In the past few years, researchers at the University of Helsinki have made several breakthroughs in discovering how the brain of preterm babies work, in developing treatments to protect the brain, and in developing research methods suitable for hospital use.
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New Method Makes it Easier to Treat Prostate and Pancreatic Cancer
Laser light in combination with certain drugs - known as photodynamic therapy - can destroy cancer tumours, but is today used mostly to cure skin cancer. The reason that internal tumours are not treated with the method is that the technology does not exist to check that the precise amount of light is administered.
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Patients' Online Hospital Reviews Reflect Data on Hospital Outcomes
Patients' ratings of hospitals tally with objective measures of the hospital's performance, according to an independent study published today in Archives of Internal Medicine. Since 2008, patients have been able to post comments on and rate hospitals using the NHS Choices website, in the same way as they might rate a hotel on Tripadvisor.
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Valentine's Day - Time to Hug your Favourite Robot?
On St. Valentine's Day, we want to be close to the ones we love. Researchers from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK are testing whether one day that special person in our life could be a robot. Experiments have shown that children, for example, can become extremely attached to a robot playmate, but can the robot in turn can develop a bond with a human being?
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NFC Aid for the Visually and Hearing Impaired
As the proportion of senior citizens grows, their special needs are gaining momentum. Human eyesight, for example, weakens with age. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has been developing new NFC-based applications that make life easier for the visually impaired.
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Health Monitoring via Mobile Phone
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is coordinating a trial at Sipoo Health Centre and Helsinki University Hospital where patients submit test results to health care professionals by mobile phone. Nokia has developed a Wellness Diary app that helps users attain their exercise, nutrition and well-being goals.
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Could Alzheimer's Disease be Diagnosed with a Simple Blood Test?
Spanish researchers, led by Pedro Carmona from the Instituto de Estructura de la Materia in Madrid, have uncovered a new promising way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease more accurately. Their technique, which is non-invasive, fast and low-cost, measures how much infrared radiation is either emitted or absorbed by white blood cells.
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