A novel approach to reading mammograms with the help of a computer could free up hundreds of medical man-hours, as well as speeding-up the breast screening process.

Scientists at The Universities of Manchester and Aberdeen and Cancer Research UK have found that the workload of radiologists could potentially be halved by using a new computer-aided system to help read breast x-rays and detect cancer.

With the computer-aided detection (CAD) system, only one expert is needed to look at each mammogram, rather than the usual two. Use of the system could free up the experts’ time, enabling more face-to-face consultations and all women to be screened as often as recommended.

The CAD programme searches mammograms for suspicious features or irregularities that could be caused by cancer. When the computer finds anything unusual it indicates it on a screen for the radiologist to look at.

Study results published today show that mammogram readings by a single expert plus the CAD system may be as good as those read by two expert radiologists, and in some cases the new combination could be even more successful.

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September 25th, 2006 | Health | 1 comment

The complete archive of the Royal Society journals, including some of the most significant scientific papers ever published since 1665, is to be made freely available electronically for the first time today (14th September 2006) for a two month period.

The archive contains seminal research papers including accounts of Michael Faraday’s groundbreaking series of electrical experiments, Isaac Newton’s invention of the reflecting telescope, and the first research paper published by Stephen Hawking.

The Society’s online collection, which until now only extended back to 1997, contains every paper published in the Royal Society journals from the first ever peer-reviewed scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions in 1665, to the most recent addition, Interface.

Professor Martin Taylor, Vice President of the Royal Society and Chair of the Publishing Board, said: “The Royal Society archive is a unique source of information for practicing scientists, science historians and indeed anyone with an in interest history. The rich, varied and sometimes entertaining archive documents the earliest accounts of the seventeenth centurys new experimental philosophy’, through which an understanding of the natural world was acquired by experiment and observation. This provided the foundation of the modern scientific method.”

The archive provides a record of some key scientific discoveries in the last 340 years, including Halley’s description of his comet’ in 1705, details of the double helix of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1954 and Edmond Stone’s breakthrough in 1763 that willow bark cured fevers, leading to the discovery of salicylic acid and later the development of aspirin.

Some of the more obscure papers explore rudimentary prototypes of modern day technology. Trials proposed by Robert Boyle in 1665 hypothesize on the possibilities of blood transfusions, pondering “Whether a fierce dog stocked with the blood of a cowardly dog may not become more tame?”. A forerunner for ventilators was also discussed in a paper by Robert Hooke in 1667 entitled “An account of an experiment made by Mr. Hook [sic], of preserving animals alive by blowing through their lungs with bellows”.

The archive also contains more amusing experiments and observations such as the use of electrical conductors to cure muscle stiffness and a bizarre description of a “Very Odd Monstrous Calf” which illustrate the inquisitive nature of science’s early pioneers.

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September 25th, 2006 | General Science | 2 comments