At the Charité Hospital in Berlin, researchers have built a specialty MRI machine with enough space to fit a woman undergoing labor. The Local, a German newspaper in the English language, is reporting that the first images of a baby moving through the birth canal have been captured, and that the mother and child are doing just fine. The clinicians involved in the project hope to be able to study why some women end up requiring a Caesarian section, while others do not.
More at The Local: MRI scans live birth…

Brain-computer interfaces may help the paralyzed in the future to regain the ability to move. By directly reading what the brain intends on doing, muscles can be activated via electronic stimulation. The idea sounds easy enough, but reading the brain requires the ability to interpret complex neural physiology in real time. Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have been using functional MRI to study how the precuneus region inside the parietal lobe is involved with hand motion, and discovered that the brain uses different maps when moving the hand toward visible objects than when reaching toward expected but unseen targets like an itch at the back of the head.

Two UCSB scientists studied the brains of 18 individuals who made 400 distinct arm reaches as they lay in an MRI scanner.
The current scientific view is that all reaching movements –– those directed to visual targets or toward one’s own body –– are planned using a visual map. "Our findings suggest otherwise," said Pierre-Michel Bernier, first author and postdoctoral fellow. "We found that when a target is visual, the posterior parietal cortex is activated, coding the movement using a visual map. However, if a movement is performed in darkness and the target is non-visual, the same brain region will use a fundamentally different map to plan the movement. It will use a body map."
The researchers measured the "Blood Oxygen Level Dependent Signal," or BOLD signal, when looking at the MRI brain images. BOLD is an indirect way of looking at brain activity at a millimeter scale. They also used a methodology called "repetition suppression." This is what makes the study novel, according to the authors, as it is one of the first to identify where these maps are nested in the human brain. "We are a leader in the use of repetition suppression," said Grafton [Scott T. Grafton, professor of psychology].
Repetition suppression relies on the fact that when a brain region is involved in two similar activities in a row, it is less active the second time around. The team was able to pinpoint the brain’s use of body maps versus visual maps by isolating the location in the brain where the responses were less active with repeated, similar arm reaches.

Press release: UCSB Scientists Report Study of ‘Brain Maps’ for How Humans Reach; Robotics and Machine-Brain Interface for Paraplegics May Benefit …
Abstract in Neuron: Human Posterior Parietal Cortex Flexibly Determines Reference Frames for Reaching Based on Sensory Context

Microfluidic technology continues to hold the promise of bringing lab quality diagnostic tests to the point of care. One of the persistent difficulties in the field has been building interfaces between microfluidic chips and larger devices that have to interact with them. Researchers at UC Davis are now proposing a new standard, called “fit-to-flow” connectors, that promises to allow near universal interconnectivity of microfluidic chips and electronics that control them.
From the study abstract in Lab on a Chip:

In this paper, we present standardized adhesive-free microfluidic adaptors, referred to as Fit-to-Flow (F2F) Interconnects, to achieve reliable hermetic seal, high-density tube packing, self-aligned plug-in, reworkable connectivity, straightforward scalability and expandability, and applicability to broad lab-on-a-chip platforms; analogous to the modular plug-and-play USB architecture employed in modern electronics. Specifically, two distinct physical packaging mechanisms are applied, with one utilizing induced tensile stress in elastomeric socket to establish reversible seal and the other using negative pressure to provide on demand vacuum shield, both of which can be adapted to a variety of experimental configurations. The non-leaking performance (up to 336 kPa) along with high tube-packing density (of 1 tube/mm(2)) and accurate self-guided alignment (of 10 μm) have been characterized. In addition, a 3D microfluidic mixer and a 6-level chemical gradient generator paired with the corresponding F2F Interconnects have been devised to illustrate the applicability of the universal fluidic connections to classic lab-on-a-chip operations.

Image: The clear block to the right is the Fit-to-Flow connector, with a microfluidic chip inserted. Channels take red and blue fluid through the connector to the chip. USB flash drive shown for scale. (Tingrui Pan/UC Davis photo)
More from UC Davis: Printable version A ‘USB’ for medical diagnosis?
Abstract in Lab on a Chip: Fit-to-Flow (F2F) interconnects: Universal reversible adhesive-free microfluidic adaptors for lab-on-a-chip systems

Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have developed a method that may finally speed up detection of prions, and help with making diagnoses earlier with a more sensitive test.
From abstract at PLoS Pathogens:

Here we describe an approach for estimating the relative amount of prions using a new prion seeding assay called real-time quaking induced conversion assay (RT-QuIC). The underlying reaction blends aspects of the previously described quaking-induced conversion (QuIC) and amyloid seeding assay (ASA) methods and involves prion-seeded conversion of the alpha helix-rich form of bacterially expressed recombinant PrP^C to a beta sheet-rich amyloid fibrillar form. The RT-QuIC is as sensitive as the animal bioassay, but can be accomplished in 2 days or less. Analogous to end-point dilution animal bioassays, this approach involves testing of serial dilutions of samples and statistically estimating the seeding dose (SD) giving positive responses in 50% of replicate reactions (SD₅₀). Brain tissue from 263K scrapie-affected hamsters gave SD₅₀ values of 10¹¹-10¹²/g, making the RT-QuIC similar in sensitivity to end-point dilution bioassays. Analysis of bioassay-positive nasal lavages from hamsters affected with transmissible mink encephalopathy gave SD₅₀ values of 10^3.5-10^5.7/ml, showing that nasal cavities release substantial prion infectivity that can be rapidly detected. Cerebral spinal fluid from 263K scrapie-affected hamsters contained prion SD₅₀ values of 10^2.0-10^2.9/ml. RT-QuIC assay also discriminated deer chronic wasting disease and sheep scrapie brain samples from normal control samples. In principle, end-point dilution quantitation can be applied to many types of prion and amyloid seeding assays. End point dilution RT-QuIC provides a sensitive, rapid, quantitative, and high throughput assay of prion seeding activity.

Full paper at PLoS Pathogens: Rapid End-Point Quantitation of Prion Seeding Activity with Sensitivity Comparable to Bioassays
Press release: NIH study suggests that early detection is possible for prion diseases…
Image: Colour-enhanced image of prion proteins (PrP^Sc) from an animal infected with scrapie. Credit: Wellcome Images