All articles by julian turner
julian turner
EWMA 2016 Conference announced
The European Wound Management Association (EWMA) has announced that the 26th EWMA Conference will take place in the German city of Bremen from 11-13 May 2016.
Tim Kelsey to say farewell to NHS technology community at EHI Live 2015
Departing NHS England patient and information director to deliver swansong speech at UK’s largest digital health show.
Crack the code – whole-genome sequencing
Healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) are a critical public health threat, but tools to identify the genetic makeup of perpetrating microorganisms might soon prove their worth in controlling outbreaks. Beryl Oppenheim, consultant microbiologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, talks to Natalie Healey about her team’s pioneering use of whole-genome sequencing to stop multidrug-resistant pathogens.
How to squash a superbug – trends in C difficile treatment
Clostridium difficile is the most common bacterial infection acquired in UK hospitals, but we have made inroads to tackling it in recent years. Professor Mark Wilcox, Public Health England’s lead on the pathogen, reviews past and current trends in C difficile reduction and discusses how to identify future threats.
Forget MRI not – mapping neurodegenerative diseases
While imaging technology has helped researchers to map the brain and understand many of its processes, memory has, until recently, remained a mystery neuroscientists have predominantly only been able to speculate about. Chris Godfrey speaks with Professor Emrah Düzel from the University Hospital Magdeburg to find out how his team have used high-resolution MRI scans to unlock the secrets of an important human memory circuit and assist our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases.
A load on the mind – the pathophysiology of obesity
Human neuroimaging and animal studies are beginning to build evidence that serotonin and dopamine-mediated mechanisms have an effect on food intake and play an important role in the pathophysiology of obesity – possibly suggesting that the condition could be caused by a physiological addiction to fatty food. Leipzig University’s Dr Mohammed Hankir and Professor Swen Hesse talk to Oliver Hotham about how their research could dramatically change our understanding of a problem that affects more than half a billion people across the globe.
TB treatment: faithful PET?
Medical imaging techniques could be used to predict the effectiveness of antibiotic drug regimens being tested to treat tuberculosis patients, according to researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr Clifton Barry, chief of the Tuberculosis Research Section, explains to Ross Davies how PET and CT scans could play a vital role in treating the growing number of multidrug-resistant cases of the disease.
Past the scalpel – post-mortem cross-sectional imaging
Conventional autopsies are highly specialised surgical procedures used to determine the cause of death and are considered the gold standard for such investigations. However, driven by dislike for such procedures, post-mortem cross-sectional imaging has emerged as a non-invasive alternative, allowing assessment of the recently deceased without having to pick up a scalpel. Could this procedure soon be supported by health services? Professor Guy Rutty and Professor Bruno Morgan from the University of Leicester’s Forensic Pathology Unit take us through the latest thinking.
Celestial body – space age X-ray technology
Space travel takes its toll on the bones of astronauts. As NASA plans for longer and riskier missions to other worlds, it is vital this phenomenon is better understood so that relevant countermeasures can be devised. Natalie Healey meets Dr Jean Sibonga from NASA’s Johnson Space Center to discuss medical imaging research on returning cadets, while Techshot’s Dr Eugene Boland introduces the first X-ray machine aboard the International Space Station.
Close to the bone – osteoporosis images and biomarkers
It rarely enters the limelight but osteoporosis is one of the greatest challenges facing modern healthcare. Dr Thomas Link, professor of musculoskeletal imaging at the University of California, San Francisco, tells Jack Wittels about the ongoing evolution of diagnostic imaging in the field and the latest research into new biomarkers.