(Press-News.org) MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (01/31/2025) — Portable MRI (pMRI) technologies are rapidly transforming the landscape of neuroscience research, allowing neuroscientists to acquire brain data in community settings outside the hospital for the first time. But as neuroscientists increase access to MRI technology and move their research from a lab environment to broad community settings, they face novel ethical, legal, and societal issues (ELSI).
To prepare neuroscientists to address these challenges, an interdisciplinary team of scientists, ethicists, and legal experts, supported by an NIH BRAIN Initiative grant, analyzed the issues. The team released the first-ever checklist tool that offers practical operational guidance for pMRI researchers.
The “Portable MRI Research ELSI Checklist”, published in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, walks pMRI researchers through the entire research lifecycle: creating research protocols, preparing for scanning, conducting scanning, and responding to participant needs after scanning. The tool focuses on ELSI issues and unique challenges such as participant safety, incidental findings, informed consent and data privacy.
“This is exactly what researchers in the field need — something tangible that they can put into action immediately to improve portable MRI research,” said Damien Fair, director of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain and MacArthur Fellow.
“Portable MRI researchers are at the cutting edge of science, and they need concrete tools like this Checklist,” said Francis Shen, University of Minnesota professor in the Law School, and lead author of the study. “It will enable more rigorous, inclusive and equitable neuroscience research.”
This research project, funded by a $1.6 million 4-year grant from the National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative, is based at the University of Minnesota’s Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences, chaired by Susan Wolf and co-chaired by Francis Shen.
About the Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences
Founded in 2000, the Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences links 22 member centers working across the University of Minnesota on the societal implications of biomedicine and the life sciences. The Consortium publishes groundbreaking work on issues including genetic and genomic research, oversight of nanobiology, cutting-edge neuroscience, and ethical issues raised by advances in bioengineering.
END
First-ever ethics checklist for portable MRI brain researchers
2025-01-31
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Addressing 3D effects of clouds for significant improvements of climate models
2025-01-31
Leipzig. Over the next few years, climate researchers from Germany aim to achieve a breakthrough in the radiative properties of clouds by describing the corresponding processes not just one-dimensionally, as has been the case up to now, but three-dimensionally in future. Capturing clouds and radiation in 3D is seen as an important step towards undistorted remote sensing of the atmosphere and improved modelling of climate and weather. The new research group of the German Research Foundation (DFG) brings together experts in atmospheric radiation, high-resolution ...
Gut microbes may mediate the link between drinking sugary beverages and diabetes risk
2025-01-31
It is well known that consuming sugary drinks increases the risk of diabetes, but the mechanism behind this relationship is unclear. Now, in a paper publishing January 31 in the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism, researchers show that metabolites produced by gut microbes might play a role. In a long-term cohort of US Hispanic/Latino adults, the researchers identified differences in the gut microbiota and blood metabolites of individuals with a high intake of sugar-sweetened beverages. The altered metabolite profile ...
Ribosomes team up in difficult situations, new technology shows
2025-01-31
Researchers from the Tanenbaum group at the Hubrecht Institute have developed a new microscopy technique to observe how ribosomes function in cells. With this method, they can monitor individual ribosomes as they convert mRNA into proteins. The researchers discovered that ribosomes help each other when encountering difficulties, a process they refer to as ‘ribosome cooperativity’. This technique and the findings, published in Cell, provide insights into how proteins are made and offer other researchers a tool to better study mRNA translation.
Our DNA contains genetic information essential for ...
Mortality trends among adults ages 25-44 in the US
2025-01-31
About The Study: This cross-sectional study found that compared with trends from the early 2000s, early adult (ages 25-44) mortality in the U.S. has risen substantially in 2 stages: 2011 to 2019 and 2020 to 2023. Although mortality rates decreased after the core pandemic years, excess mortality remained higher than expected based on pre-pandemic levels. The largest portion of 2023 excess mortality was driven by drug poisoning, but many other external and natural causes exceeded what prior trends would have projected.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, PhD, email ewf@umn.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our ...
Discontinuation and reinitiation of dual-labeled GLP-1 receptor agonists among us adults with overweight or obesity
2025-01-31
About The Study: In this cohort study, most patients with overweight or obesity discontinued glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) therapy within 1 year, but those without type 2 diabetes had higher discontinuation rates and lower reinitiation rates. Inequities in access and adherence to effective treatments have the potential to exacerbate disparities in obesity.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, email zemanuel@upenn.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.57349)
Editor’s ...
Ultraprocessed food consumption and obesity development in Canadian children
2025-01-31
About The Study: High ultraprocessed food consumption during early childhood was associated with obesity development, primarily in males in this cohort study of Canadian children. These findings can inform targeted public health initiatives for early childhood centers and caregiver education programs to reduce ultraprocessed food intake and prevent obesity.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kozeta Miliku, MD, PhD, email kozeta.miliku@utoronto.ca.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.57341)
Editor’s Note: Please see the ...
Experts publish framework for global adoption of digital health in medical education
2025-01-31
A group of 211 international experts from 79 countries has today published a new framework to facilitate the design, development and implementation of digital health curricula in medical education worldwide.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the Digital Health Competencies in Medical Education (DECODE) framework is designed to help medical institutions better equip future physicians for the ongoing digital transformation in healthcare.
The framework is already beginning to be adopted across the globe, including in the UK where it has influenced ...
Canadian preschoolers get nearly half of daily calories from ultra-processed foods: University of Toronto study
2025-01-31
Researchers at the University of Toronto are sounding the alarm about the high consumption of ultra-processed foods among preschool-aged children in Canada and its association with obesity development.
“We saw that ultra-processed foods contributed to almost half of a child’s total daily energy intake,” says Kozeta Miliku, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.
The findings, published today in JAMA Network Open, are the first to describe sex-driven differences in the effects of ultra-processed food on obesity risk among Canadian children, with stronger ...
City of Hope scientists identify mechanism for self-repair of the thymus, a crucial component of the immune system
2025-01-31
LOS ANGELES — A team of international researchers led by scientists at City of Hope, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, with its National Medical Center in Los Angeles ranked among the nation’s top 5 cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, have demonstrated a way to boost thymic function after damage in preclinical studies. The team’s study results, published today in the journal Immunity, outline their discovery of a specific type ...
New study reveals how reduced rainfall threatens plant diversity
2025-01-31
Predicting and mitigating the effects of climate change while preserving biodiversity is a top priority for both scientists and policymakers. As climate change intensifies, leading to more frequent and severe droughts, understanding the impact on natural ecosystems has become increasingly important. One of the main challenges is forecasting changes in species richness due to shifts in precipitation patterns. While it’s established that, on a broad geographic scale, regions with more water generally support greater plant diversity, results vary at ...