DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ This Is Literally Your Brain on Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-17 | by ( Andrew Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The image, as it happens, comes from dozens of brain scans produced by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who gave psilocybin, the compound in “magic mushrooms,” to participants in a study before sending them into a functional M.R.I. The kaleidoscopic whirl of colors they recorded is essentially a heat map of brain changes, with the red, orange and yellow hues reflecting a significant departure from normal activity patterns. The blues and greens reflect normal brain activity that occurs in the so-called functional networks, the neural communication pathways that connect different regions of the brain. The scans, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, offer a rare glimpse into the wild neural storm associated with mind-altering drugs. “Psilocybin, in contrast to any other drug we’ve tested, has this massive effect on the whole brain that was pretty unexpected,” said Dr. Nico Dosenbach, a professor of neurology at Washington University and a senior author of the study.

Persons: Louis, ”, Nico Dosenbach Organizations: Washington University School of Medicine, Washington University Locations: St

☆ My Cattle Herd Taught Me How to Live a Better Life - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-13 | by ( Gregory Berns | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Over the last three years I’ve learned to manage pastures and help newborn calves latch on to their mamas. (I also learned that “cattle” is the proper gender-neutral term, whereas a “cow” is a female that has had a calf.) While cattle are as intelligent and as lovable as dogs, I’ve found that they go through life at their own leisurely speed. Whereas dogs adapt to the rhythms of human society in all its varied forms, cattle don’t abide sudden movements or states of human agitation. By forcing people to adopt their pace, cattle connect us to the environment in ways that no other animal does.

Persons: David Letterman, —, I’ve Locations: M.R.I

☆ ‘We’re Still Paying’: How Pets Became a Big Business
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-23 | by ( Katie Thomas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Heather Massey brought Ladybird to the veterinarian when the 9-year-old mutt began having seizures. With the prognosis grim, Ms. Massey decided against further treatment at the animal hospital near her home in Athens, Ga., and Ladybird died four months later. scan and related care had cost nearly $2,000, which Ms. Massey put on a specialty credit card she had learned about at a previous vet visit. Not really,” said Ms. Massey, 52, who is disabled and does not work. For decades, veterinarians typically operated their own clinics, shepherding generations of pets from birth to death.

Persons: Heather Massey, Ladybird, mutt, Massey, ”, “, Ms Locations: Athens, Ga

☆ Fallout From Cyberattack at Ascension Hospitals Persists, Causing Delays in Patient Care
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Reed Abelson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In more than a dozen states, doctors and nurses have resorted to paper and handwritten treatment orders to chart patient illnesses and track them, unable to access the detailed medical histories that have long been available only through computerized records. For more than two weeks, thousands of medical personnel have turned to manual methods after a cyberattack on Ascension, one of the nation’s largest health systems with about 140 hospitals in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The large-scale attack on May 8 was eerily reminiscent of the hack of Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group that manages the nation’s largest health care payment system. The assault shut down Change’s digital billing and payment routes, leaving hospitals, doctors and pharmacists without ways to communicate with health insurers for weeks. Patients were unable to fill prescriptions, and providers could not get paid for care.

Organizations: District of Columbia, Healthcare, UnitedHealth Group

☆ Some Older Women Need Extra Breast Scans. Why Won’t Medicare Pay?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Roni Caryn Rabin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mammograms can miss tumors in women with dense breast tissue. So for these patients, doctors often include a second scan — ultrasound, for example, or an M.R.I. Though many women see the extra scan as a routine form of prevention, Medicare won’t pay for it, and some patients are left to pick up a hefty tab. But the clinic’s staff said that while her mammogram would be fully covered by Medicare, a so-called supplemental ultrasound was not. “I just don’t understand how something that has been the recommended diagnostic test for years is suddenly not covered by Medicare,” she said.

Persons: Mammograms, Joellen Sommer, Sommer, “, ” Organizations: Medicare Locations: Manhattan

☆ Bernhard Langer, a Masters Stalwart for 40 Years, Sits This One Out
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Paul Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bernhard Langer was set to play in his final Masters Tournament this week. That put him a stroke ahead of Bryson DeChambeau, the reigning United States Open champion at the time, who consistently out-drove Langer by about 100 yards all week. Instead, the perennially fit Langer was felled by something that has likely taken down some of his Florida neighbors who aren’t two-time Masters champions: a pickleball injury. A neighbor who is a foot and ankle surgeon ran over when he saw Langer drop to the ground and sent Langer for an M.R.I. He had torn his Achilles’ tendon, and the doctor got him into a stabilizing boot so he wouldn’t injure his foot further.

Persons: Bernhard Langer, Bryson DeChambeau, Langer, ’ Organizations: United States Locations: Florida

☆ Apparently Healthy, but Diagnosed With Alzheimer’s?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Paula Span | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Determining whether someone has Alzheimer’s disease usually requires an extended diagnostic process. A doctor takes a patient’s medical history, discusses symptoms, administers verbal and visual cognitive tests. or a spinal tap — tests that detect the presence of two proteins in the brain, amyloid plaques and tau tangles, both associated with Alzheimer’s. All of that could change dramatically if new criteria proposed by an Alzheimer’s Association working group are widely adopted. Its final recommendations, expected later this year, will accelerate a shift that is already underway: from defining the disease by symptoms and behavior to defining it purely biologically — with biomarkers, substances in the body that indicate disease.

Organizations: Alzheimer’s Association

☆ What New Love Does to Your Brain
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Dana G. Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New love can consume our thoughts, supercharge our emotions and, on occasion, cause us to act out of character. “People pine for love, they live for love, they kill for love and they die for love,” said Helen Fisher, a senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. Their findings suggest that song lyrics and dramatic plotlines don’t overstate it: New love can mess with our heads. Experts define “romantic love” as a connection deeper than lust, but distinct from the attachment associated with a long-term partnership. These regions are also activated by drugs like cocaine, leading some experts to liken love to a sort of “natural addiction.”

Persons: ”, Helen Fisher, “ Organizations: Kinsey Institute, Indiana University Locations: M.R.I

☆ Sean Combs Is Accused by Cassie of Rape and Years of Abuse in Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Ben Sisario | More About Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The suit, which names Mr. Combs and a number of his associated companies as defendants, seeks unspecified damages. scan she had — for memory loss, possibly caused by drug use or by a beating she said she suffered from Mr. Combs — went directly to Mr. Combs. According to the suit, Mr. Combs then had his staff bring her to a hotel room to recuperate for a week. She asked to go home to her parents, but Mr. Combs refused, the suit says. The suit says that after seeing the violent repercussions of rejecting Mr. Combs, and the extent to which he would isolate her from her support network, “Ms.

Persons: Combs, Ventura, Cassie, Casandra Ventura, “, Karwai Tang, Ms, Ventura’s, Combs — Organizations: Mr, Getty, Bad Locations: Los Angeles

☆ Room-Temperature Superconductor Discovery Is Retracted
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

First discovered in 1911, superconductors can seem almost magical — they conduct electricity without resistance. Most require ultracold temperatures, and recent advances toward superconductors that function at higher temperatures require crushing pressures. A superconductor that works at everyday temperatures and pressures could find use in M.R.I. Superconductors unexpectedly became a viral topic on social networks over the summer when a different group of scientists, in South Korea, also claimed to have discovered a room-temperature superconductor, named LK-99. Even though it was published in a high-profile journal, Dr. Dias’s claim of a room-temperature superconductor did not set off euphoria like LK-99 did because many scientists in the field already regarded his work with doubt.

Persons: Dias’s, . Dias, Dias Locations: South Korea

☆ What to Watch in the 2024 Money Wars as a Big Deadline Arrives
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Rebecca Davis O Brien | More About Rebecca Davis O Brien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“It’s the next-best thing to breaking into the headquarters and checking the files.”But the picture will not be complete. Saturday will also be the first detailed look at President Biden’s war chest as he slowly ramps up his re-election campaign. His campaign said on Friday that along with the Democratic National Committee and a joint fund-raising committee, it had raised more than $72 million combined for the second quarter. In the same period in 2019, former President Donald J. Trump and his allies raised a total of $105 million — $54 million for Mr. Trump and his committees, and $51 million for the Republican National Committee. In 2011, former President Barack Obama raised $47 million for his campaign and $38 million for the Democratic National Committee.

Persons: ”, Mike Murphy, “, Donald J, Trump, Barack Obama Organizations: Democratic National Committee, Republican National Committee

☆ Opinion | Breakthroughs in Cancer Research and Treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Kudos to Kate Pickert for her hopeful article, “Are We Learning to Outrun Cancer?” (Opinion guest essay, June 18). Fourteen months ago, I was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic colon cancer. I’m 75, female and fortunate to live near the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center in Ann Arbor. Eleven months later, after M.R.I.s and surgery, I was in full remission. I never lost my hair, got nauseated, got burns on my skin, lost my sense of touch or poisoned other organs.

Persons: Kate Pickert, Ann Arbor ., Pickert, Jimmy Carter’s Organizations: Cancer, University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Locations: Ann Arbor

☆ A Photographer’s Self-Portraits of Multiple Sclerosis and Medical Care - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Sara J. Winston | Photographs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Chronic illness is well hidden from society. Before I had a name for what ailed my body, I thought of myself as dehydrated and out of shape. At that time, I looked at chronic illness as an outsider. In the fall of 2015, under the care of a neurologist, I began a monthly intravenous treatment of medication that blocks immune cells from entering the brain and spinal cord. I travel 65 miles to a site in the Hudson Valley for the infusion therapy.

Organizations: NewYork, Presbyterian Hospital Locations: Hudson

☆ Her Symptoms Suggested Long Covid. But Was That Too Obvious?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Lisa Sanders | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

She was referred to a neurologist, a cardiologist and Yale’s Long Covid Multidisciplinary Care Center. She was seen first at the Long Covid Center, where I am the medical director. Certainly, POTS was something I saw regularly in patients with long Covid. In this test, the patient’s heart rate and blood pressure are monitored when they are supine and then as they stand in place for 10 minutes. Her heart rate had increased — to 140 from 101.

Persons: Yale’s, I’d Organizations: Care, Long Locations: Covid

Search resuls for: "M.R.I"

14 mentions found