Sb99048
.pdfNew Advance in Instrumentation for Optical Mammography
Breast cancer represents the second cause of cancer mortality in women, after lung cancer. Mammography is the gold standard imaging modality for the detection and characterization of breast tumours. Other imaging techniques used in conjunction with mammography and physical examination are mainly ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging.
Among the different types of optical imaging systems under experimentation nowadays, dynamic optical breast imaging represents an innovative method for detecting and characterizing vessels in breast lesions.
Researchers from Italy replace photomultiplier tubes with silicon and see a thousandfold rise in sensitivity.
Optical mammography uses near-infrared light instead of X-rays to probe breast tissue and is being developed as an alternative to traditional mammography. The novel technique has certain advantages, such as a lack of harmful ionizing radiation and the application of only gentle pressure on the breast rather than strong compression.
However, the major drawback of optical mammography has been its poor spatial resolution. In a newly presented study, researchers have achieved an advance in instrument development that increases the sensitivity of optical mammography by up to a thousandfold. The results were presented at the Biophotonics Congress meeting held in Florida.
Optical mammography devices consist of multiple laser sources and detectors that gather information about the optical properties of breast tissue. The technique measures blood volume and oxygenation, as well as lipid, water and collagen content.
The novel instrument replaces two photomultiplier tubes with a detection chain based on newer solid-state technology. The probe is made up of eight silicon photomultipliers – a matrix of hundreds to thousands of cells that each hold a singlephoton counting detector – mounted in a square pattern that sits near the compression plate. The resulting device has increased sensitivity, provides more robust data, and is cheaper to manufacture.
The researchers performed preliminary experiments with 32 solid phantoms that covered a wide range of absorption and scattering properties, finding that the new detection chain increases the optical sensitivity up to a factor of 1,000. The encouraging results have prompted them to plan human studies to test the instrument's performance in real clinical conditions.
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In conjunction with – совместно с; ultrasonography – УЗИ; magnetic resonance imaging – МРТ; photomultiplier tube – фотоэлектронный умножитель; thousandfold – тысячекратный; breast tissue – ткань молочной железы; robust – обоснованный, надежный; encouraging – обнадеживающий.
2. Answer the questions.
1.According to the passage, optical mammography
(A)represents an innovative method for detecting breast cancer
(B)could not be compared to traditional mammography from the viewpoint of efficiency
(C)has very low diagnostic accuracy
(D)is encouraging but very expensive
2.Optical mammography device measures
(A)blood volume, oxygenation, protein, and water content
(B)blood volume and oxygenation
(C)blood volume and oxygenation, lipid, water and collagen content
(D)blood volume and oxygenation, as well as water, protein, and collagen
content
3.It can be inferred from the passage that optical mammography use
(A)X-rays
(B)near-infrared light
(C)both near-infrared light and X-rays
(D)near-infrared light and infrared light
4.According to the passage, new device used in optical mammography represents:
(A)32 solid photomultipliers
(B)two photomultiplier tubes
(C)eight silicon photomultipliers
(D)a single-photon counting detector
5.Gold standard in line 2 means
(A)touchstone, reference pattern
(B)convenience
(C)tradition
(D)contradiction
6.The significant breakthrough of the new technique is:
(A)its low cost
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(B)high sensitivity of silicon tubes
(C)multifunctionality of the device
(D)simplicity in operation
7.It is probable that the paragraph after the passage discusses
(A)traditional mammography issues
(B)other experiments in the field of optical mammography
(C)further development of optical mammography technology
(D)photomultiplier tubes structure
3. Answer the following questions and discuss the related issues.
What are the advantages of optical mammography in comparison with traditional mammography?
What is the major drawback of optical mammography? What does optical mammography device consist of?
Is optical mammography already in use?
What is the purpose of this prospective method?
Can you think of other devices aimed to diagnose diseases?
Find out the structure and operating principles of the photomultiplier tube.
4. Find the English equivalents of the following phrases and use them in sentences of your own.
Основной недостаток; компрессионная пластина; силиконовый фотоумножитель; слабое пространственное разрешение; широкий спектр; предварительный эксперимент; рассеивающие свойства; оптическая чувствительность.
UNIT 7
1. Read the following text.
Will You Donate Your DNA to the Government's Genetic Database?
The NIH says such a database could help doctors diagnose genetic diseases and save countless lives.
Genetic testing has a promising future, but the results are only as accurate as the data used to produce them. For example, ancestry data gleaned from your
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DNA might be wildly inaccurate if you hail from a place where not many people have been genetically tested. You may find out if you have a genetic disease only if lots of other people with that disease have been tested.
This is one of the biggest hurdles to implementing routine genetic testing in medicine: It’s really expensive to build this kind of genetic database. Potentially thousands or millions of people need to be tested before a genetic test is useful enough to be used as a diagnostic tool.
That’s why the National Institutes of Health is going to build that database itself. According to the Washington Post, the NIH is planning to invite Americans to submit their genetic information, where it will be gathered into a database to improve genetic testing throughout the country.
This plan has been in the works for a while, starting in 2015 as the Precision Medicine Initiative. The goal of the program is to collect genetic data from a million Americans and use that data to redefine how medicine works. Three years later, the cost of genetic sequencing has fallen low enough that the NIH can finally start the process of gathering that data.
Starting in the spring, the NIH will begin collecting genetic information from thousands of Americans. This database will allow researchers to find new genetic risk factors for cancer and other diseases and better diagnose and treat the diseases people already have. In return for submitting their genetic information, volunteers would get access to the results of their own genetic test.
The NIH hopes that all one million genetic samples will be collected by 2022, although it might take longer for all those samples to be sequenced. A full genetic sequencing still costs hundreds of dollars, which means fully assembling a database this size won’t be affordable for a while. But when it does, it could change medicine forever.
NIH (National Institute of Health) – национальный центр исследования здоровья; accurate – точный; inaccurate – неточный; ancestry – предки,
родословная, корни; glean – выяснять; hail – происходить из; hurdles – препятствия; genetic sequencing – генетическое секвенирование (определение последовательности нуклеотидов в молекуле); sample – образец; affordable – доступный.
2.Answer the questions.
1.According to the passage, the biggest problem to implementing routine genetic testing is that
(A)genetic testing is very expensive
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(B)genetic testing is dangerous
(C)it gives accurate results only if many other people with this disease have been tested
(D)the results of the genetic test could not be unveiled to the public
2.Assembling a database involves
(A)collecting genetic samples
(B)sequencing genetic samples
(C)collecting genetic samples, then sequencing them
(D)undergoing a genetic test
3.Who will mostly benefit from the genetic database?
(A)researchers
(B)volunteers
(C)both researchers and volunteers
(D)the authorities
4.According to the passage, if you hail from a place in line 3 means
(A)originate from, descend from
(B)move
(C)have to flee, escape
(D)your ancestors lived in this area
5.The program in line 15 refers to
(A)genetic database
(B)the Precision Medicine Initiative
(C)routine genetic testing
(D)NIH
6.Gathering in line 18 is the synonym to
(A)analyze
(B)sort out
(C)distribute
(D)collect
7.It is probable that the paragraph after the passage discusses
(A)the technique of collecting and sorting the data
(B)problems concerning possible mistakes in the database
(C)privacy of personal genetic data
(D)the use of the new database worldwide
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3. Answer the following questions and discuss the related issues.
What is one of the major problems to implementing routine genetic testing? How is the NIH planning to improve genetic testing in the US?
What is the purpose of genetic database? What is genetic sequencing?
Would you donate your DNA to the government's genetic database and why? Give your reasons.
What genetic diseases have you heard of?
Do you think it’s possible to introduce genetic database in your country?
4. Find the English equivalents of the following phrases and use them in sentences of your own.
Генетическое обследование (генетическая диагностика); многообещающее будущее; генетическое заболевание; инструмент для диагностики; генетическоесеквенирование; получитьдоступкрезультатам.
UNIT 8
1. Read the following text.
Creating an Accurate 3D Map of the Human Brain
New method for reconstructing histological sections copes well with deformed tissue parts, unlike many previous methods.
One major goal of neuroscientists is to create a comprehensive high-resolution map of neural pathways in the human brain. This is a feat that spans multiple spatial scales, from a few micrometers for the diameter of a nerve fiber to several centimeters for long-range connections. 3D polarized light imaging (3D-PLI) is a multiscale neuroimaging technique that can close the spatial gap, enabling scientists to use different resolutions to visualize nerve fibers and their pathways in brain sections. However, the 3D reconstruction of histological sections can be challenging, in part due to large deformations caused by tissue splits inevitably introduced during the sectioning procedure.
To overcome this hurdle, researchers recently proposed a complete pipeline for the accurate, robust 3D reconstruction of multiscale, spatially misaligned 3DPLI data. As reported in a study published July 6 in the journal NeuroImage, the researchers applied their registration method to 126 consecutive unstained histological sections of the temporal lobe of the human brain. High-resolution (64
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microns) 3D-PLI data covered the whole temporal lobe, while ultra-high resolution (1.3 microns) images represented the hippocampus region.
The researchers demonstrated that their proposed method copes well with both large and small deformations, handles complex deformations better than previous approaches, and yields more accurate registration results than state-of-the-art methods. In contrast to many existing registration methods, the proposed approach can deal with missing tissue parts and tissue ruptures. Visual assessment of the registered images revealed coherent alignment of key anatomical features such as sulci (grooves), gyri (ridges) and white matter (nerve fiber bundles).
According to the authors, this is the first time that 3D reconstruction has been performed using a large stack of unstained histological sections of the human temporal lobe and the hippocampus based on high-resolution and ultra-high- resolution 3D-PLI data. In the future, fiber tracking based on the reconstructed 3D volumes could allow scientists to uncover the human brain connectome.
Histological – тканевой, гистологический; neural pathways – нервные пути; feat – умение, искусство; to span – охватывать; multiscale – многоуровневый; misalign – рассогласовывать; temporal lobe – височная доля; hippocampus – гиппокамп; state-of-the-art – ультрасовременный; tissue rupture – разрыв ткани; sulci, gyri – извилины; bundles – узлы; connectome –
полное описание структуры нервных связей в нервной системе организма.
2. Answer the questions.
1.According to the passage, the major problem in 3D reconstruction of histological sections is
(A)multiple spatial scale spans
(B)deformations which occur due to the tissue splits
(C)missing tissue parts and tissue ruptures
(D)hurdles with visual assessment of the registered images
2.New method involves
(A)2k resolution
(B)Both highand ultra-high resolution images
(C)high-resolution images
(D)ultra-high resolution images
3.According to the passage, the greatest advantage of the new method over others is
(A)accuracy of registration
(B)handling complex deformations
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(C)coherent alignment of key anatomical features
(D)the opportunity to use different resolutions to visualize nerve fibers
4.The word uncover in line 31 is the synonym to
(A)research
(B)unveil
(C)guess
(D)fully understand
5.This hurdle in line 12 refers to
(A)visualizing nerve fibers and their pathways in brain sections
(B)reconstruction of histological sections
(C)deformations caused by tissue splits
(D)the sectioning procedure
6.The meaning of the word state-of-the-art in line 22 is similar to
(A)advanced, cutting edge
(B)obsolete, outdated
(C)traditional
(D)similar
7.It could be inferred from the passage that
(A)3D polarized light imaging is promising in terms of revealing a lot about human brain
(B)notwithstanding the development of the approach it won’t be possible to discover human brain structure in the nearest future
(С) a complete pipeline for the accurate, robust 3D reconstruction has not been proposed yet
(D)3D polarized light imaging is not able to solve the problem of deformed tissue parts just like other similar methods
3. Answer the following questions and discuss the related issues.
What is 3D-PLI?
What is the difference between the proposed approach and other registration methods?
Why is reconstruction of histological sections challenging? What kind of solution did the researchers come up with?
Which brain areas are involved in the research?
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Is it possible for the approach in question to cope with tissue rupture problems and alike?
What is the future of fiber tracking based on 3D reconstruction?
What are the prospects of creating 3D map of human genome, human body?
4.Find the English equivalents of the following phrases and use them in sentences of your own.
Деформированные фрагменты тканей; нервное волокно; поляризованныйсвет; височнаядолямозга; правильноерасположение; разрыв тканей; белое вещество; ультрасовременные методы.
Answer Keys
Unit 1 Exercise 2 1) A 2) B 3) A 4) C 5) B 6) D 7) C
Unit 2 Exercise 2 1) D 2) C 3) A 4) B 5) A 6) B 7) B
Unit 3 Exercise 2 1) D 2) B 3) A 4) A 5) B 6) B 7) A
Unit 4 Exercise 2 1) B 2) A 3) B 4) C 5) A 6) D 7) A
Unit 5 Exercise 2 1) B 2) B 3) D 4) A 5) A 6) C 7) A
Unit 6 Exercise 2 1) A 2) C 3) B 4) C 5) A 6) B 7) C
Unit 7 Exercise 2 1) C 2) C 3) C 4) A 5) B 6) D 7) A
Unit 8 Exercise 2 1) B 2) B 3) D 4) B 5) C 6) A 7) A
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Список рекомендуемых источников
Bioengineering Today. URL: https://bioengineeringtoday.org Electronics for you. URL: https://electronicsforu.com
Journal of Bioengineering & Biomedical Science. URL: https://www.omicso nline.org
Popular Mechanics. URL: https://www.popularmechanics.com Science Daily. URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com
The Scientist. URL: https://www.the-scientist.com Stanford Health Care. URL: https://stanfordhealthcare.org
Unmanned Systems Technology.URL://unmannedsystemstechnology.com Robotics News. URL://www.robotics.news
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