Identifying Alzheimer's using Space Software

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of a human brain. 

Credit: Wikipedia/Fastfission

Software for processing satellite pictures taken from space is now helping medical researchers to establish a simple method for wide-scale screening for Alzheimer's disease.

Used in analysing magnetic resonance images (MRIs), the AlzTools 3D Slicer tool was produced by computer scientists at Spain's Elecnor Deimos, who drew on years of experience developing software for ESA's Envisat satellite to create a program that adapted the space routines to analyse human brain scans.

"If you have a space image and you have to select part of an image – a field or crops – you need special routines to extract the information," explained Carlos Fernández de la Peña of Deimos. "Is this pixel a field, or a road?"

Working for ESA, the team gained experience in processing raw satellite image data by using sophisticated software routines, then homing in on and identifying specific elements.

"Looking at and analysing satellite images can be compared to what medical doctors have to do to understand scans like MRIs," explained Mr Fernández de la Peña.

"They also need to identify features indicating malfunctions according to specific characteristics."

Adapting the techniques for analysing complicated space images to an application for medical scientists researching into the Alzheimer disease required close collaboration between Deimos and specialists from the Technical University of Madrid.

The tool is now used for Alzheimer's research at the Medicine Faculty at the University of Castilla La Mancha in Albacete in Spain.

"We work closely with Spanish industry and also with Elecnor Deimos though ProEspacio, the Spanish Association of Space Sector Companies, to support the spin-off of space technologies like this one," said Richard Seddon from Tecnalia, the technology broker for Spain for ESA's Technology Transfer Programme.

"Even if being developed for specific applications, we often see that space technologies turn out to provide innovative and intelligent solutions to problems in non-space sectors, such as this one.

"It is incredible to see that the experience and technologies gained from analysing satellite images can help doctors to understand Alzheimer's disease."

Using AlzTools, Deimos scientists work with raw data from a brain scan rather than satellite images. Instead of a field or a road in a satellite image, they look at brain areas like the hippocampus, where atrophy is associated with Alzheimer's.

In both cases, notes Mr Fernández de la Peña, "You have a tonne of data you have to make sense of."

Ricardo Insausti Serrano, a medical doctor and researcher, worked with the computer scientists to help guide them through the workings of the brain: "I looked at images, and told them which part has which function."

With his expertise, he could identify which information might be useful for a doctor looking for signs of Alzheimer's disease.

Anatomical MRI gif of the brain, concurrently showing progressive slices through transverse, saggital, and coronal planes. 

Credit: Wikipedia/Brainscandude

ROK Agrees To India's ISRO Space Launch Use Suggestion

ROK Agrees To India's Space Launch Use Suggestion

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday agreed to Indian External Affairs minister S.M.Krishna's suggestion to launch ROK satellites on Indian launch vehicles.

A statement issued on behalf of both leaders said: "Referring to the MOU of cooperation, signed last January between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Krishna suggested that ROK satellites could be launched on Indian launch vehicles. President Lee agreed with the suggestion and asked his officials to do the necessary follow-up."

On Thursday, Krishna called on the President Lee Myung-bak at the Blue House, the official residence of the President.

The two leaders had a constructive and fruitful 40-minute meeting in a warm and cordial atmosphere.

President Lee and Krishna underscored the importance of increasing people-to-people exchanges to bolster the Strategic Partnership between the two countries including in the fields of education, tourism and youth.

Krishna suggested that a bust of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore , who had described Korea as the 'Lamp of the East', be installed at a prominent location in Seoul.

Warming to the theme, President Lee said that he would make a strong recommendation to the concerned city authorities to identify a suitable location for installing the bust of Gurudev in 2011, the 150th birth anniversary of the Nobel laureate.

President Lee, during the meet, fondly recalled his landmark visit to India in January this year, as the chief guest at India's Republic Day celebrations.

He appreciated Krishna's visit to Seoul for the 6th Joint Commission meeting (JCM), soon after his own, which would give further impetus to bilateral relations and the initiatives announced during his visit to India.

Later in the evening, Krishna interacted with prominent members of the Indian community. He apprised them about the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

Krishna observed that bilateral ties were on the cusp of a major take-off and exhorted the Indian community to assist the process, as well as, to make the best use of emerging opportunities for greater trade and investment.

Krishna will be co-chairing the 6th India-ROK JCM with his ROK counterpart on Friday. (ANI)

Viruses use 'Hive Intelligence' to spread Infection

A tactic familiar from insect behaviour seems to give viruses the edge in the eternal battle between them and their host – and the remarkable proof can be seen in a video.

The video catches viruses only a few hundred nanometres in size in the act of hopping over cells that are already infected. This allows them to concentrate their energies on previously uninfected cells, accelerating the spread of infection fivefold.

Geoffrey Smith and his team of virologists at Imperial College London were curious about the vaccinia virus, and set up a video microscope to watch how the virus spreads through cells.

Vaccinia and Smallpox
Vaccinia was used in the vaccine that rid the world of smallpox some 35 years ago. It doesn't cause disease in humans or any other animal, and its origin is unknown.

Spreading Infection
The traditional idea of how viruses spread goes like this. A virus first enters a cell and hijacks its machinery to make its own viral proteins and replicate. Thousands of replicated viruses then spread to neighbouring cells to wreak havoc.

When Smith watched the vaccinia virus infecting monkey liver cells, he thought that it was spreading far too quickly. "It takes 5 to 6 hours for the virus to replicate, but it was spreading from cell to cell within 1 or 2 hours," he says.

Spread of Vaccinia
Vaccinia is known to spread from cell to cell in a characteristic way. After attaching to the cell membrane of its target, it releases a protein that enters the cell, where it communicates with actin – a protein that helps maintain the cell's structure.

The actin responds by growing longer, and then attaches itself to the virus, still sitting on the surface of the cell, as a so-called "actin tail". This tail helps the virus take off from the cell and find the next victim.

Marking the Virus
Smith's team labelled the virus with green fluorescent protein, and labelled some – but not all – cells with a red marker that tagged the actin. They found, to their amazement, that a virus leaving a cell would travel to another cell and merely bounce off it if it already contained the virus.

Virus Changes
The researchers could tell that a single virus had travelled over more than one cell because some viruses which left a cell with an uncoloured actin tail picked up a red actin tail from another cell. "This means that the viruses can change their actin tails as they bounce along the surfaces of cells," says Smith. "This allows the virus to reach distant cells really quickly."

Smith reckons that two viral proteins which are presented on the surface of the infected cell effectively tell the virus not to bother reinfecting that cell. When he looked at virus strains lacking each of these proteins, the virus spread at the slower rate that would expected without the "bouncing infection" mechanism.

"It's as if the proteins are telling the virus: 'Hey guys, there's no point in coming in here'," says Smith. "If you think about it, it makes sense – it's very Darwinian."

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