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Functional magnetic resonance imaging has revealed a region of the brain about two inches above the left eyebrow that lights up whenever a person anticipating a reward for a task performed successfully is shown a dollar sign. The response is linked to dopamine release in response to pre-determined cues of which a symbol for money is one.

In this paper, a novel comprehensive and automatic analysis method for the determination and quantification of subcutaneous fat tissue and visceral fat tissue volumes either in the whole human body or in selected slices or regions of interest is shown.

Magnetic resonance imaging can now be used to monitor carbon nanotubes aimed at destroying tumour cells by laser induced heating, according to US researchers.

The aim of this investigation was to examine the adaptation of the muscle phosphates implicated in regulating oxidative phosphorylation, and oxygenation at the onset of high intensity exercise in children and adults.

MRI allows surgeons to safely and effectively operate inside the human brain through small incisions in the natural creases of the eyelid rather than drilling through skull to get to the grey matter at the front of the brain.

The metabolic profiles of human follicular fluid samples that were obtained using NMR spectroscopy are analysed in this work. High correlations were found between important intermediaries of the energetic metabolic pathways of the follicle which can indicate the importance of these pathways in oocyte development. Some of these identified metabolites might be useful as biomarkers of the follicle maturation state, allowing the selection of oocytes in order to increase the pregnancy rates in women after in vitro fertilisation treatments.

Even a single night where a person suffers partial sleep deprivation (PSD) is enough to have a negative impact on thinking. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study suggests that as cognition and affective processing are disrupted, sleep pressure must represent a basic physiological constraint of brain function.

In this study, the authors created the first protocol for optimal imaging of the adult zebrafish brain. This protocol has enabled the team to achieve the highest isotropic resolution for any vertebrate brain and is similar in thickness to traditional histological slices.

Researchers have developed an extracellular enzymatic gene-reporter system for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The system yields strong, reversible contrast changes in response to the expression of secreted alkaline phosphatise. The products of SEAP activity can then be detected using an iron oxide based sensor.

Pseudo-continuous ASL provides a reliable whole brain CBF measurement in young and elderly adults whose results converge with those obtained with the traditional <font size=1><sup>15</sup></font>O-water PET perfusion imaging method. It is an alternative method for non-invasive in vivo examination of early pathophysiological changes in AD.

A new interventional radiology tool based on using MRI to guide focused high-energy ultrasound could be used to thermally ablate uterine fibroid tissue and relieve symptoms of this condition without major invasive surgery.

A wide variety of fat suppression and water-fat separation methods are used to suppress fat signal and improve visualization of abnormalities. This article reviews the most commonly used techniques for fat suppression and fat-water imaging.

MRI proves to be a good diagnostic tool for testicular cancer and could spare some men unnecessary surgery.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the molecular cousin of MRI could be used to pinpoint the exact location of prostate cancers and to determine the aggressiveness of a tumour, according to research published in the Science Translational Medicine. The approach could help guide treatment.

US scientists have used MRI to show that apparently the less you use your brain's frontal lobes, the more you perceive your behaviour through rose-tinted spectacles. They publish details in the February issue of the journal NeuroImage.

<I>In vivo</I> MRS from the cerebellar vermis and occipital cortex of cats with alpha mannosidosis (AMD) demonstrated a broad signal between 3.4 - 4.3 ppm (arrowed) from undigested oligosaccharides, which was not observed in normal cats. High-resolution NMR spectra of perchloric acid extracts confirmed the presence of accumulated oligosaccharides along with increased resonances from Glc-NAc and anomeric sugar protons in tissues from AMD cats. This characteristic MRS pattern may be used for diagnosis and treatment monitoring of AMD.

A single nanoparticle can be tracked using real-time MRI as it homes in on cancer cells. A fluorescent dye used to tag the nanoparticle couples with heat therapy to kill the targeted cells.

Diffusion tensor imaging can display diffusional anisotropy of tissue. Possibly, proton diffusivity within the highly ordered musculature will change with muscle length since the cross sectional area of the muscle increases with shortening. Results show that the fractional anisotropy significantly decreases and the mean diffusion increases with muscle shortening.

Body mass index, BMI, is not a reliable indicator of overall fitness for obese individuals as assessed by internal, or visceral, fat. An MRI and NMR study reveals that fat accumulation in different parts of the body, such as around the heart and the aorta and within the liver, is associated with decreased heart function, but BMI offers no correlation for this problem.

This personal account, taken from the current special 'coils' issue of <I>NMR in Biomedicine</I>, charts the development of the birdcage resonator, covering the historic context of early MRI development.