Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Traumatic brain injury to athletes -- especially football players -- has become a major issue in professional sports. The National Football League (NFL) is tackling the topic by partnering with GE Healthcare and athletic apparel maker Under Armour to provide a $60 million research fund to improve the diagnosis and treatment of the condition.
The initiative was announced at a New York City press conference yesterday, and associate editor Cynthia E. Keen was in attendance to cover the news for our MRI Digital Community. Medical imaging plays a major role in the project, which will include funding for studies using MRI to determine biomarkers for early signs of mild traumatic brain injury -- injury that could have major complications later in an athlete's life.
Lear more about the project by clicking here, or visit our MRI Digital Community at mri.auntminnie.com.
Does MRI make techs sad?
Our coverage of this week's European Congress of Radiology is winding down, and today we're featuring several intriguing presentations from the conference in our RADCast @ ECR special section.
In one study, researchers from Saudi Arabia found that a survey of radiologic technologists in their country uncovered a disturbingly high depression rate, with some 25% of those surveyed reporting depression, compared with 6.5% in the country as a whole.
The survey sample for the study was quite small (40 respondents), so it may be difficult to generalize the findings to a larger population or to other countries. But if borne out in larger studies, the findings could have disturbing ramifications in the debate over staff exposure to strong magnetic fields. Read the article by clicking here.
How do rads look on TV?
Have you ever seen a TV show portraying a radiologist, and thought, "That doesn't look anything like me." You might be surprised to find that the portrayal seems accurate to patients and technologists.
That's according to a study by Swiss researchers who reviewed the way radiologists were portrayed in three popular U.S. TV shows. They surveyed radiologists, patients, and radiologic technologists to assess how each group felt about the accuracy of the portrayals.
Intriguingly, radiologists found the TV portrayals to be unrealistic, while patients and technologists found them to be accurate. The findings could reinforce the growing perception that radiologists have an image problem, both with patients and with other healthcare personnel. Read more by clicking here.
You can read these stories and more coverage from Europe's pre-eminent radiology meeting by going to radcast.auntminnie.com.
