, according to police, although far greater sums are understood to be won and lost via the mobile messaging service WhatsApp.The Country Land & Business Association (CLA), which represents property owners and is pressing for tougher sentences, said hare coursers were deliberately targeting patches of land which get good 4G reception.The activity, which involves two dogs competing against each other in pursuit of killing a hare, was outlawed as part of the 2004 Hunting Act.But it has continued to take place illegally, principally in eastern counties where large flat fields enable good viewing and there is an abundance of hares.Those convicted of hare coursing often receive a fine of a few hundred pounds, however the owner of a successful dog can expect to earn thousands of pounds in breeding fees. Lee Murphy, who speaks for CLA members in the east of England, said an “underclass” of enthusiasts travel from across the UK to attend illegal gatherings.“These are hardened criminals – this is not a quaint rural crime,” he told The Telegraph.“People are living in fear of their lives.“They can see their property being damaged but they know that if they confront the coursers they will be threatened.”Mr Murphy said sentencing guidelines should be amended to create more draconian and specific penalties for hare coursing, such as vehicle seizures.The CLA also believes a greater willingness by police to seize dogs involved in the activity will deter offenders.It also wants forces to have the power to reclaim the kenneling costs from owners.In Essex, where around 500 reports of hare coursing were filed last year, police have begun using drones to monitor the countryside.Early afternoon and dusk are considered the best times of day to flush out brown hares, Mr Murphy said, adding that for illegal gangs being chased by police was “part of the fun”.One CLA member said: “We live in fear of being targeted as we know how vicious the people that take part in hare coursing can be.“We’ve got the scars to show for it.”Hare coursing tends to take place over the autumn and winter when the fields are clear of crops.The 2017-18 season was particularly long because of the early harvest, with the first events taking place in August, rather the normal starting time of late September.The crackdown in Lincolnshire meant an increase in incidents in neighbouring counties, particularly Cambridgeshire, according to the CLA.The historic activity usually involves greyhounds or other sighthound breeds. Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
THE TEMPORARY BAN on bathing continues at Sandymount Strand after laboratory test results came back today.Dublin City Council placed the ban on Wednesday after water quality samples did not meet the minimum standards for swimming.A sample of bathing water was then taken again on Friday and the results were received today.Notices have been put up at Sandymount Strand prohibiting swimming on a temporary basis.A further sample of water has been taken today and the findings will be available on Wednesday.If the water quality sample meets the required standards – the prohibition notice will be lifted.The council said that following a period of intense rainfall in Sandymount, an emergency sewage overflow facility was activated, resulting in the discharge of dilute sewage (foul sewage combined with surface water).Dublin City Council has consulted with the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on this matter.Updates will be posted on the Dublin City Council website.Read: Temporary ban on bathing in place at Sandymount Strand>Read: Think before you jump in, 140 people drown in Ireland every year>
Windows 8 : la version test pour le 29 févrierMicrosoft présentera la version de test de son très attendu Windows 8. Le lieu où se tiendra l’évènement est tout un symbole : le Mobile World Congress de Barcelone, dédié à la mobilité.Après le flou entretenu par Microsoft sur la date de présentation de Windows 8, la date officielle vient de tomber. Les utilisateurs pourront découvrir puis ensuite tester le futur système d’exploitation dès le 29 février. En effet, une version d’évaluation sera mise en ligne, baptisée Windows 8 Consumer Preview, probablement dans la foulée du show préparé par l’éditeur.Le lieu de l’évènement ne passe pas inaperçu. Loin des grandes messes de l’informatique comme le CES de Las Vegas, Microsoft a choisi le Mobile World Congress de Barcelone, le plus gros évènement lié à la téléphonie et la mobilité. Une preuve supplémentaire que l’éditeur souhaite faire de son système l’un des leaders de l’ordinateur personnel mais aussi des tablettes tactiles.Windows 8 a été en effet prévu en ce sens, puisqu’il adoptera l’interface Metro, déjà à l’œuvre sur Windows Phone et nombre d’autres produits de la marque. Même la Xbox 360 s’est mise à niveau en adoptant ces nouveaux codes graphiques. À lire aussiMaladie de Charcot : symptômes, causes, traitement, où en est on ?Selon les informations de The Verge, Windows 8 Consumer Preview sera proposé avec plusieurs applications Metro qui seront mises à jour via le Windows Store, magasin d’applications qui fera son entrée avec cette version de test. Le client Mail, la messagerie instantanée, le calendrier, SkyDrive pour le stockage en ligne ou les lecteurs de contenus multimédia devraient se voir remis à jour. Des applications que l’on imagine proches de leurs équivalents Windows Live ce qui sonne également une confirmation de l’abandon de cette marque. On parle également de la disparition du fameux bouton “Démarrer”. Microsoft semble avoir fait table rase du passé, les utilisateurs vont-ils suivre cette voie du renouveau ? La réponse sera donnée en mars, dès Windows 8 Consumer Preview décortiqué par les plus impatients. La sortie du produit final devrait avoir lieu elle courant octobre de cette année. Le 9 février 2012 à 16:40 • Maxime Lambert
Residents of the 49th Legislative District, which encompasses much of central and west Vancouver, are invited to attend a town hall on Saturday where they can hear from their legislators about the current session that’s expected to wrap up later this week.The meeting is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Vancouver Housing Authority conference room at 2500 Main St. in Vancouver, according to a news release. Sen. Annette Cleveland, Rep. Sharon Wylie and Rep. Monica Stonier, all Vancouver Democrats, will share updates on the session, specifically on property taxes, local infrastructure and other topics, according to the news release.
Take part in exclusive research on the issues shaping employers’ employee benefits strategy by taking part in the Employee Benefits/Xerox HR Services Benefits research 2016.The research will offer insight into the types of benefits included in employee benefits programmes and what is driving organisations’ approaches to benefits both now and in the future.The online survey will be open until Friday 29 April 2016.As a thank you for taking part, we will enter you into a prize draw to win £100-worth of retail vouchers. For your chance to win, fill in your details at the end of the survey. Responses are strictly confidential.The research findings will be available online in June and will be sent to subscribers with the June 2016 issue of Employee Benefits magazine.Take part in the survey today.
Flanders declined to comment on the specifics of the repositioning other than to say he expects to make a separate announcement sometime this year.“Having a president to manage day-to-day operations will go a long way in enhancing efficiencies and avoiding duplication of efforts,” Flanders said of Vaickus’ appointment. “I’m confident he can help unify our often disparate operating units. We’re in every segment of media, internationally. The complexity is significant.”Vaickus will continue to oversee Playboy’s licensing business—what Flanders has described as the company’s fastest-growing segment. Playboy also named Playboy Digital executive vice president Scott G. Stephen executive vice president of the recently combined print/digital group. Reporting to Vaickus, Stephen’s responsibilities will expand to print publications, the company said.“Absolutely Committed” to PrintThe print edition of Playboy, the company’s flagship product, has had a difficult 2009. Of the more than 30 big-circ. consumer magazines—including AARP, Reader’s Digest, Maxim and Newsweek—only Playboy fell short of fulfilling its rate base through the first half of the year, delivering a total paid and verified circ. of 2,453,266, compared to its 2.6 million rate base, according to ABC’s most recent FAS-FAX report.In terms of advertising pages, the magazine saw a decline of 30.2 percent compared to the same period last year, according to PIB figures.Despite those losses, Flanders said the print edition of the magazine will survive the company’s forthcoming strategic repositioning. “I am absolutely committed 100 percent to keeping Playboy in print,” he said. “The magazine is the cornerstone of what we do, it’s what the brand was built on. “That doesn’t mean we won’t continue to expand in other segments of the business that might grow faster,” Flanders added, “but print isn’t going anywhere.” SEE ALSO: What to Expect of a Playboy RepositioningRecently-appointed Playboy Enterprises CEO Scott Flanders said he is planning to announce a “strategic repositioning” of the company before the end of the year. As part of that plan, he promoted Alex L. Vaickus from executive vice president and president of global licensing to the newly-created position of president, overseeing all of the company’s business operations.“We are in the process of reviewing all of our go-to market strategies,” Flanders told FOLIO: Tuesday. “We see opportunities for growth that will only be brought about with change.”
Karimnagar: The officials should give more importance to the people’s grievances and should solve them immediately without keeping them pending, ordered Joint Collector GV Shyam Lal Prasad.He participated in ‘Dial Your Collector’ programme that is held every Monday in Karimnagar. After listening to various grievance calls received from the people across the district, the JC assured them that all the issues they have received will be solved as early as possible. Also Read – Thimmapur villagers pledge to go plastice-free Advertise With Us He advised the people to report their problems, if any, through this programme, if they are unable to personally submit their grievances to the officials concerned. The people should not dial on every Monday on the same issue. If their problems are not solved then they can go to the collectorate directly seeking solution, which would be taken up by the officials concerned and will try to solve it. Also Read – Opposition leaders exhort farmers to step up agitation Advertise With Us Later addressing the officials, the Joint Collector ordered them to attend the ‘Dial Your Collector’ programme without fail and receive grievances from the public. ZP CEO Venkat Madhav Rao,RDO N Anand Kumar, deputy director of horticulture department Srinivas, MEPMA project director Pavan Kumar, district agriculture officer Sridhar, DPO Manoj Kumar, marketing department DD Padmavathi, DTO Srinivas were present along with others.
Alligators Spotted ‘Swimming’ in Road, Climbing Fences in FloridaBaby Dugong That Became Internet Star Dies After Ingesting Plastic Stay on target It turns out big cats are not fans of heavy metal. A hiker said blasting a Metallica song from her phone helped scare off a cougar stalking behind her and her dog during a stroll in Vancouver Island, off Canada’s Pacific Coast.Dee Gallant told Kelowna Now she and her husky, Murphy were walking on a road in Cowichan Valley when she felt “like something was watching them.”The animal started creeping toward them, and Gallant realized it was a cougar when it was about 50 feet away.“It was crouched down, doing that kind of prowl, predator walk that they do — that was when I waved my arms and yelled ‘hey, you stop!’ and it did,” she told the media outlet.Gallant said she had seen cougars in the area before.“Initially I wasn’t that scared, I remember thinking ‘cool that’s a cougar,’ and then it was ‘why is it still there?’ before turning into ‘oh my god it’s coming toward me, I need to make it stop,” she said.Don’t Tread On Me: Vancouver Island woman fends off cougar by blasting Metallica https://t.co/vb30S9M5g6— KelownaNow.com (@KelownaNow) July 28, 2019Gallant was able to pull out her phone and record video of the situation, while yelling at the animal to “get out of here” and calling it a “bad kitty.”When the “bad kitty” didn’t respond, Gallant turned to her phone’s music library to find the most “threatening” song and decided to blast “Don’t Tread On Me” by Metallica.“I thought it was the noisiest thing on my phone that would probably scare it, that was also the messaged I wanted to convey to the cougar,” she joked to Kelowna Now.Luckily, it worked.“As soon as the first notes blared out it ran into the bush,” Gallant said.The cougar is the largest of the three wild cats in Canada and is a formidable hunter, according to British Columbia Conservation Foundation’s Wild Safe BC. They are considered “spot and stalk” hunters and have extremely good vision.Wild Safe BC advises hikers to stay calm when encountering a cougar. “Make yourself look as large as possible and back away slowly, keeping the cougar in view, and allowing a clear exit for the cougar,” the organization posted on its website. “Pick up children and small pets immediately. Never run or turn your back — sudden movements may provoke an attack.”More on Geek.com:Skrillex’s Music Could Help Protect Against Mosquito Bites, Study FindsWatch: Firefighters Rescue 80-Pound Cougar From TreeChild Escapes ‘Serious Injuries’ After Cougar Attack in Washington Park
(Phys.org) —A team of engineering and physics researchers with members from the U.S., the U.K. and the Republic of Muldova has found that covering a common type of plastic with a graphene coating can increase its conductivity by up to 600 times. In their paper published in the journal Nano Letters, the team describes their new technique and how the coated materials they’ve created might be used in real world applications. Researchers combine graphene and copper in hopes of shrinking electronics Plastics are not very good conductors of heat—they are generally in the 0.15–0.24 W/mK range—which is a good trait when it’s produced as flakes and used as a stuffing inside a winter coat, but not so good when used in electronics that generally need to convey heat away from a source. Engineers would like to use them in more applications however, due to their very low cost, light weight and durability. Conversely, graphene is an excellent conductor of heat (in the 2000–5000 W/mK range) along with its other unique properties, though notably a lot of that improvement is lost when applied to a substrate—it’s still much better than plastic though. In this new effort the researchers sought to improve heat conduction in a plastic by applying graphene to its surface.The type of plastic used, PET, is very common—it’s used to make soda bottles and a myriad of other products in a nearly limitless variety of shapes. Graphene for the experiment was grown in sheets just a few microns thick and then applied to a thin sheet of PET. The heat conductance (along the surface) of the resultant material was tested using a non-contact optothermal Raman technique where the researchers found the conductance had been increased by approximately 600 times.The researchers suggest the graphene coated PET could be used in thermal management applications or thermal lighting or even inside electronic devices to help move heat away from heat generating chips.The team next plans to work on creating models that have more detail and which are based on multiscale simulations that will shed light on which sorts of real-world applications the coated plastics might best be used in. Explore further Citation: Researchers improve thermal conductivity of common plastic by adding graphene coating (2014, October 29) retrieved 18 August 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2014-10-thermal-common-plastic-adding-graphene.html , Nano Letters
© 2014 Phys.org Journal information: arXiv More information: Thermal Conductivity of Graphene Laminate, Nano Lett., 2014, 14 (9), pp 5155–5161. DOI: 10.1021/nl501996v . On Arxiv: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1407/1407.1359.pdfAbstractWe have investigated thermal conductivity of graphene laminate films deposited on polyethylene terephthalate substrates. Two types of graphene laminate were studied, as deposited and compressed, in order to determine the physical parameters affecting the heat conduction the most. The measurements were performed using the optothermal Raman technique and a set of suspended samples with the graphene laminate thickness from 9 to 44 μm. The thermal conductivity of graphene laminate was found to be in the range from 40 to 90 W/mK at room temperature. It was found unexpectedly that the average size and the alignment of graphene flakes are more important parameters defining the heat conduction than the mass density of the graphene laminate. The thermal conductivity scales up linearly with the average graphene flake size in both uncompressed and compressed laminates. The compressed laminates have higher thermal conductivity for the same average flake size owing to better flake alignment. Coating plastic materials with thin graphene laminate films that have up to 600× higher thermal conductivity than plastics may have important practical implications. This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
At San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences, there’s no shortage of natural wonders. You can visit a dome-encapsulated rainforest, observe the dizzying jellyfish in their tanks, or ponder a wave of sea lion skulls stuck to a wall. But those skulls are really just a taste of what the place has to offer. This is no static natural history museum—it’s a place where living, breathing science happens. Well, sort of.Behind keycard-secured doors lies a labyrinth of staff offices, labs, and environmentally-controlled storage that houses 98 percent of the museum’s 46 million specimens—mostly dead. A small fraction will ever appear in public. The rest are an indispensable resource for scientists the world over, which means the museum goes to great lengths to meticulously preserve them.Moe Flannery is the collections manager of the ornithology (birds) and mammalogy (self-explanatory) department. Flannery oversees the collection of specimens from the field along their journey to the museum’s collection room. “I like to think of myself as a librarian,” Flannery says, “but instead of taking care of books, I take care of scientific specimens.”Flannery’s stacks span rooms, with floor-to-ceiling drawers holding rows of bird skins, boxes of marine skeletons, and even a shelf of boulder-sized animal skulls. The academy began collecting these on expeditions in the latter half of the 19th century, and the museum has absorbed specimens from other institutions dating back even further. The Academy rarely launches such expeditions these days, and when they do they’re quite small—like a trip to the ocean’s “twilight zone” in 2015, whose reefs revealed some strange forms of life.Instead, many of the Academy’s modern specimens come from salvage: birds that hit windows, animals found dead on roads, and sometimes interesting specimens from the zoo.Preserving these specimens requires a team of curatorial assistants and volunteers. The aptly-named Bone Lab is where marine specimens are prepared. Buckets of varying sizes hold animals in various stages of decomposition. After muscle, tissue, skin and any feathers are removed, the animal goes into a bucket with water. As the specimen sits in its own juices, the bacteria in the water break down any remains that aren’t bone. For birds, a technician removes the insides, stuffs the specimen with cotton, and positions it to dry, a process that has changed very little since the 1800s.If you’re lucky, you’ll eventually glimpse these specimens on the museum floor. Really, though, a natural history museum like this exists for the scientists. “It’s really important for scientific research collections to be housed in museums for researchers from all over the world to use,” Flannery says. “They are basically a record of an animal at a place and a time and they go back in history.” And the academy is just one of many specimen repositories scattered around the world. The public-facing bits of these museums are for education—and, of course, revenue. So what can you do with millions upon millions of dead things at the academy? Well for one, in 2005, a researcher used DNA sequencing to identify and characterize two avian pox strains that manifested as lesions on the feet of finches collected during 1905 and 1906 expeditions to the Galapagos Islands. It was a finding a century in the making.But a natural history museum can help define the future, too. Take, for instance, the case of the Lord Howe Island stick insect. Researchers (not affiliated with the academy) were able to compare DNA taken from museum specimens and DNA from a rediscovered population in the wild to confirm they were indeed the same species, even though they looked different. Armed with this knowledge, conservationists can safely introduce the insect to another island where it went extinct.It’d be safe to say the naturalists of the 1800s, who began amassing collections like these, had no idea what was in store for their precious specimens. “We continue to build the collection of the museum not knowing what future researchers may want to ask, and making sure that they have the material to ask those questions,” Flannery says. “So it’s important to keep those specimens well prepared and well curated and well maintained over time so that they are available for that historical record moving forward in the future.”Does it smell a bit? Sure, but sometimes science is about sacrifices. Matt SimonUnraveling the Mystery of the Ocean’s Twilight Zone More on Natural History
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News | Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 First Patient Enrolled in World’s Largest Brain Cancer Clinical Trial Henry Ford Cancer Institute is first-in-the-world to enroll a glioblastoma patient in the GBM AGILE Trial (Adaptive… read more Image courtesy of UTHealth McGovern Medical School Image courtesy of Imago Systems News | Stroke | March 12, 2019 Iron Measurements With MRI Reveal Stroke’s Impact on Brain MRI technique called R2* mapping may reveal stroke damage remote from the infarct News | Brachytherapy Systems | August 14, 2019 Efficacy of Isoray’s Cesium Blu Showcased in Recent Studies August 14, 2019 — Isoray announced a trio of studies recently reported at scientific meetings and published in medica read more Images of regions of interest (colored lines) in the white matter skeleton representation. Data from left and right anterior thalamic radiation (ATR) were averaged. Image courtesy of C. Bouziane et al. Related Content Images show illustrative examples of visual R2? modifications within substantia nigra (SN) at baseline (24-72 h) and follow-up (1 y) in striatum (participants 1 and 2) and control groups (participants 3 and 4). Image courtesy of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).March 12, 2019 — A simple magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method that measures iron content can provide a more comprehensive picture of the consequences of stroke-related damage to the brain, according to a study published in the journal Radiology.1 Researchers said the findings point to a role for MRI brain iron measurements in monitoring recovery from stroke.Strokes can result in significant impairments caused by infarctions, or the death of tissue due to the brain’s blood supply being blocked by a clot. Long-term outcomes may also be affected by delayed degeneration of brain areas away from the location of the stroke. One such area is the substantia nigra (SN), a structure of the midbrain that is connected with other parts of the brain in several complex networks.“Overall, the SN is strongly involved in motor control, but also in regulation of emotions, cognition and motivation,” said study co-author Thomas Tourdias, M.D., Ph.D., professor of radiology at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in Bordeaux, France. “Usually, stroke doesn’t directly affect the SN but, by interrupting circuits, stroke can induce secondary degeneration of that area.”Prior to the new study, this secondary degeneration of SN had only been seen on post-mortem brain examinations. Imaging on a living person has not been able to capture the long-term degeneration, so for the new study, Tourdias and colleagues employed an MRI technique that measures iron content in the brain. Iron is important for normal brain function, but an excess of it has been linked to neurodegeneration. Iron is released from dying neurons and iron-rich immune cells present around injured neurons. The excess iron further accelerates neurodegeneration through a process called oxidative stress.The researchers used an MRI technique called R2* mapping to evaluate 181 patients who had suffered a stroke. One year after a baseline evaluation, some of the patients showed higher iron content in the SN. This high iron content was associated with worse long-term outcomes, particularly when it was found on the same side of the brain that the stroke occurred.“We showed that imaging of iron can also be used to image degeneration remotely from stroke in disconnected areas,” Tourdias said. “This finding could be clinically useful because it shows that a simple magnetic resonance imaging method such as R2* can provide a more comprehensive picture of the consequences of an infarct.”The results suggest that R2* mapping may be added to the follow-up MRI after stroke to monitor neurodegeneration, Tourdias said, by assessing iron levels in the SN. More generally, the findings lend support to the use of iron imaging as a marker for neurodegeneration, an idea that is already being explored for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease. Therapies that prevent iron deposition could potentially be used to slow or stop the degeneration of the neurons.“We are currently investigating this direction,” Tourdias said. “Our imaging approach could become crucial in the clinic if modulation of iron develops as a neuroprotective strategy in the future.”For more information: www.pubs.rsna.org/journal/radiologyReference1. Linck P.A., Kuchcinski G., Munsch F., et al. Neurodegeneration of the Substantia Nigra after Ipsilateral Infarct: MRI R2* Mapping and Relationship to Clinical Outcome. Radiology, March 12, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2019182126 FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrint分享 Technology | Interventional Radiology | August 16, 2019 Profound Medical Receives U.S. FDA 510(k) Clearance for Tulsa-Pro Profound Medical Corp. announced it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to… read more 
News | Pediatric Imaging | August 14, 2019 Ultrasound Guidance Improves First-attempt Success in IV Access in Children August 14, 2019 – Children’s veins read more Technology | Radiographic Fluoroscopy (RF) | August 09, 2019 Shimadzu Medical Systems Receives FDA 510(k) for FluoroSpeed X1 RF System Shimadzu Medical Systems USA, a subsidiary of Shimadzu Corp., announced they have received U.S. Food and Drug… read more News | Mammography | August 14, 2019 Imago Systems Announces Collaboration With Mayo Clinic for Breast Imaging Image visualization company Imago Systems announced it has signed a know-how license with Mayo Clinic. The multi-year… read more News | PACS | August 09, 2019 Lake Medical Imaging Selects Infinitt for Multi-site RIS/PACS Infinitt North America will be implementing Infinitt RIS (radiology information system)/PACS (picture archiving and… read more News | Artificial Intelligence | August 13, 2019 Artificial Intelligence Could Yield More Accurate Breast Cancer Diagnoses University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that… read more News | Stroke | August 16, 2019 Mobile Stroke Unit Gets Patients Quicker Treatment Than Traditional Ambulance Every second counts for stroke patients, as studies show they can lose up to 27 million brain cells per minute…. read more News | Neuro Imaging | August 16, 2019 ADHD Medication May Affect Brain Development in Children A drug used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) appears to affect development of the brain’s… read more 
