Right now, getting an MRI scan means you have be still—and alone—in a gigantic machine. Thanks to some clever researchers though, future fMRI scanners might be double-headed—meaning that you can bring a buddy for simultaneous, cuddle-filled brain scans.
Two heads are better than one—particularly if you’re studying the brain activity underlying social interaction. The problem is that imaging technologies such as MRI have only been able to handle one brain at a time – until now. Ray Lee at Princeton University has developed the world’s first dual-headed fMRI scanner. The innovation allows the simultaneous imaging of the brain activity of two people lying in the same scanner.
This is a preview of World’s First Double Headed MRI to Study Brain Activity during Cuddling with friends.
Read the full post (580 words, 2 images, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)
Introduction:
In 1987, the World Bank, with funding from the Government of Japan, established the World Bank Graduate Scholarship for graduate studies in subjects related to economic development. Each year, the Program awards scholarships to individuals from World Bank member countries to undertake graduate studies at renowned universities throughout member countries of the Bank.
Now in its 23d year, the Regular Program has awarded 3,153 scholarships, selected from 58,944 applicants. In addition, 1,226 scholarships have been awarded in the various JJ/WBGSP Partnership Programs for a total of 4,379 awards.
Eligibility:
Exposure to an MRI magnetic field can cause unintended cardiac stimulation and considerably alter pulse in patients implanted with pacemakers–conditions that can have potentially devastating consequences–according to research published Dec. 15 in BioMedical Engineering Online.
Howard I. Bassen, a researcher with the FDA in Rockville, Md., and Gonzalo G. Mendoza, a biomedical engineer at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., measured the electric fields (E-fields) induced near the tips of pacemakers by a simulated MRI gradient system to assess the risks involved in patients with a cardiac device who undergo MRI.
According to the researchers, “patients are generally not allowed (by present practices) to undergo MRI procedures if they have implanted cardiac and neurological stimulations devices,” however, some clinicians “condone scanning patients” implanted with cardiac pacemakers. In addition, Bassen and Gonzalo noted that there has been a push to develop medical implants that are MRI compatible.
