Brain exposes “owwies”
A new study published in PLoS ONE has brought about a new way of measuring pain using brain imaging to identify brain activity patterns that correspond to pain. The researchers investigated the brain activity of eight participants using fMRI and a special algorithmic measure. The participants’ skin was exposed to an altered heat probe that could induce pain or not, and an algorithmic measure (called a ‘support vector’) was used to analyze the data in order to find common patterns. The experiment was replicated with 16 other participants, leading the researchers to conclude that they could divide the two conditions of pain with more than 81 percent accuracy. The results of this study will open doors to an objective study of pain, which is known for being complex to diagnose.

— Tanya Debi
Source: Technology Review

Making ovarian cancer glow in the dark
Doctors now have a new weapon in the war on cancer. A recent study published in Nature Medicine unveiled a new cancer-fighting technique that allows surgeons to spot ovarian tumours by making them glow in the dark. The authors of the study describe tumour-specific fluorescent imaging as a possible “shift in paradigm of surgical inspection” that provides greater sensitivity than existing methods and eases the difficult removal of tumours.
Epithelial ovarian tumours over-express the receptor for vitamin B9, or folate, in 90–95 per cent of patients. These tumours glow when patients are injected with fluorescent folate molecules that are internalized by cancerous cells. The study shows that surgeons guided by the fluorescent label detected a significantly higher number of tumour deposits than unaided surgeons, showing promise for improved clinical outcomes for patients with ovarian cancer.
Known as the “silent lady killer,” ovarian cancer is often not diagnosed until its later stages, making it the leading cause of death amongst gynecologic malignancies in the developed world. The authors emphasize that this study represents a significant building block in the future development of tumour-specific targeting for all cancers.

— Kevin Grace
Source: Nature