liver

New technique uses virtual slides to view tissue in 3D

Today, pathologists and researchers must cut super-thin slices of tissue samples to view them on a microscope -- a labor-intensive process that renders 3D images created from hundreds of 2D sections prohibitively expensive.

Not to mention tedious to construct. Imagine if a single scene in Halo was presented as a series of 2D images one must perfectly align before getting the lay of, say, a single battleground.

Now, computer scientists and medical researchers at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom say they've devised a novel workaround in the form of a digital scanning system that produces 3D views of tissue samples … Read more

Apple doesn't want to reveal CEO succession plans

Apple is once again being asked to discuss what the company would do without CEO Steve Jobs.

Apple said today in regulatory filings that it was informed that Central Laborers' Pension Fund, which owns over 11,000 shares of Apple stock, plans to submit a proposal at Apple's annual shareholder's meeting on February 23, that if passed would require Apple to "adopt and disclose a written and detailed succession planning policy."

Apple's board of directors said in the filings that it has recommended shareholders vote against the proposal. They say they have already established a … Read more

Scientists grow working, miniature livers

Let's just say it's a good thing this breakthrough didn't come around when I was in my early twenties, or I may have been tempted to spend a little more time at my favorite neighborhood watering hole.

Scientists at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center say they've successfully used human liver cells to create miniature livers that function like their larger, more naturally derived counterparts.

Using a process called decellularization, the team rinsed real livers from an unspecified animal with detergent, stripping them of all their cells and leaving only … Read more

Disease-detecting device vibrates with potential

For centuries, humans have looked for signs of diseased tissue and organs by tapping the outside of the body to measure stiffness. Obviously such a method is only so effective, especially when trying to evaluate someone's liver, say, or heart. And more modern biopsies, while highly effective, are invasive procedures that involve removing tissue for examination.

Since 2007, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have been working with magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), a medical imaging technique developed to non-invasively diagnose and monitor disease.

The device they use, MR-Touch, uses low-frequency sound waves for just 15 seconds at … Read more

Jobs' surgeon specializes in cancer recurrence

Apple CEO Steve Jobs' liver transplant earlier this year was the work of a surgeon who treats recurrences of the rare cancer Jobs had five years ago, according to a Bloomberg profile of the doctor.

In his first interview since performing Jobs' transplant in the spring, Dr. James Eason told Bloomberg this week that he has replaced the livers of about 10 people with a neuroendocrine tumor. Jobs was treated for that cancer in his pancreas back in 2004, but he hasn't said whether this year's liver transplant was related to a recurrence of the cancer.

Jobs returned to work in June … Read more

Hospital confirms Steve Jobs' liver transplant

A Memphis, Tenn., hospital confirmed Tuesday that Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a liver transplant there two months ago and said he is "recovering well and has an excellent prognosis."

Jobs, who returned to work at Apple's campus on Monday after a six-month medical leave, "received a liver transplant because he was the patient with the highest MELD score (model for end-stage liver disease) of his blood type and, therefore, the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available," according to a statement by Dr. James D. Eason, the … Read more

Report: Steve Jobs had liver transplant

Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave from Apple for the past six months, received a liver transplant in Tennessee two months ago, according to a report Friday in The Wall Street Journal that did not cite sources.

Earlier this year, Apple's CEO was reported to be relocating from California to Tennessee, which has a shorter waiting list for patients seeking organs, the report noted. In January, after Jobs announced that he would step aside from his day-to-day duties for a six-month medical leave of absence, Bloomberg reported that Apple's CEO was considering a liver transplant. In … Read more