Ultrasound

In a step that may one day free diabetics from painful needles, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown that pulses of ultrasound can inject drugs like insulin through the skin.The skin, one of the body's first lines of defense against infection, is highly impermeable, so only a few small-molecule drugs like nicotine can now be administered with skin patches.Dr. Robert Langer, Dr. Daniel Blankschtein and Samir Mitragotri, a doctoral student, all of the school's chemical engineering department, found that pulses of low-frequency ultrasound significantly increased the skin's permeability, allowing insulin and other large-molecule drugs to be delivered from a skin patch.

Orioles designated hitter Jim Thome said doctors confirmed Saturday afternoon that the discomfort in his neck is being caused by spasms and he is hopeful within a day or two he'll be back in the lineup. "Basically what I have is a spasm up in my upper neck, trap area," said Thome, who is hitting .261 with two homers in 18 games for the Orioles. "I woke up today and I was just a little more stiff than I have normally been. I came in and it was something that never really changed. So I brought it to (the medical staff's)

A bevy of bellies assembles daily in the Village of Cross Keys to await his scrutiny. Some are puffy, others downright mountainous. All are gobbed with goo.Dr. Roger Sanders looks through the taut tummy skin at males flailing tiny arms, females floating contentedly, twins wrestling. Transducer in hand, he can perceive a being the size of a pinhead, just 2 1/2 weeks after conception. By the time it triples in size to 3 millimeters in length, Dr. Sanders can detect the motion of a heart beating, if not see the muscle itself.

Ouch! Apparently the truth hurts, as evidenced by the visceral reaction to last week's "Doonesbury" cartoons. The strip dealt honestly and pulled no punches about the utter hypocrisy and lack of morals of the so-called "right to life" zealots. They're upset that Gary Trudeau dared to utter the truth about anti-abortion fanatics - that they don't so much hate abortion as they hate women, especially women who refuse to live their lives barefoot, pregnant and chained to a stove.

ROHTAK, India -- Jagmati Sangwan, her daughter at her side, leafed through the ledger at a sidewalk clinic in this dusty, rundown town in Hariana state recently. A sign on a lamppost read: "Ultrasound. Healthy Boy or Girl." The word "healthy," though, was so minute that the sign appeared to read: "Boy or Girl.""These are the names of the women who come here to make sure they aren't pregnant with daughters," said Mrs. Sangwan, closing the ledger and emerging from the clinic into a harsh, sunlit afternoon.

Expectant moms can enhance bonding with their unborn baby by spending a few extra minutes gazing at the fetus' tiny features and gestures during a prenatal ultrasound examination, according to new research. "Women are really affected not only by seeing the face, arms and legs but by the physical movement," said psychologist Zachariah Boukydis, lead author of the study. The research showed spending an average of six to seven additional minutes on ultrasounds can strengthen the maternal-fetal connection.

BEIJING - China's already worrisome gender gap worsened considerably over the past decade in part because of the increased use of ultrasound to identify female fetuses and abort them, a government official said yesterday. Zhu Zhixin, the commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, said misuse of the diagnostic machines' findings had helped further skew the sex ratio, with men outnumbering women by approximately 41 million in this country of 1.26 billion. "This is probably related to the fact that in some places people adopt selective abortions," Zhu said during a press conference announcing partial results from China's recent census.

Dr. Nicholas J. Fortuin, a Johns Hopkins Hospital cardiologist who did early research in cardiac ultrasound and was recalled as a gifted teacher, died Sunday near his home in the Caves Valley section of Baltimore County. Family members said he had been bicycling. He was 69. "For generations of cardiology trainees at Hopkins, he came to epitomize clinical judgment and skill, and he brought to their education a healthy skepticism of new fads in a technology-prone specialty," said a close friend, Dr. Thomas Traill, a Hopkins cardiologist.

On a recent Monday, Tim Brophy and his pregnant wife, Suzanne, went to Little Sprout Imaging in Towson for a sophisticated type of ultrasound, though it wasn't a procedure her doctor had ordered. The Forest Hill couple, along with his mother and sister, were escorted into Little Sprout's living room-like environment, decorated in rich green tones, where Tim settled into an overstuffed armchair next to the examination table and his mother and sister relaxed on a plush sofa a few feet away.

Harry Potter, the star of the children's book series, has a Marauder's Map, with tiny moving symbols that show the location of everyone in his school. It is very handy when he is out late at night solving mysteries and wants to avoid bumping into enemies. Now scientists have devised a real map that has a lot in common with Harry's magic one. Visitors can see it at the AT&T Laboratories in Cambridge, England, perhaps not far from Harry's home. In a three-story, 10,000-square-foot space, AT&T staff members have developed a constantly updated map that can track people with ultrasound signals as they move through the building.

Aspirins and short skirts and contraception, oh my! The last few weeks have seen a slew of Republican gaffes concerning women's sexuality. From Rick Santorum's billionaire supporter Foster Friess' waxing nostalgic about the good old days when women put aspirin "between their knees" in lieu of contraception to an online furor over whether the young conservative women at CPAC dressed too provocatively, the Republicans have a major woman problem on...

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles last Tuesday granted a request for a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks a provision in North Carolina's new abortion-restriction law that would require women seeking an abortion to view an ultrasound image of their womb within four hours of the procedure. In her decision to suspend this one requirement, while upholding other provisions in the law pending resolution of the lawsuit by several plaintiffs, Judge Eagles said the ultrasound requirement likely violates patients' First Amendment rights.

Dr. Nicholas J. Fortuin, a Johns Hopkins Hospital cardiologist who did early research in cardiac ultrasound and was recalled as a gifted teacher, died Sunday near his home in the Caves Valley section of Baltimore County. Family members said he had been bicycling. He was 69. "For generations of cardiology trainees at Hopkins, he came to epitomize clinical judgment and skill, and he brought to their education a healthy skepticism of new fads in a technology-prone specialty," said a close friend, Dr. Thomas Traill, a Hopkins cardiologist.

At 25 1/2 weeks along, Tanya Mundo feels as if she has been pregnant forever. It was time, she thought, to meet her twins. So last week, Mundo and her two children, Angelica Davila, 12, and Cristian Ruiz, 14, traveled from Frederick to Columbia to visit Baby to Be Images, a business that offers highly detailed ultrasound pictures. "It's just exciting because you can see the babies a little more," Mundo said. Babies to Be is owned by Linda Rihani, who opened the business about four months ago in a new office building on Columbia 100 Parkway.

Expectant moms can enhance bonding with their unborn baby by spending a few extra minutes gazing at the fetus' tiny features and gestures during a prenatal ultrasound examination, according to new research. "Women are really affected not only by seeing the face, arms and legs but by the physical movement," said psychologist Zachariah Boukydis, lead author of the study. The research showed spending an average of six to seven additional minutes on ultrasounds can strengthen the maternal-fetal connection.

You've heard of snuff movies? Sony has patented an idea for sniff movies. According to the British magazine New Scientist, the Japanese electronics giant hopes to develop a device that will bombard viewers with pulses of ultrasound that will stimulate neural activity in our brains and have us smell something we're seeing on the screen. Not only that, but we'll be able to taste on cue and, possibly, have the sensation of being touched. If they get this thing right, we could be watching Sideways and smell and taste that hint of "nutty Edam cheese" in the glass of Pinot Noir that Paul Giamatti is raving about.

At 25 1/2 weeks along, Tanya Mundo feels as if she has been pregnant forever. It was time, she thought, to meet her twins. So last week, Mundo and her two children, Angelica Davila, 12, and Cristian Ruiz, 14, traveled from Frederick to Columbia to visit Baby to Be Images, a business that offers highly detailed ultrasound pictures. "It's just exciting because you can see the babies a little more," Mundo said. Babies to Be is owned by Linda Rihani, who opened the business about four months ago in a new office building on Columbia 100 Parkway.

Is it possible for medical research to be conducted too carefully? May researchers be so skilled and their investigation so carefully crafted that their findings cannot be realistically applied to the daily practice of medicine?Even though a study is carried out under ideal conditions and by the best practitioners in the field, the results might end up being applied under less than ideal circumstances by some practitioners who are, at best, mediocre; the results of incredibly accurate research then become, in effect, inaccurate.

On a recent Monday, Tim Brophy and his pregnant wife, Suzanne, went to Little Sprout Imaging in Towson for a sophisticated type of ultrasound, though it wasn't a procedure her doctor had ordered. The Forest Hill couple, along with his mother and sister, were escorted into Little Sprout's living room-like environment, decorated in rich green tones, where Tim settled into an overstuffed armchair next to the examination table and his mother and sister relaxed on a plush sofa a few feet away.

BEIJING - China's already worrisome gender gap worsened considerably over the past decade in part because of the increased use of ultrasound to identify female fetuses and abort them, a government official said yesterday. Zhu Zhixin, the commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, said misuse of the diagnostic machines' findings had helped further skew the sex ratio, with men outnumbering women by approximately 41 million in this country of 1.26 billion. "This is probably related to the fact that in some places people adopt selective abortions," Zhu said during a press conference announcing partial results from China's recent census.